Midnight and Crow

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘬𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺.

𝘈 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦. "𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮." 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰.

"𝘞𝘩𝘰?" 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨.

"𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘵, 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩."

𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦. "𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦?"

"𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴…𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶."

______________________________________________________

I was rudely awakened by the sound of my alarm blaring loudly through my small room. With an annoyed groan, I reached over and hit the top of my alarm and silenced it. A reflective gleam caught my eye, I raised my right arm above my face to examine the quirk inhibitor.

It was cool against my skin, I didn't feel any sort of needles stabbing into me nor were there any noticeable strange feelings. It really was just a metal bracer that used some sort of sci-fi magic to stop my quirk from working. I doubt these things are without flaw, there must be a catch or a weakness. Otherwise, I would see more people wearing them, or perhaps people with dangerous quirks like mine are rarer than first assumed.

I glanced over at my alarm clock, seven-ten, fuck I was lost in thought for a whole ten minutes."Why couldn't my quirk wait until Thursday or something? Not fucking Monday, I don't wanna go to school." This was just my luck, have a stroke on a Monday, recover on a Tuesday, and still have to go to school on Wednesday.

I should have a week off at least, but unfortunately, this was finals week for the semester. I not only needed to pass all my remaining tests with As, I now need to make up Monday's and Tuesday's exams as well. I really do hope they don't pour it all on me today, but knowing the Japanese education system, they most likely would. I'm fairly certain if the doctor hadn't mentioned the word stroke to the school then I would be getting penalized for not showing up, exams were that important to these people.

With a sigh, I got out of bed and began my morning routine, toilet, shower, brush teeth, and get dressed.

It was only until I entered the kitchen did I realize that something was amiss. Naomi wasn't making breakfast, Naomi always made breakfast, even on her birthdays and mother's day when I insisted I be the one to do it. She loved cooking, it was her favorite hobby outside of working out and martial arts. So the fact that she wasn't doing so was a cause for no small amount of concern.

"Uh...ma, you here?" I called out.

A groan sounded from the ratty old blue love seat that stood right behind the dining table in front of a small TV.

That was odd, Naomi hates sleeping on anything that wasn't her bed. I've only seen her sleep on that couch twice in all my life, and all of them were after one of her once-in-a-blue-moon benders. I really hated it when she did that. Naomi, like me, was a sad drunk, seeing her like that reminded me too much of myself and I hated that guy.

I walked around the corner of the couch to find someone that was most definitely not my redhead mother. The woman currently drooling on the old cigarette-stained blue loveseat was a striking beauty with soft pale skin, a messy head of dark purple hair, and an incredibly curvaceous figure under her thin white sundress.

My eyes then moved to the form of the person I was looking for, Naomi was curled up in a ball below the couch, clutching an empty whisky bottle like a teddy bear with her dark crimson locks matted by the puddle of vomit near her head.

"Fucking hell woman, you could've drowned yourself."

With an annoyed huff, I stomped over to the kitchen and filled two large cups with tap water before taking out the sliced bread and putting a few slices onto one paper plate and more onto another.

I decided to wake the stranger up first, Naomi probably won't be able to wake up on her own and I was nowhere near strong enough to lift her two hundred and ten-pound ass.

"Yo, random pretty lady on my couch, wake up," I said as I gently poked the woman on the cheek.

The woman scrunched her lovely face up and swatted my finger away.

"Get up or I'll start blasting Mombo Number Five at full volume." I'll do it too, I've done it before as Naomi and our angry neighbors could attest to.

"Please don't," Naomi mumbled.

Oh so she can wake herself up, that's good to know. "Then wake up, I put out some bread and water for you two. You both have a dehydration headache, if you don't drink lots of water now you'll regret it when you have to work later today." As a former hard drinker, I knew what I was talking about.

The stranger finally sturred, her long eyelashes fluttered as she blinked her beautiful sky blue eyes to wakefulness. "Five more minutes chibi Danuja," she groaned.

So she knew my father, and apparently, I looked like him, Naomi doesn't like to mention him so I didn't have any idea what he looked like until now. "Come on, get up, I don't know who you are but it's half an hour till eight and I assume you work on the weekdays so get up."

She groaned even louder, "guhhhh, I'm going to be so late. Naomi, can you pick up my shift today?"

