Chapter 4. The Death of Uchiha Itachi.

The intruder's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he hit the floor in a genjutsu induced coma. Shisui and I stood motionless as he cut the chakra flow to his eyes and gave me a once over to check for any injuries. When he managed to put his worry aside, he flared his chakra in the Konoha standard emergency frequency. It wasn't long after he had tied the intruder down with wire, than a squad of Konoha MP showed up, tailed by an ANBU team.

I couldn't make myself focus on what was going on around me. All I could manage was standing dumb folded, scrutinizing the face of the unconscious man on our kitchen floor.

"Were there any attempts on Konoha Clans other than the Uchiha?" I heard Shisui ask.

"For what we know, there was an attempt on the Hyuuga clan. They tried to take the head's daughter, Hinata-dono." Here, someone chuckled, like they couldn't believe someone would be stupid enough to try and kidnap someone from the clan who possessed the Byakugan of all kekke genkai.

"There was also an attempt on Itachi-sama. But the MP was able to stop them before they got to the house."

This piece of information woke me from my daze. They had tried to kidnap Itachi. I took the knife I'd hidden up my sleeve and took a step towards the intruder. I could understand an attempt aginst Konoha; history proved it wasn't all that unusual; we were a shinobi village for Kami's sake. But to target Itachi or Shisui was something I could and would not tolerate. I took another quiet step towards the comatose man; but before I could get any further, a hand closed in on my shoulder and stopped my advance. I didn't look up to see who had stopped me, I didn't have to.

"What are you doing Uchiha-san?"

I didn't answer right away, I stood there silently glaring daggers at the man had not only threatened my own life, but also my friend's.

"We need him alive for interrogation. And knowing Konoha's T&I department, he'll wish you had killed him." Kakashi knew he didn't have to say much to convince me, but still I stood there gripping the knife in my hand like my life depended on it.

"My team and I will be there to oversee the interrogation. Now please, give me the knife, Akane-san." His tone had been what did me in. It had been soft, almost too quiet, like he understood what I was going through.

I gave up my weapon and set my gaze on my feet in shame. What kind of shinobi allows themselves to get this carried away? I definitely had still much to learn. Learning how to kill people was not the hardest part of the job, it was being able to discern when was the right time to do it. If we weren't able to tell when the situation allowed to kill, to capture or to torture; then shinobi would be no better than ordinary, merciless murderers. The worst of scum.

"Please find out who did this, ANBU-san; and stop them before anybody gets hurt." I said, finally looking up to the painted clay mask, crowned by a mop of silver hair.

"Until I become a shinobi, I will put my trust in you to keep Konoha safe." I continued, bowing at the waist.

When my brother was done speaking with the ANBU captain, he came back into the kitchen and watched as the shadow forces disappeared into the night. Once ther was no one left in the house, we both sighed. My brother came to me slowly, with heavy tired eyes, and embraced me with what little strength he had left. He had been out of the village for over two weeks, running the entire length of the international border, making sure every outpost was up and running. He was exhausted, his chakra was almost entirely gone, and when he finally arrived home, someone had been trying to kidnap his sister. He would be sleeping well into the morning the next couple of days.

I decided we could both do with a nice cup of tea, and made sure he was comfortably settled before resuming my cooking. We were silent, both of us going over what happened in our heads and wondering what would have happened if…? It wasn't long before I was done with the Okonomiyaki. I set the table before my brother and served the food before sitting cross legged across him. I put my hands together and thanked for the food before taking my chopsticks. I didn't dig in though, because before me, Shisui was glaring daggers at his plate. He seemed deep in thought, in fact, he seemed to be having a very heated argument with himself.

"Has it raided an outpost?" I asked only half joking, putting my chopsticks down. Shisui only looked up at me, confusion all over his features.

"You are glaring at the plate like it's a rogue-nin who just killed a toddler, Nii-chan" I explained.

Shisui didn't smile. He continued to stare at the up in his hands.

"You need to become a great shinobi, Akane. I won't always be here to save you." He sighed. "But I guess you are already on your way there, aren't you? You sensed his presence and recognized it as hostile. You had my spare kunai with you." Shisui smiled, a tiny bit of pride shining through.

Nostalgia hit me hard, it was that kind of smile that he used to give me whenever I made any improvement in training. He hadn't done it in a while, since he'd become a chunin actually.

"You shouldn't have tried to kill him though, but I guess I can understand that. Just learn from your mistakes. You are brighter than you know little sister."

He had now taken his chopsticks and started eating. I didn't answer, I rarely got any heartfelt praise anymore. That coming from academy instructors seemed somewhat flat and irritated to some extent. So whenever someone was genuinely impressed with my progress, I didn't really know how to take it.

"Thank you, Nii-chan." I said quietly before starting my meal.

