"The middleman said it would probably take a few days before the boat is ready," Kisame said as he reported about the result of his visit to the port. Itachi nodded. The village they were in was quite secluded and small. It gave them more freedom of movement since there were rarely any shinobi in such a village, considering the exorbitant fee any ninja mission is supposed to cost. Less shinobi, means less people will know about their identity. However, with this advantage comes inconvenience as well, for example, when attempting to cross to the land of fire, like what they were doing then. Due to the lack of demand, in order to conserve resources, big boats required to attempt the journey couldn't frequently depart. Unless a certain amount of passenger was acquired, the boat would keep waiting for enough people to at least recoup the maintenance and travel fee. A few days were still within Itachi's expectation.

"The ordered stock should arrive tomorrow as well, so that won't be a problem," said Itachi. Another disadvantage of taking a stop in small village instead of more populated town was also how hard it was to resupply their shinobi weapons and requirements. Surprisingly things were proceeding smoother than he anticipated.

"I guess we are all free to do what we want now? How about you Itachi-san, what will you do?" Kisame asked.

"I'll take her to some secluded spot for some training," Itachi answered while nodding his head towards the girl.

"You are so serious as usual, Itachi-san haha.. I might join you guys later in the evening, I guess. It's been a while since we trained together," Kisame said as he laughed. Itachi responded with a nod. "See you later then, kiddo," Kisame grinned towards the girl as he left the room.

"Sure, sure, just bring us some food later!" Mitsuki responded loudly as she continued packing her bag to make sure Kisame heard it. She was in a good mood and didn't want to waste her energy on pointless retort. "Ok, I'm done packing," Mitsuki declared. Itachi nodded in response and stood. To Mitsuki's surprise, instead of heading towards the door, he locked the door and head towards the window instead.

"Try to keep up with my pace," Itachi said, looking back towards the baffled girl as he opened the window and jumped out to the roof next door, then to another.

She had heard about it, but does being a shinobi involves going out of the room using windows instead of doors? Mitsuki shook her head and snapped back to reality. She quickly jumped outside the window to follow Itachi's trail.

Speed wise, keeping up with Itachi was a simple task. What troubled her to most during the chase was pathing decision as well as her inability to find stable and firm stepping place sometimes. Even with her newly bought footwear, she still managed to slip at uneven or slippery ground sometimes while landing with her exceptional speed. It was completely different from traversing the forest with lots of stable ground and friction providing surfaces.

Mitsuki observed the man in front of her as he effortlessly land and jump from place to place, sometimes easily bouncing his step on vertical surface as well. She wondered if it was also possible because of shinobi's technique, and if so, how would it be possible for her to replicate it. Again, Mitsuki shook her head. She couldn't find any answer yet that will not leave track, and Itachi was gaining more and more distance from her. "If I can't use my feet, I guess I'll use my grip," she thought as she changed her landing form.

Mitsuki purposedly aimed towards the ending edge of bulding and caught it with her hand, propelling her to her next target in a mid-air roll. Mitsuki grinned as she spinned, her body had never felt so free before for a long, long time. Without the bandage, and with properly fitted light training clothes, her flexibility and agility could finally really shine. As she spun and propel her body towards the air, Mitsuki slowly caught up with Itachi.

As the pair reached the mangrove nearby the village, Itachi stopped as he landed on a branch, followed by Mitsuki's gentle landing beside him. Itachi turned his head to check on Mitsuki's condition. Other than sweating, she didn't seem to be tired at all. "Her agility and mobility also seems to be very good, followed with her keen sense," Itachi thought to himself. "Is her impressive stamina for her age and built because of her special condition? What else can she do?" Immediately, Itachi noticed something odd with her.

"Show me your hand," called Itachi. Mitsuki tilted her head, confused, as she held out her hands. Itachi took her hand and examined her finger and the tip of her nail. There were dirt here and there, but Itachi couldn't find any scratch. That didn't make sense. Itachi observed how she traversed through the terrains. Without the protection of chakra, it's impossible for her to not have a single scratch on her gloveless hand. He had heard before about a clan that are able to absorb nature energy to heal and transform, however he didn't think that it was the case with Mitsuki, as the clan was infamous for their berserker tendency. Never did in their time traveling together Mitsuki showed any sign of going berserk or doing any sort of physical transformation that indicates her connection to that clan.

"Erm, Itachi-kun?" Mitsuki called out, awkwardly. Itachi snapped out from his thought and let go of Mitsuki's hand.

"Your hand seems to be fine," Itachi said as he stood, scouring around the area with his eye to find an ideal training spot.

"Oh, this? Ever since I can remember, I've always recovered from small scratches almost instantly. Pretty sure a quick lop on the head will still kill me tho," Mitsuki said without a care. Itachi almost forgot how grim the girl can get sometimes considering her seemingly cheerful and innocent demeanour recently. By then, Itachi spotted a semi open area with mix of both ground and root covered water covering the area.

