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Memories Part 1
It was Ayame-sensei's idea for Maiko to become a hunter-nin. She was the one to say that Maiko would be any good at it and that it would help her to become a better kunoichi. Upon hearing this praise and advice from her role model and sensei, Maiko worked her butt off to be eligible to become a hunter-nin. She could tell how proud Ayame-sensei was when they received the news that Maiko got accepted and would start up training in an undisclosed ANBU training ground immediately.
But that night when the Kyuubi nearly wiped out the village and killed Ayame-sensei, Haruka, Hideaki, the Yondaime, and Kushina-sensei as well as countless others, Maiko had lost all interest in pursuing a career as a ninja, let alone finish her hunter-nin training. Maiko had lost all interest in anything really; it was so hard for her to move on and continue to live. It took time but Maiko had finally found a way to move forward from this major setback in her life, where she was finally ok with being on her own and practically alone. Sure she had a few friends (Kurenai, Gai, and Iruka) but they just weren't the same as Ayame-sensei and her teammates. They weren't the same type of support system. Either way Maiko had learned to move on, if just barely.
It was in this mindset that Maiko completed her hunter-nin training; now all she had to do was do well in a fight against another certified and experienced hunter-nin. She seemed to be unfazed when it was the prodigy Itachi Uchiha who she had to go up against. Sure, she was a little intimidated by the guy who was just a year younger than she. He was clearly gifted and everyone fawned over him or praised him left and right. In fact the kid was already a jounin while she was just a chunin! But this test for Maiko was to see not only if she could hack it as a hunter-nin but also if she should get promoted to jounin. Either way, going up against Itachi Uchiha was going to be a formidable task for Maiko and that just seemed to fire her up internally. Externally, like him, she was impassive, cool, calm, and collected.
Maiko stepped into the arena hidden underground in the ANBU headquarters for the hunter ninjas. She waited patiently for Uchiha to do the same and expertly watched his eyes for when they would change to the bloody red color of the sharingan. She was struck by the fact that even his eyes seemed as cold and impassive as his countenance although Maiko could see something beneath that. But all thoughts were stopped when his eyes did change colors and Maiko quickly closed her eyes.
She could hear her peers and judges scoff, they thought that she was immediately giving up or that she just didn't know what else to do. However, like everyone else except for her deceased team, they did not know that Maiko could create a chakra net that would encompass the battlefield she occupied so that she could see Uchiha's chakra outlined body. Maiko would also like to keep this secret so she quickly made dozens of clones and a wooden barrier that would effectively incase her in a circular dome so that Uchiha could not see her let alone read her hand signals, dissect her fighting style, put her under a genjutsu, etc. and leaving her clones out in the open. From the wood's perspective she could see her clones charge Uchiha who remained impassive while there was a collective gasp at the fact that Maiko had her own kekkei genkai, a kekkei genkai that her great-grandfather possessed and hasn't been seen since his death years ago. It was still in the beginning stages but Maiko felt confident enough that what she can use would be effective in this battle.
The few clones that Uchiha didn't expel immediately had a genjutsu cast upon them. Out of those only half were able to snap out of it and the others dispelled themselves from fighting each other under the influence. Maiko knew that she needed to do something that would surprise Uchiha enough to make him slip up but she couldn't see how as she made a few more clones to replace the ones she lost as she watched his style of fighting closely. Maiko was able to understand and dissect only a little bit of the advanced technique that Uchiha was fighting with that was characteristic of the Uchiha clan and even then the only reason why Maiko was able to do this was because Uchiha used a few of the basic stances or moves she trained against when Obito was still alive. Other than that it seemed that Uchiha was a thousand levels above that of Obito's.
Out of nowhere, Uchiha put enough distance between himself and her clones to form hand signs that Maiko recognized as very powerful fire jutsu, especially with the spike in his chakra presence from her chakra net. So powerful that it would disintegrate not only her clones but her original self in the barrier because it would burn past the barrier. Maiko's clones formed multiple powerful water jutsus while her original self used a rock jutsu to cover the wooden barrier. Thanks to the rock barrier and the steam that was created from Uchiha's fire jutsu hitting her water jutsu, Maiko had to rely on her chakra net. From the disturbances it seemed that about two of her clones were too close and thus were dissipated from the blast. It was time for her to step up.
As the rock barrier crumbled, she made sure that she created a clone inside the barrier before she combined herself with the wooden barrier to come out the other side with three extra wooden clones that she had sealed with extra chakra, making them a bit harder to dispel. Maiko hoped that Uchiha would just think that she was clone as well and from his reactions it seemed like it but then again since the beginning of this battle, Uchiha has maintained the same expression. Her original form hung back with one other clone as her four extra clones attacked him with a combination of jutsus and taijutsu. Uchiha got rid of the normal clones quickly and Maiko registered a hint of surprise in his eyes when he punched her newest clones and they didn't dispel. It took kill shots to dispel them which he found out relatively quickly through stabbing them with his kunai.
