"You brats are late." Ibiki stated, crossing his arms, glaring at his students.

Akai rolled her eyes, watching as Shin cringed and Akito gulped.

"My punishment is simple: you must run around Konoha, 3 times. I want you all to be back here in less than an hour. Or you will be doing more exercises."

Shin's jaw fell agape. "3 times? But Konoha is huge! Like, are you trying to kill us? We already walk around Konoha twice to find you!"

Ibiki scoffed. "Do I care? Now start running!"

They all immediately left the training ground. As they reached the residents area of the village, Akito turned at his teammates.

"Wanna race?" He offered, jogging alongside Shin and Akai. Akai raised an eyebrow.

"Are you serious, tashikani? With the size of the village, plus the heat and the crowds?"

Shin laughed. "Hey, why not? That would make everything even more fun!"

Akai grinned mischievously. "On me. Three, two, start!" She yelled, as the three of them dashed faster.

"I was, and still am, a thief, tashikani! You lose and I'll buy new kunais with these!" She yelled, raising the two wallets in her hands.

"Wha-... Damn you Akai!"

"GET BACK HERE!!"

| * | * | * | * | * |

It was as if Akai didn't even run all the laps in the time that she made it back to where Ibiki was, still holding the wallets she had taken in her hands.

"Akai, where did you get those wallets?" Ibiki asked, obviously annoyed that the girl had two new objects that she didn't have when she left.

"I took them from Shin and Akito, tashikani!" She said with a smile. "I told them that if I won, I got to buy new kunais with the ryo in their wallets!"

Ibiki placed his head in his hands and gave a sigh. "I don't know if I should punish you or not since you told them. But how did you finish so fast, you brat?"

"Years of running away gave me the experience. Besides, my family is known for being super fast, tashikani~" She sang out as the two other boys in her group showed up.

"Dammit Akai! You got a head start!" Shin screamed at her, but the girl just laughed quietly.

"You were given full warning, tashikani!" She said with a triumphant smile. "How did you guys not notice me grabbing your wallets?"

"Because you're super sneaky." Akito said quietly, and Akai nodded her head.

"That I am."

"Alright, shut up brats. For your next exercise, I want you guys to practice your accuracy. You have three targets over there-" He said, pointing towards three trees that each had a target placed in the middle of them. "-one for each of you. I will gather your accuracy from how close you are to hitting the middle. You may each use five Kunais. You have twenty minutes to do this exercise. Go!" He shouted, and Shin and Akito both quickly made their ways to the trees, but Akai just rolled her eyes and slowly dragged herself to the target.

"Akai!" Ibiki screamed, but the girl just laughed and then started her training.

| * | * | * | * | * |

Ibiki sighed in frustration. Akito and Shin did good. Both of them has 2 of all the 5 kunais hitting the bullseye, the rest were close to the middle as well.

But Akai...

Guess what.

Akai didn't even throw the kunais.

Literally.

A minute before the time's up, she walked towards the target. Pulling out her kunais, she calmly stabbed the middle of the target.

Ibiki saw that with his own eyes.

"Hey! Why zero?! Shouldn't I get a perfect score?! I hit all of them perfectly, in the middle, tashikani!" Akai exclaimed, pouting.

Ibiki's eye twitched, as he hit the girl on the head, receiving her yell "That's child abuse!".

" You don't even throw them, you damn gaki."

"You didn't told me to! You just told us to hit the middle of the target!" She protested, slightly grinning. Akito and Shin snickered.

"Have you never seen a shinobi fight?! You traveled for years and you didn't know?!" Ibiki asked, clenching his fists.

"Of course I know! But old habits die hard, tashikani!"

"Old habits...?" Akito wondered out loud. This caused Akai to smirk.

"Yup! My family never throws their weapon!" She stated, as she pulled her dagger, and slashed an imaginary opponent in front of her.

Ibiki narrowed his eyes at how she swung her blade.

"If that's what you want, then fight me." He said, as he pulled out a kunai, and got into a battle stance.

Akai smirked even wider, as she followed his lead, holding her dagger in her right hand, and senbons between her fingers on the other hand.

"Tell me your rules. What if I win, what if I lose. What kind of weapons allowed, may I use any jutsu, you know what I mean, tashikani."

"If I win, you will tell me your parent's name. If I lose, I will not read your memories. EVER, even if the Hokage ordered me to. If it's a draw, both of us do nothing. You may use everything." Ibiki replied, glaring slightly.

Shin took a few steps back, just like Akito. "Uh... Guys? Are you serious?" He muttered, nervous at the sight in front of him.

His teammate, a girl, is going to fight his Sensei, an interrogator.

Yes, Akai is a thief, that proves her speed. But that makes her too cocky, and that could bring danger.

"Of course." Ibiki growled, "I need to knock some sense into this brat's thick head. This damned, annoying, disrespectful, arrogant, smart*ss brat."

