Here is the part three for chapter two. I think this gets a little more interesting.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Also, couple of the ANBUs that shows up in my story belongs to BlackPANDA xD as well as a certain dojutsu that appears at the end. That belongs to BlackPANDA xD. However, other then the ones I just mentioned, this story belongs to ME.
Thanks for reading and I hope you will enjoy it. I apologize if you think my writing suck. I admit I'm not a professional so deal with it. Don't like it, don't read it. But if you have a constructive criticism at the end of this chapter, I'm open for them. Please read and review.
- Kaerelie Cecilia, the Queen of B1aCk RoSE
Chapter 2: Reiko's Story
Reiko was known as the Black Phoenix. She always semi-henged with powerful genjutsu that made her appear as a tall kunoichi with short black hair. Her white, red, and black phoenix mask was never taken off and apart from Danzo, no one knew how she looked like, not that anyone wanted to know. All they knew about was her stealth, skills, and vague appearance. As the S-rank kunoichi in little too many Bingo books, she was deadly and no one, NO ONE, wanted to test it.
After a short A-rank mission, Reiko was crossing a wooden bridge in her ANBU uniform along with her mask covering her face. Despite the mere age of four, Reiko killed the group of ninjas she was sent to assassinate with ease and no feeling on her part. The Black Fenikkusu (Fenikkusu means Phoenix) came to a graceful halt and with feline grace, Reiko snapped her head toward the direction she just came from.
"Show yourself." A monotonous voice drawled out of the mask.
A shadow detached itself from a nearby tree and landed gracefully on its feet. There stood a figure in ANBU uniform and a mask that resembled… a crow? Reiko blankly stared at the ANBU, not even attempting to hide the fact that she was staring. The figure was just medium height of five feet seven and was obviously fit.
"Release your cover." Reiko once again droned with her expressionless voice.
"So you can see through all henge, genjutsu, and a seal." The ANBU noted, also without any expression.
The ANBU brought his hand together up to his chest level and formed an extremely fast short series of hand seals. Soon, there was a small puff and the clear sky was for a moment hazy from the smoke that covered the ANBU. As the smoke drifted away, Reiko could see a small figure of only about four feet three in a smaller ANBU uniform with the same crow mask he was wearing before.
"I can also see through your henge, genjutsu, and the seal. I wish for you to release your cover." The boy ANBU continued in the same monotonous voice.
"I see. As you wish, Uchiha." Reiko told him in her unchanging voice, bringing her hands together to make a series of hand signs and puffed into her real self.
Reiko stood barely three feet two inches tall in her four-year-old body and stared at the boy ANBU with her mask still on. She noted that the ANBU did not seem to be bothered at slightest by her staring and actually was looking at her with a curious expression. Actually, the boy still had her ANBU mask on but it was as though Reiko could feel the world around her. She just knew that the boy was curious about her. She just knew that the boy was not afraid of her. She just knew it.
"I see you know who I am. Would you mind telling me yours as well?" the boy asked in a polite expressionless tone but Reiko somehow knew he was actually very interested.
"I don't have a name. I do not exist. I am a special weapon of Konoha, and my one and only mission is to serve Konoha and the Hokage-sama. I do not exist and I never existed." Reiko told the boy as though she had it memorized by heart.
"I see. My name is Itachi Uchiha and I have entered ANBU little over six months ago. How long have you been in ANBU? You don't look that old. I'm nine years old and you look far younger than me." Itachi told Reiko as she continued to stare at him with blank expression.
"I have been an ANBU nearly as long as I remember. I was an ANBU since I was two and you are correct in your assumption that you are older than me. Of now, I am four years old." Reiko told Itachi in a rather stiff mechanized voice.
"You still haven't told me your name." Itachi stated.
"My name is Reiko Okubo." Reiko told Itachi in same monotonous tone. "I must get going now. I have to meet Danzo-sama. It was pleasant meeting you, Itachi-san." Reiko departed with feline grace and Itachi just stared at the spot Reiko was just seconds ago.
Though he didn't show it, Itachi's heart ached at the lifeless voice coming from a four-year-old. The world was cruel to those that didn't deserve the cruelty. It was always the bad people that got to enjoy their life and the good people, the innocents were always the victim. Itachi remembered when he was a four-year-old. At that time, there was a war going on and he remembered killing people for the first time. He had nightmares for months after the killing but as he started to kill more and more people, he learned to turn off his feelings when he needed to.
