Sorry it took me so long to do this chapter, was a bit busy and I had pretty bad nasal infection that I'm still getting over and that kinda kept me from writing for long periods of time.

I enjoyed myself on this chapter, I owe that partly to the two songs of the day listed below along with a massive amount of dubstep.

Fic of the day: The Animaniac Dude - The Will Of D.

A One Piece time travel fix fic, which I must say I'm really partial to and am waiting for it to update :D. This story doesn't need any assistance from me to promote it, but those of you who haven't read it, here's the summery.

Summery: Luffy loses his entire pirate crew to marines in a final battle at raftel, only to find there never was any treasure there. When a man long thought dead instead appears and takes luffy under his wing, nothing is as it seems. the Will Of D lives on. LuNa.

Song/vid of the day: Tech N9ne's "Last words" and Stratkat's "Azure blades" Look up stratkat on newgrounds and you'll find his song there.

Word/s of the day: Hashtag Ballin

ooo-

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Different Language"

Jutsu/magic spells

-ooo-

Chapter 2: Curious.

-Previously-

"How dare you besmirch my honor" Guiche yelled, putting as much indignation and posturing as he could into the sentence "I challenge you to a duel!"

If anything Itachi's eyebrow rose even more. 'He plans to use me as a scapegoat.' Itachi realized. But not a moment later a small grin touched his lips and a slight chuckle escaped his lips. "Accepted, time and place?"

Guiche got to his feet and took a dozen steps back. "Here and now." He growled, all of the students who were sitting at the tables were now crowded around the two.

"Very well." Itachi spoke evenly, his eyes flashing to the Sharingan, if he was going to humiliate this fool, then he might as well do it soundly.

-ooo-

Itachi stared out over the hastily erected arena, the curious students who were watching the coming battle were the walls of the arena and the green grass which crunched underfoot, their Colosseum floor.

"Familiar!" A angry yell rose up over the crowd.

Itachi glanced imperceptibly out of the corner of his eye, his Sharingan capturing with picture perfect clarity the sight of his master's angry face.

"How dare you take part in a duel without my permission." The small pink haired girl stomped forward and grabbed a hold of Itachi's hand. "You will apologize to Guiche right now."

Itachi for his part stared blankly at the girl, she hadn't met his eyes yet so he couldn't tell what she was thinking but at a glance, her stiff shoulders and trembling hands led him to believe that she was frightened of something. Glancing back at Guiche Itachi couldn't for the life of him know what she was afraid of, even if the fop was a master of magic Itachi was far stronger than any amount of energy the boy had within his body, it didn't mean that Itachi was going to be lax around the man, no. But while he did consider him a threat, he by no means considered him an equal.

"No." Itachi spoke simply, he would not apologize since it was Guiche who had instigated this entire thing with his philandering.

Louise's gaze snapped up to look him in the face and that's when her features froze, her entire body going stiff as she gazed into Itachi's eyes. The three tomoe spun lazily around the shrunken pupil of his eye. The slight glow they held seemed to look right through her, to stare into her very soul and pick it apart like it was an open book. That thought chilled the girl to her bones as a small shiver went through her.

"Please stand back." Itachi murmured. "I do not wish for anyone to be caught up in this."

Louise, despite herself, shivered once again. Then in an almost barely perceptible nod the girl backed off from him and stood on the edge of the gathered students. She didn't know why she had listened to him, just that, at that moment in time, when she had stared into his eyes and he had stared back... the cold, calculating eyes that man held... it frightened her, beyond all manner and reason, it frightened her.

Itachi turned back to his opponent lazily, eyes still watching with clarity all the things within his vision, Time itself seemed to slow down as he gazed at Guiche, a power of his Sharingan, taking in his surroundings and slowing his perception of time down by almost 25 times normal speed. He could pick up the vibrations in the air from a humming bird flapping its wings at nearly 100 yards away if he so chose, so the sight of the almost useless fop going into some kind of dueling stance did little to worry him.

