Undesirable Senpai

Onyx and Ivory

Uchiha Itachi, recently promoted to ANBU, the youngest in Shinobi history at only eleven years old was sitting in the watchtower, presiding over the Chuunin exams with Hatake Kakashi, his Senpai and friend. Itachi's onyx eyes darted over the cameras situated around the arena. He kept a close eye on any suspicious activity as the camera changed to the contestants sitting in the waiting area. Itachi's eyes were drawn to a specific person who was leaning on the railing and talking to her two teammates.

Hoshiko had grown over the years, her face was slightly thinner and her arms and legs had begun to tone out from her training. Her hair, which was still tied up in a ribbon reached the middle of her back. She wore a black undershirt with a navy blue wrap around her stomach and shoulders. Her ankles were wrapped and her feet were clad in black ninja sandals. Her shorts now only reached mid thigh. Itachi watched as her sharp silver eyes looked between her two teammates, Daisuke and Ichiro.
Itachi tilted his head to the side in surprise when he watched Hoshiko's mouth pull up into a smile as she laughed at something they had said to her. Itachi realized that he had in fact, never seen Hoshiko laugh.

"Oh, friend of yours?" Itachi tensed and quickly hit the button to change camera as he turned his head to see Kakashi peering over his shoulder. The older boy was laughing at the young prodigy; this was evident by the crinkle in his uncovered eye.

"No," Itachi replied firmly. Kakashi clicked his tongue as he reached round and pressed the button to change the camera back. The screen showed Hoshiko and her teammates cheering on someone in the arena as Kakashi opened up the data book on the participants.

"Hmm, Ginyoru Hoshiko. Age eleven, graduated at age nine. Proficient in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. Ten D-rank missions completed, eleven C-rank and two B-rank. Kekkei Genkai: Mizukiri," Kakashi read from the book as he shut it and rubbed his chin. "This should be an interesting fight then." Kakashi mused as Itachi watched as Hoshiko high-fived her teammates and jumped down into the arena.

Hoshiko landed on the ground of the arena as she watched her opponent do the same. The two walked to the center of the arena as the proctor, Mitarashi Anko eyed the two Genin. Hoshiko's opponent was a kid from Suna called Minami Juro. The thirteen year old had deep red hair that touched his shoulders and moss green eyes. He was at least a head and a half taller than Hoshiko and looked down at the girl smugly. Hoshiko gave him a leering smile as Anko held her arm up, "Begin!"

Hoshiko and Juro sprung away from each other as Juro threw three kunai at her, Hoshiko dodged them all and threw her own shuriken at him. While Juro was distracted with them Hoshiko took out a kunai with an explosive tag and threw it at the ground. She watched Juro's eyes widen as he jumped up into the air as the explosion went off. Hoshiko smirked.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

Juro's eyes widened as he realized that there was no way he could dodge the fireball that was heading straight for him. He reached into his pocket and quickly wrapped a kunai in wire as he threw it to the side, the wire tugged him away from the flame, not before the back of his shirt got slightly singed. Juro landed on the ground as he glared at the smirking girl with hate.
There were cheers and applause coming from the crowd as Hoshiko could hear the villagers cheering her name. She couldn't let it get to her head. But she felt pride knowing that the villagers were starting to acknowledge her after all of these years. Juro suddenly made quick hand seals as he yelled, "Doton: Doryuudan!"

Hoshiko watched as a mud dragon formed from the dirt and suddenly started spitting out projectiles as her eyes widened at the speed of them. She ducked and jumped, spinning through the air as the onlookers all waited on baited breath. Hoshiko back flipped as she bent sideways to miss a projectile as she suddenly realized that she had been backed into the wall. Juro, thinking that he had her cornered, spluttered when he watched her run up the side of the arena wall. She kicked off the wall and went sailing straight for Juro.
He only had a split second to block with her speed as he brought out a kunai in defense as a loud clash rang out as their kunai's met. Sparks flew as Hoshiko brought her leg up and kicked him in the stomach as Juro went sailing back and hit the ground. Hoshiko jumped back as Juro groaned and held his stomach.
"You stupid little girl!" Juro spat as Hoshiko chuckled.

