"Sasuke, hurry up. You won't have time for breakfast," I called out to the young boy.

He came sprinting into the room with a grunt, nearly slamming into the wall. He sat in the seat and immediately began to devour the omelette and rice set out before him.

I had never been more grateful to my mom than when I first realized I'd have to cook for Sasuke. He couldn't cook for shit himself and no way was I going to wait until he learned. Luckily my okaasan had taken time to teach me a lot of recipes. Helping her out in the kitchen was fun anyway.

Though I'd started eating first, Sasuke finished before me. He didn't have much of a shameful appetite since he wasn't depressed beyond belief. He reminded me of Naruto with the way he ate.

I finished eating as Sasuke wrapped himself with bandages over key areas. I still had to fully dress, as I was only wearing my silky pajamas. We had to leave in fifteen minutes or so, but I never took too long to get ready.

"Hurry up imouto, it's our first day!"

I gave him a glance. Regardless of my lack of expressions the majority of the time, Sasuke had quickly adapted and learned what I was feeling or meant. It was damn near impressive since only my mom and dad had been able to do that before.

"I'm faster than you at getting ready," I deadpanned.

"Hn," he muttered. The Uchiha grunt, wow.

I left Sasuke to his own devices as he was putting on the finishing touches. I retreated to my room and threw my clothes onto the bed.

I retrieved the clothes I'd been saving for school. I even bought larger pairs for when I grew between then and when I turned twelve. It was an awesome outfit.

I put on a white vest over top. The sleeves were sweater-like and loose, with cuffed ends at my elbows. The trimming was red over every seam, including the cuffs themselves.

Over that, I had a black, sleeveless, long haori with two longer ends near the bottom, and a missing middle section, to cover the backs of my legs. The coat itself was a thin, light material with the Uchiha fan over the left side, and back. It reminded me of a weird mix between a sleeveless vest and a tight haori, but I'd called it a haori regardless.

I had white shorts, with bandages around my upper right thigh as well, one black band on the right thigh as well. I had a black wrapping around my waist that I'd use to carry my sword, and sheath, when I had it on hand. Of course I couldn't bring it to the academy, there was no reason to. I liked the wrapping as well since it felt nice and snug against my waist, like a constant hug.

It was strange being physically fit, especially as a girl. I was rather plain in my old life. Average looks and body. Though I was also a guy. Eugh.

The look was finished with black, fingerless gloves, and calf high shinobi sandals. My tan kunai pouch was behind my left hip as well. I was ambidextrous so I could have my sword in my right hand, since I held my sheath on the left when I had my sword. My left hand then had access to the pouch for throwing weapons and other tools.

By now my black hair had grown out to beyond my shoulder blades. It was rather straight, like Itachi's, and not spikey like Sasuke's. I preferred it that way anyway. Spikey hair seemed difficult to maintain. I was simply blessed with easy to manage hair.

Not to mention my other—literally—god induced looks. The bastard really wanted to make me as girly as possible. Seeing as I was a male before, it's been increasingly obvious that I'm fucking adorable. Especially when I had my straight faced expression on, like usual, or when I pouted, which was rare.

I had big, onyx eyes. It seemed strange since onyx eyes were nowhere near common in my world, but Uchiha's had them in abundance. I had a smooth jawline, not overly sharp. It rounded out giving me a softer appearance. Ironic considering I'm training to kill people.

(Cover Image for any visual confusion.)

I finished placing the bandages around my waist and left my room. I didn't really put on make-up, so I was ready. I didn't know how, and didn't necessarily need it.

1) I was eight, I didn't need to be attractive.

2) I already had long eyelashes, big eyes, and pink lips. My skin was already unblemished. Fuck adding anything more, it's unnecessary. It'd only give me fan boys like Sasuke had fan girls. Eww.

Wait, would I like guys, or girls, when I hit the point that I grew attracted to people? They say that the hypothalamus in the brain differs between straight and homosexual individuals, so is that the same for me? If my brain is physically normal, does that make me straight as a female? Whatever, thoughts for another day.

I entered the living room, seeing Sasuke barely manage to finish bandaging his arms. He was hilariously slow compared to me.

