The early morning mist clung to the stone paths of the Uchiha compound, carrying with it the chill that lingered just before sunrise. Lanterns still flickered dimly along the outer walls, their orange glow slowly fading as daylight crept in
Yuzuki stepped out the front door with her arms crossed, half of her hair still stubbornly refusing to behave after sleep. Her eyes narrowed immediately
"Ah" she muttered, deadpan
"Time to switch babysitters again"
Just ahead, Shisui and Itachi stood in quiet conversation near the gate. Their voices didn't carry, but their posture said enough, close, low-voiced, the kind of talking done when one of them had seen something the other should know. The kind of talking people weren't supposed to overhear
{Interesting} Indra mused from within {They've been doing this more often. Something they don't want others to hear, perhaps?}
'Knowing those two, it's either high-level strategy or ranking breakfast foods'
{Itachi doesn't seem like someone who ranks breakfast}
'Maybe, but he's suspiciously specific about tea temperatures'
As she approached, Shisui looked up first, grin already forming
"Good morning, future terror of the shinobi world"
Yuzuki raised a brow
"Big words coming from today's designated escort"
He put a hand over his heart
"Guardian, thank you very much"
"Semantics" Itachi said, not even looking at them
Yuzuki stretched her arms overhead with a loud, unbothered yawn
"Details"
Shisui chuckled
"At least I try to be entertaining"
"Someone has to be" Yuzuki replied-bone dry, but with the ghost of a smile
Shisui clutched his chest like he'd been shot
"Oof. Right in the ego"
"Good. Keeps it from swelling"
She stepped back, chakra crackling faintly around her
"And I'd like to leave before it bursts"
Itachi's brow lifted a fraction
"Going somewhere?"
Yuzuki grinned-sharp and bright
"Training ground"
She vanished in a flash of red and gold, leaving only a gust of wind and the faint scent of ozone behind
The boys blinked. A beat. Then:
"...Please tell me you didn't show her how to do that" Itachi said, eyeing Shisui
"I wish I had" Shisui muttered, hands on his hips
"She's moving faster than I can keep up. I'm starting to feel a little outpaced"
Itachi tilted his head, unreadable
"She stole another scroll"
"Yep"
They stood in silence again
"...You're not going after her?"
Itachi glanced up at the dissipating trail of chakra still hanging faintly in the air
"I'm scheduled to observe, not chase"
"Fair" Shisui turned to leave, raising a hand
"Good luck surviving her mood swings"
"She only has them when she's bored"
"So... always?"
Itachi didn't answer
...
{You're just showing off}
Indra remarked from somewhere in the back of her mind as the wind whipped around her flickering form
{All this flash, just to prove you can}
'Of course I am' Yuzuki thought, a grin tugging at her lips as she flickered through the trees
'You think I'm gonna walk when I can vanish in style?'
{One day, you're going to flicker yourself straight into a wall}
'I'll give the wall a warning first'
{How generous of you}
...
The training grounds were still recovering from yesterday's chaos, a few scorched stones, a training post missing half its top, nothing too dramatic
Yuzuki was mid-warmup, her arms loose, her breathing steady, when she heard the unmistakable sound of calm footsteps behind her. She didn't bother turning around
"So" she called out, stretching one leg over a boulder "The scroll you definitely didn't misplace in the totally wrong section of the library, 'Shadow Clones for Dummies', I think it was, right between 'The Collected Poetry of the Second Hokage' and 'So You've Accidentally Summoned a Toad'. Top notch shelving work, truly"
Silence
Then Itachi's voice, low and neutral:
"Are you accusing me of curating library inventory now?"
"I'm accusing you of planting bait with the subtlety of a stampede"
She twisted her torso, let her spine pop, and without even looking, tossed a scroll behind her, Itachi caught it easily
"That thing reeks of your brand of helpful sabotage" she added, turning to face him
{He really does have a signature when it comes to manipulative good deeds, doesn't he?} Indra mused
'Subtlety is for people who don't want to be found out'
Itachi examined the scroll, no damage, just some singe marks around the edge
"Most wouldn't have realized it was a recent copy"
"Most wouldn't be me"
Itachi didn't deny it
"You learned the technique"
"I did"
"Then the scroll served its purpose"
She crossed her arms "So why the detour? If you wanted me to learn it, you could've just taught me.
