"It sucks." I frowned, arms crossed and glaring at the sky. "It all sucks."

"What's wrong?" A familiar clay mask peered down at me.

"I don't get it, why can't I do ninjutsu? I worked my butt off trying to get that damn dirt to move and it didn't do a thing! And why does it come so easy to everyone else?" I ranted furiously. It had been a particularly hard day of training. No matter how hard I concentrated, no matter how much chakra I used, I couldn't get a single ninjutsu to work. Why? Hell if I knew. Honestly I didn't even care right now, all I wanted was to go home and sleep. I was too frustrated to want to eat, train, go to class, or do anything really.

"Come on, training is over, you can get up." The man coaxed.

"No."

"You don't want to eat?"

"No."

"So you plan to lay there until you feel better?"

"Yep."

He sighed and sat down next to where I was sprawled. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Oh you don't need to stay here with little old me. Go do your shinobi duties and your fancy jutsus." He jabbed me in the stomach and I jerked away. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You're being a brat." He said flatly. "So you're not good at ninjutsu, who cares? You're not getting anywhere by moping."

I was taken aback at how blunt he was. It stung a little but the worst part was that he was right. Of course, that didn't stop me from puffing my cheeks and rolling a few feet away.

"Your facts can't get me over here." I taunted. I felt a bit better for some reason.

"Is that so?" He hummed before suddenly appearing next to me.

"Not fair!" I complained while continuing to roll away from my problems. I had made it a good five feet before I bumped into something.

"You really are a child." The masked anbu sighed.

"You suck too." I stuck my tounge out at him.

He stared down at me for a second.

"You're smiling. Do you feel better?" It was a genuine question.

Was I smiling? I didn't even notice.

"Yea." I grinned purposefully this time. "Thanks."

"It's my job." He replied with a shrug.

"I'm still not getting up." I stated, arms crossed once again.

His tired sigh made me chuckle. I shifted to face him and poked his leg.

"Hey, so what's new with you?" I asked curiously.

"Me? Nothing out of the ordinary." He answered simply.

"Come on, there has to be something." I poked at him a few more times. "Following me around can't be your entire life." I smirked. Something told me he was smiling too.

"Fortunately, it's not. But most of what I do is confidential."

"Ooo, confidential." I repeated. "How great and mighty you must be!" I waved my arms dramatically, earning another poke to my stomach. "Stop it! " I swatted at him before rolling back towards the other direction.

"You really do need to get to class now." The anbu said again at the end of break. I vigorously shook my head. "You won't have it for much longer, your schedule changes at the end of this week." He added.

My eyes widened.

"What!? Really!? It does?" I gaped in disbelief. "Wonderful news!" I was on my feet so fast that I felt the blood leave my head for a solid ten seconds. I looked at him expectantly. "Well come on! If you don't hurry then we're going to be late." I waved for him go get up. He chuckled and obliged, giving me a pat on the head before pushing me in the direction of my next class.

"Bully!"

"Mutsuko, you will be paired with Hinata. Both of you, please come up." Iruka-sensei announced during training the next day. We were having an "evaluation spar"; basically a test to see how much we had improved, all methods allowed. My partner came as a surprise, actually. I had constantly been paired with Sasuke for the last month and, though I appreciated the change of pace, I highly suspected Iruka-sensei didn't think I would fare well against him if he could use his ninjutsu; he was undoubtedly the more skilled one when it came to that.

Even though my ninjutsu skills were essentially nonexistent, was it really a good idea to stick me with Hinata? She may be skilled and all but when it came to sparring she was an absolute noodle. She doesn't tend to do very well in her spars, even when she's up against some of the... less gifted in the class.

With a sigh, I pushed myself off the ground and stepped in front of Iruka-sensei, the blue haired Hyuuga doing the same.

We stood in front of the class facing each other. I came to realize that I had never really taken a good look at her before. She was quite pretty: big pale eyes, a trademark of her clan, or so I've been told, dark hair cropped short, and a thin white winter jacket. There was one thing I didn't like about her though: she wasn't looking at me. Even though I knew that was just something she tended to do, it still struck me as a bit disrespectful. I might have acted on that thought had she been a samurai, but I reminded myself that I couldn't because, by their standards, she wasn't doing anything wrong.

"You know the drill," Iruka spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "All abilities are allowed, weapons are permitted, try not to hurt each other too bad. Five minutes starts... now!"

Hinata jumped back and formed three clones, they all moved to surround me but didn't get far as I easily caught the real one with a kick to the back. I was almost disappointed when she didn't dodge.

