There were only a few days left before the tournament. Kakashi had kept his promise and was training Mitsuki, under the supervision of Yuki. Gai had also invited himself to improve the girl's Taijutsu, which often consisted in challenges, each one more absurd than the other. She was willing to do it, although she never really understood how it could help her, compared to the canine techniques of the masked man. He was colder than usual, despite the presence of the energetic ninja, remaining perfectly professional at each session, and trying to maintain a distance between the girl and him.

On her side, Mitsuki hadn't seen Itachi since the night she went to the ANBU. She was giving her heart and soul to her training, as he was probably doing on his side as well, but this sudden distance from her friends managed to shake her more than she wanted to admit.

"Are you with us, Mitsuki?" grumbled Kakashi as she was caught off guard once again by a rude attack.

"Yes... yes..." she replied evasively.

"Your exam is coming up, and it's not going to get itself! Not everyone is eligible for the position of Chûnin!" Kakashi reminded her curtly.

"Don't be so hard on her..." Gai tempered, "She hasn't had a break in weeks, if you keep wearing her down she won't even be able to take the damn exam!"

"She'll rest after the tournament! In the meantime, enough talk! Let's get back on track. Mitsu..." Kakashi wanted to say again when he noticed that Mitsuki had simply disappeared.

He sighed in annoyance, and grumbled as he went to look for her, with the help of Pakkun who was already following her trail.

Mitsuki crossed the city through the rooftops. She had had enough of her elder's taunts, the endless hours of sweat and effort. She missed Itachi, and she hoped to recharge her batteries by facing him. She reached the edge of town in no time, and stopped at the roof of Itachi's family. She knocked softly on the window of the boy's room, hoping he would be there and waited for long minutes, before turning back, sadly.

"Hi..." breathed a voice, as she abruptly straightened her head.

"Itachi..." she whispered, surprised.

He was standing right above her, looking tired, and with a blank stare.

"How can you jump at seeing me in front of my own window?" the boy scoffed.

Mitsuki pouted, looking away.

"Aren't you supposed to be training with Kakashi?" the Uchiha continued, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

His friend's big red eyes suddenly shot up to his face, piercing him with such intensity that he swallowed the bitterness that had been eating away at him ever since he had seen her walk through the neighborhood so well dressed.

"What's going on, Itachi-kun...?" the girl finally dared to ask.

"What do you mean?" the sharingan wearer pretended not to understand.

There was a silence. Mitsuki fidgeted with her fingers, obviously hesitating to continue the conversation under the invariably neutral gaze of her friend. She finally said, with difficulty:

"I... find that you are distant lately ... We don't see each other anymore. And you are different. Even... cold."

Itachi's heart missed a beat. Mitsuki's frankness shook him, and he sighed before simply answering her:

"I've been training a lot... You too, right?"

The girl didn't really seem convinced by this excuse, and this only increased the uneasiness that was settling between them. Itachi opened his mouth, this time really trying to reassure his friend, when a sharp voice interrupted them:

"Itachi-kun, shall we go? Who are you talking to like that? It's getting late, we should hurry if we want to enjoy the evening!"

Itachi snapped back, only able to watch his friend's disappointment as she glanced down at Izumi, before raising her sad eyes to him again, and disappearing in a flash.

"Mitsuki..." he tried to call out to her in vain, but Izumi got impatient and caught him by the hand before he could try to chase her.

Mitsuki walked through the streets, her eyes misty, without thinking about where she was going. As she bit her lip to hold back a tear that threatened to fall from her big red eyes, her run was abruptly interrupted in a collision with a body larger than her own. She found herself on her buttocks on the ground as Kakashi's voice reached her, bluntly:

"If you don't want me to train you anymore, just tell me, instead of running away like a thief... I have other things to do than waste time on nonsense!"

It was too much for Mitsuki, so exhausted she was. She hid her eyes under her hand before stammering shamefully:

"Excuse me... I... didn't want to leave you and Gai..."

She did not have time to finish her sentence that a hand grabbed hers to remove it from his face. He had crouched down in front of her to put himself at her height, and his look, previously so hard, had found a benevolent softness.As she tried to look away, Kakashi gently grabbed her chin with his fingertips, forcing her to look at him. Silently, he ran his thumb along her cheeks, wiping away the tears that were streaming down them.

"Now, Mitsuki Hata, would you please tell me what's made you feel like this? You haven't been yourself for a while, I can see that." he asked gently as he kept his hand against the girl's cheek.

"I'm just a little stressed..." she apologized.

"If you see me as a friend, as you claimed the other night, you shouldn't have to lie to me, Mitsuki... -chan"

Taking such a step towards her seemed to require a considerable effort, but Mitsuki felt all the sincerity he was giving off in this gesture.As if echoing her words, he slowly slid a hand towards his ANBU mask, before slowly removing it, revealing his face and...

