AoD: Hey! Thanks for the reviews! And… I must say… That I am terribly sorry that it has taken me so long to update. School is crap. As are homework assignments, chores, grades, and groundedness… And it doesn't help that I've been one depressed little neko girl… And it REALLY doesn't help that my friends are of no assistance to me, especially when it comes to emotional problems… I swear that they don't have hearts…

AoD: I don't really have anything else to say so…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Chapter 3

"Kakashi-sensei, how was Emiko-chan able to activate her Sharingan?" Sasuke asked, "I am a year older than her, yet she can already activate the Sharingan while I have just accomplished that very feat myself! How was she able to stimulate it so soon?"

It was a cold Autumn morning; colder than it had ever been during that time of year. Sasuke and Kakashi were sitting in a secluded area near the riverbank where Sasuke had just finished telling his sensei about everything that had occurred the previous night. It took Kakashi quite some time to think of an answer to the young Uchiha's question.

"Sasuke, you have to understand that even though Emiko is younger than you, she is still more skilled than you, therefore she will most likely develop abilities faster than you," Kakashi stated, trying to calm his student, "Now, as you may know, the Sharingan usually activates when its user feels a large amount of emotion. In your sister's case, it was through her anger. Emiko knew that most of her clan had been murdered, but because she did not see it happen, she, therefore, did not know who had committed that terrible crime. Emiko has apparently been bottling up her sadness and anger inside herself, so when she found out that Itachi, her very own brother whom she loved and looked up to, was the one who killed the rest of the Uchiha clan, she couldn't contain her feelings any longer. Her new hatred for Itachi sent her over the edge. Emiko's anger was finally released, and in the process, her Sharingan was stimulated. It may not be complete yet, but it was activated none the less."

"I see," Sasuke said shortly. Minutes passed as the two sat in silence. Then Sasuke spoke up once more. "So, what do we do now, Kakashi-sensei?"

"You will go train with Naruto, Sakura, and Emiko," Kakashi stated.

"And you will…?"

"I will observe how much each of you has progressed."

"In other words… You'll be reading your little R-rated book… Got it," Sasuke retorted.

"Heh… Surprisingly, I won't this time. I will be watching every single move the four of you make, keeping mental notes… And apparently, I'm talking to myself…"

It wasn't until Kakashi looked up that he realized Sasuke had already left, leaving him talking to a squirrel.

As the day went on, the temperature skyrocketed. It was a little past noon, the hottest time of the day. The sun was high and there were few clouds to protect the training grounds from its burning gaze.

The young, female Uchiha stood perfectly still, her eyes closed, waiting. Just one disturbed branch, the rustling of a single leaf. Any small noise or movement would give away their positions. They knew that. She knew that. If they were on a mission, any mistakes, even the minutest error, would mean their death. Although it was only practice, the group chose to treat it as if it was a mission… That is… After Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura underestimated Emiko, resulting in their humiliating defeat. The team had been practicing their camouflage techniques all morning. One of the Genin would stand in the center of the clearing while the other three hid amongst the trees and shrubbery. It was the job of the lone ninja to find the others. Though, it wasn't as easy as it sounded, considering that he or she could not move from their spot in the center of the clearing and no special Jutsu could be used. In order to end that turn, the single person had to listen for the other three. When the searcher finds them, he or she would throw a kunai at them and have it land a few inches away from the person, either to the left, right, above, or below them, as to not hurt them.

'Okay… Last time, they underestimated me… Or just went easy on me… Either way, they failed miserably…' Emiko thought as her eyes still closed, listening carefully to her surroundings, 'Hopefully, this time they've increased their camouflage ten-fold.'

Five minutes passed. Fifteen. Thirty. Soon came the hour and still did the kunoichi stand there. This was another purpose for this training. Patience. This was a virtue that the team, more specifically, Naruto, needed to learn. Emiko had not moved an inch since the beginning of the training session, that is, until two o'clock rolled by. The young Uchiha's eyes snapped open and her hand dove into her weapon's pouch on her hip. In a split second, Emiko removed three kunai from the pouch and threw one of them to her right, hitting in the center of the lower section of a tree. She heard a yelp, and smirked.