"I'm on probation Nemuri," The redhead reminded as she slowly detached her face from the floor as the sticky brown vomit stubbornly clung to her cheek.

I watched the stranger slowly sit up on the couch and asked. "Who are you, you my mom's girlfriend or something?"

The woman rubbed her temples, "not anymore, broke up when your old man decided that polygamy wasn't okay anymore."

....what?

"Stop telling people that, especially my son. He's too young to be corrupted by your…everything."

Okay, I'm confused, was my dad a harem protagonist or not? "Is she joking?"

Naomi threw the bottle in her hands over her shoulder and into the trashcan across the room, "yes…mostly."

The stranger chuckled as she stood up and tried to walk around the couch, I was already at her side to steady her. She gave me a soft smile, "thanks cutie."

"I'll ask again, who are you, random pretty lady?" I persisted whilst helping her into a folded plastic chair.

She took a long draft from one of the tall glasses of water before answering, "I'm Nemuri Kayama, you can call me Aunty Nemuri." She introduced herself with a tilt of her head.

I narrowed my eyes in thought, I could've sworn I'd heard the name before.

"She's the pro hero Midnight," Naomi answered as she made her way into the kitchen and put her head under a running faucet.

Oh, well this was not how I'd picture meeting the R-rated hero. I decided to just go with it, there was something I had been wanting to tell her for a while now after all. "You know you'd make a lot more money if you became a live streamer rather than a cover model."

Midnight looked over at me with a raised brow.

"Ignore him Nemuri, he's been trying to get me to stream for years now."

"I'm right and you know it. You'd make so much money with the number of simps in this country, you even speak English fluently, so you have two huge markets to break into." Honestly, Naomi would rake in so much money if she decided to stream on whatever the modern-day version of Twitch is. She didn't even need to be good at games, just be pretty and read some copypasta every now and then. Of course, I wouldn't tolerate her becoming a titty streamer, only a cuck would allow the women they love to show themselves off to strangers online.

"You got a good point there cutie," Nemuri said as she gave me a head pat.

"See she listens to me."

Naomi ripped into a slice of bread and spoke with her mouth full. "That's because she hasn't heard you rant about Arulean for hours on end."

"I will not hear his name in this house without first hearing the word Emperor in front of it."

The redhead rolled her eyes. "See what I mean?"

Midnight giggled, "I don't know Naomi, some girls like a man with intelligence." She said as she continued to pat my head.

"He's eight."

"Eight now, but in ten years…"

"No…just no."

"I'd be all for it." I chimed.

Naomi turned towards me, "You don't even know what we're talking about," her eyes then glanced at the microwave clock. "The bus should be here any minute."

I clicked my tongue, "fine, see you later, nice to meet you Aunty Nemuri."

Midnight leaned over and gave me a hug before I was able to walk towards the door, "be a good boy, my little nephew. I'll try and visit next weekend okay, just me and you, we'll make it a little date."

Fucking score, "awesome, I'll see you then."

My mother sighed, "damn it Nemuri."

The pro hero let me go and I put my shoes and backpack on with a smile, "bye ma, bye Aunty." I walked down the stairs of my apartment and towards the bus stop with a slight skip in my step.

______________________________________________

I walked through the halls of my school getting strange looks as I passed the other students. Apparently, word had spread of my episode at the playground, and their reactions seemed a bit uncalled for. I was far from the first person to awaken their quirk at school. Just a few years ago a child almost destroyed the playground when they awakened an earth manipulation quirk. That kid wasn't seen again but I heard through the grapevine that he transferred to one of those prep schools that fast tracks kids into hero work or military.

But apparently, that didn't matter to these kids, I still awoke my quirk late and it was still a surprise to everyone that I even had one to awaken in the first place. Not to mention there was nothing obvious about what it was, I just held my head and screamed, I've heard theories from the whispering children. The theories varied from super-hearing to super sticky ear wax. I didn't mind the conjecture, the kids would soon forget about it within a few days or weeks. The only thing they might remember would be me screaming, probably make up a memory and convince themselves I shat my pants or something, damn it. I'm going to be remembered as poop boy or diaper destroyer or something now aren't I?

With a resigned sigh, I entered my classroom and slid into my desk at the front of the class nearest the door. I was assigned this seat thanks to my teacher's pet status, apparently not giving the teacher's shit makes me responsible enough to act as line leader during emergency drills. I hope this trend doesn't continue, I'd hate to be voted as a class president or worse, student council president. If anime has taught me anything it's that the student council has the equivalent power of the Rothschilds. I don't want that level of responsibility, I'm just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe.

