AN: A friend pointed out to me that Zabuza would be pretty young during the scene I put him in. This is true. I completely missed this fact and I'll continue to do so because I'm a busy man with viddy games to play. Edited chapter 3 to make it readable though, god even I couldn't read that chapter.
Kagome didn't make a habit of exploring Konoha, she didn't have a lot of time to walk around and she'd only been allowed to leave the Root compound after she had completed training with her sister. At the age of nine she'd been given her own apartment and was just left to her own devices. Without Kagomi, Kagome felt like she wouldn't have left the building for anything other than missions.
One such place that Kagomi had loved to visit was the very training field she was standing in now.
The sight of Sarutobi Asuma being beaten thoroughly by an unfamiliar girl did little to detract from her memories of laying in the overgrown grass with her sister, watching the clouds go by.
"We should be training or something." Kagome mumbled while trying to shift the bit of grass scraping her neck.
Kagomi nodded in agreement beside her.
"Or something…" Kagomi yawned into her hand.
Kagome huffed in frustration.
"You need to relax more, dummy. This is basically training for someone as tense as you." Kagomi chided.
Kagome punched her sister in the arm lightly. Kagomi chuckled, her voice was light and soft.
"I was escorting some merchants down in Lightning Country and they claimed they could divine the future from what they saw in the clouds." Kagomi added, almost curtly.
That caught Kagome's attention, she turned her head to look at Kagomi. "Could they?"
Kagomi sighed. "It was hard to tell, one lady said she saw a sheep which was a symbol for safe passage… I mean they DID get to where they were headed safely but, a lot of clouds look like sheep, don't they?"
Kagome weighed the odds, silently in her head.
"Tell me what shapes you can make out up there." Kagomi instructed.
Kagome groaned in irritation but complied.
"That one there." Kagome said, pointing up at a large cloud taking up a quarter of the visible sky above them. It was somewhat circular although there were two holes either side of each other. If she was a little imaginative and warped the shape a little to make a jaw below, it looked like...
"Uhuh? What does it look like?" Kagomi asked.
"A big… Cloud." Kagome said flatly.
Kagomi sighed gently.
"You're a brat, I hope you know that."
Kagome giggled as her big sister started describing the shapes that she could see in the clouds above them, and slowly she began to relax again ignoring the floating skull that drifted by.
Kagome snapped back to reality and realised that Rin, Obito and Kakashi had all been talking amongst themselves for what seemed to have been a while.
She'd almost forgotten that she'd offered to help them spar. A nagging guilt tugged at her. She wasn't a teacher, not in the slightest. The last time she'd ever tried to teach a fellow shinobi, it had led to severe eye trauma and a serious report, it was no light punishment for causing injury to a fellow Root shinobi.
Kagome's confidence in her own teaching style was incredibly low, and here she was now, about to try to help her only friends with their Taijutsu. A few things could go wrong with a friendly spar, more so than it had with her own half-baked doujutsu idea.
Rin had turned to face her with a patient smile that said she'd had just about enough of trying to stop her teammates from fighting. Kakashi was currently fending off Obito's flailing arms, Kagome had yet to really interact with the white haired boy, but she wouldn't hesitate to interrupt their squabble.
"Have you met Asuma and Kurenai yet?" Rin asked, tilting her head in the direction of the two genin fighting each other just some distance away.
Kagome shook her head, it wasn't worth explaining her awkward run in with Asuma and she hadn't met Kurenai, the long haired girl in what looked like a dress made of bandages, who was currently knocking Asuma to the floor with a vicious looking heel kick.
Rin flinched at the sound of the impact as well as the subsequent scream from Asuma.
"I don't think now's the time to say hi anyway." Rin said in a relatively withdrawn tone and a wince on her face.
Rin refocused on Kagome and clasped her hands together with a smile. "So, what's the plan, Sensei?" Rin asked with a giggle.
Kagome gave a small smile in response. She hadn't really thought about what she could actually help them with, but she knew she'd avoid sparring at all costs.
"You guys have missions to do so we can't do too much conditioning but…" Kagome glanced from Rin to Kurenai, who was still quite clearly winning her spar with Asuma.
The difference between Rin and Kurenai seemed to be obvious to Kagome but she didn't want to say it aloud.
