How is her taijutsu as good as Itachi's but she's the outcast of the clan?

First of all I'd like to thank you for your review, it made my entire week! I was hoping someone would ask a question like this one actually, because sometimes I write without taking into consideration that people can't really read my mind, and I wasn't quite sure if what I was trying to say was getting across so yeah.

To answer your question, Akane is a prodigy in her own right, even if she denies it, that's mostly because she believes that a prodigy is everything Itachi and Shisui are, and so she doesn't really see merit in her own abilities. She isn't really an outcast either, she's just unpopular with her classmates and team mates because one she's a girl, and two in the case of her team mates she's younger.

But as for the grownups, even if they don't appear much, they can see the promise in Akane, even if they aren't Uchiha. The members of the clan itself don't really pay it much attention because it's something that's expected of her as not only a member of the Uchiha Clan, but also as Shisui's sister. Up to this point Akane has worked hard to hide the fact that there seems to be something wrong with her coils, so they don't give her much grief about it, because she's doing what everyone expects of her.

If I'm not mistaken, until Sarada appeared into the scene, there wasn't really a female Uchiha badass. Yes we had Mikoto and Izumi, but we didn't really get to see much of their poweress. So my intent with Akane was just that, to bring a female prodigy into the frame, and to emphasize in a way the lack of credit some female characters get in Naruto.

I hope that answers your question! Thanks for the review again, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 6. Denial.

Akira-sensei had been quiet for quite some time; which was unusual given that he was our sensei and a member of the Inuzuka clan at that. I had been listening to Hotaka and Takahiro go at each other's throats for the best of an hour, so I had turned my attention elsewhere. Watching Sensei had been my Plan B, so I noticed almost immediately when his demeanor went a little too relaxed and he stopped attempting to break the fight.

"Hey, Hotaka-kun. I bet you haven't awakened your Byakugan yet! So lame…" Sensei raised an eyebrow at me skeptically. I just decided to flash him an innocent smile.

Someone has to give them a heads up.

"Of course I have! And what do you care? You don't even have the Sharingan yet!" I feigned arrogance as best I could. Puffing up my chest and raising my chin as I walked straighter.

I needed him to locate the enemy for Taka and me, since Sensei must have already have an Idea of where they were.

"The Sharingan requires emotional trauma to be awakened. It's more complex than your useless Byakugan. I bet your range isn't that big either!"

As expected, Hotaka refused to let me win the battle for Clan pride, and without much more taunting, activated his kekkei genkai. The reaction was instantaneous, his eyes widened and he sucked in air harshly. Without wasting more time, he gave us the location of our enemy through a series of academy issued hand signs.

And so, my job was done. The entire team was now aware of the threat and on their guard; and by the time the three Iwa-nin tailing us attacked, our own plan had already been set in motion. The enemy was at least chunin level, I realized, by the way they chose to orchestrate their ambush. Two of them went straight for sensei, clearly thinking we weren't much of a threat, while the third one came to us wielding a rather old set of kunai.

Their mistake though, wasn't their strategy that failed them, no. It was the fact that they didn't take into account one detail: Sensei was an Inuzuka. And Inuzuka shinobi are known to work with canine companions. Considering the size of the average Inuzuka nikken, this was a pretty big mistake on their part. And they only realized it when Kosuke, Sensei's companion, came out from the woods and took down one of them in one swift motion. The man was screaming in terror before his team mates knew what was happening. His black figure hunched over the fallen shinobi biting into the shoulder and collarbone of the man, drawing blood instantly.

Akira-sensei took a kunai out of his pouch and engaged the second attacker. He met the steel blade of the enemy katana with his own blade, making a sharp screech echo through the clearing when metals collided. The third and last shinobi came for us, hopeless little genin in his eyes. Vulnerable, incapable of protecting ourselves.

He wasn't wrong, on our own we couldn't hope to defeat a chunin, we were still not powerful enough. But working together, maybe we could by enough time for Akira-sensei to come to our aid. What we didn't realize at the time was that Sensei would be dealing with his own enemy and trying to help his companion a swell; help wouldn't come.

Hotaka srtiked first; full-speed and Byakugan active, blocking the enemy's tenketsu and rendering him incapable of reaching out for his chakra. Around them, Takahiro, improvised a wire trap; immobilizing the enemy once our team mate retreated. The man was restrained before he knew what was happening, and just as he was reaching out for his pouch to try and get rid of the wires; I started to mold my chakra. Before long, I made the signes needed and our enemy was unable to dodge the Fireball coming his way.

I didn't know what to expect when the huge ball of fire left my lips and reached the man. I guess I'd never given much thought to how different a human target would be to a practice dummy. I sure as hell hadn't expected what I saw. The person slowly burning to death before our very eyes, the noise, the smell; the fact that we knew we had done that. It served as a reminder, of what the world was and who we were. We were training to be killers, and now one of us was. The world was our battlefield and we fought to stay alive.