Itachi had heard of the girl that he just met. She was the legend of ANBU Black Ops, the most feared assassin of Fire Nation. She was known in many different names, some of them being Black Demon, Angel of Death, Black Phoenix, and Masked Kunoichi of Eternal Blades.
The name 'Masked Kunoichi of Eternal Blades' was actually given to her by the Fire Daimyo after he saw her swordplay. Itachi saw her swordplay only once when he accidently stumbled on one of her training session but the memory was embedded deep into his memory. The every step she took was a graceful dance and her twin katanas were merely extensions of her arms. Her katanas sliced through the air with deadly force and every movement she made was delicately made, at 100 percent accuracy.
But for that girl to be only a three feet tall four-year-old girl… that was just way too much. Itachi knew Danzo recruited people to his ANBU Root at much younger age, often training a small group of potential members from very young age. However, Reiko was the first one Itachi ever even heard of with that young an age.
'Such young children should never have had to experience through the cruelty of the world. Damn you, Danzo. You are killing the girl, skinning her soul, layer by layer.' Then, Itachi remembered Reiko's eyes. He could see the gray eyes through the Fenikkusu mask she wore and he could have sworn he saw a little bit of emotion rolling deep inside. It was in there so deep that one normally wouldn't have noticed. However, Itachi wasn't just a normal person. He was after all considered as Uchiha prodigy. He noticed things that no one else noticed and he saw it then and there, a smallest hint that told him Reiko wasn't quite dead yet.
It was then when Itachi decided he wanted her to be in his ANBU team. He was promoted to be the team captain just couple weeks ago and his team had one opening due to an unfortunate accident that resulted in death of an ANBU who was on a solo mission at that time. Itachi changed his direction and started toward the tall red tower where the Hokage lived.
~ XXX ~
Itachi knocked on the door of the Hokage's office. He was still in his ANBU uniform with his crow mask still on, his blade hung from his back and his hair was tied in a low pony tail.
"Enter." A wizened voice came from inside the Hokage office.
Itachi silently opened the door and slipped inside the office with swan-like grace. He bowed before the Hokage and walked toward the pipe-smoking Hokage.
"What is it that you want to talk to me about, Itachi? You may remove your mask if you wish." The Hokage looked at the young ANBU with curiosity.
Itachi removed his mask and revealed his emotionless face. His onyx eyes were looking straight at the Hokage and his well-featured face was blank. Then, he began to ask what he came to the office for.
"I wish to transfer Reiko Okubo from ANBU Root to my team. My team has an opening due to an unfortunate accident that one of my ANBU had during a solo mission. I believe Reiko Okubo will be a great addition to my team and besides, I have a slight suspicion on Danzo-sama. I don't think it is very normal for a two-year-old to be recruited to ANBU. I think Danzo-sama might be planning something and he may use Reiko as one of his weapons for Reiko is a very skilled kunoichi, possibly the best that Fire Nation has seen." Itachi told the Hokage his wish.
"So you want to have the Masked Kunoichi of Eternal Blades in your team? That is an interesting request. Also, you have brought up an interesting idea. You think Danzo might be plotting something? Well, knowing Danzo, it is possible and if he is, he is sure to use Reiko. I agree with you that Reiko is one of the best the shinobi world has seen. I think your request is reasonable and I will give you the permission to transfer Reiko to your team. I'm pretty sure Danzo wouldn't be very pleased with this but I think this will be just fine." The Hokage consented.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Itachi told the Hokage in formal voice.
"No problem. Show this to Danzo and he will have no choice but to give up Reiko." The Hokage told him.
The Hokage wrote something very swiftly on a blank scroll. When he was finished, he stamped and signed the scroll. Itachi took the scroll from the Hokage with a respectful bow.
"Thank you again, Hokage-sama." Itachi respectfully told the Hokage as he took the scroll from the Hokage's hand.
"You may be dismissed."
Itachi put the crow mask back on and with the same grace he entered with, he silently slipped out of the Hokage's room.
~ XXX ~
Itachi stopped at the ANBU Root Headquarters. He entered the Headquarters and asked the first ANBU Root member he saw for Danzo-sama's location. Just as the Root member was about to answer, Itachi sensed Danzo nearby. Just as he thought, Danzo was walking toward the two.