Rin caught on to what Kagome was suggesting and turned to check on Obito and Kakashi, who were still deep in conversation, or arguing, it was a little hard to tell.
Little needed to be said between the two girls who, despite their lack of contact, knew what the other intended with as little words as possible. Rin said it was because they were Kunoichi but that didn't add up. Kagome lacked the academy training Rin had received.
Kagome entertained the idea that maybe they were just good friends.
Without hesitation Rin began her stretches and Kagome followed by her example and before long they were both jogging around the bordering forestry outlining the large field. Kakashi and Obito had eventually ceased their shouting match when they realised their audience had begun to run laps around them and followed suit. Sadly this also became a competition between them and both Obito and Kakashi were breaking into full sprints instead of jogging.
Kagome could see the benefit in exercising that way too so she didn't try to stop them, but in reality she was more concerned she'd anger Kakashi. They really weren't close enough acquaintances for her to be ordering him around, and she had no rank to actually display that she was his superior. From what she knew, he was an over performing chunin.
Conditioning felt like the safe middle ground, something that any team of fresh genin would need, due to the lack of physical experience and endurance that shinobi in the field had been working on for decades.
Hours worth of basic and most importantly, agreeable exercises later, and the group of four had seemingly had enough of the monotonous training.
Kakashi and Obito hardly seemed winded from their constant game of upstaging one another and eventually resorted to sparring. Unlike Asuma and Kurenai, Obito and Kakashi were just about fighting evenly, although it seemed a little obvious to Kagome that the white haired boy was holding back a lot of his punches. It was kind of sweet.
Rin looked about ready to collapse but she still had enough energy to stay on her feet, she gave Kagome a small smile but gasped for breath every time she opened her mouth.
"Looks like you are a taijutsu specialist after all." A familiar voice called out behind her.
It was Asuma, looking an awful lot worse for wear after what had looked like an absolutely brutal sparring session with Kurenai. Speaking of which…
"Where's your friend now?" Kagome asked.
Asuma grinned, the bruise on his right cheek looked particularly painful.
"Kurenai? She tapped out for the evening. She said she needed to go home." Asuma said proudly, as if it wasn't a known fact that he hadn't had the upper hand even once during their spar.
"Mhm." Kagome replied eloquently.
Asuma frowned a little at the lack of response, he looked to Rin for support but all she could muster was a weak smile while she stood hunched, heaving for air.
"I hope what Orochimaru-Sama mentioned earlier isn't still something you're thinking about." Kagome commented, acknowledging the fact that Asuma had referred to the excuse she had used earlier that day.
Asuma looked a little sheepish as he chuckled and coughed into one hand.
"Gotta say… I'm still curious about that, I was honestly hoping I'd catch you on your own to clear it all up." Asuma confessed.
Kagome turned to look at Rin. Despite how juicy the gossip would normally sound, Rin seemed more than happy to be left alone as she shrugged and waved them away from her. Reluctantly Kagome followed Asuma just enough distance away from her friend to be out of earshot.
"You're an Anbu right?" Asuma immediately asked.
"I'm not allowed to answer that." Kagome replied.
"Uhuh." Asuma nodded knowingly.
Asuma folded his arms.
"Why would you care if I am or not?" Kagome asked blandly, the awkward silence made her want to grind her teeth.
Asuma pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to find the words.
"It's a big deal, to meet someone, younger than me who's apparently going around doing more important shit. Y'know? I'm the son of a Kage and I'm still a genin." Asuma rattled on.
"So you're jealous." Kagome concluded.
"What- no- well yeah, I guess. Worried too, though. Do you not have a family or something? I mean it's dangerous work, doing those kinds of missions is more lethal than the regular stuff, but during a war? I'm goin' through a whole midlife crisis, thinking that the last time I'll ever see you is right now." Asuma rambled, grabbing at his own hair and looking more and more panicked as he spoke.
Kagome tilted her head. The whole scenario reminded her of how she'd been introduced to the two thirds of Team Minato.
"Hey Rat, I'm going to be a jounin Sensei next month, have you got any friends your own age?"
A warmth spread through Kagome.
"I don't have any family." Kagome said, with a small smile.
