Squinting a little, Tokuma activated his byakugan. The small packs of stray dogs, scattered around in different directions, were all acting weird, in sync. 'What was Kishi telling them to do?', he thought as he watched them stretch continuously for last few minutes. He was looking at three different packs of strays with their behinds in the air, one moment and then their heads in the air, next moment. All three packs were isolated from the other and yet their actions were perfectly coordinated.

Now that they were exploring the capabilities of Kishi's recently discovered chakra, Ibiki and Tokuma were witnessing pretty amazing things. Kishi could control the exact actions of the canines; which in fact was entirely different from how any normal Inuzuka trained their companion. The companion was assigned to them so as to train the dogs as per the owners' fighting styles and chakra natures. Kishi however, was able to order any random dog any sort of thing without them defending it. It seemed as if the dog was acting on its own free will, while handing her its pup or grabbing a knife to repel a kunai or any tasks that Kishi wanted done. So far, they had derived a few conclusions like the area over which she can make it happen or the number of dogs she could handle. However, the count of canines didn't really matter in the given region.

Focusing his eyes on the next group, Tokuma considered the size of each one. The size of each pack was increasing. This was bad, this would draw attention. He jumped from his position on the tree and started running towards Kishi, who was a few miles away. They were in the outskirts of the village, behind the mountain. Ibiki had suggested determining the range to which she can control as the first step and so far, they were guessing that around fifty miles was possible. It was truly amazing, this distance was far greater than the his own Byakugan range, so he was always the one running all over the village and even outside sometimes, when his team decided to train together. He focused his eyes on the village streets where he could see one or two dogs imitating the packs he was supervising. He ran faster, Kishi was attracting too many dogs. Finally reaching her, he saw his canine teammates continuing the antics.

"That's enough for today…." Tokuma said, "A few in the village, apart from today's pack are getting caught up"

Kishi turned towards him and nodded. She focused and eased her chakra, releasing the dogs instantly. The moment she eased, there was no abrupt halt in her hounds' behaviour, but still she needed to confirm it on the other strays as well.

"No traces of being monitored as well…." Ibiki declared as he landed next to them, with a thick book in his hand. He was in a nearby bush with 3 strays he was assigned with. "Not when you changed their movements or released them from control…." he continued.

All of them sat down, relaxing in the breeze that brought the hints of dusk. Few minutes later, Kishi started to put her memories, she had gathered after their little training, out loud.

"Did you visit the dango shop in the middle of the market in the noon?" she asked Tokuma.

He hesitated first, then nodded, amazed by the details. He knew Kishi wasn't there in person, these were the memories the strays had shared with her or rather gave her access to while she controlled them. Later she went on to describe rest of the memories she recalled. Some of them were just facts and they deduced what might be the scenario, some were the actual scenes and some were pure emotions. As interesting as it was, Tokuma and Ibiki were aware it was pretty burdensome.

Emotions. Those were a little difficult to deal with, not that she could completely handle and sort out the facts or other memories, yet these emotions that she felt even if she wasn't the one experiencing them put a huge pressure on her mind. It was hard to separate them from her own feelings. That overwhelmed her most of the times. If she planned to use all of this to her benefit, she either must find a way to handle them or block them. And one thing she was sure of was that she's gonna need help with all this. Maybe her Yamanaka sensei could give her some tips.

"You both…" Kishi looked at her teammates, "I really appreciate all this… I -"

"Enough with the formalities now" Ibiki interrupted her. "I only agreed to do this because this all…... is ... interesting….."

Kishi nodded in understanding. A thanks would be like pushing them away after she accepted them. No that won't do. This was her team, her friends, her fa-….

"Next, tell them to do different things at the same time. That might be much useful if you are able to do it. It might be difficult though." Ibiki mumbled, more to himself than her, had her attention nonetheless.

"Can't tell until we try…..."

.

For their next training session, Kishi was struggling. Surprisingly, she managed to give different orders to each one of the dogs, but it was difficult to focus with so many images pouring into her mind. She had to break the flow of her chakra every few seconds. With the rapidly incoming memories, all too fuzzy, she was starting to feel dizzy. After attempting a few times, her mind was blank and overloaded at same time, she sat down heavily. The cool night breeze, soothed her a little.

