AN: Hey, I'm glad to see how well this story is doing and how many people seem to like it, that means a lot and all.

Arc 1
Chapter Title: Sketching Traitors.

"Takezou what are you reading?" a voice asked from my left in the next row of desks.

"Medical texts," I answered mechanically.

"What…?" I could near hear the confusion on Kiba's face as he watched me.

"I'm reading medical texts because my mother wanted to make sure I knew how best to patch people up and keep everyone on my team alive," I said looking to him and his white-furred friend in his jacket head poking out under his chin, ugh why did reading Kanji have to be so hard? That was my only problem with this crap.

"Wait, wait! Are you saying you can read those?! I can't make a lick of sense from any of those Kanji! How're reading any of that if you're dead last?!" he said earning the attention of the actual blonde dead last.

"Hm, what do you mean Kiba? Takezou averages a few places behind Ino and Sakura in the class placing." Chouji said from the row above mine.

"Huh? Whaddya mean? He failed all those assignments and tests! Surely he's worse than Naruto!" his voice full of confusion.

"Just because in the first few years that we were at the academy I had issues with figuring out the answers to stuff doesn't guarantee my place at the bottom after all I think I've done great in the last few years and with one more left I want nothing more than to be ready so I've made an effort to get better," I said having marked the page I was on and closed the book.

Kiba was about to reply when Iruka came in and told everyone to quiet down, he moved through the lesson with the autonomy that was all just rhythm at this point for everyone. I put the text away noticing that it caught Iruka's eye for a brief moment, we were working on chakra and what it was in class, I knew a good majority of what was being taught if not more than what Iruka was teaching leaving me to zone out or just pull out other work and do it while the lesson went on. I didn't do it this time however because I noticed Naruto napping and wanted to make sure he got this knowledge it was important after all and so I pulled out an eraser and threw it at the back of his head making him smack his face into the desk and groan as he shot up now alert and aware that everyone was looking at him. There were a few snickers from around me probably assuming I was trying to get him told off I imagine, but alas all I wanted was for the kid to do well in school.

Naruto got a raised eye from our Sensei when he groaned from being hit, Iruka went back to what he was doing on the chalkboard, Naruto looked back behind him to try see where the eraser had come from and I waved my hand getting his attention and tried to motion and mouth that he should pay attention because it was important what we were learning. Though I think he realised because he turned around and quickly started trying to write down what was on the board and what Sensei was saying.

Shikamaru… the pineapple-haired boy's name flickered across my thoughts as I began drawing a person in my book, I slowly sketched out the outline for the head, the boy hadn't followed me up on me speaking English in front of him in years so I think he's dropped it or just left it as the native language of Lightning, not exactly what I'd want but beggars can't be choosers after all, so long as he doesn't hound me over it. At least Mum and Dad accepted it at face value of being a language I possibly made up on my own because I felt like doing that because they still think I'm a genius though that novelty wore off and they never mentioned it to anyone as far as I can tell, which is nice because I don't want to be put in a situation to turn out like Kakashi or Itachi, as characters in a story I really liked them but as real people now it was a little frightening.

I started detailing the eyes and marking out stress lines on the face in my page, I moved onto the nose and mouth before filling out the hair of the person, before I knew it the class was about to go out to lunch break and I had finished my drawing. The person looked super familiar, but I couldn't place it, the bell rung, I decided just to leave my stuff out since we would be right back into work when the break was over and it's not like I needed to take my back out with me. When I got out into the yard I headed over a tree that had a swing on it, sitting under it in the shade I pulled out the bento Mum had shown me how to make for myself and I started on it when a certain blonde in orange came over and sat on the swing his stomach rumbling softly his face pink from embarrassment.

"You hungry?" I asked the boy holding some rice balls I had out to him.

"Are you sure Take?!" he looked so grateful it was actually kind of sad.

"Don't worry Kiddo you can have it I made more than enough" He took them graciously and munched away silently.

Suddenly I noticed a certain Avenger with a particularly dark scowl walking out of the academy building eyes sharp as they darted about the sea of children, I'm not sure who he could be looking for but I guess he'll be fine it didn't look like he was going to blow a gasket. My thoughts were interrupted by the blonde next to where I was now laying down with my eyes closed.

"Hey Take? Why do you always call people 'kiddo'? you're only a few months older than some of the people in the class…" Naruto's voice trailed off I can only assume something caught his attention.

