Thank you to everyone who is reading and alerting this story, I would love to know what you are all thinking about Hoshiko as a character. I intend this story to be pretty lengthy and I'll be mostly sticking to canon and changing up a few things here and there, but I do plan to make this story worthwhile, so if you're enjoying it so far let me know!

Mizukiri Unlocked

Onyx and Ivory

When night fell Hoshiko and her team moved out. They leapt through the trees soundlessly, not leaving a trace behind as they all but flew. The night was chilly on their exposed skin as the full moon shone down on the four Shinobi as they landed in the same area as before. Hoshiko and Renji used their abilities to scan the area, making sure that there weren't any nearby enemies plotting to ambush them. Kakashi also sniffed the air incase some had masked their chakra. Once he gave them the all clear Hoshiko turned to her teammates.

"Ok, we all need to mask our chakra from here. Mon, I need you to cast a Genjutsu around us, nothing too fancy just something to obscure us," Mon nodded to her as Hoshiko turned to Kakashi, "Inu, I'll have you make your shadow clone here and when I tell you, have it start attacking the front gate. We have one shot at this, lets go." Hoshiko said with a firm nod as Kakashi made a shadow clone. The clone understood what it had to do and went to crouch behind the tree to stay out of sight.

The four of them all masked their chakra as Mon cast a basic Genjutsu around them, it was simple, and would keep them hidden as long as the enemy didn't focus on them for too long, they would move like a simple shadow out of the corner of the eye. "We'll head in in the formation we've been using." Hoshiko told them as the three nodded and moved into formation; then they set out.

The team crouched behind the bushes and scanned the area, the three ninja's atop the wall were different but were in the same places and the same blind spot was there. They had to wait for fifteen minutes before Hoshiko gave them the signal to go. They knew they only had three minutes before they would be seen so the tension was high as they leapt up onto the wall one at a time and jumped to the roof of the building. Hoshiko and Kakashi landed next to each other, crouching and holding onto the tiles of the roof as they held their breath anxiously; waiting to see if they had been spotted. Hoshiko gave them the signal to move out as Kakashi dropped down onto the balcony soundlessly, with Mon following him, then Hoshiko and Renji. They hurried across the balcony and just before they reached the sliding door to infiltrate the building Kakashi stalled, freezing to the spot.

"What is it?" Hoshiko hissed to him as Kakashi turned to face her.

"My clones been eliminated," he replied back. Hoshiko nodded, she had thought of this scenario also, she was prepared.

"They know we're here. Mon, Renji, take out the two up here. Inu, come with me," she ordered as Renji and Mon wrenched the door open and ran into the building. "So much for stealth and surprise," Hoshiko muttered sarcastically as she heard Kakashi chuckle under his breath.

"So what now?" He asked her as Hoshiko grinned from beneath her mask.

"Follow me, if you can keep up that is," she said to him as she brought her hands to the Ox seal as her chakra suddenly flared up. Hoshiko had a faint blue glow of chakra surrounding her body as electricity crackled in the air. Kakashi stared at her in astonishment; he knew that her strength lay with her lightning affinity, but he didn't know that she could manipulate it to this extent.

Hoshiko suddenly disappeared from his line of sight and there was an explosion from below him; if it weren't for his Sharingan he would've missed seeing how she used the lightning to increase her speed and strength, it was something that the Third Raikage had been able to do.

Hoshiko tore through the wall as she landed in the room and stared at her enemies. From above she could sense Mon and Renji in a battle with their two enemies, they seemingly had the upper hand at the moment, although their distraction had been found out, the enemy didn't know where they were exactly.

Hoshiko studied the two ninja's before her, they were both male and looked very experienced. The one on the left was dark haired with an angular face and broad nose and a scar running from the left side of his cheek to his neck. The one on the right had lighter hair and light blue eyes and a skinnier frame.