"You're going to have to try better than that!" She called as Juro glared at her and made hand seals.

"Doton: Doryuu Katsu!" Juro slammed his hand down onto the ground as the floor started to break up under Hoshiko's feet. She gasped and tried to jump out of the hole, her heightened chakra senses sensed Juro above her as she blocked a kick from him. The force of it sent her back as she hit the uneven ground. The air left her lungs from the force of it as she watched Juro wield a mud spear and he intended to come down on her with it.

From in the observation room, Kakashi and Itachi had their eyes locked on the screen as they watched the Suna Genin aim for Hoshiko.
"It's over," Kakashi mused. Itachi smirked.

"Hn."

As they watched the screen, Juro impaled Hoshiko's body with the mud spear through her chest. There was a pause for a second when there was a puff of smoke and Hoshiko's body disappeared.

"Kage bunshin?" Kakashi stated in surprise, his uncovered eye widened. "But when?"

Juro's jaw dropped as he stared at the place that his competitor's body had been, he spun around, his green eyes wide as he tried to gauge where she would be coming from. He tried with all his might to sense her but he couldn't find her for the life of him. He raised his kunai in defense as he circled slowly. There was a noise behind him, coming from the tree as he spun around and threw a mud spear in her direction. Hoshiko came flying out of the tree, soaring high into the sky as she deflected the mud spear and threw her own three kunai. Juro deflected them as he grinned.
Has she got nothing else then throwing kunai? Bah, idiot, he thought as Hoshiko threw another two. He deflected them as he readied to use a jutsu on her when she landed.

Hoshiko spun in the air as something glinted in her fists; Juro frowned, wondering what the hell she had planned as Hoshiko touched down on the ground. Juro immediately cast his jutsu as he opened his mouth as mud shot out, heading straight for her. Hoshiko anticipated this and in the blink of an eye she was gone, she appeared behind him in incredible speed and Juro saw the glint once more, it was then he realized what she had been doing.

Shit, he thought as Hoshiko grinned and whipped the wires into the air and curled them around her hands. The shimmer travelled along the wire as Juro saw them attached to the five kunai that she had thrown and he had deflected. He had also given her the opening to trap him by using his jutsu so that she could circle around him. With a sharp tug, Juro felt the wires tighten around his wrists and waist and legs as he groaned out as the wire bit into his flesh.

"When did you Kage Bunshin?" Juro asked through gritted teeth. Hoshiko relaxed once she knew that Juro wasn't going anywhere anymore.

"When I cast the Katon jutsu. You were distracted and I disappeared into the trees." Hoshiko tugged on the wire for good measure as Juro winced.

"So now what?" He asked. Hoshiko's gaze darkened.

"I don't like it when people underestimate me," she muttered. Hoshiko weaved seals in an impeccable speed as she shouted, "Raiton: Nagashi!" Lightning travelled from her fingertips along the wire as it shot at Juro with explosive speed; the Suna Genin screamed as the electricity consumed him. His body blackened from the use of lightning as he slumped in defeat, knocked unconscious from Hoshiko's jutsu as she released the wires and left him fall to the ground.
Hoshiko, not even breaking a sweat turned to face the crowd as they cheered and applauded her. Anko came over to her as she reached for her arm and lifted it up into the air.

"Winner, Ginyoru Hoshiko!"

"How did the fight go?" A man with half his head bandaged asked his kneeling ANBU guard. The ANBU with a rat mask nodded.

"She is impressive, won in under ten minutes."

"Did she use her Kekkei Genkai?" The older man asked as he tapped his cane on the ground.

"Not that we witnessed. Are we even sure she has it?" The male ANBU asked his leader as the man nodded.

"The first stage is impeccable chakra control and retention."