A brief quiet graced the field.
"I don't think that's so bad though. I still have great friends, and I don't feel lonely, ever." Kagome stated honestly.
Obviously it wouldn't be widely accepted to say she still saw her deceased sister on a daily basis, so it was the best Kagome could do to explain. She really appreciated the fact that a stranger had even shown this much concern for her sake.
"Thank you for looking out for me. You didn't have to." Kagome said.
She started to walk away from Asuma who seemed at a loss for words.
"I'll try and make a habit of dropping by, to let you know I'm still alive." Kagome called behind her.
Asuma nodded slowly.
"I'd like that, yeah." Asuma replied.
Kagome strolled back towards Rin and the sound of grunts and meaty thwacks became more prominent the closer she got to the two boys attacking one another. With no more reason to stick around, Asuma made his own way back into the Village without another word.
The spar had progressed to the point where it was clear to Kagome that Obito was definitely on the backfoot. It felt to her like Kakashi was playing with his food as he feinted in one direction, and struck Obito from the other side. Obito seemed too tired to stop him, taking heavy damage from kicks and punches.
Something seemed off about how sluggish Obito was moving.
"Obito seemed tired before we even got here, were you training with him before you arrived?" Rin asked, now breathing comfortably a short distance away from Kagome.
Kagome frowned, she hadn't noticed any signs of weariness from him, but Rin had certainly known him for longer.
"He saw me walking down the street already on his way here." Kagome stated with mild concern.
They sat down in the grass and waited for Obito and Kakashi to finish their brawl. The sun was lazily falling, only barely above the treeline by the time Kakashi and Obito both agreed that they were done.
"How'd we do, Kagome?" Obito asked eagerly.
Kagome shrugged.
"You're doing better every day, maybe some more conditioning could help though." Kagome surmised.
Obito huffed. "You always say that."
"You never have too much cardio, or muscle." Kagome retorted.
Kakashi chuckled behind his face mask, apparently in a much better mood. "Well said, for a Genin." He replied, with a slight curve to his eyes.
Rin smiled gently and clasped her hands together and grinned slightly. "We should head back before it gets dark, thank you Kagome-Chan, I wouldn't have been able to push myself as hard as I did without your company." Rin said.
The slightest hint of a blush spread across Kagome's face before Kakashi cut in.
"She said the exact same thing the last time Minato-Sensei trained with us." Kakashi said.
Rin looked upset but Kagome still felt happy. A compliment was a compliment.
The small group took a leisurely walk back into the village and parted ways when they were eventually forced to take different paths home. Kakashi was the first to break off from the group, then Rin, and finally Obito.
"Thanks for not going through drills today, I don't think I would've been in the mood for it, hehe." Obito said with a laugh, scratching the back of his head.
"You seemed to have your own plan anyway, you'd started fighting with Kakashi before Rin had even caught her breath." Kagome commented.
Obito chuckled. "Gotta blow off steam somehow, right?" He asked, his face slowly taking a more sombre look.
Kagome stopped walking suddenly.
"Your cousins were picking on you today." Kagome said in sudden realisation.
"What, no, I-"
"-I'm walking you home." Kagome interrupted him.
Obito folded his arms and scowled, stopping in his tracks.
"I don't need your help, Kagome. You made it worse last time you got in the way." Obito said as sternly as he could.
"There won't be any fighting, I promise." Kagome swore, hand on her chest.
Obito's eyes were still narrowed, but it seemed like exhaustion had won over, he turned back to face the street and continued walking.
"Fine." Obito huffed.
The walk to the Uchiha district was an incredibly long one. The district itself was one of the first ever built in the village, and yet it was one of the closest districts to the village walls. It was the first and most obvious sign that there was some sort of discord between the village and the Uchiha specifically.
Sure there were stereotypes for every clan. Hyuuga's were called arrogant, Aburame's were labeled stoic, Nara's were always said to be lazy. The distaste on Danzo's face when he referred to the Uchiha made Kagome shiver though.
There was always some degree of prejudice when it came to clans, regardless of which one, but even Kagome could tell the Uchiha were both lauded and looked down upon with much more intensity than any other clan, simultaneously the pride and black sheep of the village.