"Naruto, you disappoint me," she stated loud enough for her teammates, as well as Kakashi to hear, "You let yourself slip after only an hour. But it was better than last time. I was actually beginning to think this would be a challenge."

Emiko then looked over at the tree that the kunai had it. She bit her lower lip to hold back her laughter. The site was worth a chuckle, but what Emiko thought might be going through Naruto's head at the moment was unbearably funny. Naruto, eyes wide and jaw shaking, was clinging for dear life to a low branch of the tree, his legs spread into almost a complete split. The kunai that Emiko had thrown could be seen in the exact spot where Naruto's groin would have been if he had remained standing on the ground. A chuckle slipped from Emiko's mouth as she opened it to speak once again.

"Oh, and… Nice reflexes," she said, "Consider yourself lucky, Naruto. Just think… If you hadn't moved at that moment, you would have had to say goodbye to your friend." Naruto was still in too much shock to speak. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? I find it quite funny, actually."

Naruto finally snapped himself back to his senses, dropped from the branch, and started walking over to Kakashi, whom, like Sasuke had predicted earlier that day, was reading "Ichi Ichi Paradise".

"Yeah, yeah. Funny. Ha ha," Naruto grumbled, "Try saying that after you almost get your pride and joy cut off!"

Emiko giggled for a second, then went back to listening for the other two. She didn't have to wait long, however, because Sasuke, after seeing this, shifted uncomfortably position. This small movement told Emiko exactly where her brother was. Soon after throwing another kunai, Sasuke jumped down from the top of a tree in front of her and walked over to his sister.

"That was just plain wrong, Emiko, and you know it."

"Yeah, I know. And I also knew that Naruto would have been able to dodge that kunai and that the thought of me cutting off your buddies would effect the two of you, therefore, causing you to shift and giving me the chance to- Hold on a second, okay, Niisan?"

In the middle of her sentence, Emiko had heard a rustle of leaves. Turning away from her brother, she threw her third kunai at a tree to her left. There was a tiny, high-pitched yelp and a moment later, Sakura stepped into the clearing.

"You let their 'capture' get to you. You can't let yourself become stressed whenever you're the only one remaining. You have to be strong and keep a level head. If you don't, you will cause your own demise."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Emiko," Kakashi stated as he and Naruto walked up to the three, "Though I must admit that I agree with Sasuke. That one tactic was unneeded. And if I remember correctly, we agreed not to aim directly at the others."

"I know, Kakashi-sensei, and I'm sorry. But I just wanted to prove a point."

"And what would that point be?"

A wicked smirk had seemed to glue itself to Emiko's face ever since she located Naruto, and it refused to go away. By all means, the guys found it downright scary.

"If you aim just right, you can cause all of the male shinobi in the area to give away their locations. It's an undeniable fact." The three male ninja shuddered at the thought, causing Emiko to laugh and even make a giggle slip from Sakura. "My point, exactly. But, I also had two more points to prove. Naruto, you can't let boredom get a hold of you. That is the first step to the team's failure. Not only that, but when bored, you tend to become distracted and not pay attention to your movements or those of others. Sakura, you tensed up as soon as you realized that you were the only one left. That is possibly the worst thing to do. Not only does it lower your reaction timing, but it also ruins your judgment as well as your ability to fight to your fullest. You need to learn to relax. Whenever that sort of thing happens, you need to pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and repeat to yourself, mentally, I might add, what you need to do next. Otherwise, you'll let your team down, as well as yourself."

"Very well said, Emiko. I am quite amazed by your observations as well as knowledge of the human psyche," Kakashi said, putting a hand on his student's shoulder, "I believe that you could become an outstanding team leader. Maybe even a Tokubetsu Jounin."

