"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
Frederick Douglass
"Are you nervous, because I'm not nervous, I doubt the test could be that hard if they think we're ready to take it, yanno? I think I'm more excited than nervous. Kaa-chan's gonna go nuts, she is spouting off to people, telling them I'm graduating early, she's so proud. She's also amped up my training though, getting me ready for real missions and all. It's fun though, well, the bruises aren't fun, but the learning is fun." I rambled happily as I walked side by side with Itachi, a piece of dango in my hand. I tossed a piece to Shiro and Yuki and they caught the pieces in their mouths as they trotted a few steps behind.
"Hn," Itachi said in response as he ate his own dango. A content smile was on his face, a small one, but a smile nonetheless. Our graduation test was taking place tomorrow and I couldn't wait. From what I remembered, it was pretty simple, a written test and a practical one. I wasn't worried, the hard part was keeping up with Itachi enough to where I was chosen for early graduation.
"I wonder who our jounin-sensei is going to be, and who our third team member is going to be. I hope they're nice." I vaguely remembered something about Itachi's genin team, but nothing concrete. What I did remember was that something happened to activate his Sharingan and I wasn't looking forward to that situation. It had to be something traumatic, a personal death likely. Hopefully not mine for this situation.
"Their niceness isn't important, more so their competence." My friend commented, and I nodded in agreement. That was fair. My hopes weren't too high about niceness. Though there were those who praised us due to our skill, the majority seemed to take offense. News of our early graduation spread fast and we faced our share of bullying from those older than us, and even our own classmates, not that we paid it any mind. I thought it was funny how the boys seemed to have more of a contempt for Itachi, while the girls had more of a contempt for me simply for my proximity to the boy.
In particular, Itachi was the main target lately. Many people blamed the Uchiha for the Nine-Tails attack and were quick to take out their hostilities on the nearest member of the clan they could find.
"Well, well, well, look who it is. The prodigies of Konoha." A voice mocked with a sharp laugh. I rolled my eyes and Itachi sighed. We chose to attempt to ignore the boy and kept walking. However, we had happened to be passing through an alleyway on the way back to my house and three kids moved to block our path. When we turned around, there were four more blocking the other way.
"C'mon guys, if I'm late for dinner Kaa-chan will kill me." I pleaded. I recognized a few of them as frequent tormentors and knew without a doubt that Itachi and I could take them if we had to. It was just annoying.
"The two of you think you're so much better than everyone else don't you. You come from fancy clans and now you get to graduate early. It's bullshit." The leader, Tenma if I remembered correctly, spat. Yuki and Shiro began snarling from my side and I placed my hands on their heads to calm them. They didn't need to get involved in this.
"Maybe if you worked harder you could have graduated early instead of just being a second-rate Genin," I said sweetly, a fake smile on my face. Itachi coughed to disguise a chuckle and my smile became real.
"I'm going to make you eat those words," Tenma said before charging at us. I rolled my neck once before changing my stance to defend. Tenma was fast, I would give him that, but I had been training with Mom for years. I had the advantage.
He tried to sweep my feet out from under me, but I backed up before he could, simultaneously dodging the fist of one of the kids behind me. They had split up, four on Itachi and three on me. Shiro and Yuki were whining, wanting permissions to enter the fray but I refused to give it to them. They could seriously injure one of the kids, and no matter what the kids' intentions were, I didn't want that.
The three of them didn't relent as I dodged and deflected their attacks, I didn't want to hurt them, but it looked like I was going to have to.
My fist made contact with one of their stomachs and he doubled over. I delivered a swift kick to his torso to get him out of the way and quickly took care of the other two boys. Itachi was just finishing the last boy when I turned to him and grinned brightly.
"Let's go 'Tachi, Kaa-chan is gonna be upset if we're late."
I was buzzing with excitement as I stood next to Itachi. A bright smile lit up my face and I felt so giddy. It took all my self-control to keep myself from bouncing on the balls of my feet. Daikoku Funeno, our academy teacher, stood in front of us with two identical forehead protectors in his hands.
