Chapter 6: The Academy

Trigger Warning: Implied domestic violence

28 February 51, Shisui's Home

Shisui sat at the family table and gave the appropriate thanks to the kami before digging into his breakfast. His mother smiled at him and kissed his head as she walked past. He secretly prayed that his father would leave for work rather than join them that morning. It would be a blessing. The heavy footsteps in the hallway made his heart sink when they stopped behind him.

"Son, you will bring honor to the Uchiha name while in the Academy. Or you will regret it." The man placed a heavy hand and squeezed Shisui's shoulder. The four-year-old boy narrowly avoided flinching. His father walked over before nodding curtly at his mother who backed away slightly. "Wife."

"Have a good day, shujin-sama," she replied dutifully with downcast eyes. The man grunted in reply before walking outside. She exhaled in relief and put a hand on the kitchen counter to steady herself. When Shisui blinked, he wasn't looking at the same kitchen.

"I love you so much," a dark curly-haired man told a petite blonde. The couple stood with their backs facing young Shisui. He could clearly see the Uchiha crest on the man's shirt.

The man swooped in and kissed the woman deeply with gentle hands on her waist and the back of her head. In response, the woman held onto the front of his shirt tightly and gasped when they pulled apart. The man smiled back at her and caressed the side of her face before turning to leave. "Stay warm today, sweetheart. It's going to be icy later."

Shisui could almost swear that the man looked like his grandfather, but not quite. The man faded from view as he walked away while the woman put her back towards the counter and touched her lips with a smile. There was something so familiar about the green eyes. He felt like he knew who she was but could not recall who.

The vision faded. Shisui shook his head and turned his attention back to his breakfast. He needed to focus. Today was the entrance exam for the Academy, and ojii-san would not be here to soften the blow if he did poorly. He was far too busy preparing for the delegate mission to the capital.

28 February 51, Training Field Three

The ground was thick with mud that squished under Katya's new shoes as she stretched with Team Minato. Today, she was going to complete the entrance exam for the Academy. Before that, however, Tou-chan wanted her to complete morning exercises with his team. It had been two years since Minato and Kushina had taken her and Kakashi in. Minato had almost immediately said she could call him tou-chan when he heard that she was calling Kushina kaa-chan. It felt natural. They were her parents. Even Sakumo, as lovely as he had been as a guardian, had tended to keep her at a slight distance. When she asked Kushina, she had guessed that it was out of respect for her father, Dan Kato.

Kushina then went on to reassure Katya that Dan and Tsunade had wanted her to have a family. Katya knew that she was very lucky. She always felt loved. Even after Sakumo's passing, she still had family. Kakashi was her brother in all but name. Kushina was her Kaa-chan. Minato was surely her tou-chan, if not her papa. For some reason, she had always reserved that label for Dan Kato. It felt natural to call him that when she visited his grave with kaa-chan.

Her absentee mother was just that. Mother. Katya did not feel resentment towards the other Senju. It was difficult to, when her family was always there.

The day that Kakashi found out he had been placed in a genin team was a day that would live in her memory forever. He was supposed to be supervising her target practice, but instead used the whole set of practice kunai on himself. Round after round, until he could write his name in kunai.

"I can't believe that I have to babysit fresh genin! I just made chuunin! CHUUNIN! And now I'm right back to where I started. Catching cats, preparing rations, delivering messages. I could be out there fighting the war. Doing something important to restore my clan's honor."

"Your clan never lost its honor, nii-chan," Katya retorted. "Besides, it's hardly babysitting if they're a year older than you are." She took one of the practice kunai from his hand and threw it herself. It landed about six inches away from the target. She immediately began the set of push-ups that he required for every miss.

"What would you know? You haven't even gone to the Academy yet."

"And one-hundred," she rasped, coming to her feet. His rant was beginning to annoy the four-year-old. "Tsk, tsk, Kakashi. Shinobi rule 41, 'A shinobi must find hidden meanings in hidden meanings.' Don't you think they assigned you this particular team for a reason? You may be a chuunin, but you're still another nine-year-old to them."

Kakashi choked on air. "I passed the chuunin exams," he said indignantly.

"And I baked a cake last week." Katya shrugged at his confused face and threw another kunai, this time hitting the target. "Oh, I thought we were talking about irrelevant life achievements."

She made herself scarce for two days after that. She knew that he did not take kindly to any sort of criticism, even if it was light-hearted.

