Shisui remained silent as he focused on Hanako's story. She talked to him about the mission she went to with her father, and everything that there happened, including all the details of how he died and how she burnt down the entire village. When she was done, Shisui looked at her for a moment before drifting his gaze back to the lake and sighing.
"Hanako...I really don't know what to say..."
"Then don't say anything, it's not as if I were expecting you could help me anyway..." she replied without taking her eyes off her reflection. "I miss my father, though...I wish none of this had happened." Shisui's eyes moved back to her as he looked at her with sadness, how could this world be so bad that a girl like Hanako would already have to handle so much pain at such a young age?
Shisui's eyes drifted to the forest across the lake; there he saw a yellow flower planted at the edge of the water body. He smiled to himself as he stood up. Hanako looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you leaving?" she asked but he didn't reply. He disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared at the other side of the lake. "What? That was fast!" Shisui heard her and let out a chuckle.
"Do you know what they call me, Hanako?" Shisui asked, truly curious. The girl tilted her head, giving him a lost look, showing him that she didn't understand what he meant.
"What they call you?" Shisui nodded. Hanako just laughed at the thought. "What...you make it sound like they call you names...like some sort of mockery. Are you sure you're supposed to be proud of that?"
"I guess your sarcasm doesn't wear off even after feeling depressed a few minutes ago..." Shisui raised an eyebrow. "Shunshin no Shisui," he added with a small smirk. "I was granted this name in the Third War to which I was forced to participate in at the age of nine."
"Nine?"
"Yeah... Those were difficult times." He lowered himself to pick up the yellow flower, then he moved quickly to stand beside the Uchiha girl with it in his hand. "Maybe I can teach it to you one day." He suggested, handing her the plant. She took it with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "It's a daffodil," he explained. Hanako played with the flower in her hand, contemplating it. "I know what it's like," Shisui suddenly said. "Losing your father so soon, wanting to have spent more time with him, and feeling that it wasn't enough." Hanako sighed. "But I knew that I had to move on, so every time I feel down, I just think of something I like and let it take my pain away." Hanako didn't reply. "Do you like flowers?" She finally looked up at him and nodded. "Think about it this way, every time you smell a flower, you are going to let go of all of your problems. Clear your mind, okay?" Hanako nodded again.
"Alright." She did as he said and closed her eyes, inhaling the sweet smell. She let go of everything that bothered her and smiled a real smile. "It's...nice."
"Just like you are," Shisui said. "Whenever you're not bothering everyone around you with your fake sarcasm." Hanako looked up at him with widened eyes. He was smiling down at her, a knowing smile. She looked back at the lake. "I know you just pretend to be mean so you can shut everyone out. Damn it, Hanako, I've known you for years. You should know I can read you like an open book."
"You're a nuisance," Hanako said with a faint smile on her lips. "Just like my sister is."
Shisui sighed, "Hanako, drop it. I think it's time for you to accept that whatever happened, it's done."
"Or else? Mother will be next? Or Hikari?" Hanako scoffed. "Come on, Shisui! I should have died there! Everyone thinks so!" she snapped, glaring up at him. Shisui was so shocked he was left speechless. "You think I don't know? About the meetings? About the rumors? About why Fugaku-sama wanted to train me so badly and teach me how to defend myself? You think I don't know about the elders' obvious interest in me?"
"But do you know why?" Shisui finally said, shutting Hanako. "Do you know why they're so interested in you?"
Hanako took a deep breath and turned back to the lake. "No. They never bothered to tell me."
Shisui pondered, should he tell her about Amane and why Fugaku swore she was her reincarnation, or should he tell her later when she calmed down a bit? He voted 'later', pressing his lips into a thin line. With a shake of his head, he changed the subject. "So," Shisui sat back down next to her. "What did the Iwa ninja told you before he..."
"Died?" Shisui nodded. "Well, he told me about his mother, that they were in that village to buy some groceries and visiting their father, who was also one of the ninja who participated in the ambush. Shun knew that I was the one who killed them but he didn't say anything until now." Hanako furrowed her brows.
"I see... You know, this year the participants in the Chunnin Exam were mostly from Konoha and Iwa." The elder Uchiha commented, "Without a doubt, the Tsuchikage will be coming to watch the final matches."
