The Shinigami Side Effect: Konoha's Second Chance - Feather85 (2024)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

It was a slippery slope he was too eager to jump on.

"The same as usual Itachi-san?" Kisame asked him once their mission was over. Who knew when would be the next one.

"Hn." Kisame grinned widely.

"Have a nice time with the kid then."

The kid. She was far from being a kid. Itachi made his way quietly in the Land of Grass, to a village near the border of the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Earth. The small village was buzzing with activity now they were so close to the Summer Festival. She was not at the tea house she worked at though.

He didn't ask the owner about it. The less people knew about her connection with him, the safer she would be. It was a civilian village, but shinobi would come sometimes. If oinin were to find her, she would probably be in troubles too so…

He left the village for the woods. Fifteen minutes later, he was in

front of a wooden cabin at the bottom of a hill. He opened the door quietly, peeking in the living-room. There was no one, but he heard noises from the bedroom.

"Who's…here?" a weak voice asked, the door of the bedroom now opened.

"Just me," he replied, frowning at seeing her leaning against the doorframe and her flushed skin.

"Oh, hey 'tachi."

"Are you sick?"

"Heat stroke. Members or descendants of the Yuki clan aren't known to be very resistant or useful when it's hot. We've had a…unusually hot week." She went back to bed. He followed her, removing his shoes and Akatsuki coat, as well as his hitai-ate.

He never wore it when he was here and with her.

The curtains in her room were closed, the room darkened. There was a fan on next to her bed, towels and ice packs on it. Looking at her more closely, she was wearing a very short pair of light shorts and a light camisole she had tied around her ribcage, her long, wavy auburn hair in a high bun on her head. Sweat was clinging to her skin.

"Do you have to stare at me when I look disgusting?" she complained, her brown eyes looking at his through her thick and long lashes. He didn't find her disgusting though.

"Hn." He took an ice pack as she was putting them back on her. "It's melted."

"It's still cool. I used my Hyoton to make them, not my brightest moment a second after." She chuckled as he checked her temperature, a hand on her cheek. "Earlier, I couldn't say two words right."

"It is not laughing matter Akane."

Sasaki, born Uzumaki, Akane. Her mother had been Kushina's cousin, which led Akane to spend a few months in Konoha between the age of four and five after her brother died. Ironically, he was sick with the sickness Itachi also had.

She had met Shisui, befriended him and then met him. They had played together twice, and he had seen her fully three times. He had…it was embarrassing for him to admit, but he had spied on her several times to understand her more and find a way to talk to her. Even back then, she was a very cute girl. She had mistaken him for a girl and treated him normally. Her being a foreigner meant she didn't know about the Uchihas or his heir title. She treated him like someone normal and when she'd look at him, he almost felt as if she was seeing all of him.

Before he could properly talk to his crush, she had left with her mom, who until then had been away. Her father was not in the picture.

Years later, as she had become a distant childhood memory he had never forgotten, Shisui was sent on a mission. It was only a few weeks before he committed suicide. When he had come back and mentioned Akane, Itachi had been surprised. He would sometimes wonder what had happened to her.

The answer was: the Bloody Mist. Shisui had been sent to get her out of it after she had been forced to join it, from what her mother had told the Hokage. She was different, broken, but Shisui told him she'd heal from it with time. She had potential apparently, Shisui had not said more about said potential, but did not want to use it. She wanted nothing to do with shinobi.

He couldn't blame her. Had things been different, he would not have picked up a kunai either.

The night he killed himself, Shisui asked him to keep an eye on her for him, said he was breaking the promise he had made her and that he had written a letter to her that needed to be delivered. He did when he left Konoha, watching from his spot Akane, now thirteen like him and still cute and pretty, fall to her knees in tears.

Reuniting with her when they were seventeen was a coincidence. Her traveling with them until she found the place she lived at now, until she was on her own was his decision to fulfill the promise he had made Shisui. Becoming her friend and falling deeply in love with her was unexpected, but he had come to accept it and enjoy it while he could. He had stopped thinking of it as a mistake. He had stopped thinking that his heart fluttering at the sight of her teasing brown eyes, her long mahogany, slightly wavy hair, turned-up nose and bow-shaped lips was a mistake. He had stopped thinking that the way her smile was making him feel warm inside, seen, cared for and alive was a mistake.

The way his body was reacting to hers, attracted like a magnet to hers was natural and if she reciprocated, there was no reason to fight it. There was no reason to fight the fact his knees were sometimesweak around her.

She was his girlfriend, and he loved her more than she knew, or more he would allow himself to say. It was only in the night, where she would be sleeping, would he authorize his mind to fantasize about what kind of life they could have had together in other circ*mstances, what their children would have looked like. It would break his heart to think it would never happen but would also make him smile just to think about an impossible future.

"Sorry, I can't greet you properly." With a hug and a kiss.

"It's alright." He left to wet a white cloth in the bathroom and put it on her forehead.

"That's the stuff," she whispered, relief on her face. "Can I get a kiss?" He didn't ask for more and leaned toward her, his lips softly kissing hers. He felt her smile against him.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her quietly, his lips still grazing hers.

"Thirsty. There are…water bottles in the fridge." He brought her one, that she drank quickly. "You're missing the nurse outfit." He co*cked a brow at her. "You could be in your underwear instead." He took his shirt off. "…oh, that works too," she said, eyeing him appreciatively.

When he'd get an attack, Akane would nurse him back to health as much as she could without complaining, even if it would get worst as time went by. She would welcome him to her home even with his past and the blood on his hands.

She was soothing the aching scars he had and helped him keep going.

Sasuke, in his life, was like gravity. He kept him grounded to Earth, kept him on his path, no matter how dark it was.

Akane was like the sun. She was casting light on his world that had turned gray a long time ago. She was always in color in his world, giving color and warmth back to what she would touch, him included.

The affection he had had for Izumi when he was younger paled in comparison. No matter what he had done, he still felt like Akane was seeing right through him and knew the words behind his silence. He wouldn't be surprised if she had figured out the reason behind the murder of his clan.

Despite all of that, he struggled to show his affection to her. In bed he could fully show it to her, but when it came to hugging, or kissing, he would struggle to do it. He didn't feel like he had any right to feel happy with anyone or show affection, yet it was what he wanted to do with her.

Had he not set his brother on a path of hatred and vengeance, he would have taken her somewhere nobody would ever find them to live his life quietly with her, trying to find a way to cure his disease. Maybe, in a different world, he had had a life with her, and children and they lived happily together.

He didn't want to lose his sun.

"You're more quiet than usual," she told him in the evening, now up.

"Thinking." She put her finger on his chest and ran it up and down.

"I'm hungry now, for food." She gave him a hug though, and he returned it.

If she was the one giving affection, he strangely had no issue returning it. She knew he struggled with it though, so she would let him have his space in bed or when they were outside. The one time she had wanted to hold hands, he refused, and she had not tried again ever since.

A part of him was sad that she would not try again.

"Itachi." He looked up from his book when she got home one day. "Your brother is in the village." He frowned.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't think there are many people who walk around with the Uchiha crest on their back." He looked down thoughtfully. He was aware Orochimaru was dead but…it was not time yet.

And, selfishly, he didn't want to say goodbye yet.

"I should leave then."

"Or, or…" She rummaged through a book of seals. "Ha, here! I can use a seal to erase your chakra signature!"

"I doubt it would be enou…" She sat him back down, biting her bottom lip.

"I'm going to find something, but don't leave, please," she asked him quietly.

It would be safer, if Sasuke were to find her…even if he would make her train to make sure she was safe, his brother had the Sharingan and genjutsu was not her forte. He didn't want her to get caught between him and Sasuke's deserved vengeance.

Yet, he found himself unable to say 'no'. He would leave her alone so he could die at some point, saying 'no' to other things was almost impossible. He let her do her thing, staring at her as she was applying the seal to his skin, knowing it would make her blush.

He had to admit she seemed to know what she was doing to erase his presence, from chakra to scent.

"Nothing I haven't done before," she muttered when he asked her. "I'm going to see if he's still around."

"Akan…"

"You don't move."

He did as he was told. She came back two hours later, disturbed.

"They left."

"'They'?" She pursed her lips.

"He has a companion, it's Su…" She gulped. "I know it's weird, but could you get Hoshigaki-san to come here?"

"If you want to."

His love, because that was how he would refer to her in his mind, was elsewhere until Kisame arrived.

"It is unusual," Kisame stated, grinning at Akane when he saw her. They…Akane did not like him, at all, yet respected him in a way he never saw her do with anyone else. Kisame loved to taunt her but didn't try to harm her or anything, even if he would talk about it.

At first, he had thought it was because of him, but now, he realized it was something else. Akane had been in Kiri, so they had to know each other from back then.

"Do you know about Mangetsu's whereabouts?" Kisame's grin fell. Itachi frowned. He had heard that name before. Wasn't he called the 'Second Coming of the Demon' or something?

Had he not died years ago?

"Kid…"

"Suigetsu isn't in Kiri anymore, I saw him with his brother. Mangetsu wouldn't have let that happened so what…"

"He died at sixteen." She widened her eyes in horror and shock.

"No…no, Mangetsu…he could almost use all swords when I…he wouldn't…he couldn't have died just like that…was he sick or something? It…"

"It was during a mission from what I know kid." Itachi wasn't blind. Kisame knew more than he was letting on.

"You can leave." He did just that.

Akane looked at him.*

"You can too if you want." It was unexpected.

"I thought…"

"I want to be alone," she said stiffly, going to her room. She shut the door behind her.

Whatever relationship they had in Kiri, it was enough for Akane to break down. He left her alone until the evening. He made food for two and knocked on the door, opening it a little without waiting for an answer.

"Are you hungry?"

"No."

He put her food in the fridge and got ready for bed, shooting her one last look before going on the couch. In all honesty, if she was here, he didn't like not sleeping in her bed with her. He wanted to be around her as much as possible, even if they didn't do much together or they were both doing their own thing.

Itachi was a light-sleeper and woke up when he felt someone watching him. He sat up in the couch, squinting at the silhouette against the doorway of the bedroom. Without a word, she went back inside, leaving the door opened.

He didn't waste time to join her. Her back was facing him. He knew she needed comfort right now, but when he thought about hugging her, his body froze. It was almost as if after what he had done, his body refused to make the first move regarding affection.

He closed his eyes instead, asking for her forgiveness in his mind when he knew she needed him.

She needed him and he couldn't provide her with a simple embrace. He hated himself for that.

On their last night together, he did his best to convey all of the feelings he had he never had the courage to tell her about. In the morning, as she was still sleeping, her hair a mess, he glanced at the ruby pendant around her neck. It was the only gift he had given.

In his eyes, it represented the same thing as a wedding ring.

He left. He left after using his sharingans on her when she tried to keep him from leaving. He left after he finally said the three little words she had been telling him for months and months without ever hearing the same in return.

He watched over her and her family from the Pure Land until he saw her summon the Shinigami.

"My my my oh my." He spun around, now away from the others who also were watching his love dying. She was going to die and wouldn't join him like she was supposed to.

"Who are you?" The red-haired man bowed.

"Otsutsuki Tensui. Well, Uzumaki Tensui. You have been chosen to be a watching soul, congratulations!" He frowned. "For the Yuurei? No, it doesn't ring a bell?"

"Akane?"

"Yes, her, the new Yuurei." Tensui sighed. "I guess it got lost in time. Yuureis are, were, the reason for the strength and fame of the Uzumaki clan. You are an Uchiha, you have the Mangekyou. Well, Yuureis are born the same way in a way. If an Uzumaki summons the Shinigami, they are sent to Yomi, its realm, and faces its judgement. If they have enough regrets over their life, then they have a shot at doing it again, their soul sent back in their younger body. It is more often than not before the event that caused them regrets happened. Now." Tensui snapped his fingers, sending them in a rocky scenery of black and white. The sun was black above them and a single red tori was visible at the end of the valley below them. "Due to your bond, you are part of the Yuurei's regrets and are going to become her watching soul, stuck in Limbo to prevent her from falling in Yomi if she ever…almost dies."

"I have to watch her doing everything over again?" Tensui snapped again and now they were in a green and luscious clearing.

"Itachi?" He blinked and turned around. Akane was there, staring at him with wide eyes. In front of her was a woman, her hand close to her stomach.

"Why did you do that?" he asked her immediately. She pursed her lips. "I know you have protected him, but there were other ways."

"I didn't have the time to think of one. Why areyouhere, this doesn't concern you!" He glared at her.

"He's your watching soul," Tensui pipped in. Akane shook her head vigorously.

"No, you're supposed to f*cking rest Itachi! It's something I have to do, not you! If I fail, you…you'll end up there as well and…"

"You think I'm going to let you do something like that without doing anything?" She frowned.

"You can't do anything except…you're supposed to rest, and now I have a shot at giving this other you a better, long and happy life!"

"I don't care." She bit her bottom lip, shaking her head.

"You don't ge…"

"I do get it. I'm not going to let you turn yourself into a martyr like I did Akane. You deserve better than that."

"I don't, I really don't. I've spent my life running and enjoyed the sacrifices of others when I could have done something, I…it's my turn to do something right this ti…" She was interrupted by his lips on hers, his hands on her cheeks. She was so shocked she had not even closed her eyes.

"I am not leaving you alone again, period. Nothing you can say will make me change my mind," he whispered against her lips, his onyx eyes staring deep in hers.

"Really?" the woman asked him. He turned his eyes to her, keeping Akane close to him.

"Yes." She put her finger on her lips.

"Then let's change things." Tensui raised his brow when she looked at him. "What was the event?"

"Huh…the death of one Uchiha Shisui. They saw each other shortly before he died."

"He was weird, I knew it but didn't ask about it," Akane explained quietly. He took her hand in his and squeezed it.

"Hum…we need to go further."

"Well there is th…" The woman dug her hand in Akane's stomach, who opened her mouth in a silent scream.

He never heard the end of Tensui's sentence because everything turned to black. He just kept holding Akane's hand, hoping it would keep her by his side.

"Itachi?" Itachi's lids fluttered as he slowly woke up. It was strange. The last thing he remembered was saying goodbye to Sasuke as he undid the Edo Tensei. So how…

He looked to the side, freezing in shock at the sight of his living, breathing mother. Mikoto put her hand on his forehead, checking his temperature.

"Mom?" he called her in a small, timid voice. Next to her was a sleeping baby Sasuke, quiet in his bassinet.

"Who else would be taking care of you when you are sick young man?" Mikoto replied with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I…" He put his fingers on his neck. His pulse was there. His mother chuckled.

"Now Itachi, you suddenly had a big fever and fainted, but you did not die from that!" She was taken back when she noticed the silent tears falling on his cheeks. "Itachi, why are you crying?" He put his hand to his cheek.

"I…" His lips started to quiver, and a lump was in his throat. "Mom, I…" She embraced him before he could finish his sentence.

"Now, whatever it is, it is okay Itachi. Mom is here and nothing is going to hurt you." He started sobbing uncontrollably.

He wasn't sure of what was happening, how this was even possible, but if this was a dream, he didn't want it to end.

Chapter 2: The Kyuubi Attack

Chapter Text

"Akane!" I was confused to say the least. I just…stared at my mother.

Mother?

I sat up in a flash, staring at her in shock. Mom…she had died a long time ago. She couldn't…be in front of me.

"Honey?" I shook my head and jumped out of bed. I just fell however. I got on all four, shaking my head. I stared at my hands for a second. They were so…small. Like a child.

I looked around and found a mirror. When I saw my reflection in it, I almost screamed.

I was…I was a child. Maybe five, but I was a child and…I remembered this room. I looked around. It was the room I had when I lived with Aunty Kushina and Oji-chan. Yet, the last thing I remembered was…

Summoning the Shinigami to protect my twin children, the most precious reminders I had of Itachi.

"What happened?" I asked to myself quietly.

"You don't remember honey?" I looked up at my…mother. My mother who died when I was sixteen by the hand of the Akatsuki. Sasori, exactly. "You saw me and suddenly, you…fainted with a heavy fever when we were about to leave the village yesterday." I was shocked.

I put my hand on my stomach. Something…felt warm there.

"Bathroom," I mumbled.

"Of course, go honey." I did and locked the door behind me. I climbed on the lid of the toilet, right in front of the sink and mirror, and lifted my shirt. I had a seal on my stomach, similar to Naruto's, except that the symbol for 'death' and 'shinigami' replaced any indication of a bijuu. I limply let go of my shirt and sat down.

I read through Oji-chan's notes about the Death Reaper Seal. You summon the Shinigami, who takes your soul for eternal damnation and in exchange, you can seal basically anything. I used it on someone about to kill my children near an unknown and unstable seal. On the body of the summoner, a seal was left on the stomach.

I had that seal, except I was alive and if I had the timeline right, five. I went from thirty-eight to five. I raised my head to the mirror and pinched my cheeks. Baby fat was very much present and any curve I had were gone, so was my height and the scar on my hand due to a bad fuinjutsu accident.

I left the bathroom to find my mom there, worried. I looked at her crying.

"Oh honey, it's alright."

"I missed you!" I cried in her arms.

"I missed you too."

"What's going on?" Aunty Kushina inquired, yawning and a hand on her huge belly. "Oh Akane, you're awake baby!"

"Yes, we can lea…"

"No!" They both looked down at me. "I want to meet Naruto!"

"You can meet him lat…" I shook my head and my mother frowned, flaring her nostrils in frustration.

"See Aki-nee, Akane agrees. There's no hurry for you two to leave." Aunty rubbed her belly lovingly. "Please stay."

"…I'm going to ask Minato but…"

I had no idea how I got here, or if it was reality but…my seal indicated it was real. I needed to research it and I couldn't do it anywhere else but Konoha. And…if Naruto could grow up with his parents this time…

Naruto was not born yet, meaning the Kyuubi attack had not happened and the Yondaime, as well as Kushina, were still alive. Itachi looked up at the cloudy sky of September, Sasuke in his arms as his mother was in a store.

So far, what he was sure of was: he was five years old again, his knowledge intact and, even if in theory his skills were still here, his body could not follow yet. His sharingans and Mangekyou were not there yet, but he hoped his Mangekyou would still be here. He did not want to witness Shisui killing himself.

Seeing him alive and grinning after he recovered from his sudden 'sickness' was disturbing enough.

"And this is the shopping district Akiko-san!" Itachi looked to his right. Shisui was there with a red-haired woman.

"It's a lot more than I thought." He could not pinpoint why, but this woman seemed oddly familiar. When she smiled at Shisui, he looked down.

She reminded him of Akane. Akane who had just left Konoha. He didn't want to wait twelve years to see her again, and who knew if he would? He wanted to change things. If Minato lived, maybe there would not even be a plan for a coup and…

"Restaurants are behind." He froze at the voice and glanced back at them.

Akane was there, the woman holding her hand. She was pointing to the restaurants a street behind the one they were in.

"Mom I'm hungry." Oh. It explained the resemblance.

Wait, why was she still here? She should have left two weeks ago.

They disappeared out of his sight. The very next day, when Shisui arrived at their meeting spot in the woods, Akane was following him. He felt a blush creeping up his neck he quickly hid behind his high collar.

With him losing the light in his eyes, Akane had sadly become a blurry figure by the end. Seeing her so clearly now…She really was adorable. She had the regular shinobi sandals, but also dark green overalls over a white tank top, her hair in two low ponytails. Her bangs were framing her face, the baby fat on her cheeks making him want to poke them.

He wanted to squeeze her because of how cute she really was.

"Hey Itachi, I hope you don't mind Akane's here today." He shook his head. Akane stared at him and for a split of second. Her eyes did not look like those of a child.

No, they reminded him briefly of the Akane he knew and loved. Still, she was analyzing him and seemed content with what she found.

"She sucks at shurinkenjutsu," Shisui continued. Itachi knew that already. It was a mystery how she could…be that bad.

"Shisui…" she groaned, flushing in embarrassment.

"Don't worry Akane, we're totally gonna make you awesome at shurikenjutsu!"

She was not receptive to Shisui's instructions at all, Shisui not understanding why. He stood up and walked over to them.

"Can I try?" Akane glanced at him for a few seconds and nodded. "The foot opposite from the throwing-hand is in front of the other." She changed that. "You need to be stable." She nodded. "Then, make sure your grip on your shuriken is tight but still flexible. The moment your arm is straight, you let it go." She did. It landed beneath the target, but it landed in the tree. "It's not bad."

"I'm notthatbad," he heard her muttering.

She kept practicing. Shisui came over to him at some point, a grin on his face. He threw his arm on his shoulders and crouched, their back to Akane.

"So, how does it feel to be so close to your crush?" Despite himself, Itachi blushed a little.

"Shisui, I'm trying to help her. Nothing else."

"Sure, sure. I'm just glad she's up after the fever she had." This caught his attention.

"Fever?" Shisui nodded.

"On the day she was supposed to leave, she suddenly had a bad fever when she got up from bed. They couldn't leave when it was planned, and Akiko-san was convinced to stay until Kushina-sama's baby is born."

Akane had suffered from a bad fever as well? He remembered her leaving without any issue before.

Was it a coincidence? It was a big coincidence that the two of them, at the same time, were stuck in bed with a fever but maybe?

Was there a tiny chance that maybe, the feeling he had had when Akane looked at him was the right one? Was there a chance than in this tiny body washisAkane and not a five-year-old?

If it was…

No, he couldn't get his hopes up. In any case, whether Akane was five or an adult, someone was going to unleash the Kyuubi on Konoha and if he could prevent it, he would. He was five, but he could talk and maybe try to change things, even just a little bit. He didn't want to put her in danger.

Baby Naruto would be here soon. As I had my ear on Aunty's belly, Mom and Oji-chan talking at the table, I was marveling at the fact Naruto, Seventh Hokage and War Hero, was such a small and fragile being right now, still in his mother's womb. I smiled a little when he kicked. He was already a fighter after all.

"Aunty, it's okay if I'm his nee-chan, even if I'm not really?" She ran her fingers in my hair with a gentle smile on her face.

"Of course, baby." I put my mouth near her belly.

"I'll do my best to be the best nee-chan to you, Naru-chan."

I would.

Just like I had wanted to do my best to avoid baby Itachi. Seeing people, I had mourned a long time ago was…strange, and reopened wounds that had closed a long time ago. They were not bleeding, but raw, and exposed. I would try my best to be on my own, but I was five, they were not keen on letting me do that. The only person in this house who didn't die…wasn't born yet.

Ironic, wasn't it?

Point was, I had been dreading seeing Itachi, but Shisui had not given me a choice. When I did see him though, it was…strange. He was a kid, nothing like the man I had come to love. His voice wasn't the same, his face…

I was numb. He was a child, an innocent one at that. The only thing I felt when I saw him was the will to keep him from following the same path as the Itachi I knew. He was a very cute kid though; I had forgotten that.

He reminded me of my children when they were his age. My children I would not see ever again. This would send me in a spiral or sadness.

Still, there was something…off with Itachi, or at least I felt something was off.

It was probably just my imagination.

October 10th arrived quickly; all of my nerves ready to bust. No matter the knowledge and skills I had, I was stuck in my five-year-old body. I couldn't use them. I had not awakened my kekkai genkai yet.

Overall, I could not help what would happen. I stayed at Oji-chan's and Aunty's house with Mom and Kakashi. I refused to go to bed but Mom forced me, which was humiliating in a way. Being treated as a kid was humiliating but I couldn't just blurt out I was an adult stuck in a child's body, could I? I didn't even know what I had turned myself into after all.

"What happened Akane?" I blinked at Mom. "You're…different since that fever."

"I'm okay Mom, I'm just worried about Aunty and the baby. Why did they leave so far?"

"Aunty is special, that's all." She crouched in front of me and frowned. She stared at me in the eyes for seconds that seemed like hours and widened her gray eyes. "Don't tell me…" She lifted my shirt out of sudden, my seal appearing.

"Mom?"

"Oh no, honey no…" she started to mumble, taking her head in her hands. Red locks of hair were slipping through her fingers.

"Mom? I'm sorry, I didn't…I didn't do it on purpose, I don't even know…"

"How old are you really?" I pursed my lips at her heartbroken gaze.

"Thirty-eight," I said in a small voice.

"Why…no, no…if you're that age then why…why did you make us stay?" I bit my bottom lip. "It's Kushina, isn't it?" I nodded weakly. "The Kyuubi?" I nodded again. "Honey, tell me what happened in your past."

"They were attacked, the Kyuubi released," I told her quietly. "Oji-chan sealed in Naruto but…"

"But?"

"They both…" I looked down, the tears I had suppressed until now starting to appear. Mom understood, horror taking over her features.

"Oh my God…" She grabbed my arms with an alarmed look in her eyes. "Listen to me Akane, listen to me carefully. What is in your head, your knowledge, you cannot share it with anybody, understand?"

"I…"

"Just promise me you won't tell anything to the wrong person!" I nodded quickly. "Good. It's…good." She kissed my forehead before hugging me. "Mommy loves you so, so much. Never forget that, okay?"

"Mom, what are yo…" She knocked me out.

"Goodbye honey," I heard her say before completely passing out.

I woke up later to a roar outside. I barely had the time to stand up that Kakashi came in my room, his shoes on. He gave me mine, that I put on automatically, my eyes not leaving Kurama in the distance, wreaking havoc and death in Konoha.

"Kakashi…Aun…"

"Your mom told me to protect you, so we're going to the shelters."

"But Mom and…"

"Shelters!" he almost barked at me, scooping me up in his arms. He jumped from the windows and landed in the street. He didn't waste time to run toward the shelters.

My eyes wouldn't leave Kurama. I knew him as…Naruto's friend and partner, not the hateful beast he was known as before. Yet now…he was controlled too, right? It was…

Old Kakashi had told me everything, the revelations in the war. He had told me about Obito being behind Aunty's and Oji-chan's deaths. So, he was the one pulling the strings right now.

"Wait Kakashi stop…"

"No."

People were running in the streets, screaming. Kakashi and I went through another district that had been severely impacted by Kurama's wrath already. I gulped at the body crushed under the buildings, sometimes half coming out of them. There was blood, and bones, screams and the smell of ash and iron in the air, making it almost impossible to breathe.

sh*t, I had to go! Mom…she knew things and the way she was talking…

"Kakashi-san we have to go!"

"Are you cra…" I took a seal from my pocket and put it on him. He stopped moving, enough for me to get back down. I removed the seal and jumped away from him. "It's not funny Akane, it's a serious situation!"

"I know that, but do you want them to die without doing anything!?" He glared at me.

"Of course not but…"

"We have to go!"

"I can't put you in blatant danger like that! Not…" He didn't finish his sentence.

It wasn't the time to remember how my older brother died though. I knew in this era, Fubuki had died maybe a year ago only, and that Kakashi was fresh from losing both his teammates but…

"They're going to die Kakashi-san, die!" I screamed from the top of my lungs. I coughed, having inhaled too much smoke. "Please, please I'm begging you…" He stared at me, then Kyuubi who had just disappeared from Konoha itself.

"I don't know what's going on with you Akane, but don't play me."

"Promised, now can we…" He scooped me in his arms again.

"Hang on tight." He sprinted away, the wind whipping my back. I held onto him tightly, seeing the village moving fast around us. He jumped high in the night sky and I thought I heard someone screaming at us.

I closed my eyes when I took note of the Sharingan down there, most likely an Uchiha in charge of evacuation. Still, Kakashi and I fled the village. He was not as fast as the Kakashi I knew, but we reached the scene quickly.

They were in a barrier made by Aunty, who was weakened. Mom and Oji-chan were around her and Naruto, on an altar. None of them noticed us, too busy with sealing Kyuubi.

My eyes widened when Mom stepped back and made a barrier around them.

"Aki-nee!"

"Seal him quickly Minato! Kushina might need the energy boost as well!" Minato nodded.

He sealed half in Naruto, who was wailing. Kyuub did not like that and tried to use his claw to kill Oji-chan. The barrier repealed him.

He turned his head and ferocious eyes to my mom. My heart missed a beat when she stopped the claw coming at her with Adamantine Chains, yelling at Minato to hurry up. Almost in slow-motion, I saw Kyuubi free one of his other claws and Mom was not quick enough to dodge as it went through her body in the back.

I couldn't say anything, Kakashi's hold on me tightening as he knelt and pulled me against him, other people behind us. Aunty yelled in anguish and Oji-chan finally finished the seal, Mom keeping Kyuubi stuck by wrapping Adamantine Chains around the both of them.

Kyuubi soon disappeared. The barrier was dispelled, and I got rid of Kakashi to run to my Mom. She was still alive, but barely. I fell to my knees next to her, knowing from the size of the wound that I could not do anything.

"Mom…Mom you…"

"Family…is precious…" she managed to say, blood running down her mouth. She looked at me with weak, gray eyes, her hand opened. I took it.

"I'm sorry…I'm…I didn't think that you…" I stuttered, shaking.

"Yuurei…" I sniffed and she smiled through the pain. "You're a…Yuurei…watch ov…over…them an…and Naru…to…" I bit my bottom lip and nodded.

"I swear Mom, I swear…" She closed her eyes.

"Lov…yo…" Her hand became slack around mine.

"Mom?" I knew she was gone. I had seen enough death before to know. I had seen her cold body before.

Yet, this body was five and had the reactions that came with it. I knew she was gone, but the child in me refused to believe it and was hoping that by some miracle, she would wake up. There was nothing though.

I raised my head and looked toward the new family. Aunty was crying in Oji-chan's chest, Naruto in her arms. Oji-chan looked at Mom, then me and looked down in pain, holding Aunty close to his body.

He…just wouldn't look at me.

I looked up at the moon high in the sky. The smell of blood was still strong, my pants becoming red from the blood coming from my own mother. I heard people behind, saying to take care of the Yondaime, but they were background noises.

My mom was gone. Again. But Naruto had both his parents this time around.

I couldn't bring myself to be happy because of how hollow I was feeling. I touched my mother's cheek. Had the universe planed for death tonight and took whoever was close when it couldn't take Minato and Kushina?

Did I kill my mother by asking her to stay?

I gritted my teeth to keep my lips from shaking. Yet, my whole body started to shake, something bubbling in my veins. I widened my eyes when I realized what it was.

"A…" I jumped to my feet and ran off as quickly as my legs could, not hearing Kakashi behind me.

That feeling…

I looked down. Frost was appearing on the ground when I'd put my feet down.

sh*t, not here…not…

I ended up in a clearing, out of breath. I had no idea where I was compared to Konoha but…there was a stream and a pound.

I fell to my knees, my hands clenched around the grass on the ground and yelled, letting it go. Cold filled the area and the water froze quickly. Not just the water that was visible, but even the moisture in the ground, just anything. The clearing turned white, frozen in ice from head-to-toe.

I was on my back, staring at the starry sky, drooling. Awakening my kekkai genkai at five…was not…I had not thought it could…happen but…

I didn't have enough stamina yet to use it safely and…I couldn't feel my fingertips or my toes.

"Akane!" Kakashi was in a field of vision, blocking the moon and the stars. "sh*t, Akane, are you…are you okay?"

"…cold…" He cursed and took his jacket off, leaving him in a tight, black undershirt. He put his jacket on me, which was way too big, and left my arms inside.

"Hospital."

"Mom…" I whispered, tears finally falling from my eyes. "Mom…" Kakashi just picked me up as I started sobbing. "Mom!"

"I'm sorry," he whispered with sorrow, his eyes on the frozen grass. "I'm…so sorry…" He picked me up and I sobbed in his chest.

My eyes were dried after a while spent crying. By the end, I was quiet against Kakashi, the ice slowly melting around us.

"Fugaku-san." I looked up, numb. Fugaku-san looked serious, if not a little mean, from my angle. He glanced around with a frown with his Sharingan. He deactivated it before looking down at us, and me.

"Did you steal a kid from the Hidden Mist Yondaime-sama?" Oji-chan appeared next to him, a conflicted look in his eyes.

"Not exactly." I stopped listening to them. They could sell me off to Kiri to fend for myself, I wasn't sure to care about that either.

I had shortened my mom's life and…

I knew I was a failure of a daughter already but now…

Minato and Kushina had survived. Last time, the village had heard about their deaths before the funerals, the news spreading like wildfire when they were still in the shelters because of a shinobi who had talked too loudly.

When Itachi did not hear it, he was relieved. The Yondaime was a good man, he could change things. He could keep his clan from meeting a cursed fate. On the day of the funerals, he shot the Hokage and his wife a look. Naruto was in Kushina's arms, sleeping.

How much would change in him if he was raised by his parents and not as the village pariah?

Itachi kept looking around, his stomach twisting when he did not see Akane. She had to be alright though.

She had to. The Uchiha glanced at the pictures of the deceased. All had pictures except one, when there was only a name.

"Father, who is that person?" he asked his father.

He had isolated himself at first, from his parents and his own clan. Memories of what he had done kept flooding his mind, day and night as he would walk through the first house he remembered growing up in. He still was not okay, how would he be after all. Being surrounded by people he had killed to save Konoha before was nerve-wracking.

He would do better this time, and they would live. He would not let things reach the point of no-return, and with Minato alive, he had real hopes for peace this time.

"It is for Uzumaki Akiko, Kushina's cousin. She died that night. I believe you have met her daughter already," his father replied, looking at the mourning Uzumaki.

Oh, so that was how they had survived. Someone else died. His father did not say Akane had died though.

Reading the silent question in his eyes, his father continued.

"The girl is in the hospital. She is in shock and hardly responds to anyone." She was alive then.

Her being in shock was more than understandable though. Her mother had just died, not long after her brother so…

It was normal.

He would try to visit, hoping Shisui would drag him along so he would not go on his own. They were not well acquainted yet, visiting her on his own might just stress her out even more.

As expected, a few days later, as they were sparing, Shisui asked him if it was okay to cut their session short to go to the hospital. Itachi agreed and he stopped on the way to buy a maneki neko in chocolate. Shisui had raised a brow at him, and he had shrugged in response. Maneki nekos were symbols of good luck and Akane loved milk chocolate. Hopefully it would get some reactions out of her.

Itachi was surprised to see Kakashi in her room. He knew they knew each other but he did not know the extent of it. From Kakashi reading her story, he could see they were relatively close.

Akane had lost her bond with him by leaving Konoha back then.

