Story: Hummingbird

Author: MizukiYukiko

Rated: M

Pairing: ItachiXSakura

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Naruto.

Summary: Chosen to be the first apprentice of Uchiha Itachi could be seen as a blessing or a curse. She was just praying to kami that it was the former.

Notes: Sequel to Kunoichi. 50-shinobi theme #35. Shinobi.

Just as is my normal tendency, I've changed my mind about how this is going to go down. This is going to be my next multi-chaptered fic. It is the sequel to kunoichi. It will eventually be a romance, but a good chunk of the story will focus on the friendship between Itachi and Sakura first. I don't want this to be a sudden romance like some other stories, including my own, can be. It will be gradual.

This story is rated M mostly for violence and discussion of rather mature topics. This is a story of Sakura rising through the ranks of the shinobi world, and it is important to understand that there will be portions that can't simply be rated T. There may be sexual content in later chapters, but I wouldn't worry about this quite yet.

My theme for my quotes will be television shows.

Thank you for reading. Please review and let me know what you think.

Hummingbird

Chapter 1: Armor Yourself

"Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you." – Tyrion from Game of Thrones

The only sound in the hallway was the light clicking of his footsteps; he didn't bother to hide them as he walked up the stairs of the Hokage Tower. The early morning light was still grey, as it had not yet broken over the horizon. Itachi walked with a purpose; he had been summoned to the Hokage's office this early in the morning for a reason.

He just hoped it wasn't another mission as he was supposed to receive a two week vacation. His mother had practically demanded it of him – he had just returned from a mission that had taken him out of the village for almost half a year and deserved proper time to rest, she had told him. For once, he agreed. The mission had been taxing, and he looked forward to being able to catch up on his favorite books and laze around Konoha with Shisui for the next two weeks, enjoying his mother's cooking and maybe training with Sasuke and see how his training was progressing.

The door to the Hokage's office was slightly ajar, so he didn't bother knocking. She already knew he was there.

"Uchiha," Tsunade greeted from her desk. She held her head in her hands as she rubbed her face tiredly. It looked like she hadn't quite woken up yet herself. Morino Ibiki was also in the room looking through files, standing off to the side. He simply looked up and gave Itachi a cursory nod before returning to what he had been doing. The head of the ANBU Black Ops and frequent chuunin exam proctor was hardly a man of words, especially not at such an ungodly hour in the morning.

"Tsunade-sama, Ibiki-sama," he greeted quietly. Moving further into the room, he was able to see what the two had been looking at – personnel files. "You summoned me."

"Right," Tsunade said. Leaning back in her chair, she met his eye with a rather bland look. Ibiki set down the file he had been looking at the give his full attention to the Hokage as well. "As the two of you may know, I've been trying to reform the way the promotion system works in the village since I've come here. Besides the chuunin exams, there is no formal way of testing or promoting our shinobi, and it's resulting in unnecessary death.

"The previous Hokage's promotions were based on amount of time in the field and recommendations, and while this may have worked in the past, I wish to put a more formal program in place. Two years ago, if you remember, I created a quota for how many A and B rank missions a chuunin had to complete before they could apply for jounin, and when they did, they would have to undergo individual trials similar to the chuunin exams, just on a smaller scale."

Itachi and Ibiki both nodded. The Hokage's initiatives were actually rather bold and daring compared to those of the past Hokage and the other villages. There had never been a formal promotion system in place for jounin and ANBU in the past. It was under the discretion of the Hokage as to whom he wanted to promote and who deserved to move up in the ranks. However, he understood the Godaime's wish to change that. Their current system was often ruined by nepotism or favoritism. It was much more difficult for a shinobi of civilian background to receive a promotion than someone from a prestigious clan.

"The jounin were an issue, but ANBU is a major problem. Half of all ANBU deaths are from shinobi who have been in Black-Ops for less than a year. So for ANBU, I'm implementing a new mentorship program," Tsunade continued carefully. "First, just like the jounin promotions, the candidates will have to meet a certain quota of A, B, and S ranked missions before being considered; however, there are no applications. We will be approaching these candidates ourselves to see about a possible promotion.

"A current or retired ANBU Black-Ops member will train new recruits for three months. Then for the three months following that, the recruit will join an ANBU squad as an interim member. They will be promoted officially to ANBU as a full member after the six months are complete contingent on the recommendation of the mentor and the team that he or she is placed on," Tsunade's voice trailed off for a moment as she looked at the two men in the room. "Does this sound fair?"