"Danzo-sama. I have something for you from the Hokage-sama." Itachi gave Danzo the scroll he got from the Hokage just couple minutes ago.
While Danzo was reading the scroll, Itachi could see a small anger flit through Danzo's otherwise expressionless face. It just made Itachi believe more in his theory of Danzo plotting something and planning on using Reiko. Itachi was glad Danzo would no longer have Reiko to use as a weapon. Without Reiko, Danzo would not have that much advantage over the other ANBU members. Actually, the main ANBU branch would have more power than the Root. Itachi inwardly smiled to himself while keeping up an expressionless face.
~ XXX ~
Reiko got a notice that she would be transferred to different ANBU team, actually entirely different branch. She would no longer serve ANBU Root and instead, she would be serving the main ANBU branch. Reiko knew she wouldn't miss ANBU Root.
Sure, she learned everything she knew from Root and had acceptable life. But she never liked the white walls and the fact that she didn't like it made her a bit upset. She wasn't suppose to feel anything, so why was she disliking the white walls? Reiko dismissed the thought from her mind and turned her attention back to task on hand.
She finished tidying up her ex-room, not that she had much to tidy up. She kept everything neat just like all the other Root members and so all she did was return the scrolls she borrowed from Root library and push a chair in.
Reiko didn't have anything to pack and so the only thing she basically brought with her other than her clothes (which were all ANBU uniforms) was her Fenikkusu mask. For some unknown reasons, she was strangely attached to the mask and really liked the Phoenix design.
~ XXX ~
Itachi waited for Reiko at the entrance of ANBU Root Headquarters and Reiko showed up in less than ten minutes. Reiko looked at him and Itachi was sure Reiko recognized him even if she didn't show it. Itachi had to admit Reiko had the best self-control, even better than him. She could hide her feelings expertly and Itachi was pretty sure it had to do with one of Danzo's feeling-killing trainings.
Reiko was shown into the ANBU Main Headquarters and soon was shown to her room. Her new room was similar to her old one except this one seemed somehow… happier. It was same white walls with bare minimum furniture but Reiko could sense more openness from this room. She liked it.
Sense of contentment flew through her and she enjoyed it. Reiko liked the Main Branch and she loved the way ANBUs here seemed much happier. She could somehow sense the happiness and contentment in the air while she only sensed blankness back in her old Root Headquarters.
"Here is your room and I hope you enjoy in this ANBU branch as well. I am called Karasu and I will be your Taichou. Why don't you get comfortable in your new home and I expect you to be present in our ANBU joint team meeting which will be held in two hours. It is in room B25 and all you have to do is walk down the hallway and make a right turn. You can probably find the room from there. I expect you at the meeting by five o'clock sharp. I don't mind you hiding yourself in missions but I want the henge off for the meeting." Itachi, now wearing his crow mask, told Reiko.
~ XXX ~
Reiko got everything situated and at fifteen to five, she started walking toward the room her new Taichou-san told her to be at. She found the room with no difficulty and at ten to five, she entered the room. Reiko noticed that the room was more like a hall than a room and was very spacious. A table in elongated oval shape was at the back of the room and Reiko's keen eyes noticed numerous couches and comfortable chairs all around the room.
Many others were already inside the room, talking in groups or looking over stacks of file. She could tell that she was obviously the shortest and the youngest in the entire room. They all looked to be at older teens and up, and Reiko was pretty sure all of them were at least two feet taller than her. She wished she had her henge on but she had the direct order from her Taichou-san and if there was one thing that ANBU Root drilled into her more than erasing her feelings and getting stronger, it was never to disobey any order, let alone a direct one.
As Reiko entered, more than two thirds of the people turned their heads toward the new arrival. Her obvious youth and her short stature made her the target of everyone's attention. Reiko felt extremely uncomfortable due to the fact that she was always trained to be invisible and fit in with her surroundings. As lithe as a cat, Reiko went to a shadowed corner that had least amount of people around. She looked around and counted total of fourteen people including herself.
"…she must be the…"
"…so young, why is…"
"…wonder how she…"
"I heard…"
Reiko ignored all the whisperings that surrounded her and started to go into a meditating position. Her meditation was rudely interrupted when the door open and the sudden silence disturbed her.