"Ready for your first day?" I inquired.

"Hn, of course. I should be asking you that," he smirked. He quickly became a strange mix of a nice, canon Sasuke, and a sweet boy. Like a cocky nice guy. Strange combination.

I just rolled my eyes at him, causing him to chuckle. Walking past him, I opened the door and stepped out into the sunny day.

It had been a year since the massacre, and Sasuke had recently stopped having thrashing fits in his sleep. It was progress.

Now we were about to start the academy. It was the beginning of the end. The people in my class would be detrimental to the fate of the world, let alone Konoha itself.

I began my walk to the academy, Sasuke beside me. He made small talk about his expectations, hopes, and other trivialities. I returned his questions and statements with nods and small responses. He knew I cared, so I didn't need to put in extra effort to the conversation.

I heard him giggle beside me. That was never good. I tossed a calculating look his way, to which he promptly grinned.

"What?"

"I think you'll be popular."

I didn't respond.

"Until they realize they're talking to a brick wall."

I felt my eye twitch. This mother fu-

"It's okay though, they'll still like you since you're pretty. You'll make lots of friends, I'm sure."

If I had never made that comment about protecting my "precious people" he wouldn't be on about that. He was always concerned about me being lonely since I only had him as a precious person. Little bastard teased me all the time.

I just grunted in response. He laughed and began to run. I started running too in order to keep pace. It wasn't even a minute later that we ran into the academy gates.

We had already gone to the opening ceremony two days prior. I had seen the Konoha Nine there. Team Gai of course wasn't there, so the Konoha Twelve didn't exist yet.

Walking into the academy was a good feeling. It was another step towards making something of myself. That and the Hokage worked at the top of it. Pretty cool.

Sasuke and I made our way to the classroom. We had ten minutes to go before the bell so we took our time getting there.

It didn't take long regardless. Eight minutes before the bell, Sasuke slid the door open. A lot of noise had stopped in an instant as every eye in the room fell on us.

We seemed to have gotten there last. Hell, even Naruto got there before us. And he was already in Kiba's face. I saw numerous faces blush, of both genders. Fuck, it was already happening.

I silently went to the top row, out of the four unfilled seats in the room, two were up there. None were side by side, so Sasuke begrudgingly left to find his own seat.

The seat in the corner near the window was open. My precious, I've returned to you. Nothing is better in this world than a corner seat at the window, as far away from the front as possible.

I sat in the chair and waited out the returning noise. Once it quieted down some to normal talking, people returned to their seats. The seat next to me had a notebook in front of it, so it was taken.

I scanned the room for whomever would be retaking the seat.

Fuck.

"Hiya, my name is Naruto Uzumaki! I'm going to be Hokage someday!"

I sighed internally. Oh well, if I was going to sit next to him today, I might as well be friendly.

I let a small smile on my face and turned to him. "Hello Uzumaki-san, my name is Akemi Uchiha."

He seemed incredibly surprised. I couldn't blame him, most people never smiled at him. I could see a blush decorate his cheeks. It didn't bother me all that much to my own surprise.

"A-Ah, nice to meet you." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too. I wish you well in your efforts to become Hokage someday."

The boy damn near burst a blood vessel. Could a boys face get more red? Blushing faces had many meanings. He could be embarrassed, or just very happy. Regardless, his face was damn near red. I was probably the first to acknowledge his dream.

I shrugged it off and chalked it up to him not knowing how to respond. He sat beside me quietly, his boisterous attitude gone as he seemed to be thinking.

"You aren't like the other ones." He seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"Hmm?"

He glanced at me slightly but quickly turned away when our eyes met. "I-I mean you're nice. The other ones with that symbol were mean."

Oh, he's either kind of stupid socially or he didn't know about the massacre.

"You mean the Uchiha's," I stated.

"Yea, I guess. Are you guys a clan then?"

"I'm surprised you didn't know." He just seemed more embarrassed than before. "But yes, we're a clan. I just don't find the point in clan pride. I didn't know most of them."

He looked lost in space for a moment, rolling over my words. "What do you mean 'didn't?'"

My smile had already been off my face for a few moments, my straight faced expression returning. I let the small smile come back to ease what I said next. "Well everyone but my cousin and I are dead. We're the last ones."