"Force of habi-" I was cut off mid-sentence by a gloomy form stomping towards us.

"Heyya Bastard! Why the hell are you stomping your way over here I didn't do anything to you!" Naruto said, that's when I opened my eyes to see the resident Uchiha standing over me.

"How's it going Sasuke? We haven't actually had a chance to talk outside the occasional spar, so what's got your blood clotted up?" I spoke as I moved into a sitting position.

He thusly thrust a page of paper in my face "What the Fuck! Is this!" his voice seeping with malice I looked at what seemed to be my page I drew earlier.

"Erm… a drawing I did in class?" I don't know why he's so pissy.

"It's fucking Itachi," he said hands shaking violently at his side.

"Ooh… yeah, it is… I was trying to figure out who they were and why they looked so familiar, but I couldn't place it" I said casually taking the paper from him and looking it over and realising a particular detail, the Itachi had his Mangekyou Sharingan flaring.

"Why the Hell do you have a drawing of Him!?" his voice still seeping with hate.

"Wait, wait whaddya mean? Who's Itachi? Why're so mad Sasuke it's just a drawing?!" Naruto said looking to the last Uchiha.

I answered for the dark-haired boy "Itachi is Sasuke's older brother Naruto, and you know how we haven't seen him in forever? That's him." I finished.

"Wait but, then why did you draw him?" he asked.

"I don't know I just sorta started and then I finished it, I didn't have a clue who I was drawing until Sasuke brought it out here on his warpath" I looked to the fuming Uchiha.

"So what're you going to do Sasuke? You going to punch me for reminding you of a horrific incident or are you going to destroy my drawing?" I asked.

A heavy exacerbated sigh escaped him before he spat a tiny blob of fire at the page in my and setting it ablaze as he stomped off, I dropped the page with a frown. Letting it burn in the dirt before a breeze took off with the ashen remains, the bell rang, and we headed back inside, I went back to drawing but did a landscape instead getting the occasion scowl glare from the Avenger himself which lead to his fan club not liking me more not that I cared. Naruto and I are loosely friends at this point I'd say he's still wary despite the fact I try to talk to him often though he still pulls pranks and makes a general nuisance of himself often getting detentions and such.

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"Aunty Ume?" I asked looking to her as she was on the process of sharpening a Katana and cleaning it.

"What is it Take? Not something to brain intensive please, it's hard to talk and concentrate on this." She was kneeling over a large whetstone with a blade that didn't have its hilt, repetitively going through the fluid motions as she spoke.

I was sitting on the engawa veranda that was outside the screen door in the dojo with a sketchbook I had gotten a year or so ago drawing, I nodded hearing her comment about concentration.

"You know my drawings and sketches?" I got an affirming noise from her "Well apparently they're lifelike enough and I have an imagination that takes off on its own so much that I ended up drawing Sasuke's brother…" I trailed off looking glumly at the page where I had detailed familiar character as close to what I remembered as I could get.

"Sasuke? The Last Uchiha?" she asked slowing to a near stop for a moment.

"Yeah, I ended up drawing his brother unbeknownst to me, I've only seen him once or twice before he defected anyway but for some reason, I drew him right down to a detail I don't think I should have known about." I closed the book after filling the last bit of shading I was doing.

"What detail was that?" Ume looked up from the whetstone.

"His Sharingan, I ended up drawing them with a sorta shuriken or maybe swirly design." My eyes gazed upward into the slightly cloudy blue sky.

"You've never seen a Sharingan before though, so how could you…?" she entirely stopped what she was doing looking to me.

"I don't know, I just assumed it was one the more I looked at it." A sigh escaped me."Sasuke seemed to hate its accuracy so maybe the swirly design was what one looks like?"

"You've got it all wrong kid a Sharingan is between one and three black tomoe on a red-eye, maybe you made up the design subconsciously not that it's any better than out of the blue drawing the kid that murdered your classmates entire family despite only seeing him once." She frowned for a moment.

"You don't want me to take you to a Yamanaka therapist, do you?" I shook my head as she asked not even giving thought to the idea.

"If anything I kind of just wanted your thoughts on the matter really, I don't really want anyone to prod around my head if I can help it." I said having come inside the dojo and was sitting across from her.

"Well," she paused "I'd say for now just ignore the fact that it happened but if you have a few more instances where say something similar happens maybe you should take it up with you parents, there isn't much I can do about it but they might have an idea." She decidedly packed up the blade and whetstone along with the other equipment she pulled out and went to grab two bokken.

