Chapter 1

"Good morning, Shisui!" His mom greeted him warmly as he walked into the kitchen. "Your breakfast is on the table, and you and grandpa's bento are in the fridge when you're ready to go train."

"Okay! Thanks mom!" Five-and-a-half-year-old Shisui replied, hopping up to sit across from his great-grandpa at the kitchen table and eat. "Morning, grandpa!"

His mom was running all over the kitchen cleaning up, putting their bentos in the fridge and hers in her bag, and getting ready for her shift at the police station. She wouldn't be home till after bedtime because after that she worked at a Uchiha-owned sweets shop.

His mom came over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Have a good day, Shisui. I love you. Be good! Bye, grandpa!"

"Bye, Aoi. Have a good day at work." Grandpa answered.

"I will. Love you, mom! Bye!" he replied, waving after her as she left.

"Hey, hey grandpa! What are we going to practice today?" he asked over a bite of eggs and toast.

"Well, I was thinking we could work on your shurikenjutsu and taijutsu today and review the leaf exercise. That sound good?" His grandpa replied over a bite of salad.

"But I wanna learn ninjutsu!" he exclaimed, pouting. "I'm gonna start Academy next week but I haven't learned a single jutsu yet."

His grandpa laughed at him. "That's what Academy is for, Shisui. It's a safe place for kids to grow and learn how to be a ninja. You're doing very well learning the foundational material here at home. You'll be a fine ninja, Shisui, and make the Uchiha clan proud."

"Will I learn magic there, too?" he asked.

"No, Shisui. The Academy only teaches you how to be a ninja." His grandpa answered. "After you turn 11, you will go to a school on the Outside called Hogwarts to learn magic. You can practice on your own until then, but I don't have magic so I can't help you with it. You're the only person with magic in the entire Uchiha clan."

"The only one?" he echoed. He didn't like the idea of being strange. All the other kids in the clan already made fun of him for his green eyes. "Dad didn't have magic, either? What about Grandpa Kagami?"

"No, none of them had magic. Your birth parents did, though." Grandpa answered.

"So its cause I'm adopted." Shisui said, frowning and idly moving the last few bites around on his plate. "But I'm really an Uchiha, right?"

"Yes, Shisui, of course you are. Have the other kids been teasing you?" His grandpa replied. "You will always be an Uchiha, Shisui. You wear the fan on your back just like me and your mom."

"Yeah!" he replied, grinning.

Just a few weeks later the day of the Academy Entrance Ceremony finally arrived – Tuesday, April 1st, 1986. He was standing lined up with all the other kids, sneaking a glance back at his parents in the crowd of adults on the sidelines while a teacher did roll call.

"Aburame Tadashi!" "Here!"

"Akimichi Chizuru!" "Here!"

It would be a while before they got to his. His mom said that this year they had 8 teachers for first year alone.

I can't wait! I'm gonna be the best ninja the clan's ever seen. I'll show them I'm a real Uchiha! Then they won't laugh at me anymore.

He looked around at all the other kids. Out of the rows and rows of kids, he spotted two other kids from the Uchiha clan just like him.

I have some friends in my year! Wonder if we'll be in the same class?

They called his friends names, Koji and Shion, and finally called his.

"Uchiha Shisui!"

"Here!" he yelled, jumping and waving his hands in the air. Some people laughed at him, but he was too excited to just stand still.

The Sandaime Hokage said a few words of welcome when roll call was finally done. "Congratulations on your acceptance into the Academy, everyone! From this day forth, do your best to reach your goals to become a shinobi."

To his disappointment, he wasn't in the same class as either of his friends. Even more disappointing was how easy the Academy was! He already knew a lot of the things his teacher was going over in class so they moved him up to be with the third years. He started learning ninjutsu and taijutsu and shurikenjutsu and traps with the third years, but he progressed so quickly that his teachers let him test out of that year level, too. It wasn't long before they were considering moving him up to fifth year with the 9- and 10-year-olds.

"You're skipping ahead to the graduating class?! But it's just your first year!" His grandpa said with astonishment when he arrived home with the letter from his teacher one day.