Naruto's eyes widened and he put up his hands. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't know! I-"

"It's quite alright. If you didn't know, then how would you know not to mention it? Besides, I've made my peace," I shrugged. "Don't talk to Sasuke-nii about it, he's not keen on it."

Our conversation was cut short as a man with spikey brown hair entered the room.

"If you'd all quiet down please!" The room went silent. "Thank you. My name is Iruka Umino, but you may call me Iruka-sensei."

He was met with silence. I noticed a small tensing of his chest and shoulders. How cute, he was nervous.

"We will now go around the room to introduce ourselves." The class began to say their names one at a time. Some gave their likes, and goals, while some just said their name. Naruto, of course, shouted about being Hokage. Sasuke just said his name and how he "wanted to protect his imouto." I would totally tease him later.

Then it came to me. "I'm Akemi Uchiha, Sasuke-nii's aforementioned little sister. Thank you for having me," I droned monotonously as I gave a small bow. I heard a small "kawaii" near the front before Iruka coughed to regain attention.

"We will be holding various tests today to see everyone's individual aptitude and to begin the ranking system."

A hand was raised by a blonde girl in the front row. Hmm, Ino was quite adorable.

"Iruka-sensei, what's the ranking system?"

The man smiled, relieved that things were going well. "The ranking system is the overall strength of each individual student, tallied by your academics and ninja skills."

Another hand was raised, this time by Sasuke. "What will we be tested on?"

Iruka took a moment to study Sasuke. Probably just to see what one of the last two Uchiha's was like. "Well, we will first do a written test, then throwing weapons, followed by taijutsu. Ninjutsu is going to wait for a few months, because we must do chakra control exercises first."

It made sense. Only clan children would have chakra control training right now, let alone ninjutsu. Some clan kids might not even have chakra control training, let alone ninjutsu.

Only Sasuke and I knew any elemental jutsu. I would expect no one besides maybe Hinata to know chakra based techniques.

"Would any ninjutsu count towards our score as extra points?" Sasuke asked.

"Not at this time. You will be given a chance for extra credit in that form when we next do our testing. Rank testing is every four months."

Sasuke nodded and accepted the answer. Not much he could do about it anyway besides complain like a baby. I knew he just wanted to show off. Pfft.

"Any other questions?" None. "Great, then I will begin handing out the written assessment."

I looked at Naruto out of the corner of my eye, and noticed his nervous energy. "Hey, it'll be fine. It won't be the end of the world even if you fail," I tried reassuring him.

I saw his shoulders loosen up. "Thanks Akemi-chan," he replied with a beaming smile. Wow, he had a weirdly bright smile. "Good luck."

I almost wanted to scoff at that. I didn't need luck, this would be too easy.

Wow, that sounded so bad and prideful. Meh, whatever it's not like I was wrong. It would be easy.

The test finally came back to us. I saw Naruto pale next to me, but I supposed it was due to his upbringing that he wouldn't get this. Hell, this was not meant to be passed, that was clear. It was merely a test to see what we knew already.

1. What was the Shodai Hokage famous for?

He was famous for his wood release, as well as his ability to create living plants. He founded the village alongside the Uchiha as well.

Easy enough. I knew that information from the anime, though even Sasuke would know that question. The Uchiha were prideful creatures so it never went as a secret that they helped found the village in the beginning.

2. What is chakra?

Chakra is the mix of physical and spiritual energy. It exists in everything, and can be molded by trained ninjas to cast various techniques. It's the lifeblood of all living beings.

This was too easy. I quickly filled out the rest of it, using detailed answers where necessary to guarantee me the points. I never got stumped, so it would be safe to assume that I aced it.

I noticed I was the first to stand up, even with some people skipping questions they didn't know. Although, Shikamaru was asleep in the third row. On my way back up I glanced at his paper. Absolutely nothing on it.

How Naruto managed to be so bad in school that he fell behind such a lazy bum, only god knows. Perhaps he still will do terribly so I can figure it out by watching? Whatever, Shikamaru would probably wake up and fill out what he could before time was up. Eventually.