"Maybe we should start with only 2 dogs and then gradually increase…." Ibiki suggested as he observed her. She looked a little disoriented. Apparently, isolating the movements of a specific dog required much more chakra control than directing the entire pack to do same thing.

Ibiki crouched down to scratch the ears of the dog that was looking expectantly at him. He wondered what stupid memories were these strays projecting to Kishi, he hoped it was all silly things that the dog had seen his entire day. He desperately wished those feelings to be good and not anything depressing. He had witnessed how the presence of her own hounds had troubled her initially, how she looked so detached from them, how her pack was so wary of her. But she didn't snap, instead she faced it. He was surprised when she actually talked about the foreign feelings and emotions she had watched. It was a brave move that he himself was afraid to take. Moreover, he was aware what witnessing the torture over and over felt like. Those memories haunted him even now. Talking about it would be like accepting it and then moving on. But he didn't think he would survive it all, not just yet. He knew time would heal it all, but for now he would have to go through it and he was prepared for it. And so was Kishi, he just knew it. But this whole thing, about she watching memories of these creatures merely as a bystander, didn't sit well with him. Kishi was strong, her mind didn't break as easily as any other 19-year-olds, but all this will affect at some point. This would create a feeling of helplessness and uselessness in her. Sure, she was well aware of it and letting it go was easy for now. It would be problem if and when she would see something that she was not capable of moving on from, that she would blame herself for and that would break her completely.

NO!

Ibiki was not waiting for something like that to happen. He would see for it himself that she is ready for anything that was to come. He was her closest friend and he was proud of that. She had let the walls down for him, it was like she accepted him… no…... not accepted. She allowed him to be her closest friend, like he was allowed to prank her and protect her and care for her. He would not let her down. NEVER…

"Kishi….", he called out. "Let's start with one." Content with the answering nod that Kishi gave he sat down, watching every move in front of him carefully.

A few minutes later, Kishi suddenly stopped. She was training the stray infront of her to yield a kunai only for deflecting any incoming throw. As soon as she restricted her chakra, the kunai fell from the dog's mouth. Ibiki watched her crouch down to dog's level. She took the stray by his head and focused on his eyes.

"It's enough for today..." she called out, ready to leave, moments later.

"What did you see?" Ibiki asked, curious about her abrupt change of plans. They started nearly half hour earlier!

Kishi winced at the question. Ever since Ibiki had healed, she never seemed to sneak past him.

"Nothing interesting…" she replied.

"Then why stop?"

"I'm tired…All these images are making me feel dizzy…. It's overwhelming somehow…." she trailed off.

Ibiki was silent for few moments. He anticipated that this would burden her. But she had to find a way. As far he had known Kishi (and he knew her well), she was never the one to give up so easily. Even if she was not feeling up to it, he had to push her. Her last mission was a huge chaos even with the legendary sannin with her. He did not want to even think about what would happen if she found herself alone in a similar situation.

"It's hardly an hour before we started. You are sooo not tired. What did you saw? Tell me." Ibiki was not going to surrender to her whims.

"Your ugly bald head is really damaged, you know." Kishi retorted. The lack of response to her insult irritated her. She resigned. "I saw Hana returned in the evening. She brought some new medicines, she had asked me to come over after the medicines arrived."

"It's late. You can let her rest her today. Besides you have to train. It was interesting the way his mouth flicked the kunai to other side." Ibiki argued, still not convinced.

"You don't decide what I do…" Kishi replied grumpily. "I am leaving."

"That's ju-"

"Look baldy…" Kishi was getting agitated.

Ibiki was taken aback when he saw temper rising in those dark eyes, but he stood his ground.

Kishi spotted a hint of surprise on Ibiki's face and tried to calm herself.

"Ibiki….. let it go for today, please…"

And Ibiki dropped it. Kishi continued before he could speak.

"If you let me go, I let you in on a little secret" Kishi offered. She had to leave immediately. This was the only way Ibiki would stop nagging.

"What secret? And it depends on who it's about?" Ibiki was not going to drop it until she really tells him what's going on.

"I take it as a no. I'm leaving …" Kishi turned and leaped on the nearby tree.

