"Sayuri, I brought you a lunch."

I turned away from the dummy I was practicing on to see Sasuke standing there with a lunch in his hands and Itachi by his side.

"You need to relax a little bit Sayuri." Since the funeral half a year ago, I've been training as much as I could to make my body stronger. The only times I'd take a break were when either of the Uchiha brothers came to distract me. Itachi always told me to relax a little every time he saw me.

He trained quite a bit as well, but he wasn't taking it to the extreme as I was.

I responded as I always did. "I will finally relax once I'm happy with my strength." It was true too. I wouldn't push my body to near exhaustion once I was happy with my strength. I'd continue to train and become stronger though.

"How long will that take?" Sasuke, ever the innocent and curious one, asked.

"Only a few years," I told him with a small smile, kissing his forehead when he was close enough to give me my lunch. "By the time you become a Genin I think. Thank you for bringing my lunch."

"No problem. You left it on the table again."

After my parents' deaths, Itachi asked his parents for permission to allow me to live with them. It took a little persuasion for his father to come around, as I'm not an Uchiha, but his mother allowed me in with open arms. I'm sure it was a mix between her, Sasuke's puppy eyes, and Itachi's barely there puppy eyes, that convinced his father to allow me to stay there.

More often than not I forgot my lunch at their house-I didn't know if I could honestly call it my home even though I felt more comfortable there than in my own house-and either Itachi or both boys would bring it to me.

"I'm sorry about that. Are you going to eat with me again?"

He shook his head. "I ate before beginning to work on my aim. Itachi said he would help me since you two don't have a mission right now. When are you going to teach me how to do things without my sight?"

I stared at the younger boy before tilting my head. "You won't need me to begin working on it. Itachi can join you as well since he's also been putting off on learning it. Just begin by simply wearing a blindfold in a place you're comfortable in, such as your own home. Start at small intervals if you'd like, but the longer you go the better it is to be honest. I'd do it when my parents were away on missions so sometimes I'd wear it for hours on end."

"Itachi can't do things in the dark?"

I shook my head before motioning for both boys to sit on the ground with me. "Itachi relies quite a bit on his Sharingan, more than he notices and I care for. Once you get your Sharingan, I don't want you to solely rely on it. You never know when you may need to be able to get around and your Sharingan won't work. You'd be in the dark and at a loss for what to do." I leaned forward, closer to Sasuke, and he did the same, knowing I was going to tell him another secret about his brother. "I got Itachi to go around in the dark one time without his Sharingan before and he was as average as any other ninja in it. He used his other senses, but wasn't as good as people would think."

"Really?"

Itachi sighed, but didn't say anything; he couldn't, to be completely honest. He was worse than I was at getting around without sight. As I told Sasuke, Itachi relied on his Sharingan. When we were on a mission and we had almost zero visibility, I was normally tasked with whatever needed to be done. Itachi was more of backup on those missions, mainly because I didn't want him using his Sharingan every hour of the day.

He wasn't horrible without his Sharingan, and I'm sure most people wouldn't even notice the difference if he wasn't using it, but since I was always by his side and saw more than what others saw, I could see that small difference. I want that small difference to become even smaller though, to where he's as perfect without it as he is with it.

I just want my precious people to be safe by being prepared for anything. This way I won't lose them.

"Yeah. It's the one thing I can do better than him."

"She's also good at infiltrating with crossdressing instead of a transformation."

I turned to glare at Itachi, who was smirking at me. "That was one time and only because they wouldn't allow women into that village. We're also still young and soon I'll have to do transformations since I won't be able to pass as a boy forever."

"It was still entertaining."

"Are there a lot of missions that you have to pose as the opposite gender?" Sasuke asked both of us.

I thought it over for a moment as Itachi answered for me. "More often than not, people will choose missions based on details such as those. There are times when that information isn't given or other reasons that ninjas will sometimes have to assume the identity of the other gender. As Sayuri mentioned, it's easier to do such things without transformations while we're still young. As we get older, it becomes harder to do such a thing without a transformation."

"Transformations can occasionally be picked up by other ninjas," I informed Sasuke. "That's why normally ninjas will try to stick with something of their gender, so they don't risk such things."

"Did you have to worry on that mission about being caught?"

I shook my head, before taking the last bite of my meal. "It was a low level mission and there weren't trackers...Which is fairly silly because they were so adamant about no women."

"Trackers? Do boys and girls smell different?" Sasuke sniffed at his sleeve and I smiled at his innocence.

