A light, lilting voice rang out, and Shisui and Fugaku looked toward the doorway again.
A little pink-haired head poked through the door Sasuke had opened earlier.
"Oh! Sakura! Here to play with Sasuke again?"
"Mm... I just saw him running down the street, so I followed him."
Fugaku pointed toward the backyard.
"He just received a legacy from your teacher Xuanhui. He's practicing back there now."
"Then can I practice with him...?"
This girl...
Fugaku studied Sakura carefully.
He glanced at Shisui, only to find him pretending not to notice! He kept staring at the ceiling!
"That ceiling certainly is a ceiling..."
Fugaku sighed and nodded.
"Go on. You two focus on training. Don't do anything else!"
"Okay!"
Sakura bowed and slipped straight into the backyard.
"Sasuke's quite the charmer!"
Shisui clicked his tongue, unable to keep himself from commenting.
He lowered his head, only to meet Fugaku's scrutinizing gaze.
"Um... Clan Leader?"
"There's no need to discuss this any further. You'll go alone. The clan has no one else to spare right now."
"All right..."
Shisui quietly walked out of the room...
In the yard, Sasuke held the sword manual, carefully reading its first page.
"Sasuke! I came to train with you!"
Sasuke put the book down and saw the pink-haired Sakura.
"Sakura? What are you doing here?"
Sakura shyly tucked her hands behind her back, a pink blush coloring her cheeks.
"Um... I wanted to train with you..."
"You're annoying. No."
"Huh?"
Sakura hadn't expected Sasuke to reject her so quickly!
"I can't even practice alongside you?"
"Sorry, Sakura. I need to surpass Naruto, so I'm only training with strong people now."
Sakura scratched her cheek and looked at Sasuke thoughtfully.
Her awkward hesitation made Sasuke impatient.
"Do you have something else to say?"
"Um... I think