Book 1: Prodigy

Chapter 2–Fight

"Be careful, Shisui. There's been reports of some wild animals moving into the area. So get to the main village as soon as possible, alright?" Shisui noticed the worried edge in her voice so he nodded thoughtfully.

"Of course, mother. I'll be back before you can say split!" He gave her a reassuring grin and he saw his efforts had paid off as she gave him a warm smile, some of her worry leaving her eyes.

"I'm so proud of you. You're very mature for your age." She gave him a kiss on the forehead and sent him on his way. Watching him walk down the path towards the village she sighed contently before going on her way.

Smiling broadly, the 5-year old shuffled the container on his back. This time it was filled with not only Lychee Nuts but Mango and Lemons. All were in three small separate containers tied to together as one so that he could carry them all. On top of those were a packed lunch since it would take just about a day to reach the main village so he could sell everything he had to the market place.

Walking on the pathway through the densely vegetated forest, Shisui took the time to really get a look around him. The wilderness wasn't that much different from the ones back home except for the fruit and trees.

Walking through the wilderness uneventfully was the fate that Shisui found himself in. He hadn't come across any animals, or really any life at all excluding a couple of birds that soared through the sky overhead. Getting to the village took less than a day with his walking speed but that made him get there during the night.

Hmm, where am I gonna stay for the night? Shisui thought having snuck inside the village, easily getting past the guards surrounding it. It wasn't too hard since security was quite lax.

He walked down an long empty street, looking to see if he could find a place to rest for the night. His parents had given him enough money to get a room for one night. Rummaging through his pocket, he counted 5 copper pieces and 10 silver pieces. Hmm, yea, this should be enough.

"Hey you, boy." Shisui turned to see a very large Fire Nation guard. "What are you doing out here at night? Where are your parents?"

"Um," a nervous chuckle came out and he rubbed the back of his head.

"You know the rules around here, don't you?" To Shisui's dismay, another guard had shown up. The man looked positively pissed and Shisui was sure it wasn't really directed at him. "Everyone in before dark out."

"Oh, uh, gotta go! Sorry!" He yelled before running away from the guards.

One of the guards gave a surprised squawk of surprise before both of them raced after him. "Hey, stop!"

Breathing heavily, as he ran he could feel the fruits and vegetables on his back moving and hoped they wouldn't fall. A small smile graced his face when he saw another guard leaping above a rooftop.

He loved a challenge.

He turned swiftly into a small alleyway and began to slowly untie the knot holding the boxes in place. As he did that the guards had still been chasing him.

Damn that kid is fast! The large guard thought seeing the kid leap up the side of a smaller building before hopping up onto another and running up the roof.

"He's no normal boy! Stop him!" His partner yelled jumping on the roof the boy was just upon with a single leap while he follows after shortly.

Shisui takes in short quick breaths, leaping across building after building. It was starting to take a toll on him because of his younger body and the extra weight added by the equipment he was carrying. He glanced behind to see one of the more slimmer guards gaining ground.

That was not good. Looking around briefly, he leaped down into an alley and ducked behind a corner. He watched with baited breath as multiple guards past by his overhead. A breath of relief escaped his mouth and he looked at his feet apologetically. They were very sore.

He walked out of the alley with a smirk and confidently closed eyes but was stopped when he bumped into something metal. He opened his eyes to see a menacing looking guard, looking down on him.

"Oh, my mistake. Might have taken a wrong turn." Shisui said, turning quickly into run only to stop short as another guard had been stationed behind him.

"Oh, yea? You damn brat." When the man spoke it made Shisui want to puke. He was obviously drunk or at least had one too many drinks tonight and his breath told the story perfectly. He was no bloodhound but even he could smell the rotten egg smell leaking out the man's mouth every single time he talked.

Scrunching his nose in disgust, he leaped high into the air to the immediate surprise of the guards.

He landed on the slanted roof without a problem. "Smell ya' later!" He yelled but realized what he said almost immediately. "Well never mind!" He took off leaping from roof to roof and didn't stop even when he realized he wasn't being chased anymore.

"Ugh, I don't get paid enough for this crap." The guard muttered one last time.

"Woohoo! Alright!" He celebrated loudly, still running. His adrenaline was pumping and he hadn't felt that way in such a long time. How good it felt to be challenged even though it was just running away.

That cheering slowly went away and soon, he found himself in a rather unfavorable predicament when he thought about it. How was he going to sell the fruits he needed to if he had alerted the guards to his behavior? Surely they were going to be watching over the market seeing as he carried giant equipment to keep the fruit contained.

He sat down on the flat rooftop and closed his eyes. I need to think of a way to make this money. I can't let my parents down.

XxX

The next morning rolled around quickly and Shisui was back onto the streets. He blended in deeply with the crowd, his small form helping the hard task. He kept himself on a swivel, looking... searching for every guard in the general area he could spot.

Five in the immediate area. Two south and two north.

That was a sizable number but it was manageable, at best. He kinda regretted wanting to have fun and a challenge. He was making more work for himself now.

But that's fine. He reasoned internally. He would just have to work even harder.

If he were right and got all the positions of the soldiers down, then he had a minute interval to sell all he needed. But how was he going to go back and get his supplies in the little time it took. They only had two weak points in their rotation. One minute interval and a 30 second one. He was sure he was no longer fast enough to make the 30 second one and he couldn't keep doing the minute one. Those didn't come as often. As he wanted them to.