"Senpai!" Kakashi looked back at them and closed his book.

"Oh, the little boyfriend." Shisui rubbed the back of his head, Itachi hiding his scowl behind his collar. "I guess I can leave for a few minutes." He got up and left, leaving his book on the nightstand. The Uchiha boys watched him leave, then looked at Akane. She was out of view, completely hidden under the bed covers.

"Akane, it's Shisui and Itachi," Shisui said, going to her bed. He patted the lump on the bed whereas he put his present on the nightstand.

"Don't rush her," he heard himself saying quietly to his best friend.

"I do…" Akane's hand left the covers, her finger pointing at Itachi's present.

"What is it?"

"Chocolate," he replied immediately. Her hand made a grabbing gesture and he put his present in it. It disappeared beneath the covers. There wasn't a sound for a few seconds and finally, she came out of the covers.

The dark circles and the paleness of her skin immediately caught his eyes. He had always known when she was neglecting her health and it had not changed.

"Thanks Itachi," she said quietly.

"How do you know I'm not the one who got it?" Shisui asked her, offended. She looked at him and showed the front of the present.

"It's too thoughtful for you." Shisui pouted at that, and he hid his smirk.

Shisui did most of the talking, on a mission to cheer her up. She would nod, sometimes smiled a little at one of his jokes but did not speak much. Neither did he. He accepted the piece of chocolate she handed him, Shisui complaining he wasn't getting any. He thanked her quietly and accepted it.

It was not the best chocolate there was in Konoha, he knew that, but this particular candy shop was the only one making various shapes and characters.

"Shisui, how is the Academy?"

"You're going?" She nodded and Itachi couldn't help but be happy.

The Academy was boring in his memories. It was easy and the kids there were not the brightest in terms of what was right or wrong. He had no interest in having those kids following him again, or girls watching from the window squealing his name.

He would have to see Izumi again. He had saved her again during the attack but seeing her was so weird. On their last encounter, he made her live a long, happy life where she got married and had children, grandchildren, all of that withhim. He was thirteen, he did not know better than to give her what she wanted. He wasn't sure if her feelings for him would have stayed with time, but she had thought highly of him for years and was his friend, so he…gave her that.

It did not feel right now as he had wanted the same thing with Akane.

They wouldmeet.

If Akane was going to the Academy, it would be less boring and he could rekindle their relationship, at least friendship. There would not be more than friendship for at least a decade, but as long as she was part of his life again, he would wait. Last time, she had been the one doing most of the talking. Now things were different…maybe she would not be interested in being his friend.

He was secretly hoping they could be friends through Shisui, he was the extraverted one after all.

"I don't know. They don't tell me a lot of things about…what's going to happen to me."

"Well, they're going to keep you, obviously!" Shisui retorted, standing up. "Where would you go otherwise?" She shrugged, the piece of chocolate between her fingers slowly melting.

"Don't know, don't care." She put the chocolate and her fingers in her mouth.

"Akane…"

"Do you want us to leave you alone Akane-san?" he asked her as gently as possible. She nodded without looking at him.

"Thank you for the present."

"It was nothing."

He sincerely hoped she would leave the hospital quickly. She looked too small and fragile in that bed to his taste.

I spent a month in the hospital after Mom's death. The doctors said I had suffered from an important emotional trauma that threw me in an almost apathetic state. The thing was, I was fully aware of what was happening around me and could talk if I wanted to. I did, with Shisui and Itachi because they were kids, there would not be talks about anything too important.

The emotional trauma part was true though. With Mom's death, the whole life I had had for a month was thrown into my face. I had summoned the Shinigami and died. I would never go home. I would never see them again. My mom was dead once more and…

I bit my bottom lip. I vividly remembered how Minato just hugged Kushina and Naruto tighter when I looked at him, broken from having witnessed my mother's death. It broke something in me.

He had died when I was five before and the memories of him were of someone loving and who cared about me, protected me. Here…he hugged his family.

Maybe it was selfish of me to want him or Kushina to comfort me when they had a newborn with them but…I had wanted to. Because I had lived with them for months at that point and they were Aunty and Oji-chan, they…they took care of me because I was family.

I couldn't help but feel rejected. Maybe it was the case, now that Naruto was there, they didn't have to play the foster parents to me and…

I had been silly to think of them as family. The family I had in them died so long ago. Them now…who would raise Naruto they…they were not my family. Or more like, I was not their family.

I would be the parasite mooching off them until I could fend for myself. Oji-chan and Aunty had died, and I had not gotten them back. I had gotten Kushina-san and Minato-san instead.

It was the only thing I could think of as they took me back to their place. I was surprised to see Jiraya-san there, his white hair making him easily recognizable.

"Here we meet again little cutie!" I blinked at him, my hands on the straps of my bag. I had vague memories of meeting him once or twice but…nothing more.

"Jiraya-sensai, have you succeeded in contacting Tsunade-sama?" Minato-san asked him immediately. Jiraya-san, who had crouched in front of me to grin at me, nodded and stood up.

"Yes. She sends her condolences. She agrees to give you the guardianship of the kid."

"I'm more closely related to her than Tsunade-sama, it's normal," Kushina-san pipped in, carrying Naruto with one arm.

"Well, knowing Akane's connection to Mito-sama, it could have been overlooked. It's a good thing not many people know." Mito?

"Akane." I looked at Minato-san. It seemed like he struggled to look at me now as he always had something off in his eyes when they would be on me. He smiled, but it seemed fake. "We have things to discuss, let's go to the table."

We did, Naruto in a bassinet.

"From now on, Aunty and I are going to be your legal guardians," the Yondaime stated. "You will keep living with us like before…" he trailed off, shooting the table a quick look. Kushina-san took my hand beneath the table. "Next spring, you will enroll at the Academy to become a kunoichi." I looked down.

I had been a kunoichi, a long time ago, in Kiri. In the span of two years, I had gone from nothing to almost Anbu if it was not for Shisui getting me when I was on my way back from the mission. I had all of the Bloody Mist shinobi code in mind. It was the opposite of Konoha's.

I hated it but…I guess I couldn't avoid it. There would be wars, the Akatsuki, all of that…I guess it was my life goal now, that I knew about it, to do something about it as soon as possible.

"You're going to go by the name 'Uzumaki' now. Your parents had changed it when they fled the Hidden Mist but…here, having you with this last name will help you integrate better. Naruto also has it." I raised curious eyes to him.

"But you're not Uzumaki."

"I am the Hokage, I have made many enemies during the war. It will be safer for him not to have my last name when he'll go in foreign territories."

"Iwa would not miss him," the Sannin added.

"…for instance."

"Mito," I whispered. "You mentioned…Mito…"

"Yes, she's your great-grandaunt," Kushina-san informed me kindly. I widened my eyes and looked at her. She chuckled a little. "Do you know who she is?"

"The Shodai's wife."

"It makes you Tsunade's distant cousin," Jiraya-san added. "If the Elders knew about it, they could think it's more important than your relationship with Kushina, at least that's what she told me when I saw her last week. She also said these two were a better choice to raise you than she was." He was not wrong.

Still…I had no idea I was…it had to be on Dad's side. It meant Hashirama was my great granduncle though. This…was unexpected.

"Do I have to be a kunoichi?" I asked them.

"I wish I could say 'no' to that Akane," Minato-san replied. "But there are people in Konoha, like you have seen a few months ago, who could try to make you work for them because of your potential. If you're a kunoichi and under my orders…you would be more protected." I guess…it made sense.

Danzou had not waited long before trying to get me into his Foundation or whatever after all, all of that while I was not even an permanent resident of the Hidden Leaf.

"What else?"

"Nothing, that's…all…" I nodded and left the chair.

"Thank you, Kushina-san, Minato-san. Jiraya-san, nice to see you again." He raised his hand with a grin.

"Sure thing cutie!" I ignored the worried look Kushina-san and Minato-san exchanged and went to my room.

I needed to know what the rules for genin were to live on their own.

I needed to know what a Yuurei was.

Chapter 3: Academy Arc: Chapter 1

Chapter Text

I did not talk much. I would follow Kushina-san when she wanted me to go out with Naru and her, or I would go train with Kakashi when he was available. He was…strangely available for me. Maybe he was afraid I might turn like him after he had lost his father. He was a lot kinder than I remembered him to be at that age.

The only thing I would be interested in at the house was baby Naru. His birthday had become my mother's death date, but I could not resent him. He was a cute, innocent baby who had no idea of what had happened when he was born, or that him and his mom each had a half of Kyuubi. After three months, when he was moved to his crib in his room, before Minato-san's study, I started to climb in his crib with him. I wasn't really sure of myself at first because of my weight, but it did not break.

It was easier to calm Naru down when he was crying than picking him up with my size. Minato-san was still the Hokage, so working for the whole day and would try his best to be there at night for his baby, but the rest of the day, it was Kushina-san who took care of Naru, and me. With post-partum and Mom's death, she was clearly struggling.

It was strange. In my memories, they both knew what to do. Now, I could clearly see Kushina-san and Minato-san were still so, so young, just twenty-four and already had so much to do. It was a wonder how they did not fight more often. Not that they had the strength to do so anyway.

I had been twenty-two and half when the twins were born and if it was not for Sasuke sticking around, and then Kakashi and Naruto helping, I would have lost it.

"I thought I'd find you here," Kushina-san said as she entered the room. I was in Naru's crib, my hand on his belly. "Get down." I did. The last thing I wanted was to be an issue to them.

As soon as I could, I was out of here and in my studio apartment.

I raised my brows at Kushina-san when I heard voices downstairs.

"It's Naru's first playdate today!" she informed me, the grin on her lips contrasting with her dark circles.

"Playdate?"

"Yes! Miko-chan is downstairs with her boys, let's join them!" She took my hand and dragged me behind her.

As she had said, Mikoto-san was there, with Itachi and baby Sasuke. The Uchiha matriarch smiled when she saw us, gazing at Naruto in glee.

"He really did escape the red hair," she commented with a teasing smirk.

"Miko-chan!"

"Hello Akane-chan."

"Hello," I replied shyly. Mikoto-san was a very pretty woman, no wonder her sons were the lookers they were.

Itachi was looking around.

"I was thinking, we could let Itachi and Akane-chan watch the babies so we can talk."

"I'm not sure Miko-chan, Naruto is only three month-and-a-half and…" Mikoto-san put her hand on Kushina's arm.

"It is okay. Itachi is great with Sasuke, I am certain he can handle Naruto as well. Right?" She glanced at her son, who nodded without a world. He was the one carrying Sasuke after all. Kushina-san was hesitating, so I stretched out my arms to her.

"Are you sure Akane?" I nodded and ultimately, she gave in with a sigh and gave me her son. "Go to the nursery, there is a carpet and blankets and…" I nodded again.

"Follow me Itachi," I said to the kid, and we went up the stairs.

Both babies were quickly on their tummy on a blanket, Sasuke obviously having done it before. He was six-month-and-a-half after all. Naru was rolling from front and back while Sasuke was sitting against his brother, staring at me and Naru.

"You're good with him." I shot Itachi a look as I was gently rubbing my cousin's back. He was smiling gently at me.

"Thanks." I smiled at Sasuke, who blinked. "He's calm."

"He can be very loud too," he replied fondly, looking at his brother. "Right Sasuke?" Sasuke giggled at his brother, flapping his arms around. I smiled fondly.

I never had the opportunity to see them act as brothers, or even together…it was nice.

"Are you going to the Academy in April then Akane-san?" I nodded.

"Stop the '-san' please." I swore he smirked behind his collar.

After maybe half an hour, Naruto pooped in his diaper and started crying. I pinched my nose at the smell. Changing him was not my favorite to do and I shot Itachi a quick look. His eyes darted between Naruto and I and he shook his head. I pouted my lips and for a fraction of a second, his eyes reminded me of old Itachi when I'd do the same and he'd kiss me to make me stop.

"Meanie," I mumbled before changing Naruto. Once it was done, he gave me a hug.

"It looks like you have done it often before." I stiffened.

"I…have some experience," I replied hesitantly. In the span of a second, his eyes brightened then darkened before he was back to normal. I kissed Naru's cheek, which made him giggle.

It was a little awkward until they left. Itachi…he was weird. There was something off about him and I wasn't sure I loved it.

He was ninety percent sure it was the Akane he knew. A lot of things had happened since the Kyuubi attack. Naruto and Sasuke would have playdates and his mother had not lost her best friend, for one. The Uchiha clan was still relocated on the outskirts of the village, but his father was different. He even met the Hokage face to face one day as he was going home, still discussing with his father as he was leaving. Minato had asked him how he was with a smile, and if he was excited to start at the Academy.

He really was not, but he had little choice. He had to graduate to be a shinobi.

The Uchihas were still under suspicions, but his father was close to the Hokage now apparently. It was good, at least he hoped so.

The first day of school arrived quickly. He would spend his days trying to get back to his level, even if he knew it would take years with his body still growing, so months flew by quickly. He spotted Akane with Kushina-san, reading the list.

"Morning," his mother greeted them, pushing him gently before her. His father was quiet behind his wife, Sasuke in his arms, much like Naruto was in Kushina's.

"Miko-chan!" She narrowed her eyes at his father. "You." Itachi blinked and shot his father a look, who sighed and waved off his silent question.

He knew very little about the kind of relationship his father had with Kushina-san after all.

"Itachi-kun, you're in class A," Kushina informed them. He looked at Akane, who returned his glance with a bored one.

"Class B." He could not hide his disappointment. He had hoped to use class to get closer to her, but they were not in the same one.

"There are two classes?" his father asked the Uzumaki, who nodded.

"Minato decided to split it so that kids can have more time to properly learn everything. They both have twenty students."

"Oh I see," his mother said. She looked down at him and Akane. "Well, you can still see each other at recess."

His mother and Kushina-san both got in their head to make them befriend each other. Kushina had approached him once when she was over at their place and told him she was afraid Akane would stay alone and that if he could be her friend, it would be great.

He didn't need her to ask to do just that, but the fact she asked him…made him a little worried. On the outside, she seemed fine if not reserved, which he had seen when she was thinking deeply about something. It did not look like grief though, at least not anymore.

They went in the ranks when Minato was about to make his speech. His eyes would look at Akane, who looked bored. Then, he spotted Izumi behind, who waved and grinned at him.

He had done such a good job at avoiding her until then, but he could not anymore. He just hoped he would do a good job at hiding his shame around her.

Not being in Itachi's class was a relief. Being in Hyuuga Kou's was hell. For him, of course. I had known him; it was hard not to when he was so close to Hinata and I was Naruto's big sis after all. I loved annoying him and when I sat down next to him in class, I almost snickered to myself.

That would get my mind off…other things.

Nothing much happened since the attack. Minato-san was doing his Hokage stuff, Kushina-san was taking care of Naru and Naru was being an unbothered baby. I still would train with Kakashi or on my own, trying to get my chakra control back. I was a Seal Master before, and my theoretical knowledge was still there. Without chakra control, it was meaningless though.

Basically, I was going through all of my skills to see which one were okay and which one were for later. I still had no idea of what a Yuurei was, except it was what I was called, I guess. However, I was sure Mito must have had known what it was. Maybe there were stuff in her belongings somewhere, only God knew how Konoha's library was…generic, let's say.

There was no way I would get access to Mito's stuff though. I was six in a few days and barely at the Academy. When I asked Kushina-san if I would be able to learn more about our clan's techniques, she said that, due to their nature, it would wait until I was at least a chuunin.

I could very well be myself and be mistaken for a prodigy and become a chuunin quickly. There was one, well two, issues though. Prodigies, in Konoha, were preys. I knew about Danzou, if I showed too much…skills, he'd try to get me to his side, Hokage's ward or not. If anything, it might make him slyer. However, I had forgotten about the snake still lurking in Konoha's shadows.

Minato-san had taken me shopping for my first day of school. We met Orochimaru. I froze at his sight. Orochimaru was a nukenin to me, had always been and was bad, bad, bad news. I had not grown up in Konoha, so I had forgotten that he had defected when I was around ten. I joined Kiri at eleven and it was relatively new still, and Yagura had not liked knowing this snake was in the wild.

Well, Yagura, Obito, whatever.

The point was, I would rather stay under Orochimaru's radar as well. Although, Jiraya-san knew my mom, and dad, so Orochimaru also knew them, I was sure. Which meant, he probably knew, or suspected, I was their daughter, maybe. I hoped not.

Basically, if I made too much noise, they would have their eyes on me, and it was the last thing I wanted.

Classes were boring. History classes were nothing new, theory was…a joke and…yeah, everything was boring, and we would not start sparing until the second semester.

I did not see much of Itachi. It was fine by me. I would hear of Itachi though. The 'Itachi-kun' the girls would scream annoyed me to no end. Here I was, trying to eat my lunch quietly on the roof when I'd hear them squealing.

The worst was, the first time, I peeked to see if he was doing something special. No, he was walking. He spotted me looking at him and I hid quickly. There was no way I was getting involved with him with fangirls like them.

"You have the wrong answer," I whispered to Kou after a week of school. He glanced at me briefly, then my sheet of paper and scoffed. I was skipping some questions on purpose, answering the easier ones.

"Worry about your own work Uzumaki." I shrugged, my chin in my hand.

"Your loss Kou."

The next day, when Gou-sensei handed us the papers back, Kou glared at his paper. I glanced at the correction. The answer I had told him was wrong was, surprisingly, well wrong.

"Told you," I whispered, knowing it would piss him off.

"You…" he started, only to attract the teacher's eyes.

"Yes Hyuuga-kun?" Kou flushed in shame and shook his head.

"Nothing, I'm sorry." Gou-sensei shot my smirking face a look and I looked away.

Whatever the age, being noticed for bad reasons by a teacher did not feel good. Not that I had ever been to an actual school before, but well.

When the bell rang for lunch, I went to the roof as usual, lunch in hand. It didn't take long for Kou to find me as I had my chopsticks in my mouth.

"How!? Your test was..how!?" I swallowed my food. "Are you failing on purpose!?"

"I'm not failing, I'm being average," I corrected him, going back to my lunch.

"Why? If you can be better, then why don't you do it?"

"Talent gets you attention," I replied simply, handing him an onigiri. "It's umeboshi." He just stared for maybe a minute before sitting down, accepting my offering.

"You're ruining your talent." I stretched my arms above my head and crossed my hands behind it.

"I'm too unbothered to care about my talent." I looked up at the sky, the clouds softly blown by the wind.

And you know what? Somehow, we started to hang out together at school. I couldn't deny it felt nice not to eat alone. Sure, Kou was a kid, had the mind of a kid and all, but he was from the Main Branch of the Hyuuga clan. Clan kids were another brand of kids.

Itachi was frustrated. As he had expected, the Academy was boring and annoying. Being surrounded by children his age the first time around was not necessarily a 'good' experience, neither were the girls screaming his name. He had all of that again and he could barely see Akane. She was in another class and when school was over, she'd go home immediately, sometimes with Kakashi-san. He had thought about lunchtime, but the split of seconds he had crossed her gaze was enough to make him understand he would not be welcomed.

The girls screaming his name were probably making her antisocial nature come back to the surface. Yet, a month after the beginning of class, he saw she was not alone anymore, but with a Hyuuga. They were speaking in hushed voices as they were going to the shooting range with their class.

It was great if she was making friends. He just would prefer if it was him and not some random Hyuuga boy.

The one good thing was that he could watch Sasuke grow up again and be more present this time around. He could, would, be a better big brother and not set him on a path leading him to self-destruction.

As he was watching Akane playing with him, Naruto sleeping next to them as he was doing his homework, it was all he could think about. Give Sasuke a better, happier life.

"He's not crying." Akane looked at him. Even if they did not see each other at school, they would at her house sometimes, for playdates.

"He never cries when I pick him up." Itachi furrowed his brows. "Once I met your mom in the street and she asked me to keep him while she went in a store. He wasn't crying, he'd just stare at me. Then he pulled my hair."

"Sasuke is usually picky about who holds him." She shrugged, moving the baby closer to her face with a grin.

"You just love Nee-chan, don't you Sasuke?" He pulled on her hair. "Ha Itachi, help!" Sasuke had a strong grip, but he managed to make him let go. "Come on, I don't want to be bald." He chuckled. "So not funny."

"It is, a little." He let Sasuke crawl around. "Akane."

"Hum?"

"Do you avoid me at school?" he asked her seriously. She blinked slowly.

"Yeah." He was not expecting her to be that blunt.

"You're rude."

"The truth doesn't care if I'm rude or not." It was in those moments where he was sure she was not a child. "I like my peace and quiet, you attract the opposite."

"Oh." He couldn't hide he was disappointed. She raised a curious brow at him.

"You want to eat lunch with Kou and I?" He felt his ears heating up. "Huh…I guess if you can lose the screaming girls I don't mind?" His eyes brightened at that.

"Really?" She nodded slowly, taken back by his enthusiasm. "Thank you."

"You're welcome? I didn't think you cared about socializing."

"I don't mind it," he said in a whisper.

The more time he'd spend with her, the more opportunities he would have to ask her if…she was like him. He still had no idea how it happened, but if there was someone to share this with…

In all honesty, he wouldn't want to share this with anyone but her.

A few days later, he slipped out of class when the bell rang for lunch and went to the roof. Kou was surprised to see him, but Akane jumped to her feet to check the hallway behind him.

"Okay, we're clear," she stated, closing the door.

"Of course it is," he replied calmly. She shrugged.

"There's nothing wrong with double-checking It…you." He raised a brow. "You never know who's listening. I don't want to summon anyone."

"Huh…what's going on?" They looked at Kou. "You know the prodigy of our promotion?"

"Yes, I didn't want to be associated with him at school because of the 'Itachi-kun!' girls." Hearing her use a high-pitched voice to imitate the squealing girls was sadly on point. And out of character.

But it was progress.

"How's your shurikenjutsu?" I almost choked on my omelet.

"Below average," Kou replied smoothly. I wouldn't say Itachi and him didn't like each other, but it was…awkward. Maybe it was because of the whole Hyuuga and Uchiha thing. They were civil to each other; it was all that mattered.

"Hey!" I glared at Itachi when I realized he had turned around to chuckle. "Not funny!"

I was getting better at shurikenjutsu, and it was something Shisui would not let me forget when we'd hang out. It would happen less now I'd spend my days at school, but it would. I would spar with Kakashi most of the time.

Which was the reason why my clothes were often dirty. He loved throwing me around.

"Kakashi!" I whined like the kid I looked like. He put his foot down.

"Don't let me kick you down then." I really hoped by the time I was a genin I would be a challenge to him.

It was so frustrating to know how to fight but not being able to because my body was not following my brain.

"You're already above genin-level Akane, you can chill out on the training you know." I deadpanned at him.

"You're the one to tell me this?" He sighed and jumped to sit on a tree breanch, moving his hand to indicate me to do the same. I did, limping though. I had a great view of the pool of mud I had created. I could use the Wild Water Wave Technique now, which was a beginning.

As a Hyouton user, my chakra would naturally change to an equal amount of Wind-natured and Water-natured chakra. I had always been more comfortable with Water though. The most I could do with Wind was to sharpen my katana blade and the High Wind Technique, where two gusts of wind would grow on my sides and dive forward.

Anyway, the ground was soaked because of me.

"Are you okay?"

"I guess, why?"

"You're…different." I looked down, rocking my legs back and forth in the air. "I'm not talking about your speech; I knew you were able to speak like that and you just didn't do it. Why the sudden interest in fighting?" I shrugged.

"I can't lose control of my ice again."

"You have time. You look like you're in a rush." I frowned at him.

"I thought you graduated when you were my age." He pinched my nose, keeping me from breathing.

"Do as I say, not as I do," he reprimanded me, letting go of my nose when I opened my mouth to breath. "How is it at home?" I shrugged.

I tried to be home the least possible. The only…person I was interested in interacting with was Naru, and now he'd giggle when he'd see me, so I'd carry him. He was so important in all of our futures so…I had to watch over him. Mom asked me to watch over him.

I did not hate Kushina-san and Minato-san though. I just…had no interest in pretending I was their six-year-old relative. They were more roommates than anything else to be honest, and it was weird.

"I am not going to lie, sensei asked me to make you talk." I looked up at him, confused. He sighed. "Both him and Kushina-san are very worried about you. They say you're dissociating or something and that it started after Akiko-san…" He didn't finish.

"Die?" I finished for him, not blinking an eye. "It's what happened, no need to walk on eggshells around me. Mom died, like Onii-chan."

"See, it's the way you're talking about such a subject that is worrisome."

"What am I supposed to do? Wail all of the time because I want my mom?" I retorted quietly.

In all honesty, I had lost my mother when I was sixteen. Now everything was back to being calm, I had realized seeing her everyday for a month was weirder than not having her around. I had a breakdown following the Kyuubi attack but now…I was good with not having her around.

I felt incredibly guilty because I felt responsible for her death, but…I was okay. It was weirder to wake up and have Kushina-san making breakfast for all of us.

"No, of course not but…you could not be grieving properly." I blinked at him. "I…lost my father when I was five and I struggled for a long time after that. I don't want you to do the same." I smiled faintly at him.

"I'm really okay Kakashi-san." I pursed my lips. "Can I just call you Kakashi?" He nodded. "Did they tell you why he never talked to me about my ice?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"He didn't?" I shook my head. "I thought he…never mind. I'm sure he doesn't want to overwhelm you." Huh, maybe, who knew.

"They're busy with Naru too you know," I said. "I can handle myself just fine."

"I don't think you realize how 'handling yourself' is complicated when you're a kid." I shrugged.

"When I'm genin, I'm moving out." He widened his eye. "I'm not part of their family."

"Is that why you call them by their name?" I nodded.

"They're not my aunt and uncle. Kushina-san is a distant cousin and Minato-san her husband."

"He's your godfather."

"Verbally only." I tilted my head on the side. "Do you have what you were looking for?" He sighed.

"Yes."

"What are you going to tell them?"

"That you're okay." We both jumped down and I winced when my foot touched the ground. "Your ankle?"

"Your fault!" I jumped on his back.

"How is school by the way? Sensei told me he was surprised to not…hear anything from your teachers." I furrowed my brows. "Isn't it…too easy?"

"Oh, that. Yes. He doesn't have to worry, I'm staying average." Kakashi nodded, a harsher glint in his eye.

"Friends?"

"I hang out with Kou. And Itachi for lunchtime."

"The Hyuuga I saw you with at school and an Uchiha? It's a funny combination." I leaned my cheek on his shoulder.

"If you say so." I knew it was but…I couldn't care less.

Kakashi took me home, putting me in the couch before Kushina-san put an ice pack on my ankle.

"How hard are you two training exactly?" she asked Kakashi, her fists on her hips.

"I kick her down." Kushina-san's brow twitched. "But she is fine!"

"Actually I'm in incredible pain," I corrected him with a smirk. "Aouch."

"Cut the cr…" He was hit on the head with a spatula.

"Language Kakashi!" He left promptly, knowing he wouldn't win.

Naruto, who was playing on the floor, stretched his arm at me. Kushina-san gave him to me when she was I was struggling to move without moving the ice. I sat against the armrest of the couch, Naruto standing on my thighs.

"Kushina-san, did Mom leave anything for me?" She was startled and glanced at me. "I mean, clan things."

"Oh. Yes. There is a summoning scroll among other things. Why?"

"Can I have them?" She furrowed her brows. Her chopsticks stopped stirring her meal.

"Minato and I agreed on giving them to you progressively. Some of them are high-level things even I had forgotten about."

"I didn't agree."

"We thought it would be better for you Akane."

"Did you wait until you were a genin to have access to the Uzumaki knowledge?" She frowned.

"No but…it was different."

"How? I'm a foreigner trying to connect with my roots like you were." It seemed to strike a chord and she went back to her cooking.

"I can teach you Fuinjutsu if you want to, but for further knowledge you will have to be a genin. Even I didn't have everything at once." I looked at Naru's grin with a thoughtful look.

"Okay." I saw her raise her head. "If you have time to teach me, I'd like it." Baby Naru slapped me, still giggling. His mother turned around with a hopeful grin, the chopsticks dripping on the carpet.

"Really?" I nodded, Naru trying to put his fist in my mouth. "You won't regret it kitten, I'm way better than Minato!" She had stopped using 'baby' as a nickname for me once Naruto was born.

She would call me 'kitten' occasionally, though.

Even if I didn't see them as family, it wouldn't hurt to get training from experts.

Chapter 4: Academy Arc: Chapter 2

Chapter Text

"You're teaching her Fuinjutsu?" Minato-san repeated, his bowl of rice in his hands. Kushina-san just grinned, puffing her chest.

"Looks like someone finally realized I was the Master here and you are only a student!" She crossed her arms and nodded to herself. "Yup, just a student dattebane!" Minato-san looked down at me, who was eating quietly.

"Are you sure Akane? I mean…" I raised a brow at him, but Kushina-san answered before I could.

"You meanwhat, Minato?"

"She's more available than you are." Minato-san twitched at that. "And when you're here, you should focus on Naru, or sleeping."

"I…I mean, sure but…I can make time to teach you Fuinjutsu too."

"Kushina-san suggested to teach me and I said 'yes' already." I furrowed my brows. "She is good, right?"

"Of course she is!" he stated immediately. I could feel Kushina-san's dark aura behind me. "She's awesome. It's just…I'm the Hokage and…"

"So it means you're better than me dattebane?"

"I didn't say that Kushina, just…I thought I'd teach her the Hiraishin at some point." I stopped my chopsticks in front of my opened mouth and Kushina-san leaned on the back of my chair.

"Really?" He nodded sheepishly.

"And by teaching Akane Fuinjutsu, I could…direct her in the right direction…"

"Oh plea…"

"You really want to teach it to me?" I interrupted Kushina-san. Minato-san smiled faintly and nodded.

"Of course. You have a promising future in Fuinjutsu, you could expand it in ways I haven't thought of yet." I ate the rice between my chopsticks.

"Was it before or after you asked Kakashi to question me about my life?" He widened his eyes, and I knew Kushina-san did the same.

"He sold us out, didn't he?" I shrugged.

"I don't think he wants to be a messenger." The Yondaime sighed.

"I am sorry Akane, I know we should have…talked to you immediately but…"

"I'm sorry." They looked at me. "I'm sorry if I'm not easy to live with." Kushina-san pushed her chair and knelt next to me, turning me toward her.

"It's okay Akane, take your time." She hugged me. I just stood there before patting her on the back awkwardly.

Talking with Minato-san just now had been the most we had talked in a long time. I had not actively sought physically contact with any of them since Mom died. It was weird…but didn't feel bad.

"Can you…just explain to us why you have suddenly started to call us by our names?" I tilted my head on my shoulder.

"You're not my aunt and my uncle." Kushina-san pulled me back, the expression on her face obviously one of hurt. "You're a cousin and Minato-san is your husband." Now only her hands were on my shoulders.

"Sure but…"

"I am grateful for taking me in, but we're not closely related or anything." I stood up and put my used utensils in the sink. "Thanks for the meal." I went to my room and closed the door behind me.

I didn't want to be mean, nor rude but…Oji-chan and Aunty died years ago and they…they were not them. If they were…then when Mom died he…

Minato-san would have come to comfort me, right? If I really was close family, he would have followed me before Kakashi could.

I sighed, reading through a scroll Minato-san had made for me not long ago here about Fuinjutsu. Maybe I was resenting him a little for that. Maybe I resented him for…not being my Oji-chan when I needed him. I understood though, I guess. He had almost lost his wife and newborn so…staying with them was normal.

I guess.

My first lesson with Kushina-san happened a few days later, during the weekend. It was always interesting to have another take on Fuinjutsu. The issue was…I knew everything she was saying.

I was older than both her and Minato-san after all. The Yondaime could kick my butt any day, Kushina-san too if she were to use Kurama, but as a Seal Master, I had more experience than them. And I also had more knowledge regarding…how the world came to be.

I'd go with old Sasuke sometimes to decipher things from the Otsutsuki Clan. It was close to old fuin, that I had to learn about a long time ago.

"It's…very good Akane." I looked up at her, then my seal. It was a simple Explosive Seal. She took it and inspected it with a frown. "It's not even a neutral one, you've made it so it worked with your chakra only." In my defense, I had learned how to make neutral Explosive Seal, like those you'd buy in weapon shops, after a personalized one.

Some stuff from my parents and grandmother, the Uzumaki side on my dad's side, had remained Kiri's property. Once I had learned to do that, I started to look for a way to put them on gloves and push the explosion forward instead of the seal just blowing up.

I could make Explosive Seals with my hands and feet. It was a big part of my fighting style in the Bloody Mist. It was graphic too. I could make Storage Seals out of my hands and feet too.

I could no longer do that though. I couldn't really use my Explosive Gloves either because my chakra level and control did not match the one I had as a chuunin yet. At first I was annoyed, before remembering that despite being taken to Kiri at eleven, Mom had never stopped training me in chakra control and Fuinjutsu. My body was lacking six years of chakra control training and it sucked, but I knew exactly how to make it better and how it felt when it was getting better.

"Come." I followed her outside and she put the explosive tag on a rock before taking a few steps back. "Go on." I made the tiger seal and the tag blew up, blowing up the rock as well, sending pebbles everywhere. I caught one going to my face easily, which Kushina-san noticed.

"What?" She shook her head.

"Nothing."

Even if I did my best to act life a kid…I wasn't going to pretend I remembered what I could and couldn't do when I was six, and what I was supposed to know how to do after three months at the Academy.

I knew I had slipped a few times, so I tried to think about it the less possible. In Kiri, I was specialized in infiltration for goodness's sake, pretending to be someone else to gather information was something I had done, although not much because I left at thirteen, but still, it was disappointing.

Mei-sensei would be disappointed.

"At least we're going to have fun during your Summer vacations!" I gasped and put my hand on my mouth. "What is it?"

"I forgot to give you a paper for school!" I ran back inside and climbed to my room. I rummaged through my bad and pulled the crumbled paper from it. Kushina-san was at the doorway and read the paper when I gave it to her.

"A camping trip after the vacations?" I nodded. "Do you want to do it?" I nodded again. "Alright, give me a pen."

The next day, when we gave the papers back to the teacher, he cleared his throat.