Speaking of black sheep.
Kagome walked alongside Obito now, taking in his disgruntled appearance. Even among the Uchiha, Obito was considered an outcast, she admired his ability to push that aside and put on such powerful bravado.
Obito had put on his trademark goggles, a habit he had when he was in various different emotional states.
The large gates to the district weren't guarded at all, but there was always a patrol of Shinobi police, uniformed with the Uchiha fan symbol on their backs. The two Shinobi patrolling closest to the pair levelled a weary glare which Kagome had become all too familiar with.
"Home sweet home." Obito muttered under his breath.
"It's a lovely district, I wish people were nicer here." Kagome commented.
Obito spat out a short, mirthless laugh.
"Not likely." Obito muttered.
Kagome bumped his shoulder.
"You manage it pretty well." Kagome retorted.
Obito grumbled a little but didn't argue.
"Did Rin mention me at all?" Obito asked hopefully. It was a common trend whenever she and Obito were alone, that he'd interrogate her about everything Rin said, everything.
Kagome hummed in brief thought.
"She seemed worried about you, she knew you were tired before we even started exercising. Can't say I noticed before she mentioned it." Kagome said.
Obito's face immediately brightened and he smugly rubbed his nose.
"Hehe, of course she'd notice, we're super close." Obito declared, self assuredly.
Kagome felt a pang of sympathy for him, she could see plain as day Rin didn't have a crush on Obito, she really wasn't anywhere near reciprocating his feelings.
"Of course you are." Kagome agreed.
Strolling down the street in complete agreement about how great Rin Nohara was, a group of five familiar Uchiha approached the pair from the opposite side of the long street.
"Well, look who it is guys!" One of the lankier teens smirked, the other four all folded their arms and wore vicious smirks.
Obito immediately tensed but Kagome couldn't help but feel slightly unimpressed, of course being outnumbered never favoured the smaller party, but Kagome knew well how weak the teens really were.
"Good evening, Uchiha-San." Kagome greeted them briskly and continued walking.
" 'The fuck you think you're going, brat?" The shortest of Obito's cousins sneered at her, standing a whole head taller than her.
Obito shook in anger.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise you wanted me to stay." Kagome retorted with a level voice.
Two of the Uchiha at the back of the group growled and spat at the floor beside them.
The lanky teen, the one who seemed to be their leader, glared at her. For the life of her, she couldn't remember his name.
"We were all talkin' just now, about that time you pulled that dirty trick on us last time we met." The teen said, his grin growing. Kagome had no idea why, there hadn't been any tricks, she'd simply beaten them up until a Shinobi police officer interrupted them.
"An' we all thought about how unfair it was that we couldn't get a rematch, 'cus you were too scared to come back." The lanky teen said, the four other teens snickered behind him.
Obito looked absolutely furious.
"Kagome isn't a coward, you assholes!" Obito shouted. Passers by, who had simply ignored the group now stared at them.
A far deeper voice spoke from behind the teenagers, a voice too deep to have possibly come from any of them.
"I hope there isn't any trouble here, especially among family." The deep voice rang monotonously.
Kagome could see the top of someone's head behind the group but she couldn't really tell who it was by voice alone. Their hair was black, so it was a safe bet to assume the man was also an Uchiha.
The way Obito paled and lowered his head, indicated to Kagome that he recognised the owner of the deep monotonous voice. Obito's cousins instantly followed suit which left only Kagome standing straight, allowing her to get a proper view of the man.
It was the man's powerful, square, chin that gave his identity away. Kagome hadn't had the opportunity to speak to someone of his status before, but she recognised the man's authority, if only because he shared the exact same look of tired superiority that Lord Danzo had.
Beside Fugaku Uchiha, Clan Head of the Uchiha, silently stood his heir, Itachi Uchiha. Itachi's dark eyes stared passively, almost as if they could see right through her.
"There's no problem, Fugaku-Sama. We're sorry for our cousin's disrespectful behaviour." The lanky teen replied, breaking Kagome out of her almost trance induced staring contest with the younger Uchiha.
Kagome bowed slightly, mimicking Obito.
"I'm sorry for our outburst, Fugaku-Sama." Kagome said.