"She was able to mask her chakra signature completely, even I couldn't sense her until she revealed herself." The ANBU explained as the elderly man rubbed his chin.

"She might be doing it unintentionally. We must test her, come to me in three days with her observations and I shall give you your mission; but make sure that no one knows you are tailing her."

"Danzo-sama," the ANBU enquired as Danzo inclined his head. "May I ask why we are even bothering with this child?"

Danzo chuckled deeply, "that child is the last of her clan. The Mizukiri is a weapon that, if used in the right way can turn the tide of war. Her entire clan was wiped out for this ability, it was deemed…to great to be used by one village. And we now have the only remaining person who can be our greatest weapon in our plan."

"I understand." The ANBU.

"Go, and do not be found out." Danzo ordered.

"Hai." The ANBU disappeared in a puff of smoke as Danzo leaned back in his chair, he laced his fingers together and held them under his nose he exhaled deeply and smirked.

Yes, Ginyoru Hoshiko will be a great asset.

XxX

Hoshiko was lying on the soft grass in the training ground that she hadn't been to in years. Once she had joined her team they always trained on the grounds on the other side of Konoha, now she was reminiscing about her younger years when she would spend hours upon hours training with her kunai and shuriken. She was happy and sad at the same time.
She had been the only one in her team to become Chuunin. Daisuke and Ichiro had reassured her saying that she deserved it and she was the only reason they had passed the first two tests anyway, and now Hoshiko was all alone. She didn't have a team anymore; she was supposed to be reporting to the Hokage tomorrow so that they could decide with what to do with her. She was only eleven; she was nowhere near old enough to become anything. She thought to her eternal rival, Uchiha Itachi; he was an ANBU. Maybe she could try that? Train harder then she ever had before and become the best of the best.

She was also sad that her father couldn't be here to see her become a Chuunin. He had died a year and a half ago on a mission. He had been part of an ANBU team scouting for information when there had been an accident, a mudslide of some sort, and because her father wasn't a Shinobi he didn't have the proper training to defend himself and as a result of this, he had died. There was a large hole in Hoshiko's heart where her father should be.

Hoshiko's train of thought caused her to frown, her father had never told her of her Kekkei Genkai and she was too terrified to ask her mother. Hiroka had wanted Hoshiko to quit being a Kunoichi the second her father had been proclaimed dead. Hiroka was scared that the same would happen to her daughter if she continued down this path; but Hoshiko didn't back down. She faced her mother and said that she would never run from a anything, that she would honor her father's memory by becoming a strong Kunoichi. It had taken Hiroka a few weeks, but finally she agreed to let Hoshiko continue on.

Hoshiko wondered what her father would say to her if he could see her now; would he be proud of her? Would he have wanted her to quit being a Kunoichi too? Would he have finally told her about her Kekkei Genkai after all these years of being left in the dark? It wasn't like Hoshiko had never tried to figure out what her Kekkei Genkai was, she had resorted to going to the library and scanning through countless books about different clans throughout the world, but everything pointed her to dead ends. Her clan had been very secretive and never wanted anyone to know about what abilities or weaknesses they had, Hoshiko had given up on that search rather quickly.

Hoshiko ran her fingers through the soft grass as her silver eyes slid shut, she listened to all the sounds around her; she could hear the birds, the scuttling of animals and the gentle caress of the wind as it blew through the grass. A week had passed since her promotion; she had received a beautiful necklace from her mother, a silver gemstone that matched the colour of her eyes and for her own gift she had decided to chop off a good sum of her hair. Now that she was a Chuunin, she would be going on more dangerous missions, and having long hair was a risk and a nuisance. It now sat just an inch below her shoulders. Her forehead protector was tied proudly to her face with her hair fluffed over it. Her brand new flak jacket was clad on her body with pride. Hoshiko sighed in contempt; she could fall asleep right now, if she really wanted too.