"Alright, you guys will be with Class A for the coming trip. I have not discussed what happens once you are genin yet, but you are put in teams of three under the commands of a jounin-sensei. As it is the first year, you will be able to choose your partners in all freshmen with whom you'll work during the trip."

"My brother didn't have that!" a kid from the Yamanaka clan said.

"It is normal. This is something the Hokage has established for this year. He hopes this will improve your teamwork with whoever you are paired with for once you are a genin." Huh, good thinking Minato-san.

The ninja Academy was a joke. Their curriculum was too much theory.

"As first years, you can choose your teams. Next year as well, but it will be in winter. Then it will be a lucky draw."

"Did you know about this?" Kou asked me quietly. He didn't care about me being the Hokage's goddaughter and didn't try to use me to get things.

A few had tried to approach me to get things but…well, let's say I had gotten myself the nickname of 'Ice Queen', which was quite ironic as I lived with the Red-Hot-Blooded Habanero.

There was no way in hell people would use me to reach Minato-san.

Although, I couldn't help but chuckle sometimes. I had been the Fourth Mizukage's apprentice and people hated me for it and the favoritism I received, even if Yagura was all too happy to beat me up even when I couldn't fight anymore. Now I was the Fourth Hokage's protegee and people were sucking up to me, or at least trying to, to reach him.

"We don't talk about his job." Since we had talked last time, he seemed to be happy to…not ignore me but…

He looked sad when I was around before. Maybe I had been harsh after all, saying I didn't view him as my uncle but…it was true. Even if he saw me as the kid he had known since she was two.

When the bell rang for lunch, Kou and I went to the rooftop, as always. We filled in our papers for the team, leaving the last spot blank.

"Do you think he'll want to be with us?" the Hyuuga asked me, opening his bento.

"Who knows?"

"I do." I blinked and looked up, like Kou. Itachi was on the roof of the room the stairs were in and he jumped down to our level. "Please."

"Are you sweating?" Itachi sighed and sat down.

"Let me guess, the moment the teacher said we'd choose our teams, your popularity caused your downfall," I said idly, a small smirk at the corner of my lips. Itachi glared weakly at me.

"It's not funny."

"I'm just surprised you're not deaf," Kou commented. I chuckled and, very maturely, Itachi threw the rice between his chopsticks at me.

"Dude!" He looked away, eating as if he had not done anything. Kou was living for those kinds of exchanges though.

Itachi was too comfortable with me. He should respect his elders. Even normally, I was six weeks older than he was.

"Is there a team leader or something?" I asked the boys.

"Not on the paper, but there usually are in genin teams," Itachi informed me.

"Itachi-kun!" I blinked at the girl voice. A girl opened the door, looked around and smiled when she saw Itachi was indeed here. She had a beauty mark below her right eye, long brown hair and her purple shirt had a high collar.

Uchiha then. I didn't even need to see the crest on their back or the Sharingan. The collars were enough. They were dumb, and ugly.

"Oh, sorry to…interrupt…" she trailed off, noticing me. I nodded at her as a form of greeting and kept eating. "Itachi-kun, do you have a team?"

"Yes. Sorry Izumi." Izumi blinked and smiled, clearly disappointed.

"It's okay." She looked at both Kou and I, taken back by Kou's eyes, and walked up to us. "My name is Uchiha Izumi, nice to meet you!" She bowed; her hands clasped in front of her.

"Hyuuga Kou."

"Uzumaki Akane." She twitched at that.

"Like Uzumaki Kushina?" I nodded without thinking and she knelt next to me. "So, you're the Ice Queen people whisper about!" I sweat dropped.

"Ice Queen?" Itachi repeated, confused.

"Ice Queen," Kou confirmed. "It started in our class; I thought it stayed in it."

"Oh no, Kanade-chan told Miyu-chan, who told Saya-chan who told Kimi-chan who told me!" I had no idea who these people were. "So, how is she?"

"Who?"

"Kushina-sama! I'm growing my hair long to be like her! How is she in real life?" I was taken back.

"Izumi, you're overwhelming her." She blinked and glanced at Itachi, then at me and she realized how I was trying to put distance between us.

"Oh sorry!" She stayed with us for the entire lunch. I wasn't…necessarily pleased by it. Like I had said, I liked my peace and quiet and Izumi talked a lot.

The thing was, Itachi did not seem pleased either, even embarrassed when she would call him 'Itachi-kun'.

Weird. She was his cousin, right? Even with…the obvious, creepy crush but…oh wait, it was normal to marry among your clan in most places. Never mind then.

When I was eating ramen at Ichiraku with Shisui later, he nodded.

"Izumi does have a crush on Itachi and it is creepy to marry within your clan," he said, putting his bowl down. "I was raised being told I'd marry a cousin one day, and it's weird. I mean, the girl can't take my last name if we have the same already, right?" I slurped my noodles.

"Sure."

"Heh, are you jealous that there is another girl in Itachi's life?" I deadpanned at him.

"Do you know how many fans he has at school? I don't want one of them to hang out with us at lunch."

"Does he have that many?" I nodded and he leaned his cheek in his palm. "I never had fans at school."

"Tough luck buddy."

"Does it mean the Hyuuga boy has a crush on you?"

"Kou? No, I don't think so. When he says he wants to beat me, I can hear the sincerity of his words." He laughed.

"You guys seem to be having fun, I'm almost jealous! And you even have a camping trip, I didn't have that."

"Three days of pure fun," I droned.

"Come on, show some enthusiasm."

"I'm at my best right now." He got his second bowl and quickly ate it.

"Is it better at home?" I twirled my noodles.

"It's going. Not better or worse."

"Do you really want to move out when you're a genin?" I nodded. He sighed. "Alright, I'll go get this information for you. If my mom hears I'm looking at apartments though, she'll kill me, and I'll blame you entirely."

"Deal." We shook hands. "Teuchi-san! Put this on Uzumaki Kushina's tab!" I grabbed Shisui's hand and ran off.

"No money?"

"No money!" I replied with a grin as I could hear Teuchi complaining Kushina-san was coming a lot less now.

The summer was quiet. Akane had come once with Kushina-san and Naruto to visit them. She had been looking all around her, asking his mother if there was another room behind the one they were in. She was shocked at the size of their house. Itachi had always thought it was too big for four people anyway. Sure, they could have their space easily, but a lot of it was empty or just with a few pieces of furniture in them when they were never used.

It had been weird to see her there, just like it was weird to see her with his mom or interacting with his brother. After so many playdates with Naruto and Sasuke, his brother ended up squealing when he'd see both Uzumakis, crawling so that Akane would pick him up. She would always do, grinning at him.

They would grow up to be close. Not just Sasuke and Akane, but the four of them, which made it even harder to picture another possible coup. His mother and Kushina-san were friends, to think one would betray the other…it made him sick.

He had not been noticed as a prodigy yet, he was just top of his classes. He was not sure if he wanted to graduate in a year this time. If he did not, would Tenma die as well by Madara's hand though? Or would Shinko be alright? If he could, he wanted to prevent Tenma from dying but…

The thought of Akane being on missions was terrifying. He knew she had potential and could fight back, but anything could go wrong on a mission, she could have a moment of weakness, have bad teammates…It was selfish of him, but he wanted to be on her team to protect her if needed.

Not that he would tell her that. The few times he admitted that his insistence on training with her before was to be sure she would be safe on her own ended up in her accusing him to think she was a damsel in distress. She was not.

He still found her almost dead bleeding out in her bathroom though.

A part of him wanted to keep her sheltered and safe in Konoha, but the other was curious about how far she could go. Fuinjutsu was interesting and powerful if used right, and she had the potential to awaken an Ice Release. Knowing her, he wouldn't be surprised if she were to mix the two.

"Is it weird?" she asked him suddenly as Naruto and Sasuke were playing with toys.

"What?"

"Your cousin crushing on you." He blinked.

"Izumi?" She nodded.

"I talked about it with Shisui. Even him is creeped out by the marriage thing in clans." Itachi sighed.

If there was one thing he had been…kind of happy to avoid, was the topic of marriage and marital obligations as the heir. Unless things changed, if he was not married by twenty-five, in times of peace, he would be thrown in an arranged marriage to have an heir.

The Uchihas loved deeply, very deeply, but were not what he would call romantic.

"I'm sure she will grow out of it."

"Who knows, maybe she's your future wife." He shook his head.

"I don't think so." He shot her a quick look. "Would you marry another Uzumaki?"

"I never had to think about it." Naruto crawled on her. She gazed at him for a few seconds then had a disgusted face. "Gross. He's like my baby brother but I guess blood-wise, he's distant enough to…Eurk!" He chuckled.

The end of the vacations arrived and the first day of their camping trip arrived. It was an unexpected change, but not unwelcomed. Not that he thought he would get things out of this trip, but it was good to put kids in more real situations from a young age.

Itachi finished his bag in the early morning, his mother checking it one last time before adding another bandage roll. He said goodbye to Sasuke and his parents, and he was off. The heat had cooled down in the early September, which from what his father had said, would predict a cold winter. It felt better than the heat of the summer. He wasn't sweating and sticky, his child body defeated by the hot temperature.

There were already teachers and a few kids when he arrived. He spotted Kou and hesitated to join him. They never were alone without Akane, even if he had nothing against the Hyuuga. He never had interacted with him before and wouldn't have if it was not for his friendship with Akane.

He enjoyed keeping her feet on the ground and it was funny to see. He respected Kou, and he liked to think Kou respected him back. They greeted each other, the other kids surprised to see them with each other. The Hyuuga and Uchiha clans were known for their rivalry after all.

"Big mood you two." They looked at Akane, her bag on her shoulders. She was wearing the same thing as usual, blue sandals, black pants, and a dark green tank top. She had her hair in a high ponytail though. "What, am I the cement in this friendship or something?" She put a dramatic hand on Kou's shoulder. "I knew you couldn't live without m…"

"If you fall in a ravine, I will pretend I haven't seen anything," Kou cut her off, making him smirk behind his collar. Akane slowly put her hand away.

"Mean." She glared weakly at him. "Even meaner." He shook his head at their antics.

Having friends in the Academy was making it easier to go through it.

They left for the forest on the outskirts of Konoha.

"Alright kids! For three days, you will be left in teams of three in a thirty-kilometer radius!" his sensei explained to them. "The other teachers and I will make sure you don't leave the perimeter. You are all going to be given enough rations to last three days, but we recommend you hunt for your own food, an emergency distress flare if you can't go on, a map and a compass. You're going to have a list of clues for things you have to pick up during these three days. The team who has the most of them will have a prize."

There were cheers when he mentioned a prize. Once they had everything, the teachers let them go. Kou was staring at the list of clues.

"Looks like you can use your Byakugan Kou," Akane stated.

"Nobody wants to train me to use it before I'm seven," he muttered under his breath.

"Just don't use it for nothing, I'm not dragging you behind if you are out of chakra."

"I will push you down a cliff." Akane stuck her tongue at him.

Being on a team with them wouldn't be bad.

The clues were easy, and the map was made easier for kids. They were all connected to the Hokages.

"Told you," Akane told Kou when they were around the campfire. The boy was laying down, a wet cloth on his eyes.

"I don't want to hear you!"

"You're talking to the tree trunk I'm sitting on." He was busy skinning and cutting the rabbit he had caught. Once this was done, they were cooking over the campfire. "I brought instant ramen in case."

"Where?"

"In a scroll Kou. I overpacked. If it snows out of sudden, I got you guys covered."

"It's September," Itachi pointed out with a raised brow. She looked at him dead in the eyes.

"Always expect the unexpected. I wanted to bring my bed, but Minato-san said it was not the goal of the trip." Kou laughed at that, and he smiled.

"I can picture you on missions later on just unsealing your bed at night!" She shrugged.

"I like my comfort."

"Are you going to bring toilets too?" he asked her with a teasing smile.

"Don't try me Uchiha."

The whole thing was easy. He used his time to try to talk to Akane more and tease her. Teasing her had been one of his best and only hobbiesbefore, he loved getting reactions out of her and it would not change here, lovers or friends.

"Oh piss off Itachi!" she yelled to him as he made fun of her missing the bird with her kunai. They needed a feather. She yanked the map from his hand and stomped away.

"Where are you going?" he asked her with a frown.

"I'm dirty, I'm going to the river to try to wash off!" She disappeared in a bush.

They didn't move for fifteen minutes until Itachi stood up.

"You like Akane." He looked at Kou with a blank look.

"What?"

"You like her. You tease her, you smile, you look at her a lot. You have a big crush on her." The Hyuuga pointed at his eyes. "My eyes see all." He turned around and left as a response. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

"Don't move until we're back." Kou just sent him a taunting smirk.

He found Akane easily but stayed hidden. She was standing still on the river, her eyes closed. She took a deep breath and stepped forward, the water freezing beneath her foot. She did the same with the other, and again, the ice melting when her foot would leave. Then she made a pillar of ice in front of her and punched it, blowing it up. Itachi frowned when he saw the palm of her gloves, that she did not have before, glowing red before fading back to black.

"That's one thing finally back to normal," she told herself, her fists on her hips. "Stupid child body and adult skills…"

"I knew it," he said without thinking. Akane immediately melted her ice and looked at him with wide, alarmed eyes.

"I…Itachi? What…what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, you took time and…" He moved forward, trying to approach her but she kept moving to keep the distance between them. "Akane, it's okay."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't say anything."

"Calm down."

"You calm down!"

"The Edo Tensei in the Fourth Shinobi War." She stopped moving, her eyes now as wide as saucers. "You're willing to listen to me now."

"That's…no, no, no…" She shook her head, her hands on her ears. "I'm not listening, it's not happening, it can't…" Itachi went to her and tried to pry her hands off her ears, but she shook her head and ultimately fell on her butt, making him fall too. He finally removed her hands.

"Akane it's me." She closed her eyes.

"No, no it can't be…you can't know that, no…"

"I undid it with Sasuke," he continued in a whisper. "I broke out of his control with Shisui's eye, I helped Naruto and Killer B fight off Nagato, it's…"

"You're dead," she croaked out, tears at the corners of her eyes and along her lashes. "You've been dead for…years, it can't be…"

He had hoped that whatever had happened to her, it had happened when she was much older than him, hopefully as an old woman who had lived long. But to hear her say he had been dead for years to her broke his heart. In his mind, when he got here, he had seen her a month prior. Yet, she had just said it had been years to her.

If anything, he was a ghost, but so were most people in Konoha.

"Akane please, look at me," he whispered gently to him. He closed his hands around hers and slowly, she opened her eyes. He smiled gently and wiped away the tears about to fall. "I don't…know how, or why it happened but…I woke up around the time you were supposed to leave after a bad fever." She looked in his eyes, unsure of what she was seeing. Slowly, she reached her fingers to his pulse. She gulped when she felt it beating. "Did your hair turn white like I asked of you?"

"It really is you," she mumbled before a hiccup. "I…Itachi, it really is…"

"Hi," he whispered before sniffing. Without having to spy on the Akatsuki, constantly having to hide his emotions, and being in a child's body, his emotions were bubbling in him.

He was good at keeping them under control when he was a child, yet now…

She put her hands on his cheeks and her forehead against his. He took a deep breath, regretting they were children and not the adults they actually were.

"Itachi…" she whispered against him. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out of it.

He was too much caught in the moment he failed to see Akane's face going from confusion to anger. He was thrown on the ground a second later, his hands on his bloody nose as she was standing, her right fist shaking in anger. Her whole body was shaking in anger.

"Akane?" he called her in a muffled voice. She shot him a tearful glare before running away. "Akane don't…" He put his nose back in place, wiped it and ran after her.

She was quick, he would give her that. He caught up to her, at least in the distance.

"Akane stop running!" Seeing him must have had disturbed her a lot, which was understandable. She didn't see the broken branch and put her foot on it, the branch breaking and Akane meeting the ground before he could catch her. He hurried to her side and turned her head. "Akane, can you hear me?" Her brows moved, so she was alive.

Itachi looked at her body, looking for a wound. Seeing her right ankle being weird, he touched it and got a wince in response. Her ankle was broken from the fall.

Kou used the flare the second he saw Akane unconscious in his arms.

Chapter 5: Academy Arc: Chapter 3

Chapter Text

I had the weirdest dream. I had dreamed that Itachi, my Itachi was like me and in his child body. The Itachi I had not seen in almost seventeen years.

What a weird dream.

"Akane, are you okay?" I looked at Kushina-san and nodded. I looked around, confused. "You're in the hospital, you fell during your trip."

"Right." My right ankle was in a cast.

"Your ankle is broken; it will be six to ten weeks before you can walk properly." I let my head fall back with a whine. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Huh…not sure."

"Well, I guess Itachi-kun's version is the only one we have then."

"Itachi?" She nodded.

"He was with you when it happened. He said you had a fight and you left but fell from a tree. He carried you back here."

"Oh yeah…we had a fight and I got really upset." She pursed her lips.

"Well he asked me to tell him when you were awake."

"I'm mad at him." She frowned and put her hands on her hips.

"We don't like Itachi-kun right now then?" I blinked and couldn't help but chuckled at her falsely angry look.

"We don't like him right now." He nodded.

"As you wish then!"

When she was gone, I lay back in my pillow.

It was not a dream then, Itachi was…really here. He said he had a fever around the same time as me so…he had been here for a year almost. So, when he got me chocolates when I was here, or the shurikenjutsu, or wanting to be friends at school…

It had all beenmyItachi and not the kid one? How long had he known I was…well, me? How come he was here? The seal on my stomach was still here, now appearing only when I'd use chakra or use it on my hand and touch my stomach but…was Itachi the same? No, he had been dead for sixteen years, I was the one to make deals with the Shinigami, not him.

Then how come he was here? How could he possibly be here? Had something happened…up there? Even though, why would someone else be here? I thought I was the only one and now…

New tears appeared in my eyes when I realized that someone could relate to how I was feeling, being surrounded by people dead for so long. The difference was that…

I sat up, my eyes wide in horror. Did it mean that for a year, Itachi had lived in the Uchiha Compound, under his parents' roof and seeing relatives he had killed before and remembered killing?

How awful it must be…and lonely. Here I was, thinking I had a hard time, but I had not killed any of them. I had not seen the betrayal and horror in their eyes as I killed them, knowing I had chosen to forsake them for my brother's life. I was a joke next to what he must have felt.

A few years after Shisui and Akiko's births, my twins, Sasuke had told me his brother's story. I had suspected some of it. Shisui wouldn't have trusted a latent psychopath and it always seemed to me like there was more to it than he let on.

I couldn't believe that.

My first reflex when I understood it was Itachi was to punch him and break his nose. I felt the bone breaking under my fist and, I was not proud of it, it was satisfying to know I was hurting him too. All of the hurt and heartbreak I had felt and buried for so long over him leaving me to die by his brother's hand had come to the surface. He never hid he would die by his brother's hand, a suicide hidden in murder really, plus his disease, but it still had hurt.

When he left, saying I had not made him doubt his plan, not even a little bit, it had been as if he had ripped my heart off my chest to keep him with him for good. It was as if the three years we had spent together was real and important only to me.

With time, I even had come to wonder if he meant the 'I love you' he had told me on our last encounter, or if he just pitied me so much that he had said what I wanted to hear. Shisui had asked him to keep an eye on me and sometimes, I would wonder if he had not started a relationship with me because I was in love with him and friends with Shisui and he felt guilty for not being able to save him. My son's resentment toward his dad, telling me he had never loved me, only brought those sad thoughts to the surface.

The next day, Kushina-san came back, saying I could go home. She had a box of chocolates in her hands.

"I know we don't like him right now, but Itachi-kun has taste." She read the tag. "And expensive one at that." I took the crutches. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" I shook my head. "Okay then, let's go home."

When we got home, the smell of a cake was in the air. Without a word, my crutches fell to the floor when Kushina-san picked me up as if I weighted nothing. I grabbed onto her with a yelp.

"I've got her!" Minato-san turned from the counter, Naru strapped to his abdomen.

"Right on time, the cake is done!" Kushina-san sat me down on a chair and brought a cup of hot cocoa to me. Minato-san put the cake on the table, the words 'Welcome home Akane!' written in yellow icing on it. I just stared at it.

"But you…work?" Minato-san co*cked a brow at me.

"I have days off you know and decide if I have other ones." I looked back at the cake.

"I…thank you," I thanked them quietly.

"It's nothing kitten, it's what families do for each other," Kushina-san said, her hands on my shoulders. Minato-san gave everyone a slice. I just stared at it and felt a tear rolling down my cheek. "Oh it's okay, we're here Akane." Kushina-san's arms were around me. A sob came out of my lips, and I put my hands on my mouth. Naru heard me though and turned his head to me, tears starting to appear in his eyes.

"You should go give your nee-chan a hug Naruto," Minato-san said gently, handing me baby Naru. I took him and let him be up on my legs. He was looking at me with big, wet blue eyes.

"I'm okay Naru-chan," I whispered to him, hugging him. He hugged me back and soon, another pair of arms, stronger this time, were around me.

I didn't know why I was crying. The shock of Itachi, them still doing that even if I was no longer treating them as family…

I just sobbed in their arms, surrounded by their warmth.

He felt terrible. He should have thought more about how Akane would react when he would tell her and not how he would tell her. Of course, she would be shocked. He had died after knocking her out, telling her he loved her. And now, he was here, in the flesh.

Of course, she would be shocked and pay less attention to her surroundings. Of course, she would not want to see him immediately. Hell, maybe she didn't want to see him period. If it had been years for her, then he had no idea what her life was before she got here. She could have been traveling, or stayed in their…her house, or moved to Konoha, or settled down somewhere else. For all he knew, she was married or had someone before she…

He was not an idiot. He had died and got here, meaning that Akane had died too. He didn't want to think of her as dead though, he didn't want to think that in a world where his body was probably just dust now, hers was decomposing or just bones. He knew that if for her it had been years then she could have had a life with a man that was not him.

It was like twisting a knife in his heart just to think of that though. Her smile, the kind look in her eyes, her embrace, her lips, the feeling of her skin beneath his lips and fingers, it had always been for him and him only. The thought of another man having them, of Akane possibly saying 'I love you' to someone else was making his skin crawl. He had pushed back these thoughts for a year but now she knew it was really him…he couldn't ignore it anymore.

There was a possibility that his love had moved on from him and no longer loved him like he loved her. It was breaking his heart just to think about it, but it was a possibility.

Itachi shook his head in front of the Namikaze household. Even if it was true, he could still be her friend. Maybe it would be torture once they reached their teenage, then adult years, to just be friends, but if she didn't want more, he would agree. He just wanted to be in her life, and he wanted her to be part of his.

He just needed her forgiveness first.

"Itachi-kun?"

"Hokage-sama." Minato chuckled.

"'Minato-san' in informal situations is fine Itachi-kun." He nodded. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to know if Akane was still mad at me."

"I'm afraid yes." He looked down. "She's going back to school tomorrow, I'm sure it will soon be better." Itachi nodded.

"Thank you." Itachi turned around, his head down.

As he walked behind the house, he looked up. He briefly caught Akane looking at him through the window of her bedroom before shutting the curtains. He sighed deeply.

She was mad at him, and he knew he deserved it.

The next day, he saved his bullies from a bigger bully. He was called 'Itachi-sama' in the hallways, again. This time though, an audible laugh reached his ear. He looked to his right, only to find Akane leaning against the wall, a hand on her mouth to muffle her laugh. The second she saw his blank look; she laughed even harder. His bullies did not even realize he no longer was following them.

"I hate carrying your stuff," Kou commented, leaving their classroom. He looked at Itachi, then the boys talking about him. "What did you do?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Kou shook his head.

"I need to use the restroom." He left them alone. Itachi shot her a shy look.

"Naru and Sasuke have a playdate when we get home from school," she stated simply. He nodded, understanding the message.

She didn't look at him when they met up when school ended, but she handed him her bag. He didn't protest and carried it all the way, his heart beating so fast he worried for a second if it was not going to explode.

When they reached the Namikaze residence, his mother, Kushina-san, Naruto and Sasuke were in the living-room.

"Welcome back you two," his mother said.

"Hello Mikoto-san."

"Do you want a snack?" the Uzumaki asked them.

"No thanks, we have homework to do for tomorrow." She elbowed him in the ribs. "Right?" He nodded.

"You made up then?" the Uchiha matriarch asked with a relieved smile. "Itachi has been so sad since you weren't talking to him Akane-chan." Akane blushed a little and he glanced at his mother in embarrassment.

"Mom!" She chuckled.

"I'm sorry Itachi, but I was worried."

"Let's go," Akane muttered, and he nodded, following her.

Once in her room though, they sat on her bed side by side. He looked around briefly. The room was bare except for a family picture on her nightstand, a black tag on the face of what appeared to be a man.

"How long?" He looked at her. "How long have you known it was me?"

"I noticed something weird when we trained for shurikenjutsu for the first time." She groaned.

"That long? You've suspected it was me basically the whole time?" He nodded sheepishly. "And you didn't think about telling me earlier?"

"I wasn't sure of anything, and it is not a subject I was going to approach without being sure. When I heard you talking to yourself, I knew it was you." She sighed. "I…know you're mad at me about the last time we saw each other but…I am sorry. I really am." She scoffed and looked down; her hands clasped on her pants. "A…"

"I mourned you." He closed his mouth. "I cried for you, for a long time. I couldn't see one of your shirts without crying." He didn't know what to say. "I grieved and never fully recovered from your death and now you're…here?"

"…yeah." Silence fell upon them. "I haven't looked for the reason why exactly yet, but I'm sure…I'll find why we're both here an…" She raised her hand, stopping him.

"I know how I got here, at least I'm pretty sure." He blinked. Akane knew? How? "Can you…lift your shirt for me please?" He didn't really know why but he did without thinking. Maybe it was because not so long ago to him, he was all too happy to disregard his clothes around her.

She gathered chakra in her hand, the tips of her fingers turning blue and put it on his stomach. She frowned as it did nothing.

"What the actual f*ck?" she muttered. "Do it to yourself." He did. Nothing. "Huh. You're a mystery."

"What were you looking for?" She sighed and raised her shirt. She did the same thing except that on her stomach, a seal appeared. "What is that?"

"I died by using the Death Reaper Seal." He looked at her in shock. He knew that kinjutsu, the Yondaime had used it to seal Kyuubi and then died. The Sandaime had used it to deal with Orochimaru.

"Why would you do that to yourself?" he asked her, still in shock. There was also something else in him.

Anger. She had promised him she would join him and tell him everything he had missed once her time had come. However, those who used the Death Reaper Seal sold their soul to the Shinigami, which then would be tormented for eternity in its stomach. He wanted to rest with her by his side and she just…sold her soul? For what?

"It's irrelevant why I used it now," she replied, letting go of her shirt. "The thing is, I used it, I woke up here, but what I don't get is why you are here."

Now he was more confused. If it was a kinjutsu Akane had used before, when he was already dead…why indeed was he here? How?

"I doubt the Shinigami can touch a soul without leaving an imprint or something, right?" she continued, biting on her thumb nail. "But you look perfectly fine so…"

"Well, I'm here, it is what really matters," he cut her off, not wanting to think about this issue. She opened her mouth, but seeing his harsh eyes glaring at the floor, she didn't say anything.

"…you're here, yes…" He looked up at her, seeing her struggling to choose her words. "I'm not sorry for punching you, you deserved it." He nodded.

"I know." He could see the many emotions in her eyes and how she was struggling to speak. Ultimately, she gulped.

"I…"

"Can I hug you?" he interrupted her in a whisper. She just stared at him and nodded.

He turned, both his legs on her bed and took her wrist in his hand, pulling her against him gently. It was not the same as before when she was smaller and shorter than him. Right now, they were of the same build, it was not the same.

The second she leaned her face on his shoulder, he let a breath out he was not aware he was holding. He closed his arms around her and relaxed.

Even if he was back to being a child, there was something lacking. He didn't feel entirely home, maybe because deep down, he knew he had lost it by his own hand a long time ago. Or maybe because he always felt there was something lacking to call Konoha and his family home now. Maybe he had an impostor syndrome as he was not the six-year-old everybody saw him as.

As he finally had his love in his arms though, even if they were children, he finally felt at home. The piece that was lacking was the piece Akane had provided him with years ago and that she kept with her each time he'd leave.

"I missed you," he whispered without realizing. She squeaked on his shoulder. "I…"

"Shut up," she mumbled. He could feel his shoulder getting wet. "I'm…Really sick of crying so…please, just shut up Itachi." He smiled at that and hugged her tighter, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

He did just that, letting her cry silently on his shoulder.

He wouldn't leave her this time.

My relationship with Itachi was weird. He really was…the one I had been in a relationship with for three years. I didn't really know how to interact with him and he was nothing but patient, assuring me he understood I needed to get used to him being here again. He had assured me he was okay with being my friend and nothing more.

It wasn't as if being six and a half would allow us for more anyway.

On October 10th, we went to the ceremony remembering the lives lost a year prior. I stood next to Kakashi, holding Naruto against me as Kushina-san, as the wife of the Hokage, was next to him alongside the Sandaime and the Elders. Naru was surprisingly quiet. We were all quiet for a few minutes in front of the memorial until the group split up, going on the different graves in the cemetery. Kakashi took Naru from me and took my hand. I looked up at him and he eye-smiled at me. I gulped and nodded before we left for my mother's grave.

I had never visited it before, and neither had I visited my brother's either. Their tombstones were side by side. My mother had never recovered from losing her son at the age of eight before, by the hand of her crazy husband, so in a way, I was glad she could be with Fubuki again.

"Give me Naru," I asked Kakashi once I was on her grave. He did and I knelt on the ground, keeping Naru standing on it by hugging him around the waist. "See Naru, it's where nNe-chan's mommy and brother are resting now. They were awesome, I'm sorry you can't meet them." I kissed his head. "I miss them very much, but they died so we could live, so we have to, for them." I leaned my forehead against his head. "They're watching over us now." Kakashi stiffened next to me. I stood up, Naru in my arms and looked next to him.

I froze when I recognized Orochimaru.

"It is a shame that outsiders are the one to die for Konoha's sake," he commented, glancing at me from the corner of his eyes. Naru started to cry under the Sannin's gaze, irritation flaring in his gaze. "What a shame."

"Now Orochimaru, don't frighten kids today!" We looked back to see Jiraya-san. He waved at us and relief washed over me. "Seriously, you always look so gloomy."

"I am surprised you are here and not conducting your 'research'." The Toad Sage laughed and slapped him on the back.

"I could think you're not happy to see me!" From Orochimaru's face, it was spot-on. "Now, I have so much to tell you about!" Jiraya-san dragged him away.

"My savior," I whispered in relief.

"You don't like Orochimaru-sama?"

"He gives me the creep." He didn't comment.

"Nene!" I perked up and looked back. "Nana!"

"I'm going to visit Rin," Kakashi told me as Itachi was walking toward us, holding Sasuke's hand as he was walking.

Sasuke had started talking while Naru could say 'Mama', 'Dada' and, much like Sasuke, 'Nene'. The last syllable of my name was apparently the easiest one for babies to say.

I crouched and opened my arms to Sasuke while Naru left to greet Itachi. Sasuke's small and chubby arms were quickly around my neck, and I kissed his cheek loudly as I got back up. Itachi was holding Naru's hands but was still gazing at the two Sannin slowly disappearing from our sight.

"They're gone," I told him quietly. He furrowed his brows and nodded, still not looking at me.

Without a word, he guided Naru back to me and knelt on my mom's grave, bowing his head in respect. I just stared at him, not really understanding why he was doing that.

"She deserves all of my respect," he said simply, feeling my confused gaze on him. "Her help has changed everything." I looked down, biting my bottom lip. I let Sasuke go when he started kicking, only for him to start a 'conversation with Naru.

"Thank you," I whispered back, moved by his words. He stood up and smiled gently at me.

"It's the truth." I nodded. He glanced at both Mom's and Onii-chan's graves one last time. "Are you okay?" I looked at them as well and smiled sadly.

"The strange thing was having her around," I confessed out loud for the first time. I looked at him. "How are you coping?" He blinked, taken back. "And I mean really, Itachi. How are you coping?" He pursed his lips and glanced at his parents, talking to Minato-san and Kushina-san.

"I feel like an impostor sometimes," he admitted quietly. "But I have a chance to do it all over again with my family, I don't want to mess up again." I looked down.

He saw them as his family. Then how come I didn't?

"And you're here, so I'm not alone with it." I blushed a little at that.

It was true. No matter how I felt toward him, we were in this together.

Slowly, we built a friendship again, or at least I got used to his presence once more. Not having to think about romantic feelings helped a lot, because I wasn't sure I would be able to handle it. When December rolled in, I could discuss with Itachi relatively normally, his teasing going back to normal.

He had stopped, not wanting to overwhelm me, even if I was fully aware teasing me was one of his big passions in life.

"Why are you pretending?" Itachi asked me suddenly when we were eating lunch, Kou in the bathroom.

"What?"

"You could ace all our classes and graduate quickly. Do you enjoy school?"

"Well, the positive wins over the negative." He frowned at me. "It's boring, I'll give you that, and being surrounded by kids is not the best but, at least, I'm staying under the radar." I looked down. "The old mummy already knows I'm here but hasn't tried anything since the Kyuubi attack, and the snake…if I stay in school, if I stay average, then I can stay away from them." I pursed my lips. "The only issue is that I can't get my hands on any of my mom's belongings or Uzumaki knowledge until I'm a genin, at the bare minimum. I can't win in any case."

"Sure but…" I looked at him. "Don't you want to graduate quickly?" I shrugged.

"Not being sent on missions is fine by me. The main mission I have is to watch over Naruto, and Sasuke, I can't do that if I'm not around."

"Sasuke too?"

"Yeah, we got tight before," I said simply, not wanting to explain more.

Itachi had not asked me anything about my life. I would be lying if I said a part of me was not upset by this, thinking he just didn't care about what happened to me after he died. There was probably another reason he wasn't asking but…I failed to see it.

"I asked him to take you to Konoha," he whispered, gazing at his bento.

"He did. He stayed in the village." He smiled a little at this.

I wouldn't mention the prison sentence Sasuke had seen cut short if he brought me back, curtesy of Kakashi the Sixth.

