WANTED: Itachi Uchiha

Yonjuusan

"Again."

Reina couldn't breathe. Her lungs burned and her throat felt as though she had inhaled half of Suna's desertlands. But she followed Sasuke's drill orders without complaint.

She went again. Going through each form of the kata, her movements swift and sharp.

Itachi had only briefly encountered Reina in action; he had been more concerned with dodging the ninjato sword she had been wielding than complimenting her form. Even then he couldn't deny her techniques were efficient and exact.

Watching Reina now he could see she was struggling. Her body had undergone so much upheaval and stress in the past months, that it had impacted her level of aerobic fitness and recuperation.

Given that she had been teaching at the academy and didn't participate in active duty, Reina did not have the typical muscle definition that other kunoichi had. Despite that though, Itachi could see that her legs were strong, her stances sturdy and well placed. Perfect for karate katas and motions. She may not have abs of steel or a body fat percentage below 15%, but her determination and work ethic compensated for that.

"Ichi, ni, san." Sasuke called sharply, circling Reina as she executed each of the moves.

Itachi recognised the kata as Enpi - The Flying Swallow. The karate form consisted of 37 individual movements, and was considered to be a Shôrin (light and fast) kata, rather than the Shôrei (strong and powerful) kata. Reina was built for speed, not strength and this kata accentuated this.

"Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku." Sasuke called, watching with his sharingan for any imperfections.

"Eeee-yah!" Reina screamed as she finished the kata, her kiai echoing around the garden and startling a bunch of starlings that were congregating in a nearby tree.

Itachi felt her determination in her spirit shout. It was not a sound of aggression or anger; it was that of fierceness and tenacity. She was fighting for her clan, as well as herself.

And it made him proud to see that she was fighting back.

"Osu." Reina murmured, bowing lowly to Sasuke as she attempted to regain her breaths in between pants.

"Osu." Sasuke replied, bowing back. "You did well. Your zenkutsu-dachi was slightly bent on your back leg, but once we stretch you out that should fall and straighten out." Sasuke commented, throwing Reina a bottle of water.

She didn't take his criticism defensively, she listened in between swigging from the bottle, grateful for the cold liquid. "Hai. I could feel that on my left leg actually, pulling when I tried to sink into the stance."

Sasuke nodded and adopted the stance, it similar to a forward lunge. His front leg was bent whilst his back leg was straight, his shoulders were square and parallel to his hips. "Once you've straightened your back leg, you'll have so much more power behind your punches and kicks."

He demonstrated, his punches and kicks snapping out with a crack before returning to his original position. Reina watched keenly, eyeing the bends of his joints and the lines of his thighs and calves.

She'd just have to push herself even further.

"But other than that you've come on so much in comparison to when we first started." Sasuke added, smiling in reassurance as he hopped into a normal standing position and stretched out his arms and neck."

"Arigatou Sasuke." Reina smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lie here until my body stops aching." She flopped into the grass, starfishing amongst the green blades as she inhaled and savoured the scent of the wind. Sasuke snorted and sat down on the edge of the genkan, taking a swig from his own water bottle.