Inevitable

Amejisuto let out a battle cry as she charged at her sparring partner, Neji Hyuga, with a fist ready to connect with the man’s jaw. Her opponent activated his byakugan, gaining the ability to see through her like an x-ray and locate her chakra points. He tried to jab the ones in her arm as she plunged her fist near his face, but leapt back at the last second, surprised that he couldn't touch them. There seemed to be a force-field or something that wasn't there before.

"Air manipulation," she explained with a smirk, noticing Neji's confused reaction. She had made it a habit to use her now-mastered element as much as she could, this time forcing the wind to be a shield around her. It was light enough to allow flexible movements but hard enough to keep people from reaching specific points, though it could still be penetrated by jutsu. The downside was it used up twice as much of her chakra when she used a jutsu herself. Maintaining the air shield was difficult at first, but was worth it when fighting opponents like Neji, who inspired the idea.

He realised this and tried to think of all the fighting jutsu he knew that wasn't purely physical. "Eight trigrams rotation!" he called, making a thin blue layer around him as he moved his hands fast enough to push out his chakra. It ended up looking like a swirling blue dome that moved quickly towards the Ishi, who was quick enough to get out of the way and strike when he was recovering some chakra.

"Water style: Water Geyser!" she called, doing several quick hand signs. A large stream of boiling water burst out of the ground underneath the Hyuga, who quickly moved to the side, right into another geyser. He was almost defeated. Amejisuto took the opportunity to send a few kunai with wind directing them to stab around her opponent, hitting the clothes and pinning him to the ground.

"Another victory for Ameji," Itachi called. He had been standing and watching from the side, impressed as his student had won, not one but three, rounds against the Hyuga prodigy. "Good work on noticing his fighting style and making it so he couldn't get a hit in," he complimented.

"I'm exhausted," Neji complained.

"So am I. I used lots of chakra on that last water jutsu," Amejisuto stretched. "Just enough chakra left to keep me awake and moving, though."

"Let's go home then," Itachi smiled, ruffling her hair.

"Wait!" Neji called as they started walking. "Can you please un-pin me?"

The two laughed and helped the Hyuga before leaving to the Uchiha district. Fugaku was gone, working at the police station like usual, Mikoto was having an ‘allied mother’s force’ meeting, and Sasuke would be back from his mission in a few days. By now, almost everyone in Konoha had heard that Sasuke and Naruto were interested in each other and were curious on what would happen when they got back.

Itachi had stopped watching the Ishi like a hawk but still kept an eye out for the Akatsuki, just in case they showed up for some surprise attack. She waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention. "I'm going to take a shower. I feel too gross from fighting three rounds without much of a break," she grinned, heading off to her room. The man decided to make a snack for them; his parents would be out all night due to an Uchiha Council meeting that was being held later.

Amejisuto got to her room and gathered fresh clothes, tossing the ones she was wearing into a laundry hamper and hopping into the shower. She hummed happily as the warm water ran down her sweat and dirt covered body, washing it away. 'That battle with Neji was fun. Beating hot-shots are very... well, does empowering work? Yah, it feels empowering,' she sighed and stretched her sore muscles. 'It takes so much chakra though. I should work on better strategies.'

She quickly washed and stepped out of the shower, drying her long brown hair and putting it into low pigtails before throwing on loose and comfortable clothes. "What can I do for you? What can I do that no one else can do," she sang casually with her eyes closed. She kept humming as she walked into the main part of her room. "Ah, maybe I'll have a short nap. Itachi can wake me up whenever."

She jumped onto her bed, rolling over and getting comfortable before falling asleep.

----

Itachi smiled as he added the finishing touches to the salad rolls that he learned how to make from a ninja in Kirigakure. "Some pork, lettuce, and now to wrap it up," he stated rolling the contents of the snack in two thin sheets of sticky rice paper. Once he was done, he nodded in satisfaction.

He set the snacks on the table and ate one right away. "She's been out of the shower for a while. It's probably safe to go in now," he got up and walked across the house to her room. "I should tell her today," he mumbled, thinking about what would have to happen once she was eighteen.

"Amejisuto, I made some food," he knocked on her door. There was no response and he waited for another minute before knocking again. "Must be sleeping. Fighting Neji is no easy task after all, let alone winning three rounds," he mumbled before slowly opening the door. He saw a small lump under the blankets on her bed and he tried to shake her lightly so she would wake up. He frowned when she didn't move at all. "Wake up. It's not good to sleep for a long time during the day."

He pulled down the blanket and gasped as he saw a white figure that was definitely not his apprentice. "Oh, well good thing I wasn't sleeping," it answered a bit too cheerfully. The Uchiha was taken by surprise and then realised that the enemy had succeeded. He silently cursed himself for leaving the Ishi alone when her chakra was gone and she was weak.

"Where is she?!" Itachi growled, his eyes turning into the crimson sharingan with anger.

"Don't worry, she's safe with the Akatsuki. Well, for now at least. I'm afraid that unless you come with us, her torture will start tomorrow. She won't die, but every day she will be close to death before our leader will heal her and start the torture over again until you decide to join," the white.. Thing... Said with a strange tone, making the raven shake with pure anger. "So what will it be? The world, or your world? Which one will you betray?"