Author's Notes:

Pswee. 490 Reviews. Give me a moment to catch my breath from being suffocated by all this love.

Did I mention how much I love this chapter? I hope it will be at least half as fun for you to read as it is for me to write. By the way, I noticed a lot of new reviewers. [ cackles ] Jumping into the golden cycle, aren't you?

Fair's fair. Here's my end of the deal. Sorry for the minor delay.

It's a long ride, so buckle your seatbelts!

Merry Christmas! I love you all!

View in 3/4 format please.

Disclaimer: The usual.

Dedication: For such an awesome chapter, I can only dedicate to all my reviewers.

As Far As Innocence Goes

Chapter 13

While the brats may have been preoccupied with their own issues the Jounin certainly weren't.

Itachi did not miss Hinata's sigh of relief or the way Shino's fingers twitched eagerly. Kiba and Akamaru were already baring fang and claw but it was all done so in a playful manner. The whole scene reeked of teenage aggression—and teenage innocence. When Itachi had been their age, he'd rarely sparred. What was the point when every mission was a life and death brawl?

It was all quite fascinating—even after two months Itachi could not help but marvel at the humanity, emotion, and individuality in each and every little gesture. It was a stark difference from the ANBU Itachi had surrounded himself with during his formative years. The anonymous men and women clad in black and white, sometimes twice his age, whom were all carbon copies of each other. For all their recalcitrance about most issues, the ANBU really were quite vocal about insuring complete anonymity and conformity. The only thing that should, in the eyes of the ANBU, mark one shinobi different from another was pure skill. Although the ANBU were widely accepted as the elite, it was no surprise that some of Konoha's best would refuse to join such as Hatake Kakashi. While Itachi still resented his sudden demotion, Jounin life really did mean more sleep and a hell lot less blood. Maybe when this was all over—

He'll think about it later. For now, he had one dangerous Jounin (who was pissed off at another gloriously ignorant Jounin) and a bunch of immature brats (whom were armed to the teeth) on his hands.

Hmph.

"You really are angry," Itachi murmured softly as he watched Gai draw a parameter for the spar in the dirt eagerly, creating almost just as much noise as the rest of the Genin put together as he dragged Lee along with his antics.

"Naruto, you go first," Kakashi called absentmindedly as his eyes glided back and forth in a distinctively wary manner. "And yes, I am. But I can't do anything about it can I?" he replied lowly, never once taking his eyes too far from Team Gai.

"Gai's request for Shino to spar with the Hyuuga was indeed unusual but not completely unreasonable," Itachi mused aloud as he carefully observed Hinata sit a good distance away from the rest of the group. She was hugging her knees to her chest defensively and was so hunched up in her posture that it looked as if her sweater would swallow her. Shino, unsurprisingly, had taken a seat next to her. However, instead of sitting on the outer edge, he took a seat in between her and the rest of the Genin. It was as if they were purposefully isolating themselves.

"Sakura, please take a seat back— do you think we're normal Itachi?" The turn of conversation was so sudden that Itachi blinked and turned away from Team 8's puzzling behavior to stare quizzically at the Jounin.

"Hm?"

"Do you think we're normal?"

Itachi refused to answer such an ambiguous question and instead patiently waited.

"We're not right? After all, we're geniuses," Kakashi said lightly.

"People have called us that before," Itachi replied warily.

"But more than that—we're geniuses at our profession, no?"

"Hm."

"I'll hardly call us geniuses at being human beings…"

Itachi silently watched the pensive look in Kakashi's eye.

"Whenever we choose do an action, we always consider it from a tactical point of view. How do we do things, what to do, and how effective it'll be… and we treat every one of us like a chess piece. Oh sure, we take into consideration the varying skills, but ultimately we're a chess piece. Very rarely do we take into consideration strategy… we rarely consider why we do what we do and we're absolutely lousy at prioritization. Even more than that, we're even worse at taking into account the human factor which is a shame considering how Konoha's going… and right now, Itachi—" here, Kakashi turned his head to look at the younger jounin full-on.