I sat back in my seat and noticed Naruto fidgeting nervously in his seat. Half of his paper sat filled out. Poor kid.

I leaned in closely. "Don't worry about it. I can help you study sometime."

His face went red in less than a second and I saw him shiver. I may have gotten too close, but I needed him to hear me whisper. I just exhaled warm breath in his ear. That probably felt weird as all hell. Oops.

He turned to me slowly. "Thanks," he whispered with a foxy grin. It was two minutes later that Iruka began collecting the papers. He frowned at Naruto's, Shikamaru's, and Kiba's papers. Man, a lazy Nara and two idiots.

I genuinely giggled at the thought, taking Naruto off guard at the randomness. I just smiled at him before I went back to my expressionless norm.

"Alright, we will now go outside for the weapons test, then the taijutsu test." I raised my hand. "Yes?"

"Will we be capable of bringing our own personal weapons, such as swords, to future weapons training?"

I could tell by his body language that Iruka was heavily surprised. "We don't have a kenjutsu program, but if you show adequate throwing skills and keep above the expectation, you may take that time to develop other weapons skills. Just be at the bar or above."

I nodded. That would be easy, I already had damn near perfect accuracy up to thirty yards away while running. Sasuke could hit eight out of ten bullseyes when standing still and ten yards away. Though he didn't have a slave driver mother that drilled the basics into your skull since you were capable of walking.

She said she wouldn't force me to be a shinobi, which was true, but the moment I showed any interested she jumped at the chance to teach me. It was almost comical. Ah, I miss them.

Iruka led us outside to a small training field. There were four human shaped dummy's lined up at one end, with various ten yard increments up to fifty yards away.

"You will be graded on your accuracy from the ten yard mark. Any further than ten yards will award you extra points based off of how far you go. If you miss from extra range not only will you not gain points, you will lose points too."

Punishment for overstepping your capabilities. Smart.

One by one, students stepped up to the ten yard mark and retrieved ten kunai and ten shuriken from Iruka. None actually did that well. Even the clan kids had mediocre aim.

Hinata scored six bullseyes and three hits though, with kunai. Seven bullseyes and two hits with shuriken. That was the best of the other children.

Sasuke stepped up and proudly displayed the Uchiha fan on his back. After retrieving his own throwing weapons, he stood straight. While some needed a throwing stance, he trained until he didn't need one. He truly wanted to show off.

I inwardly laughed. He hit the bullseye nine times with each type of weapon, the last hit of each being barely shy of the perfect score. Iruka began praising the boy for a job well done as I silently took my weapons out of his hands.

With the same last name, I would be going next. Logic would tell you I'd go before Sasuke, but apparently alphabetical last name was all they cared about. Besides that, you were categorized at random if you shared a last name.

I took my position, shocking Iruka and most of the class. I didn't let it distract me, standing thirty yards from the targets. Running from thirty yards, I could hit nine out of ten bullseyes. Standing still was much easier.

It's not necessarily that I wanted to show off to everyone, I just wanted to one up Sasuke. Although this was more like three upping. Heh, I'm not funny.

I took two of each weapon at a time and threw them at the target. Throwing weapons were a basic fundamental. Learning it as a necessity since I was a child led me a long way. I wasn't the most impressive to come across. It was damn near amazing to think that Minato Namikaze, apparently, had hit ten out of ten from fifty yards on his third ranking test. Naruto's dad was badass.

I aspired to be like that, he was actually insane. I would make do with what I was capable of. I wouldn't be able to do that by my third test, no way. But, it was a fun mini goal to surpass someday.

I ended up hitting all ten bullseye of each weapon, much to my satisfaction as I could practically feel the daggers on my back from Sasuke. I turned around in the most fluid way I could manage, letting the thin fabric of my coat catch the wind and letting my hair cascade down my shoulders from the turn. I felt like Captain Levi whenever he flipped his cloak around. Badass.

I left my disinterested expression on my face, not so much as glancing at anyone as I retook my position in the line. Now that was how to make a dramatic and cool impression, Sasuke. You've been outdone my dear "nii-san."

I spotted Sasuke giving me a pointed glare, only letting myself smirk in response. Once Iruka had regained attention, he congratulated me, to which I nodded my acknowledgment. Messing with people was fun.

