A/N: Beta'd by Alice J

Chapter 35 - Autumn Rain, Summer Blaze

The clock was resting at half past seven when my teammates pushed open the door. One would think that they would be less lively in the morning when they spent most of the previous night drinking but no, all those rules about melatonin and internal clocks just don't apply to Anbu agents because Falcon entered with a screaming hello.

Meanwhile, I was trying to save time by spreading all of the pages on the ground, so that my Sharingan could take in all the information at once. My current life generally consists of four parts: Anbu, training, Sasuke & co. (that included Shun, Naruto and all the people I need to socialise with) and… never mind, just three parts. Now that I would be busier with all the captain's responsibility, any exploitation of Kekkei Genkai was welcomed at this point.

"Careful with your steps. If I see even one footprint on the papers, you're dead." I warned them as they steered clear of the 'landmine'.

"Choose your locker, guys. Since you two are early, you get the first pick." I nodded towards the row of empty lockers as I picked up the files laying on the floor in an order that only I remembered. Technically, I have been here since six but their call time was eight. Even if their intentions weren't very pure, seeing that Falcon and Zebra were examining every single locker like there were extensive traps in them (getting a good locker was very important), I did appreciate the little proactiveness.

"How are our new teammates looking? Anything interesting?" Falcon asked as he finally decided on a locker.

"One new recruit, one transfer. There's one specialised in sensing among other stuff, so you get to have a buddy," I responded. My new team was rather small compared to Team Ro and it wasn't heavily loaded with combat based agents. It made sense since I still required much more experience and a smaller team of five would be a good point to start at.

"Oh? Which one is it, the recruit or the transfer?"

"The transfer. Been in Anbu for three months, reassigned after his old team was disassembled." I only picked the important points to tell him because frankly, I didn't even know much about them. The files only contained relevant information such as their specialisation, previous training records, and skill specs to protect the confidentiality of the agents, not that it always works. I supposed that this was what Kakashi meant when he said to look beyond the simplistic and monochrome profiles.

"Really, is he any good?" Falcon asked again, and I had a feeling that he was up to no good again with that mischievous glint in his eyes.

"According to his track record, very," I said as I flipped through the chart. "He has already been a Chunin for a few years before being drafted into Anbu and apparently, his other specialty is taijutsu." The report was very thorough in terms of combat related information, so that meant I just needed to test for one more thing before completing a full analysis of my new teammate's abilities: Team cooperation.

"Also, we need to sort out the projectile weapons." I pointed at the three boxes of kunai and shurikens that I had found in the storage room. Since these were all recycled weapons, they were tangled with ninja wires and each other. I have to report the exact number of weapons we received in the beginning of a yearly cycle in order to get reimbursed for replacements.

You know, Kakashi never talked about all these small but annoying labours before. A captain deals with all things ranging from locking the locker room to sending in damage reports for any accidentally burned down buildings on missions - the kind of housekeeping things that OLYMPUS never bothered to teach us.

We only had enough time to go through one box completely before the door was opened. Immediately, I turned my eyes onto the two people standing by the door dressed in Anbu standard gear. Two masks - an owl and a raven - entered my field of vision.

A simple hello would have done, but instead, the moment one of them laid eyes on me, he let out a groan of anguish. Well, thanks, what did I do to get such a sound of agony. It took me a second to realise that it was my eyes. I had opened the Sharingan earlier for the sake of convenience in sorting weapons and I had never thought of turning it off. Even with the mask on, one could still see the unusual red colour through the eye holes.

"Is there a problem?" I asked the owl-masked man, halting the movement of my hands. However, when he stepped past the shadow, I realised what the problem was.

He had monochromatic white eyes that signified his status as a member of the Hyūga Clan. But really, it was the man's reaction that had truly intrigued me. Usually, a member of a Noble Clan like the Hyūga would learn social etiquettes from a very young age so that no matter what they think, they would appear to be courteous and polite on the outside. In fact, from the uncomfortable silence that I was getting, I could feel his struggle between feeling regretful of letting out that undignified sound and coming up with an excuse for it.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?" I prompted again, wondering if he was just really shocked by the Sharingan or if it was because of something else.

"No." Perhaps there was just a hint of unfriendliness in that denial. "I apologise for my rude reaction." And then, the unfriendliness was replaced by a feigned politeness. I got the feeling that he couldn't make up his mind about how to treat me yet.

"It's just that I've heard quite a bit about you. Some say that you are difficult, others deem you to be inexperienced, and the remaining ones claim that you are dangerous." It seemed that he was yet again changing his attitude. They were all sound observations from many different perspectives, I supposed.

"What about you, what do you think?" I asked with curiosity. He was definitely different from the Hyūgas I had worked with over the years, which wasn't that many, granted. However, there was an air of agitation around him, like he was desperate to start a conflict.

"I don't trust you," he answered harshly, "The Uchiha before you murdered his own Anbu team in cold blood when he ran out of the village." Okay, now that's a territory we don't go into.

"Leave your preconceived notions at the door. I'm not bringing up your past history, so don't bring up mine," I said coldly. Hokage-sama must have felt especially courageous the day he decided to assign a Hyūga and an Uchiha onto the same team. I must have struck a nerve because I saw a flicker of pain and anger in his otherwise blank eyes. It was then I realised why he was having so much trouble controlling the polite manners today.

Perhaps, he was just angry.

Owl was the new transfer from the disassembled Anbu team, a young member of age sixteen. No matter how much euphemism one used, 'disassembled' usually meant more or less one thing: the team had taken such a huge damage that there weren't enough people left to continue. Whether that meant the members had died or retired, those details were considered to be confidential and thus were excluded from his profile. Also, he was being transferred at a critical time and was probably still adjusting to the Anbu lifestyle. I get it, he was angry and agitated, unfamiliar with a new situation, and suddenly finding out that he had to work under an Uchiha on top of everything just sort of made it all explode.

So in light of all the possible reasons, he attacked me.

Well, not exactly 'attacked', per se. For the sake of my new team's peace, I was willing to write it off as a friendly poke aiming for a very important tenketsu spot. Still, it didn't make it less annoying when I had to quickly grab a kunai and use the flat side to block the exact spot where the tenketsu that would have cut off my chakra was.