"Wait-" He was already letting her leave. Might as well hear it. Information is a very crucial thing as he was well aware of it.

Kishi smiled. Victory...

"I agree if you tell me all about it" Ibiki could swear he saw Kishi smirked before she dropped down. Annoyed he started to walk towards the village.

"It's about Tokuma" Kishi said, after she was walking beside him. "Do you know if he like dango?"

"Hmm…... He doesn't dislike it. I mean he sure ate it when sensei treated us all after the war. It was at the new shop that opened right in the middle of the market, wasn't it?"

Kishi nodded. "It's just that, Tokuma seems to be frequenting the shop, a lot!" She paused. "I saw him thrice there today… I mean those strays saw him there at different times. He didn't eat or entered the shop. He just stood by the window for few minutes. I also saw him a few times before that and also during our last training session."

"Ohh?!…. But he..." Ibiki was in thought. This was her chance.

"Aaand…. I leave the rest to your damaged ugly bald head to figure it out" Kishi giggled as she jumped to the tree to escape. Ibiki won't chase her, not with this new information. He knew very well who the owner of the shop was. And if it had somehow slipped through his memory, she knew he wouldn't forget the female Hyuuga who stood by the counter as they had exited the shop. Even then Kishi had not missed the way Tokuma had stared at the girl. Tokuma was red in ears when the said girl smiled at all of them as they exited.

Knowing Ibiki, he would definitely swing by the shop before going home, hoping to catch Tokuma in action or the said girl in question. But that wasn't why she left the training early. She didn't want to lie to Ibiki, she would tell him eventually, when she was sure what she saw was truth.

The dog who shared this new intel with her was lazily stretching when she reached. She had instructed the dog to follow her. 'Good dog'. She then instructed the dog to show her where he had seen that particular memory and the dog took off.

What Kishi had seen was disturbing. She saw Danzo, the head of the Root division of ANBU. Then she saw an Uchiha, who she had seen a few times, while she treated her kohai Itachi some dango. Itachi was on good terms with him. Shisui Uchiha, she recalled his name. The next thing she had seen was Danzo, had attacked Shisui out of the blue, damaging his eyes. Then, within a flash he was gone and the memory ended too abruptly. Maybe the dog ran away after sensing danger, was her only guess.

The Root Division was carved into the mountain, where Kishi was currently standing. She sensed a few guards and suppressed her chakra signature. It was safe to let the dog wander over to the 'crime scene'. She ordered it to walk infront of the building gates, sniffing around and identifying any traces of blood.

After few minutes she walked away, ordering the stray to do the same. Her heart sank when the stray confirmed faint blood stains and metallic scent. Why would the Root chief attack an Anbu? Sure, the Uchihas were under surveillance since the Nine-tails attack and Danzo had his grudges against them, but attacking Shisui was taking it too far. He was around her age, and was gaining recognition from all the lands. If not anything else, he was an asset to the village. He was trusted by the Third himself. Why attack your own soldiers?

She calmed herself a bit. The questions were not important. Right now, Shisui was injured, he needed help if he was on a run from the Root chief, he would have sent men after Shisui and if so, all of this was really dangerous. She hadn't talked to Shisui ever, except for the greetings. Neither had any of her teammates or Kakashi. So, the only option, was Itachi…...

Itachi had joined Anbu a few months after she resumed her duty. Luckily for her, no one was much aware of the incident or the rumors about 'The Hound Queen', as Ibiki liked to call. She often heard about the brutality of some ninjas around the borders of Hidden Stone, but nothing more than that. Kishi was thankful for that. She mostly kept to herself, not bothering to talk when a new face would appear in the Anbu locker room. Kishi didn't favor making any more friends, for the time being she had enough. But this changed when Itachi was assigned to her. Initial missions of Itachi as an Anbu were to be supervised by Kishi. She was often teamed up with him on long missions. He was a good person, humble and respectful and even considerate at times. He didn't pry nor bother her. He had a strange maturity in him that Kishi was irritated by at times. Nonetheless, she had taken a liking to him. Later, when he had been assigned to Kakashi's Team RO, Kishi had seen some Anbu 'warning' Itachi about being in Kakashi's team. Kishi had simply made sure those Anbu would at least take some effort to check who's listening, the next time they were trash talking Kakashi. Kishi valued her friends and she felt obligated to make it clear to her fellow Anbus. Unfortunately, for the one warning Itachi, he did not handle her words well and fainted right before her. That gave rise to colorful rumors that she was pleased to hear.

