4
Shisui couldn't believe what Itachi had told him when he had pushed for information about the girl that was going to be joining them for training. She was four years old, and not only has she activated her Sharingan from internal emotions alone that weren't brought on externally but... Shisui's mouth drops watching Itachi and Akari sparring against each other. He was supposed to be focusing on the battle so they could break down where her training with them needs to start. However, he was completely caught up watching them. The one time he did ignite his Sharingan to check her chakra levels he still couldn't believe it. Somehow the four-year-old has had an extensive amount of time to build up her levels and increase her stamina. -"Shouldn't we focus on the basics Itachi? She may have the Sharingan but she's still only four." Shisui had asked Itachi the next day after the two had left the trees. Itachi simply shook his head as he watches where they are going.
"Akari and I have been training together for nearly the entirety of four years." He admits quietly causing Shisui's head to snap back to him in disbelief. "She was only two months old when she showed up at our home. It was the next day I had revealed to me that she could not only talk but she was bathroom trained as she could already walk and run. We've been together since. Every time I began to figure something out for myself about chakra or a way of training, it has always been as if she knew and understood even if I could not explain my thoughts very well. She has chakra control just as she has figured out for herself more jutsu than I had shown her when I was in the academy. She is a ninja bred by necessity. When her parents disappeared on her shortly after she was born. She began to develop these skills to survive."
Shisui shakes his head watching the two pairs of blazing hues focusing on one another. Akari had only activated her Sharingan last night and she was already gaining more than simply a feel for using it. As if she is putting her all into figuring out what she can do just in this training match. "That girl is too smart for a child." Shisui utters out in disbelief again as his jaw drops. Just like that, the spar was over, ending with Akari's hand at the back of Itachi's neck for a knockout blow. Both kids were breathing heavily even with the twelve-year-old staring at them, unable to believe what he had just witnessed himself. He and Itachi are genin. Neither one of them should be taken out by a four-year-old.
Akari then steps away from Itachi and her eyes return back to their onyx hues contrasting against her violet hair. When her eyes shift to Shisui he nearly found himself stiffening beneath her gaze. Seeing his disbelief Akari frowns. "Being a ninja has nothing to do with Age. Periodically throughout time, there have been shinobi as young as I even." She points out as Itachi stands and smirks down at her. "That is true. We have read about them from the library books I would bring home." He agrees causing Shisui's eyes to move from one to the other. "It explains you as well, Itachi." She points out lightly with a smile that brings a small one out of her friend.
"Well, I can't tell ya where we need to start." Shisui sighs as his shoulders slacken, almost as if he finally accepts their explanation for what he had just seen. "But it's weird. Her Sharingan is inverted." He adds in as he steps up to the two watching as Akari's eyes widen before she looks away. Itachi hums in thought as well. "I thought that might be." She utters out quietly drawing both pairs of eyes back down to her. She then puffs out her cheeks before she turns her back to them. "I have the same hair as my mother. It was possible my eyes would be like hers as well." She points out as she crosses her arms.
Itachi couldn't help but smirk as he closes his eyes, pulling Shisui's attention to him. "Let me guess, before we go home you want books on genetics so you may figure out this answer for yourself." He practically chuckles causing Shisui's eyes to widen. "Hm, no. I doubt it would explain why my mother's and now my Sharingan are inverted. Or why we have purple hair contrasting with the colors around us." Basically in her mind, anime isn't supposed to make sense, especially with color schemes. Why would a book explain a color concept to her? With that thought, she couldn't help the frown that pulls at her lips even with the boys still behind her so they couldn't see. There is always still the very real possibility that this is another reality and not an anime at all.
Akari jumps the moment a hand is set on her shoulder meant to pull her from her thoughts causing a rumbling chuckle to reverberate near her. Looking over her shoulder her eyes meet Itachi's. "I said, I think we should begin with ninja tools. This way you can get a feel for them before the academy." Akari's eyes nearly widen before she puffs out her bottom lip. "Isn't that the number one, do not do that, Fugaku gave us?" She questions lightly before she turns around to face him with a smile. "Well then, let's do it." She pipes up causing Shisui to laugh. "You have a rebellious side huh? Nice!" He calls out excitedly as he continues to laugh. This, however, had Itachi sighing. He knows how true that statement really is. She has no regard for rules she doesn't understand or see the necessity for. Basically, if she doesn't like the rule, she will break it every time just to spite it. It is usually Itachi himself that has to keep her in line when a situation to break a rule she doesn't like comes around.