Kakashi entered the room and stood next to her as he faced their enemies. There was only a second to move when the two ninja's lunged for them. Hoshiko dodged out of the way and unsheathed her Wakizashi as her enemy gripped a kunai in his hand. The two of them met, their weapons clashing as it was a test of strength to see who could overpower the other. Hoshiko could feel herself loosing this battle; she relied on speed more than her strength. She quickly wrenched away her sword and roundhouse kicked the ninja, he blocked it and gripped her ankle. He brought down his kunai, intending to strike her in the chest as she latched onto his arm and used her other leg to kick him in the stomach, releasing her and launching him across the room.

Hoshiko collected herself as she snuck a glance at Kakashi and his enemy; they were locked in a heated Taijutsu battle with their weapons clashing. She looked back at her enemy, she didn't have long, she had to finish this quickly and complete her mission. Focusing her lightning chakra into the soles of her feet to increase her speed she ran at the ninja.

Her enemies eyes widened as he tried to follow her with his eyes, but she was too fast; she was darting all over the place, confusing him. Hoshiko appeared behind him and the enemy didn't have time to counter her as he felt a fist dig into his back, he screamed in pain as he felt the lightning enter his body painfully as he went flying through the air and into the wall opposite him. He crashed through the wall and crumpled in a heap on the floor as Hoshiko smirked behind her mask and turned to help Kakashi, although it wasn't needed as he had just finished incapacitating his own enemy.

Mon and Renji came leaping through the hole in the wall as they straightened up, "The rest of them are regrouping around the building, they don't intend to let us leave." Renji informed her as Hoshiko turned to face the straw dummy of the Daimyo's granddaughter. It had been sitting in a chair at the back of the room and was the whole reason why they were there. This was Hoshiko's real test now, to see how she could get herself, her team and the hostage out.

"Inu and I will clear a path for you, you two take the granddaughter and wait until it's clear to go to the extraction site."

Renji and Mon nodded as Mon moved to grab the dummy and lift it into his arms as Kakashi and Hoshiko walked to the hole in the wall where they had entered. Hoshiko looked down into the courtyard and saw at least two dozen more ninja's, using her chakra sense she concluded that over half of them were shadow clones. She extended her Wakizashi out and channeled her lightning affinity into the sword as it lit up in yellow and blue, the electricity cackling around it as she used her chakra to jump into the fray and cut down three shadow clones in two seconds.

Hoshiko spun and blocked a kunai that had been thrown at her face and kicked another clone that was jumping her from behind as she stabbed it in the chest as it poofed away, she then ducked down and jumped into the air and brought her sword to her chest and thrust it into the ground.

"Raiton: Nagashi!"

Lightning from her sword and hands travelling through the ground and around her as the clones all succumbed to her attack as she wrenched out her sword from the ground. Hoshiko hadn't failed to notice that all of the clones she fought all had the familiar weasel porcelain mask and dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail.

There was a strong chakra signature behind her, it matched the clones but this alerted Hoshiko to the fact that this was the caster of the jutsu.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

Hoshiko barely had time to leap out of the way of the giant fireball heading for her as she quickly made the seal for a Kage Bunshin as her clone appeared and masked their chakra and hid in the nearby trees. Hoshiko made the appropriate hand seals and brought her index and thumb together to create a circle.

"Katon: Hosenka no jutsu!"

Dozens of fireballs erupted from her mouth as they headed straight for her enemy as he dodged out of the way and headed straight for her. Hoshiko could see the glint of red beneath the mask as she smirked and blocked his incoming attack with her sword.

"Still cheating with that Sharingan," she muttered under the strain of his force as she heard a deep chuckle from behind his weasel mask. "Should've known you wouldn't go easy on me, Itachi-senpai," Hoshiko mocked. She didn't receive a reply from Itachi as she suddenly had to block his incoming kick.

The two were locked in a Taijutsu battle as they both dodged hits and kicks and threw them at each other. Itachi's Sharingan was blazing behind his mask, watching her every move and anticipating her next attack while Hoshiko read his chakra movements, it gave her an advantage on where he would strike next, as Shinobi unknowingly sent chakra to the limb they were about to use to attack; it was evenly matched between them right now, but Hoshiko knew she wouldn't last much longer against Itachi.

