Itachi got dressed quickly and found himself using his own window to leave his house, not wanting to confront anymore family members. Ever since the day Hitomi and Itachi had returned hours late from their first walk, they had each put time aside to meet and walk. Soon these meetings turned into a chance for Hitomi to practice for her Chuunin exam, she was single-minded in the pursuit that she would be more then just a suitable wife for Itachi, even though she never admitted to it out loud. Itachi knew that the chances of her ever really catching up to him were slim, but he was pleasantly surprised at the amount of potential he saw in her.
"Again!" He called. Hitomi had worked hard that morning but Itachi was determined that she would be the fastest at the Chuunin exams. Her own mentor was annoyed that she was practicing more then he recommended, but Hitomi didn't care, and Itachi secretly enjoyed bossing her around. Hitomi attacked Itachi using her spinning star technique. On any other Jounin might have fallen with the fierce fast movement, but not Itachi. He grabbed Hitomi's wrist, she fell to her knees, panting, the chakra in the spin dieing and her Shuriken falling to the ground. "You've gotten much better, Hitomi."
"Not good enough."
"That attack would have gotten anyone at the Chuunin exams, how about you stop for a little while." Hitomi let herself fall on to her back, Itachi laid down next to her. "You're doing much better." Hitomi watched the clouds for a minute.
"I know." Hitomi replied finally. They watched the clouds together. Itachi tried to be at peace, but his mind was busy, only the week before his father had shown him the secret family scrolls. He had studied them carefully… he had never known that the Sharingan had an even higher level, a level above the four-pupil eye he had. An eye with such limitless powers… but the evil he would have to do… it wouldn't be worth it… would it?
"Hitomi?" Itachi turned his face, Hitomi kept her eyes on the clouds.
"Yes?"
"How far would you go… to get more powerful?"
"How powerful?"
"The most powerful."
"I guess it would depend."
"Depend on what?"
"What I had to do."
"What if you had to do evil?"
"It would depend…" she looked at him, her eyes blue and clear, "on what I had to do." Itachi turned his face back to the clouds, frustrated, he hadn't expected a good answer, but one so vague was annoying. Hitomi began fingering the necklace she always wore, a habit she had when she was thinking, then Hitomi spoke again. "I am curious though… sometimes… about far I can push myself… but to do evil… evil itself is relative, right? One mans murderer is another mans savior." She rolled on to her back again, "I guess it would depend on how you defined evil and what the evil was and why you did it and if it was necessary… and so many other things."
"What if you did evil… to push yourself, to push others into greatness and to find out how powerful you really are?" he felt Hitomi's eyes on him again,
"I don't know, Itachi."