Fugaku hummed in an unimpressed tone, although there was recognition in his eyes.
"It was not you who caused such a disruption, child." Fugaku dismissed her.
Obito buckled under the impassive stare that Fugaku pointed his way.
"I'm the one at fault here." Kagome asserted without further explanation.
Looks of horror were directed at Kagome as Obito's cousins balked under the tension growing between Kagome and their clan head. Silence filled the entire street.
"I suppose there is an explanation that I am not privy to. But do not speak to me in such a tone ever again, girl." Fugaku said, with a baleful glare.
Kagome couldn't help but look to Itachi for a reaction, but there wasn't any to be found. Itachi simply watched with a placid expression gracing his features.
"Be on your way." He demanded.
Kagome took the opportunity for what it was and as Obito grabbed her by the wrist and walked briskly away. Taking a glance behind her, Kagome tried to catch sight of Itachi, to see if he would speak or even change his facial expression.
Obito seemed to relax when they finally got out of sight of his cousins, and the patriarch of his clan.
"I knew you shouldn't've come. That was a disaster." Obito grumbled.
Kagome went to pat his back but hesitated, retracting her hand.
"I'm sorry, Obito." Kagome mumbled.
When he didn't reply, the guilt really did sink in. Walking down the street in complete silence as the sun settled behind the
"They started hanging around the park too, y'know." Obito said, clearly referring to his cousins.
Kagome's eyes widened. "Is that why you haven't asked to visit recently?" Kagome asked in disbelief. It had been weeks since they'd visited one of the few recreational parks located in the Uchiha district, originally Obito had said he was trying to be "more mature" to impress Rin, Kagome had eaten up the excuse too easily. It wasn't her fault, she was a very busy person after all.
Well, she had some free time now.
Obito nodded and said nothing. That was the closest to a confession as he was willing to give and Kagome knew it was a veiled apology too. He must've felt at least some guilt for not spending as much time with her.
"That's a shame…" Kagome mumbled. They continued walking for a long while without talking.
A stray thought did cross Kagome's mind however, dark eyes flashing in her vision.
"How old is Fugaku's son?" Kagome asked.
Obito did a double take at the strangeness of the question.
"I think he's five, or six. Why?" Obito asked.
Kagome shrugged.
"I heard he was a kid-genius, but he didn't talk at all." Kagome explained.
"There wasn't much chance to, he's pretty quiet from what I've seen." Obito replied.
They eventually arrived on Obito's street after many twists and turns and Obito gave Kagome a quick wave before starting to jog down his street to get home.
Kagome watched him enter the front door of his home before she turned to leave, it was slowly getting dark as the sun was finally setting on the horizon.
She thought of all the times she'd come back from a string of missions with nobody to greet her when she got back to her dingy little apartment. She thought about how there wasn't really anybody waiting for her to go home even now.
"You've still got me." Kagomi whispered, resting her chin on Kagome's shoulder.
"Whatever you are, anyway." Kagome muttered to her sister.
Kagomi chuckled gently.
"Even I can't answer that, good look trying to figure it out though." Kagomi said with a playful lilt in her voice.
"I don't care what you really are." Kagome uttered softly.
Kagomi inhaled, as if preparing to speak.
"But thank you anyway, even if you're mean to me like you were yesterday, I appreciate you staying with me. Thank you." Kagome said quietly.
Kagomi huffed loudly. "I stand by what I said. You were never cut out to be in the Root." Kagomi declared.
Kagome sighed. "Well I made it work somehow, didn't I?" She murmured.
The street wasn't entirely empty but nobody even looked her way as she headed down the way she came. She hadn't seen Obito's cousins on her way up, they must've gone almost as quickly as she had, she remembered what Obito had mentioned about the park.
Kagome didn't need to turn and look at her sister to know a wide grin was forming across her face.
"Y'know. Those boys did seem genuinely convinced you'd tricked them somehow..." Kagomi said with a viciously playful tone.
Kagome halted when she reached a crossroad between the street leading out of the district and the street leading to the park.
"It wouldn't do for an Uchiha to exercise such poor judgement in the field, you'd be doing them a favour, teaching them a lesson even." Kagomi asserted.
Kagome hardly even felt warmed up from the exercises she'd done with Rin and the team.
