Naruto didn't cry after she read the latest note. It was close, and there was definitely a flush to her cheeks that hadn't been there before, but not a single tear fell from her eyes. Instead, she carefully put the most precious note she had received so far, beyond even the first, in the shoebox dedicated to all of her ANBU's notes, and wrote a reply. A new level of importance had entered their messages.
'I think you're the first person outside of the Old Man and the folks at Ichiraku that wants to be my friend. Getting to meet you was one of the best things to happen to me. I'm glad that you left that first note.'
'So am I. You're not the only one that has difficulty in making friends, but I think that if the adults treated your fairly, it would have been easy for you to do. You're a kind-hearted and friendly person- when you're not sneaking smoke bombs into the sensei's break room anyway. What's your favorite class at the Academy?'
'My favorite subject in class is taijutsu, but I would rather specialize in ninjutsu. I'm not very good with the basic chakra exercises, so I've only mastered the Henge for now. Do you have any tips for the leaf exercise? What's your favorite subject?'
'I've always enjoyed reading about history and military tactics, but that isn't an official class at the Academy. I'm well-rounded in all of the shinobi subjects, but my chakra control gives me an edge in utilizing genjutsu. For your ninjutsu, you won't be able to master the D-rank or C-rank jutsu with your current chakra control. Your reserves are too large for the leaf exercise, but there's a more advanced tree-walking exercise that I've included a scroll for. If you can climb up and down a tree without your hands ten times, then I'll give you an elemental jutsu scroll for your affinity.'
'What's an elemental affinity?'
'There are five elements- katon, suiton, raiton, doton, and futon- from which most ninjutsu is derived. Most shinobi have a particular affinity for one of them, and can find out which by channeling chakra into one of these special papers, made from the bark of chakra-infused birch trees. Think of an elemental affinity as a boost to one or more element, that'll help you master the element more quickly and use less chakra for that element's ninjutsu. All of the other elements can be mastered at the regular rate.'
'My paper split in half! What element does that mean? Are you a katon user? You smell like ashes.'
'That was an astute judgement. I have an affinity for both Katon and Suiton techniques, but I also taught myself to master Futon jutsu. You have a Futon affinity, which is the best one for mid-to-long range offensive techniques, and is commonly channelled into weapons to sharpen their cutting power. There's a scroll for Wind Release: Gale Palm, a C-rank supplementary technique, that will increase the speed of your thrown weapons or Katon jutsu.'
Itachi had technically been discharged from guard duty, as his femur had healed and his skills were more useful in advanced missions, but he still hid in an Academy training field. He had some time available to himself, and wanted to see how far Naruto would get with the C-rank jutsu.
"If you wanted to bring me along to stalk your prepubescent crush, then you could have at least offered to buy lunch first," Shisui grumbled, perching on a tree branch across from him.
"Don't be crass," Itachi chided softly, eyes bleeding into the deep crimson of the Sharingan. His dojutsu allowed him to visibly observe the silver-tinted wind chakra the blonde girl was drawing to her palms. Her chakra control had improved notably through the tree-walking attempt- a skill mastered as much through bullheaded determination as anything else- but her hand signs were slow.
Itachi made a mental note to recommend practicing them in his next note.
"I was so excited when I learned that you were trading secret notes with a girl," his older cousin lamented, ignoring him, "A seven-year-old though, is cradle robbing in the worst way, Ita-chan."
Naruto's affinity with the wind element was strong, as the silvery colour of her gathered chakra grew, and slowly began to form the shape of a wide-length crescent. Itachi was impressed; he hadn't thought the blonde would gain this level of control until she had mastered water-walking too.
"Not that she isn't pretty, of course," Shisui added, smirking at the younger boy, "Definitely going to be a looker when she grows up. I applaud you for singling her out early on, before anyone- damn! Did Naruto Uzumaki just manage a Gale Palm on the first try?!"
The blunt wave of wind being thrown out of her hands barely pushed back the blades of grass, before dissipating into the air, but was unmistakably in the form of a Gale Palm. It didn't elicit any sort of appreciation from the scowling blonde girl, despite the impressed gazes of two Uchiha prodigies watching her practice from afar. Her hands slowly formed the requisite signs again, before Naruto threw out a marginally stronger buffer of wind ninjutsu.
Itachi was gratified when Naruto's initial success was replicated again and again, until even the Uzumaki's vast reserves began to feel the pinch of chakra loss. Her Gale Palm jutsu became quicker to form, and slower to disperse, as the blonde narrowed her range to less than ten meters in front of her. Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan had activated, and the two Jounin level shinobi quietly observed the slender slip of a girl, before the silence was expectedly broken.
"Man, if I had her chakra reserves…" Shisui mused, wistfully, "She's used that jutsu eight times already, and she still has enough chakra to form another one."