"I saw your fight." A voice said, startling her. She readied a kunai as she sat up and narrowed her eyes at the intruder. The figure was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest and a playful smile on his face. He was tall, and older than her, with short tousled dark hair, large deep-set eyes and a broad nose. Something felt familiar about the boy but Hoshiko couldn't quite place it.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded off him as she stood up. Her kunai was still gripped tightly in her hand as she watched the boy walk out from beneath the trees and into the clearing.

"Still as bitter as ever, I see. You were pretty grouchy last time I saw you too." He said mockingly as Hoshiko narrowed her eyes at him.

"Who are you?" She asked him.

"You know," the boy said as he approached her, "this is private training ground area." Hoshiko's eyes widened a fraction as she gaped at him.

"What? No its not!"

"Uh-huh. This is Training Ground eleven; it belongs to the Uchiha clan for their Police Force members."

Hoshiko felt her cheeks flare up at the embarrassment of trespassing and not even realizing it. The boy suddenly barked out a laugh and waved his hand. "Bah, don't worry about it, kid. They never really use it anymore; got you scared though, didn't I?" He said as he waggled his brows. Hoshiko continued to stare at him with a curious expression. His dark eyes darted down to the kunai still gripped in her small fist. "I'm not going to hurt you, kid, relax jeez." He said as he flopped down onto the grass. Hoshiko had half a mind to leave the training ground and go somewhere else to have peace and quiet; but the boy intrigued her, and plus, it had been a long time since someone had taken an interest into talking to her, excluding her teammates. She placed the kunai back in her leg holster as she crouched down onto the grass.

"Who are you?" Hoshiko asked, repeating her previous question. The boy glanced over at her and gave her thumbs up.

"Uchiha Shisui."

If the look Hoshiko had given Shisui when he had told her about the training ground was comical, the one she displayed now was down right hilarious. Her face scrunched up and her lips pursed as she turned her face away. Shisui laughed at her.

"Hate the Uchiha that much, do you?" He inquired as Hoshiko tensed. Her cheeks flushed once more, Shisui noted that it didn't really take much for the girl to become embarrassed or riled up. She wore her emotions on her sleeve, a bad trait for some Shinobi.

"I don't hate the Uchiha," she grumbled as she picked out a few blades of grass.

"Just one in particular then, eh?" Shisui winked at her as Hoshiko's mouth parted in realization. She pointed a finger at him.

"You—you're the boy who was spying on me with Itachi-baka!" Hoshiko recognized him now. He had indeed been the boy with Itachi all those years ago. Shisui laughed.

"Itachi-baka?" He held his stomach as Shisui delved into hysterics. "I've got to remember to use that one on him," he said in between chuckles. Hoshiko continued to glare at him as Shisui sent her a playful smile. Something tugged at Hoshiko's features, and slowly, her mouth turned up into a smile as she giggled. She didn't know why, but she liked Shisui; he wasn't like all the other Uchiha, like Itachi. "Wow, didn't know you could smile, Hoshiko-chan. It's nice to know you aren't like my stoic, butthead cousin, Itachi." Shisui said with another wink as Hoshiko felt a warm bubble in her stomach at the sort of compliment; she then realized something else.

"You know my name," she stated in awe as Shisui looked at her with a smirk.

"Of course I do, I told you I watched your fight."

"You also stalked me when I was seven," Hoshiko deadpanned.

"Ah, ah! That was all Itachi-baka!" Shisui defended as Hoshiko laughed again. "Though, keep training like you are, and maybe one day you'll surpass Itachi." Shisui stated to her as Hoshiko went silent and stared up at the boy. It was the first time that anyone had ever told her something like that, when she told her teammates that it was her life's mission to surpass Itachi one day, they had laughed at her and said that she had no chance, the boy was already in ANBU; but that just drove Hoshiko more.

Hoshiko sensed another chakra signature before Shisui did, which was impressive in itself. Her head turned to the right, three seconds before Shisui did as they both watched a figure land in the clearing. Hoshiko felt her annoyance flare up, as Itachi didn't even give her a second glance as he met Shisui's onyx gaze.

