The Red Clouds

Chapter 4: Goodbye

Kasumi ducked under the blade without difficulty, her three-tomoe Sharingan spun wildly as it predicted every possible move the enemy would make judging from the minor twitches of the muscle, the small shift in weight, and even the flow of chakra released from the enemy.

As Kasumi weaved her way through the relentless attacks, she saw the movement of the weapon long before the weapon was swung. Kasumi easily brought her own blade to clash with the enemy's blade and maneuvered out of the way of the Ninjutsu. Kasumi danced her way closer to her opponent before reaching up to his mask. Under the porcelain mask, a small glimpse of red was all she saw before waking up.

Kasumi rubbed her eyes and was horrified to find blood on her hand. Kasumi was worried that her eyes were injured, however, she remembered that Itachi's eyes bled when he used his Mangekyo.

"Itachi!" Kasumi yelled as she shot out of her bed and towards Itachi's room. She had no concept of the time and barged into Itachi's room at three in the morning. "My Sharingan evolved!"

Kasumi's black eyes quickly morphed into red marble and Itachi stared blankly at her face. Kasumi waited patiently for Itachi to comment on her new Sharingan was but utterly disappointed by Itachi's words.

"You are bleeding." Itachi pointed out the obvious as Kasumi felt more blood running down her cheek. "Did you hit your head while tossing and turning in your sleep?"

Now that Kasumi was fully awake, she did feel a stinging pain in her head. She had assumed it was from the chakra flow towards her eyes. Now that Kasumi was thinking clearly, she ran towards the bathroom and looked into the mirror. There was a small cut on her forehead leaking blood. Her Sharingan were still as they were before. One two-tomoe and one single-tomoe.

"The Hokage assigned you to Team Seven to assist the training of Sasuke. He is hoping that you could teach him how to unlock and use his Sharingan. You are to join them on their first C-Ranked mission tomorrow." Itachi told Kasumi as he handed her a piece of paper. Kasumi held the paper to her forehead as she continuously deactivated and reactivated her Sharingan hoping to see a different result. Itachi's eyes narrowed after watching the absent minded Kasumi hold the mission scroll to her injury.

"What about my position as a tracker on the hunting team?" Kasumi questioned Itachi only to receive a careless glance as a response. Kasumi realized that everything had already been planned by the Hokage.

Kasumi tossed the paper away and began to apply medical ninjutsu to seal the cut. Kasumi let out an annoyed sigh as she wound slowly closed back up.

"Your mission record is horrible. You are only taking criminal hunting missions involving red-haired male, you have a 20% success rate, and your combat capabilities are surpassed by almost any other Chunin." Itachi began nagging again and Kasumi groaned. She had heard the same lecture hundreds of times.

"My squad always finds the target." Kasumi shot back which caused Itachi to get irritated.

"Your squad always loses the fight against the target."

Kasumi returned to her room and changed. She didn't want to admit that Itachi was right. Even if she found Naruto, no ANBU in the village could apprehend him, let alone Kasumi herself. She had a plan though, she had been practicing Kenjutsu and Genjutsu as of late. Her fighting style was designed to confuse and overwhelm the enemy.

It is three in the morning, why are you changing? Itachi asked from the doorway as Kasumi slipped on her Chunin vest. Kasumi looked at the clock and let out a miserable groan as she fell back onto her bed.

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"Are you tired?" Sasuke asked as Kasumi barely kept her eyes open. Kasumi shook her head and reopened her eyes, she couldn't fall back asleep after that night. Her team had pretty much kicked her out of the squad because she kept having them hunt after high ranked criminals.