Disclaimer: The characters are Masashi Kishimoto's property, I own the OCs.

Characters age:

Akane: 10 (43)

Itachi: 10 (26)

Shisui: 14

Naruto / Sasuke: 5

Kakashi: 19

"Are you ready?" Itachi asked me as we were gazing at the doors of the arena.

"I want it to be over," I replied. "You?" He shrugged.

"There could be good surprises." He stretched out two fingers to me. My eyes darted between them and his face. "To say good luck dummy, and no bad blood when I win."

"Oh ok…I beg your pardon Uchiha? 'When' you win?" He smirked. "You…" I crossed my fingers with his and shook them, clenching my fingers harder and harder hoping to make him flinch.

"Tell me when I'm supposed to feel something." I gritted my teeth at him, and he clenched and unclenched his fingers once I had let go of them.

"Sasuke's my favorite anyway." He blinked, taken back and I puffed my chest, happy with myself. I entered the arena, Itachi catching up quickly.

"You're playing dirty Akane," he muttered under his breath.

"I use the cards I have in hands."

"You're using my brother against me."

"He drew me a 'best nee-san in the whole word' card for my birthday. Did you get the same thing?" He pursed his lips.

"We don't communicate that way." I scoffed. He frowned. "I'll use Naruto against you then."

"Please, he'd trade me for a bowl of Ichiraku ramen if he could." We reached the other contestants. I noticed Dai's dark emerald eyes catching mine for a second before he looked away and whispered something to Mangetsu.

Before, we had been on a team for six months before going to the Chuunin Exams in Kumo. Dai couldn't stand me, nor Mangetsu, because he was from the lower-class and his parents had died a few years before. Mei-sensei was the one raising him and having to rise above discrimination because of her two kekkei genkais. It did something to Dai, who only saw the oppression in us when we were oppressed ourselves, although in another way.

Eventually, we became great friends. Now though? They were on a team with Utakata-senpai, which made me feel better than if another girl had taken my spot. However, there didn't seem to be real complicity between the three of them.

It was a shame.

A jounin walked around us, making us pick a piece of paper and forbad us to show it to anyone. Once we all had one, we could look at it.

I had a blue square on mine.

"Here is how we are going to proceed. You all have squares on your papers with color in it. They come in pair which determine the order of passage. There are twelve doors leading to the arena and you will each go to one. A screen will be above the door so you can watch the fight. One by one, you're going to go to that hallway." He pointed at a door. "Someone will take you to your door."

"How do we know when it's our turn if we just have color?" A dark-skinned kunoichi from Kumo asked. The shinobi glanced at her, unimpressed.

"The door will open, is it enough?" he retorted sarcastically. It wasn't needed, and she turned red.

"What color do you have?" I asked Itachi in a whisper as genin were leaving one by one. He put it in his pocket. "Itachi!"

"I'm not telling you," he stated firmly. I puffed my cheek, but he was unfazed. He left barely a minute later, then me.

I started pacing nervously. I didn't like being the center of attention, especially in these kinds of circumstances. Minato-san had said the Raikage was there too, and I was not looking forward to it.

"Welcome to the Final Exam of the Chuunin Exams!" I heard the referee say in the arena. I widened my eyes and put my ear on the door. "Today, the remaining genin in the run to become chuunin will fight each other in a contest of power and strength!" There was no doubt about it, it was Zabuza-san! "From six fights, we'll go to three! Then, the final fight will be a battle royal where everything is allowed between the last three genin!" I almost fell when the door opened. "Now for our first contestants! From the Hidden Leaf, we have Uzumaki Akane!" I walked awkwardly at the center of the arena, sweatdropping at my opponent.

I knew my name had cast a cold over the audience though.

"From the Hidden Mist, we have Houzuki Mangetsu!" There were some cheers, but nothing too overwhelming.

Mangetsu grinned at me, trying to intimidate me, and I waved in return. He looked at me strangely.

"Are you ready?" Zabuza-san asked us, although he looked more at Mangetsu. He nodded and then the future Swordsman looked at me, up and down. He was obviously trying to analyze me. I smiled stupidly at him. "Alright, you can start." He jumped away.

Mangetsu and I stared at each other for a few seconds without moving.

"So, how's it going?" He narrowed an eye at me.

"Good?" he replied, confused. "We're not really supposed to be speaking right now Uzumaki."