Instead, I get a scavenger hunt through cryptic Second Hokage fanfiction and amphibian misadventures"
"Sometimes" Itachi said "what you find on your own teaches more than what someone hands you"
"That's not wisdom" Yuzuki muttered "That's just passive parenting"
{Not entirely wrong} Indra commented {But still, he got you to do it}
She rolled her eyes
Itachi extended the scroll back to her
She took one look at it, snapped her fingers, and set it ablaze.
The fire flared, then curled into smoke and ash
"...You're not going to keep it?" Itachi asked
"Nope" She said, smiling faintly "Fire's fun"
She turned on her heel, already walking away
Itachi blinked once "You're in a good mood"
She grinned wider "I just set something on fire. Of course I'm in a good mood"
{You really do have the emotional range of a pyromaniac} Indra said
"I am the goddess of fire" She added over her shoulder, her tone more cheerful than smug this time "You should've expected this"
Itachi watched her go in silence, ash still drifting down around his feet
...
The air in the training grounds crackled
A dozen kunai buried themselves with perfect symmetry into the wooden posts. Some curved through the air unnaturally, thrown around corners. One had ricocheted off a rock before burying itself in a target's center
Itachi stood silently at the edge of the field, arms folded, watching
Yuzuki didn't look his way. She was already mid-sequence, weaving hand seals before her breath even steadied. A flare of heat shimmered around her fingers
She exhaled
"Fire Style-"
Before she finished, flames bloomed from her fingertips, the jutsu igniting a half-second before the last seal was even locked. The resulting torrent of flame scorched a training dummy to a half-melted stump, the surrounding grass curling from the heat
Itachi narrowed his eyes
{You didn't even finish the hand seals} Indra's voice hummed in Yuzuki's mind {Not fully. Impressive}
'I'm just making improvements' Yuzuki replied, smirking
Itachi finally spoke "Your fire takes shape before your jutsu does"
She glanced at him, tilting her head "That's one way to compliment me"
He stepped forward "You've been experimenting"
"I get bored doing things the normal way"
{This is how she learns, by burning half the field down until something works}
"I'll spar with you" Itachi said
Yuzuki's grin sharpened "Oh? Finally ready to lose?"
They clashed almost instantly, movements fast and crisp. Taijutsu first-clean strikes, counters, evasions. He blocked a low sweep; she ducked a high kick
As their spar dragged on, their rhythm took form, two shadows weaving between each other, no wasted movement, no breath spared for anything but precision
But Yuzuki, being Yuzuki, talked anyway
"Why do you pretend so much?"
Itachi's fist stopped just short of her shoulder. She twisted away, elbowed him lightly in the ribs, and darted back
"...Pretend what?" he asked, not really denying it
"That everything's fine. That you're fine"
She pivoted under his arm and landed a glancing strike to his side
"You walk like you're made of glass. You talk like every word has to be calculated five steps ahead"
Itachi didn't answer immediately. He parried, then responded between breaths
"Not everything is meant to be shared"
Yuzuki scoffed "You're lying"
Another flurry, she pushed harder now, fast and reckless. Itachi met her with minimal force, redirecting her energy rather than contesting it
"I'm used to lies" she said "But you're not even good at them"
Silence again, then, it was Itachi who spoke
"Why do you push so hard? What are you trying to outrun?"
That hit differently, her next strike faltered just slightly, but she caught it, recovered
"Because power is control" she muttered "And control means I get to decide"
He caught her wrist mid-punch, but she twisted out of his grip, dropping low
"Decide what?"
"Everything"
{That's not ominous at all} Indra offered, half-impressed
Itachi didn't press her further, but she didn't let up
"Do you think I hate him?"
It took him a second to realize who she meant "Fugaku?"
