Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Who knew... ❯ 33. BREAKING THE GIRL ( Chapter 33 )

33. BREAKING THE GIRL

 

“I'm coming, dammit!” the girl screamed in the middle of the night to the unwanted visitor who had obliged her to stand up and leave her warm, secure bed, and who was knocking on the door as if to knock it down.

 

Fuming, she hurried towards the door, with murderous instincts clearly evident in her former-sleepy eyes.

 

The knock wouldn't stop; and she was oh so going to beat the unlucky visitor to a pulp… and Ren, after that.

 

Her cousin hadn't even bothered to move of a millimetre since the knocking had begun.

 

“I SAID I'M COMING!!!” `you moron' she mentally added.

 

She opened the door. “The hell do you want at 3 am?!” she burst out.

 

Uh-oh.

 

“Brat. You got five minutes to be fully changed and awake, and ready to train. I'll be waiting for you here. Move.” Tomori Isoshi was standing in the corridor, an extremely serious glare in his eyes.

 

“I-isoshi taichou…what's going on?” Asuka stammered for the surprise.

 

“I said move.” He commanded.

 

“Hai.” She nodded and ran to her room.

 

The Yoshizumi girl splashed cold water on her face, in a weak attempt to wake her up, which resulted only in her freezing more than she was already doing.

 

She grabbed her black pants, her black shirts, her black armour and her cloak, and frantically wore everything.

 

Wait.

 

There was something missing.

 

Asuka studied carefully her figure in front of the mirror.

 

Yes. The pink and black striped slippers were so not part of the uniform. She grabbed the black boots Oinin wore and, giving a last, sad look at the warm embrace of her bed, and closed the door to her room.

 

“Brat, how in the world am I supposed to improve your katana skills if you train without katana?” Isoshi scolded her.

 

Mmm, he wasn't wrong.

 

Asuka stared at him.

 

Wait. Katana skills?

 

“You spoiled brat, I don't care if you are heir to a shinobi clan, nor if you are the fiancé to the Uchiha boy, just move that dumb ass of yours! We haven't all night! MOVE!”

 

Asuka grabbed her katana and closed the door.

 

* * *

 

“First things first. What do you know about the katana?” Isoshi asked when they got to the indoor training grounds.

 

The girl was shocked. The idiot! She had been training with katana from the moment she learnt to say that word! Was he making fun of her?!

 

“A katana is a curved sword about 90cm long. It is sharp at the point and the convex edge.” She said, an annoyed smirk on her face.

 

“Ha ha. Gaki no baka (stupid brat), you are not funny. But you are right. Anything more specific?” the young man replied.

 

“I can use it.” Asuka said simply.

 

“Even an idiot can grab a sword and use it. But that doesn't mean they can really use it.” Isoshi ran a hand through his messy hair.

 

The girl was really mad now. Did he just insult her?!

 

“Listen, baka no taichou, I don't care who you are, why I am in your team, why you came and wake me up at 3am knowing that tomorrow, I mean, today, we have a mission, and I don't know why you keep on calling me brat while up to now I have proven myself worthy and capable. So, what the hell do you want from me?! I have been raised and trained by one of the strongest clan in the world, I am jounin and Anbu and Oinin and I am not 14 yet, and you, you Isoshi-san, the high and mighty Tomori Isoshi who always think of himself as the best, and always treats the other as scum…tell me, do you really believe you are much stronger than me? Because if you do all I can say is: try me.” Asuka was breathing heavily, after screaming all she thought to her taichou's face without pausing.

 

She studied his reaction.

The girl had expected Isoshi to grab the two bokken (a kind of wooden sword) he had brought, and throw one at her.

 

She had already pictured herself nodding with an aura of alterity and severity and replying something cool like “As you wish, taichou.” grabbing the wooden sword.

 

But Isoshi had merely smirked.

 

“I was wrong” he commented. Asuka smiled triumphantly. She had always been the first of the class, the smarter, the stronger. He had tried to prove her wrong and she had defeated him. Her inner self was overfilled with pride.

 

“You are worthless” the handsome young man added, looking at her in the eyes.

 

“WH...WHAT?!” she screamed, not believing what he had just said.