"Another mask?! Really?!" cried Mitsuki, immediately abandoning her sorrow for surprise, while Kakashi burst out laughing, not expecting such a strong reaction from her.

As if attracted by a magnet, Mitsuki brushed her fingertips over the large scar that crossed the boy's red eye, which she could only recognize, having seen it before in the eyes of those she loved so much.He stopped laughing and looked her in the eyes, letting her discover him at her leisure. He wasn't used to such tactile gestures, but after having been around this little Genin on a more regular basis, he was starting to get a taste for her spontaneity.As she finished tracing the furrow around his Sharingan, she examined for a moment the fine features and rough edges of the young man, as if to imprint his image in her memory, before lowering her hand without taking her eyes off him, and grabbing the ANBU mask to place it back on Kakashi's face.

"Thank you... Kakashi-kun." she whispered tenderly before standing up.

She seemed calmed, deeply touched by this declaration of friendship. He stood up in turn, surprised that she didn't ask him any questions about this precious ward that he was wearing without being the true owner of it, before asking her:

"Tomorrow, same time, same training ground?"

Mitsuki nodded with a smile, before they each headed for their respective homes.While she had been asleep for a while, Mitsuki heard the sound of her window opening, then muffled footsteps. She opened her still heavy eyes, as a shadow leaned over her.She was about to scream, but a hand was gently placed on her mouth to stop her. Her heart was pounding as the shadow whispered in her ear:

"Shhh... It's me, Mitsuki-chan."

Mitsuki's heart missed a beat. The hand withdrew as the boy made sure she recognized him.

"Itachi-kun, what are you doing here?" questioned Mitsuki, surprised to see him so late.

"I couldn't sleep... I needed to... see you..." Itachi explained, blushing in the dark.

Mitsuki wrapped her arms around the back of the boy's neck and held him close. He returned her embrace, enjoying the warmth he hadn't been able to taste for several weeks now.

"I missed you." sighed Mitsuki, moved.

"I'm sorry..." Itachi apologized, holding her a little tighter to him.

They stayed that way without another word, enjoying each other's presence. As Mitsuki looked like she was going to fall back into the arms of Morpheus, Itachi pulled the blanket over her, and then passed out into the night, relieved that they had avoided any misunderstanding between them.

The last week before the tournament had gone by at breakneck speed. D-Day had arrived, and it was an anxious Mitsuki who was getting ready in a hurry while the sun wasn't even up yet. The commotion she caused made Aruna go to her room. He found her in the middle of a mountain of stuff, dressed in her black tunic belted with red, over a pair of shorts just as dark that would give her full range of motion in case of hand-to-hand combat:

"Hey oh, Mitsuki! Are you going to move the house at this rate?

- I'm sure I'm forgetting something..."

Mitsuki didn't even look at him, and continued to fidget all over her room, looking for some mysterious object.

"Come here young lady" Aruna said, pulling her to him.

He embraced it as hard as he could, while slipping in his ear:

"You have everything. Your weapon pouch, your scrolls, and... your lucky bracelet."

Mitsuki smiled softly as he loosened his grip a bit. He crouched down so that he could look her straight in the eye and said:

"You've already accomplished so much, my little sister. You became a Genin at such a young age, did so many missions, and won the hearts of so many people, all while the world was trying to stop you. You worked tirelessly to get here. You have surrounded yourself so well... Well, if we forget that damn ANBU, I would have preferred not to see him around you... You've become so strong, and you'll become so much stronger. Believe in yourself, Mitsuki, you have all the qualities to become a great kunoichi. You have what it takes to pass this exam. I believe in you, and I want you to know that the whole Uchiha clan is behind you.

The anxiety of the young girl went down as she heard the words of the man who had welcomed her without concession. He then told her to go and eat the breakfast he had prepared for her, forbidding her to come to the tournament on an empty stomach.

The time had come to go to the arena where the fights would take place. Aruna and Mitsuki met Itachi and his family there. Shisui was there too, smiling brightly as usual, happy to support his young friends in their promotion. The crowd was dense, the tournament seemed to be highly anticipated by many people from Konoha, as well as from other countries, and Mitsuki's stomach started to worry. Facing the distress of the young Hata, Itachi, Shisui and Sasuke formed a circle around her and began a long embrace with words of encouragement.

As she looked up, the girl saw a familiar ANBU in the distance. The gray-haired young man discreetly gave her a thumbs up. She smiled fondly as the examiner's voice rang out from the center of the arena:

"We are about to begin the great tournament of the Chûnin examination. You should know that winning does not guarantee your success in the exam. Just as a defeat will not condemn you to failure. You will have to be cunning and show your ability to fight before anything else. I will call you by two, you will come to the center to greet each other, before starting the fight. The first one who disables his opponent wins the round for the semi-finals. I guess we can go ... So, first fight... Miko Iruno from Suna, against... Itachi Uchiha of Konoha!"

