As the exam began Shikamaru, Choji and I jumped from tree to tree.
"What's the plan, Shikamaru?" Choji asked after a few minutes.
"We get an Earth scroll." I rolled my eyes.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious. How?" I stated and was about to get an answer when I heard someone nearby. I jumped away from my spot as a ninja star landed where I had been.
"Not bad for a runt!" I turned to see another squad from the Mist Village. They were all wearing gas masks. The one closest to me went to attack, but Choji immediately punched him away.
"Thanks Choji!" I landed next to him and Shikamaru.
"What a drag and here I was hoping we could avoid fighting." My Sharingan appeared as I took notice of their movements and water clones.
"The real ones are hiding, these are all clones." Shikamaru sighed.
"Any ideas?" He muttered to me.
"If they're close enough to use clones, then..." I made the hand signs for my Fireball Jutsu. "Fireball Jutsu!" The fire burned up all the bushes a few feet away. "Found you!" I smirked.
"Leave it to Amaya, she's a natural fighter." Choji smirked.
"Annoying Uchiha!" One of the other gas mask guys glared at me.
~
With their water clones reappearing I knew we had to wrap this up sooner rather than later.
"Shikamaru, Choji can I leave the clones to you?" I asked.
"Yeah, but don't do anything stupid." Shikamaru gave me a stern look.
"Yes Asuma." I joked and jumped past the clones, heading straight for the originals. The guys aimed some tar at me.
Can't get hit with that!
I moved past and put one of the other guys in front of me as the tar splattered all over him.
"What are you doing?!" He yelled at his teammate. The other guy started to make more hand signs. I copied the signs and countered his water jutsu with my own.
~
In a few minutes I had been able to render the three men unconscious having to use Genjutsu, which wasn't my specialty. It took a vast amount of chakra.
"Nice work! Now we have everything we need to finish the exam." Choji complimented.
"We can't relax yet, we have to get to the tower without getting into anymore fights." I panted.
"You alright?" Shikamaru asked.
"Just tired, you know Genjutsu isn't my strong suit." He nodded and we all agreed to find somewhere to rest for the night. Choji had fallen asleep not long after we had made the fire.
"Typical Choji..."Shikamaru muttered.
"Let him rest, he's not like you or I." I smiled.
"I guess...so how are you feeling?" He asked.
"Better, still a little tired. But, I'll be okay."
"That's not what I'm talking about, about Itachi? And you know..." He trailed off without mentioning the ruby.
"...I'll be okay with time. Even now I still have issues with everything that happened." I muttered.
"How close were you to him and Sasuke?" This made me frown. Thinking about those memories made me sad and confused.
"We...were like siblings. I never had any siblings, but I met Sasuke when we were about four." I trailed off, remembering fondly on our meeting. Him and his mother were walking to the store while my father and I were heading to the training grounds.
"Huga, how are you?" His mother said to my father.
"I'm good, how are you and the boys?"
"they're all being as boyish and reckless as usual." She chuckled. "Is that little Amaya? My how you've grown." I was a shy kid then, but I have her a small smile."Where are you two heading?"
"The training grounds." This however made his mother gasp in shock.
"You're taking her training?"
"Yes, is there something wrong with that?"
"She's a little young don't you think? I mean she's only four."
"She is old enough to start her Sharingan training."
"But--" But before she could argue more my father spoke up.
"She is my daughter. I will raise her as I see fit." My father looked like he was about to drag me away when she spoke up once more.
"Has Amaya ever met Sasuke?" She gestured down to the small boy at her side.
"Probably not, she's not very social." Sasuke looked at me.
"Hi." He was shy too at the time.
"hi..." I mumbled back.
"Maybe this weekend you both could join us for dinner?" His mother questioned.
"I guess so. Would you want to, Amaya?" My father asked me.
"Yes father."
"Then we'll see you in a few days." And with that they walked by and my father and I went on our way.
~
Being jolted back to reality I saw Shikamaru staring at me waiting for more.
"We had dinner with his family, which is when I met Itachi. He was different than anyone I've ever met. He was distant, but caring. He loved Sasuke...I don't understand what changed that."
"Amaya..."
