'Itachi was at the Uchiha lake, training taijutsu with Shisui, I watched them from above, Hmph, I can't believe these are my students.'
Ryuu said to himself as he watched them training.
Shisui blocked Itachi's fist and countered with a kick to his knee, making Itachi fall.
"Come on, you were doing better yesterday," Shisui said.
Ryuu flickered and appeared in front of them.
"Hello there."
"Big brother." Itachi ran to Ryuu.
"I'm sorry for what happened to lord fourth, Ryuu-sensei.
I know you were close to him and his wife."
Ryuu nodded.
"Thanks, Shisui, I'll miss them a lot."
Shisui nodded.
"Itachi said you were going to show him a ninjutsu you made, is that true?"
Ryuu nodded.
"Can I watch?"
"Of course, you're my student and you'll get stronger by learning from me, you know."
Ryuu walked to the bank of the lake.
"Watch carefully, ok?" They nodded.
"Itachi, Shisui, you should probably move back, I don't want to hurt you two."
They looked at each other worriedly and moved back.
Shisui tapped Itachi on the shoulder and whispered.
"So what kind of jutsu do you think he's doing?"
"Shhh, we're going to miss it."
"..."
Shisui blankly stared at Itachi.
'Did he just… shush me?'
"This jutsu is called.
'Fire style: dragon rebirth jutsu.'
Within a year or two, you two should be able to do it with ease.
That's how much I believe in you."
Itachi nodded.
"We won't fail you, sensei!"
Ryuu smiled.
'Seeing these two makes me smile, they make all this fighting worth it.'
"Alright, first I'll explain that this jutsu is very similar to the great dragon jutsu, in fact, it's more like an upgrade of that jutsu, the difference is the damage this can do and the endurance.
Who knows how to make a mud wall?"
"I do." Ryuu smiled, seeing who was speaking.
"It's nice seeing you here, Ichika."
"So this is where you go, to train with your cousin and your student?" Ryuu nodded.
"They're really special, you know."
"Oh, I know alright, those who make you miss lunch with your friends, even though you told her you'd pay for it, must be very special." Ryuu dropped his head depressingly.
"Right, I forgot about that."
Shisui and Itachi watched as Ryuu was getting scolded.
"Are sensei and Ichika… dating?"
"I don't know, but he always acts differently around her, so I would guess so."
Shisui nodded.
"Listen, Ichika, I'm sorry, let me make it up to you, it's just that… I haven't seen or taught them in a long time, you know.
Especially after Minato and Kushina died, I just wanted to be here for them like they were for me."
"Ryuu…" Ichika frowned.
"Plus, you're really making me look bad in front of my student and cousin, you know."
A tick instantly formed on Ichika's head.
'This idiot… I was actually sympathizing with him just a minute ago!'
"Oh, I'm making you look bad, am I? Well, that's such a tragedy, I hope I don't say anything about the things you said while you were knocked out!"
Ryuu's eyes widened, and he started sweating.
"What things did I say?"
"Sensei looks truly worried, we should go help him out." Itachi nodded.
"But how? Do you think we should get involved?"
Shisui whispered something in Itachi's ears.
"Are you kidding me? I'm not doing that, it's too embarrassing!"
"Itachi, it's the only way we can learn this jutsu. You want to get stronger, don't you?"
"I mean, of course, but… sigh."
Itachi sighed with a tired look, and then he held his hand out to Shisui.
Shisui let out a small chuckle.
"This is going to be priceless." Shisui eagerly stated.
Shisui muttered and gave Itachi a red rose with a confident smile.
Itachi walked over to Ryuu and Ichika and then tugged her hand.
"Please accept Big brother's apologies, he came here looking for this rose because he said it's your favorite and then we kept on bothering him to teach us new ninjutsu…
It's our fault he was late." Itachi held the flower out to her and looked down so that she couldn't see his face.
'Shisui can be such a mimic of big brother…
Makes me wonder, was he always like this?'
"Really?" Itachi nodded.
Ichika looked at Ryuu, and he also nodded.
'This must be Shisui's doing…
I'll follow his lead.'
"I couldn't find it anywhere else and so I came here because this is the only place that grows such flowers, you know."
Ichika froze and let go of Ryuu.
"Why didn't you say so from the beginning?"
