Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ From Sunrise to Sunset ❯ Training begins ( Chapter 3 )

3.Training begins

The next six weeks consisted of intense training. If she was going to go the academy, she didn't, under no circumstances want to be looked upon, just because she was so young. She worked hard training with Itachi at weapon handling, and Fugaku gave her the necessary mental training she needed.

They all wanted everything from her. Give it all, do her best. She worked hard, remembering her aunt's words: Never be a burden.

The only moments of peace were the ones when Mikoto dragged her into the garden or asked her to take care of Sasuke for an hour or two.

“Hizui-chan, will you please go and stay with Sasuke until I come back from the market?” Mikoto had the habit of making a cute face when asking something, so that you just couldn't say no.

“Yes, Mikoto-san, of course.”

She quickly went up the stairs and entered Sasuke's room.

“Why hello, Sasuke-chan, how was your day?”

Sasuke was still very young, and didn't have what someone might call a developed vocabulary, so he answered the question by laughing and clapping his hands.

However, the little boy's happiness wasn't long lasted, as he looked at Yahizui and asked in a sad voice, “Aniki?...”

Her gaze also saddened, knowing that Itachi didn't spend as much time with Sasuke. Knowing that he was busy in getting better each day, she tried to find pitiful excuses for him.

“You see, Sasuke-kun, Itachi is very busy. He has to be strong and make the clan proud. You'll see! And…when you're his age, you'll also be busy with training, getting stronger, and won't have time for anything else.”

His eyes were beaming with happiness once more. Even if he didn't understand a thing from Yahizui's little speech, she was convincing. And if she was so convinced about it, it meant that it was a good reason. At least that was how things worked in his little mind.

“Oh, hey… you wanna see what I learned?” She needed to find a way to cheer him up and keep him in one spot, so she thought she'd found the perfect solution.

The little boy nodded with enthusiasm, and she gave a proud grin.

“Hehe… I'll show you. I just need a…. candle! Wait a minute, Sasuke-chan, I'll be right back.”

In less than a minute, she was back up in Sasuke's room with a candle and a match.

“Look carefully at the flame,” she said while lighting the candle. I will change it.”

Sasuke's large coal eyes were fixed on the candle flame.

Suddenly he gasped. The flame flew into the middle of the room and transformed into a perfectly shaped rabbit.

“Bwavooo!” He frantically clapped as the rabbit did a series of small bows. Unfortunately for both of them, their fun was interrupted by a monotone voice.

“What do you think you are doing?”

Itachi stood in the door; giving both of them the patented Uchiha Death Glareâ„¢.

“I am entertaining Sasuke!”

She was not going to back down. Even if she would suffer at training, and have to work double, she would not back down.

“Since you never have time for him, I decided I'll spend some of mine with him.”

“Hn.” It was crystal clear that Itachi was not a chatty person.

“Step outside. I must talk with you.”

Surprised by his outburst of words, Yahizui followed him outside of the room.

She looked at him, at the unsaid words in his coal black eyes when…

SLAP! His palm made a painful contact with her face, leaving Yahizui speechless.

“You endangered my brother's life.”

She was stunned.

“Never ever do such a stupid thing again.”

Itachi had just slapped her.

“Are you so weak that you need to show yourself in front of a child?”

Tears wielded up in her scarlet eyes.

“You are weak. You don't train enough. Your feelings are a burden to you. You…”

SLAP!

With absolutely no remorse, she slapped him right across the face, as to return the favor. “SHUT UP!”

Tears streamed down her face, as all the pent-up emotions were bursting out. “I will prove to you, Uchiha Itachi, that I am not weak. I will beat you, even if you have your Sharingan, I will beat you, because I am not weak!”

She looked at him with determined eyes. Slowly, the tears were replaced with hot, burning determination.

She expected him to slap her again, to tell Fugaku-sama to punish her, but never to do what he did.

As if nothing happened, and as if he hadn't been slapped across the face just a moment ago, Itachi ruffed her hair and passed her, saying, “You do that.”

