Whew – I'm kind of glad classes have started again, but it sure takes up a lot of time. I think we'll be down to one chapter per week now. I'll try to post on Saturdays, but I can't promise anything.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions!

I loved genderbender and the gamer AUs, they're definitely on my list now:D – so special thanks to Morpheme and Wyrvel.

Also, I remembered that I really liked civilian pov stories about the 'creepy' ninjas, so I might cook up one of those too.

To the question whether or not Hisana and Sasuke will get together:

The beauty of the thing is: I don't know yet. Probably not, because they're family, but nothing's 100 % certain yet. There'll be shippy moments in any case, because Hisana's his friend and sister and only family all squashed into one, so that's a pretty powerful bond. And also, let's not kid ourselves, Sasuke is definitely the possessive/obsessive type, even if it's just platonic.

Spoiler Itachi

After all, look at the Itachi mess: he used to love and idolize his brother, which morphed into the obsessive pursuit to kill him, and once he found out that it wasn't Itachi's fault at all, he was more than willing to instantly forgive him and raze the whole world to the ground instead.

Spoiler Itachi End

No matter Sasuke's upbringing, there's definitely a certain sort of madness in him that's pretty closely linked to his feelings of love and attachment.

A lot of ramble in this AN – I'm so sorry! I actually never wanted to do that:(

There's an unexpected visitor the next day.

Hisana isn't sure what it says about her that, when she walks into the living room that morning, still bleary eyed and wearing her night shirt, it doesn't startle her at all that someone has apparently bypassed all her traps and is now sitting on their couch.

"Shizurin."

"Good morning," her friend greets. There's a moment silence.

"Tea?"

Sasuke takes the early visit with slightly less composure. As Hisana is making tea and heating up a few leftovers for breakfast, he stumbles into the kitchen in shorts and socks. Her cousin takes a single look at Shizuha, turns around, and flees.

"Well, at least he's awake now," Hisana muses.

Shizuha's not usually the type just turn up somewhere, especially not so early, so there can really only be one reason.

"You found an apprenticeship?" she enquires, putting a cup down in front of the Aburame and flopping down on a chair.

"Yes," Shizuha confirms, sounding pleased. "I have acquired a position in T&I."

Hisana stares at her.

"You? At T&I?"

She rings for words, trying to get across just how wrong that seems.

"Shizurin, I don't have to tell you that you're a great ninja and I have all the confidence in the world in you – but you're also the nicest person I know. What do you want in T&I? Do you even have the stomach for that?"

"Have you ever been to T&I?" her friend asks instead.

"No, can't say I've ever had the urge."

"There's more to it than beatings and thumbscrews. Yamanaka Inori-sensei will teach me how to create psychological profiles and analyze body language. I prefer interrogation over torture."

For a moment she tries to picture Shizuha like an outsider would see her, maybe two or three years from now.

An Aburame, high-collared and eyes hidden behind sunglasses, staring you down from across the room. Kikai are crawling all over her and now they're slowly making their way over to you.

Yes, that would work, she realizes. That would work really well. Shizuha's character might be mellow and compassionate, but she sure doesn't look it and the Aburame in general are feared, even within Konoha.

"So when are you going to start?"

"Tomorrow. I will have to visit the Hokage today to sign of the apprenticeship contract, and then hand it in tomorrow morning. Then I can start."

When Sasuke dares to come back to the kitchen, fully dressed and ready to go, Shizuha has already left.

"What's wrong?" he asks, watching his cousin stir her soup with a lackluster expression.

"Nothing, nothing. Just some news. Shizuha's with T&I now."

"Isn't that good? T&I is prestigious and well-paid."

That's true. She's glad for her friend, proud even. Her dour mood has nothing to do with Shizuha directly.

"You're right. It's also relatively safe, so I guess she's off to a good start."

No, her mood has nothing to do with Shizuha herself. Maybe it's the reality of their situation finally sinking in. With Sora's first kill yesterday and Shizuha's sudden interest in torture and interrogation, she's once again confronted with the fact that they're essentially child soldiers. They're only genin, but that doesn't make them any less ninjas. She's not sure if Sasuke's flippant response has to do with his age, or if growing up in a ninja village is its own form of desensibilization.

She considers her own character to be rather staunch by now, which is probably why the whole thing only darkens her mood instead of sending her into another panic attack. But putting the word 'killer' next to the faces of her friends and comrades does leave a bitter taste in her mouth.

They're not at war currently, so everyone is allowed a lot of leeway.

They're kids, make them weed gardens. They're so young, let's start them off easy.

But fact is there's no time to mess around. Especially not for her. Maybe that is what Sensei has been trying to drill into their skulls with his break-neck pace.

She has plans to make, she realizes, and all the tools for it are at her disposal. There is a library just around the corner, maybe ten minutes away; there are two unread books on poisons stacked on her nightstand; her bokken is stowed away in her closet, and the right teacher is waiting for her on the genin training grounds, as he has been every day for the past few months.

Sitting in the kitchen of their small apartment, her cousin puttering about in the next room, it's easy to fool herself into thinking that this is a safe space. It's not.