"My name is Guiche the bronze, therefore-" He flicked a single petal from the rose in his hand. Said petal landed on the ground and a bright light rose up bringing forth a strange suit of armor. It was a curious thing, far skinnier than what a human could wear and had over proportioned pauldrons, gauntlets and shin guards, along with a pair of small wings coming off the helm like some angelic hair piece. "A Bronze Golem -The Valkyrie- shall be your opponent."

Suddenly the suit of armor rushed forward, it's large metal right hand leading.

Itachi saw all of this and more, to most it would have seemed like a blur, but to his Sharingan eyes, it may as well have been standing still. His eye's widened imperceptibly, the tomoe spinning faster and his pupil shrinking even more as it hyper focused on the fist, judging it's path and choosing the best method to deflect and counter the attack.

Which he did. The suit of armor tried to land a viscous punch to the Sharingan users sternum and knock the air from his lungs. but a side step and grab had the armor off balance as it's weight and momentum was used against it, sending the hunk of bronze into a forward roll that left it buried in the wall behind him. Luckily the students had the right mind to not stand in the direct line of the attack seeing as the golem could have launched the boy into them, that hadn't happened of course and it left the student nobles around Itachi gaping in shock as their eyes went from the man to the golem stuck headfirst in the castle walls and back again several times, too shocked to say anything.

Itachi turned back to Guiche, a blank look to his face. "Are you done?" he asked politely, seeing if it was his turn to strike the man. After all, this was a duel and politeness dictated that he wait for his opponent to allow him to attack...well at least that's what Itachi wanted him to think, if it were up to him he would have ended the fight in barely an eyeblink, but the curious Uchiha wanted a first hand glimpse at the abilities of these 'magi' so far he wasn't impressed, as a well trained genin could have defeated this buffoon. That's not to say he wasn't impressed with the technique used, seeing as it was made from the earth and he'd never seen any Earth Release users who could create a clone or golem of that caliber out of metal. But the main problem was that the noble had completely wasted his chance at trapping Itachi, if he had sent the contraption forward at a slow and reasonable speed then suddenly shifted speed where there was no time to block it, he could have scored a hit. Not that he would have considering Itachi had Sharingan eyes and they would have picked up any flinch of movement the creature made.

Guiche's face scrunched up in anger, marring the mans dashing good looks with an ugly grimace. "You-you-you!"

"Yes?" Itachi asked blankly, he really didn't know why the man was getting so angry with him, he had just dodged to the side, it was his own golems fault for making a fool out of itself and him.

"You Bastard." The noble yelled, flicking his rose a half dozen more times, each time a petal would be released and another golem would rise from the ground.

Itachi sighed, slipping into a fighting stance, his family's fighting stance. The Interceptor Fist. One of the greatest fighting styles in the world, on par with both the Goken and Jyuken. Like the two aforementioned fighting styles, the Interceptor fist was a study in opposites, while it was possible to use the Interceptor fist without the Sharingan, Like it's Byakugan cousin it was best used in tandem with the Uchiha kekkei genkai. The style relied upon intercepting (Hence the name) And either deflecting or counter attacking.

That was where the similarities to the Jyuken ended and it's resemblance to the Goken began. Unlike the Jyuken, The interceptor fist struck with speed and physical power rather than subversion and internal energy, much like the Goken in that regard. And it shouldn't have been a surprise since the Interceptor fist was an amalgam of all the different styles the Uchiha had fought up to that point, if something defeated their current style they copied and included what defeated it allowing them to match any and all taijutsu users on equal footing as long as the two users were of similar physical strength and speed. The only downsides to the style was it's inability to match opponents of superior speed and strength, which the Jyuken excelled at, so it was a toss up for the most part, but in the hands of an Uchiha with fully awakened Sharingan it was still a force to be reckoned with to be sure.

Which wasn't lost on a certain blue haired woman watching the fight with barely any interest, an open book one hand and a staff shaped in a shepherds crook in the other. However the moment Itachi had went into his stance the young woman's eyes widened almost imperceptibly, her book closing as she watched the fight with further interest.

"What's up Tabitha?" Kirche asked her friend curiously, normally the reclusive young bluenette wouldn't have batted an eyelash at such a fight but here she was staring intently at the duel as if something had caught her eye.

