Crossroads (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Father's Correction

I was cautious to enter Father's study. The memories of his sudden attack were still clear in my head despite it already being a week since then. In the week that I've been left to myself, I kept myself in my room in the time Itachi was due to attend the academy. I hated the feeling of being alone as it left me restless. However, with the curtains drawn to keep the light of the sun out, the dark gave me a sense of safety as Mother brought my meals to me, understanding that I had to be left unbothered for a while to see if I could deal with the trauma myself. I knew how this worked, I've seen it done before, this method of self-therapy.

For a certain time, they leave you alone, monitoring what you do to deal with the trauma for yourself before they take action. I guess the one monitoring me was Itachi and mother, seeing as they're the ones to be with me for the most part. And now, my time was up, and my mother took me to father's study for a 'talk'. I clenched my hands into fists to hide my trembling, but father must have already seen it. It was near impossible to hide something from the eyes of a man like him.

"Satsuki, sit." He said. I took a seat on the cushion opposite of him, mother next to me, and gazed down to avoid looking at him directly. "Look at me, Satsuki." My breath hitched at the demand.

After a moment of hesitation, I looked up. My eyes widened at what I saw: his eyes were lax and his brows didn't frown. A smile rested upon his lips. "When you suddenly withdrew from everyone," he started, "I gave up on the idea of raising you as a shinobi. Itachi was there to succeed me anyway, being the older of you two." Father spoke solemnly and with a softness I had never heard before. His brows tightened and his lips pursed, but the gentleness hadn't disappeared yet. "But now you've improved, and you have a power of which the councils know about, so I can't go with that decision anymore. I don't know about your thoughts, but I'm happy I get to have both my sons become proud shinobi's of both the village and the Uchiha."

I didn't reply to his words for a moment until one of the parts hit me. My expression turned confused. What power?

Father was quick to catch on to me. "You didn't realize?" He inquired. After a moment, he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Alright, we'll stop here for now. Satsuki," His voice grew much firmer, making me straighten my back further. "Do you wish to train?"

I blinked as hundreds of thoughts rushed through my head in a single second.

Train? As in like training to become a shinobi? How... How can I? I don't think I'll be able to learn anything or be good at it at all-

My mind came to a sudden halt.

Didn't I want to protect Itachi? Didn't I have to train in order to do that?

My head bobbed up and down, but my heart was still encased in a shroud of doubt.

A/N: The therapy thing, I completely made it up so don't think it's real, please. I'm not happy with this chapter. I'd have to say it's a bit forced, but I'm going to leave it since it still fits the overarching story.