"Where could they be?" Shisui wondered out loud as he walked with Itachi. They were looking for Hanako and her team after finally gaining the approval of her teacher.
"Maybe they're training..." Itachi mentioned casually, making Shisui look at him seriously.
"Couldn't you have suggested that half an hour ago?" Shisui sighed. "Of course, Hanako loves training. You probably stalked her and figured that out." Itachi looked at him, about to defend himself. Then he remembered observing her training with his father, and shut his mouth.
Shisui was looking at him and laughed. "I can't believe you..." he muttered in between chuckles, shaking his head.
Itachi sighed, "It's not what you think..."
"Sure," Shisui looked at the sky and noticed a falcon hovering over their heads. He frowned. 'It's almost evening,' he thought. "Sorry, Itachi. I have to go." He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Itachi looked beside him to find him gone. He sighed and continued his way, looking for Hanako.
Shisui arrived to his house and quickly changed his clothes. He carelessly took off the black yukata and put on his ninja vest. Then he hurried towards the Hokage mansion, it was almost time for the meeting to begin.
"Took you some time," a Jounin muttered to him once he noticed his arrival. "Where were you, Shisui-san?"
Shisui looked at him and smiled slightly. "I had some business to take care of," he replied as he entered the meeting room, followed by the other Jounin. They all arranged in line in front of the Hokage.
"Well, as you may already know, it's almost time for the Chunnin Exams. This year, Konoha will be the host for this round," announced the Third. "These exams -planned twice a year- serve as a way of unification among Shinobi of all countries and the measurement of the development of their ninja abilities. You have to be certain about the level of your Genin students before even thinking about signing them up to participate. Let alone the mention of the requirements, including the eight successfully completed missions." The Hokage exhaled smoke from his pipe. "And thus, we may start with the official nominations for this year's first round of the Chunnin Exams." All Jounin suddenly got serious, especially the supervisors, who walked a couple of steps forward and bowed to the Hokage. Shisui had his eyes set on Kaito, Hanako's teacher. "Let's begin with you, Hiroshi." The old man directed himself to the black haired Jounin, who stood on the left end.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." He made a seal with his index and middle fingers as he talked. "I, Hiroshi, leader of Team 3 conformed by: Ren Sonoda, Kaichi Kazeyama and Hyori Senju; wish to nominate the three of them to participate in the upcoming Chunnin Exams." The Hokage nodded as his eyes moved to the next Jounin, who followed the same procedure.
"I, Kaito Hayata, leader of Team 4 conformed by: Kazuki Mitokado, Takeshi Komatsu and Hanako Uchiha; wish to nominate the three of them to participate in the upcoming Chunnin Exams." The last one in line prepared himself to talk.
"I, Masaru Abukara, leader of Team 2 conformed by: Itachi Uchiha, Koharu Anami and Hiroki Daishi; wish to nominate the three of them to participate in the upcoming Chunnin Exams."
"Well..." The Hokage sighed. "Anyone else?" he asked without receiving any kind of answer. "In that case..." he muttered, "The Genin of Konoha to participate in the Chunnin Exams are now officially nominated." All the Jounin walked back to their places in line. "Now I want Shisui Uchiha, Ibiki Morino and Hayate Gekko to take a step forward." The aforementioned did as commanded. "Ibiki."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." The Jounin bowed.
"I want you to be the proctor of the first test. The Jounin that used to take care of it has just retired." Ibiki bowed again.
"Yes, sir."
"Shisui, you'll be the proctor for the second test."
"Hai!"
"Hayate..." He motioned to the last one. "You'll be the proctor for the third test."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," he bowed.
"In that case, everything's been decided. Start with the preparations," said the Hokage. Everyone nodded and disappeared.
* * *
Hanako walked along the streets with her teammates after facing the Senju and her team. She suddenly saw Itachi walking in their direction.
"Wasn't Shisui with you?" Hanako asked raising an eyebrow. Itachi stopped in front of them.
"He was summoned to the Hokage tower," he explained.
