DISCLAIMER: DO I OWN NARUTO YET? NO? WHY NOT?! I'M GONNA KILL EVERYO- *gets Kame Hame Ha'd*

Itachi gif

Ember by Katherine McNamara

Chapter 36: Training Pt.3

A.N: sorry if it's shit
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THIRD POV
AFTER TSUKI BURNT down the deadlands, she spent the last seven days of that specific training lesson perfecting every Dark Arts jutsu. With one month already gone due to the training regiments, she's so far gained the Half Moon which indicates that she completed the Second Seal. Time may have gone too fast for the Haruno, but at least she's learned how to properly handle the Healing Arts which is made up of life energy, and the Dark Arts which is full of dark energy. Two concepts that is essential to gaining her Goddess Mode.

Already, Tsuki can feel the increase of power that's running through her body. She feels stronger, lighter. Though, there are times that she feels darker which are the effects of dark energy. However, Cerridwen explained that, that was pretty normal to feel.

Now, at the beginning of the 'second month', the Haruno stands in front of Cerridwen to initiate the rest of her training. Itachi stands next to the Goddess with his arms crossed, he's just there for curiosity before he starts his own training. Glancing between them, Tsuki smiles up at the pale woman.

"So, what's next on my agenda," she asks, placing her hands on her hips.

"Well, how do feel about forgoing through some more pain," Cerridwen informs with a wicked smirk.

Tsuki deadpans. "You know, with all this pain talk, you're starting to sound like the old Akatsuki leader, Pein," she professes to the goddess, finding the similarities. "It's uncanny."

Cerridwen narrows her pitch black eyes at her. "Oh, ha ha! Very funny. Though, at least I'm the real deal. But there's one more thing," she informs.

At the cut off sentence, Tsuki raises her brows. "One more thing, what is it?"

The goddess smirks, maliciously. "Don't compare me to that man, it's insulting," she exclaims, hitting Tsuki in the stomach.

Gasping in pain, her knees buckle from underneath her, and she falls to the ground. Although, she's in pain, she senses the familiar power of the black vines crawling over her skin. It takes her a moment to realize, but she does.

Ugh! Did she really have to punch me to release the third seal, Tsuki asks, grunting in pain.

"Woman, that was a low blow," the Haruno gasps.

"Yes it was, quite literally. But my methods worked because the third seal, the Full Moon, is now open. Which means it's time to start your training. For these next two weeks you will work on the properties, of what I like to call, Moon Magic and Hellfire," Cerridwen explains while spreading her arms in a praising manner.

"Moon Magic? Hellfire? How does one train with these," the pink haired kunoichi questions.

"Well, with the Moon Magic, you can draw energy from the moon and preform a certain amount of techniques. I already have a list of jutsu for you to learn, practice, and perfect. Though, depending on the state of the moon, it will affect the strength of the power. Example, if it was either a waxing or waning crescent, the technique will be weak. Though, if it's a full or a new moon, the jutsu will be powerful," the pale woman explains.

Tsuki nods with understanding. "And the Hellfire," she reminds.

"Ah, well, that's where the fun comes in! Since you have the essence of the Underworld flowing through you, you should be able to manipulate and preform the techniques of the Hellfire. But to help you, I'll make Uchù, also known as Cosmos, train you," Cerridwen professes with a grin.

Uchù, Cosmos, who's that, Tsuki mentally questions, a look of confusion on her face as she tries to recall the name.

Upon seeing the look on her host's face, the goddess laughs. Her laughter brings the attention of the Haruno towards her. Itachi, who's standing besides the pale woman, glances at her as he silently questions her mentality.

"You have no idea who he is, do you," the woman asks.

Tsuki deadpans, "no, I don't."

"Well, that will hurt his pride! You used him when you were fighting against Danzo. You know, the big, three headed, dog you summoned," Cerridwen specifies.

"Cerberus," the girl gapes, her fuchsia eyes widening. "He's going to train me?!"

"Well, if you mean 'breathing flames towards you' as training, then by all means. They'll spout flames at you while you try to manipulate them. Once you get the hang of that, I teach you the three techniques of Hellfire. Got it," the woman informs, questioning her pupil.

"Y-yeah. Totally got it, I mean, all I have to do is manipulate fire and not get burned to death, right," the Kunoichi replicates, her tone full of sarcasm.

"See! You're understanding now," Cerridwen grins, ignoring the sarcasm.