She looks up at Itachi and rolls her eyes as she places her hands on her hips. "What? We both know that rule Fugaku gave us was completely unnecessary. We've always been careful so neither one of us will get hurt. No, he only placed rules over our heads for training because he's scared of me. He always has been." She points out before her lips turn down into a frown. That one possibly true statement she uttered without thinking. Does actually sting a bit. The feeling is nothing compared to how she felt last night though. So she already knew. That she would quickly get over the sting for it was nothing at all. It's not like Fugaku is actually her dad or anything either. He has no familial bond pushing him to accept her as he does with Itachi. It's reality and she's okay with it.
Thanks to her playing ninja as long as she has with Itachi and then Sasuke. Getting used to the tools wasn't too difficult for her. They were heavier but the kunai was just as unbalanced as the toys. The Shuriken, however, were sharp so she mostly had to figure out how to hold them without hurting herself ever before training to throw them. With the similarities between the Kunai and their toys, she picked them up quickly. Even when aiming at a target rather than a fast-moving Itachi or practicing to avoid hitting Sasuke, she found that the only thing she truly needed to get a handle on was the fact the weapon is heavier so she had to add more strength into the throw. Once she was hitting the stationary target every single time, which had only taken her three days, mostly due to the boys wanting to be sure her aim wasn't simply a fluke, they moved her to use a tree they tied onto a river with a drawn target on the bark. With the way it was moving around due to the flow of the water along with the target facing up rather than directed at her, she found this exercise a bit more difficult. She had to figure out how to curve the weapons in mid-throw in order to nail her target. Itachi and Shisui explained the concept and showed her how to do it once before they simply stood back and watched her mind work through the problem. In the end, she did not disappoint them.
When she gained a true grasp of using kunai and shuriken they pushed her back into sparring with them. At first, focusing on the solid ground ever before deciding they should further her chakra control by teaching her how to walk on water. She didn't want to take their 'teaching' away from them by informing the two boys she already knew how just never had the opportunity to train with it. So she let them explain the training to her in a way they figured she would be able to understand ever before she began focusing on moving her chakra into her feet at a continuous flow. Once she was certain she had that down, she placed one foot over the river and judged the flow she needed. Waiting until she could feel her chakra against the water ever before attempting to put weight on her foot. At first, her sandal slipped into the water slightly before she honed her focus enough that her chakra was keeping her shoe on the surface. When she managed that, she finally stepped out onto the river tentatively, remaining careful to not move too far from the shore or the boys so they could grab her if she falls in before the currents could take off with her. To their amazement, before long she was gaining confidence enough that she began running over the water's surface. With this level of chakra control, it is normal for genin to fail repeatedly before obtaining the ability to even reach the point she had begun with. Instead, not once, did she fall into the river.
After that, they were sparring on the river to push her ability without her sandals slipping even slightly into the water when they would catch her attention, successfully pulling her focus away from her chakra control. In the other world, she had trained to fight since she was a kid. Even when she had walked away from that part of her life to try and reawaken her emotions she never forgot the feeling. Akari knew that in the world she was in before that people didn't usually train as she did. Their brutality mostly relied on firearms or brute force but that never interested her. She wasn't a gang member or anything in her opinion. She and her friends were family, and it's not like they looked for trouble. Their direction remained guided away from typical thugs just as they didn't dip their hands into drugs or other criminal acts that required awful acts against humanity. In fact more often then not they didn't break laws at all. Only the ones that they had deemed unnecessary.
They weren't considered the lowest of the low but they did find themselves in fights to protect the lives they had built against others that were like them. Even though she and her friends hated guns they did learn to let one of their group carry a firearm for protection against them. To her and her friends, such things were cowardly. The only way to know who is the best, was for two people to use their physical skills in an unarmed fight. Not that they were against weapons or anything, swords and knives were fine. Simply because if you didn't know how to properly wield them, then they were useless. Even then from her past in the other world, she never had to focus her attention on so many things at once in a fight. To watch her surroundings, to watch how her opponent moves and learn the way they fight, to pay attention to every shift of their eyes and even slight movements of their body. She was used to focusing on these aspects, she wasn't used to the added focus it takes in order to stay on the water's surface.