Ibiki was the first to speak. "It will take a lot of personnel hours to do this. I can't spare the ANBU for this sort of undertaking."

Tsunade looked at him carefully before replying. She seemed to have planned for this. "We are going to start off slow. We only promote three or four ANBU at a time, so that's how we are going to start this. Hopefully, then, as ANBU grows and our mortality rate decreased because the new members are more prepared for what they are getting into, we will be able to expand it."

Ibiki still looked less than convinced but Itachi nodded. It made sense, but that brought up a bigger question.

"How can I help, Tsunade-sama?"

A rather devilish grin split across the Hokage's face, and Itachi slightly regretted asking the question.

"You and a few select others will be my guinea pigs, Uchiha. You will be one of the first mentors we have," Tsunade told him. Although he thought his face stayed blank, the Hokage seemed to pick up on his feelings towards this. "You have been running yourself ragged for almost three years. It's time to slow down before you get yourself killed, and I don't need to lose one of my most valuable shinobi because he was too tired. Three months in the village isn't going to kill you."

He simply nodded his head once – that two week vacation just seemed to get a little longer. If the Hokage ordered it, he would do it without question.

"These are the files of all the jounin that have met the mission quota for promotion. You will be allowed to choose your kohai. Take the names and feel free to observe them. They are all currently in the village and most of them train daily, so it shouldn't be hard to figure out which one you see with the most potential," Tsunade told him, handing him the stack of files. There were about ten of them. "Come back to me in a week with your answer."

Itachi flipped through the files quickly, giving them a cursory glance. When he got to the fourth file, though, he stopped. He did not need to look further. Plucking the file of his chosen mentee, he put it down on the desk in front of the Hokage. Ibiki had come over and was peering at the name on the file.

"This is who I will choose," he stated quietly. "Haruno Sakura."

X

Vines shot from the earth from seven different directions. Dodging the first three passes, the kunoichi yanked out another kunai from her holster and cut the fourth one, which had wrapped around her wrist, so that it fell in a useless heap to the ground; however, two more had snaked around her ankles and pulled her up so that she was inverted so her back crashed against the tree. Letting out a loud curse, she pulled herself up and started cutting away at the vines that seemed to be just out of reach. At that point, though, there was no hope. More vines were winding down from the tree tops, grabbing her wrists and wrenching them from her kunai and attempts at survival.

Channeling her chakra into her arms, she tried to fight herself free, but it was no use.

There was a splitting battle cry, and she noticed one of her male teammates running towards her with a kunai.

"I've got you, Chouko!" Ryouichi cried. He jumped up onto the tree, channeling chakra into his feet, the boy produced and kunai and aided in freeing her from the vines that made futile attempts at stopping him. Finally, the two were cut down and tumbled to the earth, head over heal, only to find their third teammate, Katsurou, was standing over them.

"Hurry up, you two. We have to find sensei," he said with a smug look. Ryouichi jumped up and began grumbling about know-it-all teammates.

"You could have helped, Kat-bastard," Ryouichi mumbled to him. Chouko just rolled her eyes and cut Katsurou off when he went to go retort to Ryouichi.

"Thank you for helping me, Ryou-kun. And Katsurou, try not to provoke him," Chouko sighed deeply.

The group of genin began to move through the forest quietly, searching for their missing sensei. She had said that she was going to stay in a small portion of the forest and that all they had to do was find her and get the bells from her. They had already taken this test, actually, when they had first been assigned to their sensei, and had passed. They would be able to complete this test easily, they were sure. It would be easy, right?

Wrong.

"She's not above us," Uchiha Katsurou said using his Sharingan searching the trees. His spikey black bangs fell into his face when the wind whipped through the trees. Mumbling a curse, he pushed his rebellious hair out of his eyes and adjusted the Konoha headband that was beginning to sweat on his forehead.

His only female teammate, Uzuki Chouko, was also adjusting her short dark purple locks after the strong wind. Her eggplant colored hair fell down around her chin in a short bob and seemed to be irritating her today more than they had in the past. Finally, she swept her hair into a small hair tie, but it wasn't working very well. Many strands fell back down, and Chouko just huffed in irritation before seemingly giving up.

Pulling her katana out of its sheath suddenly, Chouko examined it with an unhealthy gleam in her eye.

Kurama Ryouichi took a step away from her as the trio made their way through the thicket of trees that their sensei had said she'd be hiding. He took a few steps and closed his eyes, honing his senses. Just like his sensei had taught him, he focused chakra into his feet and allowed it to reach out around him, using it as a type of sonar to see if their sensei's chakra would register.

