As Sakana finished healing her wounded shoulder a familiar female voice spoke up behind her saying "Excuse me…"
She turned to find herself face to face with Emiko, the leaf ninja who was friends with Naruto and, most recently, had taken care of her while she was in the hospital.
"Hello, again, Emiko-san!"
The woman smiled brightly, seeming pleased that Sakana had remembered her name. "Hello to you, too. I heard you finished your match and I was hoping I could borrow you for a moment to ask a few more questions about the mark on your neck."
Sakana turned to Baki, who hesitated only briefly before nodding once in assent.
Smiling, she returned her gaze to Emiko and replied, "I'd be happy to, what do you want to know?"
The leaf ninja looked slightly startled for a moment and then said, "Oh, I was actually hoping we could talk in private. Would that be okay?"
Sakana nodded and followed Emiko out of the arena and into a small side room that appeared very much like an office, with large floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the forest.
Once the door was closed behind them, the older kunoichi smiled guiltily and said, "I have a confession to make…I wasn't being entirely honest about why I wanted to talk to you alone…"
Sakana looked at Emiko curiously. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Suddenly, another ninja appeared in the room; it was Sasuke's teacher!
Emiko, still looking a bit guilty, replied, "This is Kakashi Hatake, he's a friend of mine. He wanted to talk to you about…well…I should probably let him explain. Is that okay?"
Sakana nodded slowly, a little confused, but curious, too.
Looking relieved, Emiko replied, "Great! I have to get going, I've got some research to finish up, but don't worry, you can trust Kakashi one hundred percent, okay?"
"Umm…Emiko-san, before you go…there's something I need to tell you…about the mark on my neck."
"The more information I've got, the better! What can you tell me?"
"Well…it reacted during the prelims…"
"During your fight?" Emiko asked, sounding confused.
"No…during Sasuke's."
Sakana saw Emiko exchange a meaningful glance with Kakashi before replying, "Thank you, that information is definitely useful to me. So…would I be correct in assuming it reacted at the same time those markings appeared on the left side of Sasuke's body?"
"Yes! But how…?"
Emiko grinned at her with a knowing smile. "I actually think I'm pretty close to figuring out what's going on with that weird mark…I just need to confirm a few things first - which is why I'm off to the archives. I'll see you two later, okay?" Emiko waved and then headed quickly out the door.
Sakana waved back before turning to Kakashi. "So…what did you want to talk about?"
"Before I begin, would you mind taking a look at your reflection in the window?"
A bit confused, she did so; letting her red eyes roam over her mirror image...wait…red?! Sakana gasped softly, staring hard at a face that no longer looked like hers – what was going on?!
"What...what happened to my eyes?" she asked Kakashi, confused and a little bit scared.
Kakashi chuckled good-naturedly at her apparent dismay. "Don't worry; it's nothing bad. What you're seeing is a Kekkei Genkai called Sharingan. Have you heard of it?"
The word Sharingan did ring a bell; Sakana recalled hearing Sasuke mutter it during the written exam, and for some unexplainable reason, hearing it spoken aloud seemed to have the same effect on her as seeing the symbol Sasuke wore - like her mind was trying to remember something from a different place or time…
"I've heard the word before," Sakana replied. "It's the Kekkei Genkai that Sasuke uses, right?"
Kakashi's eyebrow rose considerably. "Oh, so you've met Sasuke?" he asked in surprise.
"Well, we've bumped into each other a couple of times…literally on one occasion. And we sat next to each other during the first exam." she explained, shrugging.
"I see. Well, as you may or may not be aware, Sasuke is one of only three remaining members of the Uchiha clan, and the Sharingan is unique to them," Kakashi explained.
"Wait…I thought Sasuke was the only clan member left in Konoha…if that's true, then who are the other two?" Sakana asked.
"One of them is Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, and he won't be returning to Konoha anytime soon – not after nearly wiping out his entire clan."
Sakana gasped softly. "He…killed…everyone? That's horrible! But…then how did Sasuke and the other person survive?"
Kakashi shook his head, "No one's really sure why Sasuke was spared, but he's sworn to exact revenge on his brother at any cost. As for the other…my guess is because she wasn't in Konoha at the time."
"She?" Sakana asked, finally beginning to sense where this conversation was headed. "Am…am I the third Uchiha member?"
Sasuke's teacher nodded solemnly. "Yes, I believe you are."
Her eyes widened in happy surprise. Could it really be possible after all this time?! Her identity was no longer a mystery! Well…at least not entirely.
"So that means...I'm related to Sasuke somehow, right? That I have a family?" she asked hopefully.
Kakashi smiled at her enthusiasm and replied "Yes, it would seem so. Unfortunately, that means that your parents, whoever they were, are dead."
Sakana felt a twinge of sorrow, but not much. After all, she'd never really known them…"I understand. But, what I still don't get is why was I raised in Kiri instead of Konoha," Sakana replied.
"Now, that, I can answer – many years ago, when Kiri and Konoha formed an alliance, the Mizukage requested something of Konoha's to assure that they would remain loyal…a hostage of sorts. He demanded that the next female born into the Uchiha clan be given to him. The village desperately needed the alliance, and so the Hokage had no choice but to agree. You must have been the first born." Kakashi said.
"I see...I don't suppose I could ask Sasuke whether he knows who I am, could I?" she asked.
"You could, once he wakes up. He was exhausted and badly hurt after his battle, so I took him to the hospital for some rest and healing," Kakashi answered.
Sakana nodded in understanding and then said, "Kakashi-sensei…could I ask…" Tentatively, she moved her hair away from her neck to reveal the mark she received in the Forest of Death. "Did his injuries include anything that looked like this?"
Kakashi stared at the mark grimly before responding, "So it's true…Emiko said they were similar, but this is…"
He was just about to say something else when Sakana's keen ears picked up on Hayate's voice announcing that the matches were over. Over?! She hadn't meant to miss Gaara's match! Still, no matter who he fought, Sakana was sure he'd emerged as the victor; she didn't know anyone that could last long against him.
"You should go back to the arena," Kakashi said, "Once they've released you, meet me back here. Meanwhile, I'll go check on Sasuke. If he's awake we can go see him together."
Sakana nodded and exited the room, making her way quickly back to her teammates.
"What took you so long?" Temari whispered.
"Later…" was Sakana's only reply.
The Hokage explained that they would all be competing in the final rounds a month from today and that they should spend the time they had to train and work on new techniques. Then he asked Anko, the woman who proctored the second exam, to pass around a box filled with scraps of folded paper. Each of the Genin drew one out; Sakana's paper had the number four on it. After everyone had a number, Ibiki, took over and told them to call out their numbers in turn.
"I've got six," said a boy from the Sound.
"Number one, of course!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Nine," Temari sighed.
"Four," Sakana uttered.
"Three," Gaara murmured.
"Seven," Kankuro remarked.
"Ten," said Shikamaru, with a bored expression on his face.
"Two," Neji commented before another boy from Konoha said, "Eight."
"Which means Sasuke will be number five." The Hokage proclaimed. "Now, Ibiki, show them what's coming." The large, scarred man, who'd been writing furiously on a small tablet, turned and held out what Sakana could only assume was a tournament tree – then she spotted who she'd be fighting, and let out an audible gasp - it was Gaara!