And her days went on like this; lecture, training, lunch, lecture. There wasn't a day where she could slack off or sleep in and she was improving rapidly because of it. Every day, she was assigned a different sparring partner during training, and every day they would be stronger than the last. She would always manage to beat them though; taijutsu was her strongest point. They had been learning some genjutsu recently and Mutsuko was at the top of her class for that too, her illusions were always spot on and even Iruka-sensei had trouble distinguishing them from reality. Despite this, she was regularly lacking in ninjutsu. It just wasn't working for her. The girl could barely ever manage to get one right, leading her to wonder how she'd nailed that transformation jutsu on the first day. In terms of ninjutsu, she fell behind even Naruto, leaving her at the bottom of her class. She didn't understand why she couldn't get it right.

After training was over, she would always use her lunch break to practice her Iaidō. Using whatever branch she could find that day, she would practice by the lake until her half hour was up. Then she would attend her cultural orientation lecture, which always ended in a headache.

Today was a Saturday, meaning no classes and no training. Well, no group training anyways. Mutsuko was out by the lake, branch in hand, practicing her movements over and over again. One foot forward, hand by hip, lunge. One foot forward, hand by hip, lunge. It was just before noon and she had already been practicing for two hours. By now, her shoulder ached from repeating the motions so many times, but she didn't let it bother her, weekends were the only times she could train for longer than half an hour and she needed to take advantage of it.

The sun was beaming intensely that day, Mother Nature must have forgotten that it was supposed to be autumn. Mutsuko wiped her brow and squinted up at the sky, hands on her hips.

'I must have died and went to hell.' She sighed deeply, her breathing still ragged from training. 'I better take a break. Just for a bit.' Dropping the branch, the girl padded towards the marketplace in search for somewhere to cool off.

As she wandered the bustling streets, a small, traditional teahouse caught her eye. Nestled between a grocery store and a tailor, the place was rustic looking and reminded her off the buildings back home. She decided to give it a try, ducking under the small hanging cloths, she entered the little wooden shop.

The place had a very soft, aged feel to it. The walls were dotted with oil paintings and small shelves that hung above several sets of tables and cushions. Two of the tables were occupied by other customers, leaving two more open. The sliding door near the entrance stood open and a little old lady wearing a kimono emerged from behind it.

"Welcome dear, please have a seat." She led the younger girl to the closest table and gestured for her to sit. "What can I get for you darling?" The woman smiled warmly.

"I'd like a green tea and cheesecake please." Mutsuko responded after a brief glance at the menu.

"Right away." The older woman nodded and shuffled away, disappeared behind the screen door. Not a minute later, she returned with a small plate and set it in front of the girl. "Your tea will be ready in just a moment." Mutsuko smiled gratefully and thanked the woman. Picking up a pair of chopsticks, she dug into the little yellow square of cake. She sighed as it hit her tongue.

'Tastes like the ones back home.' She thought happily, taking another bite. As she was enjoying the sweet bit of heaven, the sound of ruffling cloth made her look up. She was met by a pair of angry green eyes. It was the pinkette from her training class. From what she remembered, the girl didn't stand out too much in terms of skill.

"You're Mutsuko, right?" The girl glared.

"Can I help you?" The pinkette narrowed her eyes.

"I'm warning you to stay away from Sasuke. He's mine and I won't let you have him." There was a moment of silence as Mutsuko processed her words.

"The blue haired one? What makes you think I'm interested?" She raised an eyebrow. She she had been paired with him for sparing for the past few days, and that was simply because they both excelled hand-to-hand combat. The girl's glare faltered.

"You... don't like him?" She asked uncertainly. Mutsuko shook her head, causing her to look down at the table. "Oh. I guess I was... I just thought..."

"It's fine." She waved her off. 'Not exactly the best way to confront someone though.' She thought silently.

The pinkette kept her eyes on the table for a moment, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. Then suddenly, the girl extended a hand and offered a wide grin.

"I don't think we've introduced ourselves properly, I'm Sakura." The sudden change of tone surprised Mutsuko who, although hesitant, shook her hand anyways.

"I'm Mutsuko, but I guess you already knew that." She smiled as best she could.

"So how have you been doing? You know, in Konoha." Sakura asked.

"Good, it's nice here." She answered briefly. The pinkette's sickly sweet tone slightly unnerved her, she'd been ready to fight a minute ago.