"They do indeed, though its not noticable to anyone unless they have a sensitive nose. And honestly its hardly noticable to even them sometimes."

"So how can they tell?"

"You'll learn once you're much older."

Sasuke huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm already six. I can handle it."

How does one explain womenly issues to a six year old boy? How does one also explain that that specific subject is covered thoroughly in kunoichi classes and that there is a way to stop the issues from happening so females wouldn't be caught during missions by the scent of blood?

"You really should wait until you're older," Itachi stated, his facing paling just the slightest.

Males apparently were sensitive to the subject. Weird how such a bloody thing disturbs them while it doesn't bother females.

When I first told Itachi about the kunoichi classes one day, he paled quickly.

His mother had also been in the room, giving us some snacks and had giggled at the subject before informing me about how men weren't fond of hearing such things. She had told me how Itachi's father was never fond of hearing about that subject either.

Occasionally I brought up the subject when it was just Itachi and I to see if he still reacted to the subject. After me doing it so often, it isn't as bad, but he still pales just the slightest.

Soon, he wouldn't react, so it was best to get some fun out of it while I could.

"Trust us on this Sasuke." I gestured toward Itachi. "Even Itachi wishes he hadn't been told, so believe me when we tell you that you really should wait until you're older." Most males normally don't actually learn of such issues until they begin dating, which meant they didn't find out until the ages of fourteen or fifteen.

He groaned and huffed, but didn't continue on.

Since he wasn't saying much, Itachi and I had a nice conversation of our own about how my medical studies were going.

After becoming Anbu, I also picked up on studing medical jutsu. Being an Anbu had a much higher risk of injury, so it honestly wouldn't hurt to have such knowledge. I also wanted to be able to help my precious people if anything were to happen.

It never hurt to be prepared.

Our little break continued on for around an hour before Sasuke asked for Itachi to begin training him again and the two left me on my own once more. That meant that once again, I was back to training until either of the boys decided to bring me back.

Maybe that sentence should be corrected.

I was going to be training until they decided it was time for me to take a break for the night.

Normally it was around midnight before I was brought back. Tonight was slightly different though. Itachi came only a little after sunset for me to at least stop training. He didn't bother to try to drag me back to his home. In fact, he sat near a tree and actually waited for me to stop on my own.

"What's wrong Itachi?" I finally asked after five minutes of him just sitting there.

Itachi sighed and patted the ground next to him, obviously wanting me to sit down beside him.

"Father's been pushing me harder once more," he told me once I was sitting beside him.

That's why he didn't want to bring me back home immediately.

Once you're inside the Uchiha compound, its very easy to be overheard, especially if you're the next clan leader or someone close to him. That meant that any time Itachi or I wanted to speak of the clan, we'd go to either the lake or the areas either of us trained in outside of the compound. We always picked training grounds that people frequented less, so we weren't as worried.

"What are you going to do?"

"Continue on as I am at the moment. There's no rush for a new clan head."

"Agreed. You're only eleven at the moment. You have quite a bit of time before you'll have to take over from your father."

"I wish he would push Sasuke a little more though."

And there is the reason why Itachi really wanted to talk. Even though he disliked being pushed so hard, he disliked the fact that he got all of their father's attention more. Sasuke was his younger brother, who he cared for very much, and he wanted him happy. Sasuke wasn't happy when their father didn't show any particular interest in what he was doing.

"How about you slack off?" I tilted my head a little. "If your father thinks you're not worthy enough, he'll give his attention to Sasuke."

Itachi sighed. "Then our father would push him too hard, as he pushes me."

"There's no easy way out, is there?"

Itachi shook his head. "None I can see at the moment. I'll think it over some more though. There has to be a way to get a desirable outcome."

"It'll probably be undesirable in the beginning you know."

"I know."

I nodded to myself before standing and offering my hand to Itachi. "Let's go walk before heading back. Maybe you can relax a little bit."

"Sasuke is expecting us back soon. He wants you to supervise our blindfold training."

I smiled at that. "I see. Let's not keep him waiting then."

We didn't rush back to the Uchiha compound, but at the same time we weren't taking detours. It was just a nice, calm pace. As it wasn't particularly late, Sasuke would still be awake by the time we returned, therefore there was no hurry.

"So have you begun working on any of those jutsu I showed you?"

Itachi shook his head. "I've been working on my aim more and have been attempting the blindfold along with Sasuke." He sighed. "We wait until we know Father's out for a little while and Mother laughs at us."

That caused me to laugh a little. "Does she?"