"That's right, didn't you graduate in a year before?" He nodded. "And this time?"

"I don't know. I know what got me on their radar, I can avoid it." He sighed a little. "I want to be more present for Sasuke." I smiled.

"What keeps you from doing it then?"

"Knowing."

I knew all about the Uchiha Massacre. I wouldn't approach the subject though; I'd let Itachi talk about it if he wanted to. Only if I were to see it was getting out of hands, or if he was close to…doing the same things would I step up.

He had been in the shadow, not asking for anything against what he was doing, for his whole life before. He deserved to stay in the light this time around.

As we were eating dinner, I put down my knife and fork and looked at Minato-san. He noticed me immediately.

"How do we graduate from the Academy?"

"Well, you have a written exam and a practical exam, as well as an on-going evaluation during your last year."

"What's the practical exam?"

"The Clone Jutsu and the Transformation Jutsu." We stared at each other for a few seconds. "That's all."

"You send genins on the field just by making sure they can transform and make a clone with no substance?" I summed, not hiding my disdain.

"D-rank missions are within the village and the jounin-sensei take care of training them in fighting. They test them to see if they are really ready to be genin as well."

"It's light. We're kinda still at war with Kumo too." Kushina-san seemed to agree with me as she was feeding Naru mashed vegetables. "I can do it, but don't they learn how to walk on trees at least?" He sighed.

"Akane, it's not…"

"Is it war protocol? It sounds like it, the Academy teaches the bare minimum of shinobi skills before sending them on the battlefield." He put his cutlery down stiffly.

"She's not wrong Minato," Kushina-san pointed out. "Akane has the same graduation conditions we had, and that Jiraya-san had as well apparently. Maybe it is time for an update."

"Do you think I don't know that? There are some many things in Konoha that need…" he trailed off, taking a deep breath. "Akane, if you think the Academy program is so bad, what would you do about it?"

"The theorical curriculum seems fine, it covers a lot. You need to put it to the test before graduation, someone who's good on paper can be everyone's loss on the field. Have more simulation situations in the last year, or last two. Put at least one offensive ninjutsu and how to break out of a genjutsu as part of the final test. Have chakra nature tested, tree walking, there are a lot of things that you could put in place. Tell them there are options regarding about what kind of shinobi and kunoichi they want to be, like medic-nin, fuinjutsu users, Intelligence and…the sensei is a team leader and teacher, sure, but not a counsellor." He just stared at me, dumbfounded. "What?"

"I didn't think you would say so much." I shrugged.

Kiri's graduation was…no longer the one Zabuza-san had had. There was a survival test in the swamps, after which you'd fight a chuunin for ten minutes when they had the intention to kill, experiencing killing intent, and the final part of your graduation was your first kill.

With the amount of missing-nin, Yagura had found a use for them. If you froze or couldn't kill them, you were not a shinobi.

It was way too harsh, but Konoha was way too simple. You could meet at the middle; it was just a matter of how and if you wanted it.

"Are you hiring?" I joked, smirking. He chuckled.

"I haven't legalized child labor yet." He went back to being serious. "However, you are bringing up good points." I nodded and went back to my steak as the two adults in the room exchanged a heavy glance. "Akane."

"Hum?"

"Are you being average at school on purpose?" I stopped my fork and looked up at the Hokage. He had a serious look in his eyes now. I closed my mouth.

"Except for shurikenjutsu, yes." Kushina-san sighed. "If I'm average, the mummy won't be interested in me, right? That's what you said last time."

"The mummy?"

"Shimura Danzou-sama," Minato-san told her. "Akane, does it bother you?"

"Not really no, I'm fine in school. I don't want to miss too much of Naru's life." I narrowed my eyes at Kushina-san. "But I want to be a genin too and she knows why." She found something very interesting with her son the second Minato-san's blue eyes found hers.

"Okay then. Look, if you are okay with being average in school, then I will gladly let you graduate at a normal pace. However, if you suddenly become sick of the Academy and decide to stop hiding, which results in you graduating…then I would have to make some adjustments." I tilted my head on the side. "I think it would be better if Kushina and I adopted you when you become a genin." I widened my eyes, dropping my fork.

What the actual f*ck was he saying?

"Akane?" she called me, worried.

"No."

"Lis…"

"You're not my parents, you won't replace them!" I suddenly yelled, making Naru cry. His mother immediately picked him up to calm him down, but I didn't care. I put my hands flat on the table and stood up, my chair creaking against the wooden floor. "I am grateful for you for taking me in, but I am not your daughter, so no, you will not adopt me, even if it make things difficult at some point."

I went to my room and closed the door loudly.

They were not my parents! My mom was dead, my dad was as good as dead, my older brother was dead! They would not replace my family just like that!

Chapter 6: Academy Arc: Chapter 4

Chapter Text

I’d leave early in the mornings and come back late for a week before Kushina-san got sick of it and caught me one weekend. The thought of being adopted really triggered me and I didn’t want to deal with them. She apologized to me, saying they were not trying to replace my parents and were just thinking of what would be best for me. I nodded and apologized to her for screaming, then did the same with Minato-san in the evening.

They did not bring the adoption subject back. Itachi asked me if everything was okay and I said yes. I had noticed that, when he was with Sasuke, or Shisui, he was smiling and acting in a way I had never seen him do before. I didn’t want to ruin his…newfound happiness I guess, with my issues. He had a shot at having a life where he would not be hunted down by his own village or his own brother.

“Can I take you somewhere?” I raised a brow at him as we were walking home from school. Since I knew it was him him, I didn’t care as much about the other kids in school and his popularity. I didn’t mind being seen with him, and we had been on the same team on the trip, team we had made so…

“Are you going to kill me and sell my organs?” He scoffed.

“I’ll wait you’re an adult for that.” I chuckled. “I have the plan down already.”

“Really?” He nodded and glanced at me from the corner of his eyes, amused.

“I’ll put undetectable poison in a five-course meal, a little bit everywhere so you can eat everything and not see it coming.” I laughed for real.

“So thoughtful of you ‘tachi!” I saw his smile before he hid it behind his shirt. “Food is also the way I’d go to kill you though. Blood and all of that, too tacky. There are poisons that completely dissolve in the blood when the heart stops beating.”

“I wouldn’t want to ruin your carpet.” I smirked.

“It sounds like an old-married couple who are sick of each other.” He chuckled and grabbed my hand to run. “A warning next time!” I yelled behind him as we were running among the crowd.

After fifteen minutes, we were on a hill. Itachi sat down in the grass, and I looked in front of us. We had a view of the whole village, the cliff in the background. I didn’t remember it existing in the Konoha I lived in, after its destruction by the Akatsuki and the modernization process, these kinds of places were the first ones to go, I guess.

“It’s even more beautiful at dawn, or at night with all the light,” Itachi added, smiling gently at my amazed face. I plopped down next to him.

“Do you come here often?” He nodded.

“No one comes here, it’s nice to think and reflect on things.” I nodded.

“I won’t bother you, don’t worry.”

“Bother me.” I blinked and looked at him. He was staring at the grass, only his eyes visible as the rest was hidden behind his collar. “At some point, Naruto and Sasuke will understand what we talk about so…we could hang out here too.” He was not wrong, and just to talk about…everything, privacy was better.

And the idea of having a meeting place just for the two of us…it was very appealing to me, my stomach twisting in delicious knots.

“I’d like that,” I mumbled, blushing a little. I buried my nose in my scarf. “At dawn? If I say it’s pre-school work-out, they’ll allow me to go out early.”

“I thought you liked your sleep.”

“I’ll go to bed early then.” I looked at him. “Could I bother you with Fuinjutsu talk? You won’t question my level.” He nodded. I grinned at him, thankful. “Thanks!” He smiled back gently. “Are you going to graduate by the way?” He gazed at me softly for a few seconds and slowly shook his head. I couldn’t help but smile to myself, glad about it.

Itachi as a boyfriend was not something I wanted to think of just yet. However, I did miss Itachi my friend I had traveled with for two years before finding a place to live, leaving him and Hoshigaki-san to their Akatsuki business. Spending time with him and only with him…it made me very happy.

The new school year started. To my utter disappointment, neither Kou or Itachi were in my class, both of them in Class A. I was still in Class B, now with two Uchihas: Izumi and one named Yasuo. I would still eat lunch with the boys on the roof, but Izumi would come unannounced occasionally, annoying me. I had no idea if she was always like this, but she would try to hard to be liked and it was pissing me off. Itachi would sometimes frown at me and I’d look away.

His life…was good. It would soon be two years since he had been back and he had grown used to seeing everyone again. The guilt in his heart was still here, but the thought of changing things and not kill everyone would help him keep going. He no longer would have nightmares everyone, followed by insomnia.

His relationship with Akane was getting better every day. They’d meet on Wednesday morning since the new school year, Akane telling him about seals and how frustrating it was when Kushina would point something out in her work, only for her to realize the older Uzumaki was right. At this pace, Itachi was hoping she would come to love him again. In his mind, he had their whole relationship planed. They would start properly dating at sixteen, then he’d propose at eighteen and they’d get married maybe at nineteen. On the surface it was young, but in reality, it would mean getting engaged after dating for five years. Mentally, he would be thirty-four and Akane…who knew. Truth be told, he didn’t care about how old she actually was.

“You’re a lot better, I’ll give you that,” Shisui told her as she went to pick up her shuriken and kunai. She would get bulls-eye without moving now, and without a moving target.

“He’s a strict teacher,” she replied, pointing at him. “He’ll make me train until the end of times if I don’t improve.”

“If it saves your life on a mission, then so be it,” he replied without missing a beat, sitting against a tree, sharpening his own weapons. Akane rolled hers eyes.

“I have other skills!”

“Sure but shurikenjutsu is a basic of shinobi and kunoichi skills Akane, you have to at least be average in it and from what Itachi told me, you are still behind.”

“Dude!” she groaned at him, and he shrugged. “Are you out to destroy my reputation?” Shisui laughed it off as Akane went back to her spot.

“Your prime reputation to me is making me run away with you from the tab.” Akane snickered.

They were good friends. He had witnessed them together twice before, but it was a recurrent occasion now. He liked to think he was seeing Akane more than Shisui was though, and he wanted to keep it that way. Still, they were talking and laughing together a lot. There was no denying it was making him a little bit jealous, especially with Shisui tactile nature. He would make fun of her and lean his arm on her head or something. He was not the funniest person on Earth and still struggled with making the first move in terms of physical contact with Akane.

“Okay, break time.” They both joined him, Akane getting snacks and tea from a scroll. “You’re so useful Akane.”

“Huh huh.” She handed him a cup of tea and he tasted it.

“It’s still hot too!”

“Well yeah.” She handed Itachi a cup as well, who accepted it with a quiet thanks.

“By the way, I have what you wanted Akane.” It got Shisui both his and Akane’s attention. Shisui pulled a booklet from his pocket. “Yondaime-sama changed the way how genin living on their own work shortly after the Kyuubi attack. It must have been in the work before.” How many things had the Yondaime started that the Sandaime never finished before?

And why would Akane want to know about this? Was there an issue with living Kushina and Minato? They seemed to be taking care of her well. Did she not like living with her family? Did she struggle to see them every day?

“Thanks Shisui!” She took the booklet and rummaged through it, Shisui leaning back on his hands.

“From what I understood, now it looks more like a boarding school, like in the Capital City.” Kikou was at the south of the Land of Fire, close to the sea.

Compared to Konoha, it was like living in another, more modern era. Itachi was fine with the way of living in Konoha though.

“Genins up until the age of fifteen are accepted, a small amount of their salaries after each mission deduced to pay for it. They have an individual room with a bathroom and to eat, there is a canteen. They are only responsible for their own room and don’t have to worry about cooking or eating enough or healthy.”

“And after that?”

“They are prioritized for function studio apartments.”

“That should be enough, even if I were to earn more than enough to have bigger.”

“You want to move out?” Itachi asked her. She nodded; her eyes stuck on the booklet.

“The rooms look good in the pictures.”

“Akane, why would you want to move out?” he asked again. She shrugged.

Shisui left an hour later as he had a mission the next day. Itachi immediately turned his eyes to Akane, who was twirling a kunai around her finger.

“I’m an adult,” she said, not giving him the chance to talk. “I’m f*cking forty Itachi.”

Forty? He had died at almost twenty-two and was twenty-four now. It meant Akane died sixteen years after him. It was…too short.

What could have possibly happened for her to use the Death Reaper Seal at thirty-eight.

“I was never taught how to throw a kunai or a shuriken.” He blinked at her and the sudden change of subject.

“But you were a kunoichi before, weren’t you?” She smirked.

“Maybe there are things we should have told each other before.” Akane had never discussed her past affiliation with Kiri to him. He never brought it up either. Shisui had told him she was forced, there was no point bringing a hard subject back to the surface. “Still, Mom never taught me and by the age of eleven, as I was proficient in more elaborated skills, they must have thought I could do it. That’s why you wanted to pull your hair out at me before, nobody ever taught me how to throw a shuriken right.”

“I just assumed you had been taught and were just…” he trailed off. She smirked.

“It’s less embarrassing than to admit I had never learned such a basic skill. I mean, an adult who can’t read wouldn’t be exactly proud of it, would they?” She stood up and threw the kunai, hitting bullseye. “I also thought I was bad but hey, look at me now!” She glanced at him. “Plus, it’s your specialty, it was even more embarrassing.” He never wanted to make her feel bad about herself. “Don’t make that face, Kiri gave me a ton sh*ts of issues regarding myself.” Was she opening up to him?

He would be lying if he were to say he never wanted to know how Kiri really was, and what had happened to her. Just like she had never asked him about the reasons behind the massacre but had always thought she had an idea about it, he had an idea of her time in Kiri. It was not a good one. He wouldn’t be surprised if she had been sent hunting down people she had come to know.

“Akane…” he started, getting closer to her.

“It’s weird to be praised over things here,” she confessed to him.

“What…” He took a deep breath as she gazed at him with calm. “How…what rank were you?” She blinked slowly.

“Officially, jounin. Unofficially, anbu.” He was taken back.

He knew she had skills, but she had spent two years there so…

He didn’t want to picture an eleven-year-old Akane, terrified of what was going on, having to go through kunoichi training and promotions before she even was ready.

“Konoha never heard of me, Yagura made sure of it,” she whispered.

“Were you close to him?” She raised a brow at him, her eyes amused by his question. “What?” She shook her head, a bitter smile on her lips.

“I was his apprentice and under his wing.” He widened his eyes. “I don’t know, I was in Kumo’s Bingo Book as they gave me my moniker. The Frozen Shinigami if I remember well.” He had seen that name in a Bingo Book. ‘KIA’ usually followed.

“That was you?”

“It almost sounds like foreshadowing now, you know?” she replied, patting her stomach. “Anyway, I’m done for today.” As they left the training ground, Itachi would glance at her from the corner of his eyes.

There was a voice in his mind telling him Akane wasn’t telling him everything. Itachi bit his tongue when he was about to ask her what was really going on at home.

He wouldn’t pry. If it was bad, she would tell him. She knew she could rely on him anyway, right?

“Nee-chan!” I looked behind me as I was putting my shoes on. Naru could say ‘Mama’, ‘Dada’ and ‘Nee-chan’ now. Here he was, walking on unsteady legs to me, a green frog plushie in his arms. Kushina-san was walking behind him, my lunch in her hand.

I opened my arms to Naru, who ran in them, giggling. I spun him around quickly before putting him down. He whined a little about it and I flicked his nose gently.

“I have to go to school Naru.” I accepted the lunch Kushina-san handed me and put it in my bag. I put its straps on my shoulders.

“Do you have your water?” I nodded at her. “Good, then go, don’t be late. Have a good day!”

“You too!” I replied, already at the door. Naru waved back at me, defeated.

The summer vacations were soon. Itachi and I had been keeping up with our weekly meeting. It didn’t take long for old feelings I had buried years ago to surface, and for me to think of our meetings as ‘dates’. To him, our relationship was a lot more recent so maybe he still…

I knew I had never stopped being in love with him. I just hoped that his feelings for me were…still here. Now that I had been seeing him again, I believed in his feelings for me. We were in this weird situation together so…I wanted to believe that…that eventually, there could be a ‘us’ again, a real one this time, where we wouldn’t have to hide.

“Akane?” I stopped dead in my steps. Itachi was just exiting a bakery, a bag in his hand.

“Hi!” He smiled at me.

“You seem to be in a good mood.” I smiled shyly, a faint blush dusting my cheeks. “Anything you want to share?” I shook my head and turned around, my hands on my back.

“Not yet.” I widened my eyes when he blew in my ear and blushed like crazy. “Itachi!”

“Your punishment for not telling me.” I rolled my eyes playfully. “Here.” I glanced at the strawberry pastry in confusion.

“You got one for free?”

“No, I bought two and there’s one for you. You love strawberry, don’t you?” I nodded and accepted the food.

“Thank you,” I thanked him, sincerely touched by this. “Can I eat it now?” He nodded, staring at me as I ate it. He had started grow his hair our, now in a low ponytail like before.

It was a bet with Shisui he had lost apparently. He didn’t tell me the details, but he ended up liking having long hair.

“It’s so good!” I exclaimed, shocked at how good it really was. “The kiwi custard goes well with the strawberries.”

“I’m glad you like it.” He removed a crumb from the corner of my lips, looked at it for a second and ate it. I widened my eyes at him, shocked and he nodded. “It is good.” He raised an innocent brow at me. “What?”

“You…you…” He blinked innocently. “Devil!” I walked away.

“That’s rude,” he replied, following me.

“You’re mean!”

“You have funny reactions Akane-chan.” I started running at this point and he did the same, quickly catching up to me. “I’m going to think you’re running away from me.” I was about to reply when I had an idea.

“Itachi.” I looked at him with a grin. He raised a curious brow. “Race?” His eyes became competitive.

“Your loss Uzumaki.”

Some kids watched us arrived at school; Itachi slightly quicker than me. None of us were going full speed, but it was still above Academy-student level.

“I believe this win is for me.” I rolled my eyes. “What’s my prize?”

“Pride and honor.” He deadpanned at me.

“No, I’ll come up with something.” There was a mischievous glint in his eyes I wasn’t sure to like.

I was done with homework maybe a day after we had started our month-long vacations. I was ready to get started on my chakra consuming jutsus now, to which Kakashi said I should be careful as you never knew who could be watching. I agreed. He decided to use his sharingan against me to improve my reaction span, promising me once a genin we would get onto more powerful jutsu.

One day, as we were having a training session at dawn, when the temperature was not too hot, I kicked Kakashi down after trapping his foot in ice. I stared at him on the ground before raising my arms.

“I beat you!”

“I slipped.” I scoffed.

“Yeah right. You didn’t see me coming.” Getting this body up to speed with my actual skills was a full-time job. Finally getting a hit on Kakashi was an achievement.

“Good job.” I jumped at the voice behind me and threw a back kick, that was easily stopped. They grabbed my ankle and threw me in Kakashi, who moved aside.

I crashed in the ground painfully. I sat up, rubbing my head in pain.

“Sensei?” Minato-san smiled at us. Kakashi stoop up and I grabbed the hem of his anbu jacket to get back up. “How long have you been watching for?” The Hokage scratched his cheek.

“The beginning. It sure was educative.” He looked at me with something odd in his eyes. “You sure are growing at a fast pace Akane.” I shrugged. “Are you in a rush or something?”

“I know strong people; I’m taking advantage of it.” Minato-san seemed deep in his thoughts for a second, then went back to his student.

“You didn't tell me Akane was using her kekkai genkai when training with you.” Kakashi stiffened.

“You never asked sensei.”

“I thought it was obvious important things like this should not be hidden Kakashi.”

“With all due respect sensei, pretending she does not have an Ice Release will only be detrimental on the long run. I also don’t want her to turn like I did after my father died, so I kept this piece of information for me.” I glanced at Kakashi in surprise.

I knew he wasn’t telling him everything and that…about his dad but…it felt nice to see him stand up for me. It felt nice to have someone stand up for you.

Kakashi had had my back since my brother had died and I had never fully realized it until now.

“If you don’t want me to use my Hyouton, maybe you should have told before and explain why.” Minato-san stiffened, nervous. He looked down at me and, realizing I wasn’t backing down, he sat down. His legs were crossed, his hands on his ankles.

“Because of Kiri.” I raised a brow. “If they hear about a child named Uzumaki Akane who has the Hyouton, they will make the connection with Ushio and Akiko. I’m worried at some point, they will try to abduct you or worst, kill you off because they’ll see you as a traitor.”

“Akane never was a kunoichi there,” Kakashi pointed out. It was not entirely true, but in that case, it was.

“You’re my legal guardian,” I said, confused. He nodded.

“Yes, but as you so nicely put it, I am not your uncle. You’re related to Kushina, which is not enough. That’s why I wanted to adopt you. If you legally were my daughter, it would break any bond you still have to Kiri and making a move regarding you would be a direct attack against me.” It was getting political quickly.

“What bond?”

“I forget you don’t know about this Kakashi. Akiko explained it to us when she came back. Since the First Mizukage’s reign, anyone born in Kiri is its property as there were not enough shinobi in the village yet. They wanted to secure any assets born there as their own.” I frowned.

I knew that, but a Kage’s will was supposed to be as strong as that in the shinobi world and…

Stupid Akane. A will only came into action once the person was dead. Minato’s will would not come into action as he was very much alive.

Basically, the protection I thought I had in Konoha regarding Kiri was…nothing. The moment they would know about me, and they would because of Obito, I’d be on their radar and they would have more claim on me than Konoha. If Minato-san refused to simply hand me over then…

Tensions would appear, possibly leading to a useless war between Konoha and Kiri, Kiri claiming Konoha had stolen a ‘weapon’ of theirs. I was born in Kiri, my parents fled, to the Elemental Nations, if anyone were to deal with any of us, it would go directly to Kiri and…

I fell to my knees.

“I don’t want a war…” I mumbled weakly.

“Things have not escalated that much Akane,” the Yondaime reassured me immediately. “Maybe I should have told you before, with how much you changed after your mother’s passing and how closed off you were…I found myself delaying it as much as possible. I wanted to tell you after you refused the adoption, but Kushina told me she would handle it.” I was confused.

Kushina-san never said anything about any of it. Were we all hiding things from each other in this house? Seeing my confusion, Minato-san smiled at me.

“I’m sure Kushina will tell you about it, but now you know, you can ask her yourself why she has not said anything.” I nodded. I would.

“I…don’t want to leave Konoha,” I whispered, but they both heard me. Minato-san got up and put a knee in front of me. He gently grabbed my shoulders.

“I’ll do everything in my power to keep you with us Akane, you have my word.” I just stared at him and slowly, pressed my face in his chest. He was surprised for an instant but closed his arms around me.

I cornered Kushina-san a few days later. As I was doing Fuinjutsu with her, I put my brush down and crossed my arms, staring at her. She noticed quickly and glanced behind her, hoping I wasn’t staring at her.

“You look too much like Fujio-oji-chan right now dattebane,” she muttered under her breath. She was talking about my grandfather, her uncle. “What did I do?”

“You told Minato-san you would explain to me why he really wanted to adopt and how he was worried about Kiri getting to me.” She choked on her water. I watched her, unfazed, as she calmed down.

“I could kill him sometimes.” She took a deep breath. “Look, I…I have a very solid reason I haven’t told Minato so…”

“A reason?” She pursed her lips, her eyes looking painfully at me.

“Your mom…she told me something when she joined us.” I blinked. “She said I should look for a clan secret called…”

“Yuurei,” I finished for her. She nodded. “Is that why you didn’t want me to…”

“I wanted to know first before letting you dive into that and know…I learned a lot.” She moved closer to me and took both my hands in her. Her violet eyes deeply in my brown ones. “Akane, I cannot stress out enough that no matter what, no matter your age and no matter how you feel about us, Minato and I will never stop thinking of you as our darling niece we love from the bottom of our hearts.” I looked down.

I wasn’t blind, I had noticed it in their behavior, even if I didn’t reciprocate.

“What am I?” I asked her. I kept pushing that question in the back of my mind but…I had to know at some point.

“Yuureis were the secret to the Uzumaki clan’s strength. Growing up, I had heard stories but never believed them. Mito-sama always told me it was in the past anyway. I went through her belongings, and I found a record of the previous, and last Yuurei when the clan still existed fully.”

“So there were others like me?” She nodded; her eyes still conflicted.

“The founder of our clan was the first one. He made a pact with the Shinigami which allowed him to go back in his younger body shortly before he felt the biggest regret of his life. In exchange, the Shinigami took a part of his vitality. It is only thanks to our life force Yuureis were able to exist. At first, it would happen because of regrets, but then, as time went by and Yuurei left their knowledge behind them, it started to become a way to…strengthen the clan. Yuureis…they were revered almost as deities in the clan because…because…”

“Because?”

“Because they were nothing more but sacrifices for the glory of the clan.” I gulped. I was…a sacrifice? “Unless you give a soul of equivalent quality, you will not be able to break the Shinigami seal on you and you’ll die, going to its stomach. It’s…” She pulled me in her arms. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry kitten…”

“What? Am I dying?” She put her cheek on my head.

“Sending a soul back leaves…cracks in it. The weight of the Shinigami’s energy circulating in your body, in your seal, slowly turn them into fractures and…from what Mito-sama wrote down, Uzumaki Umiko would have moments where she would lose her mind almost and…”

“So I’m gonna finish insane,” I summed up numbly.

Would it be the same for Itachi? I couldn’t risk him ending up insane because of me when he had his life back on track.

“Let’s go to Uzushio.” I blinked and moved back, looking at her in alarm.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” She pursed her lips and nodded firmly.

“I…have been wanting to go back for a long time. Now is the best moment to do so.” I licked my lips.

I had never been to Uzushio before. I was okay to go but…it was her hometown and…

“I’ll gladly go Kushina-san,” I told her. “But you don’t have to force yourself for my sake or Mom’s. I can go on my own lat…”

“It is a clan thing Akane. Yuureis…they are to be protected by the rest of the clan. I’m supposed to protect you.” She cupped my cheek. “And, I am not lying. I have been wanting to go.”

“Okay then.” She smiled a little.

“Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“How…old are you actually?” I blinked.

“I am forty.” She looked down sadly.

“It explains the sudden change in maturity.” She sighed.

“Are you…disappointed?”

“Well, I am sad I don’t get to really watch you grow up but…you’re here, and I still get to see you go through puberty like any of us.” I made a face and she flicked my nose. “Don’t worry about me, this is not burden to bear.”

How right she was.

Chapter 7: Academy Arc: Chapter 5

Chapter Text

"I'm off for a week." Itachi raised his head at that. They were at their spot; it was the second week of summer vacation, and she was leaving?

"Where?"

"Uzushio with Kushina-san." She touched her stomach. "She knows now and is taking me there to dig up some information."

"Do you know more?"

"I can't talk about it." He frowned. Wasn't he involved in that? "Look, if I find something about why you're here, I'll let you know. When it comes to me…I don't know everything, and it's a clan secret."

"The Uzumaki clan is not really active anymore," he countered quietly. It was too big of a subject for her to keep secrets.

What if there were side effects and she didn't tell him about it? How could he help her then?

"Have you told me every Uchiha secret?"

"It's different." She sniffed; her arms crossed.

"You're a hypocrite." He clicked his tongue, looking away. He was, in a way but… "I don't want to fight now. We're leaving, so you might see a lot of Naru. Get prepared to run after him, and Sasuke."

"Noted." She leaned her face toward him.

"Are you upset with me?" He shrugged. He kept repeating to himself that if Akane wasn't saying anything, then it was not that bad. "Itachi, really?"

"Can you at least tell me if it's dangerous or not?"

"Not that I know." He sighed and looked back at her.

"I'm not…upset. I'm not pleased either."

"I have to go." She stood up but kept her eyes on him. He raised a brow at her.

Then, she knelt next to him and kissed his cheek before running away. The Uchiha put his hand on his cheek and didn't fight the blush creeping up his cheek. His child body did not react the way he wanted it to when it came to affection from Akane, he was nervous regarding puberty. Except for one hug, Akane and him had not really shared any physical gestures of affection.

He had not felt her lips on his skin in two years, and even if they were children, his heart was still beating wildly in his ribcage. If Akane kissed him then…did it mean she loved him again?

No, he couldn't allow himself to think that, or he might be disappointed later on. He wanted a strong friendship, where they could talk and rely on each other. It was the priority, and then, he would ask her on a real date when the foundations were solid enough.

As Akane had said, Naruto spent quite a lot of time at his house. Him and Sasuke were playing, and he was there to watch over them. He didn't mind though. Naruto had been there for Sasuke when Itachi couldn't, when Sasuke didn't want anyone. Having them build their friendship earlier was good, and Sasuke wouldn't be lonely.

As expected, Naruto ran away. Itachi went after him, Sasuke behind him. He could have caught the kid quickly, but if he ran around then he would be tired and would sleep.

"I agree with Minato," he heard his mother say in his father's study.

"So do I, but you know like me the majority won't. They see the police force as the only power we have in the village and they're not ready to give it up." The police force?

"But Minato is right in saying everyone should be involved in Konoha's protection. We should find a way to open it to all shinobi and kunoichi starting the rank of chuunin." He heard her move. "And the police would be more efficient if it opened up."

"I know Mikoto, but as I said…well, Minato is working on a way for us to be more included in the village before doing this." His father took a deep breath. "What he told me regarding the Kyuubi attack cannot be known by the clan, at least not yet."

Itachi left swiftly when he noticed Naruto was about to fall from the engawa. He caught him, grabbed Sasuke and left just as his father opened the door, looking on both sides.

He sighed when they were in Sasuke's bedroom. He was sadly not surprised his kinsmen were angry once more about how they were treated. He had been taunted by Tenma already, and Izumi had scared them off once more. He had been too focused on seeing him alive to care about what he was saying. And, it wasn't as if it was wrong. An Uchiha was behind the Kyuuba Attack, just not a member of the village.

Madara was another issue he could not deal with right now. Depending on how things would go, he would face him when he'd lurk around the Compound but until then…if he didn't show up, he wouldn't go look for him.

Later that week, he met up with Shisui and asked him what was happening in the clan meetings.

"You would be included in them if you were a genin," Shisui replied, throwing a kunai with a harsh glint in his eyes.

"Shisui," Itachi simply said, not hiding he was annoyed with him.

"Come on, you sound like a thirty-year-old scolding his kid when you say my name like that!" Shisui complained. "Seriously, it is as you could expect. People are mad about the way they're treated by the villagers. What is funny is that they don't talk about how they're sometimes straight-up rude for no reason." The older Uchiha sighed. "Maybe it is a blessing in disguise that you're not in the meetings yet. They make me lose hope sometimes."

"Don't." Shisui looked down at him. Itachi had clenched his fists by his sides, a determined frown and gaze on his face. "We'll change their mentality." Shisui poked him on the forehead.

"Never change Itachi. You need to keep a positive goal to have positive changes, right?"

He should graduate soon. He didn't want to, but it would be for the best for the clan. It was Minato, he would know how to use Itachi in a way to hopefully appease everyone. His youth and charisma had charmed the whole village after all.

Itachi would be happy to be his pawn if it meant saving his clan, for real this time.

"On a more serious note, how long are you going to stay at the Academy? We both know you could graduate if you wanted to." He shrugged. "You know, if you start having faith in your relationship with our Uzumaki friend, you'd see you can graduate." He glared weakly at Shisui. "Don't give me that look. You're crushing on her and she's crushing on you, it will be fine." He blinked.

"She is?" Shisui laughed and Itachi hid his smile behind his collar.

"Yes, she is! Congratulations, you're going to have a girlfriend way earlier than me." Shisui smiled at him. "More seriously, you guys look like you've known each other for even longer than you and me, give this some credit." Well, he had been in regular contact with Akane for seven years now, which was longer than with Shisui.

"I wanted to wait until she graduated too," he admitted to Shisui. He sighed.

"Yeah, I figured. However, Akane can kick a lot of butts too, so I don't think you, or even I, must worry about her until she's a chuunin." It was true, Akane wouldn't struggle with genin missions. She was training a lot more with Kakashi-san than them after all.

Shisui was right. He could graduate now and his relationship with Akane would be just fine. He did not want to spend less time with her though, and the Academy was a good way to see her often. Not only that, but her life was different from before.

As in, before, she had told him he was the only important thing she had in her life, so when he'd be over, she'd make sure to spend as much time as possible with him. He enjoyed it, a lot, to feel important to someone. No matter the reputation and the crimes, he had found one person who wanted him around as much as possible, which he had not had in years. Now she had other people, and even if it was selfish and possessive of him to think it, he was not the center of her world anymore.

It was good. It meant her life was a lot more balanced and that their relationship, no matter how sad it had been making him feel since he realized it, would be less unhealthy than before.

He had to let her exist on her own so that they could have a good, healthy relationship later on, without the need to get in a bubble closed to the outside world.

That night, when he lay down in bed, he took the decision that graduating would be the best for everyone, including him. He was itching to go back on missions and actively be a part of Konoha again.

"I don't think Kakashi is necessary Minato." Minato-san looked at her, then me as we were at the gates. Then, he looked at his student.

"Do not let them get out of your sight." Kakashi gave him a thumbs-up.

"Minato!"

"I mean, convincing him was hard enough Kushina-san, let him have some peace of mind with sending Kakashi with us," I told her, done with her not being happy to be sent with a bodyguard. "He'd come himself if he could."

"Thank you!" Kushina-san narrowed her eyes at me, and I hid behind Kakashi. "You know why I am acting this way." She sighed and leaned forward, cupping Naru's face in her hands.

"I know Minato, it is just…frustrating." She kissed her son on the forehead and straightened up. "We'll be back in a week top." He nodded and Kushina-san kissed him on the cheek.

"Is Naruto going to have a baby sibling?" I asked Kakashi innocently, the couple turning beet red.

Kushina-san glared at me, knowing I was not innocent, that I knew how babies were made and I was just enjoying making fun of her. Huh, she would turn as red as her hair, it was funny to see.

"We're off now!" We left, Kushina-san waving at both her husband and baby boy above her shoulder.

Once we were out of view, she punched me on the head. I cradled it, looking up at her with tears in my eyes. She didn't even hold back against me!