What the fire sorceress didn't know was that something had caught Tabitha's eye. The girl had scanned the style Louise's familiar was using and to her shock couldn't find anything similar to it in her memory, and from the way the man held himself, the sheer certainty of his grace and movements...it looked like he was as skilled a warrior as his cool demeanor hinted at. And something else strange she noticed was that his eyes were a different color than before, she hadn't noticed it when the fight first started, but when Itachi had dodged to the side, she had noticed the blood red coloration of the Uchiha's orbs and was now curious as to why that was... clearly this fight would be...interesting.

Back with the fight, Guiche had leveled his rose parallel to the ground. He pointed it at the Uchiha and ordered "Destroy him!" Sending the half dozen metal golems Itachi's way. However, this time they lead with the sharpened tips of spears rather than a solid fist.

Like Itachi cared. The first spear flew harmlessly wide as Itachi swatted it away with the back of his fist. Another spear tried striking him between the eyes but a simple tilt of the head had the spear going over his left shoulder. Itachi grabbed the next spear and yanked on it, sending the creature holding it into another of the other golems that had tried to circle and strike him from behind.

"Foolish" Itachi murmured, lancing out with a kick to one of the creatures helmed faces, smashing the visor and sending it flying back over the crowd of students. Leaning his head back the spear that would have gone through both of his ears instead skimmed the tip of his nose leaving a slight scratch as his Sharingan studied the wood grain of the spear absently. Tiring of the thing in his vision he grabbed the offending item, again yanking the metal soldier forward to meet a palm strike which knocked it on it's ass, Itachi standing over it with it's spear still in his hand.

Runes flashed slightly on the young man's hand as he spun the spear around like he was a natural and smashed another of the golems over the head, knocking it's helmet off and dropping it to the ground in pieces.

Itachi stared at the runes on his left hand curiously, his eyes scanning the power flowing from the rune and watching as it ran up his arm and shoulder before disappearing into his spinal cord.

'Curious.' Deciding to look into what the Symbols on his hand were doing later as he used the spear in his hand to deflect another pair of spear thrusts from two of the bronze soldiers. One passing harmlessly overhead, the other getting knocked down and to the right digging into the ground by the Uchiha's foot and halting the forward motion of the golem. A state which Itachi took advantage of as he smashed the lifeless thing in the head, again sending the creature into a heap of pieces.

Now with only three golems left, one of which was without a weapon, Itachi glanced out of the corner of his eye at his opponent. He saw with some satisfaction that the arrogant fop had a look of shock on his face. It was the look of a man who could only stare on as his entire world was crumbling around him. It wasn't an expression Itachi took satisfaction in creating, but he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy seeing the arrogant noble's mouth drop open in shock.

Itachi smirked ever so slightly, bringing the spear back to bear and slamming it down on top of the weaponless golem, the pressure of he blow breaking both it and the spear into pieces. The Uchiha grunted in irritation at the loss of his weapon but shrugged as the remaining two golems rushed him, one going high, the other going low in a sweeping motion. The Sharingan in Itachi's eye again dilated, focusing on the two quickly converging weapons, with a practiced hand the Uchiha grabbed the top most spear and jumped completely over the heads of both golems. With a snap, Itachi kicked the golem who's spear he was holding in the spine, breaking the thing into pieces, the other golem whirled in place trying to strike while Itachi was busy with the first, but a quick block with the spear he'd again taken from the golem stopped the attack cold and gave Itachi enough time to smash the things head in.

Complete and utter silence rang out over the mass of students. Most were too shocked to even say anything as they had watched the supposed 'commoner' take down a magi of no little skill like he was a child, fighting on par if not surpassing 6 analogs of highly trained soldiers.

Itachi ignored all of this, instead he focused his entire gaze upon Guiche, Sharingan spinning wildly as he studied his opponent. "Are you quite done?" Itachi asked absently, becoming annoyed with the fodder the man was throwing at him.

Guiche on the other hand was nearly shitting his pants. He had created some of his most powerful golems and this man, this familiar had destroyed them with barely a scratch on him. Guiche was beginning to feel a very real fear go up his spine as the bastard in front of him stared with those evil red eyes, which seemed to stare right through him into his soul. That's when he noticed it, a slight movement behind Itachi from the far wall where his first golem had crashed. During the fight the creature must have dug itself out and now was prepared to strike the unaware Uchiha in the back. Guiche smirked, willing the golem to stab him with as much power as it could manage.