"Shisui, we have a clan meeting." Itachi said. He was still dressed in his ANBU gear, with his black shirt and long pants, his grey armor covering his chest, forearms, shins and back.

"Hai, hai; it's always a clan meeting, that's all we ever do nowadays," Shisui complained as Hoshiko's mouth twitched into a small smile.

"If we're late again—"

"I know, I know," Shisui cut Itachi off as the younger Uchiha's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "I'm going to be pinned to the wall and have stones pelted at me." He waved his hand dismissively as Hoshiko's eyes widened; she hadn't known the Uchiha to be so…violent with menial punishments.

"Shisui," Itachi said warningly as the older Uchiha laughed and looked over at Hoshiko.

"I'm just kidding!" he exclaimed. "No, but seriously, Fugaku-san will have my head if we're late. Ja ne, Hoshiko-chan!" Shisui called as he waved at her. Hoshiko was only able to nod at him as Shisui leapt off into the nearby trees. Her intense silver gaze moved over to the remaining Uchiha as she met his obsidian gaze. Hoshiko felt her breath get caught in her throat; this was the first time that she and Itachi had been in a five-meter perimeter in years. The boy stood before her was everything that she strived to be; intelligent, powerful and courageous.

Though after talking with Shisui, Hoshiko didn't feel the intense need to strangle him when she saw him, she saw a boy that was the same age as her, but had a heavier responsibility and duties. Hoshiko realized that Itachi didn't ask to be a genius, he didn't ask to be born into the Uchiha clan, and he certainly didn't ask to be stripped of his childhood.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Ginyoru-san." Itachi nodded to her as he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Hoshiko sat for another hour in the training ground, wondering why the hell Itachi had been so civil to her when she was nothing but horrible to him; which in turn made her feel guilty about being so mean to him.

"I'm home!" Hoshiko called out into the warm house. The nights in Konoha were growing shorter and colder, signaling that winter was near. It wouldn't be too long before it began to snow; Hoshiko loved the snow.

"Welcome home, darling," Hiroka called out as Hoshiko removed her sandals and coat and draped it over the rack and headed into the kitchen to see her mother preparing dinner. "How was your day?" she asked as Hoshiko folded her legs over the pillow and sat at the table.

"Fine, I just went to see Daisuke and Ichiro; they're training hard once again." Hoshiko sighed as her mother patted her on the head gently.

"Don't be sad, Hoshiko-chan. You'll be placed on another team soon enough, don't you want to be an ANBU?" Her mother inquired as Hoshiko nodded and lay her chin on the table.

"Hai." She replied. Hoshiko's mother chuckled at her daughter's antic as she placed the dinner in front of her.

"Eat up, darling, you need to be strong if you're going to surpass Itachi-kun one day." Hoshiko felt her stomach churn at Itachi's name as she thanked her mother for the meal and they ate together, talking about memories of when Hoshiko was a child.

Hoshiko was snoring quietly as the first rays of sunlight crept through her thin blinds; she mumbled something quietly in her sleep and rolled over, pulling the covers over her head.

Itachi stared at the sleeping back of Hoshiko for a few seconds and then turned and glanced around her room. It was simple, with a single bed, a desk in the corner and a dresser decorated with framed pictures. Itachi, quietly stepped over to the photo's as he peered down at them. The first one was of Hoshiko and her family when she was a baby; a second one of Hoshiko when she had just entered the academy; Hoshiko had a furrowed brow in this one, as she looked less then pleased at the camera. Another photo was of her finally graduating from the academy, she was smiling at the camera while her parents stood beside her. Her last two photos were special, the first one was of her Genin team, her sensei, Nara Aki stood behind them with a thumbs up at the camera while Daisuke and Ichiro had their arms slung around each other and Hoshiko was slightly to the left of them, smirking into the camera. This was before they had all become close friends. The last photo was of Hoshiko's father. Itachi knew that he had died a few years ago, his gaze travelled back to the sleeping Hoshiko as he sighed and walked up to her.

