/3 years after Naruto was born
Uchiha Itachi
Academy was a bore.
Each day in class, we did nothing but review the same Justu over and over again-the transformation jutsu.
Of course, I passed it the first time with ease, but some kids' transformations were pretty shaky.
Especially one kid.
Whenever Hiro walked up to try, she would disappear in a cloud of mist and come out looking no different: White hair tied back, and blank, empty eyes.
She was just about the only one holding us up from moving on to more advanced Justus.
On the 30th day focusing on the transformation jutsu, I was growing impatient.
After class, I caught sight of Hiro disappearing through a back door.
I grabbed my books and ran after her.
She went into the forest, swatting aside branches and moving surprisingly fast on the uneven ground.
She stopped in a small clearing that was empty with the exception of one gnarled tree. I silently moved closer and saw that the tree had a large knot in it.
Several kunai were on the ground in front of it, and one was embedded in the center of the knot.
I camouflaged myself in the leaves as Hiro exercised "target practice" using the kunai and the knot.
To my amazement, she had pinpoint precision. The first kunai hit dead center, and the second one knocked the first one out, and in turn hit the knot in the exact same place the first one had.
She continued this for a while, until she had one kunai left.
This one was not thrown straight at the target, but instead into the air.
It seemed to hang there for a while, and then, it made a loop.
In midair.
It made another loop, then a spiral.
Figure eights.
Steep dives, sharp turns.
It wrote the kanji for Hiro.
And then, finally, it flew into the target and Hiro was on her knees, breathing hard.
I ran into the clearing.
"Hiro-San, you're amazing!"
She turned, alarmed.
"That voice...Uchiha Itachi?"
"Yes, it's me. Was that wind chakra?"
"Yes."
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"You can control your chakra nature?"
She brushed her hair out of the way and looked at my face, though not into my eyes.
"Apparently."
This girl was really, really awkward.
I sighed.
"You know, I always wondered. Why is it you can't perform the transformation jutsu? Is it a problem with the hand seals, or what?"
"No. "
She explained the problem very quietly to me.
I blinked. "Well, in that case..."
/next day
Uchiha Itachi
Hiro walked up to perform the jutsu.
She did not look at sensei.
She simply disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reappeared, thought this time, there was a visible difference.
It wasn't exactly accurate, but she'd gotten sensei's brown hair, shinobi jacket, and black eyes, as well as most other basic features.
And sensei was so pleased that he announced we would move on to clone jutsu.
I looked sideways at Hiro and realized I was looking at the only person in the academy more skilled than myself.