A/N: As a refresher for anyone who doesn't want to re-read:

Chiyome was 8 at the end of last chapter.

Shisui's first cousins are Makoto (a year older than chiyome), Rina (a year younger than chiyome), Hanae (3 years younger than Chiyome), and Ichiro (6 years younger than chiyome). Also Yuina is Shisui's aunt.

Ranked sparing. It was always interesting watching a bunch of kids try to beat each other up and this time was no different.

"Kiba, Hinata, make the seal and begin after the count of three," Nobu-sensei said in a very monotone voice.

Not that I expected much differently from a 16 year old who has to watch 8 and 9 year olds fight.

"Good luck Hina-chan!" I called out with a smile that Hinata eagerly returned before turning back to Kiba.

"Yeah, sorry Hinata, but I can't go easy on you this time," Kiba said, and the dog boy did look a little sorry about it.

Kiba's decided over the years that Taijutsu was going to be his best subject. Which was fine since he was already better at it than half the class, but it means more often than not he would be pin against Hinata or myself during these ranked matches.

"S-same here Kiba-san," Hinata said barely loud enough for us to hear before getting into her stance.

This was the first year they are allowing us to perform non-academic style taijutsu, and it was clear that Kiba was going to do that as he drop to a hunched over position. Hinata, strangely, kept the academic stance.

Or maybe not too strange. We can't use any bloodlimits during class, and the Hyūga style needs the byakugan. Not that Hinata needed that advantage when fighting. She easily could be the best if it wasn't for her hesitations.

"Hinata! Stop dodging and hit that dog-breathe!" Ino yelled next to me, followed by Sakura who nodded along with her.

Which is another odd thing. Ino befriend Sakura after the first week of school, but the girl refuses to talk to me. I have no idea what I did to get her so mad at me and Ino won't tell me.

Hinata tried to follow Ino's advice, but that just gave Kiba the opening to send her flying through the dirt to the edge of the ring.

"That's enough. Kiba, good job. Come here and I'll give you my notes of your fight."

Hinata got up, looking uncomfortable but not obviously injured. Still, this was the third time she's lost and Hinata will be dropping another rank most likely.

"Next up… Chiyome and Ino."

I smiled at Ino before jumping to my feet. Sparing with Ino was fun. She wasn't that strong, but she was fast and took the time to plan ahead which is how she won most of her fights. She was nowhere as good as Shikamaru, but he was happy being a solid 10th rank in the class of 20.

I made the seal of confrontation and bowed before slipping into a basic Uchiha stance. The academic style was fine, but already I could tell that Uchiha was a better fit for what I wanted to do. It just had more room for justus.

Not that I could do that now.

The thing with fighting Ino is that you have to be aware of your sounding. Since I only have to step outside of the ring for Ino to win, that is the method she uses more often then not. I on the other hand, prefer knocking people down for three counts.

I ended up kicking Ino's legs out and flipped her onto her stomach before she could recover.

"One…two…three. Chiyome wins again."

"Did you really have to shove my face into the dirt?!"

"Sorry," I said while giving Ino a hand up.

Ino took it before wiping the dirt off. For how much she helps her family out in the garden Ino is not a big fan of getting dirty.

"You were really great out there."

It took me a moment to realize that Sakura said that to me, not Ino like I was expecting.

"Thank you," I said after what was an awkward amount of time, and Sakura must have thought that too since she looked away immediately.

Ino shook her head and I felt like bearing my face in my hands. Making friends was so much easier when I was physical 3 and didn't need to worry about social queues.

"Takahiro, Naruto, you're next."

Hinata was already next to me as I sat back down after getting my notes on how I did. Like always, it said it was perfect which felt like a lie. I knew I had room to improve and it was a little annoying that we had to sit here and watch everyone do their matches two at a time instead of training. I get that there was only one teacher to watch our class during the taijutsu lessons, and that we could learn by watching, but that doesn't work when half the class can't even perform the kata correctly.

It was sad more than anything watching Naruto get his ass kicked by a guy who half the time ended up brawling instead of using martial arts.

But there was nothing I could do about it. I was going to be nine in a few months, but the massacre could happen at any point between now and then. Not to mention even after I pass that benchmark, befriending Naruto is still going to reflect poorly on the clan until he starts changing their option of him. Things were just too delicate to risk it.

"Takahiro, you win."

