Watching the Hokage preach propaganda to a bunch of preschooler and their parents was pretty awe inspiring despite how wrong it was.

Black eyes trailing from the firmly entranced kids to the charismatic leader and back again, Kaname had to hand it to Sarutobi. The man really knew how to sell it for the masses but killing was killing was killing and doing so in the name of patriotism didn't make it blameless.

Oh rest assured she would still be out there ending people in the name of the village but she wouldn't be deluded into believing she was somehow righteous for doing the job they were, in all actuality, paying her to complete. And on that note, Kaname supposed she was lucky. She had already been started on the standard mental conditioning from the moment she had been able to speak. But it was nothing extreme like she would have thought, just the slow methodical indoctrination of lower morals and ruthlessness.

It was very practical and while of course she balked at this when she had finally caught on - which had taken more time than it should have to be honest - the black eyed Hyuuga found herself thankful. It would only be useful because she knew one way or the other, she would be a murderer for hire and if she couldn't do her job then what good was she? To both herself and the clan?

Even before being a Hyuuga, Kaname's family name meant more to her than almost anything. She had been proud to be a Carmichael, a family of prestige and old blood and that mindset had traveled over. Which meant disappointment wasn't something she suffered lightly.

Hell, even now she was wondering what she would do when it came down to it. Thinking she could slit someone's throat was very different than actually doing so, especially in the heat of the moment when the victim would be looking at her.

With what exactly, she couldn't be sure but fear and condemnation were the forerunners.

Kaname, as the ever faithful and proud Hyuuga would like to think she could do it without a moment's thought but the girl she had been before her new identity consumed her begged to differ.

You'll hesitate. She seemed to say. You'll see the terror in their eyes and you'll fucking hesitate.

And frankly, Kaname was fully prepared for that possibility. It would be unfortunate to find that she couldn't raise to the task seamlessly but there was a part of her that might be proud to know that she wasn't turning heartless.

Like Itachi. That part that used to be the old her hissed and Kaname shifted uneasily because while the boy was a pain in her side - it wasn't fair to name him that.

Kaname knew he felt guilty about killing so endlessly, that the boy was a pacifist so she should at least give him credit there if not anything else.

Even if he never hesitated.

Shaking herself slightly because trying to demonize her future husband because she was pissed at her situation didn't help her and she glanced up at the stoic Hiashi by her side.

It hadn't exactly come as a surprise when the man approached her with the plan to attend the academy and a "we put it off with the Uchiha clan relations in mind" but she hadn't thought she would be going so soon.

Didn't all the other kids have to wait to attend?

Weren't they not allowed to graduate early?

And then it clicked.

Itachi.

The rules hadn't changed because Itachi hadn't done anything yet.

And if this marriage between Itachi and her went well then it wouldn't have to.

But what did that mean for the rookie nine?

Because surely some of them we're smart enough to breeze through and then they wouldn't be in their destined cells.

What would that do to canon?

Sighing harshly out through her nose, she startled at the light touch from her honorary uncle and relaxed at the reassurance.

She would worry about that later.

For now she had bigger things to worry about - like whether or not Hiashi would quiz her on what the Hokage had just said because he was done speaking and she had barely paid him any mind.

Though all things considered Kaname did have a lot on her mind - like the fact that she was starting school with the heavy expectations of literally everyone on her back.

Though no one out right said it, the brown skinned Hyuuga knew that she was expected to graduate within at the very least a year or the latest, seven which was when Itachi himself left.

People expected her to hold a candle to Itachi in as many ways as she could especially since they were paired off and Kaname being a prodigy in her own right. After all, it wasn't every day someone "invented" a new taijutsu.

Glancing up at Hiashi with a simple shift of her eyes, Kaname took in his regal appearance and felt relieved at the fact that he took the care to coordinate their clothing.

With how their yukata tops were similarly cut and how their pants matched in color, it was a little way to let people know of his support. Or rather his willingness to her name be so closely associated with his own and she didn't mean the Hyuuga name but rather his personal one.

In one subtle swoop the clan head let it be known that the names Hiashi and Kaname went together in the same sentence. It was both heartening and daunting - for both a branch member and an outsider born.

Catching each other's gaze it took less than a second for them to part ways and then Kaname was striding through the doors of the school towards her class.