The crowd shouted Itachi's name. His fight was probably the most awaited one, the power and fame of the young Uchiha was no secret to anyone. His opponent seemed to relish the opportunity to face him. They took their seats, and the examiner announced the beginning of the fight.

Everything happened extremely fast, Itachi was faster than ever, using crow clones and impeccable Taijutsu. While his opponent was concentrating on the movements of the young man, parrying each of the attacks while composing mudras to launch the offensive in his turn, she suddenly stopped.

Itachi didn't move either, the hand on his waist, he had taken a nonchalant position, while the trouble seemed to win Miko. Mitsuki had no trouble guessing that she had been trapped by one of Itachi's Genjutsu.

While nothing seemed to be happening, Miko suddenly collapsed, inert, causing the examiner to announce the end of the fight and Itachi's victory.

Cheers rang out again from the stands, mostly from hysterical women, in praise of the Uchiha's performance. Mikoto and Sasuke cheered wildly while Fugaku lowered his head and smiled with pride. Mitsuki and Shisui shouted their joy, carried away by the jubilation that had spread through the stadium.

Itachi humbly returned to his seat as the examiner announced the second fight. They all watched with interest as the winner was to be the Uchiha's next opponent.

The third fight was between Shinko Inari, their teammate, and a ninja from the hidden village of Kumo, a master of lightning manipulation. Like Mitsuki, he fought with a katana. The fight went very quickly, and the Kumo Genin unfortunately managed to defeat Shinko without a scratch. Shinko left the field without a glance at her teammates, seemingly in a rage.

The examiner spoke again:

"For the last fight of this round, Ittan, from the hidden village of Iwa, against Mitsuki Hata, from the hidden village of Konoha."

As the girl walked down into the arena, the previously jovial crowd began to boo them uncontrollably. They began to boo THEM, to be more exact...

In the stands, Kakashi gritted his teeth. She had to run into an Iwa Ninja... It sounded like a horrible echo of the war he had waged against them, which had taken away his two dearest friends... And those cries of hatred... He had not anticipated them and hoped that the girl would not be destabilized by them.As projectiles were thrown at her, which she dodged as best she could, the examiner shouted, irritated:

"That's ENOUGH! Let those who are not able to respect this fight leave the stands!"

An angry murmur ran through the benches as a few dozen people made their way out.Suddenly, Mitsuki heard Aruna's voice, quickly followed by the rest of the Uchiha clan:

"Come on Mitsuki! You can do it!"

She thanked them inwardly, feeling her confidence return to her. She greeted the Iwa ninja briefly, before standing guard.

The examiner started the fight. Mitsuki rushed towards Ittan, who multiplied the mud walls to keep her at a distance. The Doton of her opponent was not going to make it easy for her, as she did not have a ranged attack. She amplified her attacks, sending out several clones simultaneously to disrupt her enemy. Ittan manipulated the terrain to his advantage, forcing Mitsuki to stay in the open. He even forced her to back off again by assaulting her with ground points.

After many minutes of not being able to reach each other, Mitsuki was beginning to feel her chakra reserve dwindling dangerously. She had to act fast if she wanted to have a chance to defeat her opponent. She bit her thumb before putting her hand down.

"Invocation !" she cried as she found herself perched on the back of her giant wolf. The pack appeared after her, all fangs out.

"Pack technique, mother of wolves!"

As the giant wolf rushed towards Ittan, Mitsuki transformed into a beautiful black wolf, taking advantage of their numbers and her new agility to dodge the new obstacles put up by the enemy. The enemy still managed to trap a large part of the pack, but not fast enough to prevent Mitsuki from reaching them.

"Pack technique, crane wing formation."

Several wolves leapt at the enemy, preventing him from moving. Kakashi smiled under his mask, recognizing one of the techniques he had taught her, which she had obviously mastered to perfection.

Mitsuki lost her wolf form and tried to move towards her opponent, obviously weakened by handling too much chakra. She was close to winning this fight, she couldn't let her body fail.As Ittan tried in vain to escape, the fangs of the wolves sinking ever deeper into his flesh, Mitsuki deployed her katana at the man's throat. He sighed, admitting defeat, while the examiner declared the end of the fight with the victory of Mitsuki, who fell back on her knees, exhausted, putting an end to the invocation of her wolves. Aruna joined her at once, carrying her in his arms to the stands, where she was welcomed with effervescence by her friends.

"Congratulations Mitsuki-chan!" exclaimed Itachi and Shisui.

"Unfortunately, you gave everything in this fight, and you won't have enough of Itachi's second fight to get your chakra back..." said Fugaku, not very encouraging, but realistic.