She'd felt almost disappointed when she'd left the training field with them.
Kagome turned and started walking towards the park.
Mitsume Uchiha was gifted. That's what his parents had told him.
At the age of ten he'd unlocked his Sharingan and at the age of fourteen he'd been promoted to chunin. His friends, relatives or whatever, they were basically leeches off of his talent as far as he was concerned. Well apart from Oimo, his actual cousin, the guy'd been promoted around the same time but he hadn't even unlocked the third tomoe of his sharingan yet.
So, hanging around the park with everyone wasn't really what he wanted to be doing, maybe if it were just him and Oimo it would be fine, but the other three idiots? Not a chance.
"Hey Mitsu, you remember the look on that kid's face when you were messing with her?" One of his cousins ( He didn't remember his name.) asked, sitting at the top of a slide.
His cousin continued.
"She looked like she was gonna cry, right?" He asserted more than asked.
Mitsume glared at his cousin and grunted. In response his cousin laughed and continued talking to the other two cousins around him.
Who were they kidding? Mitsume knew at the time that the kid couldn't do anything to them without causing a scene, and he knew she was in trouble for the last time they'd fought with her, but he knew damn well she wasn't scared of them. How could she be? With whatever trick she had up her sleeve, his Sharingan seemed next to useless, and the way she moved… Seemed almost lazy, like she was playing around with them.
Mitsume's teeth bared and he growled aloud.
"Ah fuck, man!" Mitsume practically shrieked.
When he'd gone to ask his dad how a Shinobi could trick a Sharingan, his dad had just waved it off as being impossible. But there's no way that could be true, she must've done something.
"How the fuck can you guys just sit there and fuck around!? That kid's out there basically laughing at us because she got a cheap win!" Mitsume shouted at the other teens. They immediately went silent, a dumbfounded look gracing all of their features. Or so he assumed, it was pretty dark out.
Oimo was the first to speak up.
"The way I see it, there's no way a kid like that could do it again, it was a fluke. There's no need to beat yourself up over it." Oimo replied, calmly.
Over Oimo's shoulders Mitsume almost thought he could see something orange glowing in the distance, two little glowflies maybe? They were too constant to be any fire. Fire flickered, these lights were solid.
"Yeah… I guess you're right, we've always got Obito to fuck around with anyway." Mitsume said, looking away from the very small lights in the distance.
Oimo seemed happy with that answer and turned to continue chatting with his cousins.
Mitsume couldn't remember for the life of him why they started picking on Obito, he was just an easy target, he didn't fit in and there was apparently something to do with his parents not being around, or bringing dishonour to the clan. He didn't really care about any of that, but the kid then had the audacity to say he was going to be the Hokage someday? That crossed the line.
His fists clenched as he thought about it, he'd make Obito learn, he'd make sure of it.
Mitsume scratched his shoulder and in doing so turned his head slightly to the side. There he caught sight of those same glowing lights, and judging by the size of them, must've gotten a lot closer. Mitsume's eyes narrowed.
He got down from the climbing frame he was sitting on top of and picked up a pebble, he tossed it towards the lights to see if they would disperse or at the very least, make a sound when the pebble hit the floor.
It didn't make a sound, and the lights didn't disperse.
"Hey, what the fuck is that over there?" Mitsume asked, only slightly losing his composure. The rest of the teens turned in the general direction he had pointed and they all seemed equally as lost.
For just a moment the lights seemed to disappear and reappear in the exact same spot. That was what made him realise what was wrong, what the lights were.
It was a pair of eyes.
A pair of eyes, staring directly, almost unblinkingly, at Mitsume.
Before he could even think it through rationally, Mitsume had already formed the hand seals for the jutsu and aimed for the glowing eyes.
"Fireball Jutsu!" Mitsume declared, blowing a glob of fire florward, it wasn't a devastating attack because of course, he didn't want to be responsible for damaging the park.
Confirming Mitsume's theory and causing the other teens to go into panic, there was a brief silhouette of a small body rolling out of the way and moving behind the monkey bars. Those eyes, still staring at him, pierced through him with an almost judgemental vibe.
"Hey Mitsume! Don't do that shit!" Oimo called out to him.