Hoshiko received a rather nasty blow to her stomach as she doubled over in pain, she felt a cold hand clamp around her throat as Itachi lifted her up into the air. She only had a few seconds before Itachi would technically 'kill her' and her exam would be over so she moved quickly. She clamped her hands down on his wrist and planted her feet on his stomach, simultaneously she kicked his stomach and used chakra-enforced strength to pry his hands off her as she kicked off him and flipped back through the air. She hit the ground and skidded back, bracing her hand against the ground to stabilize her as she watched Itachi straighten his back from the blow.

"I'm guessing you were the one who took care of Kakashi's clone then," Hoshiko stated to Itachi as the Uchiha nodded.

"I've known you a long time, I could guess what you were going to do," came Itachi's snarky reply as Hoshiko frowned at him.

"Well then," she said as Hoshiko gripped her mask and removed it from her head moved it to the side, her silver eyes glinted in the moonlight as she made the Ox, rabbit and monkey seal. "I'll show you something that you haven't seen from me before."

With one hand she wrapped it around her wrist and held it at her side as her chakra started to swirl around her. Itachi's Sharingan recognized the jutsu immediately, as it was one that he had seen before, but by only one other person in the village. The silence between the two Shinobi was broken by the sound of electricity crackling in the air as Hoshiko's hand was suddenly engulfed in lightning. Rapid chirping sounds emanated from her jutsu as sparks flew out and hit the ground around her as her face lit up in the white-blue light.

"Chidori." Itachi stated in amazement.

Kakashi finished defeating his Itachi clones when he felt the powerful chakra emanating from Hoshiko, the sound of the familiar thousand chirping birds drew him in as he turned his head, looking over his shoulder to see Hoshiko and Itachi facing each other off, a good ten meters between them. Hoshiko had indeed cast the Chidori to Kakashi's utter astonishment.

I'd only ever shown her that move once, back when I first met her! Kakashi thought as he watched the lightning spark around her and hit the ground. It's so powerful, he mused to himself.

Hoshiko bent her legs, preparing to launch her attack on Itachi; she knew that with this move her speed was going to be untraceable, she had to somehow beat his Sharingan while also not killing him, if she could that was. She watched as Itachi corrected his stance, preparing for her as Hoshiko kicked off and went running full sprint at him. The Chidori screeched beside her as she could barely contain her speed, her vision was solely focused on Itachi as she charged at him. Debris kicked up behind her as she suddenly disappeared from his line of sight.

Itachi caught her movement to the right as his crimson gaze trailed on her, as soon as he had a lock on her she disappeared and appeared to the left, she was trying to throw off his Sharingan as much as she could so that she could land a hit on him and be done with the exam. She appeared behind him next as Itachi dodged out of the way, barely. She skidded to a halt in front of him and spun around, with an almighty cry she pushed her legs hard as she leapt for him.

"Chidori!"

Itachi was ready to counter her attack when suddenly she released the Chidori as it died off and Hoshiko grappled for his hands. Itachi was stunned as she latched onto his arms; he sensed another presence above as he inclined his head.

Hoshiko's Kage Bunshin was grinning without her mask on as she had a Chidori chirping in her left hand as she soared through the air towards him.

From beneath his mask Itachi smirked, he was impressed. Hoshiko had finally managed to create the Kage Bunshin without him sensing her chakra expenditure, and it had hidden in the surrounding trees without him sensing her and then she was able to sneak up on him and create another Chidori in the process.

But Itachi was still better than her.

His gaze lowered back to the real Hoshiko as he met her determined silver gaze through his mask, in that second, before her Chidori hit, Itachi suddenly disappeared in a flock of crows. Hoshiko's clone hit the ground; the Chidori exploding upon impact as the clone was released from the force of it and the real Hoshiko went flying back, hitting the ground hard. She rolled to a stop and groaned, wiping the blood that had trickled into her eye from the cut above her eyebrow as she stood shakily onto her legs. She could feel the drain on herself now, it was the first time she had used Chidori in a battle, and she had used it twice in the span of a few minutes, but she could still go on; she had to, she had to prove to Itachi and Kakashi and the other ANBU's that she was capable of doing this. She never expecting the drawbacks from using Chidori to be this painful though, even though it granted the user a speed and power boost it affected her vision when attacking and after the jutsu was done she could now feel the aching in her limbs.