After that incident Itachi would often come up to her if he saw her in the common room. He would sometimes point out how the people were wary of her. He even pointed out how the locker room suddenly fell quiet when she would enter. Itachi had entered Anbu in a tender age of eleven. Even if he executed his mission perfectly (even the assassination ones), he still was a child. She knew very well how death and murder tainted one's soul. And for that very reason she wished Itachi to keep his innocence a little longer. There was not much she could do except to fool around in between the mission and shifts. Sometimes she would annoy him to the extent that he would fed up.

Once she was trying to peek inside his locker simply to annoy him and searching for something to tease him about when Kakashi had unceremoniously scolded her. She had not liked the captain at rescue plan. With no words to correctly justify his insult, she had simply mimicked Kakashi's words back at him pinching his nose hard enough and Kakashi had sighed deeply, leaving her to Itachi. Later that day Kishi had devised a plan along with Itachi to count how many times his captain sighed during a day. The purpose was to humiliate and annoy Kakashi whenever the opportunity may present itself. To Kishi's surprise, Itachi had included a few more of their fellow colleagues in order to never leave a single sigh uncounted. From then onwards, random numbers were shouted and heard in the common room, with a very few people actually knowing the meaning behind it. Whenever Kakashi would enter the locker room with his team, Itachi would loudly announce the count so far. Whoever heard next sigh from Kakashi would continue from there. Surprisingly enough the plan worked very well. To rule out any mess up in count, whoever was with Kakashi would loudly announce the count so far in case they had to leave. As silly as the plan sounded, people were determined not to miss a single sigh Kakashi heaved till the end of the shift and simply refused to give up. Even longer missions did nothing to deter them from the plan.

Whenever Kakashi would beat his personal best, Kishi treated Itachi to some sweets, especially dango. The kid had a thing for sweets, and he was the reason their plan was going on so flawlessly. For Kishi it was killing two birds in one stone. It was on generous days like those when she treated Itachi, that she would see Tokuma pass by the shop, peek into the shop enough to check the counter and go his way. God, he looked like a thief keeping an eye on the cash counter, searching for the opportunity to steal.

She had seen Shisui on one such dango break, he was searching for Itachi for some clan meeting and Itachi had introduced her. She had found Shisui just as humble as her kohai. They never spoke anything else except greetings and smiles.

Speeding up, she focused on finding Itachi. She was sure Itachi was the best option at this time, he knew him better than her. She was near the Uchiha compound. With her regular shift at the Uchiha surveillance center, she had a pretty good idea where his house was. Climbing to a roof of a nearby building, she heightened her sense of smell, however she had no idea how would she get to talk to Itachi. It was late, way past dinner, and she could not sense Itachi, at all. Not in the house neither could smell him in the entire Uchiha district. She sensed two sharp and controlled chakra signatures in the house, his parents, and a constant fluctuating chakra ball, the ototo, she guessed.

Maybe Shisui had come to Itachi as soon as he was attacked. Maybe Itachi was still with Shisui. Kishi hoped that was really the case. That had to be it. He wasn't assigned any mission out of the village, that, she was sure of. All that she could do at the moment was hope either Itachi was already with Shisui or on his way home. Shisui would be fine, from what she saw, he wasn't gravely injured and he was an Anbu after all, he could take care of himself. Danzo was unpredictable and dangerous. She let her thoughts wander for some time.

It was past midnight, and Kishi was now convinced that Itachi was with Shisui. There was no other reason why she could not find Itachi. She even gathered a few dogs to check if the strays had seen him. But it appeared Itachi had somehow vanished completely. Convinced she made her way back to her house. A few hours of rest would help. She had to pursue Itachi again tomorrow, she had to know why? Setting up the surveillance had already crossed the line with the red-eyed clan. This incident just felt like some sick paranoia. Hoping everything was okay with her kohai and his friend she made her way inside her door, where her pups greeted her.