Next up was Naruto. He threw rather pitifully, but I had to give him credit for one throw. He ended up tripping. Instead of accidentally poking someone's eye out, he threw a bullseye.

The way he cheered and hollered made many in the class groan. Their dislike of him had already begun. On the other hand, I found the humor in it. It even enticed a small laugh out of me.

No, it wasn't a giggle, no matter what Sasuke says. Little bastard. It might have been...

Naruto threw only the one bullseye though, which Iruka had to reluctantly mark as such.

"Now we will move on to the taijutsu portion. We will do it in a randomized tournament bracket. As you are all young and muscle mass hasn't accumulated as much, it will start out as a mixed tournament."

Many girls groaned at having to fight the boys. It made sense, even if they didn't hit puberty for their natural muscle, many of them were blockheads. Who knew when one would take the fight too far or try showing off.

"The brackets were premade using random chance. May I get Aigo Haena and Hurota Kamite up here please?"

I tuned it out rather easily. Unless I heard the name Uchiha or Uzumaki get called, I couldn't care less. Perhaps I'd watch Hinata's fight. Other than that, every fight would be predictable.

I closed my eyes and sat cross legged on the ground as the fights commenced. Iruka had pulled two other teachers to help, so three fights went on at once to quickly get through them. We had nearly thirty kids so I was thankful for the strategy.

It wasn't too long before I was called. "Akemi Uchiha and Hanz Moreno, please step to the circle."

I opened my eyes and stood facing my opponent. I had been slowing my breathing as a form of meditation. In my scrolls it said it's supposed to help regulate the chakra throughout your body, keeping your stamina high and your body conditioned.

I stepped to the middle of the ring. I was four foot three myself, but the boy easily stood five inches taller than me. I was average height, but he was massive compared to me.

It actually seemed funny. In my old life, a guy like that would have intimidated the hell out of me. In this life, appearances are a joke. An old man was the strongest in the village for christ's sake, it would be idiotic to be intimidated by size alone.

The boy gave me a "menacing" glare and a cocky smirk. It's like he didn't see that I could nail him in the groin with a kunai from thirty yards away. How stupid could someone be?

"Make the seal of confrontation please," Iruka demanded. I stuck out my hand in the seal, the boy following suit. He roughly made the seal and retracted his hand.

"Hmph, I can't believe my first fight will be this easy. A girl, really?"

Now there wouldn't be any mercy.

He didn't seem perturbed as I never changed from my unflinching stoicism. His cockiness was unfounded, it's a wonder why he believed he could beat someone that's obviously had training.

"Begin!"

Huh, I already forgot his name. He was so meaningless to me, I genuinely forgot it.

He threw a sloppy punch at me. I leaned back, letting it sail past my head. He followed it up with a roundhouse kick that was definitely underpowered. The posture was all wrong, and he wasn't even flexible enough to go for anything above my hips.

He pivoted rather slowly, giving me ample time to duck the kick. He had thrown off his balance with it as well.

I pushed him slightly, letting him fall onto his rear. "I thought you said this would be an easy fight, hmm? Because I'm a girl?"

The boy growled and scrambled to his feet. He abandoned all sense of trying to use a proper fighting stance, though it never was one in the first place.

I hadn't even needed to enter my taijutsu stance, he was so slow and imbalanced. He was all power, and even then he didn't seem strong. Chakra coats muscles as your chakra gets stronger. You can even add more chakra to reinforce your muscle.

That's the basis behind Tsunade's strength. She has a special chakra exercise that increases her strength. Her chakra infused punch would kill anyone. Not only that, but her natural strength can shatter stone without it's aid.

My chakra has gotten me to a good point. I could out muscle this muscle head. I almost felt like yawning.

The boy sent multiple jabs at me that reminded me of a child throwing a tantrum. His philosophy seemed to be that if he landed even one hit, I'd go down.

It was growing boring, and we had a three minute time limit. If he hadn't been a douche I would have just pushed him out. But he made the mistake of underestimating me.