"Congratulations, the both of you passed both the written and practical exams with flying colors." He informed with a proud smile. "It is my honor to give these forehead protectors to you that will show everyone that you achieved the rank of Genin. From today on, the both of you are official shinobi of Kohonagakure."
Itachi was handed his protector first and he tied it around his forehead, always practical. I eagerly grabbed mine and tied it around my left thigh. I'd been thinking about it for a while and decided it would look cool there.
"Your new instructor will be here soon."
"Thank you, Daikoku-sensei." Itachi and I said in unison, bowing at the man. He chuckled before placing each a hand on our head.
"You two are going to do great things, that I know." He said fondly before leaving.
"Can you believe it 'Tachi-kun? We're real shinobi now!" I beamed, grabbing my friend's hands in my own and jumping up and down. "And we get to be on the same team!"
"You're certainly energetic." An unfamiliar voice commented and Itachi and I whipped around, immediately on guard. A tall shinobi with a green flak jacket was standing in the doorway, his arm crossed and a smile on his face which was noticeably forced. "No need to be alarmed, I'm Yuki Minazuki, your jounin-sensei."
"Ashi Inuzuka!" I chirped, still on edge.
"Itachi Uchiha."
"And this is Yukimaru and Shiromaru," I said, gesturing to my hulking dogs, glowering at the man in distrust. I couldn't blame them, Yuki gave me bad vibes. Nothing evil, nothing alarming, just not comforting as the other teachers had been. Maybe it was because he was a jounin.
"Charming." He said, completely uninterested. Rude. "Meet me at training ground seven, we're going to do some team building."
He was gone before Itachi and I could even respond.
"He's not nice," I said with a frown and Itachi nodded once in agreement.
Finding training ground seven was easy and a grin spread across my face when we got to the clearing and saw just who our third teammate was.
"Tenma-kun!" I called out excitedly, a wide smile on my face as I waved my arm frantically. "Who'd have guessed you'd be our third teammate! How exciting."
Itachi fought to keep his stoic expression, but completely lost it when I ran up to the older boy and wrapped my arms around his torso.
"How lucky!"
"Okay, enough of that," Yuki-sensei commanded, and I jumped away from the fuming boy. "I see you're familiar with each other, that's good."
I migrated back to Itachi's side, feeling more comfortable there and my friend had a small smile on his face.
"For your team-building exercise, the three of you are going to have a battle-royale. Three versus three, the winner is going to be the team captain on future missions. This will also give me a grasp on each of your skill levels."
I glanced at Itachi and saw him already looking at me. The two of us had never earnestly fought each other. We sparred semi-frequently being that we were the best fighters in the class, but it was always sparring. Neither of us had any particular drive to beat the other and the matches mostly ended in a stalemate.
"Spread evenly out, we'll begin," Yuki-sensei said and we followed his instructions. Itachi was my only competition here. I'd fought Tenma before and he posed no threat. My friend on the other-hand I was unsure about. At this particular moment, I had no idea which one of us would come out triumphant. Itachi was a true prodigy and I had no doubt that he would end up more powerful than me. However, I had the advantage of having an adult mind, of having a deeper understanding of the world we lived in.
"Begin!" My hands raced through the seals required for the Four Legs Technique; monkey, horse, hare, then dog, of course. My canines elongated, along with my fingernails and toenails, my eyes began to dart back and forth from Itachi to Tenma, and I knew they could see how my pupils were now slits.
It would be most logical to take out Tenma first. Placing my hands on the ground so I was on all fours, I darted towards the older boy. Itachi seemed to have the same idea and he was out of commission in seconds.
The minute Tenma hit the ground, I palmed a kunai just in time to deflect Itachi's attack. I shot him a wild smile before jumping back and standing up, my hands racing through seals again; ram, horse, bird, dog.
My entire body began to spin as I jumped into the air and launched myself at my friend. He managed to dodge my attack by a hair and I landed on all fours, immediately jumping out of the way of a giant fireball. We met in the middle, a loud clang resonated through the clearing as our kunai met over and over again, neither of us gaining the upper hand.
I was the first to break away, my hands racing through hand signs before Yuki and Shiro transformed into identical versions of myself. I knew I couldn't trick Itachi, but it was more for manpower than it was deception. The three of us descended upon him, but he dodged before another giant fireball came careening towards us.