"This place will do," said Itachi as he jumped down towards the area, followed by Mitsuki.

"Now, let's put what you learned during the Akatsuki meeting into practical test."

Hours passed, and the sun started to set. A tall figure approached from the shadow of the mangrove.

"You guys done?" the familiar voice came from the approaching figure.

Kisame approached the messy scene that was previously their training ground. Seeing around, he could see shards of ice, shuriken, and kunai scattered everywhere. There were also signs of burns and ground movement everywhere. As Kisame looked up, he saw Itachi in his training clothes, sitting on a tree branch, as Mitsuki grovelled in the middle of the field, all soaked with water and mud.

"… No mercy, huh?" Kisame grinned at the situation. "Do you still have energy to spar with me, Itachi-san?"

"… Just a while should be fine," said Itachi as he jumped down to greet Kisame as Mitsuki stayed grovelling on the ground.

"… You OK kid?" Kisame asked, finding the scene in front of him to be amusing. Knowing his partner, he wouldn't have injured the kid unnecessarily during sparring.

"…. I.." Mitsuki tighten her grip on the ground as she breathlessly replied, and looked up to the sky. "… I COULDN'T EVEN CATCH HIM ONCE, WHAT IN THE… AGHHHHH" Mitsuki shouted as she rolled to her side, covering her face as she kicked the air in utter frustration.

"…. Is she usually like this when training?" Kisame tried to hold down his laughter and grinned.

"… Sometimes.," Itachi replied, as he tried not to let out a smile in response to Mitsuki's sudden tantrum. Though that day he indeed went a lot harsher on her, he added secretly in his mind.

"Hahaha, don't worry about it, kid. If you can even touch him, by then, you will be able to defeat most shinobi out there already." Kisame laughed as he squatted beside Mitsuki and put the pouch he was carrying on top of Mitsuki's stomach. "Here's your food, now move along, it's my turn," said Kisame as he urged the girl to move away.

Mitsuki quickly sat up with annoyed look on her face, and turned her gaze towards Itachi, pouting. "You bully…" she mumbled as she stood up. Her narrowed eyes still locked on Itachi, as she turned away to walk out from the open field.

"Hahaha, she hates you now," Kisame laughed at how the situation unfolded as Itachi walked in to face him. Kisame stood and pulled out his Samehada, pointing it towards Itachi. "Don't worry kid, I will make sure to avenge you," he said jokingly.

Mitsuki snorted in annoyance as she sat down under the closest tree outside the field. The memory of her previous training still fresh in her mind. Mitsuki sighed as she recalled.

"Too slow," said Itachi as Mitsuki tried to craft a footing across the wetlands, throwing a kunai at the girl to force her to move away from her position.

"Too predictable," Itachi said as he swiftly dodge Mitsuki's wind guided kunai with minimum movement, immediately countering her with shuriken effortlessly.

"Pay attention to your surroundings," said Itachi as he swiftly moved behind Mitsuki as she evaded the shurikens backward, and quickly disabling her hands movement as he tied it towards her back to immobilize her carefully without touching her. Situation concluded when he dropped her softly towards the ground.

Mitsuki focused back to the present as she opened the pouch that Kisame gave her. There were two set of bento inside. Mitsuki took one of the bento and opened it. She was almost tempted to steal some of Itachi's part of side dish due to her frustration as she sighed and shook her head. She was the one who asked for it, and Itachi did warn her that it was going to be tough. She just had to keep everything he told her in her mind and put everything to practice all at once for next time, way easier said than done. Not to mention despite Itachi letting her create the platform without heat counter system for battle purpose, she still ended up needing a long time to create stable, flat platform, especially as she needed to touch the water with her hand to affect it.

"I need to figure something out," Mitsuki thought to herself as she watched the spar between Itachi and Kisame beginning.

"How should we do this? To be honest, I've been itching to fight you in full power, but I know you would never agree to that," said Kisame, grinning as he unseathed his samehada. Itachi took a glance at the resting girl, who was eating her bento while watching both of them intently. "Taijutsu, maybe?" he answered as he decided that it would likely benefit the girl more to see their hand to hand combat approach.

"Ok then, let's begin!" said Kisame, signalling the start. Immediately, Itachi swiftly jumped away with high speed, disappearing from Kisame's sight.

"Hmm? That's unusual. Are we playing hide and seek now?" Kisame grinned as he prepared his sword, ready to respond to any kind of attack.

Mitsuki couldn't find Itachi's position with her eyes. She wondered if what Kisame noted as an unusual method for Itachi is intended as a hint for her, or was it just something Itachi was practicing. Mitsuki inhaled deeply and closed her eyes to focus on expanding her perception and detection skill, as if finding the location of a prey.