"Yes, yes. Anyways, you said there's three techniques of Hellfire," the Haruno asks.

"Correct. With two of them, I'll be helping you. And the third, well, that's where this Uchiha comes in to help," Cerridwen smirks, patting Itachi on his shoulder.

His onyx eyes slightly widen. "How can I help with something I don't know about," he asks, referring to the goddess abilities.

"That's the thing! You do know something about it! Like your Sharingan's Amateratsu, the black flames you produce with your eyes come from Heaven or whatnot! But with Tsuki, since her flames are coming from Hell, they will be white. Kind of ironic," the pale goddess explains, laughing at the idea how heaven produces black flames while hell uses white flames. "She's going to need assistance on how to use the flames with her eyes, something all you Uchiha's excell at."

As Cerridwen continues to explain to Itachi about how his help is needed, Tsuki blanks out of the conversation. The ability to make jutsus from the moon's energy, is phenomenal, but it's even more amazing with how their strengths vary with the lunar cycle. Then, there's the idea of manipulating Hell's fire and using them for techniques, it's very mind blowing. Not to add all the additional powers she's learned in the past month. On one hand, she's feeling very powerful, not arrogant, but powerful. Though, on the other hand, she finds herself unworthy of these powers. I mean, she already caused a lot of death with the first seal.

Suddenly, Tsuki's mind reels back to the time she introduced herself to her team. The team she will always have, 'My name's Tsuki Haruno, my likes are reading and learning new jutsus. My dislikes are fangirls, idiots, arrogance, and attention. My hobbies are reading, studying, and training. And my dream is to help others accomplish their dreams.

At the memory of her tween self, Tsuki fondly smiles. The short hair, the glasses, the books always stuck in front of her face, everything. The desire to help her team reach their dreams. At the reminder of dreams, the Haruno narrows her eyes in determination.

I already helped Sasuke reach his by killing Danzo. I'm pretty sure Sakura will continue to persue Sasuke, which will make her dreams come true. And Naruto...this war is a way to capture all the tailed beasts, which risks his life. To make sure he reaches the title of Hokage, I will accept this power and fight to protect him, to protect everyone, Tsuki tells herself, motivating the determination in her soul.

"Let's get started. There's no time to waste," the Haruno announces, looking at the goddess.

× × × × ×

WITH HER DECLARATION, Cerridwen followed after Tsuki until they reached a remote area. Itachi left them to continue his own training routine. The Haruno can already tell, by just looking at him, that he's getting stronger, regaining his previous strength. He looks more healthy, more alive, his body is getting more toned.

Nope! Stop thinking of Itachi! He will not distract you, no matter how handsom- nope, Tsuki chastises herself.

"So, what will we begin with," the Kunoichi asks.

"Hmm, that is tricky. Though, since the concept of last week's training is still fresh in your pretty little mind, we will commence with the Hellfire techniques," Cerridwen informs, grinning like her usual madwoman self.

"So, that means..."

"Correct," the goddess yells. Without hesitation, she slams her palm on the grassy ground. "Summoning Jutsu: Cerberus, I call upon thee!"

"Do you have to specify who you're summoning, or..."

"Yes, because I have several summonings. Cosmos is just one of many," Cerridwen explains.

Suddenly, and unlike Tsuki's cloud of poof when she summoned him, this time it's a burst of dark red flames. However, just like last time, Cerberus, or Cosmos, stands tall with a certain kind of intimidating confidence. The Haruno gapes at the sight, backing away with slight caution.

"Oh, if it isn't the brat from last time! Are you rewarding us with this snack, Cerridwen-sama," the head on the left barks with malice. "I hope not. I prefer eating the souls from Hell, they're so full of pain. This one is full of life, disgusting," the middle head barks with a scoff. "Wait! Isn't she the one who summoned us to kill the Baku?! Why do you want to eat her, she's so nice," the last head questions.

Tsuki deadpans, the majority of them dislike me. Either wanting to eat me as a snack, or finding me disgusting. Thankfully, that last one somewhat likes me.

Cerridwen sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Cosmos, she's not a snack. This is Tsuki Haruno, she's my host, remember? I called you here so you can help train her. She's on the Full Moon Seal, and she needs help with the Hellfire," the goddess informs the large summoning.