It was going to be a long match.
Almost an hour later, both of us had sweat dripping down our faces and were breathing heavy. Cuts lined our bodies and I felt my body protesting with every move I made. We were too evenly matched.
Yuki and Shiro were both barely standing upright, and I knew it was time to end it for both our sakes. Itachi lunged at me again, and for once, I didn't doge. His fist made contact with my face and I immediately hit the ground. It felt so good to lie down.
"Match." A dull voice commented from the sidelines, and I didn't need to look at my teacher to know he had a scowl on his face. Any time I glanced at him during the match he seemed upset. "Itachi is the winner and officially the team captain. That's all for today, everybody please return home."
I sighed, letting myself sink into the cool grass, Yuki and Shiro doing the same.
"You let me win," Itachi said as he took a seat in the grass next to me. There wasn't any question in his voice.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
I thought for a second. Why did I let him win? Honestly, I didn't want to be team captain. That was too much responsibility and I already had enough of that. Not to mention I knew Itachi was good at it, quiet as he was.
"You'll make a better team captain than me," I replied simply, staring up at the cloudless sky.
Itachi was silent for a minute before replying. "I think you would have made a good team captain. People listen to you, people like you."
"People like you too 'Tachi."
"People admire my skill, there's a difference." It never ceased to amaze me how mature Itachi was. He seemed more of an adult than me at times, his perspective was so broad despite being so young.
"Well, I like you," I said with a cheeky smile, turning to look at him and noting the red tint on his cheeks.
"I like you too."
After lying for a few more minutes, we finally got to our feet and began to trek to our respective homes. I was almost to the gates of the compound when an overwhelming presence stopped me in my tracks.
"Ashi Inuzuka." My entire body froze at the voice. Yuki and Shiro began growling and I tried to keep my breathing even. I knew who that was, I didn't have to turn around to know. I should have known he would approach my eventually, I fit well into the people he recruited. Young, powerful, clan jutsu.
I turned around, giving Yuki and Shiro the command to stand down. The last thing I needed was for them to attack the powerful man now in front of me.
"Hello, sir, can I help you?" I asked with a cheery smile, playing dumb seemed the best option.
"My name is Danzo Shimura, I am sure you are aware of who I am, though the clueless little girl act is compelling. It could aid you in future missions after some polishing." The smile fell from my face. If he wanted to hurt me there was nothing I could do to stop him, I would be dead in seconds. He outclassed me in every away. "I have a proposition for you."
"And what would that be Danzo-san?" I already knew, what I didn't know was if I could refuse. From what I remembered, Root was still official. I don't think it was disbanded until after the Massacre, so this wasn't as shady as it could be, I guess. Cornering a little girl at dark still makes it pretty goddamn shady though.
"I would like to offer you a position within my organization, Root. It's a branch of Konohagakure's Anbu training subdivision led by me. Should you complete the training involved you would be a member who helps better Konoha. You are immensely talented, and my organization could take that talent and mold it into levels you could never imagine possible, all for the betterment of our village."
It was a great sales pitch. No doubt it was how he lured in as many people as he did, he made it sound so peachy keen. Smart of him to leave out the bit about forcing you to foster a relationship with someone only to have you kill them.
"Thank you for the offer Danzo-san, but unfortunately I have to decline." I knew by the tightening of his mouth that my response was not the one he was looking for.
"Why is that, Inuzuka?"
'Because you're corrupt, you're cruel, and you're evil.'
"I don't believe I'm the right fit for your organization."
"How unfortunate Ashi, truly." The man sighed. "I trust you'll keep this conversation between the two of us."
I nodded once, the killing intent radiating from the man making his message loud and clear. He was gone in the next moment and I felt the tension drain from my shoulders. Yuki and Shiro whined, both bumping their heads against my legs and I scratched their heads.
"We're alright, we're alright," I said with no certainty in a quivering whisper of comfort.
A/N: Hello! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, the story is progressing and I'm super excited for the next couple of chapters. Let me know what you thought, love you all!
Edited by Empress Crowillow