She hoped that someday Kakashi would let go of his precious rules. There was more to being a human than being a shinobi and there was more to being a shinobi than acting like a robot.

For now, her thoughts turned back to her current foot race against her brother's teammate. It was their fifty-third race in as many days. She was just thankful that Obito was such a good sport about all of the running. Her secret goal was to be the fastest shinobi in the world, maybe even faster than her tou-chan. That way she could avoid and dodge her enemies instead of hurting them.

"Come on, Kit-Kat! I'm still faster than you!" Obito goaded.

"I don't want to get my new shoes muddier! They're cute!" the little girl shouted back. The pink glitter-covered shoes sparkled in the sunlight with each step.

"Well, I guess we could go to the trees." The older boy stopped and put a finger on his chin.

"Yes! Obito-nii, you're the best!"

"Obito! You know she doesn't have that much chakra to be running through the trees with you," Rin scolded after overhearing their conversation.

"Ah, Rin-nee. Come on, I can handle it!" The moment the words came from her mouth, she lost her position and began to fall twenty feet from top of the tree. Before she even had time to scream, Minato caught her and landed on a nearby branch.

"I think you're done for the morning anyway, love-bug," Minato said with a smile. "Would you like me to walk you to the academy?"

"Really?" Katya beamed at him. "But… do you have time? I thought you had a mission today?"

"Ah, I have a few spare moments for my second favorite girl." She giggled when he winked at her and took his hand.

When they approached the gate that led to the building, Minato stopped and got down on one knee in front of her. He pulled her close before whispering in her ear.

"Ne, Kit-Kat, I need you to remember not to show anyone your mokuton. Okay?"

"Of course, tou-chan. I remember."

Minato stayed and watched the Academy after Katya turned and waved goodbye to him. He lifted his eyes towards the sky and whispered, "Dan Kato, I hope wherever you are that you can see this." After all, the man may have passed on but had blessed him with a daughter. His final word vanished as he teleported back to the Hokage tower.

1 March 51, Uzumaki-Namikaze Residence

Katya jumped out of bed in excitement and raced through her morning routine. She had been looking forward to the first day of school for some time, and it had finally come. She slipped on the pink short-alls that Kakashi had begrudgingly bought her the day before. He had gambled on a game of 'rock, paper, scissors' and lost fairly. Katya had thought the pugs and flowers embroidered on the hem were cute. The t-shirt she was wearing underneath was a simple forest green that Kushina had painstakingly embroidered with the Senju crest. After scarfing down her breakfast, she grabbed the bento that was sitting on the counter and ran towards the Academy.

Kushina ran after Katya and threw her over her shoulder. There was no way her baby was going to let her miss such an important day. Even if she had to keep her hostage. When they reached the old courtyard, Kushina put her daughter down and tickled her slightly.

"Kaa-chan, stoppp. People are watching," the four-year-old whined.

"All right, all right, you can go." Kushina kissed her forehead and waited behind the newest students for her to enter the building.

Katya barely heard the Hokage's speech about responsibility and the Will of Fire. She was too focused on her old friend standing in the front row. It had been a long time since she had seen Shisui, but she had never forgotten him. The thought of spending time with him again everyday made her feel giddy and almost overcame her natural shyness. Shisui turned and looked towards her. She smiled back at him shyly. He quickly turned towards the Hokage with reddened cheeks.

The atmosphere was jovial as the one hundred students filed into their new classroom. By the end of five years in the academy, they should graduate fifty students. Thirty-eight of those would go into the genin corps and rest to apprenticeships or genin-teams.

Shisui grinned as he hopped into the seat next to Katya before throwing his arms around her and giving her a warm hug.

"I missed you," he whispered.

"Me too. I'm so happy you remembered me."

"You're my friend. I'd never forget."

When lunch came around, the pair dashed out of the building and headed up towards a large Hashirama tree that grew in the courtyard. They settled underneath its shade and began to unpack their lunches. Katya smiled when she saw that her uncle had somehow placed her favorite candies in the bento box. She assumed that he must have found it in the Academy hallway on his way to the Hokage's office.

"Oh cool! You got candy?" Shisui exclaimed.

"Yeah, do you want one? They're strawberry flavored." The blonde girl handed over one of the wrapped confections to her friend who immediately popped it into his mouth. It wasn't more than a few minutes later that he started hyperventilating and foaming at the mouth. Katya panicked and screamed for a teacher, and together they rushed Shisui to the hospital. She began to tear up when Kakashi was called to pick her up for poisoning another student.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I just gave him one of Rochi-oji's candies. I didn't know he was allergic to strawberries!" she cried.