She sensed Itachi emerging from the trees as she glared at him, she was annoyed at the fact that she had been stupid enough to be caught in his Genjutsu, she should've realized that it had been too easy to capture him and sneak up with her second Chidori. Her chakra senses alerted her to the fact that there was an Itachi clone behind her as she twisted her head around just in time to see him release another fireball directed at her. She pumped chakra into her legs, jumping over the fireball as she felt the heat lick at her exposed skin, she kept her eye on the clone but something drew her to look at the real Itachi down below.

Her eyes widened when she saw him throw two kunai towards her, she pictured them in her eyes, and they were heading straight for her. She quickly took out her kunai from her weapons pouch and blocked them both, the clashing of metal ringing in her ears.

Hoshiko spat out blood from her mouth.

Pain erupted from her torso and spread throughout her body as she cried out in pain, she felt her body fall through the air and prepared to hit the ground.

"Hoshiko!"

Itachi watched it all happen with his keen eyes, he had thrown the three kunai towards her; he knew that she'd be able to dodge them; he couldn't keep track of how many times they had practiced kunai throwing over the years, she was an expert in dodging his attacks. So it came as a shock to him when he watched Hoshiko block the two kunai heading for her head and arm but completely missed the one he had aimed for her stomach. His Sharingan registered it before he did that there was no way for her to dodge the attack as the kunai pierced her armor and sunk into the tender flesh of her torso.

She was still in the air when the blood poured from her stomach, and then she coughed up blood as it spilled from her mouth as Itachi watched her silver eyes widen in horror as she screamed and went limp in the air.

"Hoshiko!" Itachi yelled her name as he dashed over to her and caught her effortlessly in the air. He watched the crimson blood soak into her clothes but didn't dare risk pulling out the kunai that was embedded in her stomach so deep that only the top of the handle was visible. Itachi landed on the ground as Kakashi appeared next to him in an instant as he set Hoshiko down on the ground gently and removed his mask from his head. His Sharingan faded into his onyx orbs as he looked up at Kakashi who had also removed his mask from his head.

"She should've dodged them," Kakashi stated as Itachi pulled out bandages from his rear bag.

"We need to stop the bleeding and get her back to Konoha," Itachi stated to him as Kakashi nodded and quickly performed the Summoning Jutsu. Pakkun appeared in a poof of white smoke as the small canine studied the scene.

"I need you to go ahead to Konoha and let them know what's happened here, we're bringing back a critically injured Ginyoru Hoshiko." Kakashi told his companion as Pakkun nodded.

"I'll go with haste," Pakkun said with a nod as he took off into the forest. Kakashi watched him go for a second and the reality set in. It was an almost three day journey back to Konoha, and from the yelps, groans and blood coming out of Hoshiko's body; there was high chance she wouldn't make it in time. ANBU weren't medic ninja's, they only had basic training on how to deal with cuts and gashes, this was a full-blown wound that would need surgery and a blood transfusion. Kakashi looked back to Itachi as he packed on bandages into her wound as Hoshiko coughed up more blood.

Hoshiko didn't want to die. She was only fourteen; this was her dream, to become ANBU and surpass Itachi. Not choke on her own blood because she had been stupid enough to not dodge a kunai, and Itachi had thrown it as well, even if he probably already wanted to kill her a dozen times, she couldn't imagine the guilt he would be feeling right about now. In fact, the only thing she could feel was the constant flow of her own blood leaving her body; it was getting harder to breathe, the blood was clogging up her throat so she forced herself to cough it out. Pain shot through her whole body as she screamed and whimpered as she could feel Itachi packing up her stomach wound, he was muttering under his breath but her hearing was beginning to drone out, she could see his lips moving and his bottomless black orbs glancing at her face every couple of seconds.

"It…Itachi…"

He barely heard her voice, it was weak and sounded wet from the blood she had in her mouth. His dark eyes met her dull silver gaze as he watched her mouth twitch into the sarcastic smirk he knew so well.