Hanako nodded and suddenly felt an agonizing pain in her head. She reached both her hands to it as everything in her sight became suddenly blurry. 'Damn...I think I used too much chakra,' she thought. Everything around her became black; but before falling unconscious, Itachi caught her in his arms.
"Hanako!" Takeshi screamed worried. Itachi picked her up and carried her to a stone bench nearby at the side of the street. He placed her over it while the other two stood at his side. Itachi activated his Sharingan to look at her and after a moment he deactivated it with a sigh.
"Her chakra is dangerously low." He turned to look at Kazuki and Takeshi with an expectant look. "What were you doing?" The boys tensed and turned to look at each other before turning back to the Uchiha.
"Well..." Kazuki looked away. "Hanako and I had a match in the training grounds. Just so you know, she only used a fire technique and a Genjutsu against me." He looked up and flinched when he noticed Itachi's intent stare. "After that, we came across another Genin. We talked for a while and then..."
"Kazuki." Takeshi sighed. "He didn't ask for the details so just tell him what he wants to know." Kazuki nodded and looked at the Uchiha.
"Hanako got into a fight with someone. She used a Genjutsu on her and soon it was over, but I think she used a lot of chakra in it..." Itachi nodded and turn to look back at the unconscious girl. He pressed his lips into a thin line.
"She's worn herself out," he suddenly said. "It seems that she has already reached her limit. Let's leave her to rest." The other two nodded while Itachi picked her up again. "I'll take her home," he said before walking away with the girl in his arms. Takeshi rolled his eyes, clenching his hands into fists.
"I could have taken her home!"
When Itachi arrived to the young Uchiha's home, he softly kicked the door with his foot. Akira opened the door and worry struck her face when she took notice of her unconscious daughter in the boy's arms.
"Hanako?" She looked at Itachi expectantly, waiting for some sort of explanation.
"She's fine," he said calmly. "She's just exhausted; she has used almost all of her chakra." Akira sighed relieved and moved to let the Uchiha walk in.
"Right, she tends to do that... Come in." Itachi walked in. "She just never learns. It happened a lot when she trained with your father, he would bring her in his arms since she couldn't move to come here on her own. Next morning, she would be miraculously fine." Itachi smiled at that.
"I'll take her to her room," he said and Akira nodded.
"Upstairs, the first door to the left."
Itachi nodded and walked to Hanako's room. Once he entered, he placed her softly on her bed and stared at her. She breathed deeply, her chest rising slowly and falling again. She was probably going to sleep for a while. Deciding it was enough staring, Itachi turned his back to her. He started observing her room until a small object over the bureau called his attention. It was a picture of Hanako and her family. Hanako was laughing beside her older sister while both her parents looked at them lovingly. A small smile crept into Itachi's lips as he took the frame in his hand to get a better look.
Her family suddenly reminded him of his, but he couldn't imagine living a life without his father. He couldn't imagine what Hanako could be going through. Itachi looked back at the girl. She still had her black yukata on, covered in dirt. He chuckled. Hanako would always get into fights, but she would always win and scare her opponents so they wouldn't mess with her again. Izumi told him a lot of stories of how Hanako would get in trouble every day with her teachers for talking back to them. Yet, someone like her graduated early from the Academy.
"I want to know more about you," Itachi said softly, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hear him.
"Then ask," she suddenly said. Itachi felt his heart stop, had she been awake? "Takeshi," she muttered in her sleep, scrunching her face. "You can't eat my dango without permission," she was muttering in her sleep, "If you want some, then ask..." Hanako turned her back to Itachi. The boy sighed in relief.
He decided to put the photo back in its place and walk out of the room.
* * *
Shisui went to Itachi's house the next day. "Yoo-hoo," he knocked on his window. "Itachi, are you home?" The boy opened his window and looked at his friend.
"How come you're not in a mission?" Itachi asked.
Shisui smiled. "Chunnin Exams are coming~" He invited himself into Itachi's room. "Are you ready to go?"
"Go where? I have to meet my team in an hour," he frowned.
