Chizo Shinki and Fugaku Uchiha sat kneeling on the floor across from each other. Light found it's way through the fabric on the doors and illuminated Chizo's back. Both men had a tight expression on their faces.

"I've told you before, there's nothing you can say or do that will convince me." Fugaku said. Chizo tightened his fist on his leg.

"You feel repressed, I know that. The Leaf Village wants to make amends. No one wants a war." He said patiently.

"I do. I want them all to pay for what they've done to our clan. I want the streets to run red with their blood. And you've brought your family into this war, such a horrible father." Fugaku smirked. "I'll make sure to slit your daughter's throat personally." He dropped the smirk and his eyes turned harsh and serious.

Chizo grit his teeth. "My family has nothing to do with your anger. I am merely trying to right the wrongs done to you."

Fugaku crossed his arms and lowered his head. "And you can't. The Hokage is scared of this rebellion because he knows we actually stand the chance. He wouldn't bother getting a mediator all the way from the Peach Village if he knew the Leaf Village's ninjas could easily take us down. Which means he's scared." He looked up at Chizo. "And I'm not giving up this close to getting vengeance."

A couple of beats passed. Chizo absorbed Fugaku's words and Fugaku studied Chizo's reaction.

"Your rebellion would considerably weaken the Leaf Village. Other countries will take this opportunity to attack and it could potentially lead to the Fourth Shinobi World War. Is this really worth the deaths of hundreds of people?" Chizo asked Fugaku. Chizo's stern face had a crack running through the center of it.

Fugaku didn't answer. He closed his eyes and they both sat in silence. "So you're saying I should let my clan continue to be shoved to the corner of the Leaf Village and be looked down on just so I don't stir a great war?"

"You won't be confined to this corner anymore. The Hokage will make sure that the Uchiha clan is integrated throughout the village again." Chizo swept his hand to the right.

"He says that we will, but we both know that won't happen. He'll come up with some excuse or the Council Elders will prevent him from doing it and we'll be in the same place we've been in for years." Fugaku shook his head. "No, there is no compromise here. There's no way to stop us." He looked at Chizo sharply. Chizo narrowed his eyes.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to convince you not to do this?" Chizo asked.

Fugaku uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his thighs, leaning forward. "No."

Without another word, Chizo stood up and left the Uchiha house.


"You tried your hardest. I can't be angry at you for that. Fugaku has his mind set and I doubt anyone could deter him from this path." The Hokage said. Chizo straightened up from his bow.

"He threatened my family." He narrowed his eyes. "He threatened my daughter. I want absolute assurance that your other plan will work. I don't want him to get his hands on my daughter."

"Oh, believe me, Chizo," The Hokage put his fingertips together and a smile spread across his face. "I have a flawless plan B."


Kyoko jumped to avoid a kunai thrown at her and threw one of her own. The kunai hit Itachi, who was standing twenty feet away, and he disappeared with a poof. Kyoko's eyes widened. She quickly threw out chakra to feel around for his. By the time she found him and looked up, he was already too close for her to avoid. He landed right on her and they both fell to the forest floor. When the dust settled, Kyoko was staring up at Itachi, who had one hand holding her arms down and another holding a kunai at her throat.

"No fair. You move too fast." Kyoko said with a cough and a blush. She looked away from him and towards the forest canopy.

Itachi released her arms and put his kunai back in his pouch. He stood up and offered her his hand. "You should have sensed that it was a clone. There's significantly less chakra than there is if it was actually me."

She sat up and took his hand. He helped her lift herself until she was standing. Once up, she brushed dirt off her clothes. "It's hard to reach out and feel your chakra all of the time. It takes a lot out of me."

"Well with enough training, it should come naturally." He said. A moment of silence passed between the two as a wind came through the trees, blowing leaves and their hair as it went. "Enough rest. Let's go again."

With a smirk on his face, Itachi disappeared. Kyoko gasped and quickly sent her chakra out. She managed to block in time with Itachi's kick from the right. She barely had time to duck as another Itachi came at her from the left. His kunai clipped the ends of her hair. With two Itachi's coming at her at once and, feeling a third coming at her back, Kyoko focused her chakra and sent it out in a wave. The wave pushed back the two Itachi's and stopped the one in the back. The Itachi's in front of her vanished in a puff of smoke and she spun around to deal with the real Itachi.

"Better." He said with a smirk. He held out a kunai in front of him.

"I know." She cocked an eyebrow and reached for a kunai of her own.


An hour later, both ninjas laid panting on the grass, staring up at the sky. They laid with their heads next to each other and their bodies stretching out in opposite directions. The sun had just started to set and the blue sky was fringed with orange. A breeze swept by, slightly cooling their hot bodies.

"The sky's so beautiful like this. I think sunset is my favorite time." Kyoko says, pointing to the fading sky. Itachi nodded wordlessly next to her.

"I haven't felt this relaxed in a long time." He said. He glanced over at Kyoko as she gazed at the sky, his eyes half-closed.

"Good. That's my job." She turned her head and smiled at him. He returned it with a relaxed half-smile.

Kyoko turned her attention back to the increasingly orange sky, watching a bird fly overhead. Itachi kept his gaze on her, thinking to himself. He turned his body to his side and propped his head up with his hand. Kyoko noticed his shift and looked back at him. Under his eyes, she blushed slightly.

"What?" She asked.

"One day, you're going to be a great ninja. You're already better than most people your age. If you keep training, one day you might even give me a hard time in a fight." He said, with a wink.

Her eye twitched. "I give you a hard time now."

He snorted. "Only because I'm going easy on you."

"Hey! Next time don't go so easy on me and we'll see how hard it is for you to hold me off!" She yelled back.

"I'm interested to see how you do." He said, amused.

They lapsed into silence. Itachi's eyes softened the longer they stared at Kyoko. Kyoko's face slowly shifted from angry to curious to surprise. Each developed a pink tint to their cheeks. Kyoko noticed their closeness. Itachi bit his lip slightly. He started to lean down when Kyoko shot up. She stood up and coughed, hiding her red face.

"We should probably head home." She turned back to Itachi, scratching the back of her head nervously. His face was turned towards the grass and hidden. "It's getting late." She pointed weakly at the sky, which was nearly devoid of blue.

"Yeah. Let's head home." He said, coughing slightly.

When he lifted his head, his face was neutral. Kyoko bit her lip and exhaled. The two of them walked out of the forest with a gap of two feet between them. Neither of them spoke all the way home.


Kyoko stepped through her front door and took her shoes off without a sound. The sun had set behind her during her walk home. She put her shoes next to the rest of her family's and walked to her room. Her hands gripped at her arms and her mind tried to process what had almost happened in the forest. She bit her lip again and berated herself for not letting it happen while another part of her mind tried to tell her she shouldn't want that from her trainer, while another part told her that HE had been the one to lean in and not her, which meant he wanted it just as much as she did. But she shouldn't want it at all, another part screamed at her. Her head hurt and she just wanted to sleep. She shuffled past her father's study, where Chizo Shinki was having a headache of his own of a more sinister cause. Chizo took a swig from the bottle in his hands as Kyoko fell into bed. Neither knew what to do next.