"Your plan of action and mentality is purely tactical. It's not exactly your fault considering your history. The only reason you've been kept afloat all this time is because you have a natural talent that makes up for your lacking and for the fact that these are shinobi you're playing with, ANBU shinobi that can be mostly trusted to act as they are supposed to. However, even the best of us aren't mere chess pieces… much less Genin. Despite their outer appearance, Shino and Neji are still a far cry from what we were or are. They haven't learned to put aside their petty revenges and their perception of the world is still very narrow. They won't react the way you expect and when it all blows up in your face, you won't even know what you did wrong. I can tell you, boy, if you don't change, things are going to get a lot more complicated and difficult than they already are. "

Itachi just barely resisted curling his fingers into menacing claws. However, considering this was Hatake he let the 'boy' comment slide and instead narrowed his eyes in a distinctively unfriendly manner.

Kakashi ignored Itachi's aggression and rolled his shoulders in an overt casual manner before walking away toward the squabbling Genin. A thoughtful Itachi trailed behind him after a few moments.

"C'mon moron," Kiba growled with a wolfish grin, his face looking oddly animalistic and feral.

"You just wait until I beat you!" Naruto yelled back impatiently.

Gai glanced over his shoulder at the other Jounin before he waved his arm in a cutting motion. "Hajime!"

Kiba immediately crouched low before he surged forward, Akamaru following at his heels. In comparison Naruto simply ran forward, presenting himself as a large target. Unsurprisingly, Kiba's packed form and streamlined movement gave him more momentum that as they met in a clash of metal. Naruto was pushed back and then sent sailing as Kiba delivered a swift kick to his gut. In true alignment to his clan's style, Kiba pounced after Naruto's prone airborne form and tackled him to the ground to the background music of Akamaru's vicious growls and his own snarl.

Straight off the bat, it was quite obvious who had more experience. While Kakashi was still trying to get his brats to do systematic training and relearn the fundamental basics and warmups, Itachi had skipped straight to the more difficult techniques. It was teaching that Naruto would have died for considering how he begged Kakashi to teach him "the really cool stuff" every day. Ironically, it was because Itachi never had to impress on his Genin the importance of the basics (they'd been given that lecture enough times by their own private tutors and parents) that he felt confident enough to skip the usually crucial introductory segment. Plus, the fact that Itachi possessed the genius to simulate life and death spars with his Genin and actually did so (unlike Kakashi who was ironically probably the only other Jounin in Konohagakure who could have mimicked Itachi's training technique) gave Kiba a remarkable advantage.

Sakura cringed sympathetically as Kiba slammed Naruto into the ground with a resounding thud. Sasuke however, looked past the viciousness and saw only the marked improvement that Kiba had made since his Academy years. Where Kiba had once wasted extraneous energy and movement he had fluidly streamlined his every attack to end with the beginning of his next offense.

So this is the result of nii-san's teaching.

Still, he was confident that he could still wipe the ground with the Inuzuka. Naruto, however, was a totally different story and in Sasuke's eye the blonde looked more baka than ever.

Che, truly the deadlast.

Hinata was torn.

On one hand, she dearly wanted Naruto to win the spar. However, her loyalty to her teammates made her feel guilty and she found herself unable to truly support one side or the other. Still, she couldn't resist the inward glee she felt every time Naruto managed to score a minor hit, or the inward fear she felt as Naruto was beaten yet again. Still, no matter how many times Naruto's head was bashed, not once did his brilliant gaze lose its focused intent and determination lined his body.

Hinata fisted her sweater as her eyes shone in admiration.

Out of the corner of his eye Itachi could see the slight tension in Kakashi's form. However, beyond the occasional twitch of the finger, Kakashi was still mostly relaxed. Too relaxed—which meant either Kakashi never expected Naruto to win, or that he had a trump card up his sleeve. Itachi tried to ignore the niggling feeling in his head as he turned back to survey the fight.

Kiba now sported a new cut on his cheek and his palm had imprints that looked suspiciously similar to a bite mark. Naruto had somehow managed to wriggle out and he was a safe distance away from the snarling boy but not before his orange jacket had been slightly ripped.

Even before his hands began to move, Naruto's blue eyes gave him away. Itachi focused on the boy's hands as he began to perform a jutsu.

It took no more than four hand seals for Itachi to realize something was off.

Well what do we have here...

Itachi's Sharingan flared but by then it was too late to attempt to copy the jutsu. Multiple copies of Naruto appeared—but unlike the usual clone jutsu, they looked exactly like the original and as one they let out an unintelligible yell before they charged. To his credit, Kiba quickly masked his surprise and only narrowed his eyes as he gave a low instinctive growl in response. Itachi was not surprised to see Kiba's fingers transform into claws as he prepared for the onslaught.

So is this his trump card?