The Hyūga were not easy targets to fight with. Personally, I believe that the best method to fight them is to not let them touch you at all since one click at the wrong spot meant that your body would be dead for a whole five minutes. Sharingan reveals their attacking patterns to be as clear as day but Byakugan would see through most Sharingan genjutsu, so I guess that we were even.

"See, we are not that different," I said calmly as his hand was halted by the kunai in my left hand while the handle of another kunai in my right was pressed forcefully against his neck. "You like to aim for the tenketsu and I like to aim for the jugular vein."

"I apologise, I acted rashly." I could actually hear a hint of genuine apology in his voice when he retracted his hand. "I just wanted to see your Sharingan in action." Soon after, I did the same. This Hyūga was weird, so weird that I couldn't figure out his problem or motive at the moment. It was like he was in a constant mood swing with rationality fighting against agitation.

"Don't worry, we can do that later. We'll be working together, so you'll get plenty of chances," I finally said after a moment of silence. Yep, Hokage-sama was either very brave or very drunk when he made the decision. Or perhaps, he was taking the phrase 'what a coincidence!' way too far.

"Now, sit down," I ordered and he obeyed without any resistance. I pointed at the remaining two boxes of weapons and ordered again, "Start sorting the weapons." I needed the numbers in by today, so any free labour was fair game on the table. With no complaints, Owl started to pull out piles of weapons and diligently worked on separating them.

"What about you? You going to come in quietly or do you have a show to put on as well?" I turned my attention towards the other guest. Raven, the new fourteen-year-old recruit, had only recently completed his general physical conditioning.

Raven nodded quickly, not showing a speck of emotion. For some reason, he seemed awfully familiar. I couldn't say why, but my intuition just screamed at me that I knew him from somewhere. He stepped into the locker room and closed the door behind him before he also sat down to sort the weapons, much to my appreciation.

"Since our introductions were cut short, let's start again," I said as we were just finishing up the third box. When I got their full attention, I continued, "Welcome to Team Kō, I am Rabbit, your current Captain. I am new to my position, so please tolerate me."

"This is Zebra, our combat medic-nin. If you want your battle wounds to be treated without pain, I suggest that you don't piss him off." I waved towards Zebra who nodded in acknowledgement.

"Falcon is our sensor, so he will be working with Owl to corroborate information." I pointed at Falcon, who gave them a smile to lighten the mood.

"Raven, since your specialisation is mainly assassination, I will be mentoring you." The boy was calm and collected in accepting the news, but still, I couldn't shake off that feeling of familiarity.

"Team Kō is assembled as a combat-oriented task force, so please make sure that you have something - taijutsu, ninjutsu, bukijutsu - to stay alive. However, I hope that you know the improvements in your skills are largely based on your own practice and dedication." I wasn't too worried about their combat skills. The Hyūga was definitely an overachiever with his taijutsu and as for Raven, I would have to monitor his training anyway.

"As for the topic of trust," I eyed Owl, whose Byakugan was as white as ever, "Since we are on the same team, some basic level trust between comrades is needed to guarantee survival. However, any further doubts that you need to clear, try to judge them for yourself over time, not from the gossips outside."

There were a few nods followed by a calm silence where none of us spoke. The clattering of weapons continued until all the kunai, shuriken, and knives were sorted neatly into small piles.

"Let's go to training ground 61," I proposed suddenly, then turned to Owl, "I can see it in your eyes that you want to beat the crap out of me." At first, he looked bewildered at my straight forward words, but soon, he nodded as well. In the meantime, I could see my old teammates' eyes light up in curiosity. A fight between a Hyūga and an Uchiha, I would pay to watch, except that I would rather be the observer than being the one in it.

However, I kind of wanted to try the Hyūga Gentle Fist taijutsu right now, despite knowing that it was referred to as the bane of an Uchiha's existence.

Maybe I was just feeling masochistic and studious.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

The moment we made the seal of confrontation, I started to regret my decision while feeling amazed at the same time.

The Hyūga Gentle Fist could definitely be called the epitome of taijutsu. It undoubtedly covered all aspects of a good close combat style. Speed, precision, and power. My ancestors might roll in their graves if they ever heard me saying this, but without the Mangekyou Sharingan, most Uchiha would have a very hard time against a Hyūga of similar age and amount of years of training. In terms of hand to hand taijutsu with no weapon, I would lose spectacularly.

That became apparent when he first charged towards me. My Sharingan was able to pick up his aim just barely before the attack actually arrived. Immediately, I raised the sheathed tantō and blocked the fist that was aiming for my shoulder.

Speed, very fast; impact, medium strength; effect if connected with my shoulder, definitely something unpleasant. I only had the time to organise that information before his other fist arrived near my heart. Quickly, I took a step to the side and let his hand sail past my turned body, all the while whipping out the other sheathed sword and struck towards his stomach.

The force from the strike forced him to take a step back, but he calmly sliced his hand towards my neck like a kunai while his other hand was still forcefully exerting his paralysing chakra against my tantō so that if I dared to retract my sword, it would go right through to my arm. Without any other choices, I body flickered away before my neck would be hit.

It wasn't a surprise when his attacks followed the moment I landed somewhere else, his Byakugan was known for its extensive field of vision, after all. Immediately, I made the hand seals to bring up a circle of earth walls for defence. The stone was quickly penetrated by the Gentle Fist but it still gave me enough time to drop the sheaths of my swords in order to expose the metal blades.

When he broke through the stones, his fist was quickly met by a metallic blade surging with paralysing electricity. The electricity hungrily ran past his hand towards his arm, but with a quick rotation of his feet, he was able to break free of the contact all the while using the spinning momentum to thrust another fist towards a rare point on my arm - about thirty-four millimetres above my elbow.

Quickly, I flicked my sword and drew a wide arc towards his exposed neck. It was a gamble to see if he would withdraw his attack for defence. It turned out, he would. His strike slowed down for a second as he forced his body back, giving me just enough time to use the other blade to force his hand away.