As the last of the students piled into class, Higa-Sensei walked into the room with his arms full of papers. "Good morning class."

"Good morning Higa-Sensei," we all greeted back in the obligatory fashion we've been taught since kindergarten.

"Today we will be continuing your end-of-term exams, Ishii will you please pass out the tests."

I was already partway out my desk as soon as he slammed the papers on the table, this was yet another one of my unofficial duties as a teacher's pet. I don't mind though, passing out papers for who was effectively Winnie the Pooh wasn't the worst thing to do in life.

Once I was done passing the exams out to the nineteen other students, I made my way to my own desk, but before I could sit down my teacher's voice stopped me. "Can you come here a moment Ishii?"

"Yes sir?"

The bear-man gave me a kindly smile, "how are you doing today?"

I gave a shrug, "fine, just hoping I could make up the exams I missed."

"That's part of why I called for you, you will be given another chance at your exams later today. Your mother has already been called and notified that you will be staying a few hours extra today."

"Thank you Sensei, I'd rather stay a few hours extra than come in on a weekend."

"I also wanted to ask you how you're doing, I know awakening your quirk can be scary. I just wanted you to know you can come to me if you need to talk."

Ah so there's the shrink, was wondering if he was going to show himself today or not. "I'm fine, the doctors gave me an inhibitor and there are plans that will allow me to control my quirk in a safe environment." I pulled my right sleeve up a little to flash him the bracer on my wrist.

Higa nodded with a relieved smile, "that's good, I'm glad you will be allowed a chance to control your quirk. Now go start your exam, I've kept you too long."

I walked away after the obligatory bow and sat at my desk and looked over the exam.

Today was history, good thing history was the easiest subject in all of academia, plus we aren't being taught real history until at least middle school. What we're being taught right now is just pop history, cookie-cutter basics that are simplified for ease of learning, or watered-down propaganda. It was even multiple-choice, the difficulty wasn't in the content though, it was in the number of questions. One hundred questions were ridiculous, this wasn't even the end-of-year exam just the end of term. We still had the winter exams to do after the summer break, summer wasn't the end of the year for Japan. It was ass-backward but then again Japan has always been weird, the first people to make a functioning mech but somehow thought giving that mech a sword instead of a howitzer cannon was a good idea.

I'm glad the Koreans destroyed it in the last world war, glorious Nippon steal was a fucking joke in the face of a million screaming communists backed by American metahumans. Yeah, this world was weird, that wasn't even the strangest team-up during the fourth world war. Egypt and Isreal of all nations allied against Turkic invasion. Captain Zion and the Sword of Islam against the self-proclaimed reincarnation of Emperor Suleiman. That particular front of the war ended up creating a land bridge to Cyprus, the complete destruction of the state of Isreal, and the retaking of Constantinople by the Greeks.

None of this information was relevant to the test, unfortunately. I blinked as I realized that I had answered a few questions without even reading them. "Ah shit," I mumbled to myself and went back to check my answers.

Okay not bad, just misread questions about what the Emperor does nowadays. Fun fact, the Emperor of Japan is still around. The position has considerable powers but only on paper. It's similar to the British monarch in that regard, yes the military and the pro heroes all swear loyalty to the Emperor, but it's more lip service than anything. The Emperor could legally take dictatorial powers over Japan at any time he wanted, whether or not he will live long enough to see his coup come to fruition is an entirely other matter. One of the branches of the Japanese government would most assuredly try and stop him. Unless of course one of the branches supported him, then we got a full-on civil war on our hands.

In Japan, there were three arms of the government, The Military, the National Diet, and the Hero Commission. Right now the Hero Commission is effectively the most powerful domestic force in Japan as they are the ones who regulate the people who are capable of snapping the world into dust. But the Military is a close second as they too have their own metahumans in their ranks, however, they do not have nearly as many who answer to them as the Hero Commission does. The National Diet is the state legislator and is mostly made up of politicians who are voted on by the people and are then bought by corporations and old-money families. So a standard example of a republic in action, good thing that a lot of pro heroes have morals, or else Japan would be a cyberpunk dystopia within a decade.