"I'm not done yet!" Naruto yelled as he tried attacking again, which was amenable but also against the rules.

Nobu-sensei intercepted them before Naruto could get another punch and grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Naruto, if you are not going to go by the rules, you can sit in the classroom with Iruka-sensei."

I frowned at that. A warning would have been enough since this was the first time Naruto done something like this and it's not like other kids didn't try getting a hit in after losing. Looking to my left, Hinata had a very similar expression on while she watched Naruto walk back to the classroom.

That's right. Hinata had a crush on Naruto in the show. I felt like she would have brought it up by now, but maybe she felt too embarrassed?

"Hina-chan, you know anything about Uzumaki?" I asked casually as Nobu-sensei order the next pair of kids up.

"Ah U-Uzumaki-san? N-Not really," Hinata stumbled out while pressing her hands together.

Seems like the crush was still a thing.

"…I've just noticed he always stays behind after school. He's an orphan, but he doesn't hang out with the other orphans. Not to mention…" Hinata continued, pausing as she looked over at Nobu-sensei.

"Maybe if he had a friend he wouldn't act out as much," I commented out loud, hoping that Hinata would get the hint.

Hinata in turn frowned as she looked back to the classroom Naruto should be in. Assuming he didn't just skip class which he's done a few times. Shikamaru has as well, and that could be another option to look into.

Just because I couldn't be Naruto's friend doesn't mean others can't.

"Maybe," Hinata said, and I smiled at how determined she looked.

Shisui's smile dropped as he left the house. As soon as he got the mission scroll he made sure to say goodbye since it was estimated to take a month to complete. Little Ichiro was especially unhappy that he was leaving. Apparently the 2 year old doesn't like having 3 older sisters and wants his cool older brother around.

"Speaking of which," Shisui mutter as he looked for Chiyome.

Itachi has also been away on long term missions, so he's been checking in with her more often. Not that he needs a reason since the girl is always fun to hang out with, but he knows why Itachi worries about her.

"Practicing your fireball jutsu?" Shisui asked once he sensed her over by at the training ground with a lake.

"How do you keep doing that?" Chiyome exclaimed after almost falling into the lake.

"I've never told anyone this before, but since you're my favorite cousin, I can let you in to a little secret," Shisui said, smiling as Chiyome eye's seemed to pop in excitement.

He motioned her to come closer, and he whispered into her ear, "I'm a ninja."

She elbowed him in the gut. Hard.

"You're an ass!" Chiyome yelled, but she was laughing which was what Shisui wanted.

The almost ten year old was way too serious.

"Langue!"

"You taught me that word," Chiyome pointed out, and she got him there.

"Right, right. So have you gotten it to work yet?"

Chiyome looked at him like he was missing something.

"I was able to make a fireball almost a year ago. I'm just seeing how much chakra I can add to it."

Shisui felt a little bad for not remembering that, but he's been very busy this past year with missions.

"You thinking of taking the test this year?"

Chiyome frowned, pushing her lips together in thought. For anyone else, it would be a no brainer. Chiyome is top of her class and considering how fast she mastered the fireball jutsu, will have no trouble learning the academic three. But she has good friends in her class.

"I think I'll try. I just feel like I'm not learning anything new in school."

"You shouldn't rush it. There is still a lot of training you can do before graduation if you're bored," Shisui said, hoping that Chiyome didn't get how much Itachi and him wants her to wait to graduate.

"I know, but it's hard tacking your progress when there are less visible results," Chiyome pouted.

Shisui smiled, "Well, I could teach you a new jutsu if you want. I was going to wait until your tenth birthday but…"

"I'll have to call you Nii-san?" Chiyome asked in the most deadpan voice.

"How did you guess?!"

Chiyome squinted her eyes at him, obviously not trusting what he was offering. Good instincts for a ninja.

"What jutsu?"

"You'll have to come and find out!" Shisui said, hopping on his feet a little before jogging back to his house.

Chiyome had to run at full speed to keep up, which was only a little under the average genin speed. In a few months she really would be at the normal green genin level of skills, which was heartening to see. Makoto is going to be annoying if Chiyome graduates a year before her.

Shisui entered his house that he only use to store his things that's not safe for his younger cousins. It was dusty, and Chiyome commented on it but Shisui didn't let her dwell on it. He grabbed Chiyome's hand and dragged her upstairs to what was meant to be his bedroom. Then let go to pull up the floor tiles and grab his prize.