Chouko, sensing his sudden lack of awareness of the world around him, pushed her katana out in front of her rather amateurishly, prepared to defend her teammate if they were attacked.

Finally, Ryouichi opened his eyes. "I can't sense her chakra on the ground either."

"If she's not in the trees," Katsurou murmured.

"And she's not in the ground," Ryouichi continued.

"She's underneath us!" Chouko cried just as the ground beneath them began to shake. It took only a moment for the entire area underneath them to upheave and they were forced to scramble in the chaos.

Haruno Sakura's fists were flying at her team of genin, chakra enhanced and ready to capture the little brats. They had been out here for the better part of the morning working on their teamwork. After a disastrous mission where the three bickered and fought at the detriment to the mission, Sakura was re-administering the bell test to them as a punishment. When she had first received her little team of genin, they had actually passed the bell test with flying colors, demonstrating that they knew exactly what it meant to be a team.

However, that was when they were new to each other and still being careful of each other's feelings. Now, they realized that their personalities clashed and spent all day every day arguing like children and not like the ninja that they were going to have to be.

Grasping her hand around the thin ankle of Chouko (the poor girl had been getting the brunt of her punishments today for no reason other than she was the slowest of the team), Sakura yanked the small child to the ground and ripped the katana out of her fumbling fingers. Chouko let out a cry of shock, but Sakura was suddenly dealing with Katsurou, who came flying at her with the single tomoe in his Sharingan spinning wildly.

She dodged them easily, but the air around her suddenly shifted. It was barely perceptible; in fact, if her chakra wasn't so tuned to the three, she may not have been able to feel it. Ryouichi was truly getting good at his genjutsu.

"Kai!" she called out, disrupting his chakra flow. Grabbing Katsurou's wrists, Sakura bound them in chakra before throwing him down the ground next to his other teammate. Not unlike Naruto used to, Ryouichi was running towards her now in a head-on attack in a last ditch effort to save their mission. It was no use. Sakura dodged his pitiful punches and eventually tackled him to the ground as well.

The three genin were now laying under her pitifully, staring up at their sensei with wide, frightened eyes.

"Do you three get it now?" Sakura chastised seriously. "You spent so much time arguing with each other that you didn't notice that I was underneath you the entire time. Two of you have the capabilities to sense that kind of information. Instead of using your strengths to work as one cohesive unit, you act as three separate individuals.

"That's all well and good on a solo mission, but this past mission was not a solo mission, and you almost got our charge killed because you couldn't stop arguing long enough to notice that we were being followed. I stepped away for less than an hour to get us food and all hell broke loose! You three are no longer children. You are shinobi of the Leaf and while you're donning your headband, you better damn well act like it!"

Thoroughly chastised, her team looked down in shame. Sakura let out a sigh and rubbed her hand over her face.

"Things could have been a lot worse," she muttered. "Nobody died. Nobody got hurt. This is why you take these missions. See this past failure and today's training as a lesson," Sakura continued. She tilted her head to the side for a moment before turning her head to the darkness of the forest. "You can show yourself, whoever you are."

Her face actively showed shock when Uchiha Itachi stepped from the shadows like a wraith. It had been almost two years since she had last seen him face-to-face. It had been the winter before her eighteenth birthday when she had called him an idiot after rescuing him from an ambush, and besides passing him briefly in the hallways in the Hokage Tower or the hospital, Sakura had not caught wind of the elder of the Uchiha brothers.

He certainly had not come seeing aid for his eyes, Sakura huffed internally.

Schooling her features the best she could, Sakura tilted her head to the side.

"Uchiha-san," she greeted with a straight face. There was shifting from underneath her, and the jounin kunoichi turned her head back to the little rascals that were trying to squirm their way out from the current situation, especially Katsurou, who did not like the fact that the future head of his clan had just heard his chastisement.

Sakura-sensei seemed to sense their trepidation and threw her head back to laugh at her naïve genin. She supposed to children so young who had just heard stories of the famous Uchiha Itachi, he would be something of a feared enigma, and perhaps her most fearful genin was the rather bashful looking Uchiha Katsurou.

"You three can go run laps around the training grounds while Uchiha-san and I talk," Sakura said to them. Instantly, their faces seemed to sink. Although they had done well today, Sakura still had punishment lined up for them. Groaning, the team of youngsters seemed to forget about the Uchiha heir for the moment and lifted themselves off the ground to dust themselves off to prepare for their laps.

Their sensei could be the worst sometimes.