"Hellfire? So, we get to roast her alive?! I'm loving this already," the first head barks with a sadistic growl. "Ooh! We get to burn things?! I'm in," the second barks with excitement. "Awe! She's already on the third seal? Your host is pretty strong!" The last head bares his teeth in a somewhat smile.

"Alright, so how does this Hellfire work," Tsuki asks.

Cerridwen taps her chin in thought. "Hmm. Well, you can't really control it by sole will. To understand the Hellfire, you must delve into your emotions like the dark energy. However, instead of your negative emotions, you must release and accept all of your pain, your suffering, you must accept every bad deed you ever committed. You must accept your guilt, your pain, your suffering, and wear it as a title. Hellfire is the hottest and most painful of flames, and to weild that pain, you must accept yours. This training will open a lot of old wounds from your past, but it will make you stronger, both in body and in mind," she tells the teen with a warm smile.

"So, what you're saying is that I have to open my heart and soul, and relive every ounce of pain, of suffering, of heartbreak, and of guilt? Then, I-I somehow need to accept everything that happened to me? By doing this, I'll be able to control the Hellfire," Tsuki questions, looking at the goddess, as her voice cracks.

She doesn't want to relive every moment of pain, she closed them off, she tried to forget them. At the thought of forgoing it all over again is making her eyes water. Tsuki doesn't want to feel every heartbreak, she doesn't want to relive every moment where she felt like dying, she doesn't want to remember every suicidal thought, every memory where she felt unwanted. And that's just the emotional pain. The physical pain is too much to fathom.

At the mere thought of pursuing this training is making her shake to the core. She wants to run away, hide from all the pain, never wanting to expirence any of it ever again. She may be strong in power, but she was never strong when it came to her heart. When she loved, she loved passionately, unconditionally, she accepted every flaw. The Haruno has a big heart, but if they hurt her in any way, they were basically stabbing her in the chest. She hid the pain with fake smiles, with 'I'm okay', by showing no reaction, but in reality, it killed her. It damaged her to the core.

This training is basically telling her to rip off the metaphorical bandages, the stitches, the tape, and the gauze of her severely damaged heart and to let it bleed. It's telling her to accept every insult, every bullied act she recieved, every cause of that made her cry, to accept everything.

Noticing how she shakes, and how she's on the verge of tears, Cerridwen rushes forward with concern and holds Tsuki in a comforting hug. "Sshh. It's going to be okay. I know you're scared, and I know it's terrifying, but don't worry. I'll be here with you, I'll always be here for you. I know in the past I let my selfish ambitions get in the way and I hurt you, but that will never happen again. I'll tell you this, for all your life I've watched you grow up, but I couldn't do anything to help you. Though, as soon as I contacted you after the Chunin Exams, I already saw you as my own daughter. All I wanted to do was to protect you, to save you from the pain, and I'm aware that I caused you some recently. However, from now on, I will always care for you, love you as my own, and to protect you. You are my daughter, you are my best friend, and believe me when I say this; You can get through this because you are strong," Cerridwen professes, reassuring that everything will be okay, and also to reveal her feelings.

As she listens to the goddess' words, Tsuki's heart immediately warms up at the thought. Closing her eyes, she smiles before tightening her hold around Cerridwen.

The aforementioned was always a better mother to her than her real one, and that's saying much since she only knew about Cerridwen for three, almost four, years. No matter how much of her happiness slipped away from her life, Cerridwen was always there. Always supporting her, always motivating, teasing and poking fun, and even with the recent break of trust, she was there. They were stuck together, with the strongest of glues, always and forever.

"Thank you, Cerridwen," Tsuki smiles, feeling completely reassured.

"No problem! Now, I know this will be very hard, but you'll get through this! These trials are painful and excruciating, but it's all worth it when you master the Goddess Mode," Cerridwen tells her, stepping away from the hug to place her hands on the girl's shoulders.

Steeling her nerves, Tsuki wipes the tears off her face and smiles. "Alright, let's do this! I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she announces with determination.

"Splendid! Cosmos, prepare the flames of hell! It's time to watch the world burn- I-I mean, time to train," the goddess yells with a crazed grin before correcting her words.

As the Cerberus musters up the fiery flames of the underworld, Cerridwen walks back to Tsuki. She leads the Kunoichi to the center of the opening, basically pushing her. Though, as the girl watches the three-headed demon dog breathe out bright flames, she grows nervous.