Itachi reached out and poked her in the shoulder.

"Five more minutes." He heard her groan as she stirred under the blanket. Itachi cursed his predicament silently. He had only been instructed to leave her the message of being summoned to the Hokage tower, he had intended to leave it with her mother but Hiroka had been leaving to go to work and had allowed him into the house.

Itachi poked her again as Hoshiko rolled over, "Alright, I'm getting up!" she said in exasperation as the cover was brought down.

There was a second where silver and black met, both eleven year olds stared at each other in bewilderment at the situation. Hoshiko blinked once; twice, trying to gauge whether what she was seeing was imaginary or real.

"Ginyo—"

"What the hell are you doing here!" She screeched. If Itachi had not been a trained Shinobi and wasn't used to such loud noises he would've felt the need to cover his ears.

"Ginyo—"

"Get out, pervert!" She shouted at him. Itachi frowned at her, he had never been called anything of the sort in his life, and he didn't want her to start spreading rumors about him. Itachi held her glare as he nodded.

"I will wait for you in the kitchen, I have an important matter to discuss with you." He said politely as he turned around and left her room, shutting the door behind him. Once Itachi was gone Hoshiko continued to stare at the closed door, wondering what the hell had just happened, she had woken up to find Uchiha Itachi standing not three feet from her bed, poking her to wake up. She rubbed her eyes and flopped back down onto her comfy bed, throwing the cover over her face once more.

"I recommend not going back to sleep, Ginyoru-san." Itachi's voice, muffled through the door spoke to her as Hoshiko grabbed the nearest thing to her, which was her alarm clock and threw it at the door. It ricochet off the door and clattered to the ground loudly.

"Shut up!"

Once Hoshiko was dressed and ready for the day, she exited her room. She had deliberately taken her time. (It had taken her exactly twenty-one minutes and fifteen seconds, not that Itachi was counting.) Hoshiko was tying on her forehead protector as she saw Itachi standing stoically in her kitchen. He had his back to her, and was currently staring out of the window into the street below. The floorboard creaked under her foot as Itachi's head inclined, he acknowledged her presence as he turned slowly to face her. Hoshiko studied the boy before her; he looked much older then his eleven years, and acted like he was already an old man. Now that she was seeing him up close for the first time in years, she finally got to see all the little details of his face. His hair was longer, and pulled back into a low ponytail, his front bangs now touched his chin and his forehead protector peeked through his hair. His face had thinned and elongated from when they were six and seven, he no longer held any baby fat in his cheeks and two small stress lines had appeared on his face, going from the bridge of his nose to half an inch down. He was still taller than her…nearly everyone was still taller than Hoshiko; but still, Itachi was nearly a head taller than her.

"So are you going to tell me why you broke into my house?" Hoshiko asked as she went to the fridge and poured herself a glass of water. It was lucky that Hoshiko had been facing away from the Uchiha; otherwise she would've seen the blazing crimson irises of Itachi's Sharingan narrowing at her in annoyance.

"I didn't break into your house, your mother permitted me to come speak with you," Itachi explained as his red orbs faded into their normal inky black. Hoshiko turned around and leaned back on her counter.

"Uh-huh and you didn't even think to knock on my door? Could've saved yourself a very embarrassing encounter." Hoshiko said with a sadistic grin on her face. Itachi remained impassive to her comment but Hoshiko could see the slight tensing of his jaw. "Whatever, Uchiha, so what's this oh so important message that couldn't possibly wait until a decent hour of the day?" Hoshiko asked as she sipped on her water.

"The Hokage request's your presence in his office."

"And he sent you all the way here to tell me that?" Hoshiko quirked a brow as Itachi nodded.

"He did, so might I suggest that we head there now." Itachi said as Hoshiko rolled her eyes at him.

"Always so serious, Uchiha." Hoshiko mused as she sat down and began pulling her sandals onto her feet.