"What is it like in your country?" She asked without pause.

"Um, well, it was a lot colder. People there aren't as lively and we don't go outside the city much." Mutsuko wasn't sure what else to say.

"What did your city look like?" Again, no hesitation.

"The city? It's... more traditional I guess." She paused. "There aren't many tall buildings since they're all wood. We never really adapted to metal skyscrapers and all that." She admitted. Sakura nodded with interest and continued to throw question after question.

"What's it like being a samurai?"

"How many of you are there?"

"What kind of training do you guys do?"

"What are your people like?"

"Is it hard being cold all the time?"

"Who's your leader?"

"How do you deal with all the snow?"

"Where do you train?"

Mutsuko groaned internally, silently begging her to stop. They had been there for over half an hour and by now, she was desperately looking for an escape.

"Do you get missions like us?"

"Um... not really." She glanced around, looking for a reason to leave. "Probably not in the same way."

"Ok, are there different ranks for samurai? Like how we have genin, chunin, jonin, and anbu."

"We have so-" She stopped when her eyes spotted someone.

Right across the street was Sasuke's brother walking by.

That's it.

This was her chance.

"Sorry Sakura, but I just saw Itachi-san and I need to talk to him. I'll see you in class. Bye!" Swiftly, she pulled out money for the food, slammed it on the table, jumped up, and power walked out of the teahouse.

"Itachi-san!" Mutsuko called out, jogging over to the older boy. The Uchiha stopped and glanced at her, evidently unsure as to what she was doing. Once she was close enough, she lowered her voice. "Just keep walking." She whispered. She could feel Sakura's eyes still following her. Itachi gave her a questioning look before continuing forward as requested.

Just ten seconds later, once she was sure they were far enough away, Mutsuko let out a relieved sigh, stopping after they turned the corner onto another busy street.

"Care to explain?" Itachi's stare was sharp and unnerving.

"Sorry about pulling you away like that, I needed to get out of a conversation." She bowed deeply. "Thank you for helping me." There was a moment of silence.

"You have gotten out, may I leave now?" Mutsuko was surprised by his blunt tone. She had to blink a few times before fully processing his words.

"Oh!" She flushed with embarrassment. "Yea! Sorry again for bothering you!" She bowed again, hands clasped together. He gave her one last glance before turning and walking in the other direction. Mutsuko watched as he disappeared in the crowd, a slight frown on her face.

'Did I upset him?'

It had been a month since Mutsuko arrived at Konoha and she was adjusting rather well. The morning lectures were still a pain though, so were the cultural development classes. Those were often the cause of her intense suffering, whether due to boredom or incomprehension, and were undoubtably her least favorite thing about Konoha.

Her training, however, was a more anticipated part of the day. Well, the latter half of it anyways. She was continuously unable to do most ninjutsus regardless of how hard she tried. And that little fact didn't make things easier for her, there were pervasive rumors among the village children that the samurai girl didn't have chakra, that she was unable to fight, that she didn't know how to use weapons, and these kept the controversy around her alive. Apparently, as she had gathered from conversations with her anbu guide, some people were still furious about her very presence in the village, they thought she was a security risk and, in a way, she understood why. She probably wouldn't be ecstatic if a stranger from another country came to her home town, especially if she didn't know anything about them. Could they be plotting against her people? Were they sending village secrets to their leaders? Could they be scouting to find flaws in our defenses? These were all reasonable questions to be asking, however, her empathy was heavily limited by the fact that she hadn't been in contact with anyone from her village in the time she'd been here.

Despite the large number of Konoha citizens who didn't particularly care for her, she had managed to make a few friends. Naruto was certainly very nice, as was Iruka-sensei. And her anbu guide seemed to be warming up to her a little more. The Hokage was pleasant to be around too, usually giving her some piece of advice or another. All in all, Mutsuko was pretty content with the way things were going. It could only get better from here.

A bright and gelid Friday morning found the girl in the Hokage's office. She had been woken up even earlier than usual and, bundled in two jackets and a scarf, shivered her way up the Hokage Tower, trailing just behind her anbu friend who seemed to not have noticed the biting cold.

"You wanted to talk to me, Hokage-sama?" Mutsuko started as she slid into the seat in front of the old man's desk, pulling her jacket closer in a desperate attempt to conserve some heat. The Hokage smiled pleasantly before nodding to the long, thin box that lay between them.