I waited for the inevitable right hook that he'd overextend on. I'd never seen such a sloppy punch. I'd only ever watched my okaasan fight, and I'd sparred Sasuke. Neither of them really overextended. Proper form is what the entirety of the beginner kata are.

The only time a trained shinobi would overextend or mess up might be against a shinobi of equal or higher caliber. This kid wasn't higher, let alone equal.

The punch went over my shoulder, a narrow miss to a spectators eye, but a wide miss to anyone knowledgeable. I grabbed his wrist with my left hand to keep it locked, and shouldered his tricep with my right arm.

I spun on my feet, tossing the boy to his back below me. He landed hard, knocking the air out of his lungs.

"That was a rather sad excuse of a fight, don't you think?" I peered down at him. I knew he would only get more angry when he noticed I wasn't exerting myself. He expended too much energy while I was still full of energy. My stoic expression probably didn't ease any of the hatred he felt either.

The boy blushed hard and got back to his feet. I stood where I'd started, watching the boy heave air into his lungs.

He didn't charge right away like last time. He waited, breathing slowly to ease his burning lungs and rapid heart. If he wouldn't come, I only had one more minute to finish.

I sprinted at him, pivoting my right foot in a show of a proper roundhouse. My foot connected with his arm, and he lost his balance. I followed it up with an elbow jab to his diaphragm, sending him into a coughing fit.

I lowered my stance and sent two jabs to the soft part of his waist. He went down, and I took the chance to comb my hair back with my hand.

The one good part about being a girl? Playing with your own hair was fun. Combing it with your hand and running your hand through it was also nice.

The boy below me hung his head while on his hands and knees. "I give up."

It almost made me sad. He looked so down and out. If he hadn't looked down on me, I would have pushed him out, but I maybe went a little harsh. Being beaten physically probably hurt his pride more than any other means of victory.

I held my hand out to him in the seal of reconciliation. Following that, I held my hand out for him again. I let a small smile touch my lips to ease my expressionless visage. "You did well, good fight."

He looked up at me and fought down a furious blush. The boy reached his hand out to me, allowing me to pull him up. He looked me in the eye and immediately turned away. "T-Thanks. Sorry for being a jerk before. You're really good."

I bowed to him. "Thank you very much. May I have your name? I wasn't paying too much attention after my name was called."

"You may talk after you clear the circle," Iruka called out. "The winner is Akemi Uchiha. Next may I please get-"

I tuned him out, taking the boy by the hand. I felt bad, so I'd try to at least be friendly to make up for it.

I sat down near the back of the group, nodding at the words of congratulations thrown my way. The boy sat next to me, fiddling with his hands. He refused to look at me, and he seemed a bit red in the face. Poor boy was exhausted.

"My name is Hanz Moreno."

I turned to him. "And I'm Akemi Uchiha. You may call me Akemi." He just fiddled with his hands some more and tugged at his pant leg. "Sorry if I went overboard. I got mad when you looked down on me."

He flinched slightly. "Yea, sorry about that. But you were mad?" He finally looked at me in curoisity.

I nodded to him.

"Ah, I couldn't tell. To be honest, the look on your face made me mad too, but getting back up only made me go down harder next time."

I could see why he'd think that. If someone looked at me in such a nonchalant way while beating me up, I'd be pissed too.

"That's just my personality I suppose."

He laughed a little. "You're like a Kuudere with a mean streak."

I looked at him and studied his face. I said that once too, once upon a time. Years back I'd made that same analogy. I put my hand to my lips to stifle a laugh.

I giggled a little, which turned into a laugh a second later. "I suppose you could say that."

The boy went red again and turned his head swiftly to his lap. Hanz's lips pursed a little bit in nervousness for whatever reason.

"Sasuke Uchiha and Felha Duranea, please come to the sparring circle."

My laughing died down and I turned towards Hanz. "Well I should go watch my brother. Friends?"

He didn't look me in the eye, opting to fiddle with his fingers some more. "M-Mm," he nodded, "sure."

I got up and dusted off my shorts and the back of my coat. "I'll see you later then," I smiled as warmly as I could before I departed, making my way to Sasuke's circle.

Well, it was short and sweet. The other kid got shoved out nine seconds after Sasuke got bored. Impatient moron. I barely even got to the circle in time.