After the three began their jog around training ground four, Sakura tilted her head to the side in the direction of the small pond that sat in the middle of an open field. While training ground three was primarily a large field with a pond and a grove of trees around it, training ground four was primarily trees. A rocky grove surrounded a small pond that sat in the middle of a small clearing.

Itachi followed her with silent, methodical footsteps to the small body of water. He watched her with calculating eyes as she jumped out onto a rock that was catching the sunlight through trees.

"Uchiha-san," Sakura greeted again from her perch above him. "What brings you to the genin neck of the woods?"

Itachi was staring at her with startling intensity before turning and tracking the location of the genin.

"You seem young to have your own genin team," he said to her. Sakura tilted her head. What an odd way to start a conversation. It took her a moment to contemplate her response.

"The jounin-sensei that was supposed to take on this team was killed in the field just prior to receiving his assignment. I was a last minute fill in," Sakura replied, keeping her tone low.

"They have much potential," Itachi replied. "You have the only daughter of Uzuki Yuuago."

"Ah, yes. I sometimes forget Yuuago-san is in ANBU," Sakura replied. Itachi's sharp eyes returned to her quickly. Sakura chuckled. "I am the third highest ranking medic-nin in the village. I'm one of ten medics who are permitted to work on ANBU members. But yes, Chouko-chan is showing great promise in her katana training, and I'm planning on finding her a kenjutsu instructor after their first chuunin exams this spring."

Itachi's eyes were back on the jogging genin. "And then my younger cousin."

Sakura nodded and leapt from her place on the rock to stand next to him, her own emerald eyes following her genin.

"He shows a lot of potential. He's like a lot of the other Uchiha I have worked with – hard working, serious, and a little too proud. He'll do well though, especially with Ryouichi to balance him out," Sakura replied, sliding her eyes to Itachi to see if her comments about the young Uchiha seemed to offend him. If it did, he didn't show it.

Glancing back at her team, she saw Ryou-kun make wild gesticulations while talking with Chouko-chan. Her eyes softened at the young boy, the third member of her little unit. One of the few members of the Kurama family that was left, Ryouichi was showing great promise in their specialization of genjutsu, and she was confident that he would make a fine ninja one day if he could just calm down a bit.

His light auburn hair fell down in choppy layers around his ears, and his bright blue eyes were the same color of the sky. The boy always had a smile, except when he was with Katsurou, who seemed to push his buttons more than anyone could possibly.

They reminded her so much of Naruto and Sasuke sometimes that it hurt.

Itachi's eyes followed the path that Sakura's were taking.

"He's a Kurama," Itachi murmured more to himself. The members of the Kurama family were few and far between in the ninja world now. "His genjutsu?"

Sakura's smile lit with pride.

"Nearly flawless, especially for someone his age," Sakura replied quietly. "I've started teaching him the basics, but I'll have to find him a specialist after their chuunin exams, especially if the three of them manage to pass."

"Will they be ready?"

Sakura tilted her head, folding her arms over her chest while she considered the three. Now, Ryouichi was trying to catch up to Katsurou, who was running ahead of them with a smug look on his face. He must have said something snotty. Chouko was trying to run just as fast as them, trying to keep them from mauling each other. Sakura rolled her eyes, but they held fondness for the little brats.

"Probably not," Sakura replied bluntly. "Katsurou would be in terms of skills, but he's least likely to work as a unit. Ryouichi has the raw talent, but he's too hotheaded. Mentally, Chouko is most prepared, and what she lacks in raw talent she makes up in hard work, but she will need more of it. I would like them to get the experience, though – learn what it's about."

Itachi's head dipped in agreement. Sakura finally turned to him fully.

"I doubt you would come here just to check on how my genin team is doing," Sakura stated bluntly, "Why are you here, Uchiha-san?"

"You are being recruited for ANBU," he replied bluntly. Sakura's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh."

"They are changing the way ANBU promotions are occurring. You have been paired with a mentor who will train you over the next three months if you accept," Itachi explained. Sakura's eyes were plates now, staring at him in shock. One, he had just made said complete sentences. Two, he had just recruited her, Haruno Sakura, into ANBU Black-Ops.

Coming out of her momentary mental stupor, Sakura nodded. This was something she had always hoped for. She had always wanted to end up in Black-Ops where she could use her skills to help on the front lines, hopefully reducing the mortality rate of the shinobi doing the most dangerous missions. It would be hard work, but she could do it. Hardening her resolve each moment, Sakura smiled up at him.

