Amber Hare

"Princess, remember to always brush your teeth before going to bed. I talked with Mikoto-chan, she will take care of you. Don't be a headache for her, can you do that for mommy? Are you sure you want to stay home alone? You won't starve without me? Do you remember how to wash your clothes?..." Sachi fired question after question at her daughter. Jōnin Uchiha was in her full gear, she like all other elite troops - got drafted.

"Don't worry mommy, I will manage. But do you need to go? I feel like I will never see you again." The thought of a loss of her second parent made Kaname's eyes wet.

"Hahaha, don't worry, Little Squirt, we will be safe behind the frontlines. Your mother is one of the most noted Iryōninins in Konoha. And I was assigned in a squad with Kushina-san, as mom's bodyguards. I think Hokage-sama didn't want Kushina-san near the frontlines, she is pretty much the last surviving Uzumaki we know of. Or he was scared of your revenge if anyone of us got hurt, you little mayhem." her brother tried to comfort her, lightly stroking her head, he as well, was in his full-combat gear.

"Grr, baka-aniki, don't die out there, or I will kill you again myself!" Kaname cutely growled out, tightly hugging her brother.

"Hahaha, Little Squirt people die when they are ki-" he started only to get interrupted.

"Okay that's, enough from both of you, no one dies, I promise you Butterfly. I love you, see you later." Sachi finished, kissing her daughter's forehead.

"Bye, Mommy. Aniki keep her safe! I love you both!" The eight-year-old girl replied, giving them their long hugs.

"Mom! Mom! We need to go, we will be late. See you soon, Little Squirt." Said the teen trying to make his mother let go of her daughter's hug.

They both turned their faces to the closest gate and went their way, trying hard and failing multiple times at not looking back at their little family member left on her own.

The next day Kaname woke up in a silent and dark house way too big for herself. She looked at the clock 'Shit! I'm late.' After a quick bath and breakfast, she ran to the Academy.

"Wow, Kana-chan, you arrived 10 seconds before Ichiro-sensei," said Anko. "Is this some sort of training? Because you look like you run all the way here from home."

"*Wheeze* No, I was *Wheeze* just late *Wheeze*." Kaname whispered back, barely breathing, "But it is a good idea for training my stamina." she concluded.

"I'm sure everyone here knows what happened yesterday." Their teacher greeted them, "I'm sorry that you have to live your life in such dangerous times. Regarding the topic of the war, we got ourselves another guest who would want to say something."

At this moment, Kaname saw an old man enter their classroom, he had a medium-length slowly graying black hair and a beard, on his face was present a constant frown and on his nose sat a pair of green glasses.

"Hmph! Another class... My name is Homura Mitokado, I'm an Elder of Konohagakure and its councilman. One hour ago in an emergency council meeting, the council was debating about our lack of troops. The Konoha Council announces a new reform. From now on ninja academy will train all recruits in two years. I wish you luck." the elder tried to leave the classroom but was interrupted.

"I'm sorry, Councilman Mitokado. But did Hokage-sama approve it? He is the Academy's director." Kaname asked a little peeved out at the old-man.

"No, but his vote was easily overshadowed by Konoha Council and Daimyo's orders. Goodbye." Kaname knew that right, now she didn't like Konoha Council very much.

"Class, there is a new curriculum. I hope you didn't eat anything for breakfast or you will throw it up in the next 30 minutes. I'm sorry, but, by an order of Councilman Shimura-sama, I need to break you for the training to work. Let's go to the front yard, I have some gifts for you." the teacher said, sadly taking all of his students outside. "I prepared those pets you will need to feed and protect them for the rest of their lives." In a cage with Kaname's name sat a brown hare, black pearly eyes looking at her with fright, his body was trembling. "I want for all of you to go somewhere private and read the letter in an envelope on the bottom of each cage, you got 15 minutes."

Kaname hid behind the bush with already named, Mr. Fluffy, and opened the envelope. From it dropped a kunai and a letter. She knew where this was going, "Hello recruit. Your pet was dosed in the lethal amount of poison, which will inflict great pain to it in the next 15 minutes, leading to its death. Unless you help him. ~Konoha Council." the letter said.

At this moment, the Konoha Council got on top of Kaname's shit list.

Her teacher was right - she shouldn't eat her breakfast today. She waited, hoping that the letter was false. After seven minutes, she heard Mr. Fluffy breathing getting erratic, his eyes closed full of pain, his body's trembling getting worse. She couldn't wait and look at the innocent creature being tortured, she took the kunai, and with eyes full of tears she slashed.

Mr. Fluffy exploded in a smoke cloud, after ten minutes of warm droplets running down her cheeks, she heard a voice. "Shh, it's okay, Kana-chan, it was only a shadow clone. The rabbit is safe in my home. Some Anbu brought him thirty minutes ago." Mikoto tightly hugged the crying young girl "I'm sorry you had to experience how it feels to take a life, it's called a blooding program and is done in the last year of the Academy. I'm not sure why they did it in your first year, but I will have some words with Hokage-sama. For now, let's go and meet your new pet, okay?" the young woman said, pulling Kaname onto her back and giving her a piggyback ride back home.