"Then we have an hour." Shisui smiled. "We're going to Hanako's house."
Shisui knocked at Hanako's door. Itachi stood beside him, wondering what in the world he was doing there. He shouldn't have listened to him. He should leave now to meet his team, even if he was an hour early. Hikari opened the door. "Shisui?" she frowned. "It's a little early, what are you doing here?"
"How are you?" he asked with a smile. "Have you been sleeping?" his face suddenly softened when he noticed the bags under her eyes. Hikari looked away.
"Just...a few hours now and then..."
"And Hanako? Has she been sleeping?" he then asked.
Hikari took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I could have slept longer if it wasn't for Mom yelling at her last night."
Shisui became serious, "What happened?"
Hikari sighed, inviting them into the house. They all sat in the table, where Hikari was eating breakfast. "She got into a fight yesterday," she said, eating her miso soup.
"Again?" Shisui rolled his eyes. "With whom?"
"I don't know the girl," Hikari shook her head. "She said her name was Hyori Senju, or something like that." Itachi looked at her.
"I think I know that name," he said. "I remember that girl to be part of a Genin team from our generation."
"Well, she beat up that girl..." Hikari sighed, "Mom was pissed."
Hanako suddenly appeared at the stairs and walked towards the kitchen without acknowledging anybody. Shisui was the first one to speak, "You normally say 'Good morning,' when you have guests home," he said. Hanako didn't look up at him. She silently picked up an apple from the fruit basket and headed for the door.
"Are you not having any breakfast?" Akira appeared from the hallway, looking at her daughter.
"I'm not hungry," said Hanako, stopping to put on her sandals. Akira stood in front of the girl, stopping her from walking out.
"Where do you think you're going, miss?"
"I have to meet my team," Hanako looked up at her mother with stern eyes.
Akira laughed cynically. "You are not going out on missions, Hanako, you are grounded!"
"But!"
"No buts!" Akira snapped.
"Actually, Akira-san, Chunnin Exams start next week, so Genin teams meet today to talk about them." Hanako looked at Shisui for a moment, not saying anything. Then her eyes found Itachi, who was looking back at her. Hanako rolled her eyes, feeling uncomfortable. Why was he there as well?
Akira sighed. "Hanako, do you think you deserve to participate in the Chunnin Exams?" she asked.
Hanako widened her eyes at her. "Come on, Mom! I have been waiting three years for this!"
"I think...Genin that get into fights don't deserve to become Chunnin..." Akira said. Hanako frowned.
"Why are you like this?!" she asked. "Dad would have let me!"
"Don't pull that card on me, Hanako!" Akira yelled at her.
"Why not?! Because it's true?!" Hanako yelled back. "You never liked the idea of me being a ninja! So now that he's not here, you won't even let me go on a mission!"
A dry hit could be heard, and Hanako's head was turned to the side abruptly. She could still feel her cheek stinging from where her mother had slapped her. Her eyes were wide, as small tears started to gather in the brink of them. "You have no right...to speak to me like that, Hanako Uchiha..." Akira said slowly, breathing heavily. "I am your mother, and you have to respect me." Hanako looked down, her long hair falling to the front, covering her face. "What did I do wrong with you?" Akira asked lowly. "Why are you like this, Hanako? Why can't you just...stand back a little?" Hanako bit her lip and tears rolled down her cheeks.
"When I did stand back a little...Dad got killed," she said. "I told you, Mom. I changed..."
"Then why?" Akira asked again slowly. "Why would you fight that girl?"
Hanako stayed silent.
"Why, Hanako?"
"She started it..." Hanako looked up at her mother with red puffy eyes. "She started mocking me about how I was like some sort of queen to this realm, and bothering me about crossing boundaries...I don't know, she was so weird; but that's not why I was angry at her..."
"Then why..."
"I was angry at because of her name..." Hanako muttered slowly. Shisui widened his eyes, and looked at Itachi. The boy was still staring at Hanako and her mom. Shisui called his attention, pulling out a paper from his pouch. It was Amane's first page of information. "When she said she was a Senju, I was angry at myself. I don't know why...I had never heard that name before. Just that it was the Clan the First and Second Hokage belonged to."