"Of course Fugaku" she snapped "He's never once looked at me the way he looks at Sasuke. Or even you"
"He's-"
"Worried?" she cut in "No. He looks like he's bracing to be disappointed"
Itachi hesitated
Yuzuki backed off, catching her breath, brushing soot off her sleeve
"He talks like I'm a threat. He looks at me like one. And you... you always look like you're waiting for the mask to fall off"
Itachi's expression didn't shift, but his silence said enough
"You pretend to be someone you're not" she said
Then, more softly-but sharper: "Why?"
Itachi met her eyes "...Because sometimes being yourself puts others in danger"
She absorbed that. Then said: "That's dumb"
{A concise rebuttal} Indra said dryly
Itachi gave her a long look "You do it too"
Yuzuki blinked
"You act like you're above it all. Like you're older than you are. Like you're not still a kid"
She didn't flinch "I'm not"
"You pretend to be a goddess"
"I am one"
A beat passed. Her tone hadn't shifted. She didn't say it with bravado or drama, just certainty
She wiped sweat from her brow and turned away
"You put on a mask to protect people. I wear mine to remind them what I am"
"...And what's that?"
She turned her head just enough to smile at him over her shoulder
"Someone who gets to decide"
...
Their spar had burned off the edge of the morning. Smoke still curled lazily from the blackened stumps in the training grounds, and Yuzuki sat cross-legged in the dirt, twirling a half-charred kunai between her fingers
Itachi stood nearby, arms folded, unreadable as always
She eyed him sideways "You've got something else, don't you?"
He nodded slightly, then reached into his sleeve and handed her two scrolls
Yuzuki took them with a raised eyebrow, her fingers trailing across the old seals. She frowned "These aren't jutsu"
"No" Itachi said simply "They're stories"
She stared at him "You're giving me bedtime reading now?"
"They're not just stories. They're histories. Of the Kurama and Chinoike clans"
Yuzuki blinked, interest flickering, just for a moment "Why?"
"Because you said power is control" he said "These clans believed the same. And it destroyed them"
She looked down at the scrolls, unimpressed "You think I'm going to change my mind because of a couple tragic cautionary tales?"
"I think" he said "That if you want to control something as fickle as perception, you should understand what happens when people fail to"
Yuzuki opened the Kurama scroll first. Its ink was strange, faded and slightly iridescent under the light.
The writing had a rhythm to it, like a myth told over firelight:
[The girl wept in her sleep, and the battlefield wept with her
They called her a curse, a vessel, a storm walking in human form
Her mother did not live to see what became of her. No one did]
She paused, then flipped through the margins. Tucked in the crease of the scroll, she found a single line scrawled in different ink, older, shakier:
[To see beyond the reflection, one must first see themselves as illusion]
Yuzuki tilted her head "This isn't part of the official account"
{A personal note, maybe} Indra murmured {Or a warning}
She said nothing. Just kept reading. Then snapped the scroll shut
"The Kurama are interesting. But extinct, right?"
"Not entirely"
"And the Chinoike clan?"
Itachi's gaze didn't shift. "Yes, they are"
Yuzuki didn't push
She looked up at him again, something sharper in her voice now "You believe in this whole tragic downfall moral arc thing?"
"I believe in patterns"
She shook her head slowly "No. You believe in control through detachment. You wear that cold mask like armor"
Itachi didn't react
"And the funny part is" she continued "You're so good at genjutsu, but such a bad liar"
He raised an eyebrow, faintly "Genjutsu is rooted in belief" he said "In manipulating what people think is real"
Yuzuki smiled faintly "So are lies. The only difference is whether you're casting it on others or on yourself"
{That's... actually quite insightful} Indra said {Are we writing that one down?}
Yuzuki ignored him
Itachi, for his part, remained quiet
She leaned back on her palms, staring at the clouds drifting overhead "At what point" she asked "does the mask stop being a mask? When does it start fooling even you?"
He didn't answer
"You call me childish" she continued "But I know what I am"
Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly "Do you?"