"Now, as I said, you'll have to focus on your pain, your sins, your suffering and accept them. By accepting everything wrong in your past, you'll be accepting the flames. Remember your pain," the pale goddess informs her.

Remember my pain. Remember my pain. Remember my pain, Tsuki tells herself, a mantra in her head.

And almost instantly, her mind is reeling through her memories. A visual of her life story. The first memory is of the lake when she first met Sasuke, she was a child then. It replays her loneliness as a reminder. If the boy wasn't there, her child self would have jumped into the lake and let herself drown, but he was their. Instead she felt a little bloom of potential friendship before it was ripped away when her sister and the other bullies found her. That day she was getting beat up after swimming away from them, only to get intercepted by another bunch of bullies, on that day, she exposed her suicidal thoughts by screaming at her sister.

The next memory is during the Chunin Exams when she first killed. It was the first day when she intercepted a team from Amegakure. It shows her how she ruthlessly killed them without a thought. She remembers the action of thrusting her sharply-pointed fan into the members. She remembers slicing their throats with the sharp blades. She remembers their blood coating her arms and face. She felt sick afterwards, but she felt nothing when she killed them. That team was the beginning of her night of massacre, killing teams while they slept, like a skilled and heartless assassin.

The next memory, it was two weeks after the preliminary round, after she got out of the hospital. She had gotten the news that her injured arm couldn't produce chakra anymore. The day just kept getting worse when she stumbled across the Sand Siblings, Temari taunted her, but Tsuki was quick to snap at her with an assault of insults. She remembers reaching her home, but instead of an awkward welcome, she was met with outrage. She remembers being compared to her sister, like always, she was called weak, and how she doesn't do anything but waste their money. However, the worst of all, her father announced that they never wanted her, not even from the beginning. She already knew that her sister disliked her, but to hear that her parents never cared for her, it destroyed her, shattering her already damaged heart.

Next, the memory that essentially broke her trust in everyone. It was right after she saved Itachi and being captured by Zetsu. With the multitude of being tortured by Madara, the man revealed the truth about Cerridwen's intentions. She learned that she was supposed to die with the sealing of the goddess, but the latter was just keeping her alive in order to achieve destruction. This stole her sense of security, her sense of purpose, her identity. She was ruined.

Lastly, the memory that shattered all of her remaining happiness. A memory where it felt like her heart was torn out of her chest. It was after the destruction of Konoha when she got captured by Madara. She expected torture, but the outcome was much worse. Recently dying and being brought to life, she felt like dying again when Sasuke accused her of being a liar, and that she was only using him. He then proceeded to rip her heart out by ending their relationship, telling her that she was weak, and that was nothing but a piece of unwanted trash. He was the only thing that she had left to hold her up, and when he walked away, she remembered collapsing into the darkness of depression once again.

But now, as Tsuki remembers her pain and accepts it with tears on her face, she stands strong. So, as she feels the kiss of flames on her skin, the Haruno accepts the the pain before spreading her arms and twirling. She controls the flames as if they're her dual fans, focusing on the fire in her hands before shooting them to the ground around her.

Instead with the result of being burnt to death, Tsuki now stands in the middle of a circle of flames. Opening her fuchsia eyes, the Haruno compares to a goddess of fire. She screams power.

"Damn," Cerridwen smirks, looking at her host with awe. "She's going to be so bad ass."

× × × × ×

AFTER FIVE DAYS of performing and perfecting the two Hellfire techniques, Tsuki now stands before Itachi. Since this technique is more in the optical area, his guidance is much more useful than Cerridwen's. I mean, he's more keen to teach her since he already uses the Amateratsu.

"So, for someone who never used an optical jutsu, how do I preform one," she asks, looking up at the Uchiha.

Itachi sighs, looking at the Kunoichi. "Amateratsu, even though it's said to be the fires of hell, it's actually produced from heaven seeing as Amateratsu is believed to be the goddess of the sun. Anyways, when I use it, I just focus on a focal point in my vision," he explains.

"Interesting," she says towards origin of the flames. "So, all I have to do is concentrate on my chosen focal point?"

"Yes. However, it may sound easy at first, but with optical jutsus they usually provide high levels of concentration. And, if you do manage to create flames, be cautious because it's very easy to lose control," he tells her.

The Haruno deadpans. "You're making it sound like I get distracted very easily. For your information, I have a great sense of control and concentration, and you should know since you were the one to train me in fire ninjutsu," she huffs, throwing him a narrowed look.