The next day, Itachi didn't train with her.

Yahizui stood in the kitchen, examining her food. She took another look at the woman in front of her, and finally asked, “Mikoto-san, can a person be a friend and rival with somebody at the same time?”

“Hmmm… Why do you ask, Hizui-chan?”

She wiped her hands on a white towel then took a seat next to the nervous little girl. “Let me guess. You had a fight with Itachi?”

Her eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger. “How…how did you know?”

Mikoto smiled a bit, and then took a sip from her tea. “Call it a mother's instinct.”

“Oh…but, what do I do?”

Mikoto stood a bit, pondering the question.

“If you consider him a friend, you should try and make amends with him. Look, Hizui-chan, even if you see Itachi as a cold person, he's just what he needs to be in order to become a great shinobi. Now, look beyond the surface, and see the underneath that is underneath. Go on, talk to him!”

Hearing Mikoto's words seemed to make her feel better. She didn't quite understand the deep meaning of the last part, so she just decided to ignore it.

However, she got the essential part. They were friends and they needed to solve things out, not stay like this in silence forever.

“Thank you, Mikoto-sama!”

And with a brave smile, she stormed out of the room and onto the training ground.

Itachi was training in the target practice area. With smooth moves, he threw kunai and shuriken that hit their targets with deadly precision.

“Itachi-kun!”

He stopped and turned to look at her.

“I-I…”

Come on, get a hold of yourself!

It seemed that no matter how many days she spent with him, strange looks like this still made her lose her words. “I'm sorry I yelled at you…”

He stood there, patiently waiting for her to finish.

“…Are we still friends?”

Indeed, a shinobi was a shinobi, no matter the age, but Yahizui was still a four-year-old child that needed friends as much as she needed a mother. Since she lost the last, she had no intention of losing her new friends as well.

So as a sign of friendship, she stretched a small hand in his direction.

Friends…why would a shinobi need friends?

Still, Itachi's eyes were fixated on her hand. His resolve was unfortunately weakened by curiosity. Technically, aren't friends people who spend time with you?

With cautious moves, he took her hand, his eyes never leaving it. She spends time with me…so does Shisui… so, they are my friends…

Now, if Yahizui's face would have been wider, her smile would get bigger, but since it wasn't, the smile only spread from one ear to another.

You are right, Mikoto-sama. I can still be friends with him.

That brought the events of the other day to her mind. “I will prove to you, Uchiha Itachi, that I am not weak. I will beat you, even if you have your Sharingan, I will beat you, because I am not weak!”

In a matter of seconds, the smile on her face transformed into the most devious smirk a four-year-old could come up with.

“But I will still beat you.”

Itachi looked at her for a moment, taking in the sudden change of attitude, and gave her the infamous monosyllabic answer.

“Hn.”

Then he threw her a kunai pouch and motioned her to follow him.

“How are you going to beat me if you keep being so weak?”

Even if she knew Itachi often had these kinds of blunt replicas, she still felt a bit hurt hearing him say it again.

Yet she turned and faced him with a bright smile.

“I will work twice as hard, and I'll become strong!”

“Is that so?” An eight-year-old boy entered the clearing.

“Shisui-kun!” The bright, sincere smile returned to her face.

“Hey squirt!” Shisui had an aura of cool surrounding him. From the way he walked with the hands in his pockets, to the way he spoke, even the way he always ruffled her hair every time he saw her, was done in a cool manner. All those, plus the fact that he was already a genin at seven, made him a real heartthrob.

Of course, like any Uchiha does, did, and will do, he didn't even acknowledge the massive amount of girls following him everywhere.

Itachi and Yahizui exchanged a few meaningful glances, then silently decided who would speak.

“So, how did you escape your followers?” said Itachi in the most amused tone his monotone voice could reach.

“Why you… insolent…” Eyebrow twitching, fist up in the air, Shisui was ready to attack the younger Uchiha.

