𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 | sasuke uchiha

40

"...Sara-chan, how did you find the battle?"

Once her ban had been lifted and [Name] had been able to return to her duties, she found that the two days off she had had with Sasuke had wonderfully improved their relationship. It had been the perfect way for the two of them to ease back into their old lives, something which they were both grateful for. At least for now, they could focus on each other.

"It was great!" cheered the latest student from [Name]'s class to turn ten; a bright, vivacious young girl named Sara, who had been itching to join her older brother and sister on the battlefield for as long as she could remember. Thanks to [Name] teaching the rest of the Uchiha Tobirama's Shadow Technique, during the battle with the Takeda clan, they were easily able to protect their young and concentrate on defeating them at the same time.

As the battle weary Uchiha shinobi reentered the gates to the compound, [Name] remained swarmed by her own children, all of whom were thankfully still safe and sound. As their confidence on the battlefield grew, so did their admiration for the Kouhage- and out of all the growth [Name] had witnessed, Tatsuya's was the one in which she took the most pride. Although he initially had had his qualms about killing the enemy during combat, his constant exposure to warfare meant that he had eventually accepted it as a fact of life that he couldn't overlook anymore. Over the last few months, [Name] had watched him grow from a timid shinobi into a strong, determined fighter, and even though she was proud of his growth, her soul still lamented at the fact that yet another child had been stripped of their childhood.

"Right, looks like we're all here!"

Pulling her group of now thirteen children aside to their usual meeting point, [Name] indicated for them to all take a seat under the shelter of the big tree, smiling as they all excitedly sat down and continued raving on about their experience.

"You all seem to be getting rather happy at the thought of going out to battle these days," she noted with a small chuckle, crossing her arms as some of the children hushed their peers to better hear their mentor. "I'm impressed by the growth all of you have shown. Thank you all for watching out for each other, especially Sara-chan here. You have all proven to be exceptional shinobi and kunoichi in your own right."

It was then that [Name]'s gaze travelled to the two eldest members of her class, a thirteen year old girl named Ayaka, and a thirteen year old boy named Yuto. Both of them were turning fourteen soon, which meant that they would graduate from her care and move up to Sasuke's class to complete their transition into fully fledged shinobi alongside the older teenagers from the clan.

"This was also our last battle with Ayaka-chan and Yuto-kun," said the Kouhage softly, smiling at her two oldest students. "Are you ready for the next stage in your training?"

The eleven other children all stared at their elder peers in awe, wondering how they felt about moving up the ranks. Ayaka glanced sideways at Yuto, before bowing deeply before [Name]. Yuto followed suit, and the two displayed their utmost respect to their teacher.

"Yes, [Name]-sama. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to shaping me and the others into the shinobi we are today," said Ayaka, still bowed down before the Kouhage. "Because of you, I feel more prepared about taking the next step towards becoming a recognised kunoichi of the clan. Thank you so much."

"I agree with Ayaka-chan," followed up Yuto. "Thank you so much, [Name]-sama."

"I hope you two realise that once you graduate from my class, you will be expected to fend for yourselves out there," said [Name] sadly. "But, that doesn't mean I won't still look out for you myself. You two will always be precious to me, so it's my duty to ensure both of you return to us safely. Thank you for being such wonderful students to me over the past few months. I know it must've been difficult adjusting to having an outsider replace Itachi-sama as your mentor, but I appreciate the effort you put into all our classes, even if I wasn't a hundred percent there myself. So, once again, I thank both of you."