"Tadaima!" Itachi called as he stepped through the front door. He hadn't even taken his sandals off when Sasuke and Aiko came running into the foyer to greet him.
"Niisan! Okaeri!" Sasuke exclaimed.
"How was your exam?" Aiko asked.
"It was pretty easy, but more of a challenge than the Academy." Itachi answered honestly.
Aiko smiled and grabbed his hand as he stepped over the step, "I think Obasan has a snack ready. Let's go talk in there."
兄弟
"I see. So they aren't telling you if you passed the first exam until after the second this year..." Fugaku remarked when everyone had sat down.
"Yes." Itachi answered, "All of us have to report to the 44th training ground by 5."
"The 44th training ground is also known as the Forest of Death." Aiko warned him, "The second exam is something of a survival exercise and lasts for five days. Make sure you pack everything you need for that."
"Is it okay to tell him that?" Sasuke asked.
"It's not a problem." Aiko assured him as she ate some rice, "Any participant who has gone through the second exam before would already know this."
"That's true." Itachi said thoughtfully.
"Still, I don't know why they insist on holding the second exam in that place." Aiko continued, "I mean, what exactly is the point of holding an exam where they actually expect some of the participants to die? It seems like a waste of life to me."
Itachi chuckled nervously, inwardly agreeing with the younger child.
"Itachi, make sure to be extra careful during the second exam." Mikoto said with worry, "You were allowed to take the test alone, but that means that you won't have any teammates to watch your back there."
"Right." Itachi said with a nod.
"Depending on how you look at it, taking the test alone could be a blessing or a curse." Aiko remarked, "On one hand, as Obasan said, you don't have anybody to back you up. On the other, you also don't have to keep an eye on your teammates. In addition, the exam requires that you complete the mock mission without any team members dying or becoming inca... in-ca-pa-ci-ta-ted..." Aiko managed, making it clear that she was once again parroting something she'd heard from her mother, "But in your case, that rule is kind of... um..." She furrowed her brow, trying to think of the right word.
"Moot?" Itachi offered.
Aiko shrugged, "Probably. I'm not sure what that word means, but I'm sure you knew what I was trying to say."
Itachi nodded to her in confirmation.
兄弟
After the meal, Aiko walked into Itachi and Sasuke's room, where Itachi was organizing what he would need for the five day exam.
"Itachi-niichan?" She said to announce her presence, "I have a present for you."
Itachi looked at her in confusion. "A present?"
Aiko nodded, "Something you can use in the exam. I got Auntie Kushina to help me buy it today. Here." She held out a jar.
"What is this?" Itachi asked with a raised brow.
"It's a mild paralysis poison." Aiko explained, "I know you don't like to fight, but if you coat your kunai with this, you can immobilize opponents just long enough to take what you need and get away, and it should wear off quickly enough for them to avoid getting eaten. Well, unless they're extremely unlucky I guess."
"So that's why you were looking through that catalog of poisons the other day." He realized, and Aiko nodded.
"I'm sure you don't need something like this to pass the exam, but I wanted to make things a little bit easier on you. Well, mentally anyway."
Itachi smiled softly and patted the little girl's head. "Thank you Aiko."
兄弟
"Sasuke-niichan." Aiko began the next day, "Since Itachi-niichan is going to be gone for five days, will you teach me how to throw shuriken?"
Sasuke grinned widely, excited that Aiko was asking him to teach her something. "Sure!" Suddenly he glanced at the clock, "Oh. But we're supposed to meet Naruto and Sakura at the park today."
"That's okay." Aiko said with a smile, "We can start tomorrow morning. We'll train in the morning and then go to the park in the afternoons like we promised."
Sasuke grinned widely again, "Yeah!"
The next few days passed by quickly as Sasuke spent the mornings teaching the basics of shuriken jutsu to Aiko before they went to the park to play with Naruto and Sakura. When Itachi passed by the park on the way home after the exam on the fifth day, Sasuke initially didn't notice him, but as Itachi decided to just hang out and watch them, it wasn't long until he did.
"Niisan! You're back!" He exclaimed excitedly, running over to his sibling with Aiko quickly following.
"How was the exam?" The little girl asked, "Are you tired?"
"Not really." Itachi admitted, "I finished within the first day, so I spent most of it just waiting in the tower."
Aiko gaped at him, "As expected, Itachi-niichan. You're really amazing!" Itachi chuckled awkwardly.
"Now that you're back, can you help me train some more?" Sasuke asked eagerly.
"That won't do, Sasuke-niichan." Aiko said with a shake of her head, "The third exam is a month from now. Itachi-niichan needs to focus on his own training for a little while. He doesn't know what kind of jutsu his opponents might use, so he has to be ready for anything."
"I'm afraid Aiko is right." Itachi said before reaching forward and tapping Sasuke's forehead with his index and middle finger. "Forgive me, Sasuke. Some other time."
Sasuke pouted, so Aiko decided to redirect his attention. "Guess what, Itachi-niichan! While you were gone, I learned how to throw shuriken. Sasuke-niichan taught me."
"Oh really?" Itachi asked with interest. Sasuke beamed with pride.
"She can at least hit the target now. She's still got a ways to go though." He informed Itachi, clearly trying to be objective despite his obvious pleasure at having been the one to teach her.
"You'll have to show me when we get home." Itachi said, "I won't start my training for the third exam until tomorrow."
"Yeah!" Sasuke exclaimed, grabbing Itachi's hand to pull him toward the compound.
"Bye Naruto-kun! Bye Sakura-chan! We'll see you tomorrow!