My relationship with her had changed. I felt better not having to beat around the bush and pretend I was a kid around her, thus at the house most of the time as Minato-san was working as the Hokage. Doing Fuinjutsu together was a lot better and stimulating than…ever before. I meant, before before. I had not done Fuinjutsu with another Uzumaki, or Seal Master, since Harusame-san in Kiri, and Mom. If anything, I felt like I had a new perspective on everything, and the same went with her.

She did not like my comment on how her work was…old-school. She was twenty-six, it was understandable but still…she didn't like it.

We were becoming real friends and not just relatives. She still saw herself as my aunt and told me it would not change because Yuurei or not, she was born before me. But it was more a relationship you'd have between two adult relatives than one child and one adult.

She was way too happy picking outfits for me to annoy me.

We reached the beach after four hours spent traveling, Kakashi carrying me because I was not fast enough. I was doing my best to train my body, but stamina and muscles and anything that made you good at taijutsu took time and regularity. Kakashi would say I was quicker than an Academy student or genin. It was nothing next to my old speed and I hated it.

"Is there somewhere we can get a boa…" Kushina-san unsealed one, interrupting Kakashi. "I should have known."

"Come on, on board kids." We did and Kushina-san gave the oars to Kakashi. He followed Kushina-san's instruction, her eyes becoming more and more distant.

I leaned against her without a word. I heard her breathe out before she put her arm around me. At some point, as an island was visible in the distance, she told Kakashi to stop. She left to inspect a rock coming out of the sea and came back.

"There used to be a barrier around the island," she explained as we were moving once more. "I checked if it was really gone."

We were on the boat for maybe an hour and a half before reaching the shore. The beach was quiet and deserted, only the waves and the seagulls above us were making some sounds. I was even afraid of speaking because the silent was so deafening and…solemn.

"Kushina-san, should we go check on that thing?" I raised a brow at Kakashi while she nodded.

"Yes, I'm going to check if it is still locked up."

"What are you talking about?" I looked at Kakashi, confused. "You've been here before?" He looked down.

"You don't remember?" I shook my head. "Later then." I followed them, looking around.

Uzushio was not as big as Konoha nor Kiri, but it was big nonetheless. The old harbor was in the center of the village in a cove. The water was clear, you could see old sunken ships at the bottom of the sea, one having its highest mast shyly poking through the still water. The old, traditional houses around the harbor, some of them on stilts with boat garages, had clearly been pillaged. The few of them still having a roof had, sometimes, old, crusty blood that had sunk so deeply in the wood that it had stained it. As we walked deeper in the ghost village, I kept an eye on Kushina-san. On the outside, she was keeping a cool head.

It was still her hometown though.

We made a right turn at a crossroad, the Uzumaki whirlpool visible at the top of the stairs in the distance. The houses became rare and we reached the inside of a cliff that had been used by men before. There was a white stone archway, the right side missing, and then a stone door in the cliff.

The most shocking was the blond woman in front of it though.

"Tsunade-sama." She perked up and turned around, a teenage Shizune-san next to her.

"I thought you'd be here before me Kushina," the Sannin replied, her hands on her hips. Damn, her boobs really were…big. "Anyway, the way to the Eien Hansen is still solidly locked up." What now? On our right and left, there were other doors but destroyed, the inside out of reach.

I looked around and a purple spot attracted my eyes. I trotted around to it and picked it up. It was a doll, a ragdoll, with a purple dress, foam coming out of her head on the right as it was torn.

I gulped and clenched my hands on the doll.

I knew it.

It was mine. I sniffed as Kakashi crouched behind me.

"Dad took me here," I whispered to him. "I…I didn't remember."

"It's okay," he replied gently. When he stood up, he stretched out a hand to me. I took it without hesitation, keeping the old and disgusting doll against me with my other arm.

My parents fled the Hidden Mist due to the Third's regime when I was one and settled down in the Land of Hot Waters. It was the Third War though, there were a lot of battles in this country, but we were…happy, and a family. My brother was sick, the same thing Itachi had before, but still a prodigy, and strong, and smart. I had few memories of him, but I remembered loving him and admiring him. My dad, in the little memories I had, was a loving and funny dad.

This picture had been tarnished when, one day, as Oji-chan, Kakashi and Onii-chan were sleeping, he grabbed me and left in the middle of the night. At first, I remembered thinking we were going on a secret adventure. It had soon turned to fear when I found myself in a tower, in the middle of a seal on the ground, my dad drawing symbols on me. Oji-chan came before he could finish, and they fought. Kakashi took me and ran. Dad saw it and used Adamantine Chain to get me through Kakashi. Kakashi had his back turned to the attack, but I saw it.

I saw my brother, Fubuki, jumping in the middle of it, his blood splashing on my face.

I was brought back to reality when we were around a fire, the night settling in. The sunset was on the horizon. We were now on top of the stairs I had spotted before, in what used to be the Uzumaki Compound. You had a beautiful view of the village, the harbor and the sea. From where we were, I would see the sunset casting specks of gold on the water.

"Thank you for coming Tsunade-sama." I looked at Kushina-san. She was the one to contact her then?

"It's normal, I am part of this clan as well." She looked at the sea in the distance, a nostalgic look in her eyes. "I have not been here since I was dispatched after the attack. It is…"

"Frozen in time," Kushina-san finished for her. "As I was walking through the village today, I remembered my childhood here and where my parents would take me as if it was yesterday." She took the kettle she had put on the fire and put boiling water in her ramen cup, as well as mine. "At the same time, it feels like a lifetime ago." Tsunade-sama glanced at the fire for a second before her hazel eyes met mine. She smiled gently at me.

"You have grown." I blinked. "You probably don't remember me because of the shock, but that day, I was with Kushina and Akiko." I opened my mouth a little.

Indeed, I had no memory of her there, or the after period. My mind blacked out everything after Fubuki's death and jumped straight to me in the hospital after that, Mom gone already.

I bowed my head, not knowing what to do. I never had any interaction with Tsunade-san before, I had seen her at Naruto's wedding and that was pretty much it. I had no idea we were related until they told me in this lifetime after all.

I stuck to Kushina-san for the evening. The next day, they sent Kakashi and Shizune to inspect the Academy. Once they were out of sight, Tsunade-san crouched in front of me with a frown.

"There is nothing telling you are a Yuurei." I widened my eyes in shock and sent an accusing glance at Kushina-san. "Don't be mad at her, I knew about Yuureis before her. She just told me there was one now. Your secret is safe."

"Oh. Thanks." She stood back up and looked at the other Uzumaki.

"Have you explained everything to her?" She nodded.

"Anything I found thanks to your indication dattebane."

"Alright, let's go find what remains in the Compound regarding Yuureis. Masashi-ji-chan had to know, like the Uzukage, we'll inspect his office later."

"Who's Masashi?" Tsunade-san looked at me funny.

"Your great-grandfather and the last leader of the clan." She pursed her lips, her eyes suddenly distant. "We never recovered his body after the attack, yet he would not have let this happen on his watch." She sighed. "This is another subject."

"Huh…what do you mean 'clan leader'?" They both looked down at me, confused.

"Akiko never told you? Even before?"

"She never pipped a word about Kiri or anything Uzumaki-related to me, she took all of that to her grave when I was sixteen." Kushina-san widened her eyes for a second before clenching her fists.

I had not told her that Mom would have died on me anyway.

"I never knew I was related to you until two years ago almost," I continued. "I mean, Dad…anything connected to him just…" I never finished; they knew.

"Well, would Mamiko-oba-san have stayed in Uzushio, you may have not been here at all, or with a very different life. However." Tsunade-san stopped in front of a big, wooden door. The red was dull by now. "We can talk about this side of your family later." She knocked her polished nail on the door. "It needs blood to recognize our right to get inside, it…Kushina, go ahead." She shot her a surprised look, but she obeyed.

I raised a brow at Tsunade-san when she looked away the second Kushina-san started writing in fuin with her blood. That was weird for a medic.

The door now opened in a loud and sinister creaking sound; I followed the two others women inside. It was a lavish, expensive traditional house, even more so that Itachi's. It was dark though, the window covered in opaque dust.

Light flooded the room out of sudden, Tsunade-san coming back as both Kushina-san and I were rubbing our eyes.

"There's an emergency lightning circuit that works with fuinjutsu. Anything in here can work with it."

"Anything?" I repeated, in awe. Kushina-san snickered.

"Not bad now, is it?" I nodded.

We spent the day in the place. I coughed a lot because of the dust. However, I did not see any signs there had been a fight or anything in here. Most of the stuff I found were related to Uzushio politics, so it was not really interesting.

I entered a bedroom. It was big. I walked around and opened the closet. Old, expensive men clothes were there, most of them traditional, but most of all dusty. I coughed when I opened it and closed it back. From the size of the room, I'd say it was this Masashi's bedroom. I went to the dresser and picked up a picture frame. There was a man with short red hair and harsh black eyes next to a beautiful woman. Her pale blue eyes were kind, like her smile and her hair was curly and red. I frowned when I noticed, there was a picture behind it. I opened the frame, and another picture was revealed. It wasn't as yellowed as the first one, but still was. It was a young woman on the picture, maybe seventeen, in a red battle kimono, long wavy red hair falling on her shoulders. Red bangs were framing her face and kind, black eyes.

That…was she my grandmother? Dad's mom?

I opened the drawer and found a bunch of opened letters, tied together by a string. They were yellowed too.

I put them in my bag, as well as the picture frame in which I had put both pictures back. When I reunited with Tsunade-san and Kushina-san, taking a deep breath of the sea air once outside, they told me that had found nothing related to Yuureis and that the Uzumaki clan seemed to be in turmoil before Uzushio was destroyed, with no heir.

"I mean, there was an heiress and an heir but for that, Masashi would have needed to swallow his pride," Tsunade-san corrected Kushina-san. "And you Akane?"

"I found letters and pictures." She raised a brow. I showed her the picture. "The letters are from my grandmother; I recognized the name of the place she sent them from. It's in the Land of Water, on an island the Yuki Clan used to live on before moving to Kiri." Tsunade-san raised a dubious brow but didn't comment.

"Let's go check on Kakashi and Shizune." I nodded at Kushina-san.

We found Kakashi in the Academy library, reading whatever books were still readable. The left side of the building only had the first floor left, the wall not standing anymore. Shizune had spent all day going through the administration and headmaster's office, only to hand Kushina-san something shyly.

The Uzumaki froze.

"Thank you Shizune-chan," she said after a few seconds of silence.

She didn't say what it was.

The next day, we left Uzushio. The village took only a quarter of the island, the rest of the Land of Eddie now covered by wildlife. We would hear movements in the bushes and in the trees and such. We were not walking quickly because no one knew the area. Tsunade-san was walking in front of us, only using her memories to guide us but they were old, and the place had changed. We reached a big, clear lake by the end of the third day.

"Huh…Tsunade-sama…isn't that…"

"Where the clan library used to be, yes," she finished for her. "With the amount of knowledge there was in it, I wouldn't be surprised if it was sunk on purpose." I walked to the edge of the lake. The lake really was crystal clear.

I put a knee on the ground and put my finger in the water. I took a deep breath and spread my chakra in the water. Uzumakis were sensitive to chakra because of how much we naturally had. It made it easier for us to be sensors, we all had a natural ability to it given we had good chakra control. Being a Yuki member meant I had a natural affinity with water and snow.

I was spreading my chakra in water like a spider web. If there was chakra somewhere, I would detect it. After a dozen of minutes, the lake was big and I was careful not to rush my job or I'd pass out, I detected something deep in the lake, on the right. It was big, like a barrier.

"It's that way!" I stated, pointing at the western side of the lake. "At the bottom of the lake." I stood up, only to fall on my butt. "Oh, too much chakra used at once."

"Have you seen your size and the size of the lake?" Tsunade-san asked me, Shizune-san glowing hand over my head to check if everything was okay. "Your chakra reserve will expand with age, like your control, but as long as your chakra pathway is not entirely finished, you won't be able to use it to its full potential."

"And it's finished at…"

"Between the age of ten and puberty," Shizune-san informed me.

I never had to worry about this before so…I would train to control what I had access to only, without really using it.

Training as a kunoichi was putting a lot of my childhood training into perspective. That would also explain the graduating age in Konoha. Why have shinobi and kunoichi on missions if they could not use their chakra entirely due to their age?

"Awakening a kekkei genkai before that tends to make the pathway more fragile until adulthood."

"Damn me," I muttered. Did it mean that I would not be able to really go back to my level before I reached adulthood?

When did I finish puberty? Sixteen or something? Then was it physical adulthood? I hoped so.

Kakashi volunteered to dive and have a first look at the thing. I gave him a breathing seal, something I came up with in Kiri. It was essentially the same base as any filtration seal, except it was for breathing underwater. It would absorb the water, then send the oxygen in the mouth and nose and expelled the water.

"He'll be fine Akane," Kushina-san told me as I was bent over the water. I couldn't see anything.

"What if he has a cramp?"

"Then I'd say he can handle it because he handled worst?"

He came out after five minutes.

"There is a very active barrier down there," he confirmed, showing us his burned hand. "The building seems intact, it's almost as if just the piles had snapped clean."

"Have you seen seal points around the building?"

"It's on the building, I've seen it with my sharingan," he replied to Kushina-san. "It seems to be running on its own as well."

"Who is feeding the seal chakra though?" Shizune-san asked to no one in particular.

"All right!" Kushina-san stated, tightening her high ponytail. She turned it into a bun and stretched out her hand to me. "Seal please." I gave her one. "Get ready Akane." I nodded and put the seal on my mouth. "Now, Akane and I are going down there. Just know that Uzumakis were very protective of their seals and knowledge, so when we break the barrier or go through, there may or may not be a summon that could appear." She grabbed me and threw me in the lake as I yelped at her action, before she jumped too.

I didn't waste time on that, although I would remember it, and followed her down as quickly as my small legs and arms were allowing me to. I gathered chakra on my hands and feet, much like Kushina-san, to be stable on the barrier without it repelling me. Essentially, we were getting our chakra in sync with the barrier, so it did not consider us as enemies.

It was…the go-to way to deal with an unknown barrier outside of a fighting situation, at least on the hands, the feet were because we were under water.

The barrier was a sphere around the building that you would not see with the naked eye. The building seemed intact. Kushina-san and I moved away from each other, trying to find the weakest point of the barrier. She found it before me, at the top. It seemed there were three seals making up the barrier, directly applied on the building, so the top would be the focal point where they would meet and be the weakest. You'd think three seals meeting would be the strongest point, but no. It was the weakest, because it was where the chakra met the others and synchronized with them, so it would not be a strong as the birth point.

If that made sense.

I pushed Kushina-san away like I could and put my feet on each side of the target. Then, I drew my arm back, fist clenched and turned the water around it to ice, the explosive seal on my glove ready to be used. I smashed my ice fist on the target, released my seal at the impact to blow the ice up and send it in the target.

Kushina-san swam back, then came back. I was glaring at the target.

Nothing. Kushina-san made me move aside and put her hand on the target. I watched in awe as the tip of an Adamantine Chain left the palm of her hand and sunk, although with difficulty, in the target. It made a breach big enough for us to slip inside.

I landed on my feet, lost my balance and fell on my butt. Kushina-san landed nicely next to me, looking around.

"It is totally dry, and we can breathe just fine dattebane!" she exclaimed, shocked.

"Whatever seals they used, they made sure that in case of emergency the library would be nice and comfy in its own little bubble." I tapped the ground with my foot. "We must be thirty meters down but there's no water pressure, everything is dry, yet the flora is not dying…" I walked around and stopped right behind the barrier, watching fish go in front of us, as well as the various flora moving with the water. "It's awesome!"

"Shizune-chan did bring up a good point, how can this still be running if it was sent at the bottom of the lake when Uzushio was destroyed?" I shrugged, not knowing the answer.

I went to one of the seals on the building. It was big, bigger than me. I inspected it, making a clone to carry me on their shoulders to inspect the top while Kushina-san was doing the same.

You had some space-time indications in the seal to keep it as it was, the emergency element…ha, forbidden to everyone. I inspected the others, then the front door. The seal on it was strong, but would respond to Uzumaki blood, so it was fine.

"It's in old fuin," Kushina-san said. "You understand it?"

"Yeah, I learned it to decipher very old thing," I replied idly, my finger tracing the seal on the side of the building. "We'll come back at some point; we should modify the way to get there to allow members of the clan to come here."

"Akane, I'm not sure. We don't know what it runs on and…" My finger stopped on the seal and I raised a brow.

"It runs on Natural Energy." She widened her eyes. "These seals imitate the way someone creates Senjutsu and they do that non-stop to keep the seal running. Damn, that's f*cking smart and…" She punched me behind the head.

"Language dattebane!" I glared weakly at her. "And seals absorbing Natural Energy to turn it into Senjutsu and so they run autonomously? I've never heard of it!"

"No offense, but you left when you were a kid and Mito-san had left too, she had no way of knowing everything going on in Uzushio." She pursed her lips. "What we have here is proof of how little we actually know about the entire Uzumaki's Fuinjutsu skills, and how far we are compared to the Seal Masters who lived here." I shook my head. "I thought I was good; this is genius."

"And how are you going to modify them then?"

"I won't, you will." She widened her eyes comically and I dispelled my clone, landing on my feet. "Don't look at me like that, I am seven. These seals are incredibly complex and Natural Energy can be disturbed very easily. My chakra control is nowhere close to what it used to be and is nowhere close to yours. I can tell you what to do, but you must do it."

"If I fail, we drown."

"Then don't fail. Now put me on your shoulders." She did and held my legs as I was drawing the seal on different sheets of paper. Once I had them all down and on the ground, I started the modifications.

Allowing Uzumakis in meant changing the distribution of chakra in the whole seal…lowering the protected zone…I'd need to redefine the zone protected by other seals to redistribute the chakra evenly…

I could feel Kushina-san's eyes on me as I was going through the modifications, on all-four on the papers. The balance with Senjusu was complicated, so using blood directly as the ink would be better as blood was life, and what was more natural than life and death?

I stood up after fifteen minutes, Kushina-san's eyeing my work seriously.

"So, can you do it?"

"It seems…logical seen like this…did you learn to change seals like this in Konoha?"

"No." It was in the Bloody Mist. Change seals, make them turn against their users…

"Alright, let's do it." She started by the seals on the ground, dropping a drop of blood in her ink to make them. Then she made two clones so they would change the seals at the same time. I sat on the steps in front of the doors, looking up at the barrier, waiting.

There were blue lights on each side and the barrier shrunk. The weaker point was still up, but there were two new, weaker seals joining the other three. From the protected space there was before, only maybe five square meters in front of the steps of the door remained.

"I'd call that a suc…" A huge crab crashed in the water, knocked out. "So, apparently we missed something," I stated, sweat dropping at what appeared to be the Sannin's work.

With her still bleeding finger, Kushina-san opened the door. They closed themselves in our back. We shared a look and glanced around.

"It feels like we're thrown back in time." Kushina-san glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. "Well, more than I already did." The room's walls were filled with books up to the ceiling.

However, I ran straight to the whatever forbidden section there had to have here. There, between two shelves on the right was a door, a seal tag on it. I bit my forefinger to make it bleed and put it on the seal.

It turned blue, then purplish and the door was unlocked. There was no knob on it, so the seal was the only way to get inside.

There were scrolls on pedestals, other seals on them. One was bijuus and jinchurikis related. One was about Uzumaki clan's secrets. I raised a brow when I saw the word Otsutsuki on the third one.

Now that was interesting. The Otsutsukis were unknown until the war. However, the Uzumakis had been gone for decades by that point. My guts were telling me that Uzushio's destruction happened for more reasons than just the village being considered too strong.

With that being said, it was a whole other can of worms I did not want to open now.

"There you are," I whispered, taking the scroll with 'Yuurei' written in old fuin on it. I barely touched it that the seal tag keeping the scroll shut shone purple, the fuin symbols moving briefly to form the word 'greetings' before going back to normal.

Huh, that was…unexpected.

I barely opened it that diaries started to fly out of it. I was soon buried in them.

"Akane?" I stretched my hand out and Kushina-san pulled me out of the diaries. "Are those diaries?"

"I think so." She took one and flipped through it.

"Twenty-fourth Yuurei…this is five-century old!" I looked at the others. "Did these diaries belong to the Yuureis before you?"

"Maybe, it would make sense, especially if they documented their lives before and after." We counted, the diaries coming to a hundred. Knowing the Uzumaki clan was most likely founded nine centuries ago and that the last occurrence of a Yuurei was also almost a hundred years ago…

We had eight centuries worth of documentation regarding the world and the Uzumakis and Yuureis.

f*ck.

Kushina-san must have had realized the same thing because she dropped to her knees with eyes wide open.

"Help me put everything back in there." It broke her out of her thoughts and she did.

I sealed the Yuurei scroll, and the Otsutsuki one, in a scroll of my own. I struggled to seal them due to the number of seals there were on and in them, but they ceased to fight me off when I forced a little.

"There is one more place to investigate and then we can go home," Kushina-san informed as we were leaving. The door locked itself behind us, the seal on it shining blue, like various lines on the building.

We swam back to the surface, only to find a young Pakkun sleeping in the shade of a tree. He yawned and stretched out as we joined him.

"They left for the shrine, Kakashi left me here to guide you."

"Pakkun!" Pakkun hid behind me when Kushina-san tried to grab him.

"Keep her from touching me and I'll let you touch my paw pads kids!"

Heh, who knew Kushina-san would scare dogs off?

Chapter 8: Academy Arc: Chapter 6

Chapter Text

We met up with the rest of the group the next day, the fifth since we had left Konoha. There was a shrine, abandoned, in the middle of the woods, vines growing on the red ceiling. They were around a campfire, talking quietly.

The next day, we entered the shrine, Kushina-san, Tsunade-san and me. It was a normal shrine on first sight. We quickly went through the whole thing.

"There's nothing here," Tsunade-san stated, leaving the place. Kushina-san watched her leave and sighed.

"We're not leaving empty-handed. We're going to have a lot of reading to do when we're home though." She started to leave.

I didn't move. I was staring at the corner of the room, drawn to it. I walked to it and knelt on the floor, touching the tatami. There was air between them. I was thrown back by it and sat up, watching in horror as a figure emerged from between the tatami. The figure turned into the Shinigami, their piercing, yellow eyes staring down at me. I started to shake, especially when I noticed the blue human figure held against them.

It was my soul.

They started to reach out their arm, the red beads floating around it. I raised my arms in front of me to defend myself, ready in scream. I couldn't move, I was petrified, totally and…

"Akane!" A hand on my shoulder brought me back to reality. I was on my knees, nowhere near the tatamis but staring at them, Kushina-san in front of me. She was worried.

"Wh…what happened?"

"You just fell and…I don't know, you weren't responding." I gulped and got up with her help. "Are you okay?"

"I…yes, I think."

"Let's get you out of here, a lot has happened in the past few days." She took me outside, but I glanced one last time at this corner of the room.

What had happened to me?

We left the next day, touching the continent at the end of the sixth day. We spent the night in a hotel with Tsunade-san and Shizune-san. The next day, we left for Konoha.

He reached their spot when the sun was rising in the horizon. Since he had taken the decision to graduate, he had split his time between training and Sasuke. It would not be difficult to find another occasion to show his skills. Teachers were not the most focused on them to be honest, they wanted to teach their class, have them graduate without getting killed immediately and that was it.

It was…not normal for teachers, because he remembered Sasuke's teacher, Umino Iruka, being careful and mindful of his students. But here, the war had ended two years and a half ago and they were still at war with Kumo officially, even if it had calmed down. The teachers had other things to worry about right now than the kids they were teaching, which was sad.

"Itachi?" He perked up at the voice and turned his head, Akane standing behind him.

"You've cut your hair," he replied with a disappointed look. She touched the tip of her hair, now a little bit above her shoulders.

"Yeah, it's too hot. Does it look bad?"

"Long hair suits you better, that's all," he said quietly as she sat down next to him. Her hair was mahogany, with the right lighting all of the red and burgundy reflects in her hair would show. It reminded him of fall when the sun would set or rise with the many copperish leaves around.

"I think everyone knows your preference for hair 'tachi," she replied with a teasing smirk. He shook his head and watched her take a bunch of letters from her bag.

"How did it go?"

"Huh…good." He frowned. "I…discovered things unrelated to our case but…pretty big nonetheless."

"Can I know this time?" She looked at him, vaguely irritated at the jab but it disappeared quickly.

"Apparently, my great-grandfather was…" She stopped herself, frowning. "I…guess it's okay to tell you that, just…don't repeat, right?"

"Promise." She looked and at him and showed him her pinky. He crossed his with hers without a word.

"He was the leader of the clan." Itachi raised a brow. "It's on my dad's side, so it means my grandmother was the heiress but still left, probably for my grandfather. The letters…they're from my grandmother to her father, I found them in the Compound." It was not what he was expecting, and neither was she from her face but…

"You didn't know," he whispered to her.

"I've learned more about myself here than in thirty-eight f*cking years," she retorted bitterly. "My mom took everything to the grave with her and…" She breathed out shakily. He put his hand on her shoulder, her eyes meeting his.

"No matter what you learned about your family, it doesn't change anything about who you are Akane." She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded, looking down.

"Thank you, Itachi." She didn't have to shoulder any of this alone, and he was always more than happy to listen to her. He probably should remind her of this every once in a while. "What have you done while I was away?" He shrugged.

"I ran after Sasuke and Naruto." She laughed at that, making him smile. The discussion he had overheard between his mother and his father came back in his mind and he frowned. "And I have decided to graduate as soon as possible." She lost her smile.

"Did something happen?"

The Uchiha issues were bad, would get worst and she would hear about the villagers' opinions on them soon enough. He didn't want to tell her any of that. She had never seen the crest on his back before him and he wanted to keep it that way.

He wanted to keep Akane and their relationship as far away as possible from the toxicity of his clan. She was the Hokage's protegee, but an Uzumaki, so the Uchiha clan's opinion on them being friends could really go both ways. His relationship with Akane had been the only thing that had ever truly be his, not his clan's, not his village's, but Itachi's. He didn't want it to change and if he told her, she'd want to help and get involved in ways he refused to have her involved.

The only way she'd be involved in the Uchiha clan would be because they were together, not because she could be a potential mean to an end.

"Itachi?"

"I'm bored at school. I feel useless right now, and even if being a genin is not much, it is at least an active job in the village." He looked at her. "But if you want to stay, then you should. I don't really see why you would enjoy school but…"

"It's the first time I'm going," she informed him as if it was obvious. He gazed at her, surprised. "I had tutors in Kiri, or my mom would teach me so…it's new." She looked at the letters on her lap. "What are genin missions here?"

"Helping people around and looking for a cat who hates its owner." She chuckled. "Are you going to read the letters?" She nodded. "Can I do something?" She handed him half of it.

He read his half. What he got from them was that Mamiko, Akane's grandmother, had been kicked out of the Uzumaki clan because she fell in love with a shinobi from the Hidden Mist and followed her heart and happiness instead of her duty to her clan and village. She had given birth to Akane's father, slipping a picture of him inside, and said that even if he didn't want him as his heir, he was his grandson, nonetheless. They both had been accepted back in Uzushio when they wanted to come, but not in the Uzumaki clan. The last letter he had was about how Mamiko was mad at her father not treating his grandson accordingly to her actions.

Itachi glanced at Akane from the corner of his eyes. He would have chosen someone over his clan and village too before, his brother was the most important to him. Then Akane landed in his life, literally as she had landed in front of him to try to kill Sasori, and he had felt different feelings appear. Yet, they slowly became more and more intense and strong, like his brother. If it came to it, would he leave Konoha and his clan too for these feelings? Her grandmother was the heiress too yet…the word 'pawn' had come back often. He sadly could understand that feeling.

"She was determined, I'll give her that," Akane ended up saying. He summed up what he had read, while she had read mostly angry letters of a daughter asking for her father's love and not her leader's forgiveness. "Hey, my grandmother was super brave!"

"Was she?" he replied in a whisper, making Akane frown, her eyes now serious. "I mean…I get that she was in love, but she had duties and responsibilities and let many people down by leaving. It asks a lot of courage to not pursue your own happiness so that others can have theirs." He had done just that. Everything that could have made him happy, he had given up on so that Sasuke could live, so that Konoha did not enter a civil war.

Akane remained quiet for a few seconds, then looked at the rock faces of the Hokage in the distance.

"Is it?" she asked him simply, unimpressed, sending an electroshock in his body. "Breaking out of being someone's pawn, not doing what you're told without thinking by yourself, acting on your thoughts and beliefs, is it brave or being a coward? How is hurting the people who love you by being a pawn is being brave? If choosing my family and the people I love over people I have a 'duty' to just because of my name or my village means I'm a villain, then I'll be a villain. At least I'm human and have a heart."

"It doesn't sound like it's about your grandparents anymore," he stated without emotion. She gulped.

"I guess it's not. I never thought loyalty was owed simply because of names or affiliations. It's earned. It's…" She grabbed his collar in her shaking hands, her eyes now sad and angry. "Do you know how it feels to hear villagers badmouth you, a dead man, when they had…" She didn't finish her sentence. "They didn't even know you!" Her whole body was shaking. He just stood there, not sure of what to do.

He just put his hands on hers without a word. He knew his reputation was ruined when he had left Konoha. However, when he wanted Akane to go to Konoha to be safe, he never thought hearing what people would say about him would wound her so much. She didn't have to be hurt on his behalf though, and yet…

"Sorry, I…we won't see eye-to-eye on this Itachi, so let's just…stop talking about this." She let go of him, smoothing his shirt before looking away.

"I'm sorry," he apologized so quietly he almost didn't hear himself. She sniffed and nodded but did not look at him. She didn't say anything either.

When they parted ways, she just gave him a stiff 'goodbye'. He watched her leave until she was out of sight before going home.

He would understand it if Akane resented him. He only hoped he would be able to make it up to her and get her entire trust back. He focused on these thoughts, pushing those wondering if he would choose Akane over where his loyalty had always been in a corner of his mind.

He didn't want to know the answer.

After our tensed exchange with Itachi, we did not see each other until we were back in school. I had spent the end of my vacations reading Yuureis' diaries, with Kushina-san's help. So far, the common point between them was that they, indeed, did not come on their own. They had what they called a 'watching soul'. These souls would be stuck in what they called 'Limbo', a realm where their soul would go before joining the Shinigami in case of near-death experience. Typically, these people would be connected to the event that triggered the Yuurei, or were close to them…

Let's talk about the event by the way. The Kyuubi attack was when I was five, I didn't even have a clue she was a jinchuriki, so how could it be my biggest regret? Letting Shisui go only for him to be killed by Danzou when I felt like something was wrong? I could see that. I also could see being sent back just before Itachi left for the last time, but here?

It was weird. Just like the whole watching soul thing. If anything, it would be Itachi. The thing was, he was very much alive and not stuck in Limbo for some reasons. Him being my watching soul was the only reason he would have been pulled out of the Pure Land so…

Why was he alive? They said that the watching soul was linked to the Shinigami seal, and that if I didn't break it before dying, they would follow me into eternal damnation as well. It was not great; Itachi should not be subjected to my choices and their consequences and yet…

"Akane," Kushina-san told me on my last day of vacations. Naru was out with his dad right now, so it was just us.

"Yep?" She put the diary she was reading down.

"You don't have to shoulder this alone." I blinked at her. It seemed random. "I know this must be a lot, and I know Minato and I…without Akiko, it would have been us, or at least one of us, to die that night." I looked down. "And I know this must be part of the reason you have started calling us by our names but…you're always going to be our little niece, even at sixty or in a retirement home. Yes, we are cousins, but you are close family and we'll always be there for you." She took my hands and turned me toward her.

"They died and…"

"It's us Akane." I looked up at her. "We're the people you knew if they had not died. Don't…don't stop seeing us a family."

"…you knew?" She put her hand on my head.

"I am not blind, and neither is Minato. But…I do hope in time, you will realize we are still the same people from your childhood." She gave me a tight hug.

I did not reciprocate, still stunned that she had seen right through me.

Once back in school, my relationship with Itachi was back to normal. Izumi would come around more and stick around once she was here. I didn't like that. When I'd see Itachi at our meeting spot, I'd ask him how it was at home. He was surprised at first, but then went on about Sasuke, which was really cute. When I'd see him with Sasuke, I couldn't help but smile at them.

I knew I should have told him about his condition, like mine, but I didn't want to ruin this. I didn't want to ruin the second chance he had as a big brother because I knew if he knew, he would not waste a second to look for a solution.

I was currently staring at him, sitting down, my knees raised to my chest and my cheek on them. He cleared his throat and shot me a glance.

"You've been staring at me for five minutes; do I have something on my face?" he asked me, embarrassed by my staring.

"It's not nice to be stared at, huh?" I retorted and he rolled his eyes at me. It was nice to see him showing more emotions. He was allowed to feel like anyone else after all. "I was just thinking."

"What about?" I raised a brow and he shrugged. "You were staring at me; I have a right to know." I scoffed.

"As if." I straightened up and stretched out my arms above my head. It was early December. The first snow would be here soon. For now, the trees were bare, dead leaves on the cold, humid ground.

I put my gloved hands on the ground, leaned to Itachi and kissed his cheek. He put his hand on his cheek, red dusting them and his ears.

"I'm in love with you Itachi." He widened his eyes and I chuckled. "You can't be that surprised. I don't think I've ever stopped loving you; my feelings were just…dormant because you weren't around and…"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty sure yes, it's just platonic right now because…child body but…" He tackled me to the ground. "Itachi?" His face was in the crook of my neck, well in my scarf.

"Thank you," he mumbled against me. I ignored the pang at my heart when he said 'thank you' instead of 'I love you'. It would…really helped with my insecurities but… "I was so scared you had moved on from me when I'm still…" His breathed out slowly and steadily. "I'll do better this time." I raised a brow and he turned on his other side, now laying in the dirt with me. He gazed at me softly and ran his finger on my cheekbone, then my cheek and my lips. "I can give you a nice future now Akane, and I promise I will."

I bit the inside of my cheek, the hurt of him not saying 'I love you' gone, because it was the same essentially, right? I smiled and nodded, letting him get closer to me, his forehead on mine as I had my head turned toward him.