"You're speaking more than I am." He raised his eyes to the cloudy sky.

"I'm not going easy on you." I put one foot in front of the other, my katana in my hands.

"I wouldn't expect anything else from that big sword on your back," I replied, my voice now serious and emptied of any emotions.

Mangetsu was not someone I could take lightly. He had Hiramekarei on his back. He took it without a word and pointed it at me with narrowed eyes, analyzing the situation. Even this young, he knew from my posture I would block any of his attack.

I smiled faintly. He wouldn't make the first move. He knew he was in his element; he could just not move for a long time and push me to do it. I'd play his game. I took a deep breath.

"The body-flicker?" Shisui asked me once we were back from mission, eating a snack at a tea house in the country.

"Yeah. I haven't told Itachi, but Minato-san wants to teach me the Hiraishin at some point." He choked on his tea.

"Wait, the Hiraishin and my use of the Body Flicker Technique are not the same!" I handed him a napkin that he accepted.

"I know. However, in both cases, you need to react quickly to your new position. And, in both cases, the opponent is surprised so I need to take advantage of it quickly." He pursed his lips, thinking.

"Well, you're not wrong, I guess. I just never thought about it that way, I'm very fast, Minato-sama literally teleports Akane."

"Is it a 'no'?" I asked him, disappointed. He shook his head immediately.

"No, no, of course not! I mean, I'd be annoyed if you were to be faster than me through the Body-Flicker, but if you feel it could be useful, then I'll gladly teach you." I brightened at that. "Why didn't you tell Itachi by the way?"

"I want to feel better than him for once in my life, and I want him to see it," I replied in a deadpan. "I get he's a prodigy, but it gets annoying to have him always telling me the smallest thing I do wrong." He laughed.

"You're petty, you know that?" I just drank my tea with a smirk.

I was not as fast as Shisui, far from it, but I was fast enough to make Mangetsu step back, shocked to see me in front of him out of sudden. I engaged him in kenjutsu, knowing he was still better than me. I had an Immobility Seal at the tip of my blade. Through a lot of training with Fugaku-sensei, I could transfer it to the ground. I could make seals in fights a lot quicker thanks to his one-on-one training sessions of hell. The second I was on the ground, I had lost. He was counting on my pride to make me improve, and he was right. Seals, Hyouton, I was quicker in the heat of the moment, and I had to learn on what part was really important. I wanted to make a shield out of ice? Where did it have to be the thickest to be the most effective and reduce the shards of ice flying everywhere upon impact. An explosion as a diversion? No need for an Explosive Seal, any seal badly done would do if I put enough chakra in it.

For Mangetsu, if I wanted to defeat him, I had to use my Hyouton. His Liquefying Technique was very annoying, taijutsu wouldn't work and he would get rid of my seal the second it touched his skin. Maybe he wasn't that strong yet, but I would not take any chance, I'd work with the skills I remembered him to have.

I stopped his blade, our face getting close to each other. I started to sharpen my blade with Wind-nature chakra, but his chakra ripped the bandage around Hiramekarei. I gritted my teeth when he pointed a finger at me, his sword's weight slowly getting me on one knee. When I saw the drop of water, which was a lot more dangerous than it looked, I slammed my foot on the ground, using the humidity around us to make a pillar of ice to protect myself.

The water bullet was stopped by it. Mangetsu grinned at it and I removed one of my hands from the katana handle to grab his wrist, blowing him up. I jumped back, putting a hand on my right shoulder. The sharp chakra around his sword had touched my shoulder and I now had a sharp cut on it, bleeding through my clothes. I slipped two fingers beneath my kimono top and focused to freeze my blood, stopping the bleeding.

Blood froze. At minus eighteen Celsius degrees, but it froze. Needless to say, it was a very short-term solution what I had done there.

"Good, we're getting serious." He divided his sword in two, bright blue chakra surrounding each other.

I made a few shadow clones. I sent them to him, who easily slice them off. In the smoke it made, another clone left to make seals around the field using the body-flicker. Before Mangetsu could go to her, I stopped him with my High Wind Technique. He cut though it with his sword, now gigantic. It was enough for my clone to finish her job. Blue chakra rose in the air around us to leave a light blue tint in the shape of a dome.