The surge of electricity on his arm disappeared quickly once the contact with my lightning chakra coated sword was lost. Using the Sharingan's rudimentary skill in seeing chakra, I could tell that he was excreting chakra precisely from the tenketsu in his arms to negate the paralysing lightning. That made sense, considering that he was probably able to release chakra at any tenketsu in his body and inject them into my tenketsu, therefore causing paralysis, internal bleeding, and a whole lot more of unpleasant stuff I would prefer to avoid.

We broke apart for a second time as my opponent re-established his fighting stance, except for this time, I charged first. At the moment, my swords were the only things that could protect me against his fists. With the lightning that coated the blade, he would need to constantly exert his chakra to cut through mine, which meant that it would take longer for his chakra to seep past the metal and into my body.

Immediately, the sound of metal against fists was heard throughout the training ground. He was very diligent in aiming for all kinds of crucial points on my chest, neck, head, arm … virtually everywhere that had a tenketsu. Fighting with him felt like fighting with a puddle of water, always so fluid and natural with changing the positions and directions of his strikes. But with the Sharingan, I could discern his attacking pattern very easily. I suddenly felt very glad that I had invested more time into speed-oriented taijutsu and kenjutsu more than anyone else in my clan.

After five minutes, he was starting to feel the drain on physical stamina. I could see his movements starting to slow down a bit as he blocked a strike aiming for his stomach. Anbu agents tend to have better physical stamina since we were trained to move faster, fight more and take on assignments at the moment's notice. Since I was in Anbu a lot longer, I had a lot of time to get my stamina up while his training had only just started.

Experimentally, I looked up and locked eyes with him. As the red stared into the white, I cast a genjutsu. Even if his visual was still unhindered by the ability to see chakra, the sense of touch and pain might still shock him, and it did. The moment I thrust my sword towards his shoulder at the exact same spot he had tried to seal my own chakra with at the very beginning of the battle, his Byakugan pulsed violently, signifying that he had broken free of my genjutsu.

Nevertheless, the sword nicked a cut and send a torrent of lightning chakra down into the wound. If there really was a tenketsu spot there, the lightning would have paralysed his chakra circuit and therefore would have been harder to dispel. I couldn't release any pure chakra in an instant like the Hyūga, but I could inject lightning-natured chakra into one's body through wounds and it was way more lethal than just the paralysis on the skin.

He was surprised by the sudden paralysis, but it didn't faze him. Immediately, he rotated smoothly and performed a roundhouse kick. Instinctively, I brought up my arms to block it and completely forgot to use the metal to prevent a tenketsu being hit.

His foot hit my armguard with a strong force and soon, I could feel his destructive chakra seeping past my skin and instantly stopping the chakra flow in my left arm. Begrudgingly, I blew out a Great Fireball, which was so familiar to me that I didn't need any hand seals, to force him to let go.

The fireball separated us effectively as I flipped backwards to adjust my balance. As my paralysed arm dropped the tantō and slumped with soreness, I saw my fireball being blown apart by a mass amount of chakra released from Owl's body.

Ah, now I see why the Uchiha hated the Hyūga; they are our weakness by nature. However, there was a small detail that intrigued me. When he first broke out of my genjutsu, he turned his head towards the back for an instant before returning his attacks to me.

Just to test the theory again, I flickered towards him again. Even though one of his arms was slower than the other because of the earlier attack, his taijutsu attacks were still as vicious and precise as ever. As I dodged his fists, I stabbed one of the swords into the ground and released a web of lightning.

Smoothly, he reorganised his steps and rotated his body carefully to flee the lines of electricity, but I had already predicted his path since I had really left only one opening in the web of icy blue. Quickly, I locked my eyes with his once more and used the strongest genjutsu I could muster with a normal Sharingan. In reality, the difficulty of a genjutsu depended on how badly we could mess up a person's chakra; the more coils we could infect, the more sensory and emotional perceptions we could control. While the Hyūgas were experts at recognising chakra coils and could control chakra flows, it didn't mean that genjutsu doesn't require time to break.

Very bravely, I pushed the hilt of my sword forward as his movement halted for less than a fraction of a second. There it is, he turned his head back instinctively to look for danger … My sword hilt smashed into his mask mercilessly just as he had finally returned to the world of reality. The sword made a large crack on his mask as he fumbled backwards, but he regained his balance quickly and thrust a palm towards my lower sternum.

After the last time he destroyed my left arm, I made it my life's mission to never get touched by him again. So straightaway, I flickered away, silently thanking Shisui for really hammering down on my body flicker.

I could feel his presence looming over me the moment I had regained my footing, so immediately, I blew out another two-metre fireball to halt his movement. Perhaps, it was the stamina's issue because this time, instead of negating the attack using a well-timed release of chakra, he flickered backwards and dodged it, letting the fireball smash into the forest nearby and therefore, effectively starting a mini fire.

Okay, one arm down, that limits things, but I'm just going to have to make do.

Once I located his position again, I immediately made the one-handed seals for a fire release. A dozen little balls of concentrated flames shaped like dragon heads flew off into the distance and surrounded the Hyūga. In terms of range, this attack was very similar to Phoenix Sage fire, but the added step of shape manipulation would result in a more refined fire release and therefore, harder to negate using chakra.

I force the dragon heads to attack him at different angles and I had to say, I was fascinated by the fact that he was able to block most of them with the precise strike of a hand. I could see the tiny needle-like projections made out of chakra that sliced the fireball apart. Using this method, he was able to get rid of six of them while dodging the other six.

Before he could move, I remotely controlled the remaining six dragon heads to attack him again and shot off a series of basic wind blades from my right palm. Under Owl's watchful eyes that were full of suspicion, the wind blades collided with the fireballs and the dragon heads instantly doubled in size.

I was careful in controlling a few wind blades to stay out of the fray. While the Hyūga rotated fiercely to negate all the bouncing flames, I caught the one moment where his rotating steps had halted to get rid of one especially large fireball and sent the wind blades flying to him from the behind

The genjutsu earlier blinded him for a mere moment, but that was enough for him to panic afterwards and immediately check the one spot that he couldn't see for sure. It was an instinctive action, and I doubt that he even realised it, but old habits die hard. I could deduce that the general direction was behind his neck, however, it was the concentrated wind blades that helped me determine where exactly that spot was.