She had gotten a tour a week back and had done her best to memorize the whole layout as best as she could. Kaname figured that if she looked confident with where she was going then the less people would doubt her as the five year old shrimp she was.

Breezing into the classroom with a sure step, the black eyed Hyuuga spared the near empty seats a mere glance before she promptly sat herself in one of the middle rows - a bit more towards the front and a little towards the aisle.

It didn't take long for the inflood of children to happen but once it did, it brought one of the two kids she would eventually take up a squad with as per designed by the their respective clan heads.

Torune Aburame was alarming especially since she doesn't know if Danzo got his claws into the boy yet.

The goggles wearing boy was a year older than herself which set him at a respectable six instead of five and she watched him slide into the seat next to her with a quiet grace.

"Torune-san." She greeted and received a soft "Kaname-san" in reply.

Taking care to face forward she remembered meeting the other silent child in tandem with their third future cell mate and she gave a hum.

She had thought Inuzuka Hana would have already graduated and received her team formation but apparently the eight year old was still in school. It was a bit strange to realize what she knew about Hana was purely fanon - considering she thought the girl was older than Itachi and not the same age - but that was life.

But since the Inuzuka heir hadn't graduated but would in a year or so, she would be slotted to a genin cell with Kaname - who was expected to finish schooling in the allotted time Itachi did - and Torune - who because of her might have to do the same especially if they were supposed to be a team of trackers.

And at that thought Kaname suppressed a smile because she considered it a great honor to still be included in the traditional Scouting Triad comprised by the Hyuuga, Aburame, and Inuzuka despite the absence of her Byakuran. It meant that they were trusting her to contribute to the team in as efficiently as having their divine eyes would. And she supposed the Sharingan she was likely going to get would be a fair substitute in terms of tracking even if Kaname found that it lacked quite a bit but she digressed.

If all else failed her clan was extremely proficient with tracking jutsus, especially since a lot of them were homegrown.

Drawing herself out of her thoughts as she heard a voice call for attention, she focused in and watched the chunin instructor at the front of the class introduce himself.

And if she found herself a bit bored by all the talking then no one could tell with by the attentive expression on her face.

Kaname didn't really see the need for a lunch break on the first day of school considering they hadn't done much but if it gave her a reprieve from Wakana-sensei's droning then by all means.

Rising to a stand with Torune at her side, the future Uchiha matriarch swept regally from the room and followed the crowd to the outside area and was careful to select a place under the shade of the nearby trees that wasn't too much out of the way but gave her a good view of the field.

Sitting down as was proper of a girl of her station - never knew who was watching after all - she reached into her pouch and pulled out a scroll used for sealing.

"I've bought us lunch as promised." She announced, hoping the boy remembered that she had done so more than a week prior and when she received a nod she knew he had.

Unfurling the scroll enough to show the first sealing array, she took a deeper but natural inhale, focused on the passive chakra running through her body as all Hyuuga could naturally do before delving deeper to her core. Exhaling, she pulled out a tiny trickle of energy which she directed to her finger tip and with a poof, two stacked and tied bentos were in her grasp.

Nodding at the results of her chakra use, Kaname passed Torune his lunch - filled with things he told her that he liked and allowed herself to turn inward for a moment.

She hadn't allowed herself to think too much on chakra manipulation before today since Ryuu had forbidden her to mess too much with her developing coils until they solidified and settled - which they had a few months back but her grandfather only told her about it once she knew about starting the academy - but now that she had met the criteria needed for training, she was beyond excited to learn.

She was also annoyed that she couldn't have started when she started her physical and technical training but the reasoning made sense.

After all what was the use of manifesting chakra outside of her body if it would throw her developing system into wack. Especially since hers in particular had been taking a bit more time to condense but that wasn't so odd - everyone's system settled differently and at varying ages but luckily it was always before age eight or nine. Which coincidentally was the age most people entered the academy.

Idly she wondered how old Itachi had been when his had settled and figured it had to be around four since he had been training since five or so. Maybe even earlier.

Unboxing her lunch, she turned to Torune and smiled.

"If you aren't busy this coming weekend I would like to invite Hana-san and you over for training and dinner." She offered. "I think that since we'll be a team in the future we should figure each other out."