"Ready for a round? I'm not getting anywhere with that sword while you're here, so I might as well go a round with you." Ume threw one of the training swords to me and I caught it going into a stance.

With the same inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth I'd done so many times, letting my mind focus on my swordsman aunt, she took to raising the sword above her head to bring down in a single stroke while I took to raising the sword to my right with the tip pointed at her, she held her bokken firmly above her head ready to crush me with her strength, whilst I held myself from walking into her trap.

She never used that stance unless she was planning to change swing directions mid stroke, which she always got me with sadly, I was a fool no longer though, me now eleven give or take the years of my previous life so I didn't plan on falling into that trap unless it was to spring it and show her up with a move I had been practicing in my spare time to show her up. I hadn't named the technique because I had forgotten the name where I stole it from named it, so, eh.

I switched to having the bokken held out before me the tip aimed low towards her knees, we started circling each other when suddenly there was a metal clang from outside, my head snapped in the direction it came from and thusly I felt an excruciating pain on my ribs and shoulder before I was on the ground gasping for breath. my eyes closed for moment and when they opened the screen door that was open was now closed and there was a white light shining through the windows running along the top of the walls of the dojo.

There was a soft comfortable pillow under my head when I sat up and a blanket draped over me, my ribs and right shoulder hurt a lot, I pushed my hands up into the air stretching before clicking my neck and breathed out a heavy sigh trying to ignore the pain. 'I mean I'm already on the floor with a pillow, blanket and a futon under me I might as well sleep'.

laying back down I looked to the ceiling my head resting on the cool pillow, as my breath became rhythmic my eyes closed, I fell asleep.

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There was a soft huffed laugh before I felt more pain.

"AAAAAAGGHHH!" I screamed shooting right up into a sitting position clutching my stomach.

"Good you're up." A gruff voice sounded from my left where my uncle Hatsuda was standing bokken in hand.

"H-Hatsuda? Why?! What compelled you to do that!" I yelled still feeling the pain from him and the pain from yesterday.

"Your Aunt said you were bunking over after she knocked you out, and when we woke up this morning she said she wanted to sleep-in, so I came out here in her place." He put the wooden sword back on the rack and grabbed my hand pulling me to my feet.

I looked down at my clothes, I often just wore t-shirts or singlets with shorts but when I came for training I wore a Hakama and Uwagi or Gi under a kimono, the same kind Ume made her other students wear. The Uwagi was white and the Hakama was deep blue, I pulled the uwagi down, so it was sitting at my waist leaving my upper body out in the open, I tentatively rubbed the dark bruised spots on my already dark skin. A sigh escaped me for a moment 'Eleven years and I'm still not used to having gone from pale skin to dark like this, not that I'm complaining though it's a good change of pace, helps cement the in another world or reincarnation thing' Hatsuda left quietly while I consulted my injuries.

I left the dojo with the shirt still down and walked into the house finally slipping the uwagi back over my arms and went to making breakfast for my Aunt, Uncle and myself. I took the food and set it at the table then walked through the house to their room and knocked on the door and said "Breakfast is ready and at the table when your up" then I went back and started eating my food. When Hatsuda and Ume finally came out I had finished my breakfast and was with my sketch book outside looking at the dojo from the veranda, I lightly scratched out an outline of a face as I began drawing. Ume's dark hair came down over me covering what I was doing.

"What're you drawing Takezou? And shouldn't you be at the academy?" She asked taking a step back as I closed the book on the drawing.

"I was going to try draw someone, anyway as for the academy they probably won't mind if I miss one day, Iruka knows I'm ahead on work and know the three basic Jutsu I'm only there at this point because of the law that says we can't graduate until we're 12 or 13." I said easily.

She made an affirming noise as a smile rose on her face "and I'm sure that your failing in math and struggle with reading isn't in need of furthering to a commendable state." I froze for a moment.

"I bet you're wondering 'how did you know that Aunty Ume?' and that's answered easily my dear lovely nephew Takezou, your mother and father were concerned that their little genius was good but was still stuck for basic things." Her smile grew "Things like taking extra time to read kanji as he was still having trouble matching it as well as always stumbling in math especially with explaining answers, while I agree with your sentiment about how you got there not mattering, getting them right is also an issue." I stood sighing.

"I get it, I'll go have a shower and head there." Her eyebrow rose for a moment.

