CHAPTER 1

Shuichi realised that he had raised a prodigy. His nearly five year old son could beat a clan chuunin. With his quick mind, incredible speed, and jonin level chakra reserves, the little blonde boy was a force to be reckoned with. The only problem was, try as they might, the boy had absolutely no ability with genjutsu. And as genjutsu was pretty much synonymous with the Uchiha clan, this could put the boy at a huge disadvantage when it came to being able to keep up with Itachi; thus why Fugaku-sama was overseeing Naruto's pre-testing today. While man's face was completely impassive, his eyes gave him away- the head of the Uchiha clan was obviously impressed.

Shokan finished his spar, and stood in front of the clan leader at attention, face impassive. It was a carefully crafted art that Shuichi had taught the boy. How to please the Clan Head when he was around, and still be his normal self the rest of the time. The closet blonde really wanted to pull off his dark coloured bandanna and do a little victory dance after winning that spar, but he held himself still. If he wanted to run around free later, he needed to hold still now.

"Shuichi-san." The Clan Head called to his subordinate.

"Hai Fugaku-sama." The older man now approached respectfully.

"He is very impressive." Complimented Fugaku, "Yet you tell me he has no genjutsu abilities?"

"None at all." Shuichi replied. "He has even had special tutors. My son is able to sense and dispel up to C-rank genjutsu, but is unable to cast any himself. In all other ninja arts his learning abilities are unrivalled among his age group." The Clan Head seemed to mull this over for a minute.

"He will do." The man decided at length. "After the sealing Uchiha Shokan will begin his training with clan heir Uchiha Itachi." The two lower house members bowed respectfully to their leader as he departed the training grounds.

As soon as Fugaku was out of sight, the father and son broke into broad grins, and Shokan leapt into his father's arms. Shuichi swiped off the boy's bandanna and ruffled the spiky blonde hair affectionately.

"Good work Shokan. I'm proud of you, my boy." The man praised.

"Thanks Ottou-san." The boy chirped.

The day of the sealing came. Shokan was met at the gates of the clan compound by both the Clan Head and his Heir. The ten year olds presence was a surprise to the younger boy, but then again, since Itachi-sama would be his leader and master from today onwards, it made sense that he was there. Shokan nervously adjusted the dark wrappings on his face; they obscured the tell-tale whisker marks that marked him as a jinchuuriki. He'd worn the wrappings, as well as the bandanna for as long as he could remember to keep his distinctly non-Uchiha traits as well hidden as possible.

His father had even given him an early birthday present this morning, Obito-nii's old goggles. Shokan liked them because they used to belong to his nii-san, rather than the fact that the orange colour hid his blue eyes. From what Uchiha-sama was saying to Itachi-sama, the young boy realised that the clan would be pushing for him to enter ANBU and get behind a mask as soon as possible; apparently having the Clan Head's sons out done by a half-blood was some sort of dirty little clan secret. Shokan liked the idea of working in ANBU; he might get to meet the one Obito-nii gifted his eye to. The rest of the clan felt that Uchiha Obito was a disgrace, but to his adopted brother he was someone to look up to.

Shokan swapped his thinking face for his impassive one (not that anyone else could tell the difference) as the small group approached the east gate of the Hyuga complex. Some words were exchanged between Uchiha-sama and Hyuga-sama, before they were escorted inside and to a small clan medical clinic. The blonde did his best to hide his nervousness as he was lead to a separate room for the sealing, followed by the Hyuga responsible for the procedure, and Itachi-sama at his father's insistence. He lay on the metal table in the centre of the room as instructed and was stripped of his bandanna to display his forehead. A few minutes trying not to give in to the tickling sensation of the sealing brush, and fast hand signs were performed. Shokan felt like his brain was being put through a blender for a split second before the small boy lost consciousness.

Itachi tried not to let his growing concern show on his face, even though the only person around was currently unconscious. He hadn't gone to the Kyuubi Festival the day before, as his new 'guard' was still recovering from the sealing. The Hyuga who had been allowed into the compound to check on the boy had said that this was a normal reaction to the seal.

The young chuunin had removed the blonde boy's face wrappings once he was securely inside Shokan's new room in the Main house. It was attached to Itachi's own bedroom through a sliding paper door. Itachi would hear if anyone entered, and could cover the young jinchuuriki's markings before anyone else saw.

He looked over the younger boy, taking in his unrestricted appearance. Shokan's thick, spikey blonde hair was splayed haphazardly around his head, like an exploding halo, and his blue eyes were currently closed in rest. Curiously, Itachi reached a hand forward to touch the unusual whisker-like marks on the younger boy's cheek, hesitating for a moment to marvel at their differing skin tones. While Itachi was almost translucently pale, like all typical Uchiha, Shokan was a light honey colour, even on the areas his facial coverings normally hid. Finished with his comparison, the older boy found the whisker marks felt like an old deep scar; still soft and skin-like, but with tiny raised edges around the indentations that made up the marks. They were apparently very sensitive too, as Shokan twitched. He pulled his hand away and turned his eyes to the rest of the boy.

The blonde was still dressed in his dark blue pants and sleeveless grey muscle shirt that he'd worn on the day of the sealing, his blue ninja sandals were by the door. Shokan was surprisingly small, considering his ninjutsu abilities, Father had told him that the boy had a larger chakra reserve than most new jonin. Standing up, he would be shorter than even little Sasuke, and probably a little bit thinner too. The little blonde's developing arm muscles were easily visible, and he seemed to carry very little baby fat. Itachi wondered how healthy for a growing child that really was. Even he, himself, had never been pushed that hard as a five year old, to have clear muscle definition at that age, and Itachi was constantly pushed to be the prodigy that he was.

While he thought, Itachi fingered the orange goggles that Shokan had had around his neck during the sealing. He recognised them as having belonged to cousin Obito. Itachi had always liked his smiling cousin. When everyone else was always so serious, Obito would take time to laugh and joke, reminding young Itachi how to be a kid again. He hoped Shokan was like Obito in the personality stakes, there were few enough people who would smile in the clan.

Thank you to my small number of wonderful reviewers. Next chapter should be more action-y lols. Now I should go and actually do some work...