Next day, her plans of meeting Itachi were foiled when she was assigned a guarding shift at the border. Finishing her day, Kishi made her way through the market streets towards the far end of the village. She was restless the whole day, she had to talk to Itachi, if nothing else she had to atleast know that Shisui met Itachi last night. As the entrance of the Uchiha district came into view, Kishi heightened her senses as well as her chakra. Images started to flow into her brain, she had to stop on the tree near the entrance. She picked up Itachi's scent that indicated he was near his house. This was good, she thought. Breaking the chakra connected to several dogs and still maintaining her sense of smell, she dashed towards him, jumping roofs. Itachi's house was near the compound of the district, making her way through the rooftops she climbed the compound wall, dropping down to the street when her destination was close. Someone was crouched down right in the middle of the street with their back to her. A few police officers, were walking away from the crouched person. Itachi was the one crouched, she realized a moment later. As she walked towards him, she saw him slowly raise his head and glare at the house entrance, where a slightly disoriented and flickering chakra was present. When Kishi finally noticed the changed Sharingan glaring at the ototo, she stood right in front of Itachi, blocking his view.

"What are you doing? You are scaring the ototo…." She said glancing at the child. He was definitely scared. The said ototo seemed as old as Naruto, she noticed and forced herself to focus.

"He's cute…." Kishi mumbled loud enough for both the boys to hear, as Itachi rose from his position.

"You sure are hard to find Itachi…." Kishi continued. "I need to talk…it's urgent…... somewhere else.." she added glancing at the kid once again.

Itachi nodded, finally opening his eyes after deactivating the Sharingan.

"Nii-san –"

"Sasuke… I have work. Go ahead and set up the table." Itachi gave orders stiffly.

Kishi had walked towards the compound wall where a kunai was stuck on the Uchiha fan. She pulled it out and glanced at the brothers. 'What happened here?'Now that was the question she was not going to ask. The Uchihas were private and this was something from inside she guessed, remembering the police when she had arrived.

They reached a clearing and Itachi faced her again.

"Did Shisui come to you yesterday?"

Itachi seemed to freeze for a moment. He didn't reply.

"Itachi… I won't press for details. But I saw it. I saw Danzo attacking Shisui and I was…." Kishi stopped. She wasn't worried about Shisui, she was curious. And that was a cold thing to say. She saw Itachi frown in confusion.

"I mean, I didn't see it myself, but Momo saw it and he told me." She didn't want her training to be exposed or anything about her strange ability. "If it was me present there, I would have found Shisui right away… or you. But I got to know about it a few hours later. As soon as I got to know I rushed to find you, but you weren't home. I waited for long time and assumed maybe Shisui had come to you."

She waited for some response but none came. Was he not going to tell her anything. Really?

"Itachi… I am aware that if Danzo is after Shisui, he must have sent men and it's not safe to tell anyone about where Shisui is. I get it. But just tell me you did meet and he is ok. Trust me, I won't ask any details. Just –"

"Kishi senpai…."

Kishi waited. Itachi was not in his usual calm state. If she hadn't known him, she would have considered he was fine. But he seemed a little… agitated or riled up. Even though his face gave away nothing, his eyes betrayed him, as they conveyed pain and sadness.

"Shisui committed suicide last night." He replied for the first time.

"Sui—what are yo—wh—WHAT?" Suicide? It was not suicide. It was soo not suicide. She waited for him to continue, but he did not.

"Itachi, he did not commit suicide. It was a murder. I saw Danzo damage his right eye! And I am sure it was not some made up illusion or image that the dog showed me. And I also saw him escape. This suicide thing is not true Itachi. Trust me. It was not suicide. Root men would have got him."

Kishi waited a beat. "Did you not meet him yesterday?" Kishi waited. She just hoped they did. Kishi had seen it happen. Had Danzo's men got to him before he could get to Itachi? Was she already late when she saw it?

"I met him. He told me about the attack." Itachi replied, with voice devoid of any emotion. "He even told me about the note he left."

Kishi froze. What was Itachi even talking about? Was he even in his right mind?

"You knew…. And you didn't…?" Kishi asked, horrified.