It was just to keep my Hyouton contained. Fugaku-sensei had told me to come up with something to keep the cooling of the air around me contained during fights because I couldn't hurt my comrades in the process. I agreed, even if it never really was my priority before.

Mangetsu used a water jutsu that covered the ground with water. I returned it with a Water Dragon he didn't dodge. When my attack disappeared, he was gone as well. I spread chakra from my feet and barely turned around in time to dodge the water bullets he was firing at me. One went through my thigh because despite all, he was fast, and I was busy lowering the temperature around us. It was close to freezing point when Mangetsu stopped firing at me, pillars of glace shattering in front of me. He got out of the water and clenched his fingers with a frown before looking at the dome around us.

"I get it now, you cut off our temperature from the others." I smiled innocently.

He wouldn't use the Liquefying Technique for now. If he were to use it, I'd be quicker than him. I still had to go lower to make him fully solid. I could resist temperatures until minus twenty celsius degrees Celsius when I was well-equipped, but a minus five or ten should be enough.

He visibly shivered as our breath were visible.

"Yeah, I really get it," he repeated through gritted teeth. He twirled his swords in his hands and ran at me.

He was faster, using his clan technique to make his muscles stronger. I kept moving, struggling to find an opening. Mangetsu had not been genin-level since he was seven and mastered Hiramekarei after all, it was normal he'd be a challenge. It was an exam too, not a battle to the death.

I raised my arm above me to stop his sword when I failed to move in time. I wasn't thinking because who in their right mind would use their arm to stop a blade?

It didn't slice my arm off. It stuck in it. Mangetsu frowned and so did I. Emotions played with kekkei genkai and my arm felt colder than the rest of my body.

I used this moment to grab his wrist with my other hand. He sliced his hand off without a second though and reformed it once he was away, although slower. I sealed my katana back in its scroll and twirled the half of his sword in my hand, throwing chakra in it. I ran at him, and he did the same, both our swords clashing, like the amount of chakra in them. We were thrown away harshly. My whole back was drenched in water. The bottom of the water on the ground was getting solid and slippery.

"It doesn't feel good," I muttered, shaking my head when I was sitting. I froze my half of the sword and put a seal on it, making it unusable.

It didn't keep Mangetsu from suddenly be in front of me. I dodged the sword by rolling on the side, thin ice flying everywhere when the sword touched the ground. I leaned on my hands, my back to him. Then I leaned my foot on his thigh to kick him beneath the chin. I touched him, I felt it, but the inner layer of his epidermis seemed…liquidy.

He was focusing his technique beneath his skin to reduce damage, good thinking. He spat blood quickly and grabbed my ankle. I was thrown to the side, putting my arms in a cross in front of me to reduce the impact of his kick. I almost slipped when I landed on my feet, and tried to put distance between us.

I blinked when something pierced the flesh on my shoulder like butter. I glanced down at it to see a thread. I widened my eyes and looked above my shoulder. Mangetsu had half of Hiramekarei, but he had Nuibari in his other hand, well its thread. He twisted it between his fingers, and I found myself tied up against one of my ice pillars, at least what remained of it. The thread would quickly cut into my skin.

"Give up Uzumaki!" he suddenly told me. From the distance, I doubted anyone but Zabuza-san, who quietly escaped of the temperature dome, would hear it.

"You give up Houzuki!" I retorted through my teeth, blood appearing on my thighs. I put my hand flat on the pillar in my back and made a big Explosive Seal. It would hurt me in the process, but well.

I blew it up, sending the shards of ice toward Mangetsu. Of course, it wouldn't do much, but I used the Body Flicker to get out of the threads the second it got loose, cutting it at my shoulder.

I put a Healing Seal on my shoulder and the bullet hole in my thigh, where I was bleeding the most. I was starting panting. Kekkei genkai required chakra, I had a lot of it, but I was using my Hyouton a lot. I still had reserves though. Mangetsu as well.

We both knew this fight was going nowhere though, so we had to end it quickly. I just had to touch him and then…

I threw some kunai with explosive tags at him, the smoke of the explosion covering the field. It was enough for me to go to the wall of the arena.

"Suiton: Big Waterfall Technique!" I spat a huge amount of water in the arena. As I was doing it, I made other hand signs. "Fuuton: High Winds Technique!" The winds on my sides joined the water, making it more violent.

