In Konoha, at the same time, Natsuki was standing in front of a wall in the Uchiha compound that had large blue, yellow and red targets painted on it today there was a smaller bullseye set up below one of the permanent ones. With six kunai on a podium next to her, Mikoto said, "Okay, now I want you to do it the same way that I showed you."

"Sure thing," Natsuki said, a foxy grin on her face. She picked up two of them and threw the first at the permanent bullseye and the second at the temporary target just below it."

After the two kunai had hit their respective target, Mikoto said, "Well Itachi?"

"She did it perfectly," Itachi said as he propelled himself over the wall. Once he was standing still he deactivated his sharingan before continuing. "I couldn't even see a trace of the secondary kunai. What are you going to teach her next?"

"Ninjutsu!" Natsuki eagerly suggested, having bugged Mikoto for it ever since she had first started training her. Every time though she had been denied, denied or distracted.

Mikoto sighed and said, "Well, I suppose that it can't really hurt now that you're in your second year in the academy."

Natsuki exclaimed, "Yatta!" pumping her fist in the air. Then she exasperatedly said, "It's about bloody time!"

Mikoto smiled at her apprentice and said, "How is your Bunshin doing?"

"My…" Natsuki said, breaking into a sweat. "It's…great," she said in a high-pitched tone. Then she gulped.

Mikoto sighed and said, "Show me."

"Do I have to?" Natsuki asked, desperately looking for a way out.

"Yes," Mikoto pointedly said.

"Fine," Natsuki said, her shoulders slumping. She did a hand seal and said, "Bunshin no jutsu!" and a sickly looking clone appeared beside her.

A sweatdrop appeared on Mikoto's forehead and she said, "That's…good…" seeing another redhead descend over Natsuki's visage as the redhead looked at the malformed clone with disdain.

Natsuki said, "I don't even know why I need the stupid thing when I've got that anyway."

"I'm sorry," Mikoto blinked. "Got what exactly?"

"I'll show you," Natsuki said, grinning as she went through a long sequence of hand seals and announced, "Raiton: Bunshin no jutsu!"

Mikoto and Itachi could only stare like goldfish at the dual grinning redheads standing before them. They blinked a couple of times before rubbing their eyes and activating their sharingan to check if what they were seeing was really real. It was. Mikoto said, "Okay, how and when?"

"Well, after you denied me ninjutsu training for like the gazillionth time, I decided to try and spy on some of the official training grounds and I saw their weird guy with silver hair reading an orange book in a café that I see him at all the time. I read a page over his shoulder and told him that I'd denounce him as a pervert to the entire café if he didn't let me watch him train.

"Okay," Mikoto said as she thought, 'She must be talking about Kakashi then. It certainly explains the lightning style.'

Itachi, for his part, had a sweatdrop appear on the side of his head as he thought, 'Kakashi-senpai.'

Natsuki continued, "Anyway, three weeks before that we started on the Bunshin jutsu at the academy, so I combined the seals for the Bunshin jutsu with the ones that I saw the guy using for some weird crackling jutsu. I actually passed out the first time that I did it, though I can't imagine why. But since then I've decreased the number of seals that I need for it, so that doesn't happen anymore."

Mikoto rolled her eyes as she thought, 'Well, she's your daughter alright Kushina, even if she does have Minato's chakra.' She said, "So, you can use lightning style then?"

"Yeah, I guess," Natsuki shrugged.

Mikoto thought, 'If she can make her own unique Ration Jutsu without anyone's assistance while she's in the academy, even if it was more or less a fluke, it means that Natsuki-chan has a very strong lightning affinity.' "Okay, now transform into…oh…say…me," mikoto said, not finding anything else in the immediate area that would suit the purpose.

"Alright," Natsuki said as she and the clone brought their hands together in the transformation seal. They both said, "Henge!" at the same time. Where the two Natsuki's had been were two near perfect renditions of Mikoto.

Mikoto asked, "Uhh…Natsuki…why did you make my hair that colour?"

Natsuki cocked her head and said, "Why? Is there a problem with it?"

"My hair isn't lilac!"

Natsuki said, "yeah, but I thought that it would go better with your ruby-red eyes."

Mikoto glared at her eldest son, who she saw was trying to force the amusement from his eyes. She sighed and said, "The point of the transformation jutsu, Natsuki, is not to improve on an already complete image, but to copy it exactly. Doing so allows a shinobi to enter places where they would not normally be allowed."

"Ooh!" Natsuki said, clapping her right fist into her left hand. "Like one of the roller coasters at Funland?" Then she crossed her arms and looked to the right, muttering, "Stupid height limit."

"Like a…" Mikoto sighed as she covered her eyes. "No Natsuki. The height limits at Funland are put in place to protect the people riding them from falling out. The transformation jutsu doesn't actually transform you into the object that you choose. It merely layers an image around your body so that anybody that looks at you, sees that image instead of your normal body. The transformation jutsu was originally a technique used to infiltrate an enemy base or stronghold. Well, provided that there aren't any other ninja involved."

"If there are no other ninja? Why would that be a problem?"

"Do you remember when I was teaching you that sensory technique?"

"The Mind's Eye of the Karana?"

"Yes. You see, sensor's especially can sense when chakra is nearby. If that's the case, then wouldn't it make sense that it would be even easier for them to sense it when it's being used even closer?"

"I guess," Natsuki allowed.

Itachi said, "I came across a particularly skilled sensor a few months ago that could sense whatever jutsu I used to gain information vital to the village's security." Then he thought, 'Of course that sensor was Jiraiya-sama, so it didn't matter in the end.'