"But don't you see them!? There's somebody there! Look at the monkey bars!" Mitsume fumed.
They all squinted to discern in the dark but were able to identify the set of eyes.
Suddenly the eyes disappeared, they hadn't closed, but rather ceased to glow, and Mitsume heard the telltale sound of gravel scraping underfoot.
"What the f-" the teen furthest behind Oimo muttered before a loud thunk and an accompanying sound of a body hitting the floor resounded.
"Kashi!?" One of the other teens called out, but didn't get a response.
Another thunk, and another body fell.
Mitsume was parylised with both anger and a growing pit of fear.
Oimo didn't seem to be as scared however as he stood closest to his other cousin. "Don't worry Geratsu, you're safe wi- ack!" Oimo was cut off mid-sentence.
Two bodies thumped to the floor simultaneously.
The orange eyes lit up once more, the figure now ever so slightly out of Mitsume's reach.
"I won't go down as easy as those chumps, you fucking coward!" Mitsume shouted, lunging forward as he did so.
He missed the shorter figure by a wide margin, or rather the figure moved perfectly out of reach to make him overstep. A strong kick swept his feet from beneath him and he toppled into the gravel, his hand slapping down on the slowly breathing chest of one of his cousins, he couldn't tell who it was in the dark though.
"Get up." A familiar girl's voice demanded.
Fury filled Mitsume's chest, his Sharingan activating instantly.
Mitsume leapt up off the floor swinging a fist at where he knew the girl's head was. He knew who it was, Obito's friend.
Rather than dodging like he'd expected, the girl brought up her forearm to block the punch, with her other arm the girl shot two fingers in a direct forward motion to poke his eyes.
"What a dirty fucking trick!" Mitsume spat out as he stepped out of range of the girl's short arms.
"Got any more!? Too scared to fight me fair and square!?" Mitsume goaded her.
Kagome scoffed.
"There's a lot of predators out there." Kagome replied instead of acknowledging his taunting.
Mitsume threw a straight punch at her, she caught the fist and made a for a low kick. Mitsume's Sharingan helped him not only predict its movement but almost made it seem obvious. He stepped out of range again.
"There's a lot of predators, they hunt for prey with whatever natural gifts they have." Kagome continued, stepping forward confidently.
"They're strong, fast, smart or whatever." Kagome muttered, throwing lazy attacks Mitsume avoided easily and tried to counter, to no avail.
"Some predators avoid one another too, with shows of intimidation or sticking in a pack." Kagome said. The specification of staying in a group wasn't exactly lost on Mitsume.
"Fuck you, I'm not like those dumbasses!" Mitsume bellowed, throwing a variety of attacks in a combo, a feinted hook, into a sweeping roundhouse kick, into a flurry of punches. Despite the ferocity of his attacks, none of them stuck to the girl. She weaved and blocked perfectly, the only way he could conceive of it being done.
The next punch was to Mitsume's jaw, he could barely process the fact it had connected with his head but all the feeling in his legs vanished for a split second.
"A real predator, well, to me anyway." Kagome rambled, while throwing a short string of skull rattling punches. "A real predator doesn't announce their presence until it's too late, y'know?" Kagome kept rambling.
Mitsume's whole world shook as the rain of blows kept landing. Suddenly the attacks ceased, and Mitsume staggered backwards, only after a few seconds did he raise his guard up.
"If you think you're so strong... Why do you feel like you have to talk so loud?" Kagome asked.
Mitsume growled. "What the fuck is that!? How are you getting past my Sharingan!?" Mitsume shrieked.
Kagome's head tilted, her orange glowing eyes shifted.
"I'm just... Better than you. It's nothing really." Kagome replied.
Kagome seemed to take time finding the right words.
"There's definitely no way to trick an Uchiha's Sharingan, it's incredible and versatile, it perceives what any other human eye wouldn't be able to… But if you can't move fast enough to stop me, what does any of that matter?" Kagome asked rhetorically.
There was no way that was it. It couldn't be that simple.
"You're lying." Mitsumi rasped.
Kagome sighed softly. Her eyes watched him intensely, unnerving in how they shone unnaturally.
"Why would I lie?" Kagome asked, her tone felt genuine in how she said it.