"You…such a…baka…"

Itachi scoffed as he returned her smirk with his own, "You're the baka, not being able to dodge a kunai. You should be sent back to the academy."

Hoshiko tried to laugh but all that came out was another hacking cough as Kakashi knelt down near her head.

"We've got to move, if we don't get her back as soon as possible—"

"Kaka…shi-senpai," Hoshiko's weak voice cut him off as his one black eye met hers, "bet you…were surprised…by Chidori."

Kakashi smiled weakly behind his mask, "pleasantly, you're a quick learner."

Kakashi's bare hand reached down to her arm as his fingers brushed against her skin there, and suddenly, as if something was moving Hoshiko; her hands shot out as her body sat up and she grasped Kakashi's face.

Itachi was forced back as he stared, open mouthed at what he was seeing.

"Kakashi!"

The older ANBU's eyes rolled into the back of his head as Itachi watched the colour drain from his face in mere seconds, his cheeks became sunken and dark circles appeared under his eye. It all happened in mere seconds, Itachi could see Hoshiko's silver eyes glowing, a feat that was extraordinary in itself, as well as the fact that her stomach wound was healing itself. The kunai dropped out of her stomach as the hole closed up, leaving a patch of bare, tanned skin.

Shisui sighed. "From what my Otou-san said, her clan comes from somewhere near Iwa. They have a very powerful Kekkei Genkai that allows them to absorb chakra from their enemies with a single touch. They can also extract memories from their victims and use that chakra to heal wounds and give them a pretty powerful energy boost." Shisui explained as Itachi continued to trail his eyes on Hoshiko as she failed to perform the clone jutsu.

Itachi acted quickly after remembering what Shisui had told him long ago about Hoshiko's Kekkei Genkai. He knew he couldn't touch Hoshiko, lest he have his chakra absorbed like Kakashi, so he lunged for his senior. He grabbed him around the waist and pulled him away from Hoshiko, the two of them hitting the ground as Kakashi lost consciousness. Itachi activated his Sharingan and checked Kakashi over; his chakra was low…very low. A few seconds longer and Hoshiko would've sucked him completely of his chakra and he would've died.

He looked over his shoulder at said girl; she was lying on her side, also unconscious. Her hair covered her face and back, lying in a pool of her own blood with her bloodied clothes and face.

"Captain!" came a shout from above as eight figures appeared. Itachi looked at the mixture of ANBU and Konoha Chuunin that had helped with Hoshiko's exam the past three days. Hoshiko's other team members were apart of this small group as they crowded around Itachi, Kakashi and Hoshiko.

Itachi recognized the ANBU member, Mon, as he crouched down next to Hoshiko's body and reached out to touch her.

"Don't touch her," Itachi warned as the light haired ANBU jolted his hand back and stared at Itachi through his monkey mask.

"Captain, what happened?" One of Itachi's squad members asked him, "Kakashi-senpai…is he…"

"He's not dead," Itachi reaffirmed to him as he looked between his friend and his senpai. He looked around at all of the masked faces staring at him, he finally thought of a decision. "We need not speak about this to anyone in the village. What happened here was a complete accident and we need to return to Konoha with haste; Kakashi-senpai needs immediate treatment." Itachi watched as one of the younger ANBU, nearer to Kakashi's age stepped up to his friend and hoisted him onto his back. His ANBU mask was decorated with green and red and his dark brown hair stuck up on top of his head, Itachi knew him as Tenzo.

"What about her?"

Itachi looked over at the ANBU who had spoken, it was the orange haired one, Renji; Itachi knew that he worked for Root, it wasn't strange that a Root member had been on this exam, Danzo liked to scope out potential Root members, even if he hadn't trained them since they were children.

"No one is to touch her skin," Itachi ordered as his fixed his blazing gaze onto one of the ANBU's who donned a long cloak. "Give me your cloak."

The ANBU immediately complied as he removed his clothing and handed it to Itachi, he draped it over Hoshiko's unconscious body and carefully wrapped it around her and picked her up in his muscular arms, cradling her to his chest as her head lolled back against his arm; he wasn't taking any chances that she would absorb any more chakra even though she was healed. Itachi glanced back at Tenzo.