"Naruto's starting to slow down," Itachi noted, as the next attack was even weaker than her original one, "She'll have to stop soon."
"Her seal mixes the bijuu chakra with her own, doesn't it?" the older Uchiha asked, looking at him out of the corner of his eye, "You can see the wisps of red coming out of her hands."
"It's not enough for nine C-ranked Gale Palms," Itachi answered, "Even with a Futon chakra affinity."
Shisui's eyebrows rose. "Hmm," he returned his gaze to the blonde girl, "She's going to be a ninjutsu monster one day. If I were you, I wouldn't let the Elders see her practice."
"You think they're going to forbid the heir's association with the jinchuuriki?"
"Not at all. I think they're going to force Sasuke to get over his fear of cooties a lot earlier than he would otherwise."
'If the Hunter-Nin are a specialized team in the Intelligence Department, then what department are the ANBU part of?'
'The ANBU are an independent elite shinobi force that answers directly to the Hokage. It consists of nearly 300 members, mostly Chuunin level in combat, that are entirely loyal to the Hokage. The remainder of the shinobi force is either independent contractors, meaning that they have first pick of missions in the village pool, or associated with a department that pays them a base salary. Most of the latter type of shinobi supplement their income by running missions on top of their part-time department work.'
'So you're an elite ninja working directly for the Old Man? Wow! That's really cool; I think I want to be in ANBU one day. So, if you're part of an independent task force, then would you know the different types of departments in Konoha?'
'Well, I'm not that good. There are a lot of more experience shinobi and kunoichi, who are far better than I am. You may be one of them, even, if you work hard and keep practicing your chakra control exercises. The next one for you to try is the water-walking technique, which I included below.
The Intelligence Department is probably the most important one, as it consists of the Hunter Nin, Counter-Intelligence, Cryptographers, Diplomatic Corps, and Torture & Interrogation teams. The other two main departments are the Medical Corps, who focus on iryo-ninjutsu, and the Barrier Corps, which focus on fuuinjutsu. You'll find more information on them, and the other groups in Konoha, in the organization and logistics packet below. They're meant for Chuunin, but Hokage-sama didn't mind giving one to you.'
'You sound like the Old Man when you keep trying to get me to study. Though the promise of a new jutsu does a much better motivational job than the Old Man swearing that geography will come in useful sometime in my shinobi career. You can rest easy knowing that I have been diligently practicing my chakra control for the Great Fireball jutsu. In fact, I think I can still feel pond scum clinging to my clothes. Ew. By the way, do you know why the Nidaime attacked Kumo from the Land of Haze during the Second Shinobi War?'
'Here's a list of books that can answer your question, and a set of directions to the library. Now do your own homework.'
'What?! How did you know it was my homework? There are no ashes-and-peppermint scents in my apartment, so you couldn't be guarding me now.'
'I see all. I know all.'
There was the barest hint of a smile on the Uchiha heir's face as he read Naruto's latest accusation about his non-existent Hyuuga heritage. The claim of having all-knowing eyes had caused the blonde girl to jump immediately to that conclusion, though he only knew because Sasuke had the same assignment that week. Itachi hadn't made it any easier by 'protesting' otherwise.
'Maybe I should claim to be an Uchiha in the next note?' Itachi mused, a near silent chuckle escaping his lips, 'If that doesn't convince her that I'm a Hyuuga, then I don't know what will.''
The light pad of footsteps outside of his door had the dark-haired teen look back, but, rather than the cheerful little brother he had expected, his mother walked in. Slowly, almost casually, Itachi tried to put his note away, but Mikoto Uchiha's keen ash gaze lingered on the flash of white paper.
"Itachi, what do you have there?" Mikoto asked, an inquiring tilt of her head suggesting that a response was to be imminent.
"Paperwork," her son replied shortly. Unfortunately, for all that Itachi Uchiha was a talented liar, he was not so good as to fool the Jounin-level mother that had raised him from the cradle.
"At home?" The Uchiha woman's eyes continued tracking the paper in his hand, "That looks rather short. Is it a note?"
"Shisui asked me to meet him for a training session this weekend," Itachi answered.
"Why lie about something your older cousin asked you to do? And since when does Shisui leave notes?" Mikoto's voice was filled with doubt. Another idea occurred to her, and a certain glint entered those ash-toned eyes. "Is that message from a girl?"
Itachi mouth opened to form a refusal, but his mother must have seen something on his face that he wasn't aware of displaying, because she happily squealed. "My little boy is exchanging love letters? That's so romantic, Itachi-chan! Who is she?"
The dark-haired teen's eyes flickered to the window, and his mother's immediately followed them. A heartbeat later, and Mikoto lunged forward, while Itachi threw his body to the side, propelled himself off of his bed, and jumped through his open window. Then he did the only sensible thing one could do in a situation like this: he fled to Shisui's home.
