A/N: With this chapter I pass the 10K word limit mark, and it is just the beginning!

In the coming weeks Itachi proved himself in the academy time and time again, every challenge that the sensei threw at him he'd not only accomplish, but exceed expectations. This had caused him to become the topic of many conversations between the academy staff. Uchihas were known for their exceptional talent, but this was another matter entirely. A student his age shouldn't be studying form or chakra control, and yet there he was answering every question the sensei had on the topics. This put Itachi in an interesting position, the other students were either jealous of him, or wanted to be near him at all times, two positions Itachi would rather not be in. Every time when lunch came around several students would follow him asking questions, and wanting to 'hang out', so he began hiding so that he would have a peaceful place to read, and that is what he was doing at this moment, sitting on the academy roof, his most recent hiding spot.

With winter coming soon the air was dry and crisp today, it was also a rather peaceful day in the village. Itachi was taking this moment to relax, and sketch Konohagakure's skyline. Sketching wasn't something that he did often, but it helped him relax after a long day, and today just kept getting longer. It began when he was on his way to the academy, he overheard a few of the clan members complaining about the way they were being treated by the village, and if it didn't stop then there might have to be repercussions. At this point they were still just releasing a bit of steam, but if this mentality continued it would only lead to one thing, an insurrection. The second addition to the long day came when he arrived at the academy, walking through the halls he learned that Izumi had awakened her Sharingan, and not even recently either, apparently, she realized it a few days after the nine-tails attack. Itachi has many questions for her, the books he read were great, but now he had someone that he could interview. This information brought up many questions as well, like why he didn't awaken his, he went through the same event, and he wasn't able to awaken his Sharingan, maybe he wouldn't ever awaken his, it isn't unheard of, but it was unusual. Either way he would need to find out more information before he continued speculating. Getting Izumi alone was becoming increasingly difficult, as more students crowded around him, getting one of those students alone seemed impossible, but he would figure out a way, right now he needed to get back to class. Packing his sketch into his bag, Itachi stood up and went back to class.

The sensei was beginning to wrap up the day, as usual fifteen minutes before class ended. Itachi had thought up a plan to be able to talk to Izumi about her Sharingan, he would have to talk to her today, or wait the entire weekend to find out the answers to his questions. Although Itachi was usually extremely patient, when he became curious about something that patience would disappear. With the dismissal from their sensei, Itachi stood up and exited the classroom.

Outside the academy Itachi was waiting, looking through the exiting faces for one particular face, he was looking for his fellow clan member. Right now, was the only time he could talk with Izumi, without having an audience, because with them both being from the same clan the majority of their trip home was the same. Usually, they would walk within sight of each other, but never together. This was likely because of Itachi's cold exterior, Izumi tried to approach him once, but was turned down before any conversation began. This time was going to be different, Itachi was going to try to start the conversation. Seeing Izumi walk out Itachi walked over to her inciting a weird look from her, but he ignored it and continued to walk with her.

After a few minutes of awkward silence Izumi broke it with a question, "Why are you walking with me today Itachi?"

"We both going to the same location, I thought you might enjoy some company." Izumi may not be a genius, but she could tell that he didn't suddenly want to socialize with her. She raised one of her eyebrows causing the slightly older Uchiha to add, "And I was wondering if you wanted to spar with me tomorrow?"

This caused the young girl to blush slightly, Itachi had asked her to spar with him! She was speechless for a moment before nodding her head slowly, "That sounds great."

"Perfect, I'll stop by tomorrow morning before going to the training field." With that the two continued to walk in a less awkward silence. With Itachi looking forward, and a slightly blushing Izumi staring at her feet.

Meanwhile in the Hokage Tower

There was meeting of sorts occurring, between the Third Hokage, and another unintroduced individual. The mysterious man had shaggy brown hair, that covered his forehead protector, although covered everyone knew that his protector depicted the symbol of the hidden leaf village. The man what appeared to be wearing what looked like a white robe, with a wooden cane sitting next to him. Probably the most notable feature was an x shaped scar on his chin from a past battle. The two men appeared to be arguing, with the unnamed man becoming increasingly upset.

"It's customary for students to go through the academy entirely outside of war." The current Hokage stated.