The aggressive dragon heads took more chakra to dispel than some D-rank wind blades, forcing him to keep most of his stances facing towards the front. So, for most of them, he managed to dodge or just ignore them as they sailed past his body. However, there was one that had flown towards the back of his neck at around forty-five degrees above the horizon, yet he didn't react to it until it was literally an inch from his neck. It forced him to turn around and actually cut through the wind blade.

Really, that's the only spot his eyes can't see? In that case, he seriously doesn't need to move his head that much to check for danger. That was a bad habit, turning his head for almost forty degrees just to get that one-degree coverage. The worst part was that he had a tendency to turn his head both from the left and right during the two instances of genjutsu. That was how I had figured out that the blind spot was directly behind him; if his weak spot was only on one side, his habit would be more consolidated to only turn from that one side.

At that moment, I decided that I would hate and admire the Byakugan with a passion. So at the same moment as he was striking the wind blade, I readjusted my grip on the ninjatō and flickered as fast as I could. The moment I had arrived behind him, the tip of the blade was already touching the base of his neck.

It didn't matter if he had seen the rest of my body, what mattered was the fact that he couldn't see the weapon, and therefore, he only turned to strike my body instead of blocking the sword. His palm collided with my ribcage a second later, but other than the painful impact, he didn't inject his chakra because the cold metal had already made a thin red line on his neck from the back to the front. If I had pressed any harder, it would have pierced him.

"I hate your taijutsu, it's like the bane of my existence," I said bitterly as we made the seal of reconciliation, seeing that I still couldn't feel anything from my left arm.

"Yet you still won and you found my blind spot," the Hyūga shot back with a hint of anger.

"You have a bad habit of turning your head to check for it, you know that?" I raised an eyebrow at him while he just frowned. After a few seconds of contemplation, he shook his head.

"Why would you tell me?" He asked with confusion, and I just threw him a glare that said 'are you dumb?'

"One of these days, I would really like to work with a Hyūga who isn't hostile to me. Your taijutsu almost killed me, so I would prefer to be on the same side as you." I pointed at my left arm expectedly and Owl hit the tenketsu point again with quite some reluctance. Immediately, I started to shake my arm furiously to get the paralysis off.

"Let Zebra see to the cuts and burns," I said to the boy, and immediately, I could feel the heated accusatory glares. "What? I'm desperate. I had to come up with something for the Gentle Fist," I defended quickly.

"Your ninjutsu is too annoying, but I thought that I would never meet an Uchiha with a decent taijutsu." After that, he just walked away from the field and retreated into the forest. I wasn't even sure that it was a compliment seeing that he had just degraded my whole clan. However, it was true that against his Gentle Fist, all I could do was evade. Speed and kenjutsu solved half of my taijutsu problems while stamina solved the rest. Give him time to pull up his fitness and I might not be able to evade his attacks for this long.

That being said, the next time I fight a Hyūga, I would definitely go for a different attack route. Curiosity killed the cat; because of my curiosity towards his Gentle Fist, I had stubbornly engaged him in a taijutsu battle and therefore one of my arms was still sore. If there was any satisfaction in this ordeal, it was the fact that I still had a lot to learn. Speed was a problem, so was the fluidity of my strikes. I should probably work on the non-sensory aspects of my genjutsu as well. Also, I was trying to remember all the tenketsu spots where he had tried to hit me. I might not be able to use the Gentle Fist, but the idea of precise strikes was the same with my own taijutsu style. A hit on a small tenketsu could block the chakra pathway, but there were some rather large tenketsu that could cause extreme pain.

"Would you like to have a go, Raven?" I asked the other boy standing at the edge of the field. The fight had been difficult, but since we were not actually killing each other, I didn't use that much chakra. The boy nodded quietly and pointed at his sword, and I immediately understood that he wanted to have a kenjutsu battle.

I picked up the fallen tantō on the ground and signalled him towards the centre of the field. However, the moment he had raised his sword in an attacking stance, I knew who he was.

Yep, it's him. I don't know if this was pure chance or Hokage-sama's way of showing humour, but it just took 'ironic coincidence' to a whole new level.

It was quite obvious from the moment he took out his sword, and the next ten minutes when I parried with him just confirmed my guess. The way he raised his sword up to his chest level for an offence position, the ability to fluidly use his sword with both hands, and the fast precise strikes so similar to mine. That was the Shinbara Kenjutsu style, combining Iaijutsu with the essence of Nitōryu. The last time I checked, Akira Shinbara, the current holder of the Shinbara Kenjutsu style, had only taught it to three students in the past five years. There was only one boy among the three.

With the last strike, I flicked his sword aside and it hit the ground a few metres away. I looked at his raven mask sourly, unsure of how to accept the fact that out of all the Anbu teams he could have been assigned, Hokage-sama sent Ryuu to mine. I could see the reasoning aspect of all this, just a bit. He had only been learning with Shishou for two years before he was drafted into Anbu. It was plausible to think that I would be the best person to instruct his kenjutsu, given that I had actually 'graduated' from Akira-shishou's charge.

"All of you are dismissed for now!" I yelled to the two teenagers immediately and the Hyūga left without a second reminder. Then, I turned my attention to the other boy, "Raven, be back here in two hours, we need to start your training as soon as possible." Of course, after I finish an important chat with our Shishou.

When the two new recruits left the training field, I walked back to Falcon and Zebra who were extinguishing the flames from the fireball earlier and sat down in the shade. In Konoha, the weather was quite hot during the summer, but as soon as it hit August, the weather cooled down so much that it could be called an early autumn.

"Owl's taijutsu is really powerful. He will be a strong addition to the team if you two could just get the family feud sorted out," Falcon teased beside me.

"There's no family feud, you need a clan to start that. At least, I don't have a family feud, don't know about him." The Hyūga and the Uchiha rarely saw eye-to-eye when we were still both Noble Clans. In the end, most of those competitions came down to pride.

"Shame. What about the other one, he's in your expertise, what do you say?"

"Good potential; needs more practice." And probably some attitude adjustment based on my previous experiences with him, I added in my head.

"I think you two can relax for today. I'll finish tallying up the weapons later so you two don't have to worry about it," I said to my teammates and both of them nodded expectantly, "A mission assignment should be given in about a few days, so stay alert."