As I watched the now motionless man burn to ashes I realized why my oba-san had wanted me to become a career bride. I still didn't want that, but I understood where she had come from. The world was a cruel place, and that was the very reason we were going to become shinobi: so the world wouldn't win.

Our mission hadn't been anything special, we were bringing a low level missive to the Fire Temple north of Konoha. The message was meant to be part of a commercial agreement between the temple and one of Konoha's caravans. Which meant that either the message was not that unimportant; or they were looking for something else.

I didn't allow myself to process what I'd just done, and once the noise stopped and the fire extinguished, I turned to where sensei stood. He was examining one of the bodies in search for clues on why we had been targeted. Both Takahiro and Hotaka stood silently by, frozen in place next to the corpse we had just created. I felt like I should be feeling affected by what we had just done, but with the amount of adrenaline rushing through me, I couldn't bring myself to care.

"Was it because of the missive, Sensei?" I asked Akira-sensei as he sent his companion into the woods again in search for more hostiles. "They were shinobi, but they didn't seem to notice Kosuke."

"Nah, these were simple bandits with stolen hitai-ate. They couldn't have noticed him if they tried." He answered, straightening up, and glancing wearily at my unmoving team mates. "OI! Gakis, what are you waiting for? Search the perimeter Hotaka. And you dispose of the bodies, Taka-kun."

Both boys looked like they had just been slapped in the face, as they snapped out of their trance. I turned to go help Taka, but before I could take a step, Akira-sensei put a hand on my shoulder, halting my advance. I turned to look at him, wandering what was it he wanted, and was met by an expression I could only imagine him having under his ANBU mask.

"knew you were good, Akane-chan. But when Tsume-sama called you a prodigy, I have to admit I was quite skeptical." My mind was brought to a halt at the mention of Hana's mother.

Had she insisted I was put under the command of a member of her clan? Did she really think I was a prodigy? I mean I was good for my age, but that was only because I'd had a lot of help throughout the years.

"I'm no prodigy, Akira-sensei. I merely recieved a lot of assistance, some provided by Tsume-sama herself. But I thank you for your praise; I will work hard to live up to it." I assured him, setting off towards Taka-kun before Sensei could say something else.

I hadn't liked the look he had given me, like I was wasting time being on a genin team. But I had decided there would be no shortcuts in my career. No promotion jumps, no ANBU, no elitism for me until I was over thirteen. I would work hard and earn my ranks taking my time with each one. I was already a child-soldier, I didn't want to be an elite just yet.

The rest of the mission went on without a hitch, and before we knew it; a week had come and gone and we were back in Konoha once again. Our first briefing went as well as could be expected, Taka and Hotaka had recovered from their initial shock and were back at each other's throats once again. We were sent home with a report deadline due in two days and an order to regain our strength from Sensei.

…

I made my way to the Uchiha district, not really paying attention to my surroundings. I was worn out from traveling, and more than once on my way home I wished I had mastered the Body Flicker Jutsu before going on my mission. I received a few polite nods as I walked through the compound's streets, it was late in the evening and most shops were closed for the day. But I appreciated the peace it brought after spending an entire week with my team mates.

I sighed as I made it to our front door and made to disarm the traps Shisui had set, only to notice they were already disarmed. I raised my guard once more, taking a kunai out of my pouch and opening the door as silently as I could. The kitchen light at the end of the hallway was on, but I couldn't sense anyone inside. Could be a trap, I have to be careful. Gripping the kunai even harder, I made my way to the kitchen. I stopped outside the door and took a deep breath before jumping in. There was no one to be seen, but I almost had a heart attack when someone behind me spoke.

"Oh it's just you, Akane." I turned around so fast I almost gave myself whiplash, but immediately relaxed when I saw who it was.

Shisui hung upside down from the kitchen ceiling, feet firmly attached to one of the many wooden beams that held up our roof.

"Nii-san, you idiot! I thought we were under attack again!" I protested as my brother cut the flow of chakra to his feet and landed smoothly, almost effortlessly on them.

My brother chuckled at my outburst and ruffled my hair as he returned to his place by the stove, putting his kunai back in his pouch. He finished preparing dinner for the both of us as I set the table and made some tea. We chatted about our missions, or at least I did because Shisui's were mostly classified nowadays. So when I told him about the ambush he wasn't really surprised, but mostly concerned that I'd had to make my first kill the very first time I set foot off Konoha.

"Well I'm glad that everyone returned unharmed, Akane-chan. Just remember to stay on your guard, you were lucky this time but things don't always turn out the way we want them to."

As usual, Shisui was trying to bring me back to earth. He was right, life as a shinobi was hard, and although we didn't necessarily need to turn into emotionless killing machines; we still had to keep our guards up and our bodies trained. It was our job, after all, to be ready for anything. As for what I wanted for myself, it was quite simple. I didn't want to be a burden to Shisui anymore, and becoming a good shinobi was the very first step. Then I had to be able to live up to my name. No sister of Shisui's could be anything other than brilliant. But as for now I thought I was progressing well enough.

Baby steps. I told myself.

One day I'll be able to say I'm his sister with the confidence and pride of a real Uchiha.