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Hatake?" Itachi's voice was low and he enunciated each syllable slowly. Despite his smooth tone, his voice sounded as if it had spent a nice long winter vacation in Snow Country. "I thought it was a forbidden technique."

"Ah well, the brat got his hands on it himself. I didn't teach it," Kakashi answered lazily. At some unknown point, he had taken out his infamous orange book and was currently acting as if his whole attention was zeroed in on the smutty pages. Nonetheless, he did not bother to hide the dancing gleam in his eye. Itachi bit back a caustic remark and instead watched Kiba swerve upwards and run up a tree, leaving the clones and Naruto behind on the ground.

"Tree walking already Itachi?" Kakashi asked lightly.

"As expected," Itachi answered smoothly, ignoring Gai's loud cheers. Still, no matter how impressive Kiba's unconscious chakra control was, it wasn't half as impressive as an unknown unclanned orphan being able to seamlessly perform the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

Sending a rain of kunai down before him, Kiba tensed and then flipped to the ground before lashing out with his claws at the clone nearest to him. While the kunai had distracted several of the clones, it wasn't enough and he was unable to avoid a punch that sent him skittering into the thick of the enemy.

Itachi narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. Kiba should not have dived back into the clump and should have instead stayed on the trees and taken them out one by one. Despite the boy's superior speed he wasn't fast enough to completely dodge all the attacks. Kiba was haplessly encircled and Itachi wondered if the boy even realized how bad a situation he was in.

Still, Naruto didn't seem to realize how to utilize his clones well either. Instead of herding Kiba into a circle and coordinate a stream of continuous attacks, he seemed to attack in waves with his clones. It let Kiba rest for a few moments and to pick up a pattern, or more importantly a rhythm.

Kiba growled as Naruto surged forward with all his clones for the fourth time.

He was trapped—but there were loopholes that Kiba could see now.

While he had originally wanted to make Akamaru into an identical clone of himself with a certain useful Inuzuka pill, he knew better than to invite his mother's wrath. As an adolescent he was under strict orders not to use the skill unless absolutely necessary. The technique was also potentially harmful for Akamaru as well, whose body could not yet take the strain. Hence, until they both fully matured, the skill was better off left for life and death situations. Also, to be truthful, Kiba had been moving rather sluggishly and confusingly. Naruto failed to see half the feints and traps Kiba had laid and it was only out of dumbness he evaded them all. It frustrated Kiba, who was so used to Itachi picking up on his every tiny movement.

Ironically, Itachi just might have groomed his Genin in a too refined a manner.

Luckily, although he was encaged, his opponent had a distinct fighting style that was relatively easy to spot. Although there was a certain unpredictable quality of Naruto's attacks, Kiba could see patterns well enough.

The Inuzuka fighting style was utterly structured on defying the laws of momentum, swerving in all 360 degrees at a moment's notice, and on taijutsu that a few civilians had remarked looked oddly like dancing. Unlike the Hyuuga Jyuuken style, Inuzukas' attacks were meant to flow from one to another in an endless flow of pain, leaving their opponents stunned and unable to retaliate. While the best Inuzuka fighters could vary their techniques into a million different combos that left them unpredictable, Kiba was still a young Genin who knew only a fraction of his clan's techniques. However, he did have knowledge of a few true-and-tried combos-but these only worked if he could spot a rhythm.

Which, given Naruto's ineptitude and single-minded offensive, was quite easy to do.

Kiba braced himself before he neatly dodged a punch to his stomach. Swiveling his shoulder so a punch could graze past his upper arm rather than smash into his collarbone, he let a kick connect with his braced hip before his claws lashed out again to connect with a clone's chest.

By the time the clone poofed out of existence Kiba had already seamlessly used his momentum to execute a roundhouse kick on a second clone. He followed up with another slash that slammed one clone to another, before by sheer dumb luck, he managed to grab Naruto's arm and push him back.

Kiba took advantage of Naruto's momentary distraction to dive out of the circle and out back into the open. He fled up a tree like before, sending shruiken behind his back to dissuade the clones from following.

Flipping back down again, he was unable to resist giving a victorious snarl as his claws ripped apart the last clone. Ignoring the various bleeding cuts and bruises, he rumbled something that sounded like an interesting mix of a satisfied purr and growl as he eyed Naruto.

Got you now.

Naruto panted and wiped his bleeding cheek roughly with the back of his hand. He squinted thoughtfully for a moment before he raised his hands in a telltale jutsu.

