Chapter Text
“Taichou! You brought a kiddie!” A short ANBU agent bounded up to her excitedly, and the way that they peered at her with the mask on was nothing short of eerie.
Two other agents stopped what they were doing to amble over. “Captain,” one of them said, the voice modulator affecting their tone into an odd, flat sort of thing. “You should’ve told us you had a lovechild.”
Kakashi probably scowled at that – but Itsuki couldn’t tell. He was hidden by the Hound mask. She fought the urge to fidget with her own mask; it fit comfortably and she could feel the subtle chakra seal sticking it to her skin like it was made to be there, but she couldn’t shake the awareness that it was there.
“Maa, where would the fun in that be?” Kakashi drawled. His voice, too, was oddly flat.
The ANBU that had spoken pulled off her mask, revealing a pale, soft face with dark eyes framed by shoulder-length brown hair. She peered at Itsuki as if she could see through her. Itsuki fidgeted with her armguards.
“So, is this the apprentice that has everyone gossiping?” she asked. Itsuki frowned. Everyone?
Kakashi – Hound, nodded. “Everyone, this is Tiger.” He nodded towards Itsuki, and she stood up a little straighter.
The unidentified ANBU closest to her snorted. “Cub,” he said.
She frowned, but raised a hand in greeting. “Hi,” she said, awkwardly. She felt very, very out of her depth. ANBU apprenticeships rarely happened, Kakashi had told her, but she’d caught some eyes at the Jounin Exams.
You have talent, he’d told her, and they’d be fools not to see that. Apparently, Konoha had a place for the best of the best: the wisest, the most experienced, the most dangerous, and – the loose cannons. The ones unfit for leadership, but suited to be pointed in a direction as lethal weapons. The ones like her – although, Kakashi confided, not quite like her; she just needed more experience. The other… loose ends tended to stay loose.
In the meantime, though, it would be a waste not to direct her talents, at least he’d argued with Command. She was also Konoha's only other Sharingan user, but Kakashi didn't say that to her. After his year training her they’d been itching to get him back in the field. He’d worked intermittently with ANBU over the past year, leaving for a week at a time occasionally, but not nearly as often as Command wanted. They'd apparently had worked out the apprenticeship as a compromise.
Don’t get me wrong. They noticed you first. It wouldn’t have worked at all if they didn’t have their eye on you, and it sounds like they’ve been watching you since the Chuunin Exams.
Kakashi didn’t think she was ready, though, and neither did Command. They’d wanted to wait a few years – at least until she’d made Jounin. Kakashi refused to come back without her. It was an obvious, if not uncommon solution. At least she’d stay out of the field, if only for a little bit longer while getting trained up to ANBU standards. She’d still have to make the cut, but the way Kakashi relayed it, that was practically going to be a given once they were done with her.
“Tiger,” Kakashi continued, “This one over here is Weasel – ” he motioned at the nearby one, who was now bouncing on their toes, “This is Rabbit,” he motioned towards the woman, “and this is Hawk.” True to form, Hawk stood at a slight distance, watching silently. He inclined his head, and the hawk shaped details on his ANBU mask made it seem like his gaze never left her.
“So,” Weasel said eagerly, crowding into her space, “How long’ve you had the mask?”
She took a half step back and noted the way Weasel tracked the movement intently. She froze, feeling like an insect under the heavy regard of everyone else in the room. None of them had any chakra signatures, she realized. They were suppressed so thoroughly it was as if they didn’t exist.
“Um – ” she said, mouth dry, “since this morning. Kaka-sensei – ” she caught herself, and flushed hard, grateful that they couldn’t see her under the mask, and that Kakashi’s identity was probably an open secret. “I mean, Hound-sensei,” she hesitated and glanced towards Kakashi – “er –taichou?” she corrected. He nodded, and she continued, “Hound-taichou broke into my house at dawn to tell me.”
Hawk snorted, but in her periphery, Rabbit stiffened at the news. “Classic,” she said dryly, but her face was face flat with disapproval. The air thickened with tension. Involuntarily, Itsuki recoiled, and they all clocked it visibly.
“Alright!” Kakashi clapped his hands, breaking the tension and catching everyone’s attention. “Enough of that!” Rabbit’s severe expression didn’t change. “Let’s run some drills.”