Rants aside, the exam was easy and I finished first in my class as was the norm. Higa-Sensei gave me a nod and a smile as I turned in my paper. I wish I could just get the other two exams I missed over with right now but apparently, that wasn't on the table. So I just decided to sit back and close my eyes, I had about thirty more minutes to relax and I intended to take advantage of every second of it.

__________________________________________

Wednesday came and went, I made up my two missing exams after school and continued to finish my last term exam on Thursday. Friday was only a half-day as the only thing that was needed was for the teachers to give out homework packets to be done over the break and due when we get back on the first of September.

As it was mid-July, I had more than enough time to finish the assignments, so I wasn't worried. No, what my mind was focused on right now was the soon-to-be meeting of my mother's hero Sensei.

I had asked Naomi about the man I would be meeting whilst we rode on the train towards Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. Every detail she gave me only made me even more excited, his hero name was Crow's Eye, and was once amongst the top five heroes in Japan before he retired. He was an old-school hero, the type that didn't care for name-brand recognition and only the good he could do for society. According to Naomi, the corporatization of saving people's lives was a major factor that lead to his retirement, he had publicly denounced what the hero society was becoming and had hoped his resignation would wake up Japan.

It didn't obviously but I found myself respecting this man more and more with each passing detail. I too grew up on the ideals that heroes should prioritize the lives of others over their name and profits, that a hero was someone who took up the responsibility of shouldering the most taxing and necessary jobs of society for the simple fact that it was the right thing to do.

However, this is not to say heroes shouldn't be compensated in some way for risking their lives for the betterment of society. Firemen, Paramedics, and Police are all heroes that have a salary. So why shouldn't the capes be allowed to earn some scrap for their next meal? If a hero wanted to do some deals or make a product on their off time. As long as the deals they would potentially make aren't hurting anyone or dealing with the corporations that are killing the planet. Then I have no major qualms against a hero opening an alternative form of revenue stream.

I do however draw the line at prioritizing brand over hero work. Once you become a hero you're a hero, you're not a sponsor mouthpiece who happens to do hero work. Thinking of those types of heroes, especially the so-called number one hero of America, made me incredibly angry. I wish that the heroes who care only for their own gains would one day feel the weight of their own sins and die on the street like the corporate rats they are.

"Sam, we're here." Naomi's voice suddenly shook me from my inner monologue.

"Oh, okay." I grabbed my suitcase and followed the redhead off the train.

"Were you ranting in your head again sweetie?"

Damn this woman and her powers of observation. "Yeah."

She chuckled as we made our way off the train and onto the platform, "what was it about this time?"

"I was cursing corpo heroes in my head again."

Naomi regarded me for a moment, "yep Sensei is going to like you."

We walked down the stairs and off the platform, we were far out into the country in northern Japan where we had arrived at a small town in a valley nestled between beautiful verdant mountains. The smogless air filled my lungs, this was the first breath of real crisp air that I have gotten since our last vacation away from the city nearly two years ago, and boy how I missed it.

There was only one car in the parking lot, a black four-door sedan. Naomi looked around in confusion, "this is his car...but where is Sensei?"

"Right behind you." A soft voice spoke.

"Gah Jesus fuck." I shouted in Texan as I jumped out of my skin.

"Samuru, language!" Naomi chastised.

I turned around and was immediately met with two fingers poking my forehead, "you remind me of your foolish father."

Rubbing my forehead in indignation I looked up at the man speaking. He was old, probably in his seventies, he wore his white hair in a ponytail, and his bearded face was closely shaved. Two long lines, possibly birthmarks or worry lines fell from the inner point of his eyes and down to the middle of his cheeks. The man wore a simple black kimono and wood geta sandals, on his hip was a Jian sword that was held inside of a polished black wood sheath.

Naomi bowed lowly at the man, "Sensei, thank you for picking us up."

The man's stern coal-black eyes softened somewhat as he looked over at the woman, a small smile twitched at the edge of his lips. "It's no trouble, Naomi. Now, who is this you bring to me?"

The redhead stepped behind me and put her hands on my shoulders whilst gently pushing me forward. "This is my son, Samuru Ishii."

I bowed lowly at the man as manners dictated, "it's good to meet you, sir."

Naomi then patted my shoulder as she introduced the man. "Samuru this is my sensei, Itachi Uchiha."

....Nani the fuck?