"Really!" This was the first time someone had ever given Emiko such a spectacular compliment. She was even more amazed by the fact that it came from her new sensei, whom had only known her for three days by then.

"If you pass the exams, then yes, really."

"Wow! That's great, Emiko!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Thanks, Naruto-kun," Emiko managed to say after her cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

"Oh, Emiko," Naruto said in realization, "Your face. It's starting to turn red. Is it sunburn? Maybe you should get out of the sun for a little bit."

"O-oh. Yeah. Okay. I'll go do that."

Emiko quickly walked over to a tree and sat underneath it before the others could notice her now dark crimson face.

"Niisan, could you come over here for a minute?"

It was almost five o'clock when Team Seven's training sessions ended. Kakashi was observing the young Genin, only staying so that they could ask him for assistance with their training if they needed it. Naruto and Sakura were both exhausted and had collapsed under a tree. Emiko was standing under a tree across the clearing from them while Sasuke was still training his ass off in the center of the clearing. Emiko grew to be quite annoyed when her brother ignored her.

"Come on, Sasuke! If you keep training like this, you're going to give yourself a stroke! And let me tell you this: If you die before you're fifteen because you trained yourself right into a stroke, then you're going to have a suicidal sister!"

After hearing this, Sasuke sighed and reluctantly walked over to Emiko.

'Cool, it worked!' Emiko thought, 'Though, I wasn't being entirely serious… Wait… Yes I was.'

"What do you want?" Sasuke grumbled.

"A fond 'hello' to you, too, brother…" Emiko drawled sarcastically.

"Just tell me what you wanted and let me get back to my training."

'I'm beginning to understand why Naruto always gets annoyed with him…'

"I was just wondering… Remember last night, when you told me the truth about… About our family's murder?"

"I'd rather not remember, but yeah," Sasuke stated, "What about it?

"Well, I haven't been able to activate my Sharingan at all afterwards. Why?"

Sasuke let out a large sigh. He knew this question was coming. He just hoped that he would be able to tell his sister what she wanted to hear. The male Uchiha sat down against the trunk of a nearby tree and motioned for Emiko to join him.

"Oddly enough, I had asked Kakashi-sensei almost the exact same thing this morning."

"Really? What did he say?"

"He said that the reason your Sharingan was activated was because of your emotions, in last night's case, your anger."

"So," Emiko paused for a moment. "The only reason it activated was because I was angry?"

"Yes… And no."

Emiko threw her brother a puzzled look.

"It's true, that your Sharingan was stimulated because of your anger. But it also happened because of the immense amount of anger and hatred that you felt." Another quizzical expression appeared on his sister's face. "Emiko, the Sharingan responds to all strong emotions, not just anger. It can be activated through fear, anger, hatred, and even happiness."

"So basically… The Sharingan reacts to whatever I feel?"

"That's right. But, remember that it also uses up a large amount of chakra. So leave the Sharingan as a last resort until your body becomes used to the drain of chakra."

"Okay. I think I understand now, Niisan," Emiko said as she stood up and stretched out her arms, "Well, I think I'm going to go train for a little longer. I'll meet up with you later, okay, Sasuke?"

"Sure, but remember Emiko, don't train too hard. Because if you die, you're going to have a suicidal brother." A smirk slid onto Sasuke's face as he watched his younger sister walk to a different section of the clearing.

Emiko did not turn around at the comment, but instead waved off the statement and continued walking.

"Very funny, Niisan. When I'm done training, remind me to fake a laugh."

After an extra half hour of training, Emiko dropped to her knees, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. She clenched her fist and, in frustration, punched the ground in front of her.

"Damn it!" she shouted, "Why can't I do it!"

"Why? Well, that's easy. You're not using enough of your emotions."

Emiko jumped with a start and quickly stumbled to her feet to face the owner of the voice. She sighed in relief when she found herself looking at a familiar face.