“Shisui-kun!” came an almost squeaky, innocent voice. “Didn't Fugaku-sama say to stop losing time with meaningless things such as getting angry over facts?”

For a second, she looked at Itachi, then turned to smirk at Shisui. “Now, I don't think Fugaku-sama will be pleased if we skip training again…”

“Well, well, squirt. Only four and you're as cunning as a fox. Fine, I'll give you training.” Shisui countered with a matching smirk.

“First of all, we must strengthen your physique. You're a girl, so I'll take it easy on you. One hundred laps around the mansion.” At times like these, Shisui loved to act like he was the one giving orders.

If looks could kill, Shisui would sure have been in a pool of blood by now. But, unfortunately they don't, so Yahizui had to resume glaring him to death.

“My, my, only eight and you're as vengeful as a snake.” But then again, I said I'll work twice as hard, so he's actually helping me…

“Fine, I'll be back after I finish.”

During the next five weeks, Shisui's training made her tap her limits, then push them further. If it was out of revenge, or from Fugaku's orders, she didn't know.

What she did know is that after that week, her physical strength should have increased, at least a little bit. What she knew for certain was that her muscles ached every time she made a move.

As a result of the training, she spent a whole day in bed, not able to move a finger.

After that, she resumed her usual schedule.

On that very day, Shisui came to her.

The moment she saw him, her muscles started to ache once more, but, thankfully, he wasn't there to give her more training.

“I am proud of you, squirt. You made it through a very intense training. I am sure that now you are more than ready to enter the Academy, even absolve it if you ask me.” Shisui gently patted her on the head as a gesture of appreciation.

“Thank you, Shisui-kun. Now if you'll excuse me, Mikoto-san asked me to take care of Sasuke for a moment!”

“Aww, too bad,” he said with a fake pout on his face. “I hoped you could come help me drag Itachi out into the social world.”

With a roll of his eyes, he continued, his tone clearly disapproving. “All he does is study, train, study, train, and then study and train some more.”

She looked at him, eyebrow rising. “Shisui-kun, that is all I've done lately as well.”

His eyes widened in amazement. “See?! He's rubbing off on you, I'm telling you! Soon everyone will be a power maniac doll. You guys need to get out more.”

“Shisui-kun! You're being mean! He's not like that, and you know it! As for me, I can't afford to spend my time doing silly things. In my free time, I always help Mikoto-sama, so as you see, I don't have time. Plus, if I want to be a great shinobi, I have to work hard. And so should you!”

Her cheeks were now a bit rosy. She talked with such passion, believing every word she said with all her heart.

“Don't you worry about me, kiddo...” He ran a hand trough his hair in his trademark, cool manner, then looked at her like he was the king of the world. “I'll be great anyway. I'm bound to be great. Written on my forehead is the word `great'. I'm the definition to… Hey!”

Unfortunately for him, during his narcissistic speech, Yahizui had decided that she had other, more important things to do.

He saw her, almost running away from him. “Hey! Why did you go?”

She waved a hand at him and shouted back. “Mikoto-sama asked for me. You continue being great!”

Then she gave a fit of laughter and entered the house.

Shisui sighed as his only listener ran away.

You will be great, kiddo. I can tell that.

The next day, Mikoto thoughtfully prepared breakfast when she saw a sleepy redhead come down the stairs.

“Today is a big day for you, Hizui-chan—your first day at the Academy, ne?”

“My what?...”

After one big yawn and a few cat like stretches, Yahizui decided to process Mikoto's words.

“OH MY GOD! IT'S THE FIRST DAY AT THE ACADEMY! Am I late? What time is it? What do I do? I need to get dressed!”

She started to run in circles a few times before going upstairs, getting dressed in a hurry, then coming back into the kitchen.

“Ohayo, Fugaku-sama!”

Fugaku quizzically looked at her while sipping his tea. “Why are you in such a hurry, Yahizui?”

“I am very sorry, I don't have time to explain…wish me luck!” She took a rice ball from the table and ran like a storm from the compound and out on the Konoha streets.