"The Tsuchikage?" Hanako looked at him surprised, the last subject forgotten. Shisui only nodded.
"Supposedly, Konoha and Iwa had signed a peace treaty... But after what happened, I don't think it's going to work."
"A peace treaty?" Hanako stood up. "If they signed it then why the hell did they ambush us?!"
"I don't know." Shisui narrowed his eyes. "That's what's got me worried." Hanako sighed. They were left in silence until the brunette spoke again.
"Shouldn't you be watching the rest of the preliminaries? You are a proctor after all, and you're going to miss Itachi's fight if you stay here."
"Don't worry, I already know Itachi's going to win," he said with a smirk. He stood up and walked beside her. "Anyway, I was meaning to ask, why are you covered in bandages?" he asked as he placed his finger over the patch on her cheek.
"Burns," she replied as she untied the bandage in her arm to show him, but was surprised to find it already healed.
"Wow, that's a pretty serious burn. You should go to the hospital to get it checked." Shisui raised an eyebrow at her.
"This is weird..." Hanako mumbled. "It's only been five days; a burn doesn't heal that quickly." She untied all the bandages around her arms, to find them as healthy as ever.
"Maybe you're just a fast healer." He shrugged as he took off the patch on her cheek.
"Yeah, it was probably the ointment Ren gave me." Shisui stared up and down at her, as if analyzing her intently. Hanako started to feel uncomfortable under his gaze. "Is there something wrong?"
"Didn't you receive cuts in your battle with Shun?" Hanako thought about it and realized that he was right. She checked herself and noticed that there wasn't a single cut on her skin; even under her cut clothes she was intact.
"Well, now...this is weird." Shisui pulled out a kunai from his pouch and took Hanako's arm, grazing it with the knife. "Hey! What the hell...?" She started saying but instantly shut up as both Uchiha observed amazed at how the wound started to heal itself and disappeared without leaving any trace of being on her skin.
"Okay...healing abilities...You always surprise me with something new, Hanako..." Shisui stared at her. "But this explains why I've never seen a single wound on you ¾not even after receiving a serious beating¾, what else do you hide?"
"What do you mean by that?" Hanako narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't even know myself."
"Well, there's only one way to find out." He threw the kunai, nailing it on a tree at the other side of the lake. "And we've got a month of training before the final exam," he added, observing the girl with a devious smirk.
"Why do I get this strange feeling that you're not going easy on me?"
"Well, if your body heals like that, then we're not going to have trouble with intense training, right? After all, you're going to heal even though you end up badly hurt," he said with a playful smirk, making her gulp with widened eyes.
"That's an abuse!"
* * *
The last Genin prepared themselves for their fight, facing each other.
"Alright, this is the last preliminary match," Hayate announced. "Once the battle is over, the Genin moving onto the final round will be officially chosen."
"I think I'm not that excited to participate in it anymore," Ren confessed as he looked toward the balconies.
"Are you scared?" Itachi asked with a faint mock in his voice.
"No, but I have a feeling that something's going to happen in these exams." Ren glanced towards the Uchiha.
"What do you mean by that?" Itachi raised an eyebrow at him.
"Look over there." He pointed at Isao, who was watching them intently. Itachi looked at him.
"His look..." He muttered loud enough for Ren to hear him.
"Of pure hatred..." Ren confirmed. "I want you to win, Uchiha. Although I bet that it won't be difficult for you to beat me." Itachi turned back his glance at him. "Those guys from Iwagakure really give me the creeps."
"Begin!" Hayate announced.
"You're not the only one." Itachi replied before launching himself with a kunai towards his opponent. Ren deflected it with his own kunai. For a moment he thought he saw a pair of red eyes observing him, but when his eyes met the Uchiha's, they were as black as a raven's feather. His Sharingan wasn't activated, or so he thought. Itachi had wrapped his hand around one of Ren's ankles and had lifted it up making him fall to the ground.