"I thought you were teaching me a jutsu, not giving me a scroll," Chiyome commented, looking confused.

"This is a summon scroll. For the crows that Itachi-chan and I use," Shisui announced as he unrolled it, revealing the names.

All were black except the last two that were still red.

"I…What?"

"We both signed when we were ten, and figured even if you don't graduate this year, it would be fine for you to sign on as well. If they accept you that is."

"But this is… are you sure?" Chiyome asked in a small voice, looking the most unsure that Shisui has ever seen her.

"I have to leave for a mission tomorrow, and Itachi might not be back for your birthday. Summons are different from other jutsu since it's a partnership. You might be able to do it the first time after signing, or it might take months. Either way, I want to see you do it before leaving. Think you can manage?"

Maybe it was a little selfish since Itachi wanted to be the one to teach Chiyome, but he said it was okay last time they talked. And it would be better to have one of them teach her the first step than to gave the scroll giving to her on her birthday with just a note.

"I'll try," Chiyome said after trying to stare holes through the paper.

Shisui didn't need to help much, since all Chiyome needed to do was sign her name in her blood. He had a knife and brush nearby, and the whole thing maybe took ten minutes.

"…is that it?" Chiyome asked as she put down the brush.

"Just have to send chakra through the scroll to activate it. If it stays, then they accepted you as a new summoner."

Chiyome nodded, and placed both hands on the visible seals on the scroll. There was a flash, and Shisui gave a cry of relief when the bloody character dried instantly.

"You did it! Now I'll show you the signs to summon them. You'll need only a drop of blood, and you can either draw charka to your tooth or use a knife."

"I'm already bleeding Shisui-nii-san," Chiyome said with a smile, and it took him a moment to recognize what she said.

"You need to call me that in front of Itachi!"

"Just show me the hand signs already!"

Shisui did. Then stood back as Chiyome tried summoning a crow in his unused bedroom. First time was a dud, second time Chiyome summoned an egg with much confusion. Third time…

"You did it!"

"Um, Hello there, I'm Uchiha Chiyome. Nice to meet you!" Chiyome said with a bow, still kneeling down.

"Pleaser to meet you Chiyome-chan. I'm Yoru of the Night family."

Shisui was a little surprised that Yoru decided to show up. There was only a few crow family that allow themselves to be summoned. All of Shisui main crows are part of the Shadow family, and most of Itachi's are of the Black family. It took Shisui years for Yoru to allow him to use his family. Maybe this is just the older bird getting soft.

"Thank you for accepting me as a summoner!"

"It wasn't hard. I just hope you'll cause less trouble than your brother and Shisui-chan here."

Shisui smiled sheepishly as Chiyome turned to him.

"…I'll try not to."

"That is all I ask. While we can be used in battle, our main use is assisting genjutus and sending messages. What type of ninja are you training to be?"

"I'm not sure. I hope to focus on ninjutsu, but I'm open to genjutsu."

"You're young. You have plenty of time to learn."

Chiyome nodded, looking a little tired, and Shisui wonder if doing this right after she had been practicing the fireball jutsu for who knows how long was a great idea.

"Next time you summon me, do it in the morning and I'll give you a more detail report of how we can help each other."

"Okay. Thank you once again."

Yoru tilted his head before disappearing in a poof of smoke. Chiyome fell off her knees to her butt, smiling without a care in the world at Shisui.

"Nice job Chiyome-chan," Shisui said, poking her in the forehead which immediately reversed her good mood.

"I told you to stop doing that!"

Shisui just laughed.

Turns out Shisui was right when he told me three weeks ago that Itachi and himself would be missing my tenth birthday. It wasn't the first time, but knowing that they were planning on letting me sign on as a crow summoner make their absence more apparent.

Even now I'm still surprised it happened. Was that going to happen with Sasuke if the massacre never happened? By now I'm certain I've passed that date. Sasuke was either 7 or 8, and with the passing of my tenth birthday in this world, I am now way past that. But it could also be this universe is just different from the one I remember.

I have no way of knowing, but at least I liked crows. Still not sure about genjutsu or using them in battle, but the few that I've summon are nice.

There's Yoru who is like the head, and Okiya who is his wife. Then just last week I was able to summon Naito who was a juvenile who just shredded his baby feathers and couldn't talk much.