"Found him," Mitsuki thought as she found Itachi's energy signature with her special ability. "He concealed himself well," Mitsuki thought. When facing her, and during their travel, she had never seen him doing such a thing yet. "I guess there's no need to really hide if you're really strong, unless you're trying to avoid conflict," she thought. It's more of her thing to do, she added in her mind. Wait? Could it be?

Swish swish, a few shuriken flew out from all different direction. Mitsuki noticed that Itachi barely moved or made a sound. It's impressive how he can control those shuriken to such degree, despite him not being able to control the wind like she could, Mitsuki thought to herself.

Clang, clang! Kisame deflected the shurikens with his sword, still keeping alert for more attack. That's when he noticed the sudden movement behind him. Kisame quickly swung his sword backward to meet the sudden close ranged onslaught. As his kunai attack met Samehada, Itachi quickly flew backwards. At a glance it seemed like he was being thrown away by the force of the sword, but it was clear that it was not the case when Itachi threw few more complex setup of kunai in full control, bouncing everywhere in the air to rain on Kisame. As kisame looked up to read the direction and swung Samehada around to deflect them, Itachi had already flew back up to the top of a nearby tree.

"Oi oi, Itachi-san, are you messing with me? You haven't even activated your Sharingan yet." Kisame shouted at Itachi's standing figure with a grin.

"Sorry, Kisame," said Itachi as she took a glance at Mitsuki, wandering if she got the hints, and activated his sharingan as he turned his gaze back towards Kisame. "Now let's do it seriously."

"Now that's more like it," Kisame grinned as he repositioned his sword once again.

What transpired after was more than what Mitsuki can comprehend at her level. By maintaining her detection power, she could still keep track of the duo's position. However, the complexity of how they were moving, reading each other, and countering their opponent's movement, was not something that she could decipher yet. Itachi especially, it seemed to her that he was able to read a few steps ahead of Kisame's movement. "To top it off, it was as if he orchestrated the whole battle by setting traps here and there, and executing complex deception and strategy," Mitsuki thought to herself. "Sharingan, huh.. so that's the name of the special eye," Mitsuki muttered, before realizing. Itachi had never activated it even once during her training, that day's, or before.

Mitsuki sighed loudly as the duo approach her position after the spar ended up in Itachi's victory. Itachi glanced at the girl sitting ahead of him as he walked slowly towards her. Mitsuki suddenly lifted her face up, and their eyes met. "Her eyes looks very annoyed, did I went too far?" Itachi thought to himself. But no, she must face this reality sooner or later if she was to continue following them. As Itachi reassured himself, Mitsuki suddenly chuckled and caught him by surprise and stopped him from his track.

"Heh. Heheheehheh…"

"What the hell kid, you're scaring me," said Kisame, now seated beside Mitsuki, who was still chuckling with unsmiling eyes.

"Fine," Mitsuki continued, "challenge accepted… I'll show you next time, I-ta-chi-kun…." Mitsuki said, wicked glare in her eyes still. Itachi wondered if he had accidentally awakened a tiger cub on that day.

Sun had set long ago. Itachi and Kisame were already back at their inn. However, Mitsuki opted to stay and practice a little while, insisting for both of them to go ahead as it was a "secret training".

"Don't push yourself too hard," said Itachi as he left. To tell the truth, he would like to see what kind of thing the girl was planning and what else she could do in respond to her failure that day. But, waiting for her to surprise him might be more fun, Itachi concluded. "I'll look forward to it," Itachi muttered in his mind as he took a last glance at the girl's standing figure with a slight smile on his face.

"She's not back yet," Kisame started a conversation. "I think I have somehow gotten used to her babbling that it feels very quiet with just the both of us now." Itachi responded to Kisame with a glance, followed with silence as he flipped another page of his book.

"See, this is what I mean," Kisame added in his head. His partner has never been one to talk a lot. It was surprising how the girl seemed to be able to communicate with him very well. Maybe it was because of her special ability? It felt like it nudged his partner in an unusual direction as well, Kisame thought to himself.

Meanwhile, back in the mangrove, Mitsuki closed her eyes as she touched the tree the trio was sitting in front earlier in the day. As she stood barefooted, her shoes left beside the tree's root.

"Hmm, night indeed makes me feel at peace," Mitsuki muttered as she patted the bark of the tree. The forest let out an audible cry as the leaf shook and the wind blows. "Now, would you all become my friends?" Mitsuki whispered, an unreadable smile plastered on her face.

Author's note:

This one I wrote quickly somehow O_O I'll take break tomorrow and weekend too I think while continuing the whole frame of the story! I've established midpoint and the ending but haven't finished filling the blank and properly sequencing them! This will be a long journey so bear with me ^^

Do leave me reviews and questions! I'm thinking of maybe providing some info citation next time to show how my material connects to the canon!