"These candies?"

"Yeah…"

Kakashi began to smell then and pulled back with a shocked look on his face. "These are poisoned, Kit-Kat. Are you sure these are what Orochimaru-sama has been giving you?"

"Yeah… I had some too, and I was fine. I mean, sometimes my tummy hurts when he gives me a new flavor. But they usually taste pretty good…"

"We need to bring these to Minato-sensei."

Later that day, an enraged Minato was heard screaming at Orochimaru for poisoning ' his precious little girl.' Orochimaru defended himself by claiming it was poison resistance training. Shisui Uchiha was fine by the next day and forgave his friend. However, he was more cautious about sharing food with her.

19 October 51, Konoha Academy

"Happy Birthday!" Katya said excitedly as Shisui took his seat. He startled next to her in surprise. She scooted over a poorly wrapped present towards his side of their shared desk. They had been moved up two grades together and decided to stay together, no matter what. Shisui looked surprised to see the object in front of him as he looked at his blonde friend with a fond expression. Afterall, she had been the only one to mention his birthday so far that morning.

"You didn't have to get me anything, Kat."

"Oh, but I wanted to. It's just something I found; it's nothing big," she said with a gentle smile as he placed it in his bag to unwrap later. There would be a time, fourteen years from then, when she would admit to spending weeks thinking of the perfect gift. But she would never admit to it willingly.

Kagami Uchiha was waiting at the Academy gate when the Academy released. Children of all ages spilled out of its doors, and the courtyard was filled with laughter and shrieks of joy. The chittering voices brought a smile to his face as he waited for his grandson and his little friend. This was what his generation had fought for-the future. He waved when he spotted Shisui in the crowd. Shisui immediately let go of his friend's hand as he walked up to his grandfather.

"Ojii-san, this is Katya. I think you've met before," Shisui introduced. "Katya, this is my grandfather." Kagami raised an inquiring brow at the lack of last name in the introduction. His son must be at his usual antics again. The very thought of it made him weary. Uchiha arrogance would surely end them all one day.

"It's nice to see you again, Uchiha-sama." Katya bowed politely and tapped a foot behind her quietly. "Please excuse me, my kaa-chan is expecting me home soon."

"Oh, I'm sure she won't mind, Katya-chan. I'll send a crow to let her know you're coming over for tea," his friendly smile belied the no-nonsense tone of voice.

"Okay, sir. I'd love to come over." Katya wrung her hands behind her back nervously while Shisui ran his own hand through his hair.

They had been in school for two months already, and this was the first time that Shisui's grandfather had introduced himself to her. Katya tried to scour her memories for anything of the man and came up with a vague recollection of her second birthday party. The man with the firecracker jutsu. That's who this was! He made firecrackers light out of his hand. The memory made her feel better as they walked towards the Uchiha compound.

Katya could feel the stares on her back and hurried to keep pace with Kagami and Shisui. It felt as though they were all staring at the Senju clan emblem on the back of her shirt.

"Shisui, is there something on the back of my shirt?" she whispered as they walked. "There's not a spider or something is there?"

Kagami whipped his head around faster than she had ever seen any elderly person move before. He gave a menacing stare to the onlookers before smiling at the children. "Don't pay any mind to them, Katya-chan. They're just curious." He spoke louder, "No harm will come to you in this compound. We're all part of Konoha."

A couple hours later found them sitting quietly enjoying tea and birthday cake. A cool autumn breeze blew through the room. "Thank you for inviting me over, Uchiha-sama. You really know how to make a great birthday cake."

"It was my pleasure, Katya-chan. Ah, I believe you have a message." The old man pointed to a toad croaking loudly on the engawa.

"Oh, that's Gamatatsu. Tou-chan sends him when it's time to go home. Thank you again, Uchiha-sama." Katya gave another polite bow before turning around to leave. "Happy Birthday, Shisui-kun! And many happy returns!"

"Thanks!" the newly minted five-year-old called out in return. He went to his backpack and pulled out the present she had given to him earlier.

"She got you a present? She must have a crush on you. Careful my boy, a fan club is a dangerous thing to have."