"I was too late." He replied in a low voice. Kishi realized how harsh she was to him. She just blamed him of not trying enough.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean it. It wasn't your fault, Itachi." Kishi didn't know what to say. She walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. She didn't let go. This must have been too painful and she admitted she had no idea, even in the slightest, how Itachi felt right now.

She let the silence that fell upon them stretch. She was at a loss for words. Finally, when he looked up, she let go of him.

"He planned it all, huh…... leaving a note and all…..." she trailed.

Danzo was dangerous, he had a reputation for it. To report all this wasn't the wise option. Itachi mentioned a suicide note. So only two people were aware of Danzo's actions, hopefully.

"The note…. Who else knows about the note?"

"Everyone…."

"But…. Why?"

"Apparently, Danzo sama was convinced that Shisui was a threat…"

Kishi didn't expect him to answer that. In a way he didn't. That much was common sense to anyone who witnessed it. Still, she pressed on.

"Threat? To what?..."

Itachi was quiet. Sighing she dropped it.

"So… no one knows about Danzo back-stabbing Shisui? …." She asked.

For some reason, Itachi looked surprised. He noticed the disgust in her voice.

"What?" Kishi asked. "Do you expect me to sit back and side with that old bastard just because he has power?"

After lack of response, she continued "Say…... If we were to report this to the Sandaime…?" As stupid as it sounded, she still wanted to know what he was thinking. If he agreed to that, it would be a huge risk. The root chief would for sure hear about it. That would just put her and Itachi's life in danger.

"Shisui did commit suicide. He wrote a note stating his reason and I want to honour last of his wishes. He was a trusted shinobi of the clan and revealing this would only lead to more chaos. Shisui was aware of it and that's why he planned it all…. I don't want to let Shisui's sacrifice go to waste."

She simply nodded. She got that. And for the first time, after she had lashed out at Kakashi in the hospital after Rin's death, she felt that maybe… maybe she didn't have to be sorry for getting angry at Kakashi. Maybe she did the right thing. Rin's sacrifice was to be honoured for. And so was Shisui's.

"Senpai…."

"Hmm…"

"Please, don't report it. Not to the Third or to anyone else. Please. I am the son of the clan leader, and the higher-ups will hesitate to make a move on me…. But they won't think twice to bury any evidence, against them, forever."

Itachi looked troubled. She was all too aware of it.

"I won't. Don't worry about it. You are the only person I will ever talk to, about all this, I assure you." Kishi had a gist about all this. Yet she could not control her anger.

"Still, it's too pathetic, don't you think? I mean, the surveillance is one thing but this. To think that a man of Danzo's status and position is so pathetically paranoid of the mighty Uchihas..." Kishi laughed bitterly. "Moreover, such a paranoid bastard is in charge of taking decisions about the welfare and warfare of the village…." Kishi sighed once again, noticing Itachi's defeated stance. Nothing more could be done here.

"Itachi…I won't let it slip, I assure you. But if you want to prove all this to someone, just ask me. Don't worry about me, I'm at least capable of taking care of myself. Just promise me that if anything comes up and you or your entire clan need to prove this, you will tell me. Promise me that I'll be helping you prove the innocence of Shisui in this matter, if it is ever questioned. Please…"

"I would rather like it if it never comes to this…."

"I am not going to tell Itachi. I just want to help. And I'm talking about 'if' the situation arises. Please Itachi. And if you don't trust me enou—"

"Okay... I will tell you." Itachi cut her off.

And it was a deal. There was nothing more to be done. She won't talk about it ever. Squeezing Itachi's shoulder one last time she decided to leave.

"See you tomorrow, then. And…. be careful…" Kishi whispered as she walked away.

A/n:

I know it's a little late, please forgive me. Actually, I was planning on adding a little more but the chapter seemed to stretch on forever. So what I did instead was to break it into 2 chapters. And as I started the next chapter already I only need to end it properly. Hopefully the next update won't be long :-D

What do you think about Kishi's abilities? Which affinities would you like Kishi to have? I would like to hear your ideas. I have a few ideas myself, but if you want me to include something feel free to connect...

AND FOR THE LOVE OF KAKASHI PLEASE REVIEW.