"But right now, we are wasting his talent by making him go through the academy, at this point he is not learning anything and is wasting his days at the academy. I know it is uncustomary, but I believe it would be best for the sake of the village, when word gets out that we have a prodigy then we will have clients coming from all over to sell contracts to us, remember how it was when Minato graduated?" The mysterious man countered with

"How would you know of the boy's talent; I haven't seen you at the academy in the past few weeks." The Hokage was fully aware of how he obtained the information.

"Word travels fast, all that I'm asking for is to have it reviewed by the council, let them decide if it's a good idea."

Hiruzen was done arguing, and he seen the benefit of allowing Itachi to graduate early, "Alright Danzo, let's see what the council decides tomorrow."

The newly named Danzo was satisfied with this agreement, standing to his feet, "As you wish Hokage." Saying the last word with a bit of spite. With that Danzo left.

The night has passed quickly for both Itachi and Izumi, one excited to have final been noticed by the other, and the other excited to get some answers. As usual Itachi was awake early, he didn't leave for Izumi then though because he knew that she was likely still sleeping. Deciding to take a brief stroll, he left his sleeping home. Walking around the Uchiha compound he noticed some strange noises coming from a nearby training field. Deciding to investigate, he changed his course of direction and proceeded to field thirty-seven. When he arrived, he was surprised to see a boy, a few years older than him. The boy was wearing navy blue, high collared shirt with grey shorts. The boy's legs were wrapped up, and he had tanto one this back, the blade of which wasn't much longer than his forearm. The boy was practicing sparing on a wooden, Wing Chun dummy. Deciding to get a bit closer, Itachi came out from the wooded area he was hiding, alerting the boy of his presence. Stepping a bit closer he noticed that the boy's hands were wrapped with a white cloth, something Itachi knew was a necessity, but something that he didn't know how to do himself.

Stopping his spar with the wooden post, the boy turned to face Itachi, scratching the back of his head, "I'm not used to anyone being up at this hour, but you're welcome to join in training." The boy offered with a grin.

Looking once again at the boys wrapped hands, "How do you wrap your hands like that" Itachi asked as he motioned his fellow Uchiha's hand.

Looking down at his hands, "This" he said raising one of his hands, "I guess they probably haven't taught you that at the academy yet, it's easy, come on I'll show you. I'm Shisui by the way."

Walking over to the older Uchiha, "Itachi, nice to meet you."

"Stick out your hand" Cautiously Itachi complied with his instructions, grabbing some spare cloth Shisui began wrapping Itachi's hand. "First you go around the wrist three times, next around you palm, again three times. After that it gets a bit trick, so pay attention, then you wrap it between your pinky and ring finger, below your thumb, around your hand, and then above your thumb. You follow these same steps for each of your fingers, and once you reach your thumb you wrap it around there three times." Handing him a cloth wrap, "Now you try, on you other hand."

Itachi wrapped his other hand, following Shisui's instructions. After successfully wrapping his hand, he showed Shisui, "Like this?"

"Yeah, that's great", with a smile, "You seem to be a fast learner, I've got to meet up with my team today, but if you want to meet me back here tomorrow morning, we can get a bit of sparing practice in?"

Itachi thought for a moment, he was wanting to train by himself tomorrow, but he did teach Itachi something already, and tomorrow would probably be equally beneficial. "I'll be here."

Walking over to grab his bag, "I'll see you then, bye."

Itachi remained there for a moment looking down at the wrapping of his hands, before realizing that he needed to meet up with Izumi.

She knew it was too good to be true, Itachi didn't really want to spar with her. Izumi had gotten up early today to wait for Itachi, and so far, that is all she has been doing, waiting. She anticipated that he would have been here by now, but no. Just then she heard a knock on the door, it had to be him. Running over to the door, grabbing her bag on the way she opened it to find Itachi, she knew he'd show!

"You ready to go?" The assumed cold-hearted Uchiha asked.

Trying not to sound too excited, "Yes" Izumi proclaimed

With that the duo left for one of the unoccupied training areas. It didn't take long before they reached one, and that is when she realized that he actually meant spar. She had assumed that they were going to go out into the village and have some fun, maybe go out to lunch, something like that, not go to a training field and spar. She was a bit disappointed, but she got over it pretty fast, after all she still got to spend the day with Itachi. Stopping mid-way though the field Itachi motioned her to walk a little bit further, and then get ready. His plan was to try and get her to activate her Sharingan, then he'd ask her about it, but in order to do that they'd have to fight.