A slight gasp went up out of the crowd. Louise watched as Guiche's golem closed in on her unknowing familiar. A shout of warning escaped her lips when only a few feet separated the golems spear tip and the back of her familiar.

Hearing the shout from Louise, time seemed to slow down for Itachi, even more so then when he was using his fully matured Sharingan. Slowly turning, to his eyes milliseconds seeming like days as his orbs landed on the golem that would have speared him in the back, the spear only inches from impaling him. Reacting entirely on instinct the Uchiha shunted a massive amount of chakra to his right eye. Time stopped for the man as his eye morphed from the three tomoe to a tri-bladed curved shuriken. However, something strange happened. The runes on his left hand flared to life, a searing surge of energy going straight to his eyes. For one fraction of a second Itachi's eye morphed yet again, the curve of each point of his Mangekyo straightening out while a second straight upside down tri-pronged shape overlapped the first, creating a starburst pattern.

From Itachi's body a giant skeletal, black flame covered fist struck the golem, sending it careening into a heap a few feet away. The skeletal arm of Itachi's ghostly Susanoo disappeared a moment after allowing Itachi to focus on the creature on the ground. Another surge of energy went up his arm and to Itachi's surprise the black flames of his Amaterasu sprung out from his right eye and struck the golem, immolating it in searing heat.

The creature's screeches as it's armor melted and twisted into a molten mass of metal sent chills up the spines of everyone there, but the person most shocked by the flames was Itachi himself.

'T-that didn't hurt?' Itachi breathed, normally when he used his Mangekyo Sharingan a searing pain would go through his eye as the powers of the kekkei genkai ate away at his sight, A small trickle of blood still rolled down his cheek like a teardrop but the accompanying pain that was normally there, wasn't. 'Just another thing I must look into when I have the time' He mused, then the fatigue hit him. Surprise crossed Itachi's semi hidden features as he felt his energy leave him, as soon as his eye had deactivated to the mature Sharingan form his strength dropped below that of a low ranking chunin's causing his body to shudder for a moment before it stabilized itself. 'It seems this new found power comes with a price after all.' The grimace that scrunched his face at the weakening was hidden by the collar of his coat.

Turning back to the fool Noble Itachi had a front row seat of the man pissing himself in fear as he watched his golem turn into a pile of molten slag before the fires of Amaterasu had worked their course and burned the metal to nothingness. "Are you done now? Is it my turn to attack?" If anyone who knew Itachi had been there they would have noted the slightly amused tone he held as he watched the arrogant fool soil himself in front of dozens of his peers.

Guiche's eyes widened to the size of diner plates in fear, slowly backing away from the man...no, the monster that was Louise's familiar. "I-I-I G-give up!" He stuttered and screamed all at the same time, turning on his heels and running away like the coward he was.

Itachi's nostril flared slightly when the man ran away from a perfectly honorable duel. "Pathetic." He mumbled under his breath, allowing his pupils to revert back to their normal black hue. For having the title 'noble' Guiche sure didn't act like it.

"...Interesting" Tabitha mused quietly as she stared at the strange man and the even stranger magic he had used to burn through Guiche's golem. It was unlike any magic that she had seen before and it had peeked her curiosity, maybe she would have to ask the man how he did it sometime.

"You can say that again." Kirche blushed, she watched the last of Itachi's black flames ate away at the ground around the golem before it consumed itself and disappeared. "His flames are so hot, they burn with a passionate flame." The women hugged herself and giggled, her breasts pushed up and bouncing in glee.

"You're hopeless." The bluenette next to her shook her head sadly, walking away and ignoring the woman who was giggling like a school girl behind her.

Casually walking back to Louise, Itachi noted that many of the students who had whispered about him being a commoner were now giving the man a wide berth, as he made his way through the crowd to his summoner.

"H-how?" Was all the young girl asked, too shocked by Guiche's crushing defeat to voice anything else.