I waited for a few seconds for Mangetsu to get out of it to freeze all of it, the temperature dropping even more. His legs were shaking. I made some ice beneath my feet, put an Explosive Seal on it and made it blow up, sending me toward him. He threw Nuibari at me, but I stopped it in ice, making other piece of ice in the air to lean on them and control my trajectory. When I was at arm reach, I stretched out my hand as he engulfed my head in water from his hand. I grabbed him though, on his shoulder and wrist. As I blew up the wrist, freeing me, I used my Hyouton to freeze him temporarily. Then I put an Immobility Seal on him, followed by a Chakra Suppressing Seal. I ended up straddling him, my kunai at his throat, panting and sweating. He blinked, apparently shocked I used a seal and my Hyouton at the same time and relaxed.

I glanced at Zabuza-san, who seemed impressed by our display. We remained on the ground for five seconds until Mangetsu slapped the ground with his hand, indicating he could no longer fight.

"Houzuki Mangetsu is unable to pursue the fight, Uzumaki Akane is the winner!" I made the temperature go back to its normal state, quickly but not too much to avoid thermal shock for both Mangetsu and I. I removed my seals on him and made him go back to his regular temperature before removing the dome.

I looked up. The audience was dead silent, their gazes on me. I bit the inside of my cheek, knowing if it wasn't for the foreigners in Kiri, I would have gotten insults thrown my way for the display.

I glanced at the Kages' loge. I knew Minato-san wanted me to use my Hyouton as a last resort, but with the mission and the Exams, and how I was a bait…I had to. It had been a lot though.

"Follow me to the infirmary," Mangetsu said once he had picked up his swords, Hiramekarei strapped to his back. I nodded and did just that.

I exhaled loudly once I was on one of the beds. I didn't miss the disgusted look the medic threw me when Mangetsu came back in the infirmary, nor how he didn't offer to heal me.

Whatever, I was tired. I was staring at the TV screen instead.

"You're good," Mangetsu stated suddenly, watching the TV from his own bed.

"Thanks, you're good too." He nodded. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you really have helped me had I been on my own?" He glanced at me.

"Yeah. I mean…well, something tells me you know it was not our decision." I smirked.

"Yeah, yeah I figured."

"You know, when I said you were one of us and not Konoha's…" I raised a brow at him. "Well, I do think it's true, but you're lucky."

"Am I?" He nodded.

"I can't pretend I know how Konoha works, but you're one of us and you got out of it. You're lucky just for that, even if your fa…" He pursed his lips.

"You know about what he did?"

"The whole village knows what he did," he admitted. I knew that already. "Some even said it was justice what had happened for leaving the village." I scoffed.

"I'm sure." I hugged my knees against my chest as Itachi appeared on the screen in front of a Kiri-nin.

"You would have been the daughter of the Fourth Mizukage though."

"At what price?" I looked back at him. "I would have gotten even more attention, no thanks."

"Sure." It was silent as Itachi trapped his opponent in a genjutsu and was declared the winner. Less than two minutes.

It had taken him longer than I thought it would.

"Can I give you a piece of advice Uzumaki?"

"What is it?"

"Stay the fuck away from Kiri for as long as you possibly can." His face became more serious. "I think at some point you won't be able to, so don't come near us while you can't avoid it."

"The Mizukage implied something like this when he talked to me." He sighed. "Should I worry a lot?"

"I don't know, who knows what he has planned. Just…do as a I say." That was my plan. "Anyway, it looks like you're fighting the Uchiha next." I groaned, throwing my head back.

"Dang it."

He wasn't expecting that.

He was glad no one was with him during Akane's fight, because he knew they would have made fun of his stunned face. He had trained with her, and fought with her and against her briefly, but she had not displayed half of what she actually could do.

He was stunned, and proud because she was his love. It was his love who was fighting so well and acting so smart in battle, even if her blowing up the ice she was tied to had made him grit his teeth.

He would need to seriously train with her once they were home. Shisui had obviously had enough time already from her use of the Body Flicker Technique.

She fought so well and looked stunning doing it. He had rarely seen her eyes look so serious and focused before. He would get to see it once the first round of fights was over as they would face each other.

His mood dropped when he entered the infirmary. His opponent was there, unconscious, but Akane was speaking to Mangetsu as if they had not fought before, or during the previous Exam. Granted, maybe there was some jealousy speaking as well. Akane was too comfortable with the Swordsman. He knew why, but it could be dangerous and…

Hell, he was wondering if she had been crushing on him when she was a kid, that was the main reason.