Reiko looked up and saw her new Taichou-san enter with another silver haired ANBU. The silver haired ANBU looked strangely familiar but Reiko couldn't quite place her finger on it for some reason. She stopped her musing as her new Taichou-san began speaking.
"I would like to welcome Team White for our joint team meeting. For those who do now know, I am Karasu and I am the Taichou of ANBU Assassination and Disposal Team, also known as Code Black. You may call me either Karasu or Taichou, whichever you prefer. This is Ookami-san, the Taichou of Team White. I would also like to welcome two ANBUs who agreed to be part of our team just for this mission. Also, please welcome a new addition to my team, Fenikkusu. For those who haven't noticed, the girl sitting in the back corner is Fenikkusu and even if you have never met her, I'm pretty sure you have heard of her. Fenikkusu is an experienced ANBU and I wish all of you to treat her as such." Karasu ended, his voice still monotone.
A whisper started again as Karasu introduced Fenikkusu to the other members. Once again, it was about her and Reiko frowned inside while keeping up a expressionless facade at the amount of attention she was receiving.
"…Fenikkusu, the Black Phoenix…"
"…Masked Kunoichi of Eternal Swords…"
"…wonder if she'll train with…"
"… is she really that good? I heard…"
"…Demon of Konoha. She's dangerous…"
Reiko once again ignored all the comments she picked up and continued staring at the two leaders with emotionless face. Reiko fortunately wore her mask and she didn't have to endure others talking about how she looks or guessing what age she might be. Her face was very youthful due to her extremely young age and the last thing she needed right now was people talking about how young she might be.
Reiko was called back to the reality when the silver-haired ANBU started to speak. She automatically snapped her head toward the ANBU, one of her old habits from ANBU Roots.
"To Karasu-san's team, I'm Ookami and I'm the Taichou of Team White. Karasu-san and I have called this meeting due to something that Hokage-sama had told is. Hokage-sama is concerned that there might be an attempt against Konoha and even though the chances are low, he wishes to make sure Konoha will be safe. We also have some information that tells us we should keep this secret from ANBU Root. We are currently suspicious about them and we are not willing to take chances. Hokage-sama has strictly told me to keep this top-secret and as usual, what is said in here will not leave here." Ookami told them.
Reiko frowned internally as she heard the bit concerning ANBU Root. It wasn't as though she had any attachment to the place for she was taught to have no emotion, but she wasn't quite okay with others slandering them. Reiko pushed the thought into the depth of her mind and started thinking about other things.
Despite the fact that Ookami was hiding behind his wolf mask, Reiko knew exactly who he was. Danzo had made her learn everything about the current ANBUs, including all their specialties and experiences. She wasn't sure how Danzo got his hand on such top secret files but she didn't question him.
Ookami's real name was Kakashi Hatake, a prodigy and son of late White Fang. He graduated the Ninja Academy at age five and was promoted a Chunin at age six. He had four nature affinities: Lightning, Earth, Water, and Fire. With his Sharingan eye that he received from his late comrade, Obito Uchiha, he copied over thousand jutsus and is a very powerful Jonin.
Reiko knew his ultimate techinique, Chidori, and Danzo made sure Reiko created her own technique to counter it. Now that she thought about it, Danzo made sure she had counter technique for every single ANBU and powerful Jonins. Reiko frowned inside, keeping her outside features unruffled even though her mask hid them anyways.
Karasu started to speak and Reiko once again focused her eyes on the young boy that she knew as Itachi Uchiha, the Uchiha prodigy. Having graduated Ninja Academy at age seven and became Chunin at age ten, he was one of the best in Konoha.
Even though he graduated and became Chunin older than Kakashi did, Danzo stressed to her that Itachi was just as deadly, if not more, as Kakashi. Itachi was five years older than her, only nine years old. He was already a captain and stood shoulder to shoulder with teenage Kakashi, who Reiko knew to be fifteen years old. His sharingan was powerful despite his young age and Danzo told her more than once that he was dangerous.
"As Ookami-san has told you, we have learned of some information that we believe all the members of our team should be aware of. Hokage-sama was concerned when he had received this bit and told us to immediately alert you. Since our team is the main Assassination and Disposal Team, and Team White is the main Tracking Team, Team White will be in a group of four with my team: two from each team will be placed in a squad." Karasu told them.