"I think I can intervene on this one." declared a voice that made the entire Uchiha family turn around, suddenly on edge.

The gray-haired ANBU took a step towards the young Hata, but was quickly interrupted by Aruna's grip.

"Don't even think about it," he warned him, threateningly.

"Do you want her to face the lightning ninja like that?" Kakashi put him off, annoyed.

"I won't let you touch her again. I'd rather see her give up than let you hurt her again."

The two men glared at each other as the other Uchiha stood up to Mitsuki.

"Where do you think your protege got the technique that secured her victory? I'm just trying to help her," Kakashi taunted.

"We won't take your help," Aruna decreed, ending the discussion.

Kakashi winced, but relented, returning to his seat on the opposite side of the bleachers. Mitsuki didn't say a word, not wanting to oppose Aruna, even if his words seemed excessive. She knew he didn't like Kakashi, but she hadn't imagined it was this much.

"Maybe I can help him recover a little faster, but I doubt it will be enough," Mikoto offered, changing the conversation as she took a seat next to Mitsuki, placing her hands releasing green chakra on her.

Itachi was quickly called for his second fight. Without much surprise, he won it hands down, even if his opponent had defended himself well, putting him in a little more difficulty than the first one.

"If you win your fight, we'll meet face to face" he said to his young friend who still didn't seem to be in the best shape.

"Fortunately for me, it seems unlikely that this will happen..." ironized Mitsuki as she was about to gain the center of the arena.

The Kumo Ninja was already waiting for her, a confident smile on his lips, his condition after the previous fight having not escaped him. Mitsuki decided to bet everything on Taijutsu in this fight, less greedy in chakra. It was going to be difficult, the electricity user fighting at a distance as well as hand to hand. But if she was lucky, it would save enough chakra to give Itachi a decent fight.

She surprised herself by thinking about fighting him seriously, he was her friend, it would probably be more difficult than any of her opponents, and even then, that was without thinking about the incredible abilities of the young Uchiha.

A flash of lightning pulled her out of her thoughts. She managed to avoid it, sending a few kunai in the direction of her opponent. He avoided them in turn without difficulty. She had to get close enough to him at all costs. She did a multi-clonage, before running in a frantic race towards the man, who took out his electrified katana. Mitsuki in turn infused some of her chakra into her sword, making it sharper than ever. She had to cut this fight short as soon as possible, if she wanted to avoid using up the little chakra she had managed to recover.

As the Kumo Ninja slashed at the clone that came in front of him, she leapt over it. Despite her surprise, the Ninja managed to block her attack.

"He laughed as they engaged in a frantic sword fight.

Wind against Lightning.

The attacks were precise and powerful. All that could be heard was the glare of the blades, punctuated by the crackling of electricity as the Kumo Ninja tried to reach the young Hata, but neither could get the upper hand.

Suddenly, as they were locked blade to blade, a glint passed through Mitsuki's eyes. She gestured with one hand, before blowing a small fireball, too weak to hurt her opponent, but enough to divert his attention.

As expected, the man looked away under the heat of the fireball, leaving the place free for the young Hata, who took the opportunity to kick his legs behind his kneecaps, making him fall heavily on the ground. She placed her katana across the throat of the man, who looked at her, terrified, his hands raised above his head as a sign of abandonment.

"Victory goes to... Mitsuki Hata!" the examiner announced, ending the fight.

The Uchiha bench erupted in applause. She couldn't believe it! She had made it to the finals! Fugaku, like his son, couldn't hold back a micro-smile after that cunning use of the Stick.One hour was given to them to recover in the most equitable way possible. The jubilation had given way to a slight tension within the Uchiha. The clan was divided between the two finalists, who themselves did not seem to be happy about the prospect of facing each other.

As the examiner announced the resumption of the tournament, Itachi looked at his friend, and said with a wide smile:

"Good luck, Mitsuki-chan!"

Mitsuki smiled back at him, before heading towards the arena.

"Genin Tournament Final: Mitsuki Hata vs. Itachi Uchiha!" the examiner said before starting the match.

Neither of the two protagonists moved, however. They looked at each other, seemingly waiting for one of them to make the first move.

The minutes passed and the examiner cleared his throat, as if to remind them that they had to fight.

After a long quarter of an hour, Mitsuki broke the wait, and raised her hands in the air:

"I give up." she declared simply.

"Mitsuki..." Itachi whispered.

"You... Are you sure?" the examiner asked, clearly disappointed by the turn of events.

"I don't want to fight my best friend. We're on the same team... And then I'm out of chakra." explained Mitsuki.

"Alright... So, victory for Itachi Uchiha!" announced the examiner, as the crowd went wild.

The event was coming to an end, and the Uchiha decided to dedicate the evening to their two finalists. The Hokage would not announce the new Chûnins until the next day, so it was time for them to relax after the long weeks of examination.