"Well, it's because I didn't want to blame it on these two, they just missed my lessons, that's all," Ryuu said while scratching his head nervously.
"I'm sorry for my rude behavior, if it's alright with you three, I would like to pay you back by helping out, is that fine?"
Itachi looked at Ryuu, who nodded, fearing any other response would be suicide.
Itachi nodded, and Shisui smiled.
'I knew it would work.' Shisui said to himself.
Ryuu winked at Itachi, who forced a smile back at him.
'I like Ichika, if anyone would date Big brother, I think she'd be nice for him, he seems to be happier around her, plus it's a little funny seeing such a powerful man get scolded by someone who isn't even close to him.'
Itachi said to himself.
"Well, this is perfect, now that you're here, you can defend as I show this ninjutsu." Ichika nodded.
"You ready?" Ichika nodded.
"Fire style: dragon flame jutsu!"
"Earth-style: mud wall!"
Boom!
The jutsu collided, causing an explosion.
"Now for the next ninjutsu I make, be careful, use multiple mud walls and a water dragon to dispose of it, ok?"
"Yeah!"
Ryuu made the dragon hand sign and inhaled a lot of air.
"Fire style: dragon rebirth jutsu!" He exhaled all of it.
Whoosh!
"Roar!"
A giant, thicker dragon that was big enough to force everyone behind Ryuu to cover their faces launched from Ryuu's mouth and quickly traveled towards Ichika at a surprisingly fast pace.
"Earth-style: multiple mud wall!" Ichika made a multi-layered wall and then backed up.
Boom!
The dragon got past the first 3 layers.
"Itachi, Shisui, watch closely." Ryuu made a hand seal.
They looked at the dragon and it seemed to extinguish itself and reappeared as a long yellow dragon traveling faster towards Ichika, this dragon evaded the layers of earth.
"Water dragon jutsu!" Ichika quickly made a water dragon and sent it towards the fire dragon.
The two jutsu's clashed in the middle.
Itachi and Shisui couldn't believe what they just saw.
"Wind Style: violent Whirlwind!"
Ryuu cleared the cloud of steam.
'He- he's like a god…' Itachi was visually stunned by such a mastery of ninjutsu.
Itachi and Shisui had their jaws dropped to the ground.
The water beneath them mostly evaporated because of the first dragon.
Ryuu smiled, seeing his jutsu work perfectly.
"Ichika, you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ichika responded.
"As you saw, that jutsu started as a giant powerful jutsu, and then once damaged, it fell into a weaker version but more agile and fast, I made this jutsu to fool my enemies and it can still be improved." Itachi and Shisui nodded.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take my friend for some lunch." Ryuu offered his hand to Ichika, and she took it.
"Oh, one minute, let me talk to them for a second." They went into a huddle.
"Thanks for saving my life there, I thought I was done for."
"No worries, big brother, but you should thank Shisui, he's the one that made the plan." Ryuu smiled.
"You're finally learning the important part of my lessons, Shisui." Ryuu gave him a fist bump and winked.
"Sensei, I have a question." Ryuu looked at Shisui.
"Do you like Ichika?"
The moment those words reached Ryuu's ear, his face became so red it almost resembled his hair.
"No, of course not, what gave you that idea?" His voice was shaky, it sounded higher than before, Shisui held his laugh in.
"Then why are you blushing at the mention of her name?" Itachi asked.
Ichika was intrigued by what was making them giggle so hard.
"What are you all laughing at?"
"Nothing!" they yelled.
"I should probably get going now.
Itachi, this isn't blushing, it's just boiling out here, plus, the jutsu I used earlier is really bothersome like that, you know." Ryuu said as he went to Ichika.
"Itachi, I have an idea," Shisui whispered something in Itachi's ear.
Itachi smiled and nodded.
They ran to Ichika and Ryuu, who were walking together.
"Big brother, you wouldn't mind if we join you, right?"
"Well, I uh…"
"Sensei, this isn't a date, right?"
"Of course not, don't be silly! It's just lunch with a friend, that's all." Ichika said.
Making Ryuu drop his head depressingly.
'I'm going to have my revenge on these two if it's the last thing I do,' Ryuu said to himself.
"Brilliant! We'll join you two, I hope we're going somewhere good." Shisui said.