Pretty soon, both of them had left. I stayed under the shade for a while longer, enjoying the chilling breeze that fought off the summer heat.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

There were only two places Shishou could be if he was not on a mission: the Jounin lounge or his home. Looking at the time of the day, the chances of him being in the lounge was probably higher. Now that he didn't have any students to deal with, he was quite relaxed.

Quickly, I packed up all the weapon boxes and pushed them into spare lockers. Before I left, I took off the grey vest and threw on a jacket, not even bothering to change the rest. Trust me, after a few years in this line of business, time becomes a more important matter and appearance less so every day. Which was probably why Shishou wasn't startled (although weird looks were given) when I burst in through the doors just as he was about to pour a cup of coffee.

"Coffee?" After half a second of awkward silence, Akira-shishou accepted my insanity and asked casually.

"Sure, thank you." What else was I supposed to answer? Nonchalantly, Shishou grabbed another mug and placed it next to his.

"What brings my long-time-no-see pupil here?" He asked as he poured the hot brown liquid into both cups.

"We need to have a talk, a very important talk, preferably somewhere private," I answered.

"A very important secretive talk? Is this about that thing that starts with an 'A' which we both are very familiar with?" Akira-shishou raised an eyebrow as he handed me the cup of coffee.

"Yes, Shishou, this is about that thing that starts with an 'A'." I accepted the cup of warm coffee as Shishou scrunched his eyebrows. I could almost see the wheels in his brain turning, contemplating whether or not it was a good idea to indulge me with my sudden and potentially rule-breaking conversation.

"Fine, now is as good of a time as ever, since there's no one here. What do you want to talk about?" He asked after a few seconds of thinking and I wasted no time in stating my question.

"Did you recommend Ryuu to Anbu?"

"Boy, you really like to cut to the chase, don't you? Why, did Momo say something about it?" Akira-shishou laughed dryly, then he sat down on the couch as if he suddenly realised that this talk would be long.

"I am always very straightforward with you, Shishou. However, if it were just something Momo said while she was worried, I wouldn't have bothered you with it." Seriously, what did he expect me to talk about? I thought we had reached a consensus that this is about Anbu.

"Hokage-sama recruited him, he is an excellent kid, not as inhuman as you are, but still, you must know that his unusual kekkei genkai is highly valued. If not for Momo, then why are you here?"

"Ah, I came here because I just discovered who my new teammate is. Guess what, it's that kid." I waited for a second for any kind of reaction, but he just sat there and stared. Then, out of nowhere and several beats late, he choked on his coffee and coughed violently.

"Wait, you got a new teammate? How?" I narrowed my eyes at my shishou with disbelief, really, that was the only point you caught in the whole sentence? After taking another breath, I clarified what I said.

"Long story short, our team got split because we need room for new recruits. The real point here is that your favourite student, my not-so-favourite kouhai, is on my team, flaunting that incomplete kenjutsu training he learned from you."

"Okay? I fail to see the point here, I would think that it's a good thing that Ryuu gets to be under your wing. Got to show your responsibility as the senpai somehow, given how little you've shown over the past few years," Akira-shishou said it so nonchalantly that I really kind of wanted to throw some coffee at him just to see if he would wake up.

"Shishou! I'm serious!" I yelled exasperatedly. I was really trying to make a serious conversation here, and no, I refused to let this become another conversation about my supposed laziness.

"I know, I know, you and he have some unresolved issues and the two of you don't get along. But you are always wearing the mask, aren't you? If you don't want to tell him who you are, then he wouldn't be able to recognise you."

"We will be working together, it's not like the Sharingan is very common around here," I said with dead seriousness.

"Okay, let's just hypothetically say that there are some minor issues with confidentiality, I still can't see what the problem is?" Upon hearing his words, I fell silent, wondering if I could actually talk about the major issue.

"Um… you see, I might have, just might have, seen him somewhere back in the days, while I was on an Anbu assignment, killing someone. And I am pretty sure he saw my face as well," I articulated the words slowly and as the sentence progressed, my voice became quieter. I should have taken the precaution back then, probably erasing his memory of me when I showed him the genjutsu. But then again, if he didn't have the reassurance of someone showing him the escape route, he might have thought he was crazy and go mad.

"... Back in the days as in when?"

"Okay, you know that two years ago, there was a political struggle between two factions in Kusagakure? However, before the conflict was resolved, one faction's leader disappeared without a body ever being found, presumably assassinated. After that, the faction dissolved itself, the government were stabilised, and Konoha's relationship with Grass was as good as new again." Seeing that this was going to be a long conversation, I sat down on the couch as well, across from Shishou.

"Wait, don't tell me you did that," I nodded, "... you performed the assassination, didn't you." I nodded again as Akira-shishou facepalmed. For what? It was not like I had a reason to say no.

"And Ryuu? Don't tell me you met him there, I know he was from Grass, but for him to bump into you on your mission, that's just ridiculous." Oh, shishou, you won't believe how much ridiculous shit I have seen over the years.

"The Grass political leader who died, he was using rescued war orphans as a front for human trafficking, and that's how I infiltrated his place. So while I was at it, I found the kidnapped children. Ryuu … I don't know what happened, but he was one of them. I was hoping, Shishou, that you would provide me with some information as to how he enrolled in the Academy." Shishou stayed silent while I waited. Back when I had first met him, his unusual appearance as an Academy graduate stirred up my paranoia. But I kept my distance and shut my desire for an interrogation because he didn't diss about my secret in Nishikawa's villa. Now, by whoever's command, it seemed like I couldn't keep that distance anymore.

"Ryuu, his official status just before he passed the Chunin exam was still under 'refugee'. He came two years ago, which matches the timeline of your mission. However, at that time, he wanted to be admitted into the Shinobi Academy instead of the civilian one. I heard that it was rejected initially until they tested his physical fitness and chakra coil and found that it was close to a year three Academy student. Given his Kekkei Genkai, he might come from a shinobi lineage." Shishou gave it a slight pause before continuing.

"They put him in his age group just for the sake of it. I thought he would fail the first test since it would hardly matter as he can just repeat a year, but apparently, his growth was phenomenal, all the way from the most behind kid to one of the best in the year. I don't know what kind of answer you are looking for, but just tell me, are you asking for personal reasons or security reasons?" Shishou's mass amount of info dump came to a halt with the fundamental question: What do I plan to do with the information.