Completely shocked by the lack of composure of the usually composed girl, Fugaku turned to look at his wife, searching for questions.

That very moment, an unusually sleepy Itachi came down the stairs.

He took a moment to look through the kitchen, then stated his curiosity in a blank tone, as usual.

“Was there a storm in here?”

The sight of her sleepy son, and his innocent question brought a giggle from Mikoto.

“She thought she was late for her first day at the academy.”

Mikoto took another look at her son and the sight of him so sleepy made her curious. “Had a bad night's sleep, Itachi?”

He looked at his mother and answered in a bored tone. Only one word was necessary, and it said it all.

“Shisui.”

Mikoto giggled again like a little schoolgirl. She knew Shisui well, and the mention of his name associated with Itachi's sleepy mode made her understand that the older Uchiha was in the mood for a chat.

After calming herself, she looked to her calm husband.

“By the way, Fugaku, since we are in charge of her, why don't you attend the ceremony?”

With all questions answered, both male occupants of the room returned to their normal behaviors. Fugaku took another sip of his tea, then, answered in the characteristic serious tone.

“I have other things to do—important things.”

She ran and ran with all her strength, thinking she was late.

Ironically, Yahizui seemed to have a poor sense of time. When she got there, she realized she arrived too early.

She mentally cursed herself, then took a seat on a nearby bench. Her stomach didn't agree with her having left without breakfast and started to make the strangest noises.

“Hehe, got here too early, ne?”

Yahizui lifted her eyes and saw a sandy-blonde-haired girl, a bit taller and older than herself. Her big eyes were the most beautiful light blue she had ever seen.

“Heh, yeah, I guess so…” Her stomach grumbled again to strengthen her point.

“Here!” The girl gave her a rice ball, took a seat on the bench next to her and started to eat her own onigiri.

“You can have it. My mom made them for me in case I got hungry.”

Yahizui took the food and, without second thoughts, wolfed it down in one single bite.

After her hunger was calmed down, she recomposed herself.

“Uh… thanks for the food. I left home in a hurry and didn't have time to eat much. What's your name?”

As if awakened from deep thought, the girl looked at her, rice ball half-eaten in hand.

“Oh!… I'm Raikou Amaya. Nice to meet you.” She stretched the free hand toward Yahizui.

Seeing the outstretched hand, Yahizui jumped for joy. At last, children wanted to be friends with her.

“Same here, Amaya. I'm Shourai Yahizui.” She took Amaya's hand.

“Ne, Yahizui-chan, aren't you a bit to young to attend the Academy?”

Normally, her ego would have taken a major hit by now, but seeing the confused look on Amaya's face made her change her mind.

Amaya should be grateful to Fugaku, since he had taught Yahizui to read people's expressions. Of course, she was still a newbie, and only managed to read the obvious ones, but it was still a step forward.

“Well, I guess I trained hard and they recommended me.”

“Oh….” The look on Amaya's face was of pure amazement. “You must be good, I mean, you look like you're three or four. I'm six…”

“AMAYA-CHAN! Where are you?”

Suddenly Amaya paled a bit.

“Oops. I forgot to tell Mom where I was going.”

She slowly turned and saw her mother coming toward her.

“How many times have I told you not to run off like that?”

Amaya's mother was a beautiful woman, probably in her late twenties, with the same sandyish-blonde hair and blue eyes as her daughter.

Seeing that her daughter was safe, sound, and in one piece, she noticed her scarlet-eyed friend.

“Amaya-chan, why won't you introduce me to your new friend?”

“Oh, sorry Mom. This is Shourai Yahizui. She's coming to the Academy, like me,” Amaya said in a more official tone.

Yahizui made a small bow in respect for the elder woman. “It is a pleasure to meet you, ma'am.”

“Pleasure is all mine honey.” So this is the Shourai girl.