In this universe safety is an illusion. Right now, in this very moment, there might be a squad of jounin just outside Fire Country – or maybe even inside – bleeding out on the floor. They're never going to make it back to their friends and families. They'll die there, in the dirt. It doesn't matter that their home is safe; it won't be of any use to them where they are.

In this very moment Orochimaru's people are picking up people from the streets – children, the sick and the poor, to conduct his experiments on.

Right now Danzo is sinking his claws into every orphan he can get a hold of, to warp them into something obedient and cold and inhuman. It's happening right outside this door.

And in a few years the Akatsuki will come tearing down this village, this kitchen, and there will be nothing left but rubble.

This is no safe space. Not really. She mustn't forget that.

This morning she takes her bokken with her. It's time to ask Kohaku-sensei for a favor.

As a Hyuuga Kohaku-sensei is predictably skeptical of any weapon bigger than a kunai.

"I am proficient with a katana, so I can assist you in the basics. However, I strongly advise you to seek a specialized instructor later on," he warns, examining the bokken. "One and a half shaku. That's appropriate for a wakizashi – is that what you want to keep, or do you plan to go bigger?"

"I'm not sure yet," she admits. "I like the thought of having a longer reach, but I worry about close quarter combat."

She thinks back on the oodachi hanging in Goya's shop; it's a lovely sword, but is it practical?

"So more likely shorter," he assesses, and then looks her up and down. "We can start you off with this. I expect you will grow rather tall, so a short sword will not take away from your reach."

It's true that she's shot up another inch. But no matter how pretty the Uchiha were, none of them seem to have been especially tall. She doesn't think she has the right genes to keep going like this.

Instead of voicing her doubts she settles for, "If you think that's best."

Her days are eaten up rapidly. Team training, kenjutsu tutoring, self-study. She feels like a college student again; all work, no play. But she has a goal in mind, so that helps.

"You want to do what?" Sora deadpans. "You do realize that the next Chuunin Exams are in Kiri, don't you?"

"Well, yes. I know we're not on particularly friendly terms," – Haru makes a strangled noise – "but it's not like it's going to get any better. The year afterwards they're in Suna. Do you want to wait three years until they come here?"

"I don't care," Haru squawks, "I'll take Suna, but not Kiri. Please don't make me go to Kiri. They're crazy over there."

"I'm sure that's what they say about us," she argues weakly. But Haru is right; out of all the Hidden Villages, Kiri is the craziest one. But there's no way that she'll go to Suna. Not with Gaara still on a rampage over there.

There is, however, another thing that she forgot to figure into her plan.

"You will not go to Kiri."

Kohaku-sensei's tone books no argument.

There's a familiar sensation of something raising its hands in surrender inside her head. 'Ok, alright – whatever you want.'

Trained response and her own stubborn nature are both clawing at her. The conflict must have shown on her face somehow, because Sensei watches her, pointedly not saying anything further. Only when her temper has settled with the realization that if he's made up his mind there's no changing it, he chooses to elaborate.

"You will not go to Kiri, because you might remember that, up until recently, there has been a purge of all kekkei genkai."

Oh. Oh, that's right.

"While you may not have activated your Sharingan yet, I have no doubt that the possibility you could do so would make you a target for every ninja that crosses paths with you. While the parameters of the Exam itself would mostly protect you from any foul play, there would be nothing to protect you outside of it. I would prefer to keep an eye on my team during such vulnerable intervals, which would not be possible in Kiri."

"Why not?" Haku asks in confusion.

"Possessing a kekkei genkai myself, I would be in a certain amount of danger also. The clan would not let me attend."

It is not until later that evening that she realizes her teacher has inadvertedly saved her from a huge mistake. The Mizukage is not yet Terumi Mei, but Yagura – who is currently being controlled by Uchiha Madara. The man would certainly be very surprised to hear how there seems to be one more Uchiha walking around than he's currently aware of. Yikes.

For better or worse, she's not going to attend the next Chuunin Exams.

While that's certainly doing great things for her overall life expectancy, it also throws a spanner of massive proportions in her works. How is she supposed to keep an eye out for Sasuke in his Exams now?

A small part of her also bemoans the fact that she'll be doing C- and D-ranks for a whole year more. Naruto was right. Dear god, he can never know, but Naruto was right: D-rank missions are the worst.

The only distraction she has is yet more training; there's another katon jutsu she wants to learn, as well as a genjutsu. Neither of those are particularly well suited to her, as katon jutsus are the exact opposite of her affinity, and genjutsus need a level of chakra control that goes above genin level.

But she's nothing if not stubborn. On a certain level she is an Uchiha after all – a made one, if not a born one – and she does feel entitled to at least a little of their legacy. Being denied part of it has only made her more determined to get all the rest.

Coincidence is her alley in this. Or maybe her adversary, she hasn't quite decided yet.

There is a woman in Konoha who is famous for her genjutsu. Hisana has never met her; how would she – Yuhi Kurenai is a jounin and god only knows where those spend their free time. As coincidence wills it Kurenai is the first of the jounin teachers she meets, though it's not under entirely favorable circumstances.

