Escape [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 27: At His Mercy

[One week later...]

Ayuda's P.O.V

I hadn't seen Sasuke ever since that night. His unstated question had left me hanging almost all the time. Curiosity had almost consumed me and manipulated me to ask Shiori of Kakashi's and Sasuke's whereabouts. Since Shiori was a good friend of that masked ninja, she could have at least an inkling of where Sasuke trained at. Despite that, I managed to restrain myself from asking her. I thought it was better to leave the ravenette alone for the time being. I did not want to be an annoyance to Sasuke who was unmistakably concentrating on his training. Because of that, I decided to focus on my training with Kenzo as well.

I must say that the relationship between me and Kenzo had gone faintly better. I figured out that he was someone not to mess with so I complied every of his orders no matter how tough they were. He didn't rebuke me even once since that day he punched me. Nevertheless, he still kept his hostile attitude towards me.

After a small but obvious improvement in my taijutsu skills, Kenzo finally taught me on how to transmit chakra to my arrows in easier ways. I had to admit that I understood every word he uttered and in four days, I managed to transmit a few of my chakra to two arrows – one in each hand – at once, thanks to Kenzo's comprehensible instructions.

Kenzo kept giving me some archery lessons in which I enthusiastically welcomed with open arms due to my massive interest towards archery... until several days later.

"What are you two doing here...?" I queried, obviously baffled at the presences of two boys that stood before me. One was a head taller than me and the other one was around the same height as Shiori's.

Shiori, who had come to my usual training spot with the two boys, spoke up on behalf of them, "Well... Kakashi and I think it's better to test on what you have been training so far by dueling with one another. That's why Sasuke and Kakashi are here. I hope you don't mind about this sudden change of plan, ojisan."

"It's fine," Kenzo, who stood behind me, said in response, "I also want to see if this brat has actually listened to me since I started teaching her."

The moment I heard his last sentence, an angry vein bulged out quite visibly on my forehead while my eye twitched, plainly offended by his words. So... after all this time, he still thinks that I'm not listening to him?

Kakashi greeted with his eye closed into a smile, "I'm glad to see you again, Kenzo-san. It's been three months I haven't seen you."

"Likewise, Kakashi," Kenzo replied with his naturally gruff voice. Judging from his voice, I could tell that he was not smiling to the copycat ninja. I bet Kakashi had gotten used to it, though. He continued, "Shiori suddenly sent me an urgent letter stating that she needs my help. That's why I'm here. I have to cut short my traveling business because of this."

Shiori emitted an apologetic laugh, probably hoping that her uncle won't get mad at her for putting an abrupt halt to his travel. But still... I find it nice to know that a ruthless man like Kenzo has actually made an effort to help his niece. Although Kenzo tried not to show it to everyone, including his own niece, I could clearly see that Shiori has occupied a special spot in Kenzo's heart.

My teacher told me and Sasuke to be prepared for our upcoming short duel. That's when Kakashi interjected, "I want to know if it's okay to let them fight only by using hand-to-hand combat."

Does he mean by taijutsu combat?

Shiori and Kakashi sneaked glances at Kenzo who seemed to be contemplating my small form. It's like he was thinking if I can win against Sasuke with my limited taijutsu skills. After five seconds of pondering, he finally answered, "Fine. We'll see how it ends."