"I am a shinobi." He replied simply, like that would answer all questions, and in most cases it would have. But since he was in a different world that answer wouldn't explain anything to the confused girl.

"Come on." She replied numbly, grabbing the Uchiha's hand. "We need to talk."

Itachi only raised an eyebrow as the young woman lead him back to her room.

-10 minutes later-

Slamming the door behind her, the young girl spun in place, leveling a glare the Uchiha's way "Alright, just what the hell are you? You're clearly not a commoner, not even a commoner soldier of the Tristanian guard could do what you just did."

"I have said this before, I am a shinobi." he spoke evenly, not bothered by the fact that he was repeating himself."

"I understand that! But what IS a shinobi?"

Itachi sighed, this would be a long explanation. "A shinobi is a male ninja. A kunoichi being the female name for one. A ninja simply put, is a soldier for the village that he or she are aligned. I for instance was a shinobi of Konohagakure, or hidden leaf village." He pointed to the leaf shaped symbol on his headband.

"So you're a soldier then?" Louise asked curiously.

Itachi nodded. "Yes, in a way. However, a shinobi for a village is more like a mercenary that is loyal to said village." The Uchiha sat down in a chair with Louise joining across from him. "A shinobi village takes job requests from potential clients. The leader of the village then ranks them from D Rank chores like weed picking and general upkeep of the village to S rank espionage and major political assassinations. That is so that each of five ranks of ninja can take missions that are appropriate to them."

"And, what rank were you?" She asked hesitantly. If this man was as dangerous as he appeared to be... Louise shivered despite herself.

"There are six ninja ranks; Genin, Chunin, Tokubetsu Jonin, Jonin, ANBU and Kage." He held up four of his fingers. "The first four are the general army, that are given the basic D-A Rank missions. C rank or less for Genin, B rank or less for Chunin, and A rank or less for most Jonin. Tokubetsu Jonin are usually sent on B rank or less. As for me, I was an ANBU."

Louise shivered, that was dangerously close to the top of the pecking order, most likely similar to a commander or general. "And what missions do the ANBU take...And the Kage?"

"ANBU are the villages Black Ops, they along with a select few Jonin take on S rank missions personally given by the leader of our village, or Kage. I served the Hokage, or Fire Shadow of konoha.

"S-so, you're an assassin then?' She asked, remembering quite clearly what those S-Rank missions were.

"Among other things, yes. Though most chunin can get a low ranking assassination mission if they wanted too. There are different kinds of missions that can be taken, from guarding someone, to helping build buildings and even as a personal escort if the money is good enough."

The way he said 'Personal Escort' Made Louise shudder in disgust, that was barely better than prostitution. "A-and...h-how did you...your eyes and that fire." Another wave of revulsion went through her body, this time from remembering those vicious and rich crimson that his eyes had taken, the three odd symbols in his iris seeming to spin around his pupil.

"The eyes are my Sharingan." The Uchiha flashed his namesake once to show the girl, who shivered again despite herself. "They are the Kekkei Genkai of my clan, an in-born ability that is passed down through a family like a genetic trait. They let me see things that I wouldn't normally be able to see, like the energy you use for spells, I can see and possibly disrupt them if given enough time and the right tools."

Louise backed away imperceptibly to most, but to Itachi he noted her fear clearly, the reason for Louise's fear was that the description of his Sharingan sounded a lot like a 'mage killer' to the girl, a fairytale about a creature who could defeat any spell and was hired out by people to get rid of naughty little nobles if they didn't go to bed before midnight. The story had since lost its fear inducing veil to the now grown girl but the message of what the mage killer could do did not. And that thought frightened the girl, even moreso since she found out that her familiar was an assassin of all things. "And the fire?" She asked tentatively.

Itachi stared at the girl for a moment, he really didn't want to go too in depth to what his Sharingan could do in case he had to kill the girl in front of him and make a run for it, but a simple description couldn't hurt and it may just sate her curiosity enough that she might treat him with a bit more respect in the near future. "It is a jutsu that comes from my eyes" he spoke evenly. "The flames are inextinguishable except by me or by the flame burning to nothingness what it has caught fire."