Mitsume gritted his teeth, readying his guard.
"If that's it, I'll see you coming this time." Mitsume said, determination brimming from within.
Kagome stood above the unconscious body of Mitsume Uchiha, mildly impressed. He'd stuck to his word and made the fight far more difficult, but at the end of the day she'd been training for longer, fighting harder, for most of her life. Even if she was younger than the teen.
Of course she'd made sure to emphasise to Mitsume why she'd chosen to attack him, implying how much worse she'd be if they continued to harass her friend. Whether or not the message went through or not, she couldn't be sure.
She started to walk away when she heard the caw of birds fly out of a tree. Kagome funneled chakra into her eyes once more. Suddenly her dark surroundings became far brighter with an orange tint.
The doujutsu she applied was unnamed, deemed useless by her peers at the time of its creation. It was obviously helpful for seeing in the dark but it wasn't particularly clear vision, on top of that, the jutsu made the users irises glow, completely invalidating it's use.
A jutsu to help see in the dark but also made the user more visible.
Kagome decided it's only real application would be for intimidation. Not that a good shinobi would ever be scared of some glowing eyes.
She could see, beyond the border of the park, beside a tree, stood a young boy with eyes Kagome recognised with almost visceral recognition.
"Itachi Uchiha." Kagome spoke loud enough for her voice to carry across the distance.
The boy nodded his head gently as Kagome exited the park and approached him. Not once, even in the dark, did Itachi stop staring at her. She hadn't noticed him at all, not even when she surveyed the park before entering.
"You were watching me?" Kagome asked once she was close enough to speak quietly.
Itachi nodded again.
Kagome couldn't help but feel unsettled by the fact he'd been able to do that, especially after her whole speech on 'silent predators'.
"Why did you attack them?" Itachi asked, calmer than any five year old had the right to be.
Kagome released her doujutsu, being able to see his features clearly didn't help her feel at ease.
"They were bullying one of my friends." Kagome replied.
Itachi seemed to be unhappy with that response.
"You could've reported them." Itachi said.
"They wouldn't have been deterred, not enough to leave him alone." Kagome retorted.
"That isn't for you to decide, miss." Itachi replied, respectfully.
Kagome recoiled ever so slightly. Seconds went by but Kagome felt like the tension made it into minutes.
"You're right, I suppose." Kagome conceded. She couldn't see his expression but she could so she tried to imagine him pulling faces instead, it brought her a little spark of joy to imagine.
"Then... why?" Itachi asked again, snapping her back to reality.
Kagome shrugged.
Was there even an answer she could give that would satisfy the boy? Or her for that matter.
"Sometimes, I feel like I need to do something myself to be sure it's done properly. It really hurt to see my friend be so sad." Kagome said after a very long time.
Itachi didn't reply, he seemed to be mulling over her words.
"When I become a shinobi, I'll stop people from bullying each other too." Itachi said.
Before Kagome could even smile she recognised that Itachi was glaring at her, even through the darkness.
"Without hurting anyone." Itachi finished.
Kagome was caught off guard by the intensity of how he declared it. Was a five year old scolding her?
Kagome sighed. She couldn't disagree with the idea but she couldn't see it being possible either. No one could ever, actually make her voice that opinion.
"I'm sure you will." Kagome replied.
Kagome made to leave but the boy grabbed the sleeve of her shirt.
"What's your name?" Itachi asked.
Kagome sighed.
"You might find out if this gets reported." Kagome said, freeing her hand.
Oh.
Oh oops.
This might get reported.
After centuries. I return. Chapter 3 was the worst piece of work I have ever written, so this chapter couldn't possibly be worse. I made sure to check up on character ages and specifically how Itachi was characterised in younger years but the earliest real showing of him was when Sasuke was born, so this is roughly a year before then. Itachi was a super mega pacifist and I hope this v short interaction is enough for now? I'm really hoping to plow through the rest of this and get to grown Itachi bs. I redrafted this before posting so hopefully I won't have missed any glaring mistakes, but if I have, I'll find it eventually.
I posted another fic called Moral Grey which I want to be clear, IS connected to this fic and hopefully will run concurrently once this one time skips. (There will be a lot of time skips for this fic.)