That night, Shisui didn't sleep. He had trapped the entire perimeter of the house and had moved my futon to his own room. As I tucked myself in, the last thing I say was his back. He sat with the door to his right and the window to his left. The next morning I found him in that exact same position: cross legged, with his back straight and his tanto beside him.

He had just turned nine.

When we set off for the academy, Itachi and I noticed someone tailing us. The residue paranoia from the night before was still in place and it took every ounce of control I had, to make a sign at Itachi instead of running off like the headless chicken I felt.

"They are MP's, Akane-san. There is no need to worry about them."

I chuckled at my own stupidity. Of course the enemy wouldn't attempt anything else on us when everybody's guard was up.

No one asked about the incident once we made it to the Academy; neither the instructor nor our classmates asked the Hyuuga kids or us for details on the kidnapping attempts. It later dawned on me that it wouldn't be made public, if only to avoid the raising war morale the Hokage had been attempting to simmer down ever since peace talks had started. That is if they knew who was behind the attempt at all. But I was somehow convinced that T&I would have got the information they wanted out of Shisui's prisoner by now. They were scarily good like that.

To my great displeasure, I found myself with my guard up for the rest of the week. The entire week. I walked to school every morning with Itachi, tailed by an MP escort and still I couldn't help but look over my shoulder whenever I could get away with it. At night, I only slept soundly when my brother was home; when he wasn't though, Itachi was polite enough not to mention the shadows under my eyes. During our training sessions, I wouldn't entirely concentrate on my opponent, wanting to be as aware of my surroundings as I could, which more often than not would land me with a wide collection of bruises of different shades.

That week saw the start of a new habit of mine. The constant need to be aware of my surroundings would not only lead to an unrivaled ability for multitasking, but it would also develop a fairly good, bordering paranoid, chakra sense. These two things were going to lay the basis for what would be my specialization in the future, and in time, allow me to stay alive in more than one occasion.

With the passing of time, it would become less and less obvious; until it eventually reached the point where neither Shisui nor Itachi could tell I was on my guard anymore. Even if they were both very concerned, neither of them ever mentioned my unhealthy habit. They both knew there was no helping it, and that with a shinobi lifestyle it was always better to be a bit paranoid rather than dead.

Our first year in the Academy went by faster than I realized; and soon enough winter break was over and classes were getting started again. Other than Hana and Itachi, I didn't have any friends there; most kids resented us for being clan children or simply for being Uchiha. The issue confused me to no end, since my first instinct when meeting someone more skilled than myself was to ask for guidance rather than hate on them. Hana had once told me that it was actually quite normal for them to act that way, since they hadn't had the benefit of being taught the ways of shinobi at home like we had. This didn't entirely convince me though, because even the Hyuuga and some of the other Uchiha children had this hateful tendency as well.

This hate towards us only seemed to increase when Itachi graduated half way through our second year. The director of the academy had realized that there wasn't much more they could teach him, so he sent Fugaku a letter asking for his approval. This didn't surprise me at all, I had known Itachi was a prodigy on Hatake Kakashi's level; but what did surprise me a lot, was when that same night, Shisui arrived home with a very somber look and the very same letter in his hand.

"Why do you think this was sent to me, Akane?" He asked me that evening over tea. The night could not have been more peaceful as the spring breeze blew across the garden.

"They think I have nothing left to learn from them." I said putting my cup down and looking at my brother in the eyes. "They think I'm like Itachi."

I waited to see my brother's reaction. It came to mind that it had been a while since we had done anything together other than train. It didn't deteriorate our relationship, no, never that. We had only ceased to be children a long time ago; the conversation we were having was proof of that.

"And are you like Itachi? Do you believe there is nothing left for you to learn at the academy?" I thought about it for a while.

Was I able to keep up with Itachi? Barely.

Did I know every single topic on the Academy syllabus? To a fault.

Would I miss any essential training were I to graduate early?

I pondered this last question. I would miss a vital part of a shinobi's training: Teamwork. If there was anything remarkable on the Academy syllabus, it was the amount of teamwork practice and training the students were put through. I couldn't practice teamwork or team support and compatibility if my practice range was reduced to two people. To be compatible with almost any shinobi, one had to work with each of them; only then would I be a reliable comrade able to work with anyone.

"I don't know about the academy itself, rather my classmates are the ones who can still teach me something. In fact it's them, I think, I can still learn a lot from." I answered finally.

"So I take it it's a no to early graduation, then?"Shisui smiled to himself as I sipped at my tea once again. He looked pleased, and I had an inkling of the reason behind it.

"I'm glad you're so humble, Akane. Just don't forget to be smart too. Humility is good because it makes you want to improve. But if you're too humble, you won't inspire any confidence in your comrades when times get rough. When the time comes, the best thing to do is to show just how powerful you are." I nodded once again and closed my eyes. The breeze ruffled my hair and made it fall to my face. I'd have to cut it eventually, or find a practical way to tie it.

"Yes, Onii-chan. I'll do my best."