There were three days that he spent in his friend's guest room, all the while his mother was deluged with interest for the girl that caught her older son's eye.
"I know Itachi's shy, but you'd think that he would at least feel comfortable telling his Kaa-san," Mikoto said, on the first day, "He must not have confessed to her yet, but I wonder what it is about her that caught his attention. She's probably a kunoichi, and a very smart one too. Maybe they bonded over a shared love of history?"
"What if she's rejected him?" The second day brought a sense of panic. "My poor baby doesn't want to tell us because he's heartbroken over his rejection. Or is she someone that he's ashamed of introducing to the clan, like a homeless person or a Hyuuga? Itachi will tell us when he comes home, won't he? It won't take much longer now. Shisui is a terrible cook."
"Why didn't Itachi come home yet?" Mikoto demanded, on the third day, "He's risking food poisoning the longer he stays there, and I'm worried about him! Itachi should know that we'll accept whomever he likes, as long as the girl makes him happy. Fugaku, go and bring our son home."
"Maybe he'll be more likely to come home if you promise not to interrogate him about the girl he's been exchanging notes with," Fugaku suggested, mildly. He was far less worried than his wife, who seemed to have forgotten that Itachi was a self-sufficient Jounin that knew how to cook.
"Fine," Mikoto huffed, clearly miserable over not having one of her sons home. Fugaku mentally calculated the duration of the breakdown she would have when Itachi, much less Sasuke, finally got married and left their home for good, and barely withheld a sigh of his own.
"I'll send a note then," the beautiful woman said, scribbling down the message on a piece of scrap paper, and walking over to the window, "Akane-chan? Would you mind running an errand for me?"
The pretty teenaged Uchiha, who, like many of the girls in their Clan, had an unreciprocated crush on her eldest son, jogged up to the window. "Not at all, Mikoto-san. Where should I take this?"
"If you could take it to my son," Mikoto politely ignored Akane's bright smile, "And tell him that I'll stop interrogating him about his girlfriend if he came home, then I'll appreciate it. He's at Shisui's house now."
Akane's smile fell for a moment, before an expression of determination covered his girlish features. "Of course, Mikoto-san. I'll be happy to deliver it."
The teenager all-but-snatched the paper out of her hand, and turned to march towards the eastern section of the Compound. Mikoto was moving away from the window before Akane even turned around, in order to keep anyone from seeing the smug grin on her face. After all, just because she agreed to stop interrogating Itachi, doesn't mean that she couldn't recruit amongst his fans.
It had been many years since Mikoto Uchiha was the best friend of a consummate prankster, but she had never forgotten Kushina's lessons.
'All of the girls in my class have gone crazy. I am now officially disavowing my gender.'
'Why? Are the kunoichi-only lessons that bad?'
'Yes. Yes, they are. But the reason I'm embarrassed is because all of the female students in my class have a crush on this boy named Sasuke Uchiha.'
'I see. And you don't have a crush on him?'
'Of course not! He's a pampered clan brat that can't stop talking about how great his older brother is. I don't see what's so special about Itachi Uchiha either. Can you take him in a fight?'
'Itachi and I have never fought, so I can't answer that. Have you ever met Itachi Uchiha? If you have, then what do you think of him?'
'Itachi had to pick Sasuke up from school once, but we never talked. He looked like the usual stuck-up pretty boy to me. He might also be mute.'
'Perhaps if you got to know Itachi better, than you'd like him more?'
'I doubt it. Why are you defending him anyway? I thought the Hyuuga and Uchiha Clans were rivals.'
'I told you before, I'm not a member of the Hyuuga Clan.'
'Sure, you're not. Besides Itachi's Sasuke's biggest role model, and Sasuke is a spoiled brat, so that doesn't reflect very well on his older brother. You know, Miko tried to give him a box of chocolates today, but he just stuck his nose up and said he didn't like sweets! Not only was it obviously a lie- because all kids love candy- but he didn't even refuse it nicely! I don't like Miko, but even I had to feel bad when she started sniffling.'
'Maybe we should stop talking about the Uchiha Clan? Tell me how your water-walking practice went.'
"Aniki, can we train together now?" Sasuke asked, once he had returned his dishes to the sink.
"I would like you to answer a question for me first, Sasuke," his older brother affixed disapproving eyes on him, "Did you rudely refuse a gift from a classmate named Miko today?"
The flash of surprised guilt crossing the younger boy's face affirmed his answer. "Aniki, how did you know that?!"
"That's not the main focus here, Sasuke," Itachi scolded, "The main question is why you didn't act with the manners befitting our family."
"As for your question," the teen added, as an afterthought, "I see all. I know all."