It wasn't like he was running out of chakra anytime soon anyway.

Itachi's Sharingan swirled again as he carefully watched Naruto's hands. While he was eager to copy the technique, he was also inwardly reeling at the audacity of that punk to utilize the Kage no Bunshin Jutsu twice. Worst of all, the boy's chakra looked relatively stable. While the Sharingan couldn't pierce the inner chakra system like the Byagukan could, judging from the natural chakra the boy was expelling, the boy didn't seem fatigued at all.

He felt more than saw Kakashi stiffen, but it was too late.

"Kage no Bunshin!" the boy yelled.

And then his chakra, once pure and blue, flared red.

Itachi's thoughts stumbled, tripped, skittered to a halt, and then crashed into a wall of confusion.

What?

Itachi was rarely surprised or taken aback, but somehow some unknown orphaned blonde brat managed to do that. Not just once, but twice.

Even as Naruto surged forward, Kakashi flickered and then reappeared at the center of the spar.

"I think that's enough now," came Kakashi's languid voice.

Naruto just barely managed to plow over his sensei and instead fell on his face ungracefully.

"Aw, sensei…" Naruto protested loudly, spitting out a mouthful of dirt as he scrambled to his feet.

"We should give the others a turn too, hm? If that's alright with you Kiba."

Naruto scowled, but not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the Uchiha Itachi, did as he was told and dispelled the multiple clones. Meanwhile, Kiba hesitated but knew better than to contradict. Besides, for a split second, even he had felt something odd. While he consciously brushed it off, the primitive instinctual beast within him shifted warily.

"Alright." It took a noticeable amount of effort for Kiba to retract his claws but otherwise he didn't look too disappointed. He suddenly winced, as if only now realizing his multiple wounds. While he lacked the ugly looking gashes that Naruto sported, Kiba had quite a bit of internal bleeding brought upon by punches and kicks. The copy technique that Naruto had used really had screwed him over for a bit.

"Kiba-kun…" Akamaru whined in tandem as he limped toward his teammates.

"I'm alright Hina-chan, Akamaru," Kiba grinned. "I was awesome wasn't I?"

"Y-yes…" Hinata meekly agreed, causing Kiba to crow victoriously. Shino opted out of saying anything and only gave a mild approving nod.

"Ne Sensei! How did I do?" Kiba asked enthusiastically, his whole formed perked up hopefully as he peered upwards at Itachi's stoic face.

"You made many crucial mistakes Inuzuka-san," Itachi said calmly. Kiba wilted.

"…but the usage of a combo toward the end was impressive," Itachi amended, a bit reluctantly, after a moment. While in all honesty he wanted nothing better than to criticize Kiba's fight blow by blow, Itachi had a feeling that in the long run praising the boy would garner better results. While ANBU would have appreciated his criticism, Genin were probably more apt to burst into tears. Besides it would make the boy more motivated to improve… Kakashi's words were still running in his mind and Itachi could not help wondering whether his sudden change in heart was prompted by them.

Never mind. Judging from Kiba's suddenly beaming face it seemed as if his intuition was correct.

"Hah!" Kiba yelled victoriously. He ignored Sasuke's dirty look as he bounced over to sit down next to Hinata.

"Hey Hina-chan," Kiba said cheerfully as he pointed at his purpling right eye. "You wouldn't happen to have any of that useful salve would you?"

As Shino snorted at Kiba's rough and uneven grammar, Hinata hastily dove into her pack and fished out two jars of ointment. As she fumbled, Shino raised his eyebrows at the sound of glass clinking against glass. Just how many jars did she bring anyway?

"Here, Kiba-kun." Kiba accepted the offered jar gratefully, grabbing a generous dollop of it and placing it on his eye.

Hinata, who still held an unopened jar in her hand, glanced at Naruto's pouting form. As her blush intensified, she gripped the jar with increasingly sweaty hands while she waged an inner battle with herself.

"Sasuke, Tenten…" Gai called.

Hinata took advantage of everyone else's diverted attention to shyly sidle up toward the pouting blonde, who was fumbling with his jacket and wincing as the fabric rubbed against his wounds.

"Stop moving Naruto," Sakura scolded as she took out her own bandages. "You'll make it worse."

"Neh, Sakura-chan did I do good?"

"Shut up and stop moving!"

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto whined, even as he looked pleased at the attention.