Someone knocks on her door, two hours after training. Fall is coming to a close, so the weather outside is cold and unfriendly. The faces that greet her are not much warmer.

"Who are you even? Go get your own teammates!" Sora snaps irritably.

"What are you – a little girl? 'Boho! I don't want to share my friends'; grow up already."

"Shut up, Nara!"

"Uhm, guys?" Hisana says, "not that I'm not happy to see you, but … what are you doing here? Both of you at once."

"There's a mission," Shiki answers, throwing an annoyed side-long glance at Sora. "You need to come with us. Pack for a few days."

Hisana is tempted to ask questions, but Shiki's face is uncharacteristically blank and Sora is visibly nervous. Whatever emergency this is, it's an ugly one. She grabs her bag, always packed just in case, and leaves a note for Sasuke. 'Emergency. Don't know when I'll be back. Call Genma.'

"They've found a group of missing-nin at the borders to the Land of Hot Water. A lot of them. They're not very high ranking, genin and chuunin level mostly, but they've got a whole bunch of civilians around that could be used as hostages," Sora informs her.

"That sounds like a job for a jounin squad. What do we have to do with it?"

"Oh, there'll be jounin going. We're not there to kill the missing-nin," Shiki assures her, looking distinctly uncomfortable now.

"We'll be going undercover" she says, "they're disguised as a traveling circus, but they're actually involved in the slave trade. There have been children going missing all over the place in the past two years. That's how we even found them."

Hisana takes a shaky breath.

"So we're … infiltrating the whole thing? Or are we freeing the kids?"

"Both. The children will be traumatized and we are closer in age than the jounin, so they're more likely to trust us to help them. Some of us will go join the actual 'circus' and pass along information, some of us will be 'caught' to be sold and protect the children."

"How many squads?"

"Four. A jounin squad, a chuunin squad, and two genin squads – I'll be leading one, Shizuha's taking the other. She's already waiting by the gates."

There are a lot of people already by the gates. She recognizes only few of them; Suzume-sensei and Ito-sensei are part of the chuunin squad and both look less than happy to see them. There's a woman in fishnets harassing them – Mitarashi Anko? Not far off there's a Hyuuga woman talking in a hushed voice to Kohaku-sensei. To their right there's a woman with long dark hair and violently red eyes. Yuhi Kurenai.

Someone touches her wrist.

"Shizurin. I'd say it's good to see you, but …"

Shizuha only nods.

"Yes. The circumstances are unfortunate."

There's another girl standing not far off, rummaging in her pouch, that Hisana vaguely recognizes.

"Who's that?"

Shiki snorts and whacks her arm.

"You're the worst. That's Hoga-san –we've only been to school together for six years."

Hoga, perking up at the mention of her name, gives a tentative bow into their direction and returns to her searching.

"Nice girl," Hisana remarks. "I like the uncomplicated ones."

There's a moment of silence in which all of her friends exchange pointed looks.

"Do your senseis know about this?" she suddenly remembers. "I don't see any Inuzuka, but maybe a few Yamanaka …?"

"Inori-sensei is the one that informed me," Shizuha answers, vaguely pointing towards the group of chuunin, where a tall blonde woman is trying to pry Anko off Ito-sensei. "She will be leading the chuunin squad."

"As far as I know Dai-sensei was informed but not invited," Shiki offers. "He's not very subtle, after all. Inomaru and Choumei are over there though."

"Where's Haru-kun?" Hisana asks Sora. Her teammate makes a face.

"He was with Sensei when I left to get you. But I imagine he fled."

Both crane their necks to watch their teacher. To everyone else's eyes it might look as if he's engaged in a perfectly placid conversation with the Hyuuga woman. But there's a familiar tilt to his head that means he's not quite angry yet, but getting there fast.

"Should we … break that up?" she wonders aloud. Sora's eyes nearly pop out of his head.

"Are you crazy? I'm attached to my limbs – literally and figuratively. Let's leave it that way."

A shrill whistle interrupts them.

"Alright ladies, gather your skirts – going out in five!"

Shaku = measuring unit for katana; 1 shaku = in modern time standardized as 11.9 inches/30,3 cm

Wakizashi = 1 – 2 shaku long sword; became popular for indoor combat because it was customary to take off a katana (and apparently the accompanying tanto) when stepping inside, but not the wakizashi

Oodachi = 3 shaku or more (so about the same length, or longer than a katana); due to its size unsuitable for close quarter combat and more often used by cavalrymen to take down foot soldiers even while sitting high on a horse. Because of the great size oftentimes worn on the back or carried by hand.

When comparing oodachi and katana of equal length, the difference is that katana are worn cutting edge up, the oodachi cutting edge down; and the oodachi has more of a curvature. The fighting style, in contrast to the katana, focuses on downward cuts.

About sword classification: the different definitions are often muddy, because there was never any norm in place, so sizes and customs differed in every time period. Generally speaking the size of the blade, as well as the size of the handle (so one handed or two handed) are important.