Louise's stomach fell at that. Such power, wielded by a familiar, and one who she wasn't entirely sure she had full control over, the girl started shaking as she asked another of the nagging questions she had.

"A-and w-w-hat are j-jutsu?"

"I believe the term you use here for your mystical arts is magic, correct?" He stared at the girl who nodded shakily that that was the case. "Well then, Jutsu is simply another form of magic...Though my jutsu differ from your magic in that most of what I do is internal, pulling an energy produced in my body, known as chakra. While you use external, natural energies that you pull from nature to power your spells."

Louise let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, if it wasn't that different from magic then perhaps he was a noble? Maybe she had more in common with him than she first thought...and maybe he wouldn't try to slit her throat in the middle of the night like most assassins do. A gulp was the only betrayal of the woman's thoughts on the matter. Trying to keep the conversation going so he wouldn't point out her discomfort the girl asked him a question that had been nagging her since she had first saw him use his flames. "So, you said you were from a clan, are you a noble then?"

Itachi blinked owlishly for a moment. "Pardon?" he asked curiously.

"You use magic...or at least something like it, that would make you a noble then right?"

The Uchiha snorted in a small amount of amusement, the very thought of him being a 'Noble' if he was going by this worlds definition of the word was laughable at best. "No, I'm not a noble, though we did have nobles where we came from." Louise's perked up slightly. "But none that I knew of were capable of using jutsu." She drooped at that. "Anyone can become a ninja as long as they start training at a young age. Ninjutsu are used by a ninja, much like my fire ninjutsu I used. Taijutsu are physical martial arts and Genjutsu is use of illusion like abilities that can confuse any of a persons five senses."

"As for me being a part of a clan..." Here Itachi stopped, a small pang of guilt running through him as he remembered his slaughtering of his clan, of killing his flesh and blood so that his village could live on. A small grimace crossed his face, invisible to all but the most perceptive. "The Uchiha clan...in the Village of Konoha they were once the most powerful clan of the village, beside their rivals the Senju clan. It was the Senju and the Uchiha who started the hidden village system for ninja like myself. And Konoha where I was from was the Largest, most powerful and influential village in the world, easily capable of holding it's own for an extended period of time against any two of the other four great ninja villages of where I'm from."

Itachi shrugged lightly when he noticed Louise looking at him in a mixture of shock and awe. "Whether that makes me a noble is for others to decide, personally I have no use for titles."

By now Louise was nearly hyperventilating. This man, her familiar, Was not only an equivalent to a mage where he was from but also an extremely high ranking one, his powers alone made him noble by her countries standards but beyond that he was from a clan that, along with one other were the dominant families of the largest and strongest village in their world...And this man was her familiar? ...It was nearly too much to take in.

"Louise-san?" Itachi asked quietly, a hint of concern in his voice as he trying to bring the girl back from whatever was causing her breathing to dip like it was.

Louise stared at Itachi for a moment before nodding, taking a couple of deep breaths and slowing her breathing. She had been thinking about this all the wrong way. At first she had thought the man a mere commoner, to her chagrin. Then he had defeated Guiche so easily which caused fear to bloom up inside her chest. But now...Now, she realized that she had indeed summoned a divine, beautiful, wise and powerful familiar, just like she had asked. Swallowing once to try and calm herself, Louise asked her last question, and this one was probably the most important of them all. "Why?" She spoke softly.

"Hn?" Itachi grunted curiously.

"I-If you're so powerful and amazing...why haven't you gone somewhere else or done something about me? You've disobeyed a direct order from me, which shouldn't be possible because of the ritual...so why have you done as I've asked so far and not..." Here she gulped again. "Killed me for treating you like an animal...or at least left the school and disappeared."

Itachi raised an eyebrow in surprise, the girl had guts asking that kind of question he'd give her that. "First off, I wouldn't kill you unless you tried to harm me and even then I wouldn't go so far as to kill you simply from blocking a angry kick to the shins or something similar." Itachi waved a hand dismissively. "Do not be afraid of that if that is what you're fearing right now."

Louise nodded slightly, relaxing in her seat a bit.