Karasu continued. "We will double our patrol around Konoha without the ANBU Root knowing. This is just for two months of patrol. Hokage-sama just wishes to take precaution should something happen. Now, I will call out which teams each one of you will be in." Karasu told them.
Reiko waited patiently as Karasu started reading off a list. There was total of four squads apparently and Karasu had just finished grouping the first three squads. Reiko was not part of the three so she assumed herself to be in the last squad.
"The Team Four will be consisting of me, Ookami-san, Hiena, and Fenikkusu. You may now meet your new teammates. The mission scroll is already at each designated place." Karasu finished.
Reiko searched through her knowledge of ANBU members for Hyena. She then remembered reading on a certain ANBU from Inuzuka. He was in Team White and his element was Fire. He wasn't particularly dangerous but Danzo made sure she had some kind of special attack reserved for him.
Team Four met by where the oval table was. Reiko quickly walked over to them, curious to know what they would be doing. She wasn't worried – she had gone through much worse things.
Kakashi watched as Fenikkusu approached him and Karasu. He had a strange feeling that he met her before but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. Kakashi admitted he was quite surprised to learn that the legendary Demon of Konoha was a mere child, a little girl who seemed to be younger than him by a decade or so.
"Taichou-sama, Ookami-sama." Fenikkusu bowed.
"Fenikkusu." Karasu nodded.
"You are the Demon of Konoha and Masked Kunoichi of Eternal Blades." Kakashi spoke. It was just a statement, a confirmation statement.
"Yes, Ookami-sama." Fenikkusu looked straight into his dark blue eyes, her gray eyes emotionless.
"Hello. I'm code Hyena." A new voice entered.
Reiko (Fenikkusu) turned around to see a new member. He was wearing dog-like mask which she identified as Hyena and he was tall with spiky black hair. Reiko was at first confused at why he had his right hand outstretched before him but quickly identified it as handshake.
"Nice to meet you. I'm code Phoenix." Reiko answered, shaking his hand.
"So that's what Fenikkusu meant. Well, it fits you. After all, you are the Black Phoenix." Hyena seemed quite pleasant and Reiko approved of him. Hyena then turned to Karasu and held out his hand to him as well. "Nice to meet you as well, Karasu-sama." Hyena told him.
"Good to meet you too, Hyena." Karasu told him as he shook Hyena's hand.
"Now that we are all acquainted, I would like to tell you where we will be covering. We will be patrolling the western section of the Konoha. We are to be invisible at all time, especially from ANBU Root. Hokage-sama had given our team a special mission to also spy on the movement of ANBU Root and report to him all suspicious activities. Hokage-sama is worried because ANBU Root seemed to act independent of him." Ookami explained their mission.
"We will be starting two days from now at five o'clock in the morning so I expect all of you by four thirty. I will be leading this team but if anything happens to me, Ookami-san will be your leader." Karasu told them. He then turned to Fenikkusu. "Now, Fenikkusu, I wish to test your skills. I have heard about your feats and I wish to see it for myself."
"Where would you two going to be testing? I wish to see the legendary Fenikkusu's skills with my own eyes as well." Ookami told them.
"May I have the permission to watch as well, Karasu-san?" Hyena asked.
"Anyone may watch as long as they are not being a distraction." Karasu told them. "Why don't we walk over to the training room five. It's just across the hallway."
Karasu, Fenikkusu, Ookami, and Hyena started toward the door. Having heard the short conversation, the others began to follow them, curious to see just how powerful the legendary Phoenix was.
~ XXX ~
The sixteen ANBU arrived in a spacious private training room. It was huge and reminded Reiko of more like a cavern than a room. With the light from torches across the walls, she could see that it was just a basic bare room with hard dirt-like ground. Deep inside, there was a small room that was separated from the rest of the training room by a thick sheet of glass. A glass door connected the two and the fourteen walked into the room. They either sat in one of the couches or just stood, all of their eyes trained on the training ground outside.
Reiko and Karasu stood at the middle of the large training room, Reiko's bluish gray eyes locked with Karasu dark gray. Reiko slid into a taijutsu stance, not willing to use up her ninjutsu from the very beginning. She could feel the emotion of Karasu radiating off him like a broken radio signal. Reiko decided that Karasu was excited and she was fine with it. She wanted to see how good Karasu was as well.