She stood up fairly quickly, however, and threw a pair of kunai at me. I caught both and pocketed the second. Chakra flowed naturally into the blade and formed a long, clear blue extension; giving me a weapon was her first mistake.

She was forming a chain of hand seals when I cut her off with a swipe to the head. She dodged but was unable to continue her seals. It only took a fraction of a second for me to lunge again, this time aiming for her legs.

"Gentle fist!" She cried before slamming a palm of chakra into my chest. I flew back and skimmed the ground for a few feet.

That really hurt.

At least it would have, if it were actually me.

I watched my body puff into a cloud of smoke, slowly revealing the wooden log lying on the ground.

"Boo."

She jumped and whipped around, a bewildered expression stretching her suddenly pale features.

To her credit, she quickly straightened herself and shifted into an offensive stance, both palms exposed and, presumably, filling with chakra. She suddenly charged and thrust a palm towards me. I shifted left and right to dodge her strikes before grabbing one of her wrists and twisting myself behind her.

She froze when she felt the cool metal pressing against her throat.

"Finish! The winner is Mutsuko!" Iruka-sensei jumped in, declaring the battle over. I let my hand drop, bringing the kunai away from Hinata and reclaiming the chakra from it. I offered the handle to her, smiling satisfactorily when she took it.

"Good game."

"That was quite impressive." I raised an eyebrow.

"You were watching?" I questioned.

"I arrived just as your battle started." My anbu friend explained.

"Suuure." I smirked. "What about your top secret ninja business, hm?"

"Just take the compliment and shut it."

I chuckled and grinned up at him.

"Yea, yea. But you know, if anyone back home saw that, they definitely wouldn't have anything nice to say right now." I hummed with a disapproving head shake.

"And why is that?" He questioned, turning so I could see the front of his mask.

"Why?" I repeated incredulously. "You must have never seen samurai battle before. We don't fight like you guys. If it were a real duel, I would never have touched her or attacked from behind. It's not seen favorably, you know." I explained.

"You did both just a minute ago." I rolled my eyes.

"Wow it's almost like we have different ideals." I scoffed distastefully.

"So you've been learning from our fighting styles, that's good." He nodded.

"If that's how you see it." I shrugged patronizingly, earning a smack on the head.

"Abuse!"

Break time that day felt a bit odd.

I stared at the extra kunai I had forgotten to return to Hinata, turning it over in my hands, inspecting it carefully. For some reason, I felt as if I should be practicing with it. Which, of course, didn't make any sense; I was terrible with throwing these things, I couldn't hit the Hokage Tower standing five feet away. Clearly, I was no good with this type of weapon, but then I started thinking.

What if I didn't use it as a throwing blade? I mean, I had basically used it like a sword during that spar, right? Why not practice like that? Well, my mind immediately cranked out a dozen reasons not to but that's not the point. The point was I could start getting more familiar with shinobi weapons, I could just use them in a different way. And so for the first time in a while, I didn't return to my house to get Atoyamai, instead opting to spend some time with the odd little dagger that seemed to be so popular around here.

It wasn't so bad, really. It felt quite strange to use a kunai to do the type of training I did back home, but I was certain it would pay off sooner or later. After all, these things were much more accessible than swords in Konoha.

"Shiromori-san." I jumped and spun around, thoroughly startled.

"Oh, Itachi-san. What are you doing here?" I relaxed, taking in his familiar presence.

"A felt irregular bursts of chakra and decided to investigate." The Uchiha explained, eyeing the blade in my hand suspiciously.

"I'm not about to attack you if that's what you're thinking." I stated indignantly. He shook his head.

"No, I just thought it was odd to see you with a kunai. I assumed you preferred to use your own sword." He knew about Atoyamai? I guess it's not that surprising, he's probably in the Uchiha police force and the anbu did say that the police knew about my dear sword.

"You're right, but I decided to try my hand at a different weapon. Can't hurt to get some experience, right?" I smiled, shifting uncomfortably in my slightly sweaty clothes.

"Of course not." He agreed, eying me carefully. That didn't make me any less uncomfortable.

"I've never really see anyone out here before..." I started, attempting to ward off the creeping silence. "I've been using this place for a while..." I trailed, eyes falling to the ground.

Much to my relief, it didn't take long for him to speak up.

"Do you train every day?" He inquired.

"I come here after class to get a bit of practice in." I smiled stiffly. "What about you? I'm sure everyone in your clan stays in tip top shape."

He chuckled: +1 brownie point.

"We try." He answered, amused.

Quick, Mutsuko, think. You need to make this less awkward.

"I could use a training partner if you're up for it."

I mentally smacked myself the moment I opened my mouth. Yup, saying the first thing that came to mind; definitely the best decision.