"Are you sure you're not going to leave?" I asked before I could think about it. He gazed at me in the eyes, his eyes unwavering.

"I'm not leaving you again Akane. It's…the last thing I want." I sniffed, not letting my tears get to my eyes.

"Good to know." I turned toward him to and put my hand on his cheek. "Don't leave me again Itachi," I asked, almost begged him under my breath.

He kissed my forehead softly as a response.

Their camping trip was set the first week of January. Like the year before, he was teamed up with Akane and Kou. It had been almost a month since Akane had told him she was in love with him, and he was finding it complicated to get off his cloud when he was around her.

It was as if by saying these three words, she had taken a huge weight out of his shoulders. His fear of her not returning his feelings was gone, his worry of her having moved on from him, from them and their love was gone. She still loved him.

His sun was shining brighter than it had in a long time. Even Shisui had told him it was disturbing to see him like that, not mentioning how most of his attention would be on his love when the three of them would be together. He had her favorite snacks ready, and water and he was all too happy to correct her posture or give her tips for her shurikenjutsu.

She would kiss his cheek randomly when no one was looking, making him blush. He would return it, making her blush and she'd chuckle as he would smile, melting in her warm embrace. Living this as children was only reminding him that despite his past or hers, their feelings for each other were deep, strong and pure.

"It's so cold," Kou complained, blowing in his hands. They were forbidden to wear proper winter clothes, instead having winter shinobi cloak with hoods. He shot Akane a quick look. She wasn't bothered at all.

"There is worse than Konoha's winters somewhere I'm sure," she told the Hyuuga boy, taking the map from his hands. Him and Akane had agreed to let Kou do as much as possible as none of them would struggle to complete the treasure hunt.

On the second day, they both let Kou go on his own, the boy assuring them he would find them with his Byakugan. The second he was gone, Akane started to remove her cloak. She already had a green sweater on.

"What's with all the green clothes?" he asked her. He didn't remember her fancying this color that much before.

"See…" she droned, turning resigned eyes to him. "I think Kushina-san secretly wants to turn me in a Christmas tree or something." He put his hand to his mouth and chuckled, picturing her with Christmas lights all over her. "Haha, very funny." She threw her cloak at him. "Here princess." He didn't even react at the nickname. "I was right you know; you do look a little girlish until you hit puberty." He deadpanned at her. "Not so funny anymore, is it?" She kicked in the fresh white snow, turning it into a sharp blade at the tip of her foot. "That's a killer kick."

He knew she had awakened her Hyouton when her mother died, but she had gotten a good control over it in so little time.

"You know, in my clan, making something out of ice with your Hyouton is an old tradition for someone special."

"How special?" She put her finger on her lips as she looked at him, amused.

"Special as in 'would-you-be-my-partner-for-life' special." He raised a brow. "Ice sculptures were a big thing apparently, and hard to do. It takes time and dedication; you don't do it just for anyone." He truly hoped he would get something made of ice then.

Akane kissed him on the cheek, snickering at his surprised face and red cheeks. He was blushing too much around her, she was enjoying it too much.

"It's the cold," he heard himself explain without too much conviction.

"My element then!" She turned around and walked in front of him.

As he watched her walking before him, he couldn't help but thinking that it really was in her element. She was obvious in the pure white snow but seemed like she belonged. Itachi knew it was too much to ask, but he wanted them to remain like this forever, peaceful and not fighting, just enjoying what the world had to offer them together.

"Gotta pee," I stated, getting up. Itachi and Kou didn't say much at this, busy eating and I left for the bathroom.

I did my business, washed my hands and left the girls bathroom. I barely had my foot on the first step of the stairs that I heard people talking and one whimpering. I thought about ignoring it, because it was none of my business and, no matter how heartless I would sound, I couldn't care less about a kid I didn't know being bullied.

However, I heard the name 'Uchiha'. At that I sighed and went straight to the scene. There was a kid I recognized from class, against the wall, his hands in front of him to defend himself and three other guys around him. I cracked my knuckles and ran to them. The guy closest to me had the time to turn around and widened his eyes almost comically that I had punched him square in the stomach. He spat and I threw him aside. The second guy tried to attack me, but I grabbed his hand, slipped behind him, his arm now in an armlock and I kicked him behind the knee. He fell and I glanced at the last guy. He was standing there, his fists shaking in front of him. I narrowed my eyes.

"Scram." Before he could make a move, I pointed at his friends. "Infirmary." I watched him leave, carrying them. I looked down at the Uchiha, who was staring at them with wide, shocked eyes. He then looked at me as I crouched in front of him. "You okay there?"

"You…you…but they…" I took a booklet out of my back pocket and unsealed the first-aid kit Kushina-san had given me.

I disinfected his bloody lip and put a band-aid on the cut. I grabbed his hand to pull him back on his feet.

"Are you going to be okay?" He nodded without a word. "What's your name?"

"Yasuo." He licked his dry lips. "Uchiha Yasuo." He had short dark brown hair and black eyes.

He had what I would call the typical Uchiha look, with the high collar for his gray shirt.

"Watch out in the future Yasuo." I was about to leave when I caught a glimpse of a box on the floor. It was his bento, his lunch spilled everywhere. "Actually, do you want to eat with us?" He blinked, taken back and nodded.

"I don't ha…" I waved him off.

"I haven't touched my bento yet, we can share."

"But it's yours!" I shrugged.

"I can steal from the guys." Itachi wouldn't mind and I was quicker than Kou.

They both were surprised when I came back with Yasuo. As Kushina-san was wary of me breaking my chopsticks, I had another pair and I put my bento between Yasuo and me.

"What's going on?" Kou asked us, intrigued as Itachi was quietly analyzing the situation.

"He was bullied, and he lost his lunch, so I'm sharing mine." Before I could dig in, my bento was snatched away. I blinked. "Itachi!"

"I'm making it more practical," he replied simply, putting a third of my bento in his bento box with the rest of his lunch. He handed my box to Yasuo and gave me his. "Here." I shot him a knowing look and he frowned a little at me.

Was he really jealous of a seven-year-old? Come on. Thinking back on it, I didn't like how Izumi was crushing on him so…but she had a crush, I barely knew Yasuo.

"Thank you, Itachi-sama." I twitched at that, and Kou almost choked on his food. Itachi slapped him on the back.

"I forget sometimes you're the heir," I stated before shaking my head.

"There is no need for such formalities, Yasuo-san." Did Itachi slip back into Uchiha heir automatically when he didn't know people?

Why would I wonder that, of course he would. He was polite with everyone, to the point where it would get on my nerves sometimes.

Just like that, Yasuo would be with me when I'd go join the boys for lunch. I couldn't help but feel like I knew him from somewhere though.

He didn't think.

Akane had told him she had 'dealt' with Yasuo's bullies, implying she had beaten them up. They were older and came back for revenge, Hokage's connection or not. He was in the vicinity as she wanted to enjoy having him around still to use the shooting range.

He saw Akane surrounded by three Academy students and one genin, Akane looking more than unimpressed, and he frowned. When the genin raised his fist and started its descent on Akane, he ran and got between them. He stopped the wrist, leaned on it and kicked the genin in the cheek, knocking him out. The Academy students ran away as Akane clapped in his back.

He glanced sternly at her, and she shrugged.

"Itachi-kun, have you…" His teacher was there, a shocked Yasuo with him.

"Sorry sensei, it seems Itachi dealt with them quicker than you," Akane told him as if it was nothing. "Come on, practice now!" She grabbed his hand and ran off.

Once at their destination, she let go of him.

"Do you think it will be enough to graduate?"

"I don't know. Are you okay?"

"'tachi', you've seen the phenomenon? I'm good." He chuckled a little. "Hey…"

"Yes?"

"You won't forget me once you graduate, right?" He frowned and she looked away. "You're going to go on missions and all of that…we won't see each other as much so…please don't forget I exist?"

"I don't think I could forget you exist even if I wanted to." She narrowed her eyes at him, not knowing how to take it. "But rest assured, I won't." She sighed in relief.

"It's good to hear. And if you need, ask me for help." He tilted his head. "You can't do everything on your own Itachi, so if you need to, I can help you. Even if it is dangerous, it doesn't scare me." It scared him to put her in a dangerous situation. Not that he would tell her though. "I don't want to lose you again, you know?" He poked her on the forehead in response.

"I'm not going anywhere this time," he replied as she rubbed her forehead. "Thank you Akane."

"Huh, you don't have to act like your brother to thank me."

"What?"

"Sasuke, he would poke me the same way." He wasn't expecting this.

Sasuke and Akane must have been very close if his brother had been doing this. He wondered how him, and Naruto coped with Akane dying. Yet, selfishly, he stopped wondering about this because even if she wasn't with them anymore, she was with him.

He would be lying if he said he would want to change it.

Chapter 9: Academy Arc: Chapter 7

Chapter Text

Itachi was not comfortable. I didn't envy him, at all. I had no idea if Mikoto-san had done this before, but now her son graduated, she had a small party at their house. It was us, as in the Namikaze's household, which was full of Uzumakis, them, Shisui, who was available today, and Kou. I had to come with him because, as a Hyuuga, he wasn't too keen on entering the Uchiha Compound on his own. He had given a note to Fugaku-san, from Hiashi-san, and the Uchiha leader nodded, putting it in his pocket.

I wasn't sure I wanted to know what was going on in a clan leader's head, especially with these and their, in my opinion, stupid rivalry.

"Mom…" Itachi muttered, embarrassed.

"Now Itachi, you don't graduate from the Academy every day!" I put my chin on Sasuke's head, my arms around him. I was sitting with my legs crossed and he was sitting between them, Shisui all too happy to have Naru with him.

They got along a little too well. Naru saw Shisui less than Itachi as he was a jounin, but when he'd come over or when I'd go out with Naru and him, they were like two peas in a pot.

Very annoying after a few minutes.

"Still…" he mumbled, his forehead protector reflecting the light of the sun. He glanced at the wrapped gifts on the table. "It really was not necessary."

"You're a genin, your friends from school should be able to properly say goodbye to you," she said with a beaming smile, obviously happy Itachi had friends.

"We can see him outs…" Sasuke put his small hand on my mouth. I raised a brow at him, and he shook his head.

"Don't make Mommy mad," he whispered in his cute, toddler voice. He was pretty smart though whereas he'd be three in four months.

"Yes captain," I replied in a muffled voice. He nodded, turned back toward his brother and leaned into me, settling comfortably.

Itachi got a whole new set of kunai and shuriken from Shisui, who did not forget to tell him it had been expensive. The kids had drawn something for him. His parents gave him something Uchiha-related, which I noticed made him twitch a little, and Kushina-san gave himThe Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja, which got her a suspicious look from Mikoto-san when she read the name of the author. He got a maintenance kit for ninja tools from Kou before looking at him expectantly.

"I have a gift."

"Where is it?"

"It's a work in progress." He narrowed his eyes at me.

"So you don't have anything."

"I came here for you, it's a lot already." He rolled his eyes. "It should be done in a week." He raised a brow. "I swear!"

"Hn. I'll come for you if it's not done." Right.

School started the next day. I was back in Kou's class with Yasuo this time. However, school was boring. I loved Kou, he was a good friend, and Yasuo was nice if not a little bit too much like a puppy following me. However, I felt alone. Itachi was gone, taking his smart-ass with him and it felt…lacking in the challenge-department.

I'd continue his present instead. It was a booklet filled with seals for battle. There were sections for medical stuff, weapons, food, anything he'd need. In each section were storage seals, empty ones he could fill like he wanted. I had put a few things in it already.

Then, when I'd give it to him, I'd tell him to use his chakra to activate the locking seal on the booklet, rendering the seals useless to anyone who did not have his chakra.

When I was ready to give it to him, he was on a mission. I'd spend time with Naru and Sasuke, but he wouldn't show up at our meeting spot for two months. If anything, I'd see him around town with his team.

Summer rolled in swiftly, the heat and the sun winning over the cooler temperatures I loved. I decided to go to the Uchiha Compound. I gulped when I reached the gate. It was intimidating, and I was all too aware of the stares I'd get when I was there. I envied Kushina-san who could walk there her head high. I only wanted to stare at the ground as I was walking.

I reached the lake there was for training and took a deep breath. It was away from the main street so there was no one.

I heard chatter down and glanced there. I stopped in my steps, blinking in confusion. Itachi was on the pontoon with Izumi, both of them talking and apparently laughing in front of the lake.

Huh.

Interesting.

I swallowed with difficulty, my inside twisting in painful knots. I was not going to deny I was jealous because I was. How could I not when I was seeing the guy I told 'I love you' to laughing with a girl who was obvious with her crush on him?

My heart dropped at the thought of Izumi possibly being Itachi's childhood sweetheart or something. I wasn't there before, and he had left at thirteen. Izumi had been in love with him from the beginning, maybe he used to return it before? He never mentioned her to me before but…with the circ*mstances, why would he?

Did he use to be in love with her, or at least crushing on her?

I didn't even want to think about it. However, I did and squeaked at the thought before running away.

Izumi was an obvious choice after all, wasn't she? Itachi was the heir; I was sure he had some obligations regarding marriage and stuff and…Izumi was the obvious choice. Not me.

I stopped in the middle of the street at this. We couldn't be together before because of his sickness, and his criminal status but…what if we still couldn't be together now because of…everything he was in Konoha? I gulped. I didn't want to lose him if he lived.

"Nee-san?" I looked down at Sasuke, ignoring the pang at my heart. The kid was looking at me with big eyes. "Are you sad?"

"No, why would I be?" I replied, smiling as I crouched in front of him. "Are you alone?" He shook his head and pointed behind him. Mikoto-san was running toward us, a bag of groceries with her. "Don't make your mom run like that Sasuke." I ruffled his hair when he puffed his cheeks.

"She's right you know," Mikoto-san agreed once she was with us. I stood back up. "Hello Akane-chan."

"Hello."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well…" I glanced at Sasuke briefly, who had taken my hand. "I wanted to give Itachi his present, but I can't find him. I'll do that la…"

"Nonsense, come home with us." She took my hand and started to drag me away, Sasuke behind. "He's home for his brother's birthday, he should come back later."

"But…"

"Nee-san play!" I couldn't say no to Sasuke, or his mother. Deep down, I knew I shouldn't anger her.

I found myself playing with Sasuke at their house, Mikoto-san busy around the house. Sasuke took Itachi's present, and I quickly took it back.

"What is it?"

"It's your brother's graduation present so don't touch it please."

"What is it?"

"Seals for missions." He tried to take it again, but I raised my arm. "Sasuke." He puffed his cheeks. "I can show you some if you want to." He perked up at that.

"Really?" I nodded.

"I need papers and pencils." He stood up and ran off. "And don't ru…" I heard him fall. Sighing, I stood up, went to pick him up and brought him to the kitchen. Mikoto-san provided me with what I needed while making us snacks.

I showed Sasuke a few fuin symbols with the drawing of what it meant; the toddler hunched over my paper. He took his own sheet of paper and tried to reproduce my work, but it just looked like scribble. He looked really proud when he showed to me though, so I put my hand on his head.

"Not bad Sasuke."

"I'm home!" I tensed when I heard Itachi, Sasuke hugging me. I had no idea if he felt the tension in me or was just taken by the sudden urge to hug me, but I hugged him back. Mikoto-san was smiling at us as Itachi entered the room. "What's going on?"

"They're adorable, aren't they?" his mother asked him, talking about us. Itachi raised a brow at us just before his brother let go of me to greet him.

"Sure." He sat down and we ate. I listened to them, feeling like such an outsider with them. They were including me in their conversations, Mikoto-san had never been anything but welcoming and warm to me anyway, Fugaku-san not really paying me attention when I was here but still acknowledging my presence.

I could see the fondness in Itachi's eyes when he'd be with his mother, or the hidden admiration when he'd be with his father. He loved his family dearly after all.

"Nee-san has your gift!" Itachi raised curious eyes to me, and I felt naked. Way to go to put me in the spotlight Sasuke.

"Yeah…I finished it." He stood up.

"Let's go to my room."

"You don't want to open your present is front of us?" his mother asked him with a knowing look in her eyes.

"It's fine to open it here," I said, confused. Itachi sighed, grabbed my wrist and dragged me behind him.

His room was neat and tidied. Once the door closed, Itachi turned to me, looking excited.

"I'm not sure it lives up to the hype now," I muttered, handing him the gift. He shook his head.

"I'm sure I'm going to love it." He accepted the gift and unwrapped it, raising his brows at the booklet. "Thanks?"

"Open it." He did and frowned as he flipped through the pages. "It's…it's for mission, you can take more with you in case anything wrong happens. I already put some stuff in here and…on the cover, there is black hole at the center of the seal, use your chakra in it." He did, it glowed blue, and he looked up at me.

I gestured him to hand me the booklet, which he did. The second it left his hand, the pages turned blank. I used my chakra like he had just done, but nothing.

"No one but you can use it now!" I stated, proud of myself. He nodded, a small smile on his lips. I couldn't help but feel he was disappointed though. "You don't like it, do you?" He perked up at that.

"I like it very much Akane, thank you. This will be very useful during my missions."

"You look disappointed." He shook his head.

"It's just not what I was expecting, but I love it, promise." I shot his present a quick look. "It took you a long time to make too, free of charge, I really appreciate it." I gulped and put my hands in my pockets, staring at the floor. I tried to hide my sadness.

I wasn't dumb, whatever it was he was expecting, he would have preferred it over my gift. That and seeing him with Izumi earlier…

"Akane." I raised my head, Itachi poking me on the forehead before placing a soft kiss on my cheek. "I really do love it."

"I can buy you something if yo…" He hugged me around the waist, his chin on my shoulder.

"I'm happy with what you have offered me, and a hug." I hugged him around the neck, my cheek on his shoulder.

"How are you 'tachi?" I asked him quietly. He just breathed out slowly, hugging me tighter. "I miss you at school."

"Does it make me a bad person if I say I am happy to hear you say this?" I chuckled. He started walking, pushing me toward his bed and then on it. He lay down next to me, still hugging me.

"Itachi?" He didn't respond.

I was the one to initiate physical contact usually. He would, sometimes, but it was rare, even if it had gotten better once we were official.

I wasn't hating it though.

He had been a little bit disappointed. He felt terrible it had made Akane feel bad about her gift, which was more than thoughtful as it was a graduation gift. It was just that, when she had said his present was not ready yet, he had thought he would receive something made of ice like she had mentioned a few months before. He had made a scenario in his head and had failed to hide his disappointment about this scenario when it did not happen.

"Your birthday!" He looked at her. "Hey, does it count as a birthday present if we go to a tea house and I pay for the both of us?"

"I'm fine with that." He was also more than fine with cuddling with her, but she decided to stand up.

Earlier, he had been with Izumi. He had been outside with his father, went for dango but the shop was closed. Izumi had found them and had some, so they hung out at the lake. She had given him some and Itachi had remembered how easy everything was back then, like their friendship.

He had had the strange feeling he was being watched and when he looked back, there was no one.

"What were you doing with Sasuke earlier?"

"Fuinjutsu. I was showing some stuff to him, and he replicated them. Well, he tried at least." He never thought Sasuke would like Fuinjutsu, but it would be nice for him. He was sure Akane was a great teacher too, and seeing her spend time with his brother…

It was making him all warm and fuzzy inside.

He went back on missions after his brother's birthday. To his utter surprise, he was on the same team as before with Shinko and Tenma. Yuki-sensei was still inapt in teaching kids, Tenma was arrogant but alive and Shinko was trying to make peace among all of them but struggled. They were going on missions he didn't remember going on before but seeing that Tenma had not been killed by Madara was reassuring. He could not stand Itachi, but it did not matter. He was alive.

He would stay alive.

Everything was…going fine. He was managing spending time with Sasuke and his missions. He was seeing Akane less but was still finding time and their relationship was…more than fine in his opinion. She would ask him about his missions and his team, and he would tell her, Akane sighing because she was bored in school. The one stain on this picture was his clan. He could feel the tension rising when he'd be in the Compound, and when his kinsmen would see him with Akane or even Naruto. He could feel the disapproving looks on him.

He did not care. It was not his clan's old views and resentment that would make him, or his brother, stop seeing the Uzumakis.

"I'm being cooked," Akane whined weakly in the shade of a tree at their meeting spot. She was on her side, Itachi in the same position in front of her, his forehead against hers. "I'm dying."

"Don't be so dramatic," he replied quietly.

"They have announced 40°c this afternoon. I'm going to have a heat stroke."

"Stay inside."

"Naru wants to go out."

"Let Kushina-san go with him then."

He would not let these moments of blissful peace stop because of his clan.

Fall was there.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu is mastered!" I yelled, raising my arms in the air. Kakashi watched me doing so.

"Congratulations."

"Can you put more efforts in your congratulations?"

"Congratulations Akane, at eight you are chuunin-level and can do the Shadow Clone Jutsu," he said, still with no emotion. I stuck my tongue at him, and he grabbed it. "Hey." I tried to make him let go, but I just looked like a bug trapped in a spider web.

"Phlet me go!" I said. He narrowed his eye and did when I was pulling like an idiot. I fell back on my ass. "Big meanie."

"Yes yes." He looked at me more seriously. "I'm going to leave the village for a month for a mission." I frowned.

"Kumo?" He nodded, not needing to say more.

Minato-san was spending some evenings at the office instead of eating with us now. The few conversations I overheard between him and Kushina-san were not good.

"Come back in one piece then." He rolled his eye, put his hand on my head and pushed on it.

"Whatever brat."

Shortly after Naru's birthday, I took him in town to do some shopping. He was boisterous at first but calmed down quickly when I scolded him. I ignored like I could the glances the villagers would give him. It was better than before I was sure as his parents were alive, but the villagers, mainly civilians, still saw him as the Kyuubi and not Naruto.

"Tenma, hurry up!" I looked in the back alley behind me. A girl and a boy rushed in it. The boy dropped something.

I picked it up. It looked like a box of expensive catnip.

"Kitty!" Naru said, pointing at the cat drawing on the box.

"Yes, kitty Naru." I took his hand and went after the boy.

I found him a little further away in the street, rummaging in his pockets. I walked up to him and his teammate, tapping on his shoulder.

"What!?" Wow, he was not nice. He turned around and blinked at the box I was handing him. He looked up and scrunched his nose at me. "You're the Hokage's foreigner, aren't you?" I froze.

The Hokage's foreigner? What was that?

"Tenma! You can't say that!" the girl almost yelled at him. Tenma? Itachi's teammate? Then did it mean it was Shinko?

"But it's true! She's the foreigner the Hokage kept out of generosity!" That…that wasn't… "Everybody says that!" Everybody?

I had been in Konoha for four years at this point, I wasn't…I was training to be a kunoichi here, ready to put my life on the line for them and…

They considered me aforeigner. Born abroad, yes, but half of this body's life had been in Konoha, I…

"Hey! Say sorry!" Naru yelled, kicking Tenma in the leg. Tenma glared at Naru, a hand on his leg.

I put Naru behind me, feeling this could quickly go south. The genin didn't do much apart from clicking his tongue. Naru decided to run off though. I thought he would hit Tenma again, but he ran between his legs and behind him.

I was relieved when I saw him hugging no one but Itachi, who picked him up easily. The Uchiha joined us and, seeing the snarl on Tenma's face, Shinko's nervousness and how I was on the defensive, stepped next to me.

"What's going on?" Naru pointed at Tenma.

"Called nee-chan foreigner!" Itachi frowned and glanced at me.

"It's okay Itachi," I whispered, not wanting to cause issues between his teammate and him.

"It's not." He looked at Tenma dead in the eyes. "Akane will be a kunoichi of Konoha in a few years, regardless of where she was born, and will put her life on the line like any of us. Try to think of that instead of her origins." Tenma clenched his fists, glaring at Itachi.

"Shinko, let's finish this mission!" he groaned, leaving. Shinko shot us an apologetic glance and left.

Me? I was surprised Itachi defended me. I was…glad, but I was surprised.

"Is it going to be okay with your teammates?"

"Don't worry about it." He put Naru back down. "Are you really okay?" I pursed my lips and shrugged.

"It's not something I thought I would deal with."

"You've been living here for a while and will fight with us, you're not a foreigner." I was really touched by this and smiled at him, thankful.

"Thank you." He smiled back at me, his eyes intense.

"Nee-chan!" I let Naru get on my back. "Hike!"

"Yes Naru."

"Hike?" Itachi repeated.

"Going in the woods only." I waved at him. "See you later."

"Be careful." I nodded, blushing, and left.

I had never seen Itachi as a knight in a shining armor, and I knew deep down it was better if I didn't but…it felt nice, to be defended.

What Tenma had said remained stuck in my head. It almost sounded like Minato-san had gotten an exotic pet by being my legal guardian with Kushina-san. I hated. If Tenma thought it, then most likely, his parents as well and other people. I had never heard anything in town but maybe I was just so into my own world that I didn't hear it.

As I was wandering the halls of the Academy at the end of the day in November it remained stuck in my head. It just wouldn't leave.

"But we didn't do anything." That was Izumi.

"I know but…I mean, the Sharingan's abilities can be scary from the outside and…" Yasuo.

"We're from the same village, they should trust us!" I popped my head out of the corner of the wall, Yasuo spotting me instantly.

"Akane, come here!" I did, Izumi staring at the floor in frustration. "Are you scared of the Sharingan?" I raised a brow and looked at them both.

"None of you have it, do you?" Izumi raised her eyes to me. They were red.

Wow, she had the Sharingan at her age? Not that one tomoe was very intimidating but still, it was an achievement.

"Are…you going to attack me or something?" I asked them, confused as to what was happening.

"Wh…no, of course not!" Yasuo denied immediately.

"Then why would I be scared?"

"Because the Sharingan is strong," Izumi replied with a frown. "It's powerful, and the pride of the Uchiha clan and…" I stopped listening to her arrogant rant. It sounded like she was brainwashed by a cult or something.

I took a blank paper tag, bit my forefinger, and wrote a seal on it. Then, without a word, I put it on Izumi forehead and transferred the seal to her. Her sharingans disappeared and she blinked in surprise. Yasuo was shocked as well.

"Wh…what!?" Izumi screamed.

"Look, I don't know what's gotten into you that made you arrogant about the Sharingans, but anything can be sealed if you're confronted to someone competent enough. The loudest people are the first people to die on the battlefield." They stayed silent as I deadpanned at them. "So, what is this really about?"

"People keep saying we caused the Kyuubi attack," Izumi said through gritted teeth. "But it's not true!" I looked down. In a way…the Uchihas had caused the attack. "You believe that too Akane!?" I didn't have the time to respond that she ran away, saying I was mean.

"…do you believe that?" I rolled my eyes and looked at Yasuo.

"Don't put words in my mouth. I think that a whole group falling for the actions of one individual is stupid and unfair. But I don't think it was an internal job to Konoha." He was visibly confused. "My mom died that night; do you think I'd hang out with you guys if I thought your clan was responsible?" I turned around and left as well, leaving the poor kid now alone in the hallway.

Obito was an Uchiha, but no longer a Konoha shinobi. Honestly, the Uchihas being responsible was really about perspective on this one.

Itachi was…frustrated. He had seen Izumi, who had told Akane was mean and also thought that they had caused the Kyuubi attack. He was taken back, because he knew Akane enough to know it was not her to throw accusations like these without proofs. Izumi then told him he probably should not be friends with her and left and he failed to reply anything.

While Akane was not the kind to throw accusations around, she would speak her mind without caring about others' reactions, which could lead to misunderstandings. When he saw her arriving at their spot, he almost sighed, dreading the conversation they were about to have. He knew Akane was not Izumi's biggest fan either so…he didn't want her to think he was siding with Izumi, he didn't want to take sides at all. However, if he could make Akane more careful about her bluntness, it would be good. He knew he used to have issues with saying what he thought without thinking. Ironically, it was Izumi who had pointed this out to him.

"Hey!"

"Hey." She sat down next to him.

"You know, usually we try to match the first person's enthusiasm," she commented, opening her bag. "Something's wrong?"

"I…talked with Izumi." She slowed down in her movement and rolled her eyes. "What happened?"

"She got the wrong idea."

"What did you say?"

"That's the thing: nothing. She asked me if believed your clan was responsible for Kyuubi and I looked down. She got the wrong idea then and ran off." He took a deep breath. It sounded plausible.

"You didn't really tell her you believed that then?" She glared at him.

"Do you really think I would? To a kid who most likely has gone through some trauma for her to have the Sharingan?"

"No, of course not, but sometimes you can be too blunt and…" She scoffed.

"Look who's talking." He looked at her sternly.

"Izumi lost her father during the attack, in front of her. He wasn't an Uchiha so she wasn't living with the clan back then, thinking she might live among her dad's killers is not easy." She looked in the distance. "Maybe you should apologize."

"For what? Looking at the f*cking floor? If she misunderstands things because of trauma, it's her problem, not mine."

"Akane," he called her firmly. She clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "You will work together later on, it's better to do that without bitter misunderstandings still lingering between you two."

"I'm not apologizing for being frank Itachi."

"Being blunt in all situations is not the best approach."

"I'm not…"

"Akane." She returned his firm gaze for a few seconds and looked away.

"Fine."

"Thank yo…"

"You do realize that I'm right though, don't you?" He clasped his lips together and she glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. "No matter at what angle you look at it, the Sharingan is responsible for the attack." She frowned. "Unless you haven't put two and two together yet." He frowned back.

He had heard his father say something among those lines, and it was not as if he never had his own suspicions on Madara before either. Akane was not giving him room for suspicions though was enough confirmation.

"At some point, Izumi will have to see things for how they really are, and you can't shield her from it." She was upset. He didn't want to upset her, although he was also expecting it.

"I know." He noticed her biting the inside of her cheek before pulling a diary out of her bag.

"You're an anomaly." He blinked. "In Uzushio, I…my condition? I'm the last known case of many, many others in the Uzumaki clan." He frowned. "And all of them had what they called a 'watching soul', someone close to them in life who had died who would watch them in the new one."

"You tell me now?" She rolled her eyes.

"The Uzumakis were dealing with very, very dark sh*ts and, you're an anomaly. I can see you being my 'watching soul', but you're here, in the flesh. The moment I was thrown back doesn't make sense either. It's supposed to be my biggest regret. It would be letting Shisui go shortly before he died, not…this far back." Her regret was Shisui?

"Maybe the reason I'm here is the reason why we're this far back?" She nodded.

"I came to the same conclusion, the only question I still have is: how did you get here?"

If he followed her theory and he was stuck watching her without doing anything, he'd take the chance of tagging along to really be there.

"It's better if I'm here, I think," he said after a few seconds. She glanced at him coldly.

"You finally had the chance to rest, you should have left me deal with the consequences of my actions on my own." It was cold, and he felt a pang at his heart. "You may not have this chance la…"

"I'm glad I'm here, no matter what you think." Silence fell upon them.

He would not let Akane deal with this on her own if he could help her.

I had to apologize, because apparently, I was hurtful in my words. What a load of…

Itachi wanted to do right by the girl, there obviously was something behind this, but still. If she was hurt by my reaction, maybe she should see a therapist to talk about her dad's death. I was so…annoyed Itachi wanted me to apologize, and I was upset with myself because I would do it because I didn't want to fight with him. I had him back and didn't want to lose him again.

Yet, there was a bitter taste in my mouth. In Kiri, you had to be blunt with your teammates because it was what would keep you alive. Even in the Academy from what Suigetsu would tell me, you'd be blunt. You'd say things as they were and if the person in front of you couldn't handle it, then chances were that they would die or fail, which was worse than death during Yagura's regime.

Konoha shinobi in Kiri were called Konoha-softies. I had never partaken in that, but I could see it now, clear as day, and I hoped that once a kunoichi I would see it less.

Shortly before the Christmas break, we had a sparring session with both classes of third year. Izumi decided to volunteer herself, and I, for the first fight. We went in front of everyone and raised two fingers in front of us.

She was glaring at me.

"Hajime!" She ran at me.

Now, for an eight-year-old, Izumi was not bad. She was the top kunoichi of our year, something Kou would roll his eyes at often. He was the top shinobi in our year, and we had been sparring this year.

He was very frustrated at me when I'd beat him, often by accident.

Now, I had to apologize. That being said, I still thought Izumi needed…a reality check. As in she couldn't blow up at people's faces without expecting consequences. What if someone important was to criticize the Uchihas in front of her? Would she call them out too? It could cost her her life.

I didn't care, but…Itachi cared so…

I started dodging easily, staying in the circle. I heard people whispering among themselves and as I turned around, now facing them, Izumi having her back to them, I caught Kou's quizzical gaze. I gave him an imperceptible shrug, hoping he would see it and he nodded.

I loved Kou.

I dodged a high kick by crouching. I stretched out my right leg and spun around and kicked her ankle. She was on one leg, so she fell harshly to the ground as I stood up, my eyes locked on her. She groaned and stood up.

Well, she was stubborn, I'd give her that. I moved back as she tried to hit me, trying to control her frustration as much as she could. I took her to the edge of the sparing circle and got out of her way at the last moment, pushing her lightly in the back to get her out of the circle.

"And it's over! Akane-chan is the winner!" the teacher stated as Izumi turned around with wide eyes.

"No!"

"Yes. Now do the reconciliation sign." I stretched out two fingers to her. She bit her bottom lip and crossed her fingers with mine.

"I'm sorry for last time," I whispered to her. She looked at me in surprise as I put my hand in my pocket. "Do be careful of how you react and with whom however."

"I…yes." I nodded and went back in the crowd.

"Easy?" Kou whispered to me. I shrugged.

"Potential, but yes."

"By the way, Yasuo told me of your seal." I shot Kou and glance. "The one you used on Izumi."

"And?"

"I…told Hiashi-sama something like that existed and he wants to meet you and Kushina-sama."

That…was an unexpected turn of events.

Chapter 10: Academy Arc: Final

Chapter Text

"I know." I raised a brow at Kushina-san as she showed me a letter. I was barely back from school. I took it and read it. It was an official invitation to discuss things at the Hyuuga Compound. "Mind telling me what the seal is about?"