"Oh, Niisan. I didn't hear you come over."

"Is it safe to assume that you're trying to re-activate your Sharingan?" Sasuke asked as he walked closer to Emiko.

"Yeah… Do you think you could help me?"

"I don't see why not…" Sasuke was now but a few feet away from her sister. "Now, close your eyes and release every single thought from your head." Emiko immediately complied. "Good. Now, I want you remember last night. Think about what I had told you about our family, about Itachi. Remember the anger you felt towards him. Remember your hatred." Sasuke could see his sister's fists tighten. "Think of how our so-called brother ruthlessly murdered our family. Think of how you felt when you believed all of your relatives to be dead, including me. Think of all the people Itachi has hurt and even killed in this world. Think of how he betrayed all who trusted him. Okaasan… Otousan… Us… Feel your hatred towards him flow through your body and let it take form in your chakra."

'Sasuke trusted him… I trusted him… He turned against us. He tried to kill us… He murdered the rest of our clan… For this, I cannot forgive him… I'll become strong… I'll make him wish he had never betrayed us!'

Sasuke could feel the air around Emiko becoming warmer as his sister's chakra grew by the second. He could feel Emiko's hatred for Itachi flowing through her chakra, just as he had instructed. Her power was overwhelming. Sasuke was now beginning to regret ever having informed Emiko of Itachi's crime, but he knew that it had to be done.

Across the clearing, the rest of the team could also feel the chakra coming from their new comrade.

"That chakra… It's so strong… Could it be…" Kakashi muttered as he quickly looked around, "No… It can't be Naruto… He's standing right over there. Can that really be-"

"Woah! Where is that chakra coming from?" Naruto shouted.

"I-I think it's coming from… From Emiko!" Sakura exclaimed in both surprise and fear, "But how?"

The three looked over at the Uchiha siblings and Kakashi immediately realized what was going on. He smirked under his mask and began to speak.

"Sasuke is teaching Emiko how to activate her Sharingan through her emotions," he stated, "But..." His smirk vanished. "Her power is growing at an alarmingly fast pace. If it doesn't stop soon, it will become to much for Emiko to handle and she will get out of control."

Naruto and Sakura stared at Kakashi for a moment, and then returned their wide-eyed gaze to the two Uchiha, more specifically, Emiko.

"Emiko! You've done it! You activated your Sharingan!" Sasuke said, his excitement showing clearly in his voice. When Emiko didn't respond, Sasuke paused. "Emiko?" Sasuke looked at his younger sister and saw tears flowing down her cheeks. "Emiko? Are you okay?" He looked deeper into Emiko's eyes and saw that her tears were not of joy or sorrow, but of pure anger. He could hear his sister muttering and walked closer to hear.

"I… I'm going to kill that bastard… I don't care if I die in the process…" Emiko's voice grew much louder with every word. "I'm going to kill Itachi if it's the last thing I do!"

"Emiko… Emiko, relax. We will find him. He will pay for what he's done. But you can't-"

"Say out of this, Sasuke!" Emiko snapped, "I don't need your help! I will find Itachi! I will fight Itachi! And I will kill Itachi! I'll do it on my own if I have to! So stay out of my way if you don't want to suffer the same fate!"

With that, Emiko sprinted into the forest as fast as she could, heading for the main part of the village... And the Main Gate.

"Sasuke, what happened?" Kakashi questioned as he, Sakura, and Naruto ran over to the young Uchiha. He knew that whatever Emiko was running off to do couldn't be anything good.

"I'll explain on the way, Kakashi-sensei. Right now, we have to get over to the Main Gate and cut off Emiko before she leaves the village… And becomes a Missing-nin…"

Okaasan - Mother
Otousan - Father
Niisan - Elder Brother

AoD: Well, that's it, everyone! I hope you enjoyed reading this installment as much as I enjoyed writing it! See you back here for Chapter 4!