"I wouldn't have cared if it was just me, but why drag your own brother through this hell?" I muttered as the fire crackled in front of us.
"You still care about Sasuke even though he won't speak to you?" I sighed.
"I never hated him, I just was and still I guess am confused as to why he shut me out too. We both lost everything that day...but it was if I never was his friend at all." This seemed to upset him because he got up quickly. "Shikamaru?" I asked as he started walking away.
"I'm going to scout out the area." His voice was gruff.
"You don't have to lie to me. I know its stupid. That I shouldn't care, but its just not in my nature to turn against the only member of my clan left." He looked back at me.
"You're too kind." I chuckled sadly.
"My father used to tell me the same thing."
"really?" He asked shocked.
"Mhm. I was a shy and naive child. He told me if I was going to be a truly gifted shinobi, like Itachi that I had to have a thicker shell." Shikamaru said nothing in response. The fire crackled again.
"Did you like Itachi?" He suddenly asked.
"He was like an older brother."
"So when it happened..." He trailed off, but I knew what he wanted to ask.
"It was like someone stabbed me in the chest. He was my mentor when my Sharingan first awakened. I learned everything about being a shinobi from him."
"I see..."
"Think of it this way...if your best friend killed everyone you loved." I muttered and looked away.
"Best friend?"
"Yes..." We remained silent for a minute.
"Well now you have new friends to fill that void." He smiled slyly. I chuckled softly.
"Yeah, yeah."
~
Four hours later*
I had gotten to sleep after Choji and then Shikamaru took his rest. By the time the sun rose into the sky we were all rested and ready to go.
"Ready?" I asked jumping with them into the trees.
"Where do you think the others are?" Choji asked.
"Right now that's the least of your concern. We need to focus on getting to the--" I was cut off when we heard a scream.
"That's Sakura's scream." Shikamaru muttered.
"Do we check it out?" I asked, now suddenly concerned for Sasuke's wellbeing.
"We can check it out, but we shouldn't get involved." We deviated from our path in the direction of the noise of fighting. In the clearing was Sakura protecting Naruto and Sasuke as they both laid unconscious.
"Sasuke!" I whispered sharply, ready to help. Shikamaru grabbed my shoulder tightly.
"What did I say?"
"But we can't just leave them to die." He frowned, knowing I was right.
"Yeah, yeah. Amaya can you get Sakura?" I gave a firm nod. "Choji and I will distract them." We put our plan into motion. I jumped over to the woman trying to punch Sakura.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The flames poured from my lips as I blew the woman away from her. "Are you alright, Sakura?" I bent down to help her up.
"Amaya...thanks." She muttered. She looked horrible, but I give her props she had guts to take on three people at once without her other teammates.
"No worries. You just sit back and let us handle these chumps." I smiled.
"Aww isn't that sweet. But you're not going to beat me runt!" The woman charged me. My Sharingan appeared quickly and I punched her directly in the stomach, sending her flying back into a nearby tree. As I went to get the other two I saw Sasuke rise, black markings running down his face and arm. He also had an evil look in his eyes as the Sharingan appeared.
"Sasuke?" I muttered surprised.
"Sakura, who did this to you?" The other Sound ninja that had beaten Sakura repeatedly, smirked.
"That would be me." Instantly Sasuke was behind him, gripping his two arms. My ears rang as I watched in horror as he broke both of his arms.
"Sasuke! Stop!" I screamed, but he didn't. Only when Sakura hugged him from behind and begged him to stop did he finally.
"Sasuke..." I whispered. He looked at me, but I turned away terrified of this newfound power he possessed. Shikamaru and Choji walked over.
"You alright?" Shikamaru asked.
"Yeah..." I muttered. "Let's go."
"Amaya!" Sakura's voice made me turn. "Thank you, you saved my life." I gave her a weak smile.
"Don't mention it. See you." And with that we went on our way towards the tower.
"What was that power Sasuke had and those marks...?" Shikamaru muttered to himself.
"I..." I trailed off.
"Amaya?" Choji asked.
"I don't think that power is natural, it definitely isn't something the Uchiha Clan has. It had an evil aura about it."
Sasuke what happened to you?