Disclaimer: Standard deal, Macdutton does not own Naruto, Bleach or any IP that may be drawn on for this story.

Uzu Tower, 5am

Torahime woke up with a groan. Sitting up on her futon, she stretched like a cat, revelling in the sound of her popping joints, as well as the feeling of release. Looking out her window, she saw it was still an hour or so from dawn, so at least she hadn't overslept.

The protagonist of our story is not a morning person however, and she tends to react rather violently to people approaching her before she has had a shower and some tea.

As Torahime walked towards the shower in the flat, she heard the water already running and someone singing badly. Realising she'd been beaten into the shower again she started growling.

'Damn that bitch! Why does she always have to get in the shower first? She takes forever!'

Grumbling to herself, she made her way instead to the kitchen and began making tea for herself. Enjoying the first sip of the beautiful liquid, she relaxed from her bad mood. Today was an interesting day, after all.

'Goddess, I hope it isn't as bad as last year…'

Her musings were interrupted by a naked young woman with purple hair wandering into the room.

"Okay my little princess, shower's free," the sweet comment hid the pleasure Mitarishi Anko took in taking the piss out of her surrogate sister's given name.

"Bitch," mumbled Torahime.

"You love me really," Anko teased.

"So?"

"Ooh, aren't we sassy this morning."

"I hate you so much," came the petulant reply.

"Ah well, I'm sure I'll live," Anko happily demeaned the redhead.

Getting into the bathroom, Torahime looked at herself in the mirror for a few moments. For an eleven year old, she was damn good looking. She was quite tall, as well as having powerfully muscled legs and arms, with a solid abdomen and somewhat broad shoulders. Her hair fell to the bottom of her buttocks, spreading around her back like a waterfall of fire. Yes, she had a damned good body for an eleven year old.

The only things she didn't like about herself were her breasts, which were still completely undeveloped, something Anko teased over constantly; and the scars. Oh how she was ashamed of those scars. Four long claw marks, starting on her throat and travelling down her neck to the front of her left shoulder. Her fingers gently traced their path before dropping to her side.

She sighed. They were a part of her; there was nothing she could do about them, just like her markings. Extending out from her spine and crawling down the left side of her back were black, barbed stripes, covering a quarter of her back.

Stepping into the shower, she was hit by a wall of cold water. Anko had used all the hot water. Again. She hit her head against the wall, grumbling in irritation. After washing her body and hair, she stepped out and began drying off.

Looking in the mirror again, she considered her face. She'd slept badly again last night, and it showed. There were deep, dark bags under her tangerine eyes. The dark rings around her eyes were also getting worse, looking almost like eyeliner.

She went back to the kitchen, her hair wrapped in a towel and saw Anko, half dressed cooking some rice for breakfast.

"Would the princess like something to eat?" She mockingly asked the redhead.

Her reply was a feral growl, at which she dropped some of the teasing.

"Jeez, okay, no need to get so tetchy sis," Anko grumbled. "I'll share some rice if you'll make some more tea?"

"Seems fair," Torahime deadpanned.

As they went about their various tasks, the adoptive sisters were silent, each thinking about their day ahead. Eventually the younger girl broke the silence.

"So you're back on duty today? Are you ready?"

"I don't know. I hope so. Ibiki's taking me on as his apprentice, so at least I'll have a reasonable outlet from now on." The purple haired girl mused.

"Maybe he'll just accept you as you are. I've heard he's fair, judges people on the way they are when he meets them, not what he hears about them. Supposedly it's what makes him so good at his job," was the redhead's reply.

"We'll see," Anko muttered darkly.

Standing up, Torahime hugged her sister tightly. "Stop being so negative before you've even met the guy," she mumbled into the taller girl's ear.

They finished breakfast and parted, Anko heading out to her early morning appointment, Torahime heading back to her room to get dressed.

Dropping the towel from her hair and sitting in the middle of the small room, she brushed out her long, flaming hair and pulled it up into a high ponytail, feeling the deep widow's peak above her forehead and remembering the photos of her father.

Standing, she walked to the wardrobe, sliding it open and reaching in to collect a pair of black pants with long slits on the sides, revealing a lot of leg once she put them on, tightening the drawstrings to hold them on her hips. At her ankles, she gathered them and bound them with dark red bindings up to mid calf. Following this, she pulled on black combat boots, an unusual choice for Konoha. Over her chest, she pulled on a black vest. Unlike a normal vest, this did not cover her back at all, and had a deep V in the front, revealing a lot of chest.

She completed her image by wrapping dark red bindings around her waist to hide the join between her pants and vest. Finally, she strapped on her kunai and shuriken holsters, one on each leg.

Two long chains were fitted around her waist, underneath the topmost layers of red bindings.

She grinned at herself in the mirror. In a few years she would be a total knock-out dressed like this, and she was free enough that she could still fight. It was a kunoichi's ideal.

Quickly leaving the flat, she sprinted down the stairwells to the 3rd floor of the tower and jumped out of the hole in the wall at the end of the corridor, landing on the roof of a whorehouse. Jumping across the next few roofs, she saw the bars and other local establishments kicking out patrons into the early morning light so they could shut down until the middle of the day.

The KazamaTower was situated in the centre of the Akasen, the red light district of Konoha. More accurately, the Akasen grew up around the Tower, but nobody really remembers that anymore. In fact, the history of the KazamaTower and its inhabitants was known to very few outside of the Uzu clans and those old enough to remember.

Shaking her head to clear it, she focussed on not slipping as she barrelled across the rooftops of Konoha, heading South West towards the Academy.

Passing the HokageTower and Administration buildings she nodded at those ANBU that were visible guarding the area, receiving nods in return. The major exception was the ANBU Demolition Corps who waved and threw low yield explosive notes at her.

"Crazy bastards. Although that is why they're so fun…

Finally making it to the Academy grounds, she shot into the building, the emptiness of the corridors giving her a bad feeling she knew all too well. Getting to the door of her classroom, she heard a voice asking where she was.

"Shit. Late again. And on the first day. FUCKING HELL!"

Sighing, she slid open the door and walked in. "I'm here sensei."

Looking up, she was surprised to see a young man looking at her with an annoyed expression. In her surprise, she blurted out the first thing that came into her head.

"Who the fuck are you?"

A vein popped in his cheek as he looked pissed off. "As I was just about to explain before you arrived, I'm your new sensei. Kagane-san asked to be reassigned to field work. I'd applied to become an Academy teacher this year so I've been put in charge of you lot as a trial. Any questions?"

"Yeah, if you're a fresh teacher, do you have any idea about how to teach?" This was Arisawa Tatsuki, the only non-clan student left in their class.

"I've received training, but I intend to work out my own style," Iruka stiffly replied.

"You sure you're up to this? You're kinda uptight, and you're pretty young for a teacher. What are you, 17, 18?" Sarutobi Hiruki was blunt as always.

Iruka ground his teeth. "I'm old enough and skilled enough to kick the ass of anyone in here." He relaxed a little, "Hopefully, I can pass on some of those skills in the time I have with you. Anyway, sit down Torahime."

Torahime, still stood by the door glared at him for a few seconds. She slowly walked to sit next to Inuzuka Hana, nodding slightly at her relative, Uzuki Yuugao.

"Alright, if everyone's ready, I'll do the register then we can get outside and start with an assessment of everybody's skills, so I can see what I've got to work with."

A/N: Right, another rewrite. Yeah, struggling at the moment and most of what I'm producing is utter shite, this just happens to be marginally better. As usual, please review, tell me what you liked, disliked, how I could improve and such.

EDIT – 29/07: Expect much updating and rewriting in the next couple of months.