Uchiha then turned to Maiko and her clone, waiting for them to come at him which they didn't. They made it look like they were thinking about what to do next and study his body movement and not look him in the eyes. They were looking at each other and using sign language only Maiko knew, hopefully luring Uchiha into attacking them and it worked. The jounin bolted to Maiko and her clone, he was faster than Maiko calculated because he slit her clone's throat before either could react. Thankfully there was enough time for Maiko to get into her fighting stance before Uchiha could get to her.
He seemed confused when he recognized her stance as that of the Hyuga fighting technique and Maiko used this to her advantage. Through years of training with the gifted and humble Haruka and Hideaki Hyuga, Maiko was able to learn how to fight like a Hyuga. She didn't know the advanced techniques but she knew enough that she could go toe to toe with a branch family member. It got her quite a bit into trouble with the main branch but they let it go when they learned who she was and if she promised to never pass on her knowledge to anyone outside the Hyuga clan. Maiko kept that promise and continued to learn the different techniques until she had mastered them, again nothing related or as advanced as the main branch's techniques.
The difference between her technique and that of the Hyugas' in this type of taijutsu is that whenever Maiko landed a hit, instead of shutting down that chakra point, Maiko applied chakra to her hands so that she dislocated or fractured the bone it hit. It was lethal around soft bones protecting important organs or if it did land on the organs so when Maiko was fighting she tried not to aim there unless she intended to kill that person. Either way, in her fight against Itachi Uchiha, when Maiko hit Uchiha in the shoulder, she had effectively dislocated it. She was also able to use Uchiha's shock to land another blow except for lower on the arm, breaking it a little bit below the elbow.
However, before she could land another blow Uchiha moved in closer and used the kunai in his other hand to cut Maiko at the stomach, ripping open her billowy shirt and then cut through her black leggings on one thigh, thankfully missing the femoral artery. Maiko went down due to this and when she hit the floor Uchiha's kunai chased her, about to stab her through the heart thinking that she was a clone. Maiko quickly rolled away cutting her upper arm and then spun to knock Uchiha to the ground. Unfortunately for her, Uchiha anticipated this and jumped, dodging her while simultaneously forming hand seals for another fire jutsu and aimed it at her barrier. Her clone in there wasn't quick enough to block it and was incinerated with the wooden barrier. Maiko knew that her jig was up and had to react quickly before Uchiha did.
Rapidly, Maiko made the hand seals for a water jutsu that directly hit Uchiha as he spun around midair to see her original form. It sent him flying as Maiko jumped up and ran with super speed by applying chakra to her feet. She then faked it as if she was going to attack from the front and instead spun, kicking up dust to disguise the fact that she had unsheathed her daggers, before axe-kicking Uchiha to the ground. Before he could get up, Maiko who had fallen to the ground as well from putting her weight on her injured leg during the axe kick rolled on top of Uchiha and placed her daggers across his neck in an 'X' while he lifted his arm to place his kunai against her throat in his speedy fashion, making it an official draw.
Every one of their spectators was silent in shock that Maiko had pulled off a draw against the genius Itachi Uchiha. But Maiko didn't care as she remained on top of the boy, catching her breath just like him; both still had the knives to one another's throats. She looked him in the eyes even though she shouldn't have due to the fact that his sharingan was still in use. However, she knew that he wouldn't put a genjutsu on her for some odd reason; Uchiha just continued to stare back in mild shock. It was then that Maiko could really study the emotion that was playing underneath the normally impassive look Itachi Uchiha always had.
Maiko could clearly see the surprise, but there was also this calculating or appraising look registered there in Uchiha's eyes. He didn't seem to know what to think about Maiko or their battle. It looked like Uchiha was going over every little detail that had transpired from the time she had walked into the arena to now in his head as he looked at her. For some odd reason, Maiko waited for him to come to his conclusion, too consumed in how his thoughts barely flickered in his eyes unlike everyone else she has ever met.
"You are reckless." Uchiha said quietly to her so that only Maiko could hear him and no one else, her long brown hair was down and blocked the lower half of his face so that no one could read his lips.
"How so?" She couldn't help but whisper back not expecting that as his answer.
"You fought me head on with the allusion that you were a clone. I could have killed you thinking I was just dispelling one of your clones." He explained and Maiko snorted at that.
"You could have killed me if I was really in that wooden barrier with your last fire jutsu." She retorted as neither still had yet to move out of their positions.
