Uchiha Mentors

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"Sakura sweetie, what have they been teaching you at the Academy?"

"Ehh…let's see….the kawarimi, the bushin, the henge—"

"Yes, that. Show me your henge jutsu."

Alright! Sakura transformed herself into a perfect copy of the old lady, down to the every last dry flake of skin. She waited for the praise to come; every teacher was always impressed at her perfect performance of their jutsu.

"I don't look that ugly."

What?! no! She jerked, about to mutter an apology because old ladies weren't technically ugly—but then she jerked again, upon seeing red eyes. The jutsu dispelled. "Hana-san! Don't surprise me like that! Your eyes are red!"

"Hohoho~ This is your first time seeing the Sharingan? Just now you've done something most shinobi without the Sharingan cannot."

"…Hana-san…Anyone can do the henge."

"Nono~ Sakura-chan, you have a natural affinity for genjutsu that even our Sharingan users would envy—hohoho"

"I have an affinity for illusions?"

"You have a good control over your chakra and your environment. I'm one hundred and twelve years old, all my sons are dead, and I'm going to die soon-"

"Hana!" Sakura gasped.

"Along with my legacy…But here comes along a nice little girl~"

Sakura gaped.

"You've spent a lot of time with the most experienced Uchiha, who are the best genjutsu users in the world…"

I thought you were just old people.

"You thought we were just old people right?"

Sakura gasped.

"That surprised look on your face always cracks me up. But that's why I am willing to teach you" what I couldn't teach Obito.

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Soon she would witness Sakura using genjutsu for the same thing Obito Uchiha would, had he stayed sane.

Hana would then wonder if Sakura was actually Obito reincarnated... She was born shortly after he died, after all. The old lady smiled, believing her own tangential superstition.

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Inside the underground Uchiha archives, a pink haired girl leaned her back against a dusty bookshelf. Sweat dewed her forehead. Shin, the old man who Hana convinced to tutor her, had simply complained about his bones getting too old for this and pushed her into the clan archives to dawdle on her own.

"Ya got booksmarts, youngin' lady. Ya'll learn best by books insteada hands-on anyways!"

Sakura didn't know whether the old man genuinely perceived her character that way from spending so much time together, or that he was just trying to get out of doing extra work without actually pushing her away, since they spent so much time together.

Regardless, she was stuck in this hot and stuffy room without a proper seat other than the floor, and dusty shelves as a backrest. Random scrolls she pulled out scattered in a semicircle around her.

Uchiha fire jutsu scrolls, Uchiha taijutsu styles, Uchiha history, Uchiha codes, Uchiha cat summoning scroll, Uchiha—

Wait, cats?

Sakura pulled out that scroll, read over the hand seals, and bit her thumb. She scribbled her signature beside the rows of signatures before.

Then she weaved a few hand seals and slammed it on the center of her lap. An orange cat with golden brown stripes popped out of smoke and sat on her legs, licking its paw.

"Meow." Matching green eyes stared back, before the eyes took on a snake-like appearance. "It's been two dewades siwce the wast niwja war that an Uchiwa has suwwoned wus-Mew, yow don't wook Uchiwa. RAOWR!" The cat hissed, the back of its fur puffed up, and it scratched Sakura's face multiple times.

Luckily, Sakura was wearing her trademark goggles.

So only her lower cheeks got clawed. But Sakura was a small sensitive girl who never experienced death or pain, so she screamed and cried and slapped the cat back. "OW! Ugghhhhh."

Seeing tears trail down her eyes, the cat stopped as it leapt back. "Ywou're obwiously not an ewemy. Who are yow? Ower new summoner?"

Sakura stopped crying. Inner berated herself. Cha! I'm an idiot, getting defeated by a cat of all things?! What would happen when I face a real shinobi on a real mission?! She glared at even smaller cat.

"I just wanted to test out this scroll! I mean, I've read about the three sannin—only legendary ninja have animal summons so I thought—I mean, I didn't know it would actually work—"

"Mew! I swence no hostile intent, and yow haw emotions on yew face." The cat licked its paw. "The last Uchiwa summoner died yewers ago, and thew never ever need ower help. Uchiwa are strong in battle and thew eyes strong for twacking and thew haw lots wa money and dwon't count wus as one of thwem anywore."

…

"Wait so, you're telling me that you're going to ditch the Uchiha just to join me?" Sakura was flabbergasted.

"Yup."

"And you're going to convince the rest of your family that this is the best choice?"

"Thew awready think so."

Sakura snapped her mouth shut.

Then, she giggled. "I'll buy you some catnip on the way home."

They shared a grin.

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