"Oh hey, nice fight!" She told him. He eyed the blood on her clothes. "Don't worry, I've healed myself."

"Did you use all of your seals?" She raised a brow, her water bottle stopping in front of her mouth.

"Do you need one?" He shook his head. "Oh. I still have enough, don't worry about that." She smirked and leaned her face toward his. "You took longer than I thought you would." He frowned.

"I was curious about his skills." Mangetsu eyed the shinobi.

"Kiri's a medic in training." It explained his way of fighting, focused on chakra control. Akane stood up and stretched out.

"I shouldn't crowd the infirmary when I'm good to go. Let's go Itachi." He followed her and they sat down in the room they were gathered at first. The TV was displaying Dai and a shinobi from Kumo fighting.

Akane was immersed in the fight, shaking her clenched fists in support. When Dai was the last one standing, she clapped.

"I know you think I'm wasting my time, but I can at least cheer them on when no one is looking Itachi," she said, her eyes not leaving the TV. Utakata was going in, a kunoichi from Iwa in front of him. He won. "Go senpai!"

"Senpai?" She nodded.

"He's older by four years, and cooler, and hands…" His eyebrow twitched, narrowed onyx eyes daring her to continue her rant. "…he's a nice person."

"Hn." She whined.

"I didn't even remember you!"

"Hn." She bumped his shoulder with his.

"You're even more handsome and you know it." He averted his eyes, hiding his blush behind his collar. "You make my heart go 'bump-bump'." He rolled his eyes.

"No need to go that far."

"Yeah, I felt weird saying it," she admitted with an amused smile.

"I'm embarrassed for you."

"I'm doing fine on my own, but thanks for the help." He cracked a small smile as well. Half an hour later, they were facing each other at the center of the arena. They had not talked much about the fight and just wished each other luck.

The jounin said the fight was starting. Itachi got ready to destabilize her with genjutsu first, but she raised her hand.

"What is it?" Momochi Zabuza asked her, Itachi confused at her action.

"I forfeit." He shot her a strange, confused look.

"Are you sure?" She nodded.

"A hundred percent." Zabuza cleared his throat.

"Alright. Due to Uzumaki Akane forfeiting, Uchiha Itachi is the winner!" She went back inside as if nothing had happened, and he fought the urge to run after her to get an explanation.

Thankfully, she was waiting for him inside.

"What was that?" he asked her immediately. She took his hand and made him poke her left arm. "Why is it that hard?"

"It's frozen." He frowned at the arm. "During the fight, I did it unconsciously. Tsunade-san mentioned she had seen it a few times before. It's still frozen. I can't fight right now; I need to find someone to unfreeze it."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She shrugged.

"I thought it would melt on his own. But, also, I didn't want to fight you. I don't fancy an epic loss in front of everybody." He gazed at her gently.

"You don't know that." She deadpanned at him.

"Right, well I do. I've done enough with one fight in my opinion." He couldn't hide the disappointment on his face. "What, you wanted to fight me that much?" He nodded without thinking. "Is it a guy thing where you want to see who's the strongest or something? Because I'm not into that."

"I just want to see your level myself, there are a lot of things I've seen in your fight I wasn't aware of." She sighed.

"Fine, we'll fight in Konoha if you want to. I wouldn't want to do it in front of so many people anyway."

"It's just a fight."

"And they've seen enough of my techniques as it is Itachi. Maybe you haven't noticed, but the silent glares they were giving me? Not a big fan."

"I…I didn't notice, no," he admitted, a little bit ashamed. She ruffled her disheveled hair.

"I can't wait to leave this place," she muttered under her breath, more to herself than him.

He really wanted to leave too, he felt like he kept putting his foot in his mouth since they had gotten here.

The final was between him, Utakata and a shinobi from Kumo. He won. Utakata had been the biggest challenge, he had been shaken up but jinchuriki were nothing new. A strong genjutsu was enough to knock him out.

He was relieved when they were back on the continent. However, it was short-term. He couldn't help but think something had changed in Akane. He didn't know if it was in her eyes, her posture, her behavior but…

Something had changed.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have liked it, please do let me know in reviews! Thanks to Guest for the comment!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Bye!