"Second." The man tapped a finger into the table to accentuate his point. "I haven't left yet because I have nowhere to go, I have no idea how to read your language, only how to speak it, so trying to find myself around in this world would be exceedingly difficult without someone telling me where to go." He really didn't want to be telling Louise this but it wasn't going to change the fact that he was stuck in a foreign land with no means of finding his way around and asking people about their written language would label him a foreigner. In Itachi's experience, people tended to mistrust and in some cases apprehend foreigners, so that was something he really wanted to avoid.

"And finally." Itachi sighed. "I want answers to some of my own questions, since you seem to want to know all about me, you can at least show me the same courtesy."

Louise, who had been listening intently, nodded slowly. After all, Itachi had been rather open about who and what he was, it would only be proper to answer his questions as well...Also she really didn't want to piss the man off, she was still nearly scared silly from the man's occupation.

"Hn. My first question has to do with the state of the worlds advancement. Do you know what electricity is?"

Louise nodded, "Isn't that like lightning?"

"Yes it is. Now, do you use electricity to power any of your lights or machinery?" A frown and a shake of the head answered him. 'Hmm, well that answers that question, it seems I've landed in a regressive technological world..." Itachi rubbed his chin absently as he mulled over that information, clearly the world he was in relied on magic to fuel its economy and the working class were little more than civilians.

Filing that away for later Itachi focused back on Louise "Next question. Are there any wars going on that I should be aware of?"

Louise's frown deepened as she searched her memory of anything going on in politics of the neighboring kingdoms. "No." She spoke at length. "I'm pretty sure everything has been pretty quiet lately for the most part."

The Sharingan user nodded. "Good, final question. Why do the students of this school harass you and call you 'Louise the Zero?" The way Louise stiffened up at that question and her mouth drew up in a tight line, Itachi knew he had possibly overstepped a boundary somewhere. "If you don't wish to speak of it." He explained smoothly, diverting some of the volatile girls anger. "Then just ignore the question I just asked. I was hoping I would be able to help with your problem seeing as I am currently in your care. After all, a threat to you is a threat to me by extension, seeing as people will assume I am your familiar and I'd rather take care of the problem now than have to deal with it later."

Louise glared at him for several minutes before her features softened, he had been rather open about his own occupation and skills, it would only be fair to explain why people seemed to think she was some sort of failure. "You said that you use fire correct?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow at that, she was asking a question to answer a question? Hmm... he could play along but he didn't like that she was deflecting his question. "Yes, I am attuned to the elemental nature of fire by family birthright, I also have a minor affinity to both water and earth, but with my Sharingan I am capable of using jutsu of lightning and wind natures as well." The young mage seemed to deflate even more... maybe he shouldn't have said something like that...

"The reason people call me 'Louise the Zero'" She ground out bitterly. "Is because I'm not attuned to any element. All magic is attuned to one of the five elements so if you cant use an element you cant use magic." Louise sighed and straightened her posture slightly. "You saw the results of my magic yourself." She supplied. "I tried casting a silencing spell on you when you still couldn't speak my language, but that exploded and ended up turning into a translation spell of all things."

"Interesting... try a small spell for me here please." He flashed to his Sharingan, staring intently at Louise.

Louise stiffened slightly at the request. "Uhh, sure..." She turned around, facing the more open part of her room. A quick mumble and flick of her wand and what was supposed to be a small wind spell failed dramatically, exploding in a ball of acrid smoke. "You see!" She huffed, spinning around and facing Itachi "Its always the same...what is it?" The moment Louise's eyes landed on Itachi's frowning face a small sliver of hope went through the girl.

The man was frowning, staring curiously at the space that had just been engulfed in smoke.

"Strange...You say that all magic is based in the five elements? From what I'm seeing, it is neither a fire, water, earth, wind or lightning spell, it is something different."

"Wait...Lightning is the fifth element for your people?" Louise asked curiously, she didn't want to stop him from describing his discovery but this was too interesting to pass up.

"Yes, each of the five great nations from where I come from have each a ninja village that excels at one of the five elements. The village of Konoha is based in the land of fire, my family was the poster child of the village since nearly every one of my family had a fire affinity." He replayed the memory of Louise's spell in his mind.