"Oh, Shisui!" His mom exclaimed, hugging him, with tears flowing down her cheeks. But she wasn't happy for him, she was…sad?

"Why are you sad, mom?" he asked, feeling disappointed.

"I don't want you to go to war! You've barely started to learn kanji." His mom replied, crying, and hugging him so tight it was uncomfortable. "You're just a six-year-old boy. It's not right."

"Mom, you're squishing me!" he gasped. She let go immediately.

"You can't go to war, Shisui. You've barely just started learning kanji." His mom repeated. "What is Lord Third thinking? Madara didn't sign the peace treaty with the Senju clan just so we could continue sending kids to war!"

He looked at her sadly, confused, not understanding. "It's alright, mom. I'm gonna graduate and be a great ninja for the Uchiha clan!"

Everyone in the clan spoke well of his dad, encouraging him to study hard and become a great ninja just like him.

"He'll be just fine." Grandpa said, putting a hand on her shoulder and guiding the both of them to sit over at the kitchen table. "He's not going to be sent to the battlefield. A new genin's primary responsibility is to train and learn under their jounin sensei."

He watched silently as his grandpa comforted his mom.

"At most he might be sent to chase after the wife of the Fire Lord's missing cats or a wealthy client will hire him to cut the grass and weed the lawn. He'll be safe. If anything, he'll come asking us for allowance money!"

His mom laughed. "What money? Taxes are so high right now. You're right. I just hope the war ends soon. I don't want him to go through what you and me did. I wanted him to have a normal, peaceful childhood."

But this is normal. Why aren't they happy for me? I wanted them to smile and say how proud they were.

"Mom, Grandpa? I'm gonna go train with Koji and Shion now, okay?" he said, interrupting them. He didn't want to stay at home and see how sad they were when he had been so excited to come home and tell them.

"Okay, Shisui." His mom replied, drying her tears. "I have to go to work soon, so be good for Grandpa."

"Be nice and work hard, Shisui." His grandpa said, smiling at him encouragingly. "I'm proud of you. You're going to be a fine ninja."

He grinned, bursting with happiness at the compliment.

"Thanks Grandpa! I will!" he replied, smiling broadly, before going to his room to ready and leave.

He found Koji and Shion on their usual training field.

"Hi guys! Hi Aunt Misaki!" he exclaimed, running over to where Shion's aunt, Uchiha Misaki, was sitting with her one-year-old daughter, Haruka.

"Hi, Haruka!" he said, kneeling beside the curly black-haired baby. She was reaching up at him and babbling incoherently, grinning a toothy smile and looking very excited to see him. "Watch me train, okay?"

He went over to join his friends practicing throwing their kunai.

"Hi Shisui!" they both greeted him.

"Hey guys, guess what? I got moved up to the graduating class!" he exclaimed.

"Wow, really? But you just started!" Shion replied.

"You're leaving us already?" Koji replied.

They were both too surprised to be happy for him.

"Leaving?" he echoed, dumbfounded. "I'm not leaving. I'll still come train with you guys."

"But you'll have a genin team to train with. My big brother's a genin and he's never around anymore." Koji replied, sulking. His turned away and threw a kunai at the target.

Shisui looked after him, disappointed.

"I-um…I think it's really amazing that you're graduating already, Shisui!" Shion said, catching his attention. "I'm happy for you!"

"Thanks, Shion!" he replied, smiling. "I'll be a ninja soon and I'll get my sharingan and then no one can say I don't belong anymore!"

They practiced and talked for a long time until finally it was time for him to go home and eat dinner. "Bye, guys! I'll see you tomorrow!"

Aunt Misako stopped him on the way. "Congratulations, Shisui. Your dad would be very proud of you. But dear, please don't get your hopes up about the sharingan. Your father was only half Uchiha and your mother was an outsider, so your blood is more diluted than most. I just don't want you to be disappointed if you can't awaken it, that's all."

He had grinned when she complimented him and said his dad would be proud of him, but her last comment just tore it all away. His hands shook with anger at his sides.

"I'm not diluted!" he exclaimed, and he darted away from them and back home.

I'm an Uchiha, too! Why can't they see it?