He paired her with Hawk, who was bigger, stronger, and faster than she was – though she’d gathered that was the point - for taijutsu practice. Keep your Sharingan on the entire time, Kakashi had ordered in a voice so low that only she could hear – she appreciated that they were all pretending not to know who she was, as if it wasn’t common knowledge that Kakashi’s only student was the last Uchiha still loyal to Konoha.
She could, in theory, appreciate the logic behind it: build her physical endurance and refine her chakra control at the same time. In practice, though, she wanted to murder Kakashi.
Kami, it hurt. Hawk was brutal, and fast – so fast that she had to have three tomoe going just to follow his movements. She could see it, the muscle twitch before he lunged, the flicker of intent in his eyes as he went for the feint, but he was there before she could do anything other than dodge or frantically block. She could read him, but there wasn’t any real time to process and respond, much less fight him. He was relaxed, too, she could tell. Focused, but relaxed. Her taijutsu didn’t present any real threat, and they both knew it.
She leapt back, putting several feet of distance between them as she gasped for breath. He had the decency to wait as she gulped frantic breaths of air, hands braced on her knees.
“You good, kiddie?” Hawk asked. Despite the diminutive nickname, there didn’t seem to be any mocking or malice in his voice.
“Just – just a sec,” she wheezed. Her muscles burned, and she could feel her chakra coils beginning to protest. She’d only ever used her Sharingan in short bursts before. Kakashi had put her through intense training before the Jounin Exams, but – fuck, the change of pace was jarring. She’d have to change her warmup routine.
She stood up, folding her hands above her head as she focused on her breathing. She cycled her chakra, once, twice, before it started to even out.
“All good,” she croaked. She raised her fists and slid smoothly into a taijutsu stance, muscles feeling a bit better from the short break. She flicked her Sharingan back on – she hadn’t even noticed that she’d let them slip – and ignored the quick pulse of pain behind her eyes. Hawk matched her. They bowed, and before she could blink, before she could even think, he was in front of her, aiming for her face.
She dropped, catching the next blow on her forearms (thank kami for the arm guards; she couldn’t imagine doing this bare-handed, she was probably already covered in bruises) and retreated to the defensive, mostly dodging and blocking. At some point, Hawk must’ve noticed, because he switched his style ever-so-slightly, leaving a purposeful opening here, a hesitation there. She wouldn’t have even noticed it without the Sharingan, hell, without the relentless feed of information from all three tomoe to her brain she wouldn’t have been able to tell there were openings at all. Clearly, he wanted her to go on the attack.
She scowled, frustrated that he was going easy on her, was encouraging her, and frustrated that she could barely keep up anyway. Still, she tried, and they switched, with Itsuki on the attack and Hawk on the frustratingly relaxed defensive. Every time she slipped, he landed a blow – kitten taps, really, and she knew it, by the way they hardly stung, and were more of an assertion of you’re open here.
She turned a fall into a roll as she bobbed and wove out of the way, desperately trying to land a hit. He caught every one. Her head was starting to hurt. And then, her chakra flickered. Her control lapsed, and her Sharingan blinked out. It was just an instant, but it was enough for him to land a brutal kick to the ribs, and instead of absorbing it, or blocking it, she went flying into the dirt, landing hard enough to knock the wind out of her.
She wheezed, waiting for the air to come back to her, but her ribs burned, and when she could finally take short, shallow breaths, each one came with a bruising pressure and dull pain on each inhale. She swore, painstakingly pushing herself up with one arm, clutching her ribs with the other. She clenched her teeth at the spike of pain, and black spots briefly danced in her vision. When they cleared, Hawk was there, standing over her. He held out his hand. She frowned. Even though the spots were gone, her vision was still blurry.
“You alright?” She couldn’t tell very easily through the voice modulator, but he sounded concerned.
“I think you broke my ribs,” she wheezed.
“Ah, fuck.” He pulled off his mask in one smooth motion, revealing a sharp, angular face, brown skin, and close-cropped hair. He frowned and looked her over with a piercing stare, the same heavy weight of his regard behind his gaze that all ANBU members seemed to have, and Itsuki could see why they had selected the name “Hawk,” for him. He looked to be in his late twenties, if she had to guess.
He ran a finger roughly through his hair, looking frustrated. “Didn’t taichou teach you to reinforce your body with chakra?”