"I'm not pretending to be someone I'm not" she said "You are"
They stared at each other for a long moment, different worlds behind their eyes
"...We'll have to agree to disagree" Itachi said at last
Yuzuki nodded once "You're foolish"
He offered the faintest smirk "And you're still a child"
"Maybe" she said, standing up and dusting herself off "But at least I'm not boring"
He handed her the scrolls again "Keep them"
She considered them, then shrugged "Fine. I like the Kurama one. The writing's dramatic"
{Of course that's what you care about} Indra muttered
She tucked the scrolls under her arm and turned to go
"You'll burn them, won't you?" Itachi asked mildly
Yuzuki paused "I burned the last one because I already understood it" she said without looking back "This time, I might actually learn something"
Then she vanished in a flicker of red flame, leaving only the curl of smoke behind
-=-
Yuzuki stopped near a shaded alleyway just before the turn home. The street was empty, the early evening quiet except for the soft wind brushing through leaves overhead. She looked both ways, then crouched down and formed a seal with her hands
With a puff of smoke, a perfect copy of herself stood before her
The clone blinked at her, smirked, and without needing words, darted off in the opposite direction, silent, swift, and with purpose
She straightened, brushing invisible dust from her sleeves
{More errands?} Indra asked, faint amusement curling at the edge of his voice
"Efficiency" she replied "Besides, no one ever suspects the clone"
{Still, it's a lot of effort for someone supposedly 'on a leash'}
Yuzuki shrugged "If they put up walls, it's only fair I go through the ceiling"
She resumed her walk, hands behind her head, casual but alert. Her eyes wandered across rooftops, scanning for movement
{You realize Itachi had those scrolls prepared. Waiting. That wasn't something he did on a whim}
She frowned, barely visible "I know"
{Then why? What did he expect to happen?}
"Maybe nothing" she muttered "Maybe he just wanted to feel in control of something"
{You fought with him today. In more ways than one}
She snorted "Talked"
{You literally sparred}
"Talking. With fists"
She grinned faintly
Indra was quiet for a beat, then asked more pointedly:
{Then why does his mask bother you so much? His... pretending?}
She didn't answer immediately. Her gaze drifted upward, watching a hawk disappear into the clouds
{You pretend, too. You act older than you are. You wear the identity of someone who no longer exists. You were- are, the goddess of fire. But even so... you're not who you used to be. Not completely}
She stopped walking, hands falling to her sides
"Because he's lying"
{So are you-}
"Let me finish, you overtalking ghost" she said flatly
{...}
"He's lying to himself. And that's the kind of lie that hurts the most"
Indra was silent
Not stunned, exactly, but taken aback. She could feel his presence shift, thoughtful and watching
{You've said that before}
"I learned it from someone once" she said quietly, eyes tracing the path ahead
{A wise teacher, then}
Indra offered the words with a kind of distant respect, the way one might admire a well-placed kunai
Yuzuki huffed a laugh
"Wise? Him? He treated plans like polite suggestions. If a thought struck, so did he, literally. Half the time, I couldn't tell if he was chasing enemies or racing his own attention span. He swore like it was a breathing technique. I learned three different ways to insult someone's intelligence and their ancestors, before breakfast"
She jumped to a higher branch, chakra-light flickering under her feet
"He walked around like he'd invented lightning. Called himself 'efficiently brilliant'-which is just a fancy way of saying insufferable know-it-all. And overwhelmingly energetic, like trying to contain a thunderstorm in a teacup. If he stood still for more than five seconds, you knew something explosive was about to happen, or already had"
A pause. Then, with theatrical dread: "And worst of all... He was British"
{...British?}
"Yeah" she said, nodding solemnly, like it explained everything "Means he was born with sarcasm in his bloodstream and the uncontrollable urge to complain about the weather while drinking hot leaf water"
{Hnn... Sounds formidable}
She smiled, bitter now, the weight of memory settling in her chest "And he was my friend"
Indra didn't reply. He didn't need to
But something clicked in his silence. For all her fire, all her smirks and sharp words, she still carried others with her. Even those she had lost. Especially those
They turned a corner, their house gates coming into view
Up ahead, Itachi walked slowly, hands tucked behind his back, seemingly lost in thought
Yuzuki cupped her hands around her mouth "You call that walking? I've seen molasses with better acceleration!"
Itachi didn't break stride "And I've seen fireworks with less energy" he called back without turning
She jogged to catch up, smirking
Fire, ghosts, shadows, and masks- She could handle them all
-=Chapter End=-
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