Shisui showed the paper to Itachi, and the boy widened his eyes. Amane used to have a grudge with the Senju Clan, but it didn't mention why or any details about it. Itachi looked back at Hanako, there was a slight possibility she really was Amane's reincarnation, but they needed more evidence to confirm it.
"All right," Akira finally nodded. "Go. But I don't want to hear about any more fights outside of sparring, understood?!"
Hanako nodded quickly, bowing at her mother. "Yes, ma'am." With that she left, heading towards her team meeting.
Shisui looked back at Itachi and nodded. "We should get going as well..." he commented, getting up from the table. Itachi followed him.
Hikari suddenly stopped Shisui, grabbing his forearm. "You are not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on," Hikari narrowed her eyes at him. "What's that paper you showed Itachi-kun?"
The two boys looked at each other with pale faces.
Hanako met with her team in the training grounds where the K.I.A stone rested. They were all wearing their ninja attire. Kazuki wore a blue t-shirt with a V-neck that made his blue eyes stand out, black pants and his blue ninja sandals. He wore his kunai holder on his right leg, besides wearing a weapon belt for the rest of his weapons.
Takeshi wore a fishnet shirt and over it a beige open jacket. He had black pants just like Kazuki's and his black ninja sandals. Unlike his friend, he used his kunai holder in his left leg, and in his waist he tied a weapon belt.
Hanako wore a fishnet shirt and over it a red V-neck t-shirt. She had a gray waist band, where she tied her own weapon belt. She also had black tights that reached over her knees and her kunai holder in her right leg. She had black ninja sandals and in her left hand she had a fingerless glove and a gray warmer around her right elbow.
They all had their village protector on their foreheads. The sensei, dressed in his Jounin attire, arrived with a smile on his face and three papers in his hand.
"As you must know, it's almost time for the Chunnin Exams, and I have decided to nominate the three of you to participate." He announced as he showed them the application forms in his hand. "If you want to, you must fill this form and come to class 301 in the academy, six days from today." He gave one form to each one of them.
"The Chunnin Exams?" Kazuki observed the form in his hands for a moment. "This surely is going to be full of strong guys..."
"That's why you'll need to train harder." Kaito looked sideways at the female Uchiha who watched her form with emotion filled eyes.
"Kaito-sensei," Takeshi called. "Please train me!" He begged, making the sensei smile.
He looked at his student. "Of course I'll train you." Kaito then looked at the girl. "But Hanako..." She looked at him. "Shisui told me that he will be the one to train you." Hanako widened her eyes.
"Shisui?" she asked.
"Yeah, he asked me if he could train you himself. He must be waiting for you, so you should get going."
"Oh...okay," she nodded. "See you later, then," Hanako waved at her teammates. "And thank you, Kaito-sensei." She smiled at the Jounin who smiled back at her.
"No problem. Good luck." She heard him say before parting.
Hanako detected Shisui's chakra at the bridge and headed in his direction. He was there standing with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. She moved to stand next to him, wondering if he had already noticed her presence.
"Before you ask," he suddenly said surprising her. "I'm sorry for not telling you earlier. Although you seemed pretty busy this morning." Hanako nodded looking down, trying to hide the embarrassment in her face. "Once again, I'm sorry kid, but you have to move on. And I don't mean to forget about you father," He opened his eyes to look at her. "I mean you have to accept he's gone." Hanako looked up to him and pressed her lips tightly.
"I know..." She shook her head, staring back down. "What are we going to do?" she asked.
"How about...walking on water?" Shisui smirked. "I think I owe you that." Hanako nodded. Shisui jumped off the bridge, landing swiftly over the water surface. "Concentrate your chakra on the soles of your feet and keep it balanced. If you're good for Genjutsu, then you should be good for chakra control. This shall be a piece of cake." Hanako nodded once again and did as the elder Uchiha said. When she felt ready, she jumped off the bridge and closed her eyes maintaining her chakra focused in the soles of her feet.