"You ready?" Itachi yelled over to Izumi who was about fifty feet away.

"I guess" she said, unsure of this entire thing. Taijustu wasn't something they had discussed much in the academy yet, and she didn't practice much outside of class.

It was over before it had begun, she lacked any form, or attacks other than a jab that was mediocre at best. She had a lot to work on, and since it happened so fast, she didn't have any opportunity to use her Sharingan, Itachi need to rethink his tactics, because at this rate he'd never figure out if she had awakened her Sharingan or not.

Deciding to help her out, Itachi offered her a hand to pull her up. "When you're are fighting, make sure that you have a firm stance, that isn't so narrow." He instructed motioning to how she was standing. "Try to keep your feet at least shoulder length apart, and use your hands to guard your face, that will be your weak point, especially when you are starting out."

"I didn't realize you'd move so fast, whenever you were practicing you always preform those moves a lot slower." She said, shocked by how fast she ended up on the ground.

"Whenever you practice katas, you usually preform them slower to ensure that you have ever move memorized, this will help you make less mistakes when you spar."

Itachi kept instructing her, giving her different tips on how to improve her foot work, and posture while fighting. Eventually it became time for lunch, are both of them were hungry from their training. Deciding to eat at a food stand located outside of the compound they found a place that they both agreed on, and sat down at the counter. An older man was running the shop, he had on a stained white apron, and had shoulder length grey hair. Noticing to two children, he walked over to take their order. Itachi ordered onigiri, and Izumi ordered miso soup.

As they sat there waiting to receive their food Itachi decided that it would be a good time to aske Izumi about her Sharingan. "So, I heard you awoke your Sharingan, is it true?"

Izumi was shocked that he had heard about it, she thought that she was doing a pretty good job at keeping it a secret. "Yeah, I awoke it three years ago, during the Nine-tails attack."

"How'd that happen, we were together the entire time, and I wasn't able to awaken mine." Itachi questioned, a bit jealous that she managed to accomplish it before him.

"I don't know, it just sort of happened." The girl answered, trying to avoid the question.

The socially illiterate Uchiha didn't pick up on the sign, "But it doesn't make any sense, it's not even like you're a full blooded Uchiha." It wasn't a secret that Izumi was only half Uchiha, on her mother's side.

Although it was common knowledge, it still hurt to hear it coming from someone who she treasured like Itachi. Tears filled her eyes, "That doesn't mean I'm of any lesser value." Before Itachi could even respond she ran away from the stall. Leaving a confused Itachi, and an understanding cook.

Setting down the food, "It's a shame, you two seemed to get along pretty well." The chef told the confused looking boy.

"Did I do something wrong?" that same confused boy asked, confused by the events that just unfolded.

This caused the chef to chuckle at the boy's lack of social skills, "I'd say, your comment of her only being half-blooded clearly upset her."

This confused Itachi even further, "But it's true, why would that upset her?"

The stall owner sighed, "I know you weren't meaning to upset her boy, but nobody wants to feel like they're different, or an outcast, and this is especially true if they value that person's opinion. I'd recommend that you apologies to her as soon as you can." The wise cook said.

"Thank you" Itachi said with a nod

Just then an ANBU came up to Itachi out of nowhere, "The Hokage requests your presence, Itachi." Standing out of his seat Itachi began on his way to Hokage tower.

Earlier that day

The council had been called together for a number of reasons, but now that their meeting was nearly over the Hokage had one more item on the agenda.

Sitting up in his seat, the Hokage proclaimed, "Before we go there is one more item we need to discuss, the graduation of Itachi Uchiha. Danzo has brought it to my attention that we may be wasting a valuable asset to the village by making Itachi attend the academy. He is clearly skilled enough to graduate, and if approved he would still be required to take an exam before graduating. The vote is whether to allow him to prematurely graduate, and potentially bring more missions back to Konohagakure, or have him remain in academy for the full time, allowing him to collaborate with his fellow students and form bonds."