"You may start." Karasu's monotonous voice told Reiko.
Reiko disappeared in a flash and appeared right behind Karasu, her katana drawn. She pointed her Katana inches away from Karasu's throat and waited for his reaction.
Karasu suddenly disappeared and appeared couple yards away. Reiko had a feeling that something was not right and realized that she was in a genjutsu.
"Kai." Reiko softly spoke.
The room warped ever so slightly and Reiko found herself on the training ground with Karasu's katana inches away from her throat. Reiko just stared at Karasu devoid of all emotions.
"You broke the record. You are the first one to notice the genjutsu in less than a minute of my casting." Karasu told her and nodded slightly.
Reiko disappeared once again in a blur and appeared few feet from Karasu. From that point, it became a pure kenjutsu battle. Reiko took out her sheathed her current katana and took out her three-foot-long twin katanas as Karasu took out a second katana as well.
Slicing the air with her katanas, Reiko moved toward Karasu. Each movement was sharp and it became deadlier than the previous move despite the obvious height difference between her and Karasu. Karasu at first was just automatically blocking each blow but after couple minutes, he seemed to catch on the sword dance Reiko was using.
"Dance of the Lilies? Pretty impressive. The rumors were right. I take it that you are fifth level sword mistress?" Karasu asked as the two danced around each other, their katanas just a silver blur in the air.
"Yes. You are pretty good as well. I wasn't aware that you were also fifth level sword master." Reiko told Karasu in an equally monotonous voice.
"Well, I think this fight is going to get really interesting. It's not every day that I get to clash with fifth level sword mistress, especially the famous Masked Kunoichi of Eternal Blades. I heard that you have Katsuragi in your possession. Is it true?" Karasu asked nonchalantly.
"You are only partially correct. I have only part of Katsuragi. Due to an accident from ages ago, part of Katsuragi's hilt was broken and reduced the power of Katsuragi. From the information I gathered, the hilt was incorporated into Orochimaru's, one of the Legendary Senins, sword. I heard that he also calls his sword Katsuragi as well." Reiko answered.
"Hn." Karasu nodded and continued to block Reiko's katanas.
After that little bit of conversation, Karasu and Reiko fell silent, the clangs of their katanas only thing breaking the silence that hung over the entire training room. From the other side of the glass wall, the two looked as though they were dancing. Each one of their steps were perfectly synchronized and there katanas seemed to be a mere extension of their arms. Every move they made was graceful and if it wasn't for the sound of blades clashing, one would have thought that they were just waltzing around each other.
Suddenly, Reiko spun on her heels and whipped her katanas in deadly blow. Karasu was caught off guard and even though he brought up his katanas to block the blow, one of Reiko's katana struck a glancing blow at his mask and his mask cracked on the impact. The crack soon ran through the mask and it eventually shattered, revealing a well-featured face of Itachi Uchiha.
The ANBUs watching across the glass wall involuntarily gasped as Karasu's mask shattered.
"Man, she's good." Hyena grumbled.
"She is good but look at Karasu-san. Man, the Taichou finally shows his face and a cute face too. I wonder how old he is? He looks about nine or ten to me. If he was older, I would have been checking him out." A kunoichi with long purple hair and cat masked told him.
"Shut up, Cat." Hyena told the purple haired kunoichi.
Karasu frowned a bit and he whipped up his katanas, this time him attacking and Reiko defending. He expertly spun his katanas, slashing deadly blows that Reiko blocked expertly. He then started to put more force behind each blow and Reiko, for a moment, was caught off guard. Karasu struck a deadly blow at Reiko's face and Reiko barely stopped it with her katana, but her mask shattered in the same fashion that Karasu's was shattered.
A kunoichi that was called Cat whistled.
"Look, the legendary Masked Kunoichi of Eternal Blades has finally shown her face. Man, she is young. How old is she anyways? She looks like she's barely five. She sure is cute too. Don't you agree, Eagle?" Cat told a guy who was right next to her.
The guy that was just called Eagle grunted and continued staring at the two shinobis.