They were all really nice, but it also took a chunk of chakra to summon them. Not as much as the fireball jutsu, but enough that I have to plan my day around it. Training with low chakra was annoying and made me prone to more mistakes.

"Your turn," Shikamaru said as he finally put down his piece ending his turn.

Already it was getting to the point where my extra years of experience was no longer enough to get a win from Shikamaru. I had to try my hardest against a 9 year old. It was a little insulting, but honestly, I liked the challenge.

I quickly place my piece, idling wondering which of my traps Shikamaru will fall for. Or if he'll figure out a hole in this strategy I came up with three turns ago.

As I waited for Shikamaru to make his play, I looked outside the open doors to see Neji patiently waiting to play the winner while also watching our younger cousins play. Hanae, Makoto's youngest sister, and Hanabi both started their first year at the academy and, unlike Neji and Makoto, became fast friends. Those two have become even worst over the years, to the point where Yuina asks me to take Hanae to visit the Hyūga rather than her eldest daughter.

The fact that both Neji and Makoto are trying to graduate early this fall doesn't help.

At this point I hope they end up on the same team just so an adult will know the pain I've been going through.

Shikamaru put his piece down, and I looked to see that he did fall for one of my traps. Only, as I looked, I noticed he has pieces set up to take my pieces if I spring it. Which I planned for, but not with heavy losses.

Not seeing a less costly option, I did go through with my plan, watching as the game picked up as we entered the last stage.

"Good game," Shikamaru said as he took my king, but the fact he only had three tiles left made me feel a little better about losing to a child.

"Ya, though that lasted a long time," I said while standing up to stretch.

Pretty sure my knees popped.

"Games with my dad last longer, but they're not as fun."

I smiled at that, knowing that was Shikamaru telling me he enjoys our games for my company as well as the challenge. Or maybe that was just me projecting.

"Neji-kun, it's your turn!" I yelled as I ran out of the room and started chasing Hanae and Hanabi.

The two girls screamed as I chased them around the main Hyūga family backyard. But they were already tried from 'training' and it was almost time to go home.

I spotted Choji talking with Hinata over by one of the ponds, and dragged the two girls who were trying to pull me down to the ground over to them.

"C-Chiyome-chan, did you win?" Hinata asked, cutting off whatever Choji was talking about.

Which is weirdly rude for Hinata. Almost like she didn't want me to hear what they were talking about.

"No, Shikamaru did this time. It was close though."

"O-oh, I'm sure you'll win next time," Hinata said with a bright smile.

"I don't really care about winning. It's just fun trying to figure out how to win."

"I think it's the same for Shikamaru," Choji added, silently offering his bag of chips to anyone who wants some.

I let go of Hanabi's hand to grab one but before I could…

"Chiyome, Hanae, it's time to go."

I turned suddenly to see Fugaku of all people walking in to get us. It wasn't super uncommon for someone from the clan to pick me up, especially if I was with a younger cousin, but last time Fugaku did this was my first day of school.

I give him a look over, and while he was frowning deeply, I couldn't tell if anything was wrong.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," I promised them, trying to tell myself I was just overacting.

"Do we have to go now?" Hanae asked, pulling on my hand and trying her best to give Fugaku puppy dog eyes.

"Yes. Your Kaa-chan asked me to get you."

I frowned at that as we walked out of the Hyūga compound. I wanted to ask if there was something wrong with Yuina or her husband, but didn't want to upset Hanae. Instead, I remained silent as we walked home. Up until the point Hanae ran into her house into Yunia's crying arms.

"What happened?" I asked hesitantly, tearing my eyes away from the family.

I watched as Fugaku refused to look at me as he stood like a statue staring at the setting sun.

"We received word that Shisui was killed during his mission."

A/N: Originally this was planned to be over two chapters, but I wanted to get to the next part of the story. And from that last sentence, I'm sure you have an idea of what's going to happen.

Thank you so much for reviewing, following, and/or favoriting this story. While I have a lot of fun planning this story, writing is always a challenge and sometimes I need the extra motivation from you all to get the next chapter posted. And it only took a year this time! Though the second half of this chapter got written this month because I got into the Yazuka games and for some reason, I started planning out a crossover between that and this story. Which got me to go back to this story. Funny how that works.

Thank you all for reading, and have a fantastic night/day!