"Get rid of the building," he stared ahead at the remaining group as Tenzo maneuvered Kakashi against his back and clasped his hands together tightly and undid his wood release, the building that was half smashed to pieces retracted back into the ground; the area was clear, like they had never been there.

The team was silent as Itachi made the first move as he jumped up into the trees.

Itachi led the team of Shinobi through the forest, all of them pushing their legs to go as fast as they could, they needed to reach Konoha quickly. As Itachi jumped from tree to tree, he glanced down at Hoshiko's face; the lower half of her face was completely covered in blood and most of her clothes were soaked crimson. Her breathing was even and if it wasn't for the blood, Itachi would've assumed that she was sleeping peacefully in his arms.

His grip tightened on her shoulder and legs as he thought about what was going to happen when they returned to Konoha; the villagers had just begun to accept Hoshiko, she no longer had to shy away from their hateful glares every time she walked down a street, if word got out that she had activated her Kekkei Genkai and injured Kakashi, there would be riots. Her clan was feared because of her ability, Itachi could now understand why. He had seriously doubted the magnitude of the Mizukiri's power but seeing it first hand terrified and amazed him, what Hoshiko had was truly a curse.

He couldn't imagine what Hoshiko will be feeling when she finds out what she did to Kakashi…she will be devastated.

Kakashi is a dear friend to her, and when she hears that she almost killed him with the very thing that people fear her for, Itachi could only image the various things that will happen when she receives the news. Would the Hokage even let Hoshiko even continue being a Kunoichi? Would he label her a threat and strip her of her rank? Send her to the Intel division where her father had worked before his death, from there she would constantly be watched and under guard in case she ever tried to attack anyone…

The scenarios were endless in Itachi's mind.

As Itachi stared at her blood stained face, he remembered the morning a few days ago, when she had burst into his room at the crack of dawn, shouting at the top of her lungs that her exam was commencing that very day and how excited and nervous she was about becoming an ANBU…how everything had changed in that short amount of time. Who would've thought that she would unlock her Kekkei Genkai at this time?

Hoshiko had confided in Itachi almost a year ago that she desperately wished that she would never unlock her ability; she didn't want to be feared or treated as a monster by the villagers. She didn't want to carry the shadow of her tainted clan on her back for the rest of her life, and she knew that if her ability did come to fruition the village would alienate her once more.

They returned to Konoha on the second day, the Shinobi had pushed themselves to their limits, needing to get back to the village as soon as possible with Kakashi and Hoshiko's conditions. Itachi spotted the Sandaime Hokage waiting at the gates with a medical team and Pakkun sitting at his heels.

Itachi walked forwards with Hoshiko's still unconscious body, her and Kakashi had still not awoken from their sleep, which made Itachi feel uneasy about what had transpired between Hoshiko and Kakashi.

The Sandaime didn't need any explanation given to him; he was able to see from the look on Itachi's face and the two bodies that were being carried that Hoshiko had unlocked her Kekkei Genkai. It was unfortunate that it had happened in this manner, but they couldn't dwell on it for too long; they needed medical attention and fast. The medic ninja's hurried forwards, with two long stretchers; they shouted commands to each other as they took Kakashi from Tenzo's back and laid him out on the stretcher. Kakashi still looked like he was on deaths door with his ghostly skin and sunken cheeks; his breathing was labored and his chakra was still dangerously low. A medic Nin immediately started healing him with her chakra as they hurried off to the hospital.

Itachi reluctantly relinquished his hold on Hoshiko as two nurses took her limp body from his arms. He had cleaned the blood off of her face during the brief break they had taken in the night, but her clothes were still stained red; her hair was matted with dirt and blood, making it clump together and sticky as he desperately wished to see her silver eyes open, even for just a second; just so he could see that she would be alright. She was gone within seconds, being whisked away to the hospital, no doubt she would be under guard from now on.

Itachi turned his dark gaze onto the Hokage as the old man sighed and smoked his long pipe.