"Ow!" Ren whined before taking out a bunch of shuriken from his pouch and throwing them towards the Uchiha. He dodged them easily and let go of the blue haired's ankle. Ren stood up in a second, keeping a firm hold on his knife. Itachi attacked him again and they both exchanged hits until Ren in a quick movement managed to catch the Uchiha between him and the wall, placing his kunai on his neck.
"I can't believe this..." Ren widened his eyes. "I really did it..." He smiled victoriously. "I defeated you...An Uchiha..."
"I think you are confusing our roles," Itachi calmly said, not fazed by the weapon threatening his life. "You should pay attention to your position."
"What do you mean?" Ren frowned, noticing that Itachi's eyes suddenly became red with the common design of the Sharingan. His heart stopped for a second and he felt the muscles in his stomach tighten. Ren closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A pressure in his neck made him return to reality. He opened his eyes again, noticing that they had exchanged roles and this time he was the one pinned against the wall.
"This is your real position." Itachi told him with a smirk.
"Genjutsu..." Ren muttered. "I see."
"Iosh. The winner of the last encounter: Itachi Uchiha from Konohagakure. With this, the preliminary matches finally come to an end," Hayate declared, standing in the middle of the arena. Itachi let go of Ren. "Now, I need the winners of the encounters to come down here. The rest of you are free to go." Itachi walked towards the center, followed by the rest of the winners.
"You didn't have mercy with that kid." Hiroki appeared next to him.
"He didn't want to win; I just granted him the pleasure," the Uchiha replied making his teammate chuckle.
"Yeah...right."
Kaichi jumped down to his teammates's side. "Come on Ren, Hyori stays but we have to leave. Hiroshi-sensei will take us out of this forest."
"Yeah..." Ren observed one last time the Iwa ninja who was staring at him with narrowed eyes. After that he turned his glance to the Senju. "Be careful, Hyori..." he muttered softly before following Kaito and Hiroshi out of the arena. She nodded and proceeded to where the rest of the Genin were.
"First of all, I would like to congratulate all of you who made it to the final round." The Hokage said. "Now, I will proceed to explain what the final match will be about. Different from the preliminaries, the third round will be performed before the public in the Konoha Stadium, or how I like to call it, the Chunnin Exam's Special Arena. As you probably already know, there'll be important spectators such as feudal lords and the Tsuchikage, and some other possible mission candidates. Including me, we will all act as judges to your battles."
"Judges?" Hiroki inquired, the Hokage nodded.
"Yes. We will decide which of you has what's needed to become a Chunnin," the Hokage explained as he smoked from his pipe. "However, with this the second phase of the exam is finally finished. The final round is scheduled a month from today. That gives me the time to send formal invitations to other countries, and you the time to train in everything you need to improve for your battle. The preliminaries were made for you to demonstrate how you would fight against an opponent from whom you know nothing about, to demonstrate how you would adapt to the situation." A smile tugged Itachi's lips as he thought of Hanako when the Hokage said this. "This time we're going to tell you who your opponent will be so we can evaluate your ability to plan a strategy. So I expect you to come well prepared."
"Is that it?" the Uchiha inquired.
"No, now I need something from you before you leave. Anko." The Hokage called. A kunoichi with violet spiky hair appeared next to him, holding a box in her hands.
"I need each one of you to draw a piece of paper from the box. I'll pass the box, so there's no need for you to move." Anko said before passing box to everyone so they could take their paper. "Hanako Uchiha is not here," Anko commented once everyone had drawn their piece, while looking at the remaining one in the box.
"It doesn't matter." The Hokage said as he eyed all of the Genin, who looked at the piece of paper confused. "Now I need each one of you to tell me the number you have written on your paper." Ibiki started to take note of all the numbers in his own paper.
"Start from the left. One by one, please," he said.
"Four." The Uchiha started.
"One." Hiroki followed him.
"Six." Isao declared with a grin.
"Two." Takeshi said, clearing his throat.
"Three." Hyroi narrowed her eyes at Ibiki, who wrote each number on his paper, what was the purpose of this?
"Then Hanako must be number five." The Hokage nodded. "Good, the final matches have been decided then," he said while he directed his attention towards the Jounin that had been taking notes. Ibiki showed them the order of the matches and who would be facing who.