Shisui choked on his own spit as his face turned bright red. "She doesn't have a crush on me! She's my friend. Friends don't like friends like that. It'd be too weird." When he recovered, he opened the paper wrappings to find a well-made tanto sheath. The leather was rich and well-conditioned. It felt soft underneath his hand as he ran his fingers over it. It was beautiful. It must have cost her at least six months worth of allowance, if not more. He shook his head, no. It was much more costly than that. He suspected that her parents helped her buy it.

"Ah, and that goes well with what I brought out for you. Happy Birthday, Shisui-kun." Shisui could hardly hold back his tears when his grandfather slid the tanto over the table. The blade was an heirloom made from tempered steel in a long abandoned Uchiha forge. It glistened in the setting sunlight, and the Uchiwa on the edge of the hilt glowed orange.

"This blade is fine enough that you should be able to conduct chakra through it. It is a family heirloom, Shisui. I expect you to treat it as such," Kagami warned sternly. "Protect your village, your clan, and your family. That is what matters most in this world."

"I will, ojii-san. I will." When he held the tanto in his hands, he felt like he had just been given a piece of destiny. More than anything, he wanted to be a strong shinobi like his grandfather.

16 March 52, Konoha Academy

Kakashi leaned against the Academy gate with his arms crossed over his chest. In theory, he was currently racing Gai to the top of the Hokage mountain. But as soon as the genin ran off, Kakashi went in the other direction. At least it would get Gai off his back for an hour or two. He squinted at the high pitched whoops and cheers that came out of the Academy. What were they teaching them? A shinobi must practice stealth at all times. Yelling after school was not stealth. 'Cannon fodder, all of them,' he thought cynically. 'Well, maybe not all of them.' At least one of them knows the meaning of stealth. Or at least she should, after the countless stealth drills he ran her through at three in the morning.

The chuunin smelled Katya and her counterpart before he could see or hear them. He quickly turned around and caught an ankle. Shisui shrugged as he hung upside down from Kakashi's grip. Kakashi looked up in confusion before he realized that the other one had already tagged him. 'Those brats!'

"Tsk, tsk, nii-san. Not much of a chuunin if our brilliant plans can outsmart you." Katya landed on her feet and looked at her nails.

"What did you tag me with this time, Kit-Kat?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." The overly saccharine smile that she gave him was unnerving. "Ja ne, nii-san." Without another word, Shisui and Katya substituted themselves with nearby logs and ran off laughing.

Kakashi blinked at the log in his hands and tried to pull the tag off of the back of his shirt. The moment that it began to peel off, it exploded in brilliant colors. A powdered paint bomb. He really needed to talk to Kushina-san about these seals someday. But right now he had two Academy students to punish. Or better yet, have sensei punish them. No need to dirty his hands with a pair of brats.

Katya whooped in excitement as they entered the Namikaze-Uzumaki apartment. "That was the best one yet! We really got him that time!"

"He had no clue what even hit him!" Shisui agreed excitedly.

"Who hit what?" Minato asked from the kitchen. The friendly smile he had on did not fool either of them. The triumphant pair froze like rabbits caught in a trap. A trap that had been sprung by a certain dog summoner.

"Oh shit," slipped out of Shisui's mouth before he could stop it.

"You just made it worse…" Katya added with wide eyes.

"So, I'll ask you two again," he started conversationally as he stirred a bowl of batter. "Who hit what?"

"It was my idea, Namikaze-san. Katya-chan just went along with it," Shisui volunteered. He felt his stomach drop to the floor, afraid of what would happen next.

"No! It was my idea, tou-chan. Honestly, Shisui-kun was just being a good sport. We - no, I - was wondering how long it would take before nii-san let down his guard if we pranked him long enough. I stole mama's powder paint seal from the weapons room. And I set it to activate when removal was attempted. Shisui was only being a good friend."

"Oh, is that so, Shisui-kun?" Minato asked more softly.

"No, sir. I sswearr, it was all me, sir." Shisui breathed deeply to stop his own shaking and dropped his eyes to the floor. He jumped slightly when a warm hand landed on his shoulder.

"No one's going to be in trouble here, Shisui-kun. I just wanted a straight answer from Katya-chan. My wife's been wondering where her paint seals were disappearing to. Why don't you go ahead and wait in the living room. I need to talk to my daughter for a moment."

"I'd rather wait here for her, sir."

Minato kneeled in front of him and looked Shisui in the eye. "You are a brave one. I promise you, man to man I won't lay a hand on her." Shisui nodded and hesitated a moment longer before heading to the living room.

"You're such a cryptic weirdo sometimes, tou-chan," Katya groused.