"Huh, an original that took me years of research and failures to perfect." She crossed her arms, waiting for more. "It seals any doujutsu, even if it is activated. It can function on its own and it can last even in death." Old Sasuke did not want the Rinnegan or Sharingan to fall in the wrong hands when he'd die.

Kushina-san blinked, staring at nothing for a solid second.

"You really succeeded to do that?" I nodded.

"As I said, it took me years because I had to dissect your Chakra Suppressing Seal first." She crouched in front of me. "What?"

"You…received our belongings?" I shrugged.

"Fuinjutsu-wise, yes. Naruto never was in Fuinjutsu so he just let me do as I wished."

"I see." She shot the letter another glance. "I think I have a good idea of why they want to see you."

"Does Minato-san know?"

"Yes, Hiashi-san asked him directly and then gave him the letter. He dropped it here a few hours ago. You did notice it was addressed to you, right?" I re-read the letter. Indeed, it was for me. "What do you want to do?" I shrugged.

"I guess there's no wrong done if I just listen to him, right?"

On the twenty-third, we went to the Hyuuga Compound with Kushina-san. Naru was spending the day with Sasuke and Mikoto-san. We stopped at the gate and shared a look.

"The letter said we'd be greeted."

"It would be me." We turned around. I blinked and bowed to Hiashi-san.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Hiashi-san." The man raised a brow and Kushina-san snickered. "What?"

"This is not Hiashi-san." I furrowed my brows at the man, who seemed vaguely amused by me.

"Are you sure?"

"I like to think I am better looking than my brother." Brother. I widened my eyes. Hinata had told me this before. Her cousin Neji, who died during the war, had lost his father young. Father who was Hiashi-san's twin brother. "I am Hizashi Hyuuga, and you must be Akane." I nodded without a word, and he glanced at Kushina-san. "Making fun of your niece?" She was grinning, her fists on her hips.

"You've got to keep smart kids humble Hizashi-san, shouldn't you know about this?" He shook his head at her.

"Neji is fine as he is." Right, he wasn't dead now. "Please follow me." We did.

The Hyuuga Compound felt very different from the Uchiha Compound. You could feel in the air that, even if they would glance at us, they were not looking at us as outsiders. There was no underlying animosity in them unlike the Uchihas.

We reached a big, traditional house. The guy standing there nodded at Hizashi-san and us before letting us in. The place was more intimidating than Itachi's house though.

"Nii-san." Hizashi-san opened a door, Hiashi-san sitting there already.

"Come on in." We did, sitting in front of him. Kushina-san thanked the maid who brought us tea. Hiashi-san gazed at me with unreadable eyes. I gulped as quietly as I could. "Are you the one Kou told me about?" I nodded. "Are you really eight?" I nodded again and he glanced seriously at Kushina-san.

"Akane has a gift for Fuinjutsu, Minato wants to have her as his apprentice later on." He nodded.

"I will trust Hokage-sama's opinion on her potential then. Akane-san." I perked up at my name. "Kou have mentioned a seal that could seal the Sharingan." I nodded. "Would it be possible to adapt it to the Byakugan?" I nodded again. It already was.

Hizashi-san cleared his throat, leaning against the wall.

"I have an offer for you then." I tilted my head on the side. "Once you are a genin, I would like to request your service as a Seal Master."

"Trying to recruit an Academy student now, are we?" Kushina-san replied when I had barely opened my mouth. "Don't you think it's too much? I have a good idea of what you want of Akane, it's a lot."

"If she is this talented at her age, then a couple of years working closely to our clan would make the job easier." I had an idea of what he wanted too.

He most probably wanted to get rid of the Bird Cage mark or whatever the Branch Family had on their foreheads, which would explain why Hizashi-san was here. However, taking my seal and use it that way would indeed require time to adjust.

"Would you be willing to sponsor her for the exam?" He nodded firmly. "Oh…I wasn't expecting an answer this quickly 'ttebane!" She put her hand in my hair. "Look, I have no doubt in time, Akane would do a great job, but right now, she is still an Academy student, and if she graduates and have this plan, then it would disrupt her path as a genin."

"Such as?" I asked her. She sighed.

"Well, Seal Masters are another business altogether. Minato and I both became one as jounin. As a genin, because you're going on missions with your team, you can't just train to become a Seal Master without putting your teammates' progress at risk. My guess would be that Minato put you in a partnership with a jounin so that you can pursue the exam of Seal Master without worrying about your team." It actually sounded good.

"I'm okay with that." She raised a brow. "Really."

"Nothing will happen until Kumo leaves the village," Hiashi-san stated. Right, there was the Head Jounin or something from Kumo in the village to talk about a peace treaty.

If it was not A, the Fourth Raikage, I was fine with it.

"How about Akane comes and gets accustomed to the place and what you want from her a little bit and then, next year, we'll talk."

"Free of charge then." Kushina-san's smile was tense.

"Sure. See it as an internship." They both looked at me. "I'm okay with that." They exchanged a look and Kushina-san sighed.

"If you are, then I am as well." I grinned at her.

Minato-san was not really surprised when we told him. He just told me to be ready to see disturbing things at some point, things that would put my ethics in question. I was ready though; I knew a little bit about their dear mark.

I started on the 27th. Kou was with me at first, and when night fell, he said he would go home, after bringing me food. I ate, my eyes not leaving the notes I was given. Maybe they thought I wouldn't get everything, but I did. Well, most things.

I'd need a medic to confirm what I thought some things meant.

I cracked my back and put everything away when it was close to midnight. Kushina-san trusted me, she had insisted on having a training session with me and I did get her good, but so did she. Minato-san was not that trusting, and he told me that if I wasn't back by midnight, which a nice curfew already for an eight-year-old, he'd come get me himself. I didn't really want to be scolded so I left quietly.

What was not my surprise to see a man outside, carrying no one else than Hinata.

How unlucky it was for him that it was nighttime in December. I quietly made a shadow clone, followed him a little and used the moisture in the ground to freeze his legs up to his waist. He stopped, obviously, and my clone rushed at him, jumped and kicked the side of his face while I went in front of him. I finished the Immobility Seal quickly and put it on him, activating it as he punched my clone away. His body went limp, and he dropped Hinata, that I caught, but barely as I fell under her weight. I quickly undid my ice.

"Interesting." I looked up, seeing Hiashi-san behind me.

"Could you take her for a second?" He did and I drew a Chakra Suppressing Seal, putting it on the guy for good measure.

He was fully conscious, and as I removed the cloth covering his face, I frowned at the cloud in his forehead protector. I shot Hiashi-san a quick look, who had narrowed his eyes at him.

"If I'm not back by midnight, he's picking me up," I informed him, showing him the marked kunai Minato-san had given me. Hiashi-san nodded.

"Good." He trusted me with Hinata. "Go back inside." I hurried inside.

Hiashi-san quickly came back with his brother, the shinobi tied up and unconscious. As I thought, the second it was midnight, Minato-san appeared in front of me, wearing a white hoodie with sweatpants.

"I was clear," he told me. I pointed behind him and he looked, seeing the Kumo shinobi unconscious between Hiashi-san and Hizashi-san. He immediately switched to Hokage mode.

Hinata started to stir against me. She blinked her big, lilac eyes to me and rubbed one.

"Akane-san?" I nodded at her, and she looked around, tensing when she saw the Kumo shinobi.

"Minato-san, I'm going to take her back to her room," I told him. He merely nodded.

I left with Hinata. Once we were back to her room, I put her on her bed and closed the window.

"What happened?" she asked me in her quiet, shy voice. I sat down next to her.

"Let the adults handle it Hina-chan." I tucked her back in bed. "Do you want something?"

"My mommy…" Oh right. Hanabi was not born yet so…

"I'm here." I perked up and glanced above my shoulder. Women from nobility were another breed of women. I had seen it in Mikoto-san already.

Hinata's mother had given her daughter her bluish dark hair and kind features. She was wearing a pale purple night kimono, most probably in silk, and was walking with her head high. Her walk was very…dignified. Everything about her felt very dignified.

"I was notified of what happened," she whispered to me as she knelt next to her daughter. "Thank you."

"Oh huh…you're welcome." I stayed with them for a little bit until there was a knock on the door. Minato-san opened it with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry to disturb you Eimi-san."

"It is nothing Yondaime-sama." He looked at me.

"Come on, Kakashi is taking you home." I stood up, waved at Hinata and left the room. Once the door was closed, I looked up at him.

"Kakashi?"

"We are in an emergency situation." We walked back downstairs. In front of the house was Fugaku-san, who raised a brow when he saw me. "Fugaku-san, please dispatch the Police Forces throughout the village. I'm sure Hiashi-san can gather some Byakugan users to help you look for any Kumo shinobi remaining in the village. If you find any, send them to T&I immediately." Fugaku-san nodded.

"Understood Hokage-sama."

"Wait!" He looked down at me. "Is Sasuke okay?" He blinked, his eyes a little bit kinder when he realized I was worried for his son.

"He is, and Itachi is with him." I sighed in relief.

"Once your men are dispatched, go to the Hokage Tower. I'm getting every Clan Head." Minato-san looked at Hiashi-san. "Once you are done here, please come as well." They both nodded and Fugaku-san left with Hiashi-san.

Kakashi left the shadows he was in.

"You have the gist of it?" Kakashi nodded. "Alright, then take Akane home. I'm sure both of you can explain the situation to Kushina." The Hokage crouched in front of me with a frown. "I might make you come tomorrow for a testimony, okay?" I nodded. "Alright, then go get some rest." Kakashi took my hand and we left.

Kushina-san was surprised to see Kakashi, and shocked when we told her what had happened. When Kakashi left, she said we were having a sleepover in Naru's room. I didn't discuss it and followed her, Naruto waking up briefly at hearing us. When he saw us, he stretched out his arms at his mom, who hugged him tightly.

He had forgotten the Hyuuga affair. He should not have, but with Minato here, he had lost track of what was supposed to happen and when. Apparently, Namikaze Minato still being the Hokage did not mean the Raikage would not try something so reckless. When a clone of the Hokage had knocked on the front door, he got up and climbed down the stairs, hearing the conversation between his parents and Minato. His mother didn't waste time to get him, not surprised he was already there, and told him to finish the night in his brother's room. His father left the house and didn't come back until the early hours of the morning.

In the morning, someone knocked on the door. He opened it, surprised to see Akane. She did not look like she had a good night sleep the night before.

"Hey."

"Hey. Were we supposed to see each other?" She shook her head.

"I'm not here for you, sorry." She pursed her lips. "Is Sasuke here?" He nodded. "Can I see him?" He nodded again.

He was surprised by how tightly Akane hugged his brother, who was more than happy to return it.

Sasuke had a crush on her, he couldn't blame him.

"Are you okay?" She nodded and let go of Sasuke.

"I hugged Naruto the same way before I left the house, it's…you know about last night?" He frowned.

"Yes. What do you know?"

"Huh, everything, I was there." He raised a brow, and she shook her head. "It was dark, and the element of surprise played a lot too."

"What were you doing at the Hyuuga Compound at night?"

"Right, I didn't tell you." She looked at the ceiling for a quick second. "I may or may not enter a business relationship with them."

"What?"

"It's a work in progress." He pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing it.

"Ho…I don't even know what to say."

"Don't say anything then, it's not relevant to the situation at hand an…" His father entered the room. He scanned them all and gestured at Akane with his head. "Hello?"

"Follow me Akane." He didn't think he had ever heard his father call Akane by her name. From her face, she thought the same.

"Where are you going?" he asked. His father glanced at him sternly, silently telling him it was not for him to know.

"Meh, you kidnap me, you deal with the Uzumaki," Akane replied idly. She patted Sasuke's head and walked up to his dad. "I follow you Fugaku-san." His father closed the door behind them. Akane seemed to know what was going on, so he shouldn't worry too much about it.

"Where did nee-san go?" Sasuke asked him, his dinosaur plushy in his hand.

"I don't know," he replied, looking down at his brother. He sat down in front of him and played with him, Sasuke's mind forgetting this. Maybe Akane was going with his father for a testimony of some sort.

Him and his team were grounded to Konoha, like the rest of the genins, the very next day until they were told otherwise. Things were getting tense in the village, jounin and chuunin were often out if they had no team.

"Yuki-sensei, what's going on?" Shinko asked him as they were looking for Tora, again. "Everybody is tense." He was still shocked to be in the same team. Their previous teammate had had a bad injury that had put an end to his shinobi career around the same time he graduated.

"Last week, when Kumo was in town, they attempted to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress," their sensei explained after a few seconds of silence. "Yondaime-sama has been thinking about the best way to address this without a full-on war but…it has been proven to be difficult."

Before, the man was killed and then, Hyuuga Hizashi was killed and sent to Kumo for compensation, taking his brother's place and keeping the Byakugan's secrets. It had put an end to threats of war with Kumo.

But now it no was longer the case?

"Was the man killed?" Tenma asked him seriously. Their sensei shook his head.

"He was apprehended." He put the pieces together.

Akane had said it was dark and the element of surprise had played a part. She was on the scene. Akane had definitely been the one to apprehend the man, which was why his father had told her to follow him.

Damn it, she wanted to stay under the radar, but it would reach Danzou's ears for sure.

Later that day, when they had the cat, they went to the Hokage Tower.

"I will escort the girl back to her house," he heard his father state in a firm, controlled voice.

"If I didn't know better, I would say the Hokage does not trust me around his protegee." Itachi froze.

It was a voice he had not heard in years and that he had not wanted to hear ever again. His father was talking to Danzou, clearly about Akane and…

"Itachi-kun!" Shinko called after him as he put the cat in her arms to run toward the voices.

They were in the hallway near the Hokage's office. He stopped at the corner of the wall, his head barely poking out of it to see them. Akane was standing behind his father, clearly ready to flee. His father was tense, his face harsh and Danzou had a calm face on, leaning on his crutch.

"Kushina-san wanted me home once I was done here," Akane mumbled to the two older men.

"She really wanted to." They all looked at Minato coming, the Sandaime next to him. "Danzou-sama, you are early for our meeting."

"Considering the situation, I thought I would arrange my schedule."

"This is thoughtful of you Danzou," the Sandaime said. "Let's go then." They left, his father bowing as they left. He didn't forget to put his hand on Akane's hand to make her do the same.

Seeing his father with Akane was weird, weirder than with his mother. He had better memories of his father than Sasuke, for sure, but he had always known him as his dad. He was aware people would say he was cold but…he didn't seem that cold, did he?

"Hey Itachi don't run off like that, it's annoying!" Tenma groaned behind him. Itachi wished he could have told him not to say anything, but it was too late and his father and Akane were in front of him.

"Done with your mission, aren't you?" He nodded at his dad. The three of them knew he had been listening.

"You're free around six?"

"Yes."

"Come by," Akane invited him, her smile fake. He glanced at his father, who sighed.

"I'll tell your mother. Now go to the mission hall, don't stall your team."

"Alright." He left after Tenma.

He was there at six sharp. He didn't even ring at the door that Akane opened her window, pointing at the tree branch in the tree in front of it. He jumped in it and sat down, Akane doing the same.

"What was it all about?" They could see the sky and the stars well from there as it was dark early.

"Well…I'm graduating, so there is that." Feeling his heavy gaze, she sighed, rocking her legs in the air. "When the guy…when I saw him, I used my Hyouton to freeze him then seals. Hiashi-san, because I saved his daughter, decided to not say a word about the ice but…somehow, my use of seals reached Danzou's ears. He…is very adamant on how the Academy is clearly not a challenge for me and I should be an active kunoichi. He even…the guy was a jounin, okay? Danzou…he said the 'easiness' with which I stopped him meant I had a big potential that he knew how to exploit." She frowned. "Eurk, it sounds dirty. And I had the element of surprise on my side, he didn't notice me…it was…"

"It's not good." She looked at him. His hands were clenched on his pants. "Akane, it's not…he wants you to join his Roo…" She put her hand on his.

"I know but…I was planning on graduating anyway." He looked at her. "Hinata's kidnapping attempt…I mean, if stuff like this happens in Konoha, then might as well go outside to keep it there, you know? And I've got this Seal Master offer from the Hyuuga Clan when I'm a genin, so I won't be put on a team yet."

"We don't talk much for three weeks, and you're graduating and have a job with one of Konoha's major clans?" he asked her rhetorically.

"I'm just full of surprises, am I not?" He sighed.

"What even got you at the Hyuugas?"

"I sealed Izumi's sharingans at school when I 'offended' her." He frowned. "Oh, she didn't mention it then. Well, I did, Yasuo told Kou, who told Hiashi-san because of the Bird Cage Mark I guess, and here I am."

"Wait, what do you mean you sealed her sharingans?"

"Yeah, I did, why?" He stared at her, urging her to elaborate. "Oh right, so I created a seal that seals doujutsu."

"As in plural."

"As in all of them, at least the big three, yes. It took me a decade, on and off, to perfect it." She pinched her thumb and fingers and kissed them. "Genius."

"You had access to all three." She nodded. "How?"

"Your brother, mainly. He got huh…" She showed her left eye. "A little upgrade."

"…How?" If he followed well, Sasuke had the Sharingan andRinneganbefore? He certainly didn't have it the last time he saw him in the cave.

"He had it, and he always refused to give it to me for research purposes, it's all you need to know." He raised a dubious brow. "What, I ran after him with a knife to study his eyes once, get over it. He was the only Sharingan I had at my disposal."

"Kakashi-san?"

"Lost it in the war." He opened his mouth, but she put her head on his shoulder. "Please Itachi, stop asking questions. I don't…want to think about them." He closed his mouth.

"Okay." He never asked her how she was now she was here and not…in the Konoha she had come to know.

Someone cleared their throat at the bottom of the tree. They looked down and saw a stern Minato, his arms crossed and his blue eyes darting between them.

"Itachi-kun, I'm going to be direct. You have three seconds to go home before I condemn you to be a genin for the rest of your life." He didn't move. Minato narrowed his eyes. "One. Two." At he was about to say 'three', Itachi jumped down.

"I'll see you later," he told Akane, his hands in his pockets. She nodded and waved before going back in her room. Looking at Minato, he shrugged. "You said 'three'."

"Out of my sight for tonight," the Hokage replied, his eye twitching. Itachi did.

He had not taken into account Minato would be protective of Akane regarding boys. He would get his approval if it came to it but…

He didn't really care about anyone's approval regarding Akane either way.

My teacher did not know how to react. Minato-san had told the Academy to make me go through the graduation tests at the same time as the last year students. My teacher was not for it and voiced his concerns as I was average. Needless to say, he was shocked when he got my test results and that I made a shadow clone instead of a normal one.

I was with the newly graduates, looking through the window as the teams were getting picked up by their sensei. I was soon the last one and decided to go to the front row, sitting on a desk. The teacher was frowning at his paper. After a dozen of minutes, I jumped to the floor.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" He nodded and I did.

Kushina-san had taken me shopping to get my 'kunoichi outfit'. In Kiri, the moment I was a chuunin I had the regular uniform. As a genin, I had practical stuff. It was forced duty, so I didn't care. Seeing Kushina-san excited made me rethink that and I enjoyed our shopping session.

I had a mesh armor beneath my long-sleeved pine green kimono. It had a black obi around the waist. My kimono ended between my thighs and my butt, but there were slits on the side that stopped under my butt so I could move freely. Then I had tight, black shorts that reached my knees and black sandals. I had my gloves and my forehead protector was around my neck.

I poked the metal briefly, feeling like a fraud wearing Konoha's symbol instead of Kiri. I tightened my ponytail, re-arrange my bangs and went back to the room.

"Yo!" I frowned at Shisui.

"What the…"

"Guess who's your superior?" I glanced at the teacher, who nodded.

Damn.

"Come on pupil!" he exclaimed, his arm on my shoulders as he took me outside. What did Minato-san do? Once we were outside, Shisui let go of me. "Alright, not exactly pupil. It's Kakashi-senpai your real partner, but when he's not available it's yours truly! Isn't that awesome!?" I stared blankly at him. "Come on, show some enthusiasm." I raised a fist in the air.

"We're gonna have so much fun Shisui-senpai!" I yelled in a falsely gleeful tone. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, never mind, it's weird." I shrugged. "Oh, look who's there!" I looked up just to see Itachi getting down from the tree.

"Why don't you walk on the ground like everyone else?" I asked with furrowed brows. He shrugged, glancing at my forehead protector.

"Can you believe she finally caught up to us?" Shisui asked him, his arm on his shoulders.

"Still green?" he asked me, ignoring his cousin who narrowed his eyes at him.

"She finally explained why. She wants me to be able to blend into the background, at least in the Land of Fire."

"Huh, let's hope you won't leave the country anytime soon." Itachi removed his cousin's arm and glanced at him.

"Why are you here?" He grinned.

"I'm her partner!" Itachi clearly didn't believe him.

"When Kakashi isn't available only," I added.

"No genin team?" I shook my head.

"There's an uneven number of graduates because of Akane, and she's a particular case from what Minato-sama told me."

"Hn." He glanced at Shisui, then me. "Good luck." Shisui gaped and I chuckled behind my fist.

"I'll have you know that I'm going to train her, and she'll kick your ass." He looked at me. "Come on, time for your genin test!" He dragged me away.

The good point was that Shisui already had an idea of my skills. His test was mainly shurikenjutsu because it remained my weakest point, and he checked my genjutsu as well. The latter went well, I figured out I was stuck in one and broke it. Shurikenjutsu was a little harder because it was one of Shisui's specialties so he made it harder than it should be for a genin.

I managed to clear it.

"Good, you're not going back to the Academy now!"

Much like for Itachi, I also had a graduation party. Fugaku-san was not here as he was working, but Minato-san was, as well as Kou. He was not that bitter that I had graduated. He just told me he'd see me next year when it would be his turn.

I had gotten…quite a lot of things. Kakashi was not there, but Minato-san told me he had a graduation gift for me as well. Itachi managed to get me aside at some point.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have pockets in your outfits?" I nodded and he took a box from his pocket. He handed it to me.

I opened it and took the omamori there was inside. It was red and white, the kanji 'luck' written in black on one side. On the other was a crow on a branch sewn in.

"It's for luck, on your missions so…" He didn't finish that I was hugging him. He stepped back a little and hugged me back.

"Thank you, I love it," I whispered to him. He put his chin on my shoulder.

"Can you promise me you will be careful?" I pursed my lips.

"I'll do my best 'tachi." He was quiet. "It…doesn't look good you know." He hugged me tighter. He was already aware.

I didn't have the details, but Minato-san seemed to be in a dead-end with Kumo.

"Let them be!" We both perked up and broke our hug, looking toward the living-room. Mikoto-san was physically keeping Minato-san from coming toward us. "As if you were not pining for Kushina at their age!" He blushed a little.

"It was different!" Mikoto-san smiled at us and winked.

"You are adorable." Itachi blushed and put his hand on his face just as Naru and Sasuke escaped Kushina-san's surveillance.

"He knows you are not his daughter?" Itachi asked me in a whisper. I shrugged.

"I used to say I'd marry him one day." I was a little bit irked by Itachi's question though.

There were times where blood did not mean you were family or not after all.

Just a week later, as I was coming back from my first mission with Shisui, I followed him when he received a summon. There were many shinobi, chuunin and jounin and I stayed with him instead of joining the genin teams with their sensei.

Minato-san announcing we were officially in an opened war with Kumo was not nice to hear.

Chapter 11: Genin Arc: Chapter 1

Chapter Text

"What happened?" I asked Kakashi, who was in the hospital.

"I had a rough mission?" I glanced at hisIcha Ichabook, signed by Jiraya-san. "I am fine."

"You don't look fine." He had a black eye, but over than that, it was exhaustion.

"He's not fine." I looked at the door. Minato-san was there, with Gai-san. "Gai told me what happened." Kakashi rolled his eyes, like the seventeen-year-old teenager he was.

"What did you do?"

"He tried to be a hero and used the Raikiri too much!" Gai-san replied. I glared at Kakashi.

"I'm gonna lose my partner before I even go on missions with him?" He put his hand on my face and pushed me off the bed.

"It was a dire situation." There was something off in Minato-san's eyes.

"Akane." I looked up at him and accepted the coins he gave me. "I'd like a coffee please and get yourself something too."

"Snack and drink?" He nodded. I knew he wanted me out. I could get the truth out of Kakashi later. "On it."

It was April. The Academy had started, but I was now a full-on genin. The war had been announced two weeks ago and I had been kept in the village with Shisui so far. I wasn't worried about getting the title of Seal Master as I had it before, so Shisui was focusing on that during training, saying it could be very efficient to stop attacks and such without too many casualties. He was right.

He was a lot harsher now too. Goodbye Shisui my childhood friend, now I had Shisui the prodigy, jounin since age eight or something training me.

I raised a brow when I spotted Genma in the distance. He was part of the Hokage Guard Platoon with Raido and Iwashi. I knew them because I had seen them a few times with Minato-san. Did it mean they were about to leave?

So far, the war was calm. There were skirmishes at the border. Shisui have given me a summary of what had happened. Inoichi-san had looked into the Kumo jounin's mind, seeing that he was ordered by the Raikage to take the Byakugan. Of course, Hiashi-san wanted retribution. The Raikage denied it and said he wanted his shinobi back, but Minato-san refused unless the Raikage provided him with something showing he would not try to harm or steal from Konoha. He didn't want to, it created tension and the Raikage said he would get his shinobi back one way or another, and he'd use force if necessary. Minato-san stood his ground, saying Konoha would not leave Kumo without consequences.

And then the war.

I greeted Genma and got my snack and drinks. I went back to Kakashi's room, my pack of crackers between my teeth and opened the door.

"Understood?" Kakashi sighed.

"Yes sensei."

"Good." I gave Minato-san his coffee, then dropped the crackers on Kakashi's lap before sitting down in the chair next to him. "Akane, are you staying here?" I nodded. "Alright. Once Kakashi is out of the hospital, Shisui will go on missions, and you'll be with Kakashi." I nodded again and he left, Gai-san already gone.

"You want your present?" I grinned and he sighed. "It's at my place, you won't get it just yet."

"Not fair."

"Life isn't fair."

He left the hospital a week and a half later. He gave me my present when we were on the training ground we usually used now, with the river nearby and the three wooden pillars. It was a big rectangular box.

"You wrapped it yourself?" I asked him. It was neatly done.

"Obviously, why?" he replied, narrowing his eyes at me. I shook my head and unwrapped it.

I widened my eyes in shock and glanced at him. He looked very smug of himself due to my reaction. I gently pulled out the katana from the box. The handle was black with thin red lines crossing each other in the leather. The sheath was a matte black. I pulled the weapon out of its sheath, observing how the sun was being reflected in the sharp, silver blade. It was the right weight too, not too light but not too heavy, I had a good grip.

I twirled it in my hand, forgetting Kakashi was there. When I did, I froze and looked up at him. He had his one visible brow raised; his arms crossed.

"It's…intuitive?"

"Right." I put the katana back in its sheath. "I'm not an idiot." I pursed my lips.

"Do you want to know?" He looked more serious for a second, then looked up at the clear sky of May. I was officially nine now.

"Is it dangerous for you or us?"

"No."

"Then no. I know you've never stopped being the annoying brat I've known for too long." I put the katana back in the box and launched myself in his arms, making him fall. "Akane!"

"I love you!" I whined in his chest. He patted my back awkwardly.

"Yeah, thanks, can you please let go now?" I stood back up. "Show me what you have been working on with Shisui now." I did.

I started to go on missions outside the village two weeks later, once Kakashi was fully ready to go back on missions. I had been practicing seals in the meantime, and how to use them in battles. Apart from improving my chakra control, there was little I could do regarding Fuinjutsu in battles. However, since I had a katana now, I was getting to the Wind nature chakra I had. I had gotten to it after a week.

Shaping it around my blade was something else. Even before, I had never been too focused on that. It was not easy, but I'd get there. Chakra control was the one thing I had never stopped training for, and I'd be damned if I didn't manage that.

"You didn't have to come you know." Kushina-san crouched, her hands on my shoulders.

"It's your first time outside of the village, it's normal!" I glanced at Minato-san, holding Naru's hand.

"Favoritism." He smiled sheepishly. "Come on, we're just escorting someone from point A to point B and Kakashi's there, it's fine!"

"Sure. I'm worried for them, not you." I deadpanned and she hugged me. "Be careful kitten."

"I will." I kissed Naru on the head and tapped Minato-san on the stomach. "Your student will hate you once we're back."

"Don't traumatize him." I shrugged and turned around.

"Let's go Kakashi!"

The mission was simple on paper. We had to escort a merchant from a village to Kikou, the capital city. The guy was bringing some minerals to sell them to a jeweler or something. It was important enough to be a C-rank mission. The real danger was that was in the south of the Land of Fire, and the village in the north-east, close to the border with the Land of Hot Water.

Kumo and Konoha would fight there. There were at least five outposts along the border. In theory, we shouldn't run into big issues, but you never knew.

"Remember, Hyouton is a last resort only."

"I know," I replied idly, looking around. It was so different from the Land of Water. It was dryer, but with the heavy foliage in the trees, we were protected from the summer sun. I needed to use my gloves a little, get used to the feeling once more to then work on making seals out of my bare hands. Feet would come later.

We reached the village by the end of the day. We went to the inn, where the merchant was expecting us. There even was a room booked for us.

"Ito-san, we are the shinobi you have hired from Konoha."

"Right. Hatake Kakashi and…" He raised his brows when he saw me. "A little lady I see." Kakashi put his hand on my head.

"Uzumaki Akane. I can assure you she's more than able to protect you."

"Well, you are the shinobis, not me. I'll trust you." We both bowed to him. After dinner, where we talked about the itinerary, we went to our room.

"He's nice."

"Yes, sometimes we do have nice clients. Now, Akane." I looked at him from my futon. "I need to know if I have to worry about you freezing during the mission in a real fight. We'll encounter at least bandits on the way and I'm going to let you handle them as much as possible." I gave him a thumbs-up.

"I freeze stuff, stuff don't freeze me." He rolled his eyes at my bad joke. "But more seriously, I'm good Kakashi."

"Alright."

We didn't run into any Kumo shinobi along the border. Bandits had to know about the war because there was none of them either. They knew they'd be at risk to be caught in the crossfire, so they were keeping their distance.

I was sitting at the back of the carriage; in front of the goods. Kakashi was at the front with Ito-san, talking quietly. I was gulping down my water to quench my thirst, wondering if Kakashi would be kind enough to give me some of his if I finished it when the horse neighed. Kakashi would not give me his water anyway.

I jumped on top of the goods, covered by a brown sheet, and I looked around. The horse had stopped, Kakashi now next to it.

"Akane, do you sense anything?" I wasn't very good at sensing if I didn't have a body of water to help me. However, I did and nodded at Kakashi. Low-level bandits would not hide their presence very well.

I jumped down, my katana clashing with the sword of one of the bandits. As I was still in the air, he grabbed my top and threw me above him. I grabbed a kunai and dug it in his shoulder, making him moan in pain. I leaned on it, making the wound worst to kick him in the side of the head. He fell to the ground, and I removed the kunai once my feet touched the ground.

I looked at the next one and put my weapon back in the sheath. I ran at him and used my height to easily dodge his sloppy fist, using my sheathed katana to hit the side of his knee. It broke and he fell on one knee a second before I put an Immobility Seal on him.

The three remaining guys were staring at me with wide eyes. I cracked my neck and made two shadow clones. All of the bandits were quickly stopped and solidly tied up by Kakashi.

"That was both scary and impressive little lady." I puffed my chest, my arms crossed on it. Kakashi checked if they really were unconscious and turned to us.

"We'll stop for the night near the town of Omachi," he suddenly stated. I raised a brow. We had just been attacked and he was staring this just like that?

It took me a second before realizing he was doing it on purpose. I could sense chakra, but Kakashi's nose was better. There had to be someone spying on us and he was setting a trap.

When we were back on the road, Kakashi sat next to me.

"Have you sensed him?"

"No, your behavior told me there was someone," I replied. "Shinobi you think?"

"They knew how to erase their presence." He briefly glanced behind. "Which means, maybe there is something bigger Ito-san's carrying."

"Consciously?"

"Who knows. We need to stop them. Tonight, you're going to swap the goods with rocks, we'll find something to make it look the same. Then, you'll leave a clone with us and stay hidden in the carriage." I nodded.

"Pakkun will guide you to me?"

"Yes."

We did just that. I sealed the goods in a scroll, that I gave Ito-san because he had no idea of what was going on, then with Kakashi's help I got enough things to replace them. I hid in there, leaving a shadow clone with the guys.

I fell asleep for real and woke up when I heard the horse neighing. There were some noises outside and we started moving. I could sense one chakra stronger than the others before it diminished suddenly.

Whoever that was, they had shinobi training. We spent some time moving, the road getting rockier and rockier. We came to a stop. Someone left a little bit further and someone else stopped at the end of the carriage. They removed the sheet, only finding rocks and wood.

"Wha…You little!" Spotted. The man grabbed me by my kimono and lifted me in the air. He was bulky, and tall. He was very imposing. "Where's the rest!?"

"With her partner, most probably," the other man replied. He came out of the shadow. He was skinnier than the first man, I would even say refined in the way he was standing. His features looked almost like one would expect royalty to look like, slander blue eyes staring at me.

His long black hair was tied in a low ponytail, and he was dressed like a basic shinobi. However, the hitai-ate loosely strapped to his belt didn't escape my eyes.

Iwa. He wasn't wearing it proudly though.

"Did the war with Kumo make Konoha send children on the battlefield once more?" He looked close to Minato-san in age.

"What do I do?"

"Kill her." I put my hand on his wrist. He snickered as he felt me clench my hand on it.

"What do you think is going to hap…" I blew his wrist up thanks to my glove. Blood splattered on my chin and neck, as well as my top as I was back on the ground. The man stepped back, holding his arm, and staring in horror at his missing hand and bleeding limb. I glanced at what was left of the hand on the ground and kicked it in his direction.

"It's yours."

"You…"

"Now now, don't get all worked up because a kid beat you." He put his hand on his shoulder and under my unfazed eyes, he turned the other one to stone.

Then he clenched his fist and destroyed his head. I watched what used to be a man crumble into pieces on the ground before raising my eyes to the shinobi.

