"Alright, Sasuke, ready to learn one of my clan's fire jutsus?" Eneko asked the black-haired shinobi. He nodded.
"Yes ma'am. I want to get stronger so I can accomplish my old dream now. Now that I don't have to drag Itachi back by his hair, at least." Sasuke grinned. Eneko tilted her head to the side.
"What dream is that?" He grinned even larger.
"I'm going to be on the Konoha police force, like my father was." He replied, eyes shining with determination. Eneko smiled.
"If we weren't in the middle of training, I'd hug you, but right now you have to pay attention." He nodded, watching her every move. "This is a combination of earth, wind and fire jutsus, but more stamina than either. It's, oh, we'll say a jounin-level technique." Sasuke's eyes widened. She grinned. "Now watch my every move, Sasuke. Are you ready?" Without waiting for an answer, she shot her leg out and with the help of her chakra, kicked up a whole cloud of sandy earth. With a couple of quick hand seals, she used a fire-technique and blew the fire so it consumed the cloud, causing the dirt to fall back but the sand to turn into glass. Eneko snapped open her fan and sent a bone-shattering kick to the lump of glass, causing it to shatter into a million pieces and seem to be suspended into the air. She swung her fan around and the shards went everywhere. Sasuke pulled out two kunai and started trying to dodge the shards, but failed. A few stabbed him in the stomach and he was reminded of Haku's attack all that time ago. Eneko stopped her attack, causing any of the shards to drop to the ground harmlessly. She went over to Sasuke and started pulling out the shards and healing him.
"That – ow – was awesome, nee-chan! Can you center wind techniques around anything other than a fan, though?" Eneko smiled from her healing and nodded.
"Of course, Sasuke. You can center chakra around nearly anything, right?" He nodded, stopping to think about it. "Well, it's the same for techniques. I just choose to use my fans because they can also be used as weapons if I'm out of chakra." Sasuke tilted his head.
"How so?" Eneko stood up and went to a tree, snapping her fan open yet again. She made one slash at the tree and it didn't seem to do anything. Then she let out a puff of air and the tree split in half, falling over with a loud crash. Sasuke's eyes were huge.
"Now that takes years of practice right there, but it's still the same concept as kunai and shuriken." She pulled another shard out of Sasuke's stomach and pulled out a kunai, throwing the shard in the air. She centered the wind around the kunai knife and sent the shard flying with a small burst of air. They heard the telltale sounds of the shard embedding itself into a tree and then a cry of surprise. Eneko's eyes went wide and she waved at Sasuke, running toward it.
"Uh…practice that technique, Sasuke! I'll be right back!!" She ran off through the trees, calculating the path of the shard until she saw what it had hit. She quickly covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Itachi had an expression on his face that was a mixture between 'what the heck?' and 'oh, gods, not again.' She grinned and walked over to him, pulling the shard out of the cloth of his outfit that was pinning him to the tree.
"Here I am, trying to come watch you and my little brother train and I almost get stabbed. I feel so loved, Ene-chan." She grinned sheepishly.
"I'm really sorry, Itachi. I was teaching him the glass arrow technique and then he was asking about technique centering and it got a little out of control and – " She was cut off, feeling Itachi's lips capture hers passionately. Eneko's face started turning bright pink and she tried to push him away for air. He leaned in close to her ear as she caught her breath.
"You are mine, Ene-chan." He whispered protectively. She blushed even worse and opened her mouth to say something when his lips covered hers again. She felt herself being turned around and now it was her back that was against the tree.
"Itachi…what's gotten into you?" she asked, flustered to say the least. Itachi merely smiled and then pulled a pout.
"I've missed you, niji-chan." He told her. She smiled at the pet name and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I've missed you too, Tachi-kun, but we really shouldn't do these things when there are young, hormone-soaked, boys around us, okay? Especially when neither of them have a lady to go back to?" Itachi's eyes widen, remembering the news.
"Oh, yeah, Eneko-chan. The third was killed by Orochimaru back in Konoha." Eneko's eyes widened and she leaned against the tree for support. "Jiraiya-sama's gone looking for Lady Tsunade to take his place as the fifth hokage. He's close and with Naruto and him being so close I figured - " He broke off, looking at her heartbroken expression. "Oh, Eneko-chan…" He murmured. Tears fell down her face and she covered it with her hands. The third had been a good friend to her, he was the first she told she was still alive apart from Sasuke. He had acted like a father figure to her when she needed it and given her help with Sasuke. Her heart ached but she tried to push it away. She felt Itachi's warm arms wrap themselves around her and she let out a quiet sob. He rubbed her back gently.