"I thought you would have created another water jutsu to block me and flood your own clone like last time." Uchiha replied coolly, probably his normal tone from what Maiko could guess.
"Possibly, but what kind of surprise would that be?" Maiko said with a smirk with how her plan sort of worked out. It felt good to say that she was on even ground with a prodigy like Itachi Uchiha.
"True, but you should really look out for yourself more or else you really will get killed out there as a hunter-nin when hunting down S class missing-nins." Uchiha continued unfazed and it was Maiko's turn to be surprised.
"Senju-san you may get off Uchiha-san now." Danzo said and Maiko automatically did as she was told.
"Congratulations you have passed both the hunter-nin test and the jounin test." Danzo stated afterwards and Maiko was swarmed by her peers coming to congratulate her. Itachi Uchiha remained on the outskirts and barely gave her a glance as he was accosted by his colleagues, now her colleagues as well.
"You two should get those injuries examined, Senju-san you will be hearing from me soon about your assignments." Danzo dismissed them and the two quietly did as they were told. As they walked side by side in silence to the ANBU hospital, Maiko couldn't help but take quick looks at Uchiha, recalling every word he said to her not even ten minutes ago.
Basically the young teenaged girl was stunned by what the equally as young but more talented boy had said to her. Itachi Uchiha was the first person since her team's and other teachers' deaths to care about her and how reckless she had become when it came to fighting. He was the first person to comment on it and in her mind, scold her for it. The feeling that came out of this reminded Maiko of when she first met Ayame-sensei who promised to take care of her.
This feeling was warm and made Maiko relax more and because of this she wanted to thank Itachi Uchiha. But she couldn't figure out how to breach such a topic without sounding too needy, not after she had proven to the boy genius that she could hold her own against him. So, Maiko remained silent as they went to the small hospital wing and then parted ways.
"That was my first encounter with Itachi. Due to my injuries I was put on medical leave for about 3 weeks and then after that I learned that I would be paired with Itachi on assignments unless he was injured or had other duties to perform." Maiko stated after she explained the entirety of her first meeting with the now missing-nin. Kakashi just couldn't believe how calm and indifferent she was when she was telling them her story, even at the end when she told them how Uchiha's concern for her made her feel.
"Damn Maiko-chan, pulling off two water powerful jutsus from out of the moisture in the air in combination with both shadow clones and wooden clones while using stamina taxing taijutsu to draw with an Uchiha genius? You must be a power house with your chakra reserves, that or really good at manipulating it." Asuma commented and that had Maiko chuckling. It was true that the men in the room and Tsunade had no clue about Maiko and how powerful she was as a kunoichi. They didn't train with her like Kurenai and Anko, and they only had the recent battle with the Sand during the chunin exams to go off of.
"I guess I'm a little bit of both, more leaning on the side of being good at manipulating the amount of chakra I have." She replied trying to remain modest.
"Although, the kid was right, you were pretty reckless in your use of clones despite it being a good strategy." Jiraiya commented bringing everyone's attention back onto Maiko's connection to Itachi Uchiha.
"What I have come to learn is that sometimes, being a little reckless is needed to get out of a hairy situation." Maiko replied easily enough and that gave Kakashi a bad feeling. He was now seeing where Itachi Uchiha was coming from and what Orochimaru and Kabuto keep taunting her about. Especially when he remembered her own tiger summons commenting on it recently in the battle with Suna.
"Mai-chan," Kurenai began in a condescending tone that Maiko picked up on quickly.
"Look, I don't fight recklessly anymore, or not as much as I used to. I have friends and family to live for now but that doesn't mean that if I see a chance to take down an enemy with some form of endangerment to myself, I won't do it because I will. I would rather die protecting you guys, Naruto, and this village than be worried about getting hurt myself in the process and I know that all of you feel the same way so drop it." She replied vehemently and they all remained silent knowing that she was right. They would all die for their village and all of its occupants including friends and family, but that doesn't mean that they still didn't worry about Maiko and her noticeably reckless tendencies now that they all thought about it some more.
"So, you and Itachi were partners as hunter-nins." Tsunade stated instead of asked as a question.
"Yes and it wasn't long after that when we became more than partners." Maiko responded and this time there was some emotion in her voice when referring to Itachi.
This time her tone was solemn and Kakashi felt for her. Sure, he didn't like what she was implying but he still knew that whatever she was going to tell them next hurt her and that she needed his support and comfort as a friend. So, Kakashi grabbed Maiko's hand squeezed it reassuringly to tell her that while pointedly ignoring their friend's exchange of looks as well as Jiraiya's and Tsunade's curiosity. Maiko also ignored them and gave him a small smile to show her gratitude before turning back to face everyone and continue with her story about her and Itachi Uchiha.