Danzo made it clear that he approved the motion, which got the vote of Koharu, and her once teammate Homura. Hiashi Hyuga voted to deny the motion, obviously because of his clans' long rivalry with the Uchiha clan. A few other clan heads joined with him in voting to deny the motion. The votes were close, with no obvious winner, but once the votes were counted approval to graduate the boy early won.

"With that this meeting is over" The Hokage proclaimed to the relived council members. Motioning to an empty corner a ANBU appeared, "Go tell Itachi Uchiha that I would like to see him."

"Yes Hokage" with that the once hidden ANBU disappeared again to fulfil his Hokage's wishes.

Itachi had arrived at the Hokage tower shortly, knocking on the big wooden door, and waiting for a response, he opened the large doors. Sitting in the chair was the older wise man from the first day at the academy.

"You requested my presence Hokage?" Itachi asked with a bow of his head.

"Yes, come sit down, let's talk a bit." The old shinobi offered. Complying with his orders, Itachi sat in front of his leader. "I've been hearing promising information about you, that you have been excelling at any challenge your teachers give you. After discussing your situation with the council, we have decided to give you a unique opportunity, to graduate early. This doesn't usually happen outside of war, but seeing that the Leaf is hurting for talented shinobi I would like to offer you a position among them."

This surprised Itachi, but you wouldn't be able to tell based on his reaction, "I would be honored Hokage."

"You will of course still be required to pass the graduation exam, prior to graduating, but after that you would be a full-fledged shinobi." After seeing Itachi he was sure that they had made the right decision to allow him to graduate early. "Now, you must be excited, you may go, I will explain the details to your sensei and they will setup the test from there."

Itachi searched everywhere for Izumi, finally finding her sitting beneath a tree in one of the training grounds.

Walking up to her with a bag, "You forgot your soup."

Looking up at the reason for her tears, "I'm not hungry." Before looking back down at the ground.

Deciding to sit beside her, "I'm sorry" The slightly older boy said, "I didn't realize that it was a sensitive topic for you."

She looked back up at him, "I know, I was never upset with you, more with the situation. Your questions brought up a lot of bad memories."

Itachi was talented in many ways, comforting people was not one of them, but he had seen people do it a few times. Placing his hand on her shoulder, "Would you like to tell me about it?"

This put a sparkle in her eye, "Really?" After receiving a nod from him, "Right before we met up on that tragic day I was with my father. We were spending the day together, he was a really great man, I remember before everything happened, he had just told me one of his many corny jokes, it was stupid, but it still made me laugh." She said with a sad smile, "We had just gone into a shop to get some ice cream, the perfect ending to a perfect day. Except we never got the ice cream, while we were ordering a giant quake happened, my father only had gotten me out of the building, he ran back in to try and save the owner as well, but before he could leave a giant chunk of building came crashing into the shop. I didn't know what to do, there was so much blood. Eventually I went to check on him, only to find an indescribable sight, his neck was bent into an ungodly position, his eyes stared forward, void of any life. I was so scarred, I just started running, and crying my vision began to blur and I couldn't see for a long time. I ended up in the forest, where you found me, and helped me." The young girl explained to Itachi while trying to hold back tears.

Itachi had no idea what to do or say, he wasn't used to being on this end of so much emotion. Deciding that people generally find hugs comforting, he reached over and hugged Izumi. "I'm sorry that happened to you." He whispered into her ear.

After returning the unexpected hug, she pulled back, "Ever since then I vowed to get stronger so that I could protect everyone precious to me." She started to look upset again, "But I have no idea where to go from here, I thought that the academy was going to teach me how to be strong, but after our spars today I see that I was wrong."

Itachi though for a moment, "What if we start training together, a couple times a week. That way we could both improve?"

This brought a huge grin to her face, "Really? You mean it?"

"We can set something up, we can spar together twice a week, how does that sound?" The Uchiha prodigy asked

"That would be perfect." Quickly wrapping her arms around his neck, "Thank you Itachi!"

A/N: Thanks for reading! If anyone has any constructive criticism, I would greatly appreciate it. Feel free to leave a review, message me, or even email me with it. I've got so many ideas for later on in the book, and I'm trying to keep these beginning chapters from going too fast, let me know what you guys think. Also, if anyone can send me some names, I need names for side characters and would greatly appreciate a pool to choose from. These names would be used for side characters like their current teacher, or a proctor for an exam, etc. Thanks!

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