Reiko frowned in her mind while keeping up the emotionless mask. Karasu was really good: his sword work was better than anyone she had ever fought against. She and Karasu were equal in sword fight so she was going to have to resort to something else if she was going to defeat him. Reiko really didn't want to use her ultimate technique that was reserved specially for Karasu but if she had to, she would use it. For once, Reiko was glad that Danzo-sama had her prepared for every single attack.
Karasu had reached a similar conclusion in his mind and attempted to resort to a combination of ninjutsu and genjutsu. He clashed his sword against Reiko's, trying to find an opening for his ninjutsu attack.
The katanas of Reiko and Karasu clashed in a particularly strong blow and they fell on the ground with a loud clang. The two leaped back and faced each other once again.
Karasu closed his eyes for a moment and opened it again. Instead of his usual onyx eyes, blood red eyes with two tomoes at the center took its place.
The ANBUs sitting in the viewing room gasped as they saw the red eyes of Karasu.
"Oh, she's dead. No one can beat our Taichou-sama when he has his sharingan activated." An ANBU muttered to himself, causing the rest of the ANBUs to concentrate even more on the fight.
Reiko looked calmly into the vermilion eyes of Karasu, well aware of what the sharingan could do. The shraringan could track every single ninjutsu moves she made and counterattack before she could even finish her seals. Also, it could cast powerful genjutsus just by looking. She internally frowned as she was left with no choice but to use the series of jutsus that she left only to be used on sharingan users.
As she began to form her seals, Karasu began to copy the seals. Reiko expected as much and she suddenly made a different hand sign, ending with a snake sign.
"Fuuton: Daihu no Me (Wind Release: Eye of Typhoon)."
The air began to rush around Reiko. The rushing air did not attack nor do anything except to spin faster and faster around Reiko, eventually making her look like a blur through the heavy wind.
Karasu frowned and started to make his own set of seals. Ending with the Dragon sign, he calmly spoke.
"Suiton: Yaiba no Uzu (Water Release: Blade of Water)."
Out of nowhere, water appeared before Karasu and formed into a large blade. The blade sliced through the typhoon and though Reiko was not harmed in any way, the air calmed. Karasu then suddenly appeared behind her with a kunai on his hand and even though Reiko had dodged, the kunai left a trail of blood on her exposed arm.
Reiko's eyes widened as the blood started to trickle down her arm. Her eyes briefly flashed red as she looked at Karasu and all the ANBUs held their breaths as red gashes appeared on Karasu's arms and chest, shredding the clothes. Karasu frowned as he felt the invisible blades but he didn't complain despite the pain.
Reiko wasn't sure what happened just then. All of the sudden, red gashes began to appear on Karasu's arms and chest, as though a series of invisible kunais had just raked over him. She wasn't sure what it was and from the expression she saw on Karasu, she doubted Karasu knew them either.
"Oh. My. God. The little girl finally got the blood." Cat gasped in shock.
Karasu disappeared in a flash and started the onslaught of attacks. The attacks were mixture of taijutsu and ninjutsu along with little bit of genjutsu. The cuts began to bleed badly, but Karasu just ignored them. Reiko blocked most of the attacks but as the fight went on, little bit of cuts appeared on her as well.
"Kaiton: Shinnin Kasai no Shi (Fire Release: Forest Fire of Death)."
A stream of fire came out from Karasu's mouth and they started to creep toward Reiko. They burned everything in their path, trapping Reiko from all sides. Reiko started her own counter.
"Suiton: Oarashi no Koshi (Suiton: Raging Storm of Flood)."
A huge wave of water crashed over the fire, putting them out. However, before Reiko had time to recompose, Karasu attacked once again.
"Suiton: Senshi no Geikido (Water Release: Warrior of Water)."
The water rushed to form a warrior and the water engulfed Reiko. Reiko was sent across the room by one of the blows from the water warrior and wind was knocked out of her lungs. Spitting out the blood, Reiko attempted to stand once more, but she was attacked by the warrior.
While Reiko was preoccupied with the water warrior, Karasu snuck up from behind. Reiko noticed him sneaking up and attempted in vain to fight off both the warrior and Karasu at the same time. Karasu grabbed her swiftly by hand and spun her around, putting her in a headlock. He pointed his kunai at her throat and smiled for the first time.
"I win."