"This came yesterday evening; I thought you would want to see it as soon as possible." His eyes twinkled. "Go on."

Mutsuko looked at him curiously before carefully opening the box on the short end. She slid out a long cloth bag that was tied with twine on one end. There was a metallic clanking sound as it touched the table and a wide smile spread across her face. She hastily untied the string and pulled out its contents.

A long, slightly curved katana with a shining hilt now lay in her hands. The sword, which was about as long as her leg, had a polished silver guard and an intricate black braid. The cap was silver as well and was wrapped in detailed designs, the most prominent of which were a pair of wings, fully fanned out and proudly displaying its plumage. The sword, of course, had come sheathed and the scabbard was just as refined as the rest of the blade; the glossy wood was solid black except for two lifted silver bands around it, one lying four inches below the collar and the other about twelve inches below that, and both had small metal loops attached on the inside of the sword's curve. Mutsuko's face absolutely radiated with delight.

"It finally came!" She squealed, hugging the sword close to her chest. "I almost thought they forgot!" She brought the weapon to an arm's length to examine it, eyes still sparkling with excitement.

Sarutobi seemed pleased with her delight, a small smile plastered on his lips. "Good, good. It came with a letter from General Mifune as well." He slid a plain white envelope towards her, which she eagerly took. Pulling out a folded piece of paper, she wasted no time and dove right in.

To Shiromori Mutsuko,

I hope this letter finds you well and adjusted to Konohagakure. I apologize for not being able write during these first few weeks, the details of the deal are quite exhaustive, but we should be able to communicate frequently from now on.

If all went well, Atoyamai should have arrived with this letter, I've taken up his maintenance in your absence and I'm certain you'll be ecstatic to have him with you. However, I must recommend that you keep him inside your home as much as possible, I am sure the people of Konohagakure would not be pleased to see a katana in their midst. Remember our cultures are very different.

From what I've been told, you've been doing well in your training with the shinobi class and we're very pleased to see you learning new abilities. That being said, I expect to see that the training from your appenticeship has not been forgotten.

Both Gyukudo-san and Maho-san are very concerned about your safety, I insist that that you write to them soon, perhaps that will ease their worry and keep them out of my office for a day.

Speaking of which, they're here again. I expect a letter soon.

Best of luck,

General Mifune

Mutsuko smiled at the abrupt ending, she could practically see the exasperated face of the general as he had to deal with the two worry-sick council members. Her adoptive parents had anyways been quite controlling when it came to her safety, she was unsure why they had ever agreed to send her here. Nonetheless, it was nice to know they were thinking of her, even if it meant they were battering Mifune because of it.

"You may send a response whenever you'd like." Sarutobi spoke up, pulling her from her thoughts. "Though I suggest sooner than later. I'm sure they're eager to hear from you."

Mutsuko's delight was evident in her smile as she nodded furiously.

"I will, thank you sir!"

Mutsuko slumped in her bedside chair and groaned as her back popped. After another long day of lessons, she was tired and worn. Normally, she would have laid in bed or gone for a walk, but the only thing on her mind was writing back home. It had been demanding her attention since she'd gotten the letter that morning and she was more than excited to get started on her response.

For the next twenty minutes, she sat hunched over her desk, scribbling neatly across the paper, pausing once in a while to gather her words and scratch her nose with the pen.

It was only when her mind began to dim that she sat up and glanced over at the small carriage clock on the table behind her: 8:12 PM. She knew it was still rather early but the drooping of her eyelids convinced her otherwise.

'Time to sleep' They urged.

And it didn't take long for her to comply as within five minutes she had changed into a t-shirt and flopped down on the terribly comfortable bed. Wiggling her way under the covers, she found that the lamp suddenly seemed very far away. Demonstrating a stretch that she was convinced should earn an award, Mutsuko managed to click off the lamp and instantly began falling into the wonderful grasp of sleep.

In her last second of functioning thought, she gave a soft pat to her left hip and breathed in approval before quickly falling into the night's quiet embrace.

Hello again dear readers! How did you like this chapter? I know many of you have been excited for Mutsuko and Itachi to interact so here's just s little glimpse, I promise there's more to come!

I love your reviews and I hope you keep them coming, it really helps us authors write and update faster.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day!