Fallen (ItachixOC)

Chapter Sixteen

第十六章

Miyako watched with pride as Sakura trained hard. The month was almost up, and Sakura is stronger, faster, and overall better than ever before. She was more confident in herself and had seemed to almost mature in the short month since they started. Miyako couldn't wait for Sasuke and Naruto to see her cousin now. She knew they'd both be impressed.

Right now, Sakura was sparring with a genin who graduated the previous year. They were exchanging blows, using Taijutsu only. Sakura and the genin had been training together since the beginning, and today was the first day that Miyako could picture Sakura coming out on top of the spar. And sure enough, with a kick to the knee joint, Sakura managed to pin her training partner down to the ground, a kunai to the genins neck.

Miyako grinned and started to clap slowly at the show the two genins had put on. Sakura looked up in shock, sweat dripping down her porcelain skin as she realised what she had done. Sakura grinned, shooting off her partner and running over to Miyako.

"I did it, Miyako-sensei! I beat her!"

"I knew you would, one day. Tomorrow is the final exam, after that you can show the boys how much you've improved," Miyako stated with a grin and Sakura smirked, standing up straighter and pushing some of her short hair behind her ear.

"Will you be attending, Sakura-san?" the other genin questioned as she stood up. Her pride was hurt a little bit, but she was proud of the girl that beat her all the same.

"Yep. What about you, Mi-chan?" Sakura answered, looking toward her cousin.

"Yes, I will be attending. Lord Hokage has set me up as security for the arena. I will be standing somewhere watching for suspicious activity," Miyako explained. "Now then, that's enough training for today. How about you two go and rest before tomorrow?"

"Sounds good. Do you want to get some dango with me, Sakura-san?" the genin asked Sakura.

"No thanks. I'm going to show off my new skills to Ino. See you around," Sakura replied before running off, the genin following her at a slow pace.

Miyako sighed before making her way out of the training field. She was tired, never allowing her Hidden Jutsu to turn off for even a minute after the threat of Orochimaru became prevalent within the village. And whilst she wanted nothing more than to rest, she had to take up guard duty near and around the Uchiha Compound.

She made he way to the edge of Konoha, shivering at the sight of the abandoned compound which had once held the great – but still powerful – Uchiha Clan. She avoided this place as often as she can. But sometimes she was placed on guard duty. This area was dilapidated that it was easy for missing-nins to sneak in and out of the village. Even knowing this weakness, there was only ever one guard covering the area instead of the standard two to four.

Miyako stopped in front of the gateway leading into the compound before taking a deep breath and walking in. Her job right now was to search every house to make sure no one who wasn't supposed be there was there. It would take her the better part of two hours to thoroughly check the houses, and she was on the shift for four hours total.

Miyako moved in and out of the houses, going into abandoned kitchens that still had rotten food waiting at tablets, living rooms with dusty couches and old-fashioned TV sets, bathrooms – some of which held blood in the bath or shower where a member had been killed, and bedrooms where beds that were set up for the night were waiting for their owners to return. All the houses still held their furniture, knickknacks, and other personal possessions, though now most of it was covered in dust and moth bitten, and most of the rooms had a least one remaining bloodstain.