Fading Light

Chapter 3: Training

Following our "eventful" formalities, Asuma allowed us to go home and ordered us to meet him at the academy at 8AM sharp.

~

I yawned, leaning against the wall of the academy. I could hear some laughter coming from nearby, the laugh was familiar. Naruto, he must've been with Sakura and Sasuke.

Sasuke...

My mind started wandering to when we were kids again.

"Hey Sasuke! Wanna go train?" I smiled, running up to him. He smiled with his brother.

"Hey Amaya, how are you?" Itachi asked politely.

"I'm good, Itachi. I heard you were promoted to one of the Anbu. Congrats!" I smiled brightly. Something glazed over his eyes, but it was gone so quickly that I thought I imagined it.

"Thank you." Sasuke was looking down.

"Hey don't be so gloomy, Sasuke." I smirked, nudging his shoulder. He chuckled a little as his brother rubbed his head.

"Why don't you two go and play?" Itachi suggested.

"It's not playing it's training!" We both yelled at him. He chuckled.

"Of course." He walked away...

"Hey Amaya!" I turned my attention towards my name being called and saw Choji standing there with Shikamaru.

"Hey guys..." I muttered as the memories faded away into the back of my mind.

"Why do we have to be up so early?" Shikamaru groaned.

"Do you take anything seriously?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

"I take things seriously when I have to, but this is such a drag." He shoved his hands in his pockets. Choji was already shoving chips in his face and I honestly was reconsidering if this was the worst team or not.

"Glad you're all here." Asuma appeared in front of us. "Today were going to be doing a training exercise. Follow me." We followed him out into the forest.

"What kind of training exercise?" I asked as Choji and Shikamaru fell behind chatting about something pointless.

"You'll see." I puffed my cheeks a little at the lack of information, but blew it off as we stopped in the middle of a forest path. "Alright, I want the three of you to spar." I looked at him surprised.

"You want us to fight each other?" He nodded. "What's the point?"

"The point is that in order to work as a team you need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the other members as well as your own." I swallowed hard.

"Are we just supposed to fight all at once or matches?" I questioned, I was hoping this wasn't a free-for-all. I wasn't sure how I would do against both of them at once.

"There are no rules to this exercise, just fight until I tell you to stop." I looked down, allowing the Sharingan to appear. I didn't hesitate, just turned and punched Shikamaru into a tree nearby.

"Hey! You could at least give us a little warning before you go punching us!" He yelled at me.

"Asuma said this is a no rules fight. If you don't fight with your full strength...you'll die." My eyes met his and I could see his throat move as he swallowed hard.

"Partial Expansion Jutsu!" Choji made his right arm expand, it took several jumps to avoid getting hit as he jumped in front of Shikamaru. "I won't let you hurt Shikamaru." I looked past him to see Shikamaru was doing a hand sign. I jumped up quickly as the shadow stretched out towards me.

"You're fighting together. Smart, you know the Sharingan's power. It has the ability to copy any jutsu." I put my hands together mimicking Shikamaru's hand sign. My shadow stretched out towards them as well.

"Choji move!" Shikamaru yelled, Choji who had been blocking my view of him jumped out of the way, revealing a knife hurling straight at me. I moved out of the way just barely missing the knife. However, when I landed and was about to attack again I couldn't move. "Shadow Possession complete." Shikamaru said with a smirk on his face. He allowed me to look down, he had lured me closer to the shadows of the trees so he could extend the shadow further.

"You lured me into a trap, you had me believe that I had the advantage until I was close enough to the trees to extend the shadow." I stated.

"You asked me when we were at the academy if I took anything seriously. The true answer is I don't unless it comes to my friends and comrades." He released me from the shadow, my Sharingan vanished as I panted from the chakra use. Shikamaru and Choji came over, Shikamaru holding a hand out towards me. "Asuma said in order for us to work together we had to understand one another. Now you know when I'm serious." I sighed, but gave a small smile.

"I guess you're right. I think the point of this exercise was to see how our teamwork would work in combat." I took his outstretched hand and shook it in defeat. "I'll admit, you and Choji have some amazing teamwork even though we just got put together. But you two have been friends for a while."

"You're strong too, Amaya. You have the Sharingan, plus your vast knowledge of Jutsus. I saw how focused you were in the academy about learning about different types and how they could be countered. That knowledge will come in handy when we're on missions." I blushed a little at the compliment.

"Wow...thanks Shikamaru..." I muttered as Choji smiled between the two of us. Then we all heard clapping coming from where Asuma was standing. He walked over with a cigarette between his teeth.

"Good work, you all passed the exercise." I smiled with Shikamaru and Choji, but before we could celebrate too much I collapsed to my knees as my head felt as if it were splitting in two.

"Amaya!" Choji bent down next to me as he noticed the paleness in my skin. "What's wrong?" Asuma and Shikamaru bent down as well as they started to notice.

"Its probably...the Sharingan..." I whispered.

"I've never heard of the Sharingan causing pain other than when its used on another person." Asuma muttered more to himself than anyone else.

"My Sharingan...was awakened...when Itachi...killed..." I trailed off as more pain split through my head.

"Hey, save your strength." Shikamaru muttered. "Asuma, she's really pale. We should get her home so she can rest." Asuma seemed lost in thought. "Asuma!" Shikamaru called out more impatient now. This snapped him out of his thoughts as he nodded. He picked me up and we headed back to the village. I could feel over time the headache going away until it finally had vanished as we arrived back in the village.

"Asuma...I'm okay now..." I whispered.

"Are you sure, you still look a little pale."

"I'm fine." I muttered with a little more confidence.

"Alright..." He reluctantly set me down as Shikamaru and Choji turned to look at me.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Choji asked as he looked me up and down.

"Yeah...just tired." I smiled a little.

"Why don't we get something to eat and then get you home?" Shikamaru suggested.

"Sounds good." I smiled brighter.

Could it be that when I was thinking about Itachi or about being close to other people like I was with my friends in my clan...that the Sharingan starts to affect my body? Or was it just a random headache?

"Everything alright?" Shikamaru asked when he noticed I wasn't following them. I shook the thought away and ran to catch up with them.

"Yeah, just lost in thought it all." I smiled, walking with them to Choji's favorite restaurant.

I was wrong, this is a good squad. And I'm proud to be a member of it.