The very next day, he walked into the graduating class in room 5-B. His new teacher was a chunin named Fumino Daikoku-sensei. Everyone else was already sitting at the tables with their friends waiting for the sensei to arrive.

"Um, hello everyone!" he said, trying to speak loudly and be heard over all the older students.

"Oh, hi. Are you lost, Uchiha?" One of the older girls asked.

"I can walk you to your classroom. Who's your teacher?" One of the other girls she was talking to offered.

"Fumino Daikoku-sensei. I just got moved up to this class." He replied. "Where do you want me to sit?"

"Really? Wow, so you're the genius of the year, huh?" The first girl replied, astonished. "Figure's it would be an Uchiha."

"He doesn't look like an Uchiha though." Another girl replied. "He looks kind of foreign, doesn't he? And look at his eyes. Have you ever seen an Uchiha with green eyes?"

"Shut up!" he yelled. "So what if I look a little different? I am an Uchiha, and I'll get my sharingan and prove it to everyone!"

Suddenly, everyone hushed as the teacher walked in.

"Alright, alright. Sit down everyone." Daikoku-sensei said as he walked to the podium at the front of the class. "Today we have a new student joining us from the fourth year-class. His name is Uchiha Shisui. Be nice and get along. Uchiha, sit beside Uzumaki over there. Uzumaki, wave your hand so he can see you."

An older boy with shoulder-length red hair and dark blue eyes waved at him from the front row and he went to go sit by him.

"Today we will be conducting a survival exercise on the training grounds." Daikoku-sensei said, beginning his lesson. "Before that, we'll have a quick review. Can anyone tell me what constitutes good shelter?"

"Hi! I'm Uchiha Shisui, and you are…?" he said, getting a notepad and pen out of his school bag before setting the bag at his feet.

"Uzumaki Kaito." Replied the red-head, not glancing up from whatever it was he was drawing on a blank sheet of paper.

"What is that?" he asked.

"A seal. I'm practicing fuinjutsu." Kaito replied. "My dad's teaching me."

"Wow, you know fuinjutsu?" he exclaimed. "That's so cool!"

"Uzumaki! Uchiha! Be quite and pay attention." Daikoku-sensei called them out from the podium, looking sternly at them. "Uzumaki! Once you've found good shelter for yourself and your teammates, what is your first priority?"

"Secure your shelter. Set up traps to expose, delay, injure, or capture your enemy." Kaito answered.

"Correct." Daikoku-sensei replied.

The teacher asked a few more questions before putting them in teams for a practical exercise. The mission was to get all the way to the other side of the training field, capture the flag, and bring it back without getting stuck in a trap on the way. It was a test to see if they could recognize and either avoid or disable traps. These traps wouldn't seriously hurt them, of course, but on a real mission it would be deadly. Out of everyone, only him and Kaito got 100% but he was still disappointed with his results because Kaito beat his time by a long shot.

If I hadn't made that mistake I could've easily got at least 30 seconds off my time.

Shisui graduated three months later at the age of six and a half and was placed on Inuzuka Shiba's genin team with two nine-year-old classmates Nohara Yuki and Uzumaki Kaito. The Third Shinobi World War was still ongoing, but just as his great-grandpa said they were kept away from the battlefield. They spent long hours training with Shiba-sensei every single day and occasionally taking D-rank missions. It wasn't until the final two weeks of the war that they were sent to the battlefield on a D-rank mission for body-retrieval duty together with two other more experienced genin teams.

Author's note: I'm sorry for the delay! This chapter just would not write itself. I feel like it turned out really bland tbh. I might update it in the future. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!

Question for you all! I have his entire timeline planned out in excel tbh and I've decided given their anime models in the flashback episodes that Shisui is two-and-a-half years older than Itachi. But I need to know: do you want Shisui to have the Kotoamatsukami or the Tsukuyomi? I ask because this directly decides if Danzo steals his eye or not. IOW, do you want canon or something else. I also haven't decided if – if it comes to that – Shisui will oppose or participate in the Uchiha Massacre. A lot is undecided tbh cause he has to survive the war with Kiri first and I have to plan his conflicts with Ao and his jounin tests first.