Akito cringed. "Alright... We'll just watch from... There..." He trailed of, pointing at the edge of the clearing, dragging Shin with him.

Ibiki took a fighting stance in front of Akai, who looked overly as if she had no idea what was going on. But this didn't stop Ibiki from throwing a kunai at the girl with the flick of his wrist.

Akai's teammates watched as the blade moved closer and closer to Akai's face, her very blank expression never faulting as the blade inched closer and closer to her skin.

And before anyone could blink, Akai deflected the kunai with her dagger causing it to fall to the ground beside of her.

"Really scarface? A kunai, tashikani?!" She said with a small smirk on her lips as she watched the man's slightly agape mouth, but he quickly shook it off. It was only a few seconds later that he sent out multiple kunai and shuriken, enough that Akai as a undertrained Genin shouldn't be able to deflect.

And he was right on that.

All of the weapons lodged themselves into Akai, and she fell to the ground with a loud thud. Shin and Akito screamed and Ibiki just stared at the girl who laid there, dead, and you could almost see the remorse in his eyes.

That is until 'Akai' disappeared into water on the ground, and the weapons landed on the ground with a loud clash.

"What the hell?!" Shin called out, and as soon as he finished his sentence, Akai appeared behind of Ibiki and roughly kicked him in the back of the head with as much strength as she could muster up.

Ibiki stumbled forward slightly, but quickly turned around and grabbed Akai by the foot, swinging her around and tossing her towards a tree. She quickly twisted her body and landed on the tree sideways, allowing her very weak chakra control to hold her up side ways. She launched back at the large man with her dagger in between her teeth.

Ibiki stared at the girl for a moment before he brought out another kunai. He quickly used the weapon to block the girls attack, but he couldn't hide the smile on his lips.

Finally, after all the time he had spent trying to get her to show some sort of ninja ability, he was finally getting something out of her.

"That's it! Come at me with all you have, Akai!" He screamed, and suddenly, the girl's eyes widened. Her shoulders tensed, and she fell still. Everything around them seemed to stop, and Akai just stared at Ibiki.

"D-dad..?" She muttered slightly, her mind taking her back to when her father used to train her. When he would fight with her, and beg her to give him all she has. And that led to her remembering the last time that she saw her father.

It was a warm day in the summer, and little Akai was running around outside of her house with her cousins following close behind of her. They were playing ninja with fake ninja toys, just being children.

"Akai!" Her fathers booming voice called out, and Akai smiled happily as she ran towards her fathers voice. When she arrived at the front door, her father was standing there in his mission attire, and that saddened Akai but she knew that she had to give her dad a proper goodbye, just like she always had.

"Hi Dad! Are you going on a mission, tashikani?!" She asked happily, and her father smiled at her as she leaned down and swept her up into his arms, nodding his head slightly.

"Yes ma'am! So you're going to stay with your uncle until I get back, okay?" He asked, and Akai nodded her head quickly.

"Of course Dad!" She said, and she placed a gentle kiss against her dads forehead as she did before every mission he went on. A good luck thing, is what Akai called it.

"I love you, Akai." Her father said, and he kissed her forehead back gently.

"I love you too! Do you know how long you'll be gone?"

"No, I don't squirt." He said as he put her down on the ground. "But I have to get going. Your uncle will be here soon to get you, alright?" He said with a smile as he placed his hand on her messy blue hair and gave it a slight ruffle.

Akai, being the cheerful and happy child that she was, nodded quickly and then hugged her fathers hand. He smiled down at her before he walked away.

"Bye Akai, I love you, and I'll see you when I get home! Remember, always give it everything you've got, no matter what!" He said, and Akai nodded quickly. "Yes sir! I love you too!"

But unknown to little Akai, that would be the last time she would ever see her father. For he would perish in this mission and leave Akai an orphan as her mother had died two years previous to this.

Akai continued to stare at Ibiki, her eyes slightly watery. "Dad..." She muttered again as she fell against the ground, everything around her falling silent.

Akito was the first one to snap out of his daze.

"Akai!" The blonde yelled, running towards her. Shin followed behind, crouching beside her. Akito narrowed his eyes as he lifted her head.

Blood. He could smell it easily. Her head must have been collided hard with the ground.

"What happened?" Shin asked, looking up at Ibiki. The man sighed, as he picked up Akai's limp body.

"After I told her to come at me with all she has, she just froze, before she fell."

"Flashback. That must be it." Akito muttered, "I had them, too... Although I didn't pass out. I just hyperventilate until my brother calms me down."

"We should bring her go the hospital." Shin stated.

The other two agreed, and they all made their way towards the said building.

| * | * | * | * | * |

"Oh no! What have you done, Ibiki?!"

Hi, Reader-senpai~ Sorry for the wait. I was working on another stories of mine.

Tell me what do you think about the chapter! Please Comment! Don't forget to Vote, too!

~MidRav