So they continued, every chance they had between missions, and the fact Sasuke quickly caught on to her going into town to 'play' and he was adamant about going with her, successfully cutting into her training time. Her training is a secret. A secret Sasuke wouldn't keep, especially since the three of them would not train him. He's too innocent and his skills were far from their own. Unlike Akari who needed very little guidance to build her up to their level, Sasuke would take a lot of one on one training to even begin to build up his skills further. All they could hope for was that Mikoto and Fugaku would believe she is holing herself up in the library. That was their last best idea. Also when she and Sasuke enter the academy, their training would be cut into from classes anyway.
Even then, Akari has plans unknown to her two friends. Plans, to save them. She knows the story, and what will happen. Problem is, working through her knowledge enough to come up with a plan herself to stop it. As time continues to move forward she was beginning to feel frustrated with her plans. The boys were speaking around her openly about everything. They weren't trying to keep her safe any longer by keeping her out of it. She would figure things out anyway, and by speaking openly so she is in the know it keeps her out of trouble from delving into what is going on by herself. Keeping her skills a secret was steadily becoming more necessary with each and every clan meeting.
One night during such a meeting, Itachi went into the secret building as Akari rested on that very roof. Pushing her chakra down, practically crushing it so no one would notice her. She fought to keep a clear mind so her emotions couldn't be felt. She may not have been able to hear what was going on within but she knew Itachi would inform her and Shisui later about it anyway. Her focus tonight were on the orders given to her by Itachi himself. -"My father isn't the kind of man that would wish a coup de tat, Akari. His sole focus is the clan's interests and their welfare. A coup such as this would go against everything he is. We must know if this is truly under the orchestration of my father or another if we are to do anything about it."- She couldn't argue with him. She knows Fugaku, maybe even better than her best friend. Just as she already knew Fugaku was only allowing the coup because it is what the clan wants. There was no way for him to deny them since he is the head of the clan. If the clan agrees on something it is out of his power to tell them no.
As the meeting ends, Akari watches the road beneath her. Her eyes follow each clan member that steps out of the building ever before she finds the familiar silhouette. She had to bite back a sigh as she moves along the rooftop making certain her footfalls are light and silent. "I don't know what he expects. Why do we have to waste all this time planning and scheming when we could just attack those bastards and teach them the strength of the Uchiha." He growls out to the one next to him. "I know right? If we strike them hard we could kill them quickly." The other chuckles before their voices drop. They speak amongst themselves quietly ever before breaking apart. Even Akari could tell from the other's reactions that he wasn't the one to come up with ideas himself. He was simply reacting to what the other was saying.
Once the man she was tailing steps off into a darkened street she couldn't help but smirk. Closing her eyes briefly she activates her Sharingan ever before moving around the rooftops until she was ahead of him. "Huh? Who's there?" He questions as his footsteps stop. Akari remains crouched waiting for his eyes to meet hers. The moment his wavering onyx hues find her Sharingan he begins to settle down as he takes comfort in the fact the one who is confronting him is part of his clan. How Naive. Akari silently points out to herself ever before working her chakra through her eyes and into his. Sending him plummeting into the depths of her genjutsu as he grunts and his breathing deepens coming quickly from the sudden jutsu cast on him.
"Your desire for war will cost us our clan, Yashiro." Her voice echoes within the jutsu as she shows him visions of his clansmen falling dead on the ground around him. Unknown to him, she was showing him select memories and keeping out the truth of who actually wielded those blades. "What? But who?" He begins to ask ever before she shows him his own fate. A darkened figure standing before him on the other side of a paper door. Him calling out in fear ever before it changes to pain as his chest is slashed and he is sent backward through the door. Showing him his own death as the light fades from his eyes. "Everyone will die. We may have the Sharingan as we are strong. But we are far from being the strongest. What you are planning will bring the death of children." With that Akari shows him the children running around the compound and mixing them with imagined visages of them laying on the ground with kunai buried in their backs. "Cease your desire of taking control of the clan. Your plan of letting the Uchiha fight while you stay back in safety will not work. All of us, will die instead. If you do not heed my warning, I will inform Fugaku of your wish to take the title of Clan head away from him with this coup. I will tell everyone so that only you will die."
"It's too late, you can't stop it." Yashiro's lips pull back in a sneer. All he did was speak what she already knew even if she wished to think otherwise. She wants to save her two best friends. Her partners, her team. Akari had only hoped she could save everyone. "You could use your pull and redirect the others. It is not too late for the flames have only just begun to spread. Remember what I said here. You will kill the clan if you continue." She warns him again before replaying the images she had shown him as she leaps away from him to meet up with Itachi. Already knowing, she will tell him who is truly behind the coup.