Reiko was annoyed. Danzo-sama would be very disappointed to learn that she was able to be beaten by Karasu even though he himself told her that Karasu was one of the best. Reiko was at least a bit happy to know that she manage to draw substantial amount of blood from him during the fight.
Karasu was still puzzled over what had just happened during the fight. Fenikkusu's (or Reiko's) eyes suddenly flashed red very briefly and the numerous cuts appeared on his body. The cuts were still flowing and Karasu knew that he had to get some medical treatment to stop the blood. Blood was still gushing out of the wounds and Karasu remembered feeling as though a storm of kunais had just whipped past him.
Karasu was quite sure the sudden change in Fenikkusu's eyes had something to do with this. He knew that when there was an attack following the eye change always meant dojutsu, the most powerful of all jutsus. However, Karasu didn't know any dojutsu like hers. There was only three dojutsus and they were Rinnegan, Byakugan, and Sharingan.
The ANBUs that were watching from the sidelines rushed into the training room. One of them left to get the medics and the rest of them simply surrounded the two. They gasped at the bloodied figure of Karasu and the wearied Reiko.
"Now that was one hell of a fight." One of the ANBUs spoke.
"That was one of the best fights I've ever seen in my entire life." Another ANBU spoke.
'Damn, she is good. She really is one of the best. Demon of Konoha and Masked Kunoichi of Eternal Blades. I have to say that she lives up to every letter of the names. She really earned them.' Ookami thought as he ran his hand through his silver hair.
A group of medics rushed in and started to check over the two. Just as they were trained to do, they started to clean up the wounds without question. After taking care of the most immediate injuries, the medics asked Karasu and Reiko to come to the medical wing to treat the other injuries they had sustained from the fight.
Reiko leaned onto her right leg to stand and gritted her teeth when she felt the pain of muscle strain jolting through her leg. She then saw a hand offered to her and looked up to see Karasu. After a quick discussion in her head, she decided to take his hand and put her small hand into Karasu's. She stood up and was shocked to see Karasu actually smile at her. She once again debated in her head and decided to smile as well. The smile felt awkward on her face but Reiko did it anyways.
Karasu was amazed by Reiko's skill. He had to admit that Reiko could have beaten him if she decided to resort to ninjutsu earlier. Even during the fight, he could tell that she was holding back some of her skills and he was eager to learn what else she could do. From what he saw, she was one of the best kunoichi that Fire Nation had ever seen. The rumors didn't seem to be a bit exaggerated. He was glad that he had such a capable shinobi on his team.
Now, her dojutsu or whatever that was… Karasu was quite sure it was dojutsu because he could see so many similarities between it and his own sharingan. The dojutsu seemed quite powerful but also raw. He decided that he should have Fenikkusu train her dojutsu. Actually, when he was training her personally, it won't be Taichou Karasu and Fenikkusu but Itachi Uchiha and Reiko Senju. Karasu was really looking forward to the training.
Reiko and Karasu started to walk toward the medical wing with the medics. Karasu decided to tell Reiko his plan for training on the way to the hospital.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, especially where Karasu (Itachi) and Fenikkusu (Reiko) were fighting. For those of you who might be a bit confused, Reiko is currently four years old, Itachi is nine years old, and Kakashi (Ookami) is fourteen years old. Reiko is two years younger than Sasuke, Naruto, and their friends. I am aware that I'm making the age gap between Itachi and Sasuke much smaller into three years but I really don't want to make a pair have more age difference than five years. I think five years is already pushing it and I'm not going to make it like ten year gap. Besides, I like writing about teenagers and if I make Itachi and Kakashi too old, I won't get to write about their life as teens later on.
Also, I have some more things that I want to clear up.
Karasu is Itachi Uchiha and it stands for Crow.
Fenikkusu is Reiko Okubo and it stands for Phoenix.
Ookami is Kakashi Hatake and it stands for Wolf.
Taichou is just a title that they use to call their leader.
I hope that clears a bit. I just thought it will be much better if I used the Japanese version instead of just calling them Crow, Wolf, Phoenix, and etc. But I still used the English version for some of them just to avoid some confusion. You guys might get confused if I called every one of them in Japanese name. Besides, I get to save time that I would otherwise have used in looking up the words to see how to pronounce them. :)
Thanks for reading and please review!
- Kaerelie Cecilia, the Queen of B1aCk RoSE