There was a slight pause where Torune swallowed before turning towards her and setting his chopsticks politely down on his bento box.

"I will be there? Why?" He asked rhetorically. "Because I think what you have proposed is a good idea and will service us nicely once we're in our genin cell."

Blinking in surprise - but she managed to transform it into a languid glide of lashes - Kaname felt startled at how similar his speaking pattern was to Shino's and instead wondered if this was how most Aburame spoke or if Shino picked this up from Torune.

And that begged the question of how close Torune was to Shino for verbal inflections to pass on verbatim.

"Good then." She nodded. "I'll see you saturday?"

"You will." He confirmed. "Why? Because I agreed and I like to keep my word."

Smiling again - brighter this time - and tucked daintily into her meal.

And she perhaps got halfway through before she was interrupted and if she felt irritated about it then no one would see it on her.

"Hyuuga-sama." Someone called and she looked up - both because it was only polite and because that honorific was entirely foreign.

There was a gaggle of Uchiha walking up to her and for a second Kanane froze before she lifted her head, set her food politely aside, and smiled.

"Hello." She greeted, amicable expression in place even as her eyes took in everything. "What can I do for you, Uchiha-san?"

Under her gaze the group of five seemed to straighten up and she quirked an internal brow at the display.

"We wanted to introduce ourselves." The boy in the lead said before offering a little bow. "I'm Uchiha Terumi and this, in order, is Uchiha Shima," the one with the ponytail. "Uchiha Ran," the one with the undercut. "Uchiha Shimei," the only girl. "and Uchiha Suidan." This one had a braid.

Letting her eyes roam over their pale faces, she committed them to memory as best as she could and dipped her head.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." She said cordially and the rest besides Terumi bowed since they hadn't done so yet and gave an echoing "And you as well Hyuuga-sama" to which Kaname almost shifted uncomfortably at.

"We had been wondering if you would be favorable to sharing a meal with us this week Hyuuga-sama." Shimei asked and it took Kaname a second to think the offer over before deciding that it was a sound idea.

If she was going to become apart of their clan, she needed to build herself a network of support. Perhaps she could start here and maybe even with Izumi. If the girl was memorable enough to possibly marry Itachi then she was useful.

"I am." She smiled brightly. "How does friday sound?"

Shimei perked up - perhaps not visibly but it was perking up all the same - at her answer and beamed - by Uchiha standards at least - at Kaname.

"It's perfect." She confirmed and the five Uchiha bowed a second time to which she nodded. "We'll see you then."

Watching them walk away, Kaname felt a tension she hadn't even noticed she had gained melt away and with a sneaky glance around, she noted that quite a few eyes had been on that exchange and she felt the need to purse her lips.

"Torune-san." She called. "You'll still be out on friday due to clan business right?"

There was a nod.

"Good," She sighed. "I'd hate to just ditch you like. It's not very polite."

He turned to look at her. Carefully and with caution.

"Something tells me that you are rarely without social necessities." He spoke and she blinked. "Why? Because you seem too deliberate for unintentional rudeness."

And slowly - ever so slowly because he was observant and she liked that - Kaname gave him a smirk.

"Well," She said slyly, black eyes dancing wickedly. "you're not wrong."

Boom! New chapter finally bc I love this story and its readers!

Ok so some things you should know. I changed Kaname's appearance a bit but you can see what she looks like now in the story cover. I also changed who her father was and her parentage to introduce another plot line so you can re-read chapter one and two specifically to find out more about that.

I'm also gonna edit a few more chapters to reflect the changes and to fix some details bc there's a few discrepancies lol. I'm surprised no one called me out on them.

I'll try to update again soon and not leave yall on a cliff hanger for months on end.

Question 1: So Kaname's in the academy! Do you think she could graduate in a year? Why or why not?

Question 2: Why do you think the Uchiha kids invited her to lunch? Why call her Hyuuga-sama before she's actually married in?

Question 3: What do you think of her future genin cell with Torune and Hana? Good? Bad? Why? Why not?

Question 4: What do you think of Kaname's character so far? Like her? Dislike her? Why?

Question 5: How do you think the Hyuuga/Uchiha relations will affect the future?

Question 6: How did you like the chapter as a whole? And are you enjoying this story so far? (Because I hope you are lol).

Review pls! It motivates me to update faster!