She scowled. “I slipped up.”
Hawk tsked and bent down to slide her arm over his shoulder, hoisting her up onto her feet. She hissed in pain.
“Try to bear with it,” he muttered, looking at her sideways. He turned towards where Kakashi and Rabbit were sparring, their bodies blurs of motion as they clashed. Rabbit seemed to be wielding ninja wire like a garrote, the fine filaments sweeping around her in deadly arcs as she controlled their directions effortlessly while Kakashi countered with a kunai. Weasel stood off to the side with the dummies, working on some kind of ninjutsu. The dummies seemed to be… crumpled?
“Taichou!” Hawk yelled. “Gotta take the kiddie to the infirmary!”
Kakashi and Rabbit paused, looking over. “Already?” Kakashi asked. Itsuki’s already sour mood worsened.
She jumped, and then winced, as Weasel shunshinned over, appearing in an instant next to them. He poked her ribs, and she bit back a yell, instead clenching her teeth and snarling viciously at him.
“Oh yeah, that’s bad,” he said, ignoring her. He tsked. “Hawk, you should know to pull your blows against Cub.”
“It’s Tiger,” Hawk said, unaffected. “And I was pulling my blows. Her chakra control lapsed.”
Weasel tilted his head, turning back towards Itsuki. “Oh, then it’s embarrassing for you. You shouldn’t do that.”
Itsuki glared at him. “Obviously,” she growled.
Weasel just laughed, voice eery and flat. He tucked his hands behind his back and stood back up straight, waltzing back a few steps before stopping. He leaned sideways to peer around the two of them. “Oh no,” he said, nearly singsong. “Here comes Mom. Well, that’s it for me. Hawk, get her back in one piece please. I want to spar with Cub next.” He gave a saucy one fingered salute and disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing across the underground training arena, this time summoning a pillar of earth from the dirt floor. He hopped on top of the pillar and folded himself into a lotus position, for all intents and purposes meditating. Itsuki could feel the buzz of chakra from across the room, but stopped at the icepick warning pulse that passed through her skull as she tried to activate her Sharingan. Without it, her chakra sensing was too poor to tell what he was doing. Her vision blurred further. Oops.
“I’ll take her,” Rabbit said, ambling up next to them. “Taichou wants to work with you, Hawk.”
Hawk glanced back at Itsuki, who was feeling slightly like a bag of rice at the market, then again to Rabbit. “You sure? I don’t mind.”
Rabbit easily slid Itsuki from Hawk to her shoulders. Despite her small stature, Rabbit felt surprisingly… dense, as if she was made entirely of rock-hard muscle. Itsuki unsuccessfully suppressed the groan of pain and made a strangled sound at the back of her throat at the transfer.
“I’ve got it,” Rabbit said, half supporting Itsuki as she walked her out of the training arena.
ANBU, as it turned out, had its own on-site infirmary in what Itsuki was starting to suspect was a massive, sprawling underground complex. They had their own secret entrance to the hospital too, but the infirmary was convenient for simpler things. Too many training accidents, Rabbit told her, keeping up a steady flow of one-sided conversation as she half-carried Itsuki to the infirmary. Itsuki just nodded vaguely.
The medic on call – from what she could see, at least – was an intimidating-looking middle-aged man. Angry, ropey scars trailed across his hands and up his forearms, disappearing into his sleeves.
“Didn’t anyone tell you idiots to pull your punches against the kiddies?” he said immediately, glare narrowing on Rabbit.
“Wasn’t me,” she drawled. “You should bring it up with Hawk.” She set Itsuki none-too-gracefully on the couch and Itsuki wheezed out an oomph. “Oops,” Rabbit said, looking chagrined, "Sorry."
The medic – Gecko – fussed over her ribs, and she sighed in relief as his iryou-ninjutsu washed over her, the pain finally abating until it was just a slight soreness.
“Anything else?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she replied, lifting her mask and shaking out her hair, “my vision's been all blurry.”
He peered close, placing his fingers against her temples. She felt the strange sensation of a foreign chakra sweeping over her system, not interfering, just… looking. It felt... tingly. It might've been a nearly unbearable sensation if it went on for too long, but Gecko pulled away quickly enough. He harrumphed. “You Uchiha are all the same. Always overdoing it. Close your eyes. I need to focus.”