"Personal ones," I said after much thinking. I supposed that there was always this thing on my mind when I saw Ryuu under any circumstances, like a haunted past I wanted to bury and that was why I had planned to avoid him until the world ends.

"Then you shouldn't be having this talk with me. I told you everything I know, any other personal stuff you want to figure out, I'm not the one to ask." It didn't take much for him to put on that teacher side, did it? I nodded slightly and drank the cup of coffee quickly before deciding to go back to the training ground again.

"By the way, congratulation on the promotion though I would've been happier if you told me yourself." As I squeezed myself out of the door, Shishou said in an awfully cheery attitude.

"Oops, sorry, Shishou, I'll come visit you and Shinsei-kun sometimes." I waved back with an apologetic smile.

"Wouldn't count on it. But please take care of Ryuu and correct that incomplete kenjutsu of his." Despite the words he said, anyone could hear that gleeful tone in his voice, probably due to the mention of his precious son. Shinsei was only seven right now and he had only just started his training in kenjutsu. After a quick nod for the promise, I left for the training ground in order to fulfil it somehow.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

His kenjutsu isn't too bad, that was the first thought that came to my mind when I raced to the training ground. Based on the hacking marks on the tree trunk, I would say that he had been here for at least an hour.

"Your free leg is not in the right position, and it makes your transition steps slower," I commented blandly as I leant against a tree. The boy whipped his head around so fast that it was a wonder that his mask stayed on. Still, I could see that pair of familiar dark eyes through the holes, staring at me, examining my own presence under the rabbit mask.

"Be careful of the leg you are not putting your weight on during a strike or else your follow-up attack will be slowed," I added again. With a slight nod, the boy proceeded to try the attack once again. This time, it was much better as two clean strikes landed on the tree, making another two incision marks.

"Captain, I thought the session starts in thirty minutes?" As I was pulling my own 'teaching materials' out of the sealing scroll, I heard the teenager ask from a distance.

"I'm fulfilling my 'senpai duty' as mentioned by our sensei unless of course, you've got somewhere to be in the next thirty minutes?" I cocked my head to the side a bit and asked innocently. I could see his body tense up for a second and his hand twitch at the straightforwardness. Aww, he is already flustered, no wonder Kakashi likes to tease me, this is kind of fun.

"No, Maiko-senpai, I don't." The boy answered honestly, already catching on to the direction of this conversation.

"Good, because we've got a lot to cover today," I said to him as I set up the dummy and motioned him closer.

"I don't know why you would choose assassination as your specialty, but it's your choice. So the first thing you need to learn is the human body anatomy." I pointed at the dummy in my hand as the boy provided me with his undivided attention. See, when Kakashi and I went through this, it only took us maybe ten minutes to get on the same page, but for a new learner, it would probably take days, even weeks to memorise and identify these deadly spots in different body types.

"First, let's talk about the head. The brain is the most important part, you destroy someone's brain, they are pretty much as good as dead. So depending on the weapon you use, there are several spots you can pick."

"If you use senbon, then the eye is a good point of entry. With a good hit, you can pretty much penetrate the critical region of the brain." I gestured at the cross mark I made on the eyes of the dummy before turning it around to show the back of its neck. "However, for a more reassuring hit, the brainstem is a great choice. Once the weapon severs the brain stem, it's an instant paralysis of all movement and voice. More importantly, even if the target doesn't die immediately, the dysfunctioning of breathing and heart rate will definitely finish the job."

Watching the young boy listen attentively to my lecture almost gave me a sort of accomplished feeling. He better be paying attention, I spent a whole thirty minutes just on the colour marking.

"Next, we move onto the neck, another spot with several options, but the target would most likely be well protected. Jugular veins, carotid arteries, both need to be severed in order to kill a target fast. However, if you cut deep enough, the trachea can be cut to ensure that no sound will be made." I made a slicing motion with my fingers across the dummy's neck to demonstrate my point. Ryuu seemed to be following okay, seeing that he was eyeing the critical points I mentioned closely.

"Another common option with the neck is to break it. A good twisting motion damages the spinal cord and maybe even the brain stem, causing instant paralysis and eventual death. The strength of this method lies in that it doesn't spray any blood, therefore one can disguise the assassination and delay the discovery of death."

"So kind of like what you did with that kidnapper guard back then." Suddenly, the previously silent boy spoke up. Even though he tried to keep his voice detached, I could feel the unevenness of his intonation, as if he had waited for so long before he could say something.

"Ryuu, just because I was nice to you for one second doesn't mean you get to push the boundaries. I think I've told you once before, you say one word about that, I will kill you." I eyed him harshly, trying to figure out what it was that he wanted. We had such a good oblivious atmosphere before, keeping the secrets silent; keeping the past buried.

"I never thought that included telling you as well," Ryuu answered, eyes staring back defiantly against my criticising gaze. Ah, he wanted the reassurance for the single most confusing thing in his life, I guess I couldn't really blame him for that.

"Yes, I killed that guard by breaking his neck, and I also remember telling you to get the hell away after that. So, what did you do?" As Ryuu's posture relaxed a bit from my apparent willingness to discuss the topic, I posed my own question. This was a fair trade, he got my story, now I wanted his.

"We ran. Just like you said, all the people near the room had left in a hurry just as everyone else woke up. I took them on the escape route you showed me using the genjutsu - I only learned what that was after I got here - and we got out okay, but then everything went wrong." I watched as Ryuu paused momentarily after spitting out everything in one breath, then continued after taking a deep breath. He must have been holding back on the topic for so long with no one to tell, and I had been the one who kept on denying him that opportunity.

I didn't want to deal with him because he was a reminder of a past decision I had made. A decision in which I didn't want to know the outcome or take the responsibility for.

"We were planning to go seek refuge in a nearby village, but we got attacked on the way. The bandits, they took a third of us and the rest could only run away. The group went separate ways after that. Half of us continued to a Grass village, and I took the other seven to find Konoha." In stark contrast to his previous detached voice, there was a definite hint of pain leaking out.

"The seven children who came with you, how are they?" I asked, shamelessly tearing at the scars. But he looked like he was happy to answer; he was happy to continue with this conversation.