"Y'know I don't think I ever felt like your Lightning genes were showing until right now, I mean shit you're nearly as tall as me, hm maybe something like a centimetre or so, though my brother is tall he's probably six foot one or two." she compared our heights with her hand.

"Huh, I never noticed that to be honest, guess someone in Mums family was hiding the tall gene from her then." Ume laughed shaking her head at the comment before putting her hand in front of me stopping me from leaving.

"While I agree with your mother and my brother I think you would do well with some more training today, you still want my Nodachi don't you? 'Cause the rate you're going you aren't going to get it until the Chuunin Exams." I looked at her with a face that asked, 'Are you telling me to ditch school?' which she grinned at and turned me steering me in the direction of the dojo I had slept in for the hundredth time in my time training with my aunt.

After another day of her beating me into shape and me still not being able to catch up to her I went home, Mum was in the living room laying on a couch sleeping, I walked past her into the rest of the house to my room where I snagged underwear, a shirt and shorts heading into the bathroom to shower and change. I put my training stuff in the wash and went back to my room, my ribs and shoulder were better but still bruised and probably would stay that way for a few days longer, I laid on my bed for a while until there was a knock on my partially open door.

Dad opened the door coming into the room seeing me "Good you're here I wanted to talk with you about something." He sat down at the desk and I sat up on my bed.

"What is it Dad?" I asked trying to gleam anything from his face about what he was going to say.

"You probably don't know this unless my older sister told you, but you had an older sister Katsuya." He paused letting the supposedly new knowledge set in.

"Yeah Aunty told me a while ago but said not to mention it." I answered.

"Alright then I don't have to explain it then, that'll make this easier then. What I wanted to talk about today specifically was your mother is pregnant again after us trying for another kid." He paused again looking for my reaction "it's too early on to tell if you'll be getting a little brother or sister, but I'll need you to be helping out around the house more like cooking a few more nights a week and try not to stay away at Ume's training when the pregnancy is further along." He sat silent for a moment trying to figure if he'd forgotten anything.

"That's… whoa… I'm going to be an older brother then?!" I couldn't help but be excited, I was previously a younger and older brother, but I was unable to make a mark on my younger siblings.

"Hopefully my sister made you aware of our troubles with your birth as well?" I nodded "Well with this one we're just as worried and Mum will need us more than ever if it comes to that and she loses another child." I got what he meant I can't imagine the pain of losing two children like that let alone Katsuya, with me probably feeling like a miracle already for them.

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Shikamaru waved me over when I got to the academy, he and Chouji were sitting at their desk when I walked in, the class was conversing as per usual. Sasuke was being hounded by the gaggle of girls trying to ride him, Naruto was challenging Kiba to something while Hinata watched them from across the room, Shino was seemingly being ignored leaving the other students to talking amongst themselves.

"You're actually here Takezou? Must be a miracle you've had so many days off over the last year I was beginning to think you had no immunities." Shika said.

I waved the notion off "Nah I just train in Kenjutsu under my Aunt and often she likes to steal me away from going to the academy to train me or she'll end our sessions by knocking me unconscious if I get distracted by sounds and other stuff while we duel." I said to my short friends.

'Man. Ume was right I really am tall, I'm easily a head taller than everyone. Shit it's a little concerning, will I get taller? or is this the only growth spurt I'll have then I'll be left this tall for the rest of my days? Eh I'll worry about my increase in height later it's not like it matters' blowing the thought away I sat down and waited with the other two for Iruka to show up and the class to get underway.

I ran my hand through my hair as I leaned back in the seat after finishing the work in front of me, we were going to be doing spars this afternoon so I was kinda excited to hopefully see all the Kenjutsu strength straining pay off as well as try some stuff. It sucked because we only did Taijutsu classes three times a week and I missed yesterdays, not that continuing in Kenjutsu doesn't outclass Taijutsu class but rather its nice to face off against different people and not get my assed kicked into next Wednesday by someone way above me. When we went out for lunch I think my excited mood was rather apparent because Chouji asked me about it.

"What's got you so excited Take? Are you doing something after the academy today?" he asked as we sat down.

"No nothing out of the ordinary, I guess I'm just super excited for Taijutsu this afternoon. It's one of the classes I enjoy the most because getting a chance to fight people that aren't my Aunt who normally makes an effort to knock me out and whatnot is a good change of pace." I said with a smile.

AN: See you in a month for the next chapter.