Meanwhile, children and their parents started to come one by one and in no time, the Academy's front yard was full of happy chatty parents and nervous children. It was all a little bit too noisy and a little bit too crowded for Yahizui's taste, so she was happy when a ninja announced that the Hokage had arrived to open the ceremony.

Soon, all children were in formation, parents a little bit further, each watching their offspring with admiration. Truth be told, she was a bit jealous, because she had no parents to watch her and a bit sad that neither of the Uchihas had come to see her.

The speech was long and boring, like every speech should be.

She was relieved when she heard the Hokage's voice announce, “Everyone, congratulations on entering. From this day forth, please work hard to follow the shinobi way.”

She tried to look for anyone she might know. Seeing all the kids talk to their parents, being praised that they managed to enter academy, she felt lonely and… out of place.

That is, until she managed to get a glimpse of a familiar ink-black ponytail.

She was sure he had come, so she ran toward the suspected one, calling him.

“Shisui-kun!”

She was so happy that he had thought about her and come to see her, but what she saw when she reached him gave her a major shock.

She stopped dead in her tracks, two meters in front of him, and blinked, unsure if she was seeing things or not.

“I-I-Itachi-kun?…”

“What is it, squirt? Cat got your tongue? You look like you've seen a ghost.” Shisui talked, as always, in his `I am such a cool guy' manner.

Slowly, the shock subsided and she was able to form coherent words again.

“No, I was just surprised to see Itachi-kun here, with you.”

Itachi gave her a `Why would you be?' look, but Shisui, being more chatty, beat him to it at giving an explanation.

“Well, you see, Mikoto-sama told me that you had you grand opening today and that nobody came to see you. So she asked us to come and see you. Right, Itachi?”

Unfortunately for Shisui, the only response he got was the usual “Hn.”

Indeed, she might have gotten a bit emotional, but the two of them being there for her—Itachi being there for her—meant a lot to her.

Tears of joy gathered in her eyes. “Thanks, guys!”

She put up a brave smile and was ready to say something, but was interrupted by Amaya's voice.

“OH MY GOD! IT'S UCHIHA SHISUI!”

Then another girl continued: “AND UCHIHA ITACHI!”

Then, just like that, all the girls present seemed to go into a Uchiha frenzy.

“Ne, Hizui-chan….” Shisui started with an unsure voice. “Maybe we should talk more at the mansion. See ya!”

Itachi also looked toward her and gave a small nod. “Good luck.”

And so they left. Correction—they started to run as fast as their feet could carry them. A stampede of screaming girls followed them—until their parents and several random shinobi held them back, that is.

Finally, Amaya reached the place where Yahizui stood.

“Oh my god, were those boys Uchiha Shisui and Itachi?” She was acting like a crazed fangirl, her eyes sparkling with emotion.

Yahizui had a small frown on her face. “Yeah, what about them?”

By now, Amaya's eyes held millions of sparkles, and all her being emanated little pink hearts.

“They are, like, the most wanted boys in Konoha. Every girl likes at least one of them. Shisui is so cool, and Itachi so mysterious….”

“Well, I live with them, and I don't see them as being nearly so… cool.”

She started to think about what Amaya had said.

Shisui cool. What is cool about him? Well, definitely not his morning face. The image of Shisui's tangled hair and puffy eyes in the morning made her giggle.

And Itachi? Mysterious? They got it all wrong; he just doesn't have good communication skills…

Her thoughts were interrupted by numerous loud, squealy, annoying voices asking her about the two Uchihas.

“How come you live with them?”

“Can you put a good word for me please?”

“Are they as powerful as the word goes?”

“Tell us more about them!”

At the end of the day, despite the fact that she didn't do anything special, Yahizui was the number one subject in every conversation. Some admired her for being so strong at such a young age. Others envied her just because she saw and managed to talk every day with the two Uchihas. The ones that knew from their parents about her clan pitied her.

All she wanted was not to be the center of attention, learn a few things, make a few friends if possible, then graduate, become a genin, and so on.

However, faith had a cruel sense of humor.