"Strange...we really only use four of the five elements; fire, wind, water and earth. The fifth element; void, hasn't been seen for nearly six thousand years."

This time both of Itachi's eyebrows rose, It had been that long since someone had used void magic? That was before even the time of the Rikkudo Senin "No, what's strange is I didn't see any kind of element in your magic...it was simply...a void." Itachi sent a meaningful look Louise's way.

Which the young woman caught. Her eyes slowly widened, jaw dropping nearly to the table. "V-void?" She asked incredulously, standing up and slamming her hands onto the table. "THAT is my element?"

Itachi watched as the young girl started cussing in several different languages that he didn't have the first clue about even with the help of that translation spell. "So it seems." The Uchiha spoke evenly. "Why are you angry, if it had been one of my clan to unlock a mythical elemental affinity they would be celebrated." He cocked his head to the side in curiosity, since what he said was true, if one of his family...hell, any ninja in the village gained what could be considered as a bloodline, they would be considered a prodigy almost instantly and then sent off as breeding stock to try and make more of him, it was a sad way to handle something like that but the village had laws for things like a new bloodline or one that was going extinct. Rarely were they used and rarely would anyone subject themselves to something that demeaning...though a few had done it on occasion.

"Because you idiot!" Louise growled angrily,running her hands through her hair and tearing a few strands out. "Void magic is a lost art, there aren't any books or teachers. There's no way I can learn something like that without help!" She laid her head on the table and covered her face with her hands.

"And what exactly am I then?" Itachi spoke curiously.

Louise uncovered her eyes to stare at him.

The Uchiha smirked at the rather cute display, she reminded him of an angry puppy that would sulk for most of the day, but still had that look of innocence to its face. "I just told you I can see your magic as it's happening, and I am a skilled instructor when it comes to Ninjutsu. So what doesn't qualify me to help you discover how to use your magic?"

"Ughh, you just don't get it." Louise moaned. "You said it yourself that Magic and Ninjutsu are different, how the heck does that make you qualified to teach me anything?"

"Well." Itachi mused. "When Ninja were just starting to use elemental jutsu, they didn't use long complicated handsigns most do now." As if to punctuate that fact, Itachi flew through half a dozen handseals in the blink of an eye and held his pointer finger and thumb up to his lips. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique" a small flame flew from the Uchiha's mouth in the clan's signature jutsu. After the small flame died down, much to the shock of the young mage across from him Itachi continued his explanation. "Back then Ninja mostly used direct control of their elements. The Nidaime Hokage, one of our villages greatest ninja, was said to be able to use water jutsu in the middle of a desert." Itachi spoke with a reverence of the man since he was one of the teachers and mentors to Sarutobi, A man he both feared and revered, even in death. "His mastery of the water element was so great that he could conjure a water dragon which normally takes forty-four handseals with just one."

"So what does that have to do with anything?" Louise asked, a strange bit of curiosity in her voice. What was her familiar playing at?

A small hint of irritation crossed Itachi's features, the girl was too impatient...he'd have to fix that. "It means that you are going to have to learn through trial and error, practicing day in and day out on how to use your element, just like the ninja of old." He fixed her with a firm stare. "And I shall be helping you."

A long silence permeated the room as Louise sat there, quietly thinking over the ninja's words. She had always wanted to learn how to control her magic, even when she was younger she was seen as a hopeless cause...but now... She looked up into Itachi's eyes, seeing his calm and piercing gaze staring back at her...it filled her with a sense of longing? Anticipation? Whatever the feeling, this man had offered her the one thing no one in this entire school had ever tried to give her.

Help.

And that was something she could truly respect in the man, she felt it the moment she had first locked eyes with the man's Sharingan, those deep pools of crimson telling her in no uncertain terms that he could and would do exactly what he set out to do, no matter the cost. She hadn't known it before but the fear she had felt from seeing the man's eyes didn't have anything to do with fear of the man, but more a fear of how far he would go to complete his goals.

With those thoughts in mind and a fire in the her eyes she asked him "When do we begin?"

-ooo-

Ok that's it for the second chapter, hope you like what I'm doing so far and if I'm not...please don't inundate my inbox... _