"Itachi what did you do?" She heard Naruto's startled exclamation. Her head snapped up and she motioned Naruto over. When he got close, she hugged him tightly, knowing the third meant a lot to Naruto as well. Naruto looked confused; Sasuke hadn't told him about the third yet.
"He's gone, Naruto…. The third's dead…" She let out a pained whisper. Tears filled the young boy's blue eyes. He hugged her back, finding comfort in her arms. Itachi looked at the two of them sadly. Sasuke came back to see what was going on and silently conversed with Itachi, sighing sadly with the news. Eneko started singing a sad song, to calm not only herself, but also those around her. But at the end, the song got into a better mood, raising the morale of everyone around her. She smiled at Naruto.
"This just means you'll have to become the sixth hokage for him, Naruto. He knew you wanted to be the hokage, Naru-kun, and he was proud of your dream. I know, I talked to him. He meant a lot to me too, Naruto, and we will hold on to his memory by finding the fifth hokage. Jiraiya's out searching for her and – " Naruto's eyes widened and he cut her off.
"That's what I came to tell you, Eneko-chan! I ran into Ero-Sennin while picking up camp! He's back at where we were camping and he wants to talk to you. I didn't use your name though, just like you said –ttebayo. He just said 'the person that's been taking care of you' and I knew that meant you because Itachi hasn't been here for that long." He rambled. Eneko nodded and ran off toward the old campsite. She heard the others following her and she stopped as she got to the clearing. The white-haired sannin was sitting on a log, looking bored. He looked up when she stepped into the clearing with Naruto by her side.
"Who are you?" She heard him grumble. She bowed respectively, much to his surprise, because everyone thought of him as a pervert instead of a sannin these days.
"My name is Tsubasano Eneko: kunoichi of Konohagakure." She saw his eyes widen in recognition and she stood up, smiling. He went over and hugged her.
"I heard you were dead, Eneko-san. What happened?" He asked, confused. She waved it off.
"Well, a mission a couple years ago almost killed me and since my whole team was killed, everyone suspected I was dead too, but I've been taking care of Sasuke-kun and he and Naruto-kun came with me to find Itachi." She motioned to the two Uchihas standing with Naruto behind her. Jiraiya smiled.
"So you're the one that's been teaching Naruto the wind jutsus that he was using during training." Jiraiya looked over at Naruto. "You and me got catchin' up to do, kid." Naruto grinned and punched the air.
"Yes! More training! But wait, what are you doing here, ero-sennin?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya got anime-tears in his eyes at the mention of Naruto's nickname for him.
"Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" He sighed, then got serious. "I'm looking for Tsunade. She's supposedly somewhere around here. Eneko, if you want to go back to Konoha now that you've found your fiancé that's fine, but I'd like to take along my student. I have his father's signature jutsu to teach him." Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement at the mention of his father, but then thought over the other part.
"I'd have to leave nee-chan?" He asked. Jiraiya nodded and Eneko went over to him and kissed his forehead.
"You should go, Naruto-kun. Help the third's spirit by finding the fifth. We'll be fine. I'll see you as soon as you get home, all right? You just come straight to my house and I'll be waiting for you." Naruto smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
"I'll find Tsunade and bring her home to be the fifth hokage. It's a promise I'll keep, nee-chan. But you'd better have a technique waiting for me when I get back. Do you promise?" He asked. She smiled and gave him a victory sign.
"It's a promise Naruto-kun." They hooked pinkies and smiled. She hugged him and pushed him toward Jiraiya. Sasuke walked over to Naruto.
"We're going to have to spar when you get home, Naruto. I'm going to be learning new techniques from Itachi and Eneko, so we'll be matched when you get back." Naruto and Sasuke punched fists and he left with Jiraiya. Eneko smiled softly and Itachi hugged her from behind.
"Better have that technique ready for him, niji-chan. Let's go." They all picked up their things and went in the direction opposite the other two. They were heading for home, and they wouldn't let anything else stop them. Sasuke and Eneko shared jokes for part of the way before Itachi asked if he could hear her sing again. She smiled and started singing a song about finding someone to love. After the song she tackle-hugged Itachi and both of them were sent to the ground, laughing. Sasuke smiled thinking back to a pink-haired kunoichi that was probably waiting for both him and Naruto to come home. Sakura had gotten better about not being a fan girl when Sasuke had told her it annoyed him. She had stopped and she was actually pretty cool, his eyes widened and he stopped.
'Could Sakura be the girl that Itachi was talking about? The girl I'll love like he does Eneko?'