Itachi smirks. "My apologies then. I'm only telling you this because focal points can blur and wherever you concentrate on, the flames will follow. That's why it's easy to lose control. And as Cerridwen told me, Hakushi - or White Death, it will have the same affects as Amaterasu, which will lead to your eye to bleed," he informs the younger girl about the consequences.

"Okay, I never had my eye bleed before, well, if you don't count the time when Madara stabbed my eye, but does it hurt," Tsuki questions, quirking an eyebrow.

Itachi's eyes widen at the mention having her eye stabbed, but says nothing. His mind only reels with theories to why she was in a position to have had that happen. He only concludes that she was tortured, but then he remembers that time when he saw her in the Akatsuki hideout. Her long hair was suddenly chopped to her shoulders and bandages adorned her face, covering her left eye. Yes, he remembers that her memories where also slightly altered.

Of course, though at that time I was focusing on both myself and Sasuke, Itachi mentally states.

Looking up from the ground, he already finds her staring at him in question. "U-uh, no. It doesn't hurt, but you will feel a pressure since optical jutsus usually tend to put strain on the eyes," he advises.

"Right, right, I remember. I usually had to heal Sasuke's eyes because of that. Also, when I healed you, you had a lot of strain on your eyes, I'm surprised you hadn't lost all of your vision by then," Tsuki smile, shaking her head at the perplexity.

"Now then, do you understand what you have to do," Itachi asks, crossing his arms.

"Yes. All I have to do is concentrate a leveled amound of chakra towards my eyes and concentrate on a single focal point, right," the Haruno summarizes.

The Uchiha smirks. "Pretty much. It's like you don't even need me here," he comments.

"No! Wait, I do need you! I-I mean, what if I lose control and set the whole place ablaze," she yells before regaining her calm, wanting an excuse to have him around.

Ugh! Why do I suddenly want him around?! It's not like I like him, right? Right?! Tsuki questions herself, trying to find a reason to her sudden interest. Calm down.

The Haruno sets her fuchsia gaze on the older Uchiha, actually looking at him. She notices that he's taller than her by a few inches. He has some stress lines, I mean so does she, but not as prominent. His personality and behavior is much more calmer than his brother's, that's the first major difference that she noticed, he's more level headed.

Before Tsuki can spend an eternity studying the Uchiha in front of her, the goddess makes her presence known.

"I am here, wanting to know how it's going," Cerridwen exclaims, standing in one of her usual poses.

The Haruno's shoulders slump, great, she's here.

"It's going well. Tsuki was about to try out the technique," Itachi informs the white clad woman.

"Alright! Let's see it," she responds, turning to the Kunoichi with a knowing smile.

The goddess is aware of the girl's blooming feelings, she can feel it. Heck, she's been noticing how Tsuki checks out Itachi from time to time on her breaks. She's also noticing the slow changes in the girl's behavior, how she stutters and blushes around the Uchiha, plus their low-key flirting. Cerridwen mentally grins at her ship, it's progressing towards a sail. Slowly, but surely.

Tsuki turns towards the trees and closes her eyes. Focusing a steady amount of chakra towards her eyes, she calmly breathes. Opening her eyes, she presses all her concentration towards a sole tree in front of her, locking on the center of the trunk.

That's when the stinging occurs. It's pushing against her left eye, and the Haruno mentally curses at the pain. Though, as she continues focusing on that sole tree, everything happens. It's instantaneously. Not a flicker of fire, but an explosion of white fiery flames.

As Tsuki hears Cerridwen laugh at her accomplishment, her left cheek is suddenly met with the sensation of tears. Still focusing on the tree, Tsuki gently touches her face and lifts her hand in her peripheral vision, only to see red. Sighing, she concentrates back in the tree which is currently being consumed by white flames.

"H-how do I extinguish them? We never went over that point. I-if I don't stop it now, the other trees will catch on fire and they'll all burn," Tsuki questions, slowly panicking when the fire starts to rapidly grow.

"Calm down," Itachi tells her, stepping behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders. She gently shudders at his touch, enjoying that spark on her skin. "Focus on the flames and concentrate on extinguishing them. Like how you imagined the fire to start, you can imagine them burning out."

"Imagine," she mutters.

Narrowing her fuchsia eyes, she glares at the flames and mentally pictures them dying out. At first, she thinks she failed, but slowly the flames begin to shrink in size. And eventually, the tree's flames dissipated to nothing, but smoke. Tsuki grins at her accomplishment.