When she came in contact with the water, for her it was as if she had landed over the ground. It felt solid, as if a thin layer of crystal clear glass was covering the surface of the river. She opened her eyes and looked as the water continued with its flow despite of her feet in its way. Hanako looked up and noticed that Shisui was smiling widely.
"It wasn't so complicated now, was it?" Hanako smiled and shook her head. "Good, let's get going."
"Where to?" She raised an eyebrow.
"The woods," he replied curtly walking towards the trees. Hanako just shrugged and started following him, feeling slightly happier with every step she took over the water.
When they made it to the place in Shisui's mind, they finally stopped. Hanako noticed that there were targets nailed on the tree trunks, probably for shuriken and kunai aiming practice. Shisui looked at her.
"Climb that tree over there." He pointed to a tree behind her. Confused, Hanako just nodded before walking towards said tree. When she placed her hands in a stance to start the climbing, she was immediately stopped by the raven haired Uchiha. "Without using your hands."
"What?" She turned to him wide eyed. "How am I supposed to do that?" Shisui smirked and pointed his feet. Hanako looked at hers and placed one on the trunk but this slipped back down. "Shisui, you seriously got to be kidding me..."
"Nope." He chuckled. "I'm dead serious." His grin became solemn. Hanako sighed tiredly and looked up to the top of the tree. "It's the same principle as walking on water," Shisui explained. "Concentrate your chakra in the soles of your feet, take your impulse and run. Some say that it's even easier than walking on water. But in this case, if you concentrate too much chakra, you might get repelled from the tree." He smirked saying this.
Hanako looked back down. She focused on the bark as she took some steps backwards. She sighed and, focusing her chakra in her feet, she took the run. Taking her first step over the trunk, she started run-climbing. Shisui kept his intent stare on her, expecting her to reach the top shortly. When she was mid-way there, she focused too much chakra and the wood crunched under her feet.
"Tsk!" Hanako jumped back, doing a back-flip before landing on her feet. "Again!" she announced taking her run one more time. 'Come on Hanako, you can do this! You just have to keep your chakra balanced!' This time, she focused too little chakra and her feet slipped off the wood, letting her fall back to the ground. 'Dammit! This is too complicated...' She looked back at the top before closing her eyes and try to focus her chakra and balance it. She opened her eyes and took her run for the third time. This time she maintained the balance until she reached the top and smiled widely as she landed on the highest branch. She looked down at Shisui and found him smiling at her.
"So, you finally made it. Not bad, not everyone manages to success on their third try," he said.
"Well, you know the saying." Hanako crossed her arms. "The third time's the charm." Shisui chuckled.
"Fine, then. Come back down." Hanako jumped off the branch and landed swiftly beside him. "We'll start now with the basics of the Shinobi training: Taijutsu." Hanako raised an eyebrow.
"Now?"
"Yes, we ought to work on your stamina." Hanako sighed looking away. Without a warning, Shisui threw a fist towards her face, which she barely noticed and crouched to dodge it. "Never let your guard down!" he hissed. This time, he aimed a kick in her direction. Hanako covered herself with her arms letting the kick to send her flying backwards. She slid to a stop and moved her arms back down. Shisui suddenly appeared in front of her, making Hanako widen her eyes. 'How fast!' She activated her Sharingan, and tilted her head sideways just in time to avoid a hit directed to her left cheek. Shisui's fist landed on the trunk behind her; the wood cracked. Shisui sighed and looked sideways to the brunette that stood astonished beside him, wide eyes glued to the woods in front of her. "You need to learn hand combat. You can't always rely on Ninjutsu and Genjutsu."
During the first days of training, Shisui and Hanako worked on taijutsu without a break. When she finally started to get a hold of it, they moved to Ninjutsu. Using chakra bred paper, they found out that Hanako's second nature was wind. Shisui taught her how to mold it so she could increase her weapons' damage by making them sharper, and many other uses for her wind nature.
The six days went by, and finally the day of the Chunnin Exams caught up to them.