A Lethal Observer (Naruto) [ALW Series Book Two]

Chapter 6

Hanako headed towards the Academy. There were a lot of families gathered, speaking with each other. She became nostalgic, the sight reminded her of her own first day. A boy with short dark hair caught her attention. Sasuke was standing with his father, as Fugaku spoke to a teacher. The ceremony hadn't begun yet.

When the leader of the Uchiha caught her glance, he saluted her with a nod. She bowed back with respect and smiled at Sasuke, who happily waved at her. He didn't leave his father side, it was almost time for the ceremony to begin.

Looking around, Hanako noticed a small blond kid sitting alone in the swing in front of the Academy's entrance. She smiled and decided to walk towards him.

"Hey, are you all right?" Hanako asked with a small smile. The boy looked up at her for a second before looking back down. "Why are you all alone over here? Aren't you a new student?" He shook his head.

"To be enrolled into school, we have to be escorted by a relative." Hanako nodded.

"And where are your parents?"

The boy looked up at her. Hanako felt her stomach fall at the empty and sad look in his eyes. "I don't have any. I'm alone." Hanako frowned sadly and looked at the line of people. Kids waiting in line to say hi to their new teachers, while holding tightly into their parents' hands.

The Uchiha could feel a knot in her throat when she turned back to the blond, he was staring at the Academy with yearning eyes.

"What's your name?" She smiled slightly when he looked at her curiously.

"Naruto Uzumaki..." he responded hesitantly. Hanako's smiled grew when an idea popped in her mind. She would make this boy smile.

"So..." She pointed at the line of people. "You want to be a ninja?"

Naruto stared at her. His blue eyes traced her figure from top to bottom. Looking back up, they lingered on the metal plate over her forehead. His eyes widened. "You are a ninja?" Hanako nodded. "Yes! I want to be a ninja!" He looked back at the Academy again and his smile fell. "But... I can't get into the Academy."

"Well, Naruto," she extended her hand in his way. Naruto looked at the hand and then at her. "The ceremony is about to begin. We should get in line."

"What?" Naruto's blue eyes widened again. "But you're not my relative..."

Hanako smirked and kneeled to his level. She spoke softly. "But they don't know that, do they? They only need someone to sign your papers."

"You really would do that for me?" His eyes gleamed as he jumped off the swing. Hanako smiled and patted her shoulder.

"Hop on."

Naruto got onto her back happily, "Hey," he asked. "What's your name, sister?"

"Call me Hanako."

Sasuke was still standing with his father, but he had wanted to go say hi to the girl. He had taken a liking to her since she was like his brother. It didn't appear so, but he figured Hanako had to be a good shinobi if she hung with Shisui and his brother.

He found Hanako talking to the lonely boy in the swing. "Dad," Fugaku looked at him. "Who's that boy Hanako is talking to?"

Fugaku's eyes found the girl and his eyes widened when he recognized the boy with the demon fox inside him. He pressed his lips into a thin line. He forgot to answer Sasuke's question. The kid was becoming impatient. "Dad?"

Fugaku looked at his son again and smiled slightly. "Probably one of her friends. You should ask her."

Sasuke looked again at Hanako as she walked to stand in line with the boy in her back. "One of her friends?"

* * *

Itachi and Shisui had travelled for various hours when they decided it was time for a break, so they put up camp. Hisako, and some of her bodyguards sent on her father's petition, remained on the small clearing setting up tents; meanwhile the young ninja went to gather some wood for the fire and some clean water from the river.

"Itachi," Shisui suddenly called to the other boy when they were gathering the wood. Itachi just turned to look at him, waiting for him to continue. "The lord's daughter seem to have taken a liking to you." Itachi sighed, knowing what was probably coming next.

"She has the right to." Shisui looked at him with stern eyes.

"Itachi, we have a mission to complete." Itachi's lips tilted upwards.

"I never said I thought the same way about her," Itachi picked up some logs from the ground and held them in his arms. "Plus, we're only taking her to the border, and then we're going back. We won't be there by the time she's told she's getting married." Shisui sighed, shaking his head.

"Don't stick too much to the plan. The situation may change, and we may have to take her all the way to the Water Country." Itachi didn't say anything after that.

They both returned to the camp to find all the tents ready and everyone just sitting there, waiting for them. Itachi helped start a fire and cook some fish Shisui had caught in the river. Soon, they all ate and went to sleep. Shisui assigned Itachi to keep the first guard.