"I would like to see what you can do." Itachi accepted, much to my surprise. He took a few steps forward, leaving about seven feet between us.

It took me a moment to realize exactly what I had gotten myself into.

"Shall we start?" He asked. I hesitantly nodded and braced myself, tightening my grip on the lone kunai I had.

He wasted no time in making the first move.

Itachi disappeared, leaving me to curse shinobi and their fancy jutsus. But, luckily, as expected, I soon felt a presence behind me and ducked just in time to hear a blade swiping above my head. I dropped down and swept a leg under his, only to see him jump out of the way and land five feet away.

I pushed chakra into my kunai and instantly felt the comforting sensation of connecting with a weapon. But I had little time to dwell on it as he was in front of me in a heartbeat. My kunai clashed with his and I instinctively twisted it, grabbing his arm and forcing it down. He quickly broke out of my grasp and leapt back again, hands already flying through a chain of seals.

I had to stop him or my odds wouldn't be good. I lowered into position and dashed in front of him. He broke his seals to block the incoming blade, effectively ending whatever jutsu he was about to use.

He jumped up and flung a wave if shuriken at me. I couldn't use any of them so I decided to dodge. I took a quick leap back and charged at him again. He must have been thinking the same as we clashed in the middle, sparks flying as our identical blades scraped against each other.

I pushed myself backwards and we separated. I landed softly and cursed myself for my idiocy; challenging a clearly very talented shinobi when I didn't even have a decent weapon on my side. What a great idea.

I dashed forward, hastily stopping another would-be jutsu before aiming a chakra filled palm at his chest.

He caught my wrist and twisted my arm, leaving me no option but to kick off the ground and flip over him, reclaiming my painfully throbbing arm in the process.

I landed evenly on both feet, trying to ignore the heat in my shoulder. I had lost my kunai in the struggle and now had even less chance of winning. I should have made the safer decision and ended the battle.

But of course, giving up wasn't really my thing.

I glanced at the fallen shuriken to my right and dashed towards them. I plucked one out of the ground and filled it with chakra. I brought my arm high and swiped down, sending an arc of chakra at the Uchiha. He skillfully dodged it and again began forming a hand seals.

Despite not having an actual weapon, I charged at him and cut him off for the third time that day. It was a risky move, though. Without an adequate weapon, one wrong move and I could end up in a very bad situation.

He caught my arm and, just as I was expecting the same twisting pain, he dropped his attack stance and smiled sympathetically.

"I think that's enough for today." He said, letting go of my wrist.

"What?" I shot him a questioning look. "Already?"

"Yes. You have an interesting way of fighting." He commented offhandedly.

"Is... that a good thing?" I questioned slowly.

"Of course. It's very unique." I really didn't know how to respond to that.

"...thanks, I guess." My eyes fell to the ground.

"You did surprisingly well, I didn't think you would be so comfortable with a kunai." Itachi continued. I grinned at this.

"So you thought I was a bad fighter before?" I feigned offense. "How cruel!"

He smiled at my dramatic words and patted me on the head: +2 brownie points.

"I should have expected you to be quite talented. You're very fast, you know." He complimented, causing a wide grin on my part.

"Thanks! I was hoping I hadn't lost my speed." I was celebrating on the inside, absolutely thrilled that things were as they should be. "Actually, I was wondering what kind of jutsus you use, I know I didn't really give you a chance to use any..." I smiled sheepishly.

"My clan specializes in fire techniques." He answered before turning to face the lake behind us. With a quick chain of hand seals and a deep breath, he brought two fingers up to his lips and blew out a blazing stream of fire that scorched the water below.

I felt my breath hitch as I stared in awe; I'd never seen anything like it, the flames reflected in the lake made it seem as if the land itself was on fire.

"You seem impressed." Itachi commented, clearly amused at my gaping expression.

"...now I really wish I was good at ninjutsu..." I groaned, mournfully rubbing my cheeks, knowing that I'd never be able to do anything like that.

"You don't have to be great at ninjutsu to be an excellent fighter." He stated encouragingly, again bringing a smile to my face.

"Sasuke would have taken that chance to insult me, you know." I jittered at the irony. "You're too nice." I grinned up at him.

"Is that so?" He hummed as if considering the statement.

"You're definitely my favorite Uchiha so far." I nodded in approval. "D-"

"Shiromori-san." Someone called to me. I turned around to see my anbu friend standing just a few feet away. I froze.

"Oh no, I must have lost track of time! I'm so sorry, I didn't even think to check! We need to go, today's the last day of that horrible class! Sorry, Itachi-san, thanks for talking with me, I'll see you around!" I shouted, already sprinting towards my destination.