"I did it! Ahah! Thank you," she exclaims, cheering before pulling the Uchiha into a hug.

Though, after a few seconds she lets go with flushing face. Cerridwen smirks, watching with amusement. As Tsuki looks away, she completely misses the blush on Itachi's cheeks.

Oh, gosh, I hugged him! What was I thinking, Tsuki mentally screams, freaking out. Though, I did like it.

× × × × ×

TSUKI KEPT TO herself after the training with Itachi. She was trying to solve her sudden emotions for the aforementioned. She wanted to figure out what exactly she was feeling.

The Haruno kept thinking, is it too soon? After Sasuke, she mourned the end of their relationship by lying on the floor and crying. She believed that she loved him, but maybe she was in love with the idea of being in love. She was alone at that time, her parents didn't care for her, her teammates were dealing with their own problems - ignoring her, and people where finally treating her like a threat. Sasuke was the only one who showed a caring side towards her.

Maybe, because of that, she focused on him. She fell in love with the affection given to her, but she wasn't in love with him. Maybe she grew to care for him, grew to have some feeling, but not to the level of love. With Sasuke, Tsuki felt a sense of security.

However, when she looks at Itachi, she can feel her heart race like never before. When they touch, Tsuki can feel the sparks dancing across her skin which makes her feel alive. Then, when they flirt, she doesn't become arrogant with a smirk, no, she flushes to a shade of red, feeling butterflies in her stomach.  Her feelings with him are more intense, more real, it's just more.

She doesn't want to compare the brothers, but she can't help it. They're too different. Itachi's more caring, gentle, and he respects her which is a major plus. Sasuke, he was cold, reserved, and he didn't really care, he only focused on his revenge.

Plus, Sasuke and I didn't really have a good relationship. Yes, we had heavy make-out sessions here and there, but we never had that close emotional connection. We protected each other, and fought side-by-side, it felt like we were more closer as comrades than as a couple, Tsuki comprehend, thinking back.

Sighing, the Haruno walks through usual path between the cherry blossom trees, inhaling their sweet fragrance. Though, just as she about to close her eyes, she gets startled when Itachi greets her.

"Hey," he says, stepping out of the treeline.

Tsuki jumps at the sound of his voice, her fuchsia eyes widening in alarm. Touching her chest to calm her heart, she sheepishly smiles.

"H-hey. W-what are you doing," she asks, stuttering.

"Hn, I just came to talk to you," he informs, raising a brow at her skittish behavior.

"O-oh, right. Of course, t-t-that's a totally normal thing to do," Tsuki says, cringing at how awkward she's being. Why am I acting so nervous around him?! Ugh! Calm down. Talking to him is nothing new!

Itachi narrows his eyes at the Haruno. "Tsuki," he questions.

"Yes," she looks up to him.

"Do I make you nervous?"

Her eyes widen. "No! I-I mean, yes! I mean, no! Fine! You do, but not in a bad way...I-I mean, it's not you," she tries to answer, but stumbles over every word which makes her face grow hot.

"Just calm down and breathe," Itachi tries to reassure.

"That's the point! I can't calm down, and I can't breathe. Not with you around," she says, but mentally curses at how it sounds and how hurt flashes on his face. "Wait! Not like that! You're not a problem, you're perfect! I-I...it's - y-you make me feel things!"

Her eyes widen, once again, at her sudden confession. She searches his face and finds that he's also shocked. Mentally berating herself, telling herself that she scared him away. I mean, who would want to be with her? Nobody ever likes her.

"Tsu-"

"Hey, what's happening here," Cerridwen appears, accidently cutting the Uchiha off. "I heard yelling."

"N-nothing! Nothing happened," Tsuki informs before walking away with a heavy heart.

The Kunoichi sighs, closing her eyes, It's true, nobody ever wants me. I was always meant to be alone. I was stupid to let these feelings get the best of me.

× × × × ×

THE NEXT FEW days, Tsuki focused solely on her training, but whenever she glances at the Uchiha, a wave of despair and self-loathing washed over her. She also berated herself because she never gave him a chance to say anything. I mean, in his perspective, she accidentally unloaded everything onto him. Just maybe, just maybe, he feels something for her as well.

