Hi! It's been a long time, so sorry about that :3 Mega business, lately. Anyways, here is chapter four; enjoy and review please!

Chapter four: Training with the serpent

Kana yawned lazily, dabbling at her meagre rations for the day. Sleeping on the hard forest floor was starting to wear on her; it had been three months already, and her bruises were more painful than ever. She sighed despondently. Her training hadn't been going too well. She thought she was doing fine, but Itachi never seemed to be satisfied, or at least, he never showed it. There were never any smiles or laughter coming from his lips, which always remained straight, and the only times he showed any inflection in his voice was when he raised it slightly for her to stop her training. But, somehow, after the initial setbacks, she was beginning to get used to his presence, and he her.

"Why are you not eating?" he asked suddenly. He was sat leaning against a tree trunk, one leg straight and one bent, with his arm resting on the knee. His cloak rippled with the passing breeze.

It took Kana a while to respond. "Am I a good ninja?" she asked, still poking at her food.

"Excuse me?"

"You never seem happy with me, Itachi-sensei. Every time I do something, you never say it's good so I don't know how I'm doing!"

"If you keep on complaining, I can leave you behind here, if you would rather that."

"No!" she said quickly. "Sorry I moaned at you, sensei… I'll eat now."

"You are doing well," he spoke. "You can already wield chakra to some extent, and your taijutsu is coming along well."

She grinned. "Gee, thanks sensei!" And with that, her food was soon devoured.

"Sensei.." he mused again to himself.

Kana suddenly felt a vile ring in her ears. "What is that?" she cried. It was like someone was shouting at her, only it was inside her mind, and all she had to do was reply to the screaming to make it stop.

"It's our Leader."

Kana squeezed her eyes shut and drew closer to Itachi on instinct. "Make it stop!"

"Answer it."

"How?!"

She took a deep breath and forced herself to be calm like Itachi. Answer? She tried.

"Hello?" she said.

"Kana, Itachi. It is Leader. I have an assignment for you both. Not a mission, but an order to spend today training with Orochimaru, in order to develop Kana's ninjutsu. Orochimaru will provide Kana with the theoretical grounding as well as the practical application on many things. I believe the combined training of both Uchiha and Orochimaru's methods with prove effective in helping Kana to control her… helping Kana to develop as a shinobi. Orochimaru will arrive at your location shortly, as he has already been told of this. Kana- work hard to become stronger, for only you have the unique potential to become… very powerful indeed. That is all I am saying for now. I'm signing out."

And with that, the buzz in Kana's brain ceased, and she was left sat in a daze, blinking frequently. She swallowed and noticed that tears were gathering in her eyes. She refused to let them fall now, because Itachi would never, ever cry like that. That experience just then had scared her very much, and every time she thought back to it, she felt something like ice run down her back. She brushed her dark hair away from her eyes and blinked the tears away from the tips of her black eyelashes. Orochimaru… Whoever it was, the name itself made her cringe. Leader's explanation had been so confusing that she was only able to pick out small bits of it. She wondered if they occasionally forgot she was eight years old.

"Orochimaru will be here soon," Itachi said coolly, standing up. He brushed the dirt off his cloak and looked into the distance. He seemed to be looking at something much farther away than just the sunrise.

Before she could allow herself to dwell on this, Kana wondered, "Who's Orochimaru?"

"He's a shinobi formerly of the Hidden Leaf village. He specialises in immortality jutsu, and knows a great deal about snakes. His crime has something to do with his determination to discovering the secrets for immortality and other forbidden jutsu. He is a cruel man."

Kana gulped nervously. "I don't want to train with this guy… He sounds mean."

"You have to. I will not be far away."

This thought comforted her a little.

OOO

The man in front of her had the whitest skin she had ever seen, with snake-like eyes and purple lines on his face. He had sleek black hair running all down his back and an uncomfortably sinister smile curling on his lips that showed his teeth. Everything about him was making Kana shudder; he was nearly as scary as the masked man who had taken her to Itachi. Nearly, but not quite.

"Itachi Uchiha, it has been some time," Orochimaru greeted him in a voice that was more like a rasp than anything else. Itachi merely nodded in acknowledgement. "And this is the young girl I'm supposed to teach today? What a runt. Leader must have some very special plans in store for this child."

Kana poked her tongue out at him and ran behind Itachi's back. Itachi took hold of the back of her tunic and dumped her in front of himself, forcing her to bear Orochimaru's cruel stare.

"I'm not a runt! You're not my sensei, either!" she said defiantly.

"Kana," Itachi interrupted her complaints, "You must behave today. Orochimaru is teaching you things I cannot." She looked up at him, and for a second he looked in emotional pain. His face clouded with anxiety for the smallest moment, before he resumed his ordinary emotionless expression. Kana frowned. Why didn't he just tell people he was sad if he felt that way? He didn't have to hide it.