"But this is personal." I raised a brow. "You're good kid. Where did you learn the Bakuton?" I blinked. Right, from Iwa's perspective, it would look like one of their kekkai genkais when it was not.

As a genin, I just thought it would be more efficient to blow something up after punching them because punching hurt, and I didn't want to have the hurt go to waste. I really came up with it by sheer…comfort in a way. Why bother plant explosive tags on the ground if it can come out of your hands?

"Not a talkative one I see." Now, I could use the Hidden in the Mist Technique, and the Silent Killing ones. They were dead giveaways I wasn't entirely from Konoha though.

I would figure it out on the go then. I quickly went through hand seals.

"Suiton: Wild Water Wave Technique!" I spat water from my mouth. He knelt and put his fist on the ground.

"Doton: Earth Fist Style." The soil went up his arm and turned to a rock fist. He punched through my water easily and was quickly in front of me. I dodged his fist by crouching. I thought about using seals, but I wouldn't have the time to get them, he would notice it before.

Water.

I needed water.

He kicked me in the guts, sending me in the wheel of the carriage. I gritted my teeth. This guy was at-least jounin level. Even if I knew how to beat him, I couldn't yet.

It was…so frustrating.

I used the Wild Water Wave Technique a few more times. The ground was dry, so the water stayed on it instead of being soaked up. It took me a little while to get there, and he managed to punch me in the face, most certainly giving me a black eye.

He slipped when I started to freeze the ground. Not much, just enough to make it slippery.

"Wh…" He didn't finish that a Raikiri was in his chest. He fell dead in front of me, the light of Kakashi's Raikiri disappearing.

"I was getting there," I told him, standing up.

"There's no last resort if I'm here," he replied simply, lifting my chin up to look at my face. "He hit you good."

"It's the only thing I have."

The next day, we reached Kikou. I was looking around. The city was so different from Konoha. It really was making me feel like someone from deep in the country. You'd just need to look at people's clothing to see the difference. It was more modern, and there was technology.

I missed my laptop. Kakashi had to make me move when I stopped in front of a shop, a game console on display behind the window. Once the goods were safely delivered in a…very luxurious looking jeweler, I was given a carnelian stone in the form of a lucky charm. When I asked why, the owner just said I could make him a reputation in Konoha.

As Kakashi was talking, I looked around the store. The jewels were very pretty, well-made, and expensive. I was going toward the ruby when I stopped in front of a piece of jewelry.

A long time ago, out of the blue, Itachi had gifted me a necklace. It was a simple silver chain with a ruby pendant in the shape of a tear drop, the ruby in a silver surrounding.

It was this very necklace I had in front of me. I gulped and then looked down at the price. I gasped. It was…not as expensive as other pieces in the store, but still expensive, as in 80,000 ryos. I blushed, thinking that Itachi really splurged this much money when he was criminal for me…

Akane, stop. Maybe he got it at a hockshop or something, for cheaper. Still…it was a lot. I knew it was a real ruby, it felt real but…to see it here…

I was happy on the whole way back.

"You have a blackeye," he stated immediately.

"Hello to you too," she replied, sitting down next to him. "It's nothing, the mission went well. It went from C to A-rank though."

"How?"

"We ran into a nukenin from Iwa, an ex-jounin apparently. Kakashi killed him before I could."

"I haven't had A-rank yet," he muttered under his breath.

"Well, I think it's Kakashi when he's with genin really." Itachi raised a brow. "Team Seven's first mission, it went from C to A-rank. Kakashi became a jounin at twelve, maybe he attracts high-ranking missions." Akane turned to him and hugged him tightly, kissing him on the cheek.

"Did I do something?" She chuckled in his ear.

"I love you, that's all." His heart missed a beat, and he hugged her back. When she moved back, he looked at her blackeye once more. She pressed on it. "It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"Hn." He hated seeing her being hurt. "Did he leave you alone?"

"Oh yeah, I was sent with the decoy." He widened his eyes. "It's fine, I'm specialized in infiltration anyway." Would it be rude to ask her to fully explain what she did in Kiri?

He felt it would be, but she was saying things here and there but never went into details. It was extremely frustrating.

"The mission went well, and I got this in the capital." She showed him a gemstone. "They said I was cute but deadly." Accurate. "And you?"

"Nothing exciting. Sasuke has been practicing the seal you made him draw though."

"Really? Wow." She pursed her lips. "Have you been outside the village?"

"Yes. It's…" he trailed off, not finding his words.

"Weird. In Kikou…people were almost avoiding us when they'd see we were from Konoha. There were no bandits near the border but once we were getting far from it it…did Shisui tell you anything?" He shook his head.

"He usually gets this distant look in his eyes and then talks about something else. Minato-sama?" She shook her head.

"He doesn't want to bring this home and I can't blame him." She lay back on the ground. "I don't think I'm going to get outside anytime soon; I have to train for the exam."

"What is the exam?"

"Knowledge, then use seals then use fuinjutsu in a fighting simulation. I need to work on the last one, having gloves is embarrassing." He raised a dubious brow at her. Deidara would have wanted to fight her just because of those gloves.

"Isn't it hard to do what you did?" She shrugged.

"Yeah, kind of, I finalized them when I was a chuunin, so twelve. But making seals with my bare hands and my feet are next."

"Is it even possible?" She glanced at him with a deadpan.

"I'm merely saying I want to get back to my level, I'm not talking about improving yet." He blinked.

She could do that before?

"Did you unlock your Sharingan?" He frowned. "I'll take that as a 'no' then."

"I feel like you're running whereas I'm stuck," he admitted under his breath.

"Nah, it should come. With the war and stuff…I doubt you can escape the situation that will unlock your Sharingan." He lay back as well.

Akane's hand touched his shyly. He took it without a word, slipping his fingers through hers before raising their joined hands to the sky.

"Itachi?" she called him gently. He took a deep breath in return. Akane gently squeezed his hand. "It's going to be fine." He brought their hands down, kissing hers.

Akane snuggled against him in response, kissing his jaw chastely.

He truly hoped everything would be okay.

A month later, in the heat of July, his teammates ended up in a bad situation when he was dealing with the main threat with their sensei. When he rushed to them and saw Tenma in a bad situation, flashes of him dying in front of his eyes, his blood boiled in his veins. Then, everything was red. He got rid of the threats and looked at his hands.

Yes, this was the Sharingan but…fully matured.

"Itachi-kun, your eyes!" Shinko exclaimed, Tenma staring at him in shock.

"Yes, it seems like I have awakened my sharingans."

However, the fact they had three tomoes already would bring unwanted attention. It did not seem like he could avoid it though.

I had heard from Sasuke Itachi had gotten the Sharingan during his last mission.

"What do you mean I can't get in?" I asked the Uchiha keeping me from entering the Compound.

"Foreigners are not allowed in the Compound until the end of the week," he repeated sternly.

"But…" His eyes twitched and for a second, I thought he would physically remove me from the front gate. At least, until a voice interrupted us.

"What's up Akane?" I blinked at Shisui. I couldn't reply that he put his arm on my shoulders and walked away with me. "Let's go for a walk!"

"Shi…"

"Please, drop it," he cut me off in a harsh whisper.

He didn't say a word until we were in the woods.

"Sorry, if it was up to me, I'd let you in," he apologized, turning around to look at me.

"Is Itachi okay? Is it the Sharingan?" He raised a brow. "Sasuke told me he has them now."

"Well yes. However, three tomoes at once has never been seen or heard of before." I widened my eyes. Three? "The Elders of the clan are on his back and closed the Compound for a week to 'celebrate' and 'understand' Itachi's eyes."

"It sounds like they're going to dissect him."

"I know, but their words, I swear. They got into their heads Itachi was going to change the clan and its position in the village for a more powerful spot." Huh, ironic knowing how he put an end to them all before.

"Aren't you guys powerful already?" He deadpanned at me.

"I know you've heard what villagers say about us." I shrugged.

"Like you've heard them talking about me and my status, I'm sure." He smiled faintly.

"Yeah, I guess it's easier not to talk about upsetting subjects." I had to agree.

"Do you know if someone died?"

"No, his teammates are both fine. They were in a bad situation, but Itachi arrived on time." So, his teammates were both fine. It was…good. I still wanted to see him though.

When the week was over, I went to the Compound to see him. The guard glared at me, but I walked past him, my hand tight on the strap of my bag. I was heading to Itachi's house when I heard his voice. I immediately hid behind a wall when I heard Izumi being with him. They were laughing.

I bit the inside of my cheek and stole a quick glance at them. They were sitting outside of a tea house, drinking tea and eating. I felt a wave of jealousy running through my whole body before I leaned against the wall.

He seemed to be fine, and she was making him laugh and smile so…I guess I could just go home. I didn't feel very comfortable in the Uchiha Compound anyway so…

"What are you doing?" I blinked and looked up. Yasuo was on the balcony in front of me.

"What are you doing here?" He raised a brow, any shyness he felt at first gone.

"It's my house." He lived above a restaurant then? "Come." I jumped to his balcony easily and removed my shoes.

I had not seen him or Kou a lot since I graduated. If anything, when I spotted Kou in town, he quickly left saying he had to train.

"Why are you here?" I shrugged. He shook his head and went to the door. "Come." I followed him and found myself in front of him in the restaurant, eating excellent onigiris in the middle of the afternoon.

"How's the Academy?" He made a face.

"Kou's crazy because of you." I raised a brow. "He became a training-freak because he wants to catch up to you and drags me down with him."

"You're still friends, that's good." He looked down.

"He got into his head to graduate in March." I wasn't surprised. "How is it really outside Akane?" I looked at him more seriously.

"It's tense. Even if you're far from the border, it's just…war is in the air. People in Kikou are not our biggest fans either at the moment." He sighed.

"I'm not surprised. It's…Itachi-sama?" I jumped and looked behind me. Itachi was indeed there, his eyes darting from me to Yasuo. "We're closed right now."

"He's with me!" Izumi stated, behind Itachi. "Oji-san said he didn't mind."

"Sure, I didn't know you were there." Izumi glanced at me, then Yasuo and grinned, her hand in front of her mouth. "Izumi!" She sat down next to him, in front of me as Itachi quietly sat down next to me.

"Don't be embarrassed Yasu!" I looked at them both. Now I was seeing them so close to each other without anything else going on…

"They're cousins," Itachi informed.

"My mom is his dad's younger sister," Izumi added. Huh.

"I never realized you looked more alike than everyone else here before." They stared at me. I could see something in Izumi turning defensive, but Yasuo nodded.

"I can't deny we all look alike, but it's nothing next to the Hyuugas."

"True. I've seen that too much." I would spend some time at the Hyuuga Compound too.

They started talking, mainly about stuff regarding their clan and I didn't know anything about it. It made me feel…excluded, even if Itachi was the quietest of the three. I finished my onigiris and stood up.

"Thanks for the meal, Yasuo, I'll try to stop by the Academy every once in a while." He smiled at me.

"I'd like that." Itachi had his blank face on.

"See ya!" I left the restaurant, secured the strap of my bag across my shoulders once outside and jumped from roof to roof straight to Minato-san's rock head.

Once there, I plopped down with a big sigh. I had just ran away from two nine-year-old and Itachi, what a joke I was. How could a nine-year-old girl make me feel insecure in my relationship? I was a grown woman; Itachi was a grown man and he wouldn't…she was a kid after all.

A childhood friend of his though. I knew for a fact if I suddenly found myself with Mangetsu or Dai, no matter my age, or theirs, they would just be my teammates like before.

I looked in my bag. After the Kyuubi attack, Itachi had brought me a lucky cat in chocolate, so I had bought him one too to cheer him up if he…wasn't okay. He seemed fine, and maybe he'd find this stu…

"Boo." I jumped at the voice whispering this in my ear. Two arms, skinny yet strong, were around my chest to keep me from falling, pressing me against a chest. "You can't run away now." I relaxed in Itachi's arms.

"I wasn't."

"Try with someone who will believe your lie." I looked away, the Uchiha putting his chin on my shoulder. "Why were you in the Compound?"

"Just…walking." He kissed my neck. "And I wanted to check up on you too."

"Thank you, that's what I was hoping to hear." I craned my neck to look at him. "Shisui said you were denied entrance last week."

"Oh, yeah." Itachi let go of me to sit next to me. "I'm sure they must have asked you a lot, but are you okay?"

"I am." He looked up at the sky. "But you are the only one with Shisui and Izumi to ask me if I am."

"Kekkei genkai are awakened in dire emotional situations, it's…"

"The Sharingan is more important than whatever situation caused its awakening. I already have three tomoe as well, so they're ecstatic."

"So Shisui told me." He glanced at my bag. "Oh huh…" I pulled the chocolate cat out of my bag and handed it to him. "Here, I didn't know how you'd be so I thought chocolate would cheer you up if needed." He smiled warmly at the cat, taking it in his hands.

"Thank you Akane." He opened it and broke a piece of it. He put it at my lips and not his though. "Here." I accepted it and blushed under his stare. "Akane."

"Yes?" He poked my forehead. I rubbed it with a small frown.

"Izumi is just a friend." I froze at that and looked down. "Whatever is going on in your mind regarding her, it's not true. She is a close friend, that's all." I pursed my lips and nodded.

Without a word, he gently pulled me against him. I just closed my eyes and enjoyed his warmth. If he said it, then it meant it was true.

The little voice in the back of my mind telling me it was not true could shut up.

Chapter 12: Genin Arc: Chapter 2

Chapter Text

December marked a turn in the war. Kumo had gotten to our border, no news of how it was in the Land of Frost and Land of Hot Waters coming to us. High-ranking shinobi were sent to the borders more often than not, which sadly gave me plenty of time to work for my Seal Master Exams. I could make Immobility Seals, which would paralyze someone or a limb depending on how I was applying it, from my bare hands. Explosive Seals were still harder, but I had removed my right glove so I could use both.

"You must be wondering why I have summoned you here." I blinked at Minato-san and exchanged a quick look with Kakashi.

Then I looked at Itachi's team, who was as confused as we were.

"You're going on a mission together, but it is really two missions. Both A-rank, I would send other shinobi on them if I could, but all our available forces are already out." Minato-san looked up at Kakashi, then Itachi's sensei. "You're all headed to the Land of Grass. We have received words Kumo has sent shinobi there, most likely to gather allies. Intercept them, make them talk and try to bring one back to Konoha for T&I to make them talk. Team 2, you're in charge of making sure this remains an issue among shinobi. Keep civilians and the Land of Grass away, the last thing we need is Kusa to join Kumo. Kakashi, you and Akane will focus on the shinobi, intercept them and make them talk." Then, his blue eyes narrowed on Yuki. "Itachi-kun is going to be your second-in-command, value his opinion as such. Understood?" The guy nodded begrudgingly. "You're leaving tomorrow at dawn. Kakashi." Kakashi accepted the scroll. "Dismissed."

Itachi dragged me to the weapon shop against my will.

"Itachi I want to hug Naru!" I whined. He glanced sternly at me.

"It's an A-rank mission, we're getting ready." I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you want to spend time with Sasuke too?"

"Once we're done here." He was stubborn and would not budge.

He also was not in the mood for my awesome jokes as we were shopping from the scolding looks he'd give me.

"Itachi, can you just…chill?" I asked him once we were outside. "I bought enough supplies for a year."

"He didn't mention the length of the mission." I raised a brow as Itachi frowned at the ground. "He doesn't know how long it is going to take, so we have to be ready for everything." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"It's going to be fine, I'm sure. We're super strong, aren't we?"

"None of us has gotten all of our skills back," he reminded me in a harsh whisper. I pointed at my head.

"But we have brains." I took a step back. "Now spend time with your brother, your parents and rest. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"You too." We went our separate ways. Naru was annoyed to have me on his back, he was four already after all, and Kushina-san was fussing over me.

The next morning, she hugged me tightly, Naru between us, as I was on the doorstep. Minato-san stood a little bit behind. Once Kushina-san let go of me, he knelt in front of me and put his hand on my head.

"Be careful, and listen to Kakashi, okay?" I nodded.

"I know." I put my bag stripes on my shoulders and checked my shoes. "I'm off then."

Itachi was already there, as well as his sensei and Shinko. He eyed the katana strapped to my back with interest.

"I showed it to you."

"You told me about it," he denied, taking it out of its sheath. He inspected it briefly before putting it back.

"Jealous?"

"Is it hard to use considering your size?" he retorted with a thin smirk.

"Hilarious, really." We left the village once everyone was here. The second we walked through the gates, there was no teasing in Itachi's eyes anymore, he was in total mission mode.

So was I. We were all quiet. We reached the Land of Grass at the end of the day as Shinko and Tenma were…going at genin-speed.

"How are we going to find them in the whole country?" Shinko asked everyone as we were eating dinner. I pointed my thumb at Kakashi.

"Let him handle it."

"If they want allies like Hokage-sama said, they should be around Kusa," Yuki-sensei pointed out. I nodded.

"The first step is to gather information," Kakashi stated. "The best course of action is to hide the fact we're shinobi and go in village to see if they know anything or if we hear anything." He looked down at me. "I trust you to make Chakra Concealing Seals for everyone." I nodded. "If it comes to it, Itachi and I can use the Sharingan to gather information directly from someone's mind." Tenma made a weird face. "Once we get a lead, we'll think about the next step." Itachi's sensei seemed to want to argue back but didn't. "The girls will be with me."

The next day, as we reached the first village. There was nothing. Shinko and I would stick to Kakashi, the girl telling me she was hoping Tenma was going to be nice.

"He doesn't hate foreigners you know." I glanced at her. "I'm a foreigner myself. It's just…he's not a fan of people being better off than himself, I think? He doesn't talk about it. You should see him with Itachi-kun, it's very annoying." I was sure.

Apart from Kusa, there was one big town in the country and that was it. The country was not big to begin with, so we reached it. Kakashi summoned three dogs, Pakkun included, and we split up once more. Now it was Shinko, Pakkun and I. Kakashi had his own nose after all, and I was suspecting him to remove his mask and use regular means of transformation to blend in.

"Pakkun, I'm going to take off your ninken identification. People can't know we're shinobi."

"Be careful with it kid." I nodded and put everything in my bag.

"Have you ever done an infiltration mission Shinko?" She shook her head. "I see. Well then, for now we're going to be orphans who have traveled here to escape the war. If there are Kumo shinobi around, then we can blame them for our situation and strike some sympathy."

"That's smart Akane-chan." I shrugged. We both removed our kunoichi gear and forehead protectors.

We didn't have much luck at first, people just looking at us in disgust and kicking us out of their establishments as if we were going to bring them bad luck. However, as the sun was setting in the sky, a nice old lady gave us food for free.

"You fled your hometown then?"

"Yes. There were shinobi, with a cloud, who took over our town near the border." She sighed, her dish towel against her hip.

"I hope they're not here for that." Shinko and I perked up at that. "Don't worry dear, they won't attack children. A few of them went by a few days ago and left quickly. You should head toward the Land of Earth, the other ways aren't safe anymore."

Ame would not join Kumo, it would be stupid of them to try to contact them. Iwa was out of the picture as well if she was telling us to go there. Konoha was where we were coming from, so Taki? The Hidden Waterfall were staying in their place as far as I knew.

"Thank you for your advice." She smiled at Shinko and left. Once we were done eating, we left as well. Reuniting with Kakashi was easy. Yuki-sensei and boys were already there. We left the town and stopped in a clearing. "We have learned they are going toward Taki." Kakashi and Yuki exchanged a quick look.

"Maybe they are going to the Blood Prison to get one of their prisoners out." I widened my eyes. I had forgotten this place even existed. However, it would be troublesome.

"It would be troublesome," Itachi said, voicing my thoughts out loud.

"Let's go toward it carefully."

"What do you think is their plan?" Akane asked him in a whisper the next day. He pursed his lips.

"I am not sure, but I have a bad a feeling about it."

"Huh. Same." Who knew what Kumo was really trying to do?

They couldn't just go to the Blood Prison, so they would stay around it. They stopped for the night.

"We're going to get water," Shinko stated, Akane waiting for her. Itachi started to get up, but Shinko stretched her hand, her palm facing him. "We can go on our own Itachi-kun."

"It's not safe," he retorted.

"It shouldn't be long," Akane said, turning around. They were quickly out of sight, and he was fighting the urge to go find them. They were being reckless, Akane should know that.

With her track record, he was sure she didn't care about being reckless.

"See?" Akane asked him as they were back. "We're fi…" A kunai landed between them all.

Shinko grabbed Akane before she could run to the explosive tag. It blew up, sending dust everywhere before other kunai, all with explosive tags, were sent their direction, destroying the clearing they were in. Itachi covered his mouth to avoid breathing in the smoke and activated his sharingans, sending the man about to kill Tenma in a genjutsu. Their sensei blew the smoke away with a Wind Jutsu, Kakashi re-appearing quickly.

"Where is Shinko?" Tenma asked, looking around in panic. Itachi did as well, noticing Akane was missing as well.

"Maybe they were hit by the blow of the explosions," their sensei suggested.

"Or they ran away." Kakashi summoned his ninkens. He wrote in a scroll and gave it to the Pakkun before putting a tag on him. "Straight to sensei." Pakkun nodded and vanished. "You guys, look for Akane's scent. She should be with another girl."

"Roger Kakashi!"

He knew he should have trusted his guts. It was a catastrophe just waiting to happen. Now the girls were away from them in an unknown situation. He felt like punching a tree, cursing out loud and desperately looking for them. Once they were alone, he would not miss the chance to scold Akane for this, even if she was not at fault either and then hug her like a mad man.

There was no lead until sunrise, when the ninken that had stayed with them smelled something. It started raining at this moment.

"It feels…weird," Tenma noted. It made him frown, like Kakashi and Yuki and they tried to use their chakra but couldn't.

"It's a jutsu from the Hidden Mist, the Mist Rain," Kakashi said in a serious, firm tone.

"Wow…wait, wait, the Bloody Mist?" Tenma repeated in shock, fear evident in his eyes. "Why would they be here!?" Unless they had spies in Konoha, they wouldn't know about Akane so…why indeed?

"We need to get out of the range for now." They started running, following Kakashi and his ninken. The range of the jutsu was big. Itachi ran to Kakashi's level with a frown.

"This jutsu, what level is it?"

"From what I know…Anbu." Kakashi looked up at the cloudy sky. "We don't need that."

The rain stopped after a while, only for a suspicious noise to appear in the distance. There was a cliff in front of them, a steep path going through it. Out of sudden, torrents of water came out of it, coming dangerously fast at them. They all went high in the trees, watching the water destroy many things on its path. When they were back on the now soaked ground, Itachi glanced at Kakashi.

"It was not natural."

"It wa…"

"Sensei!" They turned around to see blood splattering from Yuki's throat. The kunai, blood dripping from the blade, was in his own hand as he fell to the ground, dead, his eyes wide open. Kakashi went to him and checked to see if there was anything weird.

There was not.

"Tenma!" Kakashi looked back, Itachi now holding Tenma's arm, a kunai in it, from doing the same thing.

There was a clap. In front of them stood a someone with a dark cloak over them. They raised their head, showing a white mask with red waves on it, two slits for their eyes. They raised two fingers in front of them and flexed them toward them, Tenma kicking Itachi before going to them, terrified.

Whatever it was this individual was doing, it was strong, and Itachi had never seen anything like it. He couldn't see any chakra threads connected to Tenma, so he was not a puppeteer like Sasori. However, his mask reminded him of an Anbu from the Hidden Mist like Kakashi had mentioned.

Despite the mask, it was not Tobi. They were dangerous though, and as his sharingans were spinning lazily in his eyes, his sensei's blood soaking the ground, he hoped the girls were doing better than them.

"Keep running!" I yelled at Shinko, her wrist in my deadly grip.

Itachi was half right; we were attacked but not when we were on our own. However, we couldn't stop running now. I had no idea where we were going, I just knew the chakra signatures in my back wouldn't disappear. There were at least three, all of them as strong as the guy I had fought in my C-turned-B-rank mission.

I lost track of how long we had been running for, but Shinko just dropped on her knees at some point, panting hard as I could still go on.

"I'm…I'm sorry…I don't have…your stamina…" I pursed my lips and looked up. The sun was rising in the distance, casting an orangish hue on the clouds. Dawn was there.

"Do you still have that seal I gave you all?" She nodded. "Put it on, at least it will hide our chakra a little bit." Apparently, my seals, the Chakra Concealing ones, were too…consuming for genin.

I had not taken that into account, how the stamina played a role in how long you could go on with the seal activated.

I frowned at the sky. It was December, and I had noticed the moisture in the air since we had come to the Land of Grass but…it would snow soon.

I looked around and, with a few leaves removed and thrown on the ground to make it look like we had run past it, or footprints, I made two shadow clones. One took Shinko's appearance, and they ran away.

"Come," I told Shinko in a whisper, dragging her behind me, but it was slower.

We left the main road to enter the bushes and woods. I had lived in this country before, but not in this area. However, I knew that when pines started to be more and more numerous, a cliff had to be close.

"It looks like a bluff," I muttered to myself as I looked at the cliff. We were at the bottom of it.

"If it is, there should be a river nearby, right?" I nodded.

"I think it's safer to try to go back to the Land of Fire, the guys are looking for us right now I'm sure, Kakashi will figure out that's my plan."

"Okay but…a brea…" I glanced at her sternly.

"I'm sorry, but the most we can do is walk." I couldn't sense anyone anymore, but who knew. I didn't have medical seals either as, from what Kushina-san had said, would be too suspicious to have ready, even for me. There were only so many seals we could pretend were inherited when they came from me or what I had learned in Kiri.

Medical seals were a variation of storage seals. The latter was the base, then I modified it to contain medical chakra, and then for precise wounds.

We walked for maybe half an hour before I heard the rustle of a river. Snow had started to fall in the meantime, Shinko shivering beneath her cloak.

I perked up and looked at her when I heard something.

"It sounds like a fight," she whispered back to me. I removed my cloak and put it on her shoulders. I summoned my katana and crept to the scene discreetly.

I widened my eyes at the scene. Two shinobi from Kumo were there, one of them exhausted on the ground, his sword away from him as the other one was about to kill him, two others watching behind.

The issue was, the one about to be killed, who looked around thirteen or fourteen, was no one but Darui. I looked up. Snow was falling harder and harder.

I made a shadow clone who ran to the river and used the Big Waterfall Technique. While they were distracted, I ran to Darui, put his arm on my shoulders and put as much distance as I could between us and them. Unfortunately, they destroyed my clone before she could blow herself up and looked at me.

Alright, time to put these Uzumaki chakra reserves to work. I made twenty clones who all went to fight and one who stayed with Darui. I emulated as much chaos as Naruto had told me he would bring with his clones as a genin. I knew they wouldn't last.

What I wanted was smoke. The moisture in the air, in the snow and on the ground was more than enough for my Hyouton. Using the Hiding in the Mist Technique would be weird, but I could replace it with the smoke of the clones. They were quicker than me, but my Hyouton would come to play from my clone to slow them down as I'd go to Silent Killing.

My katana cut through flesh like butter. Only the last one, the one who was close to killing Darui, stopped my blade with his despite being slowed down by the cold. The smoke was gone, and I traded blows with him, metal grating against each other, sparks flying. There was something odd though. He was almost…fighting like a robot, was not pipping a word nor anything. He was on autopilot.

I yelped when I felt electricity run through my body. sh*t, somehow, he had managed to use a Raiton Jutsu without my knowledge and use the water to…

I was dizzy, my legs numb. I dodged a fierce kick to the head and dug my katana in the ground, leaning on it to get on his shoulders. He grabbed me and threw me harshly on the ground, making me spit. He took my katana and walked toward me, ready to finish me off. Once he was close enough, I made ice near my foot and put my left hand on it, putting an Explosive Seal on it. It blew up, sending me back with burns on my legs, a part of my shorts burned, but the man had been touched as well. My katana was back in the ground, but he got up.

I breathed out, blowing my disheveled hair out of my face. I sat up, making hand seals quickly.

"Hyouton: Freezing Technique." The ground turned to ice, and he slipped a little. I got up and started moving around, knowing how to control my movements on my ice. I slipped through his legs and spun around, kicking his legs. At least I tried to because he stomped on my ankle, making me grit my teeth and he grabbed me by the other ankle, lifting me up in front of him.

It was enough for me to put my right hand on his chest, placing an Immobility Seal there. He went rigid and I managed to get out of his hold. He fell back and arched his back, to my utter shock, before his eyes became glassy, blood running down the corner of his mouth.

I dissipated the ice and went to him, checking his pulse. There was none. I removed the forehead protector as maybe there was something hidden. Nothing.

I still sealed the body in a scroll and put it in my back pouch, before doing the same to the other two.

"How are you a genin?" Shinko asked me in shock as I limped back to them. I waved that off.

"How is he?"

"Not great, he's exhausted and lost some blood, plus there are bruises that could indicate internal damage. However…" She frowned at the unconscious Darui. "Should we really help him?"

"He was being attacked by one of his own. I have the feeling there is something deeper going on right now and he might know more about it than us."

We took him to a cave in the bluff and I sat down with a groan. Shinko immediately started to take care of me and I relaxed beneath her soothing green chakra.

"I'm sorry Akane-chan, I can't do more," she mumbled, almost sounding ashamed, as she stopped. My bruises were gone but my ankle still hurt.

"That's okay, Uzumakis are tougher than they look." My burns were half-healed as well. "Let's get some rest."

The sun had fully risen outside when Darui woke up, a thin white coat of snow glued to the ground. He blinked several times and looked at his surroundings. When he realized we were from Konoha, he attempted to jump to his feet, only to fall on all four.

"He…" He crawled back against the wall, the kunai in his hand shaking. "Chill, we're not going to hurt you."

"You're Konoha!" he spat, although weakly. I huffed at him and removed my forehead-protector from around my neck, putting it in my back pouch. Darui blinked at me in confusion.

"Here, better? Konoha or not, the ones attacking you earlier were Kumo." He twitched at that. Maybe he had forgotten in the heat of the moment after all. "You…do remember, right?"

"I do," he confirmed, lowering his weapons a little. "Still you're…"

"More than you? You're on your own right now, we've helped, you know in what situation you're in, right?" He glanced at Shinko, who was putting her best mean face on, then me.

"I can see you being high rank, but she's obviously a genin." I pursed my lips.

"Alright fine, we were running away from Kumo when we ran into you about to be killed."

"They're alive then?" I raised a brow as he glared at the ground.

"I don't know what happened, but the shinobi against you were…weird, robotic even."

"I know."

"So, what happened?" He gazed me, suspicious. "Hey, if someone can manipulate shinobi from Kumo like that, they could do the same to us." A flicker of surprise went through his eyes.

"It's not you?" I frowned. "I thought…maybe an Uchiha…we were after you."

"No,wewere after you," I corrected him, raising a brow. "We got words you guys were in the country for god-knows-what so we were sent here." It was his turn to frown.

"We were sent here because you were around." We just gazed at each other, slowly realizing what this meant.

"There's a third-party toying with us then?" Shinko asked us, clenching her fists on her thighs.

"I suppose but…what would they get from making two villages fight when they're already at war with each other?" I retorted, scratching my head.

"Unless they thought our conflict was a good opportunity for an experimentation," Darui whispered harshly. I blinked.

It…was possible. But who, Orochimaru? Danzou? The Akatsuki? Would Obito show himself this early? Sure, Minato and Kushina were alive but…

"They're bad new, for all of us." I stretched out my hand to Darui. "I'm Akane, let's help each other out for now." The distrust was still obvious, but he shook my hand.

"Darui. Let's…work together for now, I guess." I nodded with a grin.

As he was eating some rations, Shinko pulled me aside.

"What are you doing?" she asked me in a harsh whisper.

"There's something deeper going on, if we work together, maybe we could make the first step in stopping this war," I replied, in a whisper as well. I sighed at the obvious hesitation in her eyes. "You know, I doubt people in Kumo jumped to the roof when war was declared, if anything, they probably want years of peace and quiet after the Third war, like us."

We ate as well and left the cave. Clearly, the shinobi who were after us the night before had stopped because we had stayed for maybe an hour and a half at the same spot. I doubted it was good news though. Maybe they were regrouping, which would not be good.

We were in a strange, unexpected scenario. I glanced at Darui from the corner of my eyes. His relaxed demeanor was nowhere to be seen. It was strange to see him that young though. I had known him before and we got along great.

Enough to go on three dates together. The second it could have turned serious, meaning I would have moved to Kumo because he was about to be named the Fifth Raikage, I got cold feet. I couldn't bring any man in the twins' lives without telling the man about Itachi. Then, he grew a moustache, and I was glad we had not pursued our relationship.

"Ah! A sign!" Shinko ran to it as Darui and I were checking our surroundings. "'Kannabi Bridge – 20 kilometers north."

"Wait what?" I read the sign as well. It was old and damaged, but it did say 'Kannabi Bridge'. We were not that far from the Land of Fire then.

"Did they rebuild it?" We both looked at Darui. "You guys destroyed it during the last war, haven't you?" I nodded.

"I have no idea if they rebuilt it or not though." Not that it would really matter anyway. I glanced at Darui. "What happened exactly?"

"It was a blur. I think I saw someone, but it was too fast, I was fighting my comrades before I knew what exactly was happening."

"I see." If it was Obito and he was interested in me like before, maybe he'd be sentimental and visit Kannabi Bridge.

I took the lead and headed there. I had no idea of what we were doing. Saying we should team up was good and all, but if it was someone like the Akatsuki or such, then we would be a speck of dust against them.

We weren't at the bridge that I sensed people.

"sh*t, they're here!" I told the other two, starting running. They followed me.

One landed just in front of Shinko. I was just quick enough to get between the two, the blade of the katana now in my shoulder. I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to moan in pain as blood soaked my shoulder and I grabbed his wrist. I put an Immobility Seal, removed the blade and stabbed her with it in the heart.

She fell to the ground and I put a knee on the ground, my hand on my wound. Shinko started to heal me as fast as she could. If it was not for Darui stepping in with his sword to stop someone, she would have been killed.

"I'm good," I told her once the bleeding had stopped. She wanted to say something but didn't and I stood up.

We were surrounded by Kumo shinobi and from how hostile they were with Darui, not even asking what he was doing with us…they were not themselves.

I was sick of this mission.