Mikoto said, "Alright, with that over with, can you please make my hair the right colour?"

"Sure," Natsuki said, "everyone's a critic aren't they?"

Once Natsuki had changed the hair on her, and her clone's, transformation to Mikoto's satisfaction she dispelled the transformation ninjutsu, and the clone, reverting to her normal form. Mikoto said, "Alright, can you please perform the Kawarimi jutsu?"

"No," Natsuki stated.

"No?"

"That's what I said."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Whenever I make the seals and supply the chakra, nothing happens. It's really rather annoying."

Mikoto sighed and thought, 'Well, that's just peachy. Natsuki's got a lot of chakra now, and thanks to the Kyūbi, she'll have even more by the time she graduates, so they'll probably end up putting her on a frontline team and have her tank the enemy. So, excluding the lightning clone jutsu that she created, the only jutsu that she can properly use is a recon one that she'll probably never use.' Mikoto sighed again. Eventually she looked at her son and said, "Itachi, you're better with working with Bunshin jutsu than I am, you take over Natsuki's training for now."

Itachi nodded and said, "Very well mother, but what about…"

Just then the two Uchiha and one Uzumaki heard a twig crack before they saw Mikoto's second son drop down from a tree and demand, "Why is Onii-chan going to be training her?! I…!"

Sasuke then ran off, a tear falling from his eye as he turned.

Mikoto sighed and said, "I'll go and take care of this."

"No," Itachi said, "it's probably better that I do it."

Natsuki said, "Just leave him be."

Mikoto looked shocked at Natsuki's cavalier attitude to her son's clear distress. She exclaimed, "Natsuki!" her angry tone not escaping its target.

"What?!" Natsuki said, "at the academy it's always…" She changed her voice to imitate Sasuke. '…the great and noble' this or…" she changed her voice again, "…'he's an Uchiha!'" and giggled in a high-pitched, clearly sarcastic, tone, imitating one of Sasuke's many fangirls.

"Really?" Mikoto said. "I didn't know." She then thought, 'Well, I guess that that explains Sasuke's recent attitude then.' She sighed and said, "It would appear that my 'talking to', just gained a few aspects."

About five minutes later, Mikoto found Sasuke furiously throwing kunai at some of the straw targets that they had at the Uchiha clan's alternate 'range', only about half of which hit their target due to Sasuke's blind rage. Mikoto sighed and said, "You know, getting angry over something isn't a bad thing…if you can control it."

Sasuke screamed and threw his last kunai at a target and it ripped straight through the target. He started to breathe heavily. He demanded, "Why?"

Mikoto sighed and sai,d "You heard what I said, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I heard everything."

"Then you should be aware of the answer to that."

"But why would you teach her how to make that…what was it? Lightning Clone?"

Mikoto sighed and said, "So you weren't there for that part." Mikoto scratched her head and said, "Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't. I can't even use lightning style jutsu. You could ask her to teach you how to use it, but from what I just heard, I doubt that that will happen soon, if ever."

"What?! Why not? I'm one of the last of the Uchiha! I deserve…"

Mikoto slapped her son, who clutched his cheek and said, "Kaa-san…" unable to say anything else, shocked as he had never been stuck by his mother before.

"That is what I'm talking about. Did you never once thing on why you, your brother and I are amongst the few remaining families of the Uchiha clan?"

Sasuke, not letting go of his cheek, shook his head as he said, "No. why should I? Everyone knows that they died, fighting for the sake of the village."

Mikoto sighed and said, "That's not right Sasuke. The Uchiha clan needed to be cleansed because they arrogantly tried to hold on to past glories. An attitude which I was just told that you share. That is also why Natsuki will likely never even consider teaching you the jutsu that she has spent the last year developing. That siad, there's nothing wrong with you attempting to create something similar." She thought, 'Hopefully doing so will give you a proper appreciation for the work that Natsuki and others have put into creating the various techniques taught in Konoha, and put to waste this stupid belief that everything should be just handed to you because of your birth.'

Sasuke thought over his mother's proposition for a moment before, reluctantly, saying, "Fine. How did she do it?"

Mikoto said, "You'll have to figure that out on your own," turning awqay from her son as she talked.

XXXXX

It took Sasuke an aggravating three weeks to figure out that he had no idea where to start. So, one day during the academy's lunch break he went up to Natsuki in a way that he thought was 'cool'. He said, "Dobe. I'll let you tell me how you made that clone jutsu."

Natsuki raised an eyebrow and said, "That's' not how you would normally beg for a favour from someone you know?"

"Okay, fine," Sasuke spat. "How did you make it?"

"Better…try again."

"Fine. Please tell me how you did it."

Natsuki sighed and said, "No no no. it should be, 'Please Natsuki-sama, can you please teach me your super-awesome jutsu?'"

Sasuke grunted and visibly wrestled within himself. In the end he said, "Please Natsuki…-san…can you please teach me your…super…-awesome…jutsu?"

Natsuki, already disinclined to teach Sasuke her jutsu, decided right then and there that there was no way in the world that she would ever teach him a thing. She said, "No."

"What?! Why the hell not Dobe?"

"My name, is Natsuki, you arrogant jerk. I'm not one of your simpering fangirls. Mikoto-sense told me what she had said to you, so why would I try and circumvent what she wanted? Make your own dam n jutsu." Natsuki then grinned to add salt to the wound before walking off to finish her lunch in peace.