"And you have lost an entire month's worth of pocket money for stealing paint seals, young lady. You will also be sharpening my team's kunai for the next two weeks for using jutsu against your fellow Konoha shinobi and a higher ranking one at that, as well as for back-talking."

"What?! Tou-chan, that doesn't count! He's not even a real chuunin and I'm still in the Academy! That's not fair!"

"Enough, Katya," the steel behind Minato's voice brokered no argument. The young girl huffed before heading into the living room.

Soft music played over the radio as the children worked diligently on their school work. Minato hummed along and swayed with the beat as he prepared dinner. Shisui was a frequent dinner guest on evenings before Academy tests. At first, Minato had thought it was simply easier for him to study with his best friend. But now, he realized that he just didn't want to go home. He found it sad. Ito Uchiha had been a good man before his captivity. "Tou-chan?" Katya asked, peeping her head into the kitchen. She was becoming an incredible sensor, and he was losing his touch for not keeping his chakra and emotions under better control.

"I'm okay, love-bug. Just thinking."

Katya shrugged in response before walking back. He heard the rhythmic singing of the students and smiled to himself. His old study songs were apparently very useful to the newest generation of students.

"If you see glinting leaves, it's a trap. If you see glinting leaves, it's a trap. If you see the glinting leaves, then the enemy will have your spleen. If you see glinting leaves, it's a trap." They were apparently working on the mirage section of the curriculum.

"No, dummy. Glinting leaves. The genjutsu will start to fail if you look at the corners of the leaves. See, here."

The front door opened again and Katya rushed towards Kushina. Minato walked over and took stock of his fiancee. Exhaustion was written all over her face. Her border missions to reinforce Konoha's seals always took a lot out of her.

"Kaa-chan! Welcome home!" Katya said as she tackled her. Shisui waited shyly at the living room entrance. "I missed you. I'm supposed to be in trouble right now because I pranked Kakashi. But he had it coming, so I don't think I should be in trouble. Oh, Sensei said we need to practice more at the whole sparring thing. But I told him that I spar plenty at home and don't need the practice. He didn't like that. I also practiced that thing that I'm not supposed to talk about. It's a lot harder than it looks. But I can't get that seal thing that you wanted me to try. It used up half my chakra when I tried it! Oh, and Shisui-kun lost another tooth! That means he's winning. Otaka-san was at the women's bath the other day, and she said that I'm going to be a looker. She's such a weirdo. I don't know why you save teeth anyway. It's a weird tradition-"

"Kit-Kat, Kit-Kat, slow down, let me in the door," Kushina laughed as she put away her sandals. Minato picked up her pack and flak jacket before storing it in the weapons room. His fiancee smiled gratefully and walked off to shower.

When she had finished, she walked over and kissed his shoulder while hugging his waist. "That smells good."

"So do you, sweetheart." He turned around and nuzzled the side of her neck before kissing her properly. The song on the radio changed, and he swayed them to the beat as she relaxed against his chest. He sang to her in soft tones as they danced around the kitchen.

"Gross," Katya whispered, wrinkling her nose when the children walked into the kitchen. The tips of Shisui's ears were pink and he turned around quickly. "Oh, don't mind them. They're always like this. Come on, help me set the table."

"It would appear we have an audience," Kushina giggled against Minato's neck. "Better put on a good show."

The twenty-four year old laughed heartily and exaggerated every movement and belted the song out loud. He noisily kissed up the side of Kushina's neck before meeting her lips. Every squelch made Katya's nose wrinkle further which made Kushina laugh even harder.

"Oh, Minato-kun, you're sooo strong. You make me swoon," Kushina sang as she gripped his biceps.

"You guys are so gross! Why can't you act normal?"

"Your beauty is surpassed by no one, my dearest Kushina-chan," Minato continued loudly in response. Shisui was shocked when a small laugh escaped his own lips. Before long, the small laugh turned into full laughter and Katya joined in with him as they watched her parents' antics.

AN: Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review, I try to reply as soon as I get them. :) If you liked this fic be sure to hit follow/subscribe to have update alerts!

Early update? Possibly bonus update depending on interaction. I'm changing up the posting schedule between different platforms. Ao3 does this weird thing on Friday evenings. Ffn should still be on Fridays.

Beta'ed by: The incredible, prodigious cherryberry12-sama herself. ; who might I just say is absolutely amazing to stick with this project! Her skills blow me out of the water and I am flabbergasted everyday she works on this with me. :)

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