"I have to be." He replied shortly as Hoshiko had half a mind to make another snide remark but held her tongue.

I guess being an asshole just comes naturally then, she thought to herself as Itachi moved passed her and stepped out into the street. Once she was done she grabbed her flak jacket and zipped it up and locked the door behind her. Itachi was waiting for her as she faced him, then scoffed and walked in the direction of the Hokage tower. Itachi followed behind, allowing her the space that she desired. He watched as she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her flak jacket as she stared at something ahead of her.

The two arrived at the Hokage tower, Hoshiko was the first one to reach the door as she raised her hand and knocked three times against the hard wood. There was a pause for a few seconds.

"Come in," came the reply as Hoshiko gripped the doorknob and pulled the door open. Itachi followed behind as she sent him a curious look as to why he was still here; surely he had important ANBU things to attend to? Hoshiko studied the old man behind the desk, the long pipe sticking out between his lips as he drew a long breath and puffed it out. He finished writing on a stack of paper as his assistant folded them up and hurried out of the room.

"Hokage-sama," Hoshiko bowed her head as Itachi did the same next to her. Hiruzen studied his two Shinobi as he smirked and pulled the pipe out of his mouth.

"Hoshiko-chan, how are recovering after you exam?" The older man asked her as Hoshiko's brow furrowed.

"I'm fine."

Hiruzen nodded as he rose from his chair and walked around his long desk and came to a stop in front of the two children. He glanced from Itachi's stern gaze to Hoshiko's inquisitive one as he smirked.

"I believe, that in time you will be able to join ANBU, but as of right now, your skills are still too low."

Hoshiko winced from the blow, and what made it worse was that her arch enemy was standing right next to her, no doubt relishing in the fact that the Hokage had just called her weak. "Many of the higher ups were pleased with your performance in the exams and can see your potential to become a great Kunoichi, Hoshiko-chan."

Hoshiko felt her spirits lifted a fraction but she still couldn't understand where the old man was going with his speech. "We have come to an agreement that you shall be placed under the tutelage of Uchiha Itachi, you are both of the same age and you can learn a great deal from him. He'll be able to provide the knowledge and experience of being in ANBU."

"Hokage-sama!" Hoshiko cried as she extended her arm out to point at Itachi. "I can't have him mentor me, I'll end up killing him!"

"You can try." A quiet voice said from behind her as Hoshiko spun around, her eyes ablaze.

"You bastard! I'll show you—" Hoshiko was about to tackle Itachi to the ground when he disappeared from view and she suddenly felt her legs get swept out from underneath her as she face planted the floor. There was a chuckle from the Hokage as he returned to his seat.

"I'm sure the both of you will learn to get along. You're dismissed." He said, returning to his work as Itachi turned his gaze back down to the sulking girl on the floor who was rubbing her nose and furiously pouting. Itachi bowed to the Hokage as he shuffled over to the door and held it open for Hoshiko as she wiped herself down and stiffly bowed to the Hokage and exited the room.

She didn't glance at Itachi as she strutted down the hall; the Uchiha guessed that her pride had been severely wounded.

They exited the building as Hoshiko crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Itachi with hate straight from the pits of Hell.

"I shall begin my assessment of your skill level tomorrow morning, come to Training ground four at five." Itachi ordered as Hoshiko's jaw dropped.

"In the morning?" She exclaimed in revulsion, "couldn't you have picked a better time like when the sun is up, maybe?"

"If you wish to try and enter ANBU on your own, be my guest," he said with a mocking tone as Hoshiko balled up her fists and had to resist the urge to stomp her foot on the ground.

"You're such an ass!" She hissed at him. "Do not expect me to call you senpai." She said with loathing. Itachi chuckled without giving away any emotion as he met her silver glare.

"You seem to think that you are the only one who isn't happy with this predicament, I'll see you tomorrow Ginyoru-san." He inclined his head politely as he leapt away. Hoshiko ground her teeth as she tried to find her old team and tell her about the horrible situation that she had found herself in.