"Hey you little urchin! I saw you! Come here now!"

For a second, Shisui thought the man was talking to him and made to take off as fast as he could, but when he didn't hear any footsteps near him he turned to where the voice had been coming from and saw a soldier grabbing a kid and bringing him swiftly to the ground.

Shisui watched as the man claimed to see him pickpocket a woman and took the screaming boy away after giving the woman back her money. The boy was clearly down on his luck and desperate. They could've spared him at least the tiniest bit of mercy.

Well, now he had an opening to sell his items. As soon as the thought came to mind, he shook his head and sighed. He would go and save the kid. He wasn't going to allow them to throw him in jail when he was clearly trying to support himself.

Careful to stay out of broad daylight, the Uchiha in blood followed after the soldier and the screaming child.

XxX

Eventually Shisui was forced to stop his pursuit when the went inside a building, presumably where he would be held. Shisui would not be able to follow the warden on the inside but he did circle the outside of the building to be sure if he couldn't sneak his way in.

Just as his luck would entail, there were no other entrances.

His only way not would be to sneak through the front but that was practically suicide. He could probably fight maybe one fire bender, well maybe not fight more like evade but that was the limit. He couldn't do much else without his chakra. And he didn't have enough of that.

Maybe I can at least try the transformation technique. If I can blend in with them, then getting boy out would be a piece of cake. He put his hands together in a seal, silently letting his chakra fluctuate throughout his body. He would try, at the very least. Plus, this was good training and he was better at learning things on the spot anyway.

With a small yell, he released his chakra and puff of smoke erupted around his small form. Shisui knew it hadn't worked just by how stiff his body was and how his chakra was nearly gone. He hadn't even been this depleted over a simple technique and his body sure wasn't used to it as well as he nearly collapsed, catching himself with his hand and knees.

He took in shallow breaths, trying to regain his breathing. His face was high enough that he saw the guard coming out of the building without the boy, telling him that he had been dropped off there.

He was going back on patrol. But that didn't matter. What was going to be his next move now? If he didn't have enough chakra to preform the transforms Jutsu how was he going to sneak in.

Sweat dripped from his brow. This was proving more difficult by the second and Shisui was at a complete loss. He considered winging it but if he got himself caught then he wouldn't be able to sell his fruit and his family would have to try and get him out of jail. Which he heard was notoriously impossible.

"Glad I dodged that bullet. I didn't know a member of the royal family was here."

Shisui raised an eyebrow and scrambled to his feet to see who had spoken. It was the man, grumbling to himself as he walked away from the building and Shisui was surprised that he was walking that fast.

He said the royal family. Is that why this place is this guarded? Because a royal family member is here? Now his mission turned from hard to nearly impossible and he to complete. That would mean that either the Fire Lord or one of his children were present and if he got caught he would be executed.

Most would leave for that very reason.

But Shisui wasn't just anyone. And somehow, that idea of danger excited him. Seemed his Uchiha Blood riled him up a couple notches.

Once he was truly alone, he leaped off the branch of the tree and landed on the ground with a small grunt. He decided that he would need to at least a general feel of the building on the interior to truly feel good about going inside without a cover.

"Hey, peasant. How did you do that just now?"

Shisui stopped in his tracks and turned behind him to see a girl dressed in elegant armor. She looked almost like those soldiers he'd run into but it was different somehow.

And the air around her made him feel bad. Like it was some sort of disease.

Something she said caught his attention. "Peasant?"

She frowned heavily. "Did you not hear what I asked. I was sure those things you call ears work on the side of your big head. Answer my question."

It was his turn to frown. She was kind of annoying. "I don't know what's your problem but you can't talk to people like that and expect them to answer you." Shisui said. "You should try to be a bit nicer."

"And you should burn!" The girl screeched and delicate but fierce movements had her shoot a blast of flame out of her hands.

Shisui's eyes widened in surprise and instincts propelled him to leap away in time to save himself from becoming like the ground he once stood on. Charred and burnt beyond recognition.

Was that Ninjutsu? No, it couldn't be. He sensed no use of chakra behind the fire but it used that other energy he felt inside of him. Shisui landed on the ground a safe distance away, his eyes locked onto the burned ground and he wondered just how a girl as little as her was able to burn the ground like that.

"You dare dodged my attack?!" She glared at him fiercely, like he hadn't obeyed her. "How dare you peasant?!" Her fist clenched before she threw it out, launching another blast of flames at him.

This time, he reacted better. He leapt out of the way more skillfully and decided to rush forward to converge her directly so she would have a chance at drawing up her flames once more. If this was the firebending he had heard about then it was seriously predictable and easy for him to read.

While he was much too fast for her to react to, he didn't even make it to her before a torrent of flames blew him off the path, hitting him in the chest and brushing him into the ground where his head bounced of it pretty harshly.

"Princess Azula! Are you alright?" A royal guard said, bending down to check the young princess for injuries.

"I'm fine!" She spat, edging away from his care but not pulling back all the way. She tried to look at the unmoving boy but other guards blocked her view as they locked restrains on his limbs before lifting him up to be taken to prison.

As the boy was taken away she couldn't help but think back to the time he had been able to evade her and nearly beat her with his speed alone. That aggravated her more than she realized and she nearly bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. He needed to pay. Prison would simply not due.