"I accept, Uchiha-san. Do you know who my mentor will be?" Sakura asked, turning to him once again. Itachi just slid his eyes to her, locking his onyx eyes with her steely emerald ones. She seemed to understand instantly because her eyes widened.

"Oh," Sakura replied again. This was an interesting turn of events, indeed. "When do we start?"

X

Swinging her tanto at her attacker, Sakura shifted her weight from her back foot forward so that her weight fell forward. Her sparring partner, disappeared, of course, just as she had expected. The tanto of her attacker was thrust towards her in an arc. Back arching behind her reflexively, Sakura's hands went behind her and her legs followed. Chakra channeled into her legs and she swung them through the air so that she could hopefully land a kick on the shoulder or jaw of her sparring partner.

It didn't work.

Her kick met thin air, and as she completed her attack by losing her balance and toppling over. The summer breeze hit her face while the hot sun beat down on her skin. Letting out a startled laugh, Sakura let her tanto fall to the ground next to her loosening fingertips as she stared up at the bland look that her former attacker was giving her.

"Does you laying on the ground indicate we are finished training for the day?" Sai asked her with a slight tip of his head. Sakura kicked her leg out and it caught under Sai's legs. He fell down next to her so that Sai's head was next to her feet. "I'll take that as a yes."

Sakura let out a deep breath.

"Do you think I'll be able to do it?" she asked him.

Sai was quiet for several minutes, and Sakura was quietly impressed by this. They were working on him taking time to consider answers so that they came out tactful instead of blunt and rude.

"With training and some polishing, you will be able to be a very successful member of ANBU," he finally replied after taking several deep breaths. They had been training for almost an hour and a half straight, without breaks, so Sakura couldn't blame his panting.

"There's a but at the end of that sentence," Sakura replied quickly. Sai was quiet once again. Pulling herself up so she could see the look on his face, Sakura brought her knees up and rested her arms on them. Sai did the same so that they made direct eye contact.

"ANBU is an emotionally taxing," Sai replied. "You tend to…what's the phrase? You wear your heart on your sleeve."

Blinking a few times, Sakura stared at Sai seriously, considering his words carefully. Finally, she huffed a sigh and fell back down so she could stare at the cloudless sky.

"I do not."

Sai swung himself around and laid down next to her.

"Yes, Ugly, you do, and you hold grudges," Sai replied casually. Sakura turned to him, ready to protest, but he cut her off. "Why am I the only person who you still talk to from Team Seven?"

Sakura floundered, but Sai just shook his head.

"Your reasons for leaving the team and cutting ties are valid. I understand why you choose not to associate with your former squad," he explained. "But you still have not let go of your anger."

She couldn't argue with him on that one, so she just laid back and closed her eyes against the glare of the sun, allowing herself to relax a bit. It would be the last time she would be able to in a while.

"I have to try, though," she finally said. Sai's head bobbed up and down next to her in agreement.

"You have surpassed insurmountable odds in the past," he noted with the same bland voice as always. Sakura's face split into a huge smile.

"Was that a compliment, Sai?" she asked rhetorically. Sai looked at her contemplatively for a moment, and Sakura realized that she had gone too far.

"I was under the impression that was clear," he said quizzically. Sakura let out another laugh.

"What are your plans for the rest of the day, Sai?" she asked conversationally.

"I will likely rest for the remainder of the night. I have a mission with Team Seven tomorrow." He looked at her to gauge her reaction carefully. Outwardly, she didn't respond to his mention of her former team, but he knew that even the mention of them could strike a chord with her if she was in the right, or depending on the way he looked at it, wrong, mood. "You?"

Sakura gave him a saucy look. "Shopping with Ino-pig."

Sai's ears perked up at the mention of her blond friend. Sakura couldn't help the laugh that bubbled from her chest. She didn't think that the ink artist even knew that he was developing a crush on the Yamanaka, but Sakura thought it was positively adorable, especially since Ino had shown a piqued interest in Sai as well as of late. The blooming romance between the two was something that made her positively giddy, even if they two didn't realize it yet.

They both got up and began walking towards the village at a relatively sedate pace. Sai looked at her carefully.

"When did Uchiha-san say that your training will begin?" Sai asked. Sakura shrugged her shoulders.

"He said he'd contact me two weeks from now," she replied.

"Then you better rest the next two weeks," Sai advised seriously. "You are in for a very difficult three months.

Notes: See above author's notes for information about this story. Have a good weekend everyone! I love you all dearly.

Please review and let me know what you think of the new story!