Hinata wilted at the obvious adoration on his face, but the sight of his blood bleeding through the bandages strengthened her faltering resolve. She continued her slow approach.

"Gah, she has it bad doesn't she?" Kiba muttered through the salve on his face. Shino did not bother to deign the rhetorical question with a verbal response.

"Che, bastard's not good enough for her."

That Shino could agree, although he had a feeling Kiba was referring to more than Naruto's own personal merits. An orphan really had no business meddling with the Hyuuga heiress.

As Kiba continued to fuss with his bruises, Shino turned his head to glance toward Team Gai. He was curious to see Neji's reaction regarding Kiba's spar and was not surprised to see a small sneer on the aloof older boy's face. Neji was clearly unimpressed, and although Shino knew it was irrational, he couldn't help feeling his want to hurt the other boy increase just by that much. His kikai shifted as he slowly fed them his blood thirst. It was always a risk to see how kikai handled emotion, especially young kikai that had not gone through many evolutions, but Shino thought it was worth it.

Shino wasn't the only one who noticed Neji's distinctively unfriendly stance. Even Sasuke had known better than to show his disrespect—then again, any child raised by Mikoto would have known better.

Itachi inwardly frowned at yet another sign of Hyuuga pride. Despite his skill, it was an irrefutable fact that Neji was of the Branch house and hence was still expected to treat the other Clans with due respect. However, Itachi suspected that Neji's skill had given him a lot of leeway that the Elders wouldn't have afforded if he wasn't the genius he was… and if Hinata wasn't the heiress she was.

"Looks like you're taking my words to heart," Kakashi said gleefully as Sasuke arrogantly stood and walked toward the center of the training ground.

"Hn."

"Don't think I didn't notice your little shower of praises just now."

"It's called positive reinforcement," Itachi enunciated. Uchiha did not 'shower' praises.

"Yeah, yeah, you keep telling yourself that, just like you keep telling yourself Sasuke's not a brat."

Itachi was noticeably silent in his defense for his little brother. Instead, he changed the subject to one he was a lot more interested in.

"Who is Uzumaki Naruto exactly?" he demanded even as he mentally traced all the known Konohagakure bloodlines. Surely the boy belonged to some bastard line or another of a bloodline limit—Itachi would be damned of that red charka just happened to manifest in an orphan snatched off the street.

Kakashi's candor vanished.

"… I believe the question you should ask is what is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Excuse me?"

Kakashi lazily cracked open his orange book again and refused to speak more on the matter.

Itachi reluctantly forced himself to tear his eyes away from boring a hole in Kakashi's head and back to Sasuke.

Tenten, as far as he was aware of, was the adopted daughter of the local weaponry blacksmith. While such connections did ensure a certain aptitude, she was of inferior blood when compared to Sasuke. Still, she was older and had been under the guidance of Maito Gai for quite some time.

Yes, it would be interesting to watch this spar.

"It's an honor to—" Tenten began.

She barely dodged the kunai that rained upon her.

Brat. Didn't even have the courtesy to wait for her to finish her greeting. Hmph, be that way.

Leaping a good distance away, she shoved her hands into her weapon pouch and withdrew a handful of sharp weapons. Shiny, spiky weapons were her forte and she wasn't about to let some brat just shove her around.

Originally, she had been quite displeased when Gai had told them they were to have a mixed training section. She had better things to do than do exercises with green Genin. However, when Itachi (who really was as hot as they say) had suggested sparring she'd been elated. It would be fun to shove around little brats.

Of course, she hadn't expected to go against a certain Uchiha Sasuke who was supposedly the genius of Rookie 9. Still, if there was one thing she picked up from Gai, it was determination and Tenten was determined to give it her all. Batting away another shower of kunai with her own weapons, she narrowed her eyes as she focused on her opponent.

There.

With deadly accuracy and speed, she threw her own kunai and shruiken. Sasuke was forced to leap upwards to avoid them all, as she had not only thrown weapons at his position but at all the potential trajectories he could have used to dodge.

Gotcha.

Sasuke hissed as he saw his predicament. In air, he was a sitting duck to all the deadly projectiles Tenten continued to wield. It was as if she had an endless supply of weaponry!

Biting back a curse, Sasuke threw out a wire toward a nearby tree. With a swift jerk, he managed to change his direction and landed on a branch safely far away from his former position. Sasuke could have easily let the weapons thud harmlessly onto the ground but—if there was a small trait he shared with his lazy Jounin sensei, it was a vindictive streak.