"If you want me to, then… I guess I could."

"Well, go and start your training."

"'Kay!"

OOO

Orochimaru led Kana to a small clearing, where a large full sack had been placed. She could have sworn it was moving. He zeroed in on her, seeming to slither, and another malicious grin formed on his ghostly face. He took her by the hand like a rich lady, and took her towards the sack. Kana didn't know what was going on, or what was inside the sack, but her instincts told her it had something to do with her 'special' training, and it wasn't very friendly. He stood between her and the sack and gave an amused sigh.

"Kana?" he questioned, still baring his teeth.

"Yeah?" Her eyebrows were creased with worry.

"When you grow up, you will be part of the Akatsuki, and you will wear a cloak just like mine and Itachi's, but before then, you must learn how to complete some difficult missions."

She nodded hurriedly, fixated on the contents of the sack.

"Some missions won't be very nice for you, because Akatsuki is an organisation for grown-ups."

"Itachi's not grown-up!" She secretly wished he wouldn't keep talking down on her.

"He was an exception. He was a prodigy. Now, this is a little test to see if a little kid like you has what it takes to be a part of the Akatsuki. Some of your missions will be like this, so I hope you are ready for it. Otherwise, you will be separated from Itachi-sensei forever."

"No! Please, I'll do anything to wear that cool cloak and stay with sensei! Just get that thing out of the sack and we can start my training! I'll do it!"

Orochimaru smiled triumphantly. "I was always good with the children," he mumbled to himself. He raised his voice a little. "Kana- why don't you open the bag yourself? It would be a very good thing if you did…"

She nodded enthusiastically, and drew out a small knife Itachi had given her out of a pocket in her tunic. She slashed apart the ropes that bound the sack and prized the edges open. What she saw next horrified her into falling backwards into the dirt.

A boy crawled out. Just an ordinary boy, maybe three years older than her. He was wearing the shabbiest rags she had ever seen, and was covered in cuts, bruises and dirt. His hair was matted and dull, and he stared at her with wide eyes of fear.

"Help me," he croaked. "Please, little girl, that man killed my family…"

"Mister Orochimaru, who is this?" she squeaked. The boy continued to stare at her, and he began to weep uncontrollably.

"Kana dear, this is Nao. He was one of my… pupils, but he didn't live up to expectations. He is worthless now. If you will, your mission is to kill this boy."

Her world froze. "Kill him?"

"Yes, Kana, kill him. Use your knife, and kill him. His life is nothing to you. You don't know him. You must kill your emotions, or duty will destroy you, child."

"I can't kill someone! I knew it- all ninjas are bad and kill people. They killed my mama and papa and my friends and burned down my village. I can't kill someone I don't even know. I don't even know what to do. Help me!"

"Forget I ever said his name. He has no name. Your victims have no name, no past, no future; they are just what stands between you and mission success. If you let emotions ruin your missions, Leader will let you go at the drop of a hat and you will never see Itachi-sensei again."

Kana felt tears streaming down her cheeks. The knife shook in her white knuckles and she grinded her teeth together. Her hair covered her eyes and she bent down slightly.

"Please don't kill me! Please! I don't want to die! HELP ME!" the boy screamed. Orochimaru cast a jutsu Kana had never seen before and the boy froze on the spot, the terrified expression still painted on him.

"I can't…" Kana sobbed, the knife trembling within her grasp. "Please don't make me do it… I promise I'll be good, just don't make me kill a little boy…"

Itachi was suddenly behind Orochimaru, completely emotionless.

"Orochimaru… don't you think that's a bit much? She is only eight."

"If she doesn't learn now, she never will. There's always a first time…"

Kana collapsed to her knees, crying like a baby. "I don't want to be a murderer… I just want to go home and be happy again. Don't make me kill him; he didn't do anything wrong."

"Do it! Or I'll kill Itachi!"

Itachi blinked, and Orochimaru held a kunai to his throat. This act seemed to be amusing Orochimaru no end. Itachi continued to don a blank face. "Orochimaru… This has to stop. No child should be made to do this." He didn't raise his voice, but he sounded pretty damn firm.

"NO!" she yelled, a change in her voice. "Don't you dare kill Itachi-sensei!"

"Kill the boy, or Itachi dies. That should be some sufficient motivation."

Orochimaru pressed the tip of this kunai to Itachi's neck, and a bead of blood rolled down from the wound. Kana was shaking with fury. She clenched her tiny, chubby hands into fists with white knuckles, still gripping the knife tightly. Something snapped inside her head, and she felt an odd twinge in her eyes.

"Don't ever hurt him," she warned Orochimaru, and turned to the boy. "I'll kill you!" she screamed.

Suddenly, she was blind to herself and yet she could see everything. It was the same… the same as the night mother had… when that ninja…

She ran forward and drove the knife into the boys neck. Blood splattered onto her tunic as she glared up at him with her blood red eyes.