She listened, and let herself bask for a moment in the relief that his iryou-ninjutsu brought, before –
You Uchiha are all the same. “Have you met other Uchiha in ANBU?”
“Did I not just say to be quiet?”
She shut her mouth, but not without frowning.
After a moment, she was allowed to open her eyes again, and her vision was – mostly – clearer. Gecko looked pensive.
“Yes,” he said, “I’ve met other Uchiha. I used to treat – ” he cut himself off, eyes widening, and cleared his throat. Itachi went unsaid, although he might as well have announced it with a gong. “I saw and treated many of your family members,” he amended. He scoffed. “Reckless, the lot of you. All of you fools here, in fact.”
“Like you aren’t any better,” Rabbit teased gently.
Gecko sniffed, turning away. “Have you any other reason to haunt my doorstep, or are you two going now? I’m quite a busy man, you know.”
“Sure, sure,” said Rabbit easily. “Come on, Tiger.”
She got up, and turned to go –
“Tiger.” She paused at the door.
Gecko looked awkward. “I understand that we are both quite busy individuals. However, it has come to my attention that your… circumstances, are – unique. If time allows, you may come and ask me any questions that you may have about some of your kin.” He coughed. “I fancy that I knew a good number of them better than they ever wanted me too.” He smiled wryly. “Benefits of being a medic.”
Her eyes widened. She nodded, throat dry. “Um – yes,” she said. “Yes, I would – I’d like that. Thank you.” She half-turned to leave, but caught herself, and slipped into a shallow bow. “Thank you, Gecko-san,” she repeated, and then turned to follow Rabbit.
Rabbit led her back into the warren of underground tunnels in the training area; although it was fairly straightforward to navigate, there were so many training grounds – normal ones; both small and private and large and public; pitch dark ones; ones designed for specific types of jutsu… Rabbit relayed all of this to her, and Itsuki did her best to take it in without getting overwhelmed.
Then Rabbit paused. Itsuki stopped in the hall next to her. “Hey,” she said, “How old are you again?”
Itsuki frowned. “Thirteen, why?”
Rabbit turned to face her, her pretty face twisted in an expression that Itsuki couldn’t place. She hesitated. “I actually wanted to talk to you about something. You said that taichou broke into your apartment?”
Itsuki blinked, taken aback. “Yes?”
“…Has he ever done anything else like that?”
Itsuki frowned. “I mean, we all broke into each other’s homes all of the time. Team Seven, I mean – my genin team,” she clarified hurriedly at the confused look on Rabbit’s face.
Rabbit’s frown deepened. “And has any of that made you… uncomfortable? I mean,” she hesitated again, and then sighed, all of the air rushing out of her in a whoosh. “Has taichou done anything to make you uncomfortable?” she asked, voice firm, as if she’d steeled herself.
“Like…?” Itsuki left the unsaid part hanging.
Rabbit nodded. “Yes.”
“No. No.” Itsuki shook her head emphatically. “He would never – wait, he’s your taichou, surely you would know he would never – ” she broke off, furrowing her brow.
Rabbit smiled gently. “Just because I think he would never, doesn’t mean he wouldn’t ever.”
“He hasn’t, though,” Itsuki said firmly. “And he won’t. Not ever.”
Rabbit slumped her shoulders, exhaling. She shut her eyes. “Good.” She smiled at Itsuki. “Good,” she repeated.
Itsuki offered her a bemused smile. A moment passed before Rabbit continued.
“Listen,” she said, “He ever does anything, and I mean anything that makes you uncomfortable, or sets off alarm bells or makes you feel unsafe – you come to me immediately, and we go straight to Command. Okay?”
“Alright,” Itsuki said, confused, “But why are you – I mean, you don’t know me – ”
“No, but you’re a kunoichi in a vulnerable position. Hawk and Weasel don’t get what that’s like, but I do, and I’d have to be pretty shitty to not keep an eye out for you.” She shrugged. “Men with cleaner reputations that taichou have done worse things. Gotta keep an eye out for my kouhai, you know?” She smiled and gently shoulder checked Itsuki before starting down the hallway again. Her footsteps were silent. She turned her head over her shoulder and threw a smile at Itsuki. “You coming?”
Itsuki grinned, and half-jogged to catch up with Rabbit, her mask gripped tightly in her hand.