The wires soared out again and Sasuke latched onto as many kunai and shruiken he can before activating one of his clan's trademark Katon jutsu. The fire, traveling through his own metal wire, bit into Tenten's fine weaponry with a vengeance. While he was unable to muster a flame as strong or as hot as Itachi's own Katon fireballs, Sasuke was more than capable of creating wires hot enough to cut and bend Tenten's weapons askew.

Well, it didn't look like those weapons would be reused anytime soon.

It was, in Sasuke's eyes, suitable payback for even attempting to outmaneuver him.

"Youth burns bright in that one, don't you agree Neji?"

As usual, Neji ignored Gai's inane comments but inwardly conceded. There was a noticeable gap between the Inuzuka's ability and the Uchiha's ability and not for the first time he regretted being paired with the Aburame.

Uchiha Sasuke easily dodged all of Tenten's weapons wih grace and skill. His charge was unending as he steadily closed the gap. By the time he came within two meters of Tenten, Neji knew the spar was over. Tenten was good, but her taijutsu was lacking and up against the Uchiha she was practically hopeless.

"Spars are more than just matches of strength and ability Neji—they also serve to teach," Gai suddenly said as if guessing Neji's thoughts. His tone was uncharacteristically serious. "Good spars hone instincts and skills that most shinobi learn only on the battlefield—and if a spar saves a person's life one day, I think it's justified."

Neji ignored Gai's apprehensive gaze as he gave yet another small sneer. It annoyed him that these Jounin kept trying to "even" out the playing ground. If he went against Sasuke things would have been much more interesting and both of them would have learned far more. If Konoha wanted to be strong, they should focus only on the strong. No matter how much they tried, the weak would always stay weak. It was useless wasting someone of Sasuke's talent on Tenten just as it was useless to waste someone of his talent on the Aburame.

"I dare say Neji, you could learn something too…" Gai said softly, but Neji paid him no heed.

"Your brother is one evil little brat. He must have been a terror in the sandbox."

Itachi could not help but shake his head a bit at Sasuke's antics. The boy was clearly toying with his opponent—it was clear that Tenten was far more adept at long-range combat and Sasuke probably knew if he wanted to finish the spar cleanly and quickly he would have to go close range. However, clearly his little brother thought it would be more fun to waste chakra breaking the girl's toys. Although, judging by the girl's aghast expression, Sasuke's move had been less of a knock-your-sand-castle-over and more of a nuclear strike a la drown-your-sand-castle-and-steal-your-bucket.

"Bastard!"

Well, Sasuke was indeed many things, but he certainly wasn't that.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke hissed. Although Sasuke did not make a noise of rage or anger but his eyes narrowed. Unsurprisingly the boy surged forward with a very unforgiving look on his face.

Itachi would have to talk to him about that. If Sasuke got annoyed every time someone made a comment about his lineage, then Sasuke would be dead in no time. Still, Sasuke seemed to be channeling his anger quite well considering how he just calmly, clinically, efficiently slammed his opponent into a tree.

"Poor girl, she wouldn't even know what hit her. You would think that training with Neji, the most sensitive of them all when it comes to genealogy, she would have known better though," Kakashi said absentmindedly right before he giggled to himself as he read a particularly spicy line.

Itachi would have been very content to watch his otouto cream the girl to the tune of Kakashi's irrational comments—if it hadn't been for a minor distraction.

"A-ano… N-Naruto-kun…"

She had finally mustered enough courage to stand in front of the sitting blonde Genin. Her hands were trembling so furiously she feared she would drop the jar. Not for the first time, Hinata relished the safe feeling her large jacket gave her.

"Hai, Hina-chan?" Naruto asked, a smile on his face as always.

Sakura paused, noticing the ointment. Without even asking, she began to unravel some of Naruto's bandages even as her eyes twinkled. Naruto, as always, didn't notice.

"H-here…" Hinata said weakly as she squatted to Naruto's eye level, holding out the ointment fearfully.

"Oh geez, is this for me?" Naruto exclaimed, sky blue eyes wide and delighted.

Hinata's blushed intensified as she nodded hastily.

"Thanks Hina-chan!"

"Y-Your w-welcome," Hinata stuttered before she dropped the ointment into his outstretched hand. Feeling euphoric, she quickly turned and fled back to the safety of her waiting teammates. Despite her trembling fingers Hinata could not stop the goofy smile that crept over her face or the fluttering feeling in her chest. Her heart was beating so loud that some part of her idly wondered if Kiba could hear it-- but all of that was utterly irrelevant—all she could think about was the brilliance of Naruto's smile.