However, whenever she feels that sliver of hope, she also remembers her past record of everyone leaving her. Tsuki's mind is a never-ending cycle of hope and destruction. Maybe the Haruno's self destructing herself because she's afraid that she might lose the only person she has left, besides Cerridwen.

Pushing her thoughts away, the Kunoichi focuses on the task at hand. The goddess gave her instructions and a thorough explanation to perform the techniques of Moon Magic, or other words Lunar Style. So, as she sits in a clearing at night with the moon illuminating over her, she takes in Cerridwen's teachings.

She's already perfected the Hellfire, or Hell Style, techniques along with the optical jutsu, Hakushi. Plus, she can now use the Healing Arts and the Dark Arts, which are both a product of Life Energy and the Underworld Energry. She's learned to control the pressures of gravity and the temptation of the Dark Prophecies. Then, all she needs is this completion of Lunar Style to finish the Third Seal, the seal of the Full Moon.

After this week is done, she'll spend the last two weeks, of the two months, for extra training in order to gain her Goddess Mode. The training will consist of strength and speed building, along with weaponry. When that's completed, she'll have her final trial, a match between herself and Cerridwen.

"There's three Lunar techniques; Force of Gravity, Reflection of Moons, and Sea of Tranquility. Though, they may differ, they still depend on the the moon's energy," Tsuki states, repeating Cerridwen's words. "The easiest jutsu of the three will be Reflection of Moons since it draws directly from the moonlight, so focus on that. Like the Life energy, you'll be absorbing the moonlight."

Looking up at the moon, she finds the waxing gibbous phase. One phase away from the full moon, Tsuki sighs.

Inhaling the scent of the night air, she closes her eyes to concentrate, to meditate. Exhaling, she revels in the moment as a cool breeze pushes past her. A few seconds turn to minutes when she feels that familiar burning sensation in her veins. Pushing herself up in a standing position, Tsuki doesnt break the concentration.

Opening her eyes, she keeps her breathing calm. It's day nine of the two weeks she has to perfect the Hell and Lunar Style techniques, and she's barely on the first moon jutsu. If she completes this jutsu tonight, then she'll have five more nights to master the other two.

"Okay. Once you gather the moon's energy in your body, you will push out your anger as you perform the jutsu. The reason for the anger is because the moon usually affects your emotions, though with the full moon, that's when a person grows more aggressive, it's called the Lunar Effect," Tsuki repeats. Though, that's before she heavily sighs. "Great, more emotions. These trainings are taking a mental and emotional toll on me. First, my positive emotions, then my negative. Then, it was me accepting my suffering, and now I'm pushing my anger into the techniques. I'm mentally exhausted."

So, the Haruno stands there, ignoring her state of mind, and continues to absorb the light on her skin. She always had a personal liking towards the night, the way the dark sky glittered with the millions of stars, the way the moon illuminated the darkness like a beacon; to Tsuki it was breathtaking. She felt the most comfortable during the dark hours of the day.

Though, just her whole body burns with the moonlight she's been absorbing, she takes in a deep breath. She also takes in the built up rage she's been storing inside of her, all the bottled aggression. She finally releases it with a number of hand signs.

With the final sign, her anger explodes in a brilliant white light.

"Lunar Style: Reflection of Moons," Tsuki yells, shooting a beam of burning light out of her outstretched hand.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Well, that's the end of this chapter! To this point the word count is 5,922! Also, sorry for not updating for a month....my bad.

Did you enjoy it?!

And, ooh! Tsuki's training is almost done! One more chapter and then, maybe a filler in between before the war!

Man....I feel both happy to accomplish this series, but also sad that it's almost over! *cries in confliction*

Would you guys be up to read a triquel? It'll be in Boruto, revolving around Tsuki and her family.

So...is it too soon for Tsuki to be moving in from Sasuke? Oh! And she's finally realizing her feelings for the better broth- I mean, Itachi. Does he have feelings for our sweet precious Tsuki?

Do you think her training is taking a mental and emotional toll on her?

Sorry if this chapter sucked!

Anyways don't forget to

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JA NE! MY AWESOME READERS (YOU'RE THE BEST)!

QUESTION: WHICH BOOK DO I UPDATE?

IN NARUTO? THIS IS A JOKE, RIGHT? (URSA)

DISCARDED AFFECTION (RIKO)

RED MADNESS (HITOMI)

Also, if you're a My Hero Academia fan, you could, if you want, check out my story, Density.

Bye!