Shota walked through the gates of Sunagakure with tired legs and an even more tired heart.
Two months of ANBU missions had turned him into a professional traveller and to his regret....a professional killer.
He had being given missions from both hunter-nin anbu division as well as assassination division. Well, in simple words, he was being given missions to kill people.
Eight missions sounded small, but some of them forced him to walk for days across deserts and forests just to reach the target. The killing part took minutes. The journey took forever.
He still remembered his third assassination mission. He had to wait three full days on a rooftop for a corrupt merchant to walk under a specific window.
Three days of doing nothing. Spider would have been proud if he knew Shota spent most of that time sleeping wrapped in camouflage jutsu. If Spider ever found out, he would never stop laughing.
Today's mission had been easy. The target lived only two days away from Suna. Shota finished the job in the morning and ran home before lunch.
It meant that he would not have the whole week free. He planned to sleep for three days straight, then play with the orphanage kids, then sleep again.
He thought about the Spider Web jutsu and sighed. The technique was amazing. Invisible strings that could sense, trap, cut, and protect. It felt like a brand-new kekkei genkai made just for him. The only problem was he could not use it yet.
He could make chakra threads easily. Every puppeteer kid in Suna could do that. The hard part was keeping the threads alive after they left his fingers. Spider said the threads needed enough chakra to survive on their own for minutes.
Shota's threads disappeared the moment he let go of all of them but one. Two months of practice and almost zero progress.
Spider had warned him it would take years. Shota hated when adults were right.
He decided training could wait. Today he would nap. After he gave Shizu the big hug she deserved for being the best little sister in the world.
The orphanage was quiet when he arrived. Most kids were at the academy or playing outside. The Matron waved from the kitchen. Shota looked around but did not see pink clothes or wild brown hair anywhere.
He shrugged. Shizu was probably at a friend's house. He would surprise her tomorrow.
He walked to their small home nearby. The door was open. That was normal. Shizu always forgot to close it.
'So she is here huh.' Shota thought
He smiled and climbed the wall quietly. He planned to sneak through the window and scare her. She would scream, then laugh, then demand sweets.
But when he looked inside, his smile died.
Shizu sat on her small bed with her knees pulled to her chest. Her face was wet with tears. Her shoulders shook with quiet sobs.
Shota's heart stopped. His eyes turned dangerous as ge scanned her body quickly. No blood. No bruises. No signs anyone had hurt her or had bullied her in the academy. But something was very wrong.
He slipped through the window silently and landed beside her bed.
"Hey," he said softly. "Why is my favourite little sister crying?"
Shizu jumped and turned around. Her eyes were red and puffy. She tried to wipe her face fast. "I am…" She hiccuped. "I am fine."
Shota sat next to her and pulled her into a gentle hug. "I am not leaving until you tell me what is wrong. You know the rules."
Shizu buried her face in his shirt. Fresh tears soaked the fabric.
"I am not special," she whispered. "In class I am only average at taijutsu even though you trained me every day. Everyone says I should be amazing because I am your sister. But I am not."
She took a shaky breath. "You have that special ability to erase chakra. In class they told us it is a kekkei genkai. Only special bloodlines have it. I don't have anything like that. I am just normal. I can never be as strong as you."
Her voice broke. "Everyone expects me to be great. But I think I will only disappoint them. I don't think I can become a strong shinobi at all."
Shota's chest hurt worse than any wound he had ever taken. He wanted to tell her to quit the academy tomorrow. He wanted to say she never had to hold a kunai again. He would work every mission, take every risk, and make sure she never had to fight.
She could live a safe, lazy, happy life full of rice balls and games.
But he knew that was his dream, not hers.
Shizu wanted to be a shinobi. She wanted to stand tall and protect the village that raised them both. Taking that dream away would hurt her more than any cruel classmate.
So he dried her tears with his sleeve and spoke gently.
"Stop crying, okay? If you want to be a shinobi, then train hard. Become strong. Prove the people who believe in you right, and the people who doubt you wrong."
Shizu looked up with watery eyes. "But I don't have a kekkei genkai or any special ability…"
Shota smiled and poked her forehead. "Who says you need to be born with one? I promised to teach you a jutsu when you reach third year. That promise stays."
Her eyes brightened a little. "You are going to teach me a cool jutsu early?"
Shota's smile turned into a real grin when he saw her tears stop. "Nope. Third year is still the rule. But I will teach you something else right now. Something very special."
Shizu's face lit up like the sun. She forgot about crying completely.
Shota laughed inside. Nothing cured sadness faster than the promise of something cool.
---------Author Notes------
Merry Christmas Everyone!🎅🏻
I have decided to increase the extra chaptera of Naruto: The Eraserhead of Suna from 15 chapters to 20 chapters.
Thankyou for your support!
https://pat*reon.com/Charizard6
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