"They were accepted as civilians, I think most of them are adopted now." So something good did come out of it, I thought bitterly.

"Do you hate me for it? Leaving you like that; leaving the children behind and walking away? Do you blame me for it?" I asked again; since we were already on this topic, might as well get it over with. Was it my fault? I didn't think so, not really, I was not the saviour for all who were unfortunate. But I wanted to know, what he had thought of it. After all, no matter how ridiculous the circumstances were, he would be my subordinate - my responsibility.

"No! Of course not!" For a second, he seemed startled as if he had lost something important.

"Relax, no need to be afraid. I just want to know your honest opinion. If there's a problem that could affect the team dynamic, I need to know." I reassured him and toned down the harshness in my voice.

"No, Captain. I don't. Your genjutsu, it gave me a chance to survive, I couldn't ask for more." Ryuu answered again, his voice more composed and more determined.

"If I take your word for it, then it would mean that you don't intend to cause any personal drama in the future, am I correct?" He nodded immediately.

I would take his words with reservation simply because I had some trust issues myself. But at the moment, Owl seemed to have more issues with me than Ryuu. Without further ado, I moved our scattered attention back to the training dummy.

Then, the rain poured down from the sky.

Whoa, really, I thought in my head as the chilling autumn rain drenched the forest. There must have been a certain comical factor in it, but I was not seeing it.

"And, our session ends now. Here, all the vital spots marked and annotated. Study for it, I'll test you tomorrow." Quickly, I threw the flimsy mannequin at the boy who almost stumbled to catch it. Here's to hoping that the colour markers would stay on and not be smudged in the rain, after all, I spent so much effort on it.

Slowly and full of uncertainty, the boy nodded, tugging the dummy under his arms. Well, he's not the only one full of uncertainty, I thought silently in my mind as I watched the boy run across the forest, protecting the precious dummy from the vicious autumn rain that marked the beginning of a new page in life.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~

"Mmm … they should be leaving right at this instant. So, left or right?" I asked the Hyūga beside me who was staring at the cargo crew intently. Both of us were crouching on top of the tree branch, watching a group of travellers - wait, they were actually Iwagakure shinobi - pack up their food onto horses and prepare for the road.

"I'll take the right. There are more explosive tags on the right. You might blow them up with your fire." I rolled my eyes at the hostile-but-not-really comment.

"And I thought that the Hyūgas don't have a sense of humour. The same goes for you since the explosive tags can be activated by pressure from the impact as well." Over the past ten months, it had become a social norm for us to diss each other using stereotypes about each other's clan. I don't know who started it, but I did know that within one month of our first introduction to each other, it was quite clear that normal insults just wouldn't do.

For a Hyūga or an Uchiha to join Anbu was rare. In fact, I think that Itachi and I were the only cases of Uchiha who were in Anbu ever since the village's founding. Of course, the reasons for both clans were quite different. For the Uchihas, it was a legacy to continue the career in the Konoha Police department. But for the Hyūgas, I wasn't exactly sure, but it might have something to do with how protective they were towards the Byakugan. The mortality rate for Anbu was higher than the normal Shinobi Force, and the chances of recovering any bodies were slimmer still. Amongst other reasons, joining Anbu wasn't forbidden in the Uchiha or the Hyūga Clan, but it wasn't exactly encouraged either.

So, over the course of ten months, our relationship was still as dynamic and complicated as ever, and the competition never really faded. However, at the very least, we both acknowledged the fact that we shouldn't judge each other based on bedtime stories of the evil rival clan.

"Five on the left; five on the right, perfect. It's a complete elimination, leave no lives behind. Falcon and the rest should be finishing up their part as well," I said briefly as Owl gave me a small nod. Despite our competition, he understood quite well that listening to the chain of command was beneficial to our survival.

When the horses started to slowly pull the caravan along the isolated pathway towards the Iwagakure Border, we started our improvised attacks.

When I landed on the left of the caravan, I immediately put the closest Iwa-nin under the genjutsu. While the Iwa spasmed and dropped to the ground, sounds of crashing and screaming could already be heard from the other side of the caravan.

I had been hoping to get a few more under genjutsu, but thanks for alerting them.

I wasted no time in stabbing my sword into the neck of that Iwa-nin on the ground. At the same time, numerous earth spikes rose from the ground, threatening to impale me on the spot. Swiftly, I dodged them and before the spikes could completely close in on me, I sent out a Chidori blade that instantly extended and punctured through all the spikes in front of me and pierced through one of the Iwa-nin's heart before he even had the time to react.

I ran forward, flickering past all the crumbling rocks. Arriving in front of one of the Iwa-nin, I sliced my sword across his body. The shinobi was quick to bring out a sword that was hidden somewhere in his civilian outfit. The ninjatō struck against the chokutō and the metallic sound rang for a few seconds. The other two closed in on me in the meantime, one of them threw a few kunai while the other lashed out a few sharp water needles.

Immediately, I brought out the tantō to flick the kunai aside with ease all the while twisting my ninjatō until his own sword hand was in an awkward position. The ninjatō sliced through the tendons in his right shoulder as I kneed him in the stomach. His body slumped because of the pain, and I immediately grabbed his collar and pulled him to my right just as the needles arrived.

Just to make sure, I stabbed the man's brain stem for the kill before flickering away from the danger zone as the shinobi fired another round of water needles. I appeared a few metres down the path and to my annoyance, the water needles made a sharp turn and followed me.

In an instant, a giant fireball gathered in front of me before I shot it off towards the two Iwa-nin. The water needles were definitely evaporated, but the fireball was stopped by a giant mud wall. So instead of seeing charring corpses, I saw the mud and stone get blown off.

Without wasting any time, I charged again. Right in front of the blackened mud wall, a few earth spikes rose from the ground. Seeing the impending danger, I jumped onto the side of the caravan, shaking it a little before flipping off of the side to land in front of an Iwa-nin.

It took two strikes to kill him, one on the leg and one on the neck before I moved onto the next one. This time, my first strike was blocked by a spinning shuriken as he skillfully lodged the tip of the blade into the groove. I tried to use the Sharingan to cast a genjutsu, but he swiped up a handful of dust that forced me to close my eyes, much to my annoyance.