"She was attempting to make it harder on us since we were in a safe environment and she knew we wouldn't harm ourselves too much." The ever so slightly there frown was replaced with a gentle smile. "Sasuke enjoys it though, besides the bruises he gets."

"Of course he is." I gently nudged his shoulder with my own. "He and his brother are learning something together. In fact, you two should try it while I'm around tonight. I want to see your progress and give pointers."

"Alright."

They needed the pointers...

Quite a bit.

Beside me Itachi's mother, Mikoto Uchiha, was giggling. Her husband, Fugaku, was away at the moment and I'm sure she knew that the two only ever did this while he was away.

"You really do enjoy making things more difficult," I pointed out, watching as Itachi stumbled over a cup on the floor.

"If they can notice the things I put out, they'll be able to notice anything."

"That's one way of thinking...That's also a good way for Sasuke to fall on his face." I motioned toward said Uchiha on the floor. "Are you alright Sasuke?"

"I'm fine." He was rubbing his red face, probably trying to stop the sting.

"Come here, blindfold still on." He did as asked, being careful and taking small steps so he wouldn't fall over something else his mother may have put out for him to stumble over. "Hold still."

I allowed the healing chakra to flow from my hands and into the redness of Sasuke's face.

I didn't know much about medical jutsu, just simple things really, but I was learning more. It's only been a week since I decided to add medical jutsu to my arsenal of ways to keep my precious ones safe.

"Do you feel a little bit better?" I kept Sasuke's face in my hands, checking to see if there were any more rub burns.

"Yeah, thanks Sayuri!"

"Not a problem at all. Stop falling on your face though and that'd be even better. Or do as your brother and hit your face into a wall."

I couldn't help the small laugh as I saw it happen and even Mikoto laughed at her eldest son.

"This isn't as easy as it looks," Itachi admitted.

"Its not so hard once you get the hang of it. In fact, it helps if you use your other senses. I know you rely on your eyesight Itachi, so all of your training went into that over your other senses. Use your sense of smell, hearing, and even touch things. Also use your sensory chakra to help. Sasuke, I'll teach you to work with your sensory chakra later, but for now hone your other senses. Your mother is adding slight things that won't make noise or let off any scents while you're in a familiar environment. Since you know this, while you're wandering your home during the day, allow your other senses to get the feel of your surroundings." I glanced over at Mikoto. "Did you begin doing it after they began getting the hang of things?" When she nodded, I did the same in return. "She's helping you out...while also getting some entertainment out of it. To be honest, if I knew it was this entertaining, I would've stopped training a little sooner so I could see this."

"I can let you know when they decide to do this," Mikoto said with a giggle. "It's nice to have someone around to enjoy this with."

I nodded before turning my attention toward the front door and making my way out of the room. A minute after doing such a thing, the front door opened and I bowed slightly. "Welcome home."

"Thank you," Fugaku stated. "You're here early. Normally you don't come back until early morning."

"I finished up early to relax. I was told this morning that I was possibly going to be assigned a mission tomorrow and would need to be in peak condition."

"Is Itachi also going?" He took off his shoes and followed me to the living room, where both Uchiha boys were sitting and chatting quietly, blindfolds and proof of what they had been doing nowhere in sight. Their mother was sitting and reading a book, also acting as though she hadn't been watching her two sons stumble around the room.

"Yes sir. It'll only be the two of us."

"Any details not classified?"

"Undercover." As Fugaku was part of the police force, head of the force at that, he was allowed a few more details than other people. "It'll be infiltration."

"Location?"

"Classified to you as well sir." I sat between the Uchiha siblings, facing the sofa Fugaku sat on beside his wife. "I apologize for that."

He shook his head. "I understand. You two will do well tomorrow."

Sometimes I wondered if Fugaku knew that his two sons did blindfold training while he was away. It wasn't as though there was evidence around the room and any bruises either boy may have gotten were hidden, but he was a man of details.

"Thank you. I expect the mission to be fairly simple for Itachi and I, so we should return within a few days if things go as planned."

I'm sure everyone in Itachi's home noticed how I spoke with Fugaku. I wasn't one to show emotions besides to Sasuke and Itachi, but I did show some to Mikoto as she treated me as one of her own. She took care of any wounds I didn't notice and she made sweets to give to Sasuke or Itachi to bring to me. She acted as more of a mother than my own. Fugaku was distant from everyone though, his sons included. He's also of a higher rank, so I treated him with respect and gave the same emotions he sent toward me.

Needless to say that neither of us ever betrayed our feelings on our faces while in each other's presence.