Itachi sat next to the fire, watching everyone as they lay down. Suddenly, he saw a figure moving from the tip of his eye and noticed Hisako had stood up and was slowly approaching him. Itachi kept his guard up in case there was anything else around, and he was also observing the girl in case she might try something.

Itachi knew Shisui was still awake. He wouldn't sleep until Hisako had gone to sleep herself. Itachi also knew that Shisui was waiting to see what would be his reaction.

Hisako sat in front of the fire, right beside Itachi. They sat there, in silence, for a moment until she broke the peace by asking some questions. "Hey, Itachi-kun...what is it like to be a ninja?" Itachi looked at her shortly before drifting his eyes back to the fire. He didn't reply to her question. However, that didn't stop her from asking something else. "When did you become a ninja?" she asked again, but yet Itachi didn't answer. He didn't have the need to answer her questions. "Do you have a girlfriend?" He certainly didn't expect that inquiry.

Itachi's mind tricked him when an image of Hanako appeared in his head at the mention of the word 'girlfriend', and he snapped "That's none of your business." He had had enough of her questioning. Shisui had tensed at his reaction, making Itachi press his lips into a thin line. Itachi took a breath to calm himself before speaking again. "You should go to sleep, Hisako. Tomorrow, we'll be on our way again and who knows when may we rest again." This time his voice was gentle. The girl stood with a nod and walked towards her tent. Itachi sighed in relief when she entered and zipped it up.

Shisui had gone to sleep as well, letting Itachi relax by himself. He couldn't help his mind wandering back to Hanako, imagining what she could be doing. Training was the most accurate guess. Itachi smiled.

* * *

Hanako destroyed the last training puppet with a fire jutsu. Fire has been her affinity since she mastered the techniques Madara had taught her, but she was mainly trying to get a hold of other types of nature, like wind. Hanako clicked her tongue, she had been training non-stop for the past six months. She hadn't seen nor heard from Madara, but she could feel Zetsu watching her from the shadows, probably to keep his tabs on her.

Hanako let herself fall on the grass under her with a sigh. She used the last of her chakra on that jutsu, so it was probably time to head home before she exhausted herself. She still hadn't learned anything about the Mangekyou Sharingan, and even less figured anything about the strange dreams she was having. Shisui and Hikari didn't have that much luck either.

The fire in the last training puppet was slowly dying down as smoke rose into the dark sky. "You seem to be working hard."

Hanako closed her eyes when she heard Kakashi's voice. "What are you doing here? Are you stalking me, Hatake?"

"I was just training. Meanwhile, all you do take out your anger in poor training puppets who have done nothing to hurt you. Yet, anyways."

"What do you mean by 'yet'?" Hanako commented with a laugh.

"I don't know. If you keep murdering training puppets they might rebel against you." Kakashi shrugged, sitting beside where Hanako was lying.

Hanako smiled slightly. "I'm not taking my anger on them, so they don't have a reason to rebel against me. I'm just training, you know, so I don't get rusty before our next mission."

Kakashi sighed. "Actually, there's something I need to tell you."

Hanako huffed. "No more bad news please, they can wait until tomorrow."

He frowned. "More?" Hanako didn't reply, she had her eyes closed and was breathing deeply. Kakashi would have believed she was asleep if she hadn't been talking only moments ago. "Well, this can't wait until tomorrow. I'm going back to team Ro, as their captain. Apparently, there's a high possibility a new intern will be assigned to my team, so I have to train them."

"A newbie?" Hanako smirked, and opened her eyes to look at Kakashi. "You don't happen to know who he is, do you?"

"I didn't even know it was a 'he'..." He arched an eyebrow as he looked at the girl. "You know who it is, don't you?"

Hanako looked back at the sky. "For a fact, I do."

"Someone you know?"

"A little too well," she sighed. "It's Itachi Uchiha. The leader's son. He was recommended by Danzo."

Kakashi looked at her with soft eyes. "Were those the bad news you were referring to earlier?"

"He's not fit for Anbu," Hanako looked at the burnt puppet. The fire had already died down. "I'm afraid it will change who he is, but Fugaku didn't seem to care about it when he accepted the offer without consulting it with Itachi."

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on him. Just like I went easy on you."

Hanako looked at him. "You were going easy on me?"

"Of course," he chuckled. "Normally I'm not so nice to people I just met, but it was different with you. I actually wanted to be nice to you."

Hanako smiled. "You promise you will be nice to him too?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I can play nice." Hanako rolled her eyes. "Remember I'm a captain of the Assassination Department, I can't be too nice or people will talk about me being bland. I can't have that."

"Sure, being rude will grant you the respect you deserve."