I could feel the kunai in his other hand aiming for my heart, so I blocked it with the tantō immediately. Since my ninjatō was lodged anyway, I just used it as a lever and flipped over his head. My free hand grabbed his face and snapped it backwards as I landed behind him. Forcefully, I pulled his head back to expose the neck for the cut

I dropped the last body while letting out a long-held breath, waiting for my breathing to return to normal. Just as I was turning around, a man rolled over the top of the caravan and free-fell in front of me, probably because he had been flung off by Owl's Gentle Fist. Calmly, I stabbed through his heart, pinning him to the side of the caravan for a second before I pulled the blade out and let his body fall again.

Soon, I jumped on top of the caravan and looked down at the right side. Four bodies were lying on the ground with precise incisions across their necks. No doubt, Owl had beaten them senseless using Gentle Fist first before inflicting the killing blow once they were all on the ground.

"Let's load the cargo now, shall we?" I said to my teammate, before jumping down. We pulled the ropes apart, revealing crates of what should be metal weapons and explosives tags. This mission objective was to catch a band of illegal weapon smugglers to Iwagakure who were exporting shinobi weapons and explosive tags. Only in the middle of reconnaissance had we figured out that the Iwa-nin weren't just dealing with any normal mercenaries or armed dealers, but rather, a high Fire Country official. Therefore, we split off into two teams with Owl and I eliminating the Iwa-nin and securing the smuggled weapons while Falcon, Zebra, and Raven dealt with disposing the middleman's bodyguards and abducting him for further questioning.

Promptly, I pulled out the expensive sealing scroll from my waist and opened it on the floor as Owl did the heavy lifting of taking the crates out of the caravan.

"So, want to have another sparring session after we get back?" I asked him as he placed the crates in front of the scroll in an orderly fashion. He paused for a second before turning to face me, suspicion glinting in his white eyes.

"Can I see all of your Sharingan skills?" He answered with a question. I knew full well that this was a bargain. We competed very often, mostly through sparring sessions because one, he didn't want to accept the fact that I could beat him without using the Mangekyou; two, I found his taijutsu as a painful, but effective way of improving my own close-combat skills.

"No," I answered without hesitation. "Unlike your Byakugan, using the Mangekyou could actually blind me. If you want to gather info on the Sharingan, try something less damaging."

"Don't try to pretend that you are not mapping the tenketsu spots through our sparring sessions. You are never going to be able to use them anyway." There was a certain hint of pride in his voice that made me want to roll my eyes again. Not the Gentle Fist, but some of the larger tenketsu spots could be easily accessed by senbon. As long as I can succeed in manipulating the lightning Chidori into senbon shapes without them exploding, I could potentially send very damaging chakra down their chakra circuits, destroying them from the inside. Yes, fighting with Owl was forcing me to come up with all kinds of ways to fit attacks in a one-degree range.

"Sparring sessions are beneficial to both of us. I helped you get rid of that nasty habit of looking back and now you also know that those chakra negating strikes can't negate everything." Yes, I was very happy to remind him that he couldn't negate the Chidori when it was at its most concentrated form, for example, the original form and when I channelled it through my sword. It was all about the chakra concentration since even the most precise surgical blade couldn't cut through concrete in one strike.

"Don't get cocky, I'm far from the best in my clan. But, I'll admit, they are mutually beneficial to some degree, so, sure." He just had to say it with such an unwilling tone, but I still let out a small smile behind the mask. Competitions, they push us to move faster, last longer, and increase accuracy. Most importantly, they let us see the weaknesses that we couldn't see on our own.

While Owl was finishing up with the crates, I surveyed the fallen bodies. I could perhaps fake it as a bandit attack, seeing that all the crates would be missing anyway. However, anyone with eyes could tell that they didn't die from just any hack and slash. In that case, I clapped my hands in a tiger seal and immediately, the bodies and the wooden wagon caught on fire.

When the bodies were more or less charred to the point of no recognition, I made a few more hand seals and clapped the ground. The ground collapsed and then rose up from the side, swallowing the bones and ashes alike. After a few seconds of thundering noise, the road was back to being completely flat like nothing had happened.

"The Iwagakure shinobi exchanged for ten crates of explosive tags and twelve crates of metal weapons, right?" I heard Owl asking out of the blue. I took a moment to make sure before nodding in confirmation.

"One of the crates, the explosive tags weren't filled to the top." Upon hearing that, I walked towards him. My teammate was staring at the unopened crate with distrust, and I couldn't blame him. If some explosives were missing, then we needed to figure out where they went. However, it was possible that one crate wasn't filled up completely in the first place.

Before I could contemplate any longer, a hawk descended from the sky, flapping its wings violently until I extended my arm for it to land. I fished out the small scroll tied to its feet and immediately opened it for the content.

"The rest of the group has secured the target, so they are meeting us on the path," I stated the contents of the scroll briefly, "Come on, we can go interrogate the weapons dealer and see if he can confirm the number of explosive tags the Iwa-nin had gotten." With a small nod, Owl moved aside and allowed me to seal the large crates into the sealing scroll.

We were about to leave, ready to disappear off of the open road and into the forest for rendezvous. That was when we both heard the explosion down the road.

"I think we just found our missing explosive tags," I said, drawing a cold breath. The Iwa-nin and the weapons dealer made the trade in a nearby village. It wasn't very large or populated, but it just happened to be hosting a small summer festival. If my memory served me right, the two-story building that had just been exploded was one of the busier gathering spots for numerous small trading venues. The Iwa-nin must have planned to use the explosion as a distraction to lead the Konoha shinobi at the border post away from their positions.

Without the need for any instructions, the two of us rushed down the country path. The orange fire had started to dance seductively on the half-fallen building as if mocking Fire Country's searing summer blaze for not being hot enough.

A/N: So the update schedule might get wonky now. I'm trying really hard to update once a week, but I'm graduating this year so the exams are a month away and I really need to study. Again, I will try my hardest to stick to the Saturday update schedule. So, a reviewer asked why can't siblings who have Mangekyou just switch eyes, and I think it's a damn good question. Since they are transplants, they probably don't need the original eyes. Any thoughts?