"Hokage-sama…" Itachi said hesitantly, he trailed off, unsure of what to even say to him.

"I'll see you in my office later, Itachi-san. You need to inform me of what happened."

"…Hai," Itachi replied quietly. The Sandaime turned on his heel and began to walk towards the Hokage tower. "Hokage-sama…what will happen to her?"

There was a pause as the Sandaime exhaled the smoke as it curled up into the sky above him and got carried away on the wind.

"The officials and I will discuss this; for now, please go and inform Hoshiko-chan's mother that she is in the hospital."

Itachi nodded even though the Hokage had his back to him, he watched him disappeared into the crowd of villagers as Itachi craned his neck up to watch the sun descend behind the Hokage stone faces.

"I heard that Hoshiko has been admitted to the hospital, along with Hatake Kakashi," Danzo stated to his orange haired Root member as he kneeled before him in the underground complex. "Did they suspect anything?"

"No, Danzo-sama. I made sure that I wasn't found out."

Renji and Mon had finished with their comrades that they had been instructed on eliminating by Hoshiko. The two Konoha Shinobi lay on the ground, technically 'dead' as Mon looked over his shoulder at his teammate.

"We should head down now, Itachi is making his move now," Mon said to Renji as the rat masked Shinobi nodded. Mon hurried out of the room as Renji glanced over his shoulder and saw his Kage Bunshin hiding in a corner, they both nodded to each other as the real Renji followed his comrade out of the room.

The clone waited until he heard the sounds of a battle from outside, keeping his chakra signature as low as possible he moved to the balcony where they had entered the room.

His keen golden eyes scanned the ground for Hoshiko, he saw her locked in a battle with the Uchiha prodigy, he could sense his real self off in the forest, adhering to her orders from before, it allowed him the alibi if they ever assumed that he had something to do with this. He waited for his opportune moment to injure the girl like Danzo-sama had ordered him too.

There!

He watched as Hoshiko jumped into the air to avoid Itachi's fireball heading for her, while also preparing to dodge an attack of kunai from Itachi's clone. Renji held out his hands with his index, middle fingers and thumb joined to create a circle as he focused on her body in the center.

"Shintenshin no jutsu."

Renji didn't need to completely control her body, he only needed to cloud her judgment and make it so that she failed to dodge one of the weapons heading for her. His jutsu connected as he focused all of his efforts into making sure that Hoshiko had no idea that he was currently in her mind. As he looked through her eyes, seeing Itachi launching the kunai at her, he warped her vision so that Hoshiko could only see two kunai heading for her. He knew he had to be quick, Itachi had his Sharingan activated and would soon realize that he was here.

Before the kunai pierced her flesh Renji released the jutsu and returned to his body. The clone heard the scream as the Kage Bunshin was released and all the information was sent to the real Renji.

"What happened next?" Danzo asked; looking pleased at what his subordinate had told him. For once, something had gone his way, and not only did Hoshiko get injured, but so did that annoying Kakashi who always knew too much.

"It must have been instinctual, she made contact with Kakashi's skin and began to absorb his chakra into her own body, her wound healed at an impeccable rate and Kakashi was almost killed before the Uchiha stopped the connection."

Danzo 'tsk'd' as he tapped his cane onto the ground, a lot of things could've been avoided and things could've progressed a lot faster if Hoshiko had in fact killed Kakashi. Danzo assumed that Itachi had to of known about Hoshiko's ability beforehand if he was able to save Kakashi and not have his own chakra absorbed by Hoshiko at the same time.

There was a silence between them for a few minutes before Danzo smirked and bowed his head, "you have done well."

"Thank you, Danzo-sama."

"This is just the first step. I must inform our ally about this advancement; for now, keep your distance from the girl, we mustn't let anyone suspect that we had any hand in what transpired."

"Hai."

TuTheTofu - Thank you so much for your kind review! I'm pretty sure there must be a few typos in my story somewhere xD But thank you for saying that, I'm glad you're enjoying it and I hope that I don't disappoint.

Sora4D - Thank you so much!

Let me know what you guys think about the story so far and what you think about Hoshiko and Itachi's relationship so far!