Not so imaginary

ix.

Little Haruno Sakura has a secret! Everyone thinks she only has one mentor, but she actually has two! One of them is the infamous sushi no shisui while the other is Tobi, her best friend who really resembles the second hokage but shushhh don't tell anyone that!

Training with Shisui-nii (he still insists that she calls him that) has been fun! Shisui's high energy matches perfectly with Sakura's hyper ones which reminds her a lot of Naruto. Recently, Shisui has been teaching her the basic academy ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu. Apparently, it was something important that every student who went to the academy should master before graduating. Sakura pouts because she's been in the academy for practically a long time now (it has only been 3 months), so there's no wonder they can't master it yet if the senseis are starting the lessons so late! If only Shisui could be her academy sensei, he would be so much better than the stupid sensei who would only focus on flattering the clan kids. But then again, Sakura doesn't feel like sharing Shisui or Tobi with the other kids. So maybe it is better this way. 

With Shisui, Sakura finds the passion to learn. There is never a boring training session with him because he always surprises her with new things to learn about! Like that one time, he showed her how to disguise herself as another person. With her almost perfect chakra control, it only took her 3 tries before she could perfectly disguise herself as Shisui including the smallest freckles he had that even he did not know about. They celebrated it with a round of anmitsu (Shisui's treat of course!).

Today was another training session, and while Sakura waits for Shisui, she breathes in the cold air only to find herself suddenly walking around Konoha at night. The air was suddenly warmer and the surroundings quiet. It seems so real, yet something was missing. She does not see Tobi anywhere around her. Sakura knows something is odd. She closes her eyes and meditates.

'This is not real!' She tells herself. Her mama would never let her go anywhere around Konoha at night without supervision and Tobi wasn't even there with her!

The illusion dispels and Sakura finds herself in an empty training ground with her two mentors standing in front of her.

"You did great, Sakura-chan!" Shisui gushes out loudly

Tobi nods in agreement, "Ah, you did well." 

"Shisui-nii! What was that?" Sakura jumps up and asks, curiosity piqued because she had never experienced something like that before. How could the dark night vanish right back into the day? Had that been magic? Is Shisui-nii a wizard? Was he more than a sushi ninja?

"That was a genjutsu. It's an illusion that can be manipulated to the creator's will. It usually shows something familiar or plays with the victim's fear. You've got a natural resistance towards it."

With furrowed brows, Sakura tilt her head in confusion, "What does that mean? Does that mean I can't be tricked?"

Shisui hums and nods, "You will notice something is wrong before an average ninja does, but that doesn't mean you can't be tricked. Ninjas stronger than you who have mastered this can still easily trick you,"

Scenarios upon scenarios play themselves in Sakura's mind. What if someone stronger than her tricks her to think Sasuke is stronger than her? What if they trick her to tell her mama all the pranks she and Naruto have played on Mizuki-sensei? The look of horror on Sakura's face rushed Shisui into reassuring her. 

"Why are you worried? This is where I will come in! Am I not your amazing, handsome and strongest sensei? Not only will you build a resistance for it, but I will also help you to master how to cast genjutsu yourself!"

Sakura relaxes in relief. Being tricked is a no-no, but tricking someone? Now that's more like it! Maybe she can use this genjutsu to trick her parents into thinking she's studying at home when in reality she's off to some Naruto's pranking shenanigans. Sakura nods with a new determination. She is going to master this genjutsu no matter how long it takes!