Kakashi put a hand on her head. Hanako looked at him with surprise, she didn't expect such a gesture. Especially not how he looked at her. "We can still go on a last mission together."

Hanako studied him. "What do you mean?"

"I know you were curious about the stone, too."

Hanako looked away from him. "How did you know?"

"You didn't pout after talking to Ibiki after he congratulated you for your good work." Hanako huffed and straightened up.

"Fine, yes I want to know what that stone is about."

"It's settled then." Kakashi stood up from the ground and dusted his clothes. Hanako watching him in disbelief.

"What?"

"Meet me in your locker tomorrow, five." Before Hanako could say anything, Kakashi was already gone.

* * *

It was ten o'clock when Hanako finally got home. She took off her sandals and walked directly to the kitchen for something to eat. Hikari was sitting at the table, reading some old scrolls Hanako recognized from the Uchiha Library. "What are you doing?" she asked her, grabbing an apple from the fruit basket.

"Studying," Hikari replied curtly, not even once taking her eyes off the parchment. Hanako sat across from her at the table and checked some scrolls she had around her.

"Jutsu of the Clan?" she raised an eyebrow at her as her lips tilted up into a smirk.

"Some of them are pretty interesting." That made Hanako chuckle.

"Sure." Hanako took a bite from her apple as he looked at her sister with a mischievous smile. "For real, what are you doing?"

Hikari looked at her and sighed. "The Hokage asked me to update him on the clan's abilities." Hanako frowned.

"All of them?"

"Of course I'm not including the Kinjutsu." She rolled her eyes. "The clan may have its secrets too."

"Why would the Hokage ask for such thing?"

Hikari shrugged. "I'm not sure. Last month he asked me to research the Edo Tensei."

Hanako raised an eyebrow. "Edo Tensei?"

"Yes, Orochimaru stole a scroll that had it, so the Hokage asked me to investigate it in case he decided to use it against the village," she replied returning to the scrolls.

"Hm, no idea. What kind of jutsu is that?" Hanako took another of her apple. She didn't know what type if jutsu could it be, but she knew that having Orochimaru in the equation meant it couldn't precisely be a good thing. Hikari looked at her.

"That's classified information."

Hanako's brows arched up. "I can keep a secret."

"I'm not even supposed to tell you I'm doing research!" Hikari almost yelled exasperated.

"Calm down," Hanako rolled her eyes. "You're going to wake the twins up, and I'm sure Mom won't be too happy about it."

Hikari sighed. "The Edo Tensei can reanimate souls by summoning them from the pure world in exchange for a living soul."

Hanako widened her eyes. "Does that kind of jutsu really exist?"

Hikari nodded. "But you don't know about it." She looked at Hanako warily. "Still there's something bothering me."

"What?"

"The Hokage often asks me personally for this kind of missions. This time, though, he only sent an Anbu with the request. That's strange, he doesn't like to involve other people in this matter." Hanako narrowed her eyes, taking another bite from her fruit.

"Are you sure it was the Third?" Hanako asked. "It could have been Danzo for all I know."

"I don't think he'll go that far." Hikari shook her head.

"You can never be too careful." Hanako shrugged. Hikari gave her a strange look, but her sister only raised her brows for a second before smiling.

* * *

Hours passed and Shisui woke up. He stood up and walked towards Itachi, who looked up at him with tired eyes. The fire had already died down.

"It's time to switch, I'll keep guard until morning." Itachi nodded, stood from his place next to the fireplace and headed to the spot Shisui had been lying at. "Wait," Shisui stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder. Itachi looked at him. "You look troubled," he said. "Is this about Hanako?" Itachi looked away, letting out a dry chuckle.

"How come everything is about her lately?" Shisui was staring at him seriously. Itachi knew that he could see right through him, so he wouldn't even waste his time trying to shrug it off. "She's been acting weird since the Chuunin Exams," Itachi commented. "But... I really don't have much to say since I've hardly spent time with her. Only if I'm either with you or with Sasuke." He frowned. Shisui suddenly started to laugh, catching Itachi's attention. "What's so funny?"

"I don't think she's the one acting strange, Itachi," he commented. "If anything, you are." Itachi looked at him with a frown. What was that supposed to mean?

Itachi sighed knowing that Shisui probably wouldn't explain himself any time soon.

"Do you like her?" Shisui asked. A small smile came to Itachi's lips.

"I think so," he looked up to the other Uchiha, only to find him smiling back at him.

"I know you do." He patted him on his back. "Go sleep for a bit." Shisui pushed him away. Itachi chuckled and lay down next to a tree, falling asleep shortly after.