"Great, I'm the first one." Hiroki felt a bead of sweat on his forehead once he saw who his opponent was.
"We are the first ones," Takeshi corrected him while his face was decorated with a smirk.
"I guess I should have expected it..." Hyori commented it while she turned to look at the black haired boy. "I'm fighting against an Uchiha." Itachi remained silent as he returned the glance. Isao, in contrariwise, kept his eyes locked on the paper, as a playful smirk tugged at his lips.
"It looks like I get to avenge you, Shun." He chuckled menacingly as he stared at his opponent's name. "This time I won't let you get away, Hanako Uchiha."
* * *
That night, Shisui met Itachi in their special place where they would always meet to discuss important matters for them. The Naka Waterfall was the only place where Shisui would feel comfortable telling Itachi stuff, especially concerning his problems. "How did it go?" he asked when he sensed Itachi near.
"I'm fighting against Hyori Senju," Itachi said. "I defeated her teammate in just a minute."
Shisui scoffed. "I couldn't expect any less from you, could I, Mr. Prodigy?" he asked. "Anyway, who's Hanako up against to?"
"Isao."
Shisui frowned, finally turning to look at Itachi. After a moment, he sighed, and turned back to watch the waterfall. "I see..."
Itachi didn't know if he should ask or not, but the words were out of his mouth before he realized he was speaking. "How's Hanako? Is she okay?" Shisui looked at him with a hint of smirk before turning away.
"Yeah, you know how she is... She opens up briefly to let everything out, and then she's back to her sarcastic self. We're going to begin our training tomorrow anyway, in case you wanted to show."
Itachi smiled slightly, but refused the offer. "I promised Sasuke we would train together. And Hiroki wanted me to accompany him to visit Koharu, she's at the hospital after Takeshi knocked her out."
"Right, I had forgotten..." Shisui nodded.
"Did she really kill him? Shun, I mean..."
"Yes." Shisui crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking up at the sky. "I already talked to her about it, but she still feels guilty. So, please, don't mention anything to her if you come across her." Itachi just nodded, knowing it was a silly action since Shisui wasn't looking at him. Somehow, Shisui sensed his intention, though. "Did she show any suspicious behaviors in the exam?" Shisui asked. "You know, regarding Amane and her condition..."
"Not that I'm aware of..." Itachi said. "We completed the exam around the sixth hour, it's not like I had a lot of time to observe her."
"She has healing abilities," Shisui blurted. "You didn't notice that, did you?"
"Healing abilities?" Itachi frowned. "Like?"
"I cut her arm with a knife," Shisui turned to look at him with a serious face. "She healed from the cut in seconds."
Itachi widened his eyes slightly. "In seconds?"
Shisui sighed, looking at the grass beneath his feet. "It's quite confusing. She has abilities I have never heard of; but when I look at Amane's file and her descriptions, I can't help but think they are describing Hanako. Even if they're not."
"Is healing mentioned in Amane's file?"
"I'm not sure. It's not like I have memorized every single line of the document." Shisui looked at Itachi. "But I can always check."
"Sensory abilities, self-healing, natural affinity towards Genjutsu," Itachi started to list all the traits they regarded in Hanako. "What else?"
"She's fast...like unnaturally fast, I should check up on that as well," Shisui added. "We should ask her about History," he suddenly suggested. "You know, ask her stuff that Amane would know. Force her memory to come back to her."
"Is that even possible?" Itachi wondered. "You know...in terms of physiology, Hanako has a different brain. It's not like Amane's memories should be stored in it."
Shisui glared at Itachi. "Why must you always point out the obvious and discard every irrational possibility when you have the chance?"
"I wasn't discarding it..."
"Sure, you weren't." Shisui shook his head. "Anyway, I have to go. See you later, Itachi." Itachi looked at Shisui as he walked past him and into the forest that would take him back to the compound. Itachi sighed and looked at the waterfall. He was just as curious as Shisui and his father were of finding out if Hanako was really the reincarnation of Amane Uchiha. Not because he was worried she might turn out just as she was, which apparently ¾according to his father¾ wasn't good at all; but Itachi was truly concerned if Hanako might actually be an over one-hundred-year-old soul trapped in a ten-year-old's body.