"Can Naruto Uzumaki and Akemi Uchiha please come to the sparring circle?" Iruka's aid yelled out.

Well fuck, that wasn't great news. I didn't want to hit Naruto. I slowly trudged to the circle, a frown marring my face.

I stepped into the circle, the blonde mop of Naruto already shining near the middle. Oh well, I didn't want to lose even if I had to push him out.

"You better not go easy on me!" Naruto pointed a finger at me. Good to know he didn't feel overconfident like Hanz.

I dropped the frown, adopting a smile in it's stead. "Mm, as should you."

"Please form the seal of confrontation."

Wait, I missed Naruto's fight then. He's in the second round. Fuck.

"Begin!"

Naruto clearly had no training, like Hanz. And he was smaller too. But I promised not to go easy.

Naruto threw a punch to my head, which I promptly batted away at his wrist. His torso turned as he had put his weight into it, allowing me to throw him to the ground.

Just before he fell out of the circle, he clawed his way to his feet. He pounced when I made no moves to go against him. I took the time to slide into the Interceptor Fist. He wanted me to be serious, so of course I would. To an extent.

His face marred with concentration, he charged.

oOoOo

"Your sister is really cool," Hanz said, walking up behind Sasuke.

Sasuke had his eyes focused on the match, but made to reply. "Yea, I've never beaten her."

Hanz's eyes widened. "You're kidding, right? I saw how you beat the other two opponents."

Sasuke just frowned. "No. She's holding back right now too."

Hanz looked to Akemi, watching her gracefully dodge another jab from Naruto. Naruto attempted an uppercut, only for Akemi to wrap her left leg through Naruto's legs.

He gawked as she threw her other leg over Naruto in an intense display of flexibility, and threw her hands behind and over him respectively. She threw her body around him, ending with her torso over his shoulders, as she dislodged her legs from their positions. Akemi instead placed them around Naruto's waist, and her heels dug into his inner thigh.

She wrapped her arm around his throat and held him in an intense choke hold. Naruto fell to his back from being off balance, landing on Akemi in the process. She didn't seem to notice as she tightened her arm around Naruto's throat. All the while keeping a straight face.

"I can see what you mean," Hanz pointed out.

Sasuke sighed. "Yea, she's scary."

oOoOo

"Yield," I demanded.

I could hear Naruto croak below me, so I loosened the hold to let him speak. I could feel him trying to get my legs off of him so he could get out, but I just dug my heels in further.

It was a good hold. My legs wrapped around his torso, across the front of his hips, and to his inner thigh. My left arm around his neck with my right hand keeping it even tighter to him.

"I-I d-don't-"

"The winner is Akemi Uchiha," the proctor declared. I promptly released Naruto, letting the boy roll over onto his hands and knees coughing up a lung.

I noticed his throat was red from being crushed under my arm. Hey, he asked my to not go easy, that's not my fault.

I held my hand in the seal of reconciliation. It took Naruto a moment go regain his breath and he formed the seal with me, rubbing his throat with his other hand.

"Good job Akemi!" Hanz yelled from the crowd. I turned to smile at him, noting the nod of approval from Sasuke. Ah, he was such a prude. At least my stoicism wasn't voluntary. I'd seen his happy face too many times, he just wanted to look cool for our classmates.

Naruto seemed to be disappointed, but perked right up. He pointed a finger at me and his face lit up in determination. "From this day forward you'll be my rival! I'll surpass you, Akemi-chan!"

I tilted my head at the boy, causing him to promptly blush for whatever reason. "I'm looking forward to that day. Good fight, Naruto," I smiled.

The rest of the tournament went by pretty quickly. There was only one fight remaining, and quite a few were making verbals bets.

"Alright, you've had a fifteen minute break. Can Akemi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha please come to the sparring circle?"

I stepped forward out of the crowd, Sasuke following suit a few feet away from me. We made our way to the circle ignoring the murmurs around us. It was finally time.

I expected to win, of course, but he didn't need to know. We could make it fun.

"Loser does the dishes?" Sasuke asked.

I smiled at him. "Deal."

Oh yea, it was going to be fun.

oOoOo