 

“Asuka, here in Kirigakure are the best swordsman, and the best blacksmith. We are more skilled with swords and blades than anyone else in the world. We know secret techniques that would make an Hokage shake in fear. We invented the art of combining your chakra with your blade, giving birth to hybrids of Kenjutsu and Genjustu, Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu…You are skilled. You are very skilled, if I may say so, but you just demonstrated a childish pride, by assuming that you already knew enough.

 

There is no end in what you can learn about fighting with a katana.

 

You are extremely able in performing what you are taught, and I have no doubts that if you had to fight you would surely win. But with one of the legendary Seven Swordsman, you wouldn't stand a chance.

 

You are not perfect.

 

You are oh so very far from being perfect. You are like a kid playing with a new, cool deadly toy. But you are as harmless as a kid when fighting.”

 

“What! In all my life it's the f…” the girl began shooting daggers at him with her eyes. If only stares could kill…

 

“First time you are criticized? What the hell do they teach you in Konoha?

 

Go back to play with dolls.

 

You are not worthy of being a shinobi.”

 

Asuka was shocked and on the verge of crying.

 

She really didn't know how to react; it was the very first time, for real, that someone told her…something like this.

 

She had always been praised for her beauty, her cleverness, her skills…

 

Who the hell was this Tomori Isoshi to dare…to dare…?

 

Instinctively she crossed her arms and put on an angry look.

 

The young man broke into laughter.

 

“See? You are just a kid! Who do you think you are fooling, acting like an adult and all? Act your age! You should be way more modest. You have so much to learn, brat. Or did you think you achieved perfection?

 

Just because of that pretty face of yours, and that kekkai genkai, you think you are a powerful shinobi?

 

Ok, your kekkai genkai is definitely useful, and lethal in most cases.

 

But what would you do without it? How would you fight? You are not that skilled, nor in taijutsu neither in ninjutsu. Talking about genjutsu then! I mean, did you ever even try to cast a genjutsu, apart from the basic ones?!

 

No, of course. Yoshizumi-hime would rely only on her kekkai genkai.

 

And on the support of others, because she is too weak inside to kill a man with her kekkai genkai.”

 

“I am n-not weak! I don't kill people with Ishigan b-because…because otherwise…well, if I use it t-they wouldn't be able to f-fight, and d-dying like that is j-just…and k-k-killing like that…and I was t-taught…” Asuka stammered, fighting back the tears. She felt pathetic, stupid, humiliated.

 

All she wanted was to leave that place, go back to Konoha, where they were all pretty satisfied with her and that was enough.

 

“Oh, listen! Pathetic.” The taichou said, distractingly playing with a bokken.

 

“I am not pathetic!” the girl cried, between sobs.

 

“Oh, no? I think you are, Yoshizumi-hime.”

 

“Stop calling me that! It's annoying!”

 

“So you are more concerned on how I call you than on the reasons why I am criticizing you? See, Asuka? You are nothing but a little girl. Sorry. A worhtless little girl.”

 

The girl was now barely fighting back the sighs, while tears ran to stain her cheeks. He smirked satisfied.

 

“I don't deny that you have skills and potential, but you must admit that you are much weaker than other shinobis. Aren't you, Asuka?” he said, handing her a wooden sword.

 

She shook her head and sniffed.

 

“No? what does `no' mean? Quit playing the spoiled brat. you want to play the adult, the mature woman? Than do it. Fight me and prove me wrong.” Isoshi said, still offering the sword.

 

“NO!” she sighed. Oh god, she really was pathetic.

 

“Fine. Remember, brat. The only way to become stronger is emproving, training, studying, experimenting. Otherwise, that not much hidden potential of yours would be just useless. Become more and more powerful, tread on your enemies and on those who deny you the power you want.” He spoke looking straight into her teary eyes.

 

“When you want me, you know where to find me. And Asuka” he added, before leaving the inner training ground “you can stay at home, for today's mission.”

 

“But…”

 

“I am making it an order.” He said, and closed the door of the building, leaving the girl all alone.

 

* * *

 

Isoshi was walking down the snow covered forest that separated the city of Kirigakure to the training area.

 

A crack came from the wood.

 

The oinin stopped.

 

“Tell him that she will soon be ready. She is more ductile than I thought.”

 

The figure in the wood nodded and disappeared in a puff.