Sasuke dashed straight home from the academy eager to inform his parents that he had proved best at taijutsu in the class once again but instead of finding smiling proud faces through the door all he saw were two bloody corpses. "How was school?" a grinning Itachi asked as he entered the room, blood all over his hands and clothes. "Y-y-you killed them!" Sasuke accused his older brother angrily as he took out a kunai and ran at him. Itachi was not fazed and picked Sasuke up by his collar as he explained about the Uchiha coup to his enraged brother. "Traitor. You betrayed our clan." Was also Sasuke could think of as he swung desperately at his older brother.
"Itachi, I understand your little brother has graduated top of his class as a genin." Hiruzen informed the anbu captain in a meeting a few years later. Itachi simply nodded in agreement.
"As you two are the last two Uchiha I'll be relieving you of anbu duties so you can focus on training him in use of the Sharingan. I want you to be a sensei and pass on your knowledge to the next generation." The Hokage ordered the progidy.
"Who are the genin I'll be mentoring?" Itachi asked inquisitively. Sarutobi slipped the Uchiha three files. "With your Sharingan you are perfect for controlling the power of the nine tails."
"Quiet! Everyone back to their desks!" Iruka roared at the squabbling 12 year olds in front of him. The children reluctantly went to their seats as Iruka unrolled the scroll that listed their team assignments. He began reading but Naruto was interested until he heard his name. "Team 3, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka." Iruka announced to the eager genin. A scream of joy could be heard from Naruto whilst a shriek of anger escaped Sakura. "I didn't want to be with Naruto either boy." Kiba said to Akamaru who was growling annoyed.
"Your sensei will be Itachi Uchiha." Iruka added when the room quietened down causing Sasuke to swivel his head. "Isn't that your brother?" Kiba asked Sasuke recognising the name.
"He's a heartless monster who will kill everything you love." Was the harsh reply before Sasuke went back to day dreaming about the day he avenged his family for Itachi's actions.
"Team 8, Shino Aburame, Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga." Sasuke cursed that he got stuck with the weak Hyuuga girl before glaring at the Aburame. Shino was a mystery but Sasuke suspected he too would only hold him back. "Hey Shikamaru, think we'll be on a team?" Choji asked his buddy as he tore into a packet of crisps. "Of course, they always do Ino-Shika-Cho when they can." Shikamaru yawned with Iruka's announcement confirming his theory.
Soon enough Itachi Uchiha appeared in the academy to pick up his squad. "Hello brother." A cheery Itachi greeted as he walked past his brooding sibling. "Die!" was the affectionate response and Itachi chuckled at Sasuke's request. "Team 3." Itachi called, causing a sleeping Naruto to jump up and bang his head against the wall. "Idiot." Sakura groaned as Kiba burst out laughing. "Meet me at training ground 16, you have 10 minutes." Itachi's shadow clone commanded before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Kiba smashed through the window with Akamaru chasing after him. Sakura simply went out through the door. "Wait for me!" a groggy Naruto said as he ran after his team mates.
Itachi watched as Naruto, the last of the genin arrived. The Uchiha stared deep into Naruto's eyed, his Mangeyko Sharingan able to sense the Nine Tailed Fox inside. "Now that you're all here," Sakura glared at Naruto condescendingly, "before you can become genin I need to test you personally." Itachi said as a genjutsu descended around the training ground. They were in a forest and an 8 year old Itachi was standing in the middle of a clearing. "You three will fight against my 10 year old self. Each of you need to draw blood from him to become genin or else I will send you back to the academy." Itachi explained.
"10 year old, you're making this to easy sensei." Naruto cockily bragged as he stared at the little child he was expected to fight.
"Naruto look at his jacket." Kiba whispered into the blonde's ear. Naruto squinted, wondering what was so interesting until Itachi interrupted "At the age of 10 I was already a Chuunin." Naruto gaped at his sensei, wondering how powerful Itachi really was before turning to the 10 year old who suddenly seemed a lot more intimidating. "Go!" Itachi nodded before retreating to a safe distance to spectate.
Naruto took out a kunai and charged at the little boy. Young Itachi didn't even turn around as he jumped backwards over Naruto and kicked him in the back. "Firestyle, fireball jutsu." Itachi shouted spewing a massive fireball that Naruto narrowly avoided. "Fire style phoenix flower." Itachi continued, the 10 year old not holding back and Naruto was pelted by the burning flames and knocked to the ground.
Naruto was not one to give up though and stood up creating 40 shadow clones. They all pulled out kunai and attempted to swarm the young Itachi. Itachi responded by creating his own shadow clone and both Itachi's activated their Sharingan before easily dispelling Naruto's clones and slamming Naruto into a nearby tree. "Wow, Itachi is strong." Kiba commented as he and Sakura watched the fight from the bushes.
"We couldn't beat him alone." Sakura agreed with Kiba. Suddenly Akamaru barked furiously at his owner. "What? Actually that could work, Sakura what if we worked as a team?" Kiba said taking his pet's advice.
"Hey Naruto, when did you learn to make so many shadow clones." Sakura inquired sweetly to her unsuspecting ally.
"Yesterday. I can make hundreds of them if I want." Naruto bragged proudly. Sakura wondered when Naruto got so strong as he couldn't even do the clone jutsu but decided to ignore it before asking him to show her how strong the jutsu really was. Soon the forest was filled with Naruto's that all tried to take down the 8 year old. Itachi flung his kunai accurately, eliminating clones all over the place as they closed in on him. Suddenly a volley of Shurriken was sent his way by Sakura and he barely ducked beneath them, kicking two shadow clones in the process. The 10 year old was too preoccupied to notice the paper bombs detonating above him, scars appearing on his face because of it. Through the smoke he used his Sharingan to punch another shadow clone out of existence only to see Kiba and Akamaru spinning through the air to knock him down.
"I got you now." Two clones laughed as they grabbed Itachi from behind and stabbed him with their kunai. The young Itachi threw the clones away easily but was knocked down by Kiba's fang over fang which smashed his nose, causing blood to flow down his face. "Earth style…" the genjutsu Itachi began before the real Itachi ended the genjutsu. "You pass, the key was teamwork. Even a Chuunin can lose to multiple genin allied together." Itachi taught them, causing Akamaru to woof loudly. "So what, you were right this time."
"Hey guys, wanna go and get some ramen." Naruto asked his team mates when he heard the loud rumbling coming from his stomach. "Do they do steak?" Kiba responded and when Naruto told him about beef ramen he happily agreed. Not wanting to be left out Sakura went along too as team 3 enjoyed their first meal together since their formation.