"Weird girl," Naruto said out loud as he watched Hinata scurry away. He was swiftly punched by Sakura.

"Ow Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined.

"Sheesh," Sakura muttered, ever more impressed at the boy's obtuseness. Nonetheless, she decided against scolding the boy further and instead reached over to snatch the ointment out of the boy's hands.

"Go Sasuke!" she called enthusiastically as she began to apply the ointment liberally on Naruto's arms. Naruto scowled.

"Yeah, go teme!"

"Shut up Naruto!"

Itachi could have excused the blush.

Itachi could have excused the giddy smile.

Itachi could have excused the trembling fingers.

Hell, Itachi could have even excused the distinct undertone in her voice that he'd heard much too many times echoing in fangirl screams.

Itachi wasn't about to excuse the blush, the giddy smile, the trembling fingers, and the breathiness of her voice all at once however. He wasn't that stupid when it came to females.

No, there was no question about it. Hyuuga Hinata (his student and his fiancée) was infatuated with Uzumaki Naruto.

Well, damn.

Cliff hanger… hanging on a cliff… =)

Author's Notes:

Strategy vs Tactics: to put it simply, in a war, superior tactics is one where the most people are killed. Superior strategy is where one takes into account political ramification, public opinion, etc. For example, bombing Iraq might be superior tactics since it ensures everyone (including terrorists) dies but really poor strategy due to the potential backlash and potential world war III. Kakashi's argument basically stems from the fact Itachi's thinking is very robotic and he rarely considers the human factor. This can clearly be seen in canon where Itachi originally assumes his actions will force Sasuke to stay with Konoha and become a hero after killing him. However, Itachi did not take into consideration Sasuke's personality or potential elements, and hence was unable to prevent Sasuke from defecting to the Sound.

In this case, not praising Kiba would have been the tactically sound thing to do since it tells him that he's faulty. However, strategically praising him would have been the right thing to do because not only does it motivate Kiba further it also increases Kiba's loyalty. If Kiba associates "doing one's best" with praise, in the future he would be more inclined to work harder underneath Itachi's leadership than before.

Yes, it's all very devious.

Elitism and Shino While I doubt any one can be as proud as a Hyuuga, but Shino and Kiba definitely have a bit of elitism in them. It comes with all clan heirs—while they probably would lose it gradually as they become exposed to Itachi's (relatively) objective thinking, the fundamental bias is there. Besides, Kishimoto's canon does suggest that all skill is closely tied to genetics. Besides Naruto, most of the strongest characters have a bloodline or a prestigious lineage.

Lack of Flashy Tactics None of the teams, besides perhaps Team Gai, have been on a C-mission yet. In canon, Team 7's fateful run-in with Zabuza is a turning point in their skill. As this is written before that happens, Team 7 and Team 8 lack a lot of their future trademark skills.

Humor? Actually, no, I don't go out of my way to write humor. It just sort of glides in with Itachi and Kakashi's acerbic personality.

While there are times Itachi seems very too sarcastic and witty, please remember Itachi's not actually saying… much. I tried to keep his dialogue as in-character as I could, aka, recalcitrant. Which is of course, the complete flip side of Kakashi who, while not talkative, has a certain shameless quality.

One of things I've discovered about really intelligent people is that they're minds are hilarious… and they think of the strangest things because they're minds are so damn smart and they can process a hundred things at once. It doesn't necessary mean they'll vocalize them but the thoughts are there. On the other hand, some of them lack remarkable common sense. Don't believe me? Just take your local geek out shopping and ask him the difference between a wind breaker and a sweater and then he'll suddenly exclaim that's why he gets cold when he rides a bike but not when he's walking. Che.

Besides, seeing as this is non-massacre Itachi, he's definitely a lot less… psychotic than canon.

Ramblings:

Holy crap, this chapter is long. I hope you loved it… and do show your appreciation through loving reviews, no? Especially nice long ones that make me blush.

Durch Leiden Freude was also kind enough to draw me fanart! It's quite wonderful. If you want to see it, please go to his deviantart account

http:// durch - leiden - freude . deviantart . com

Without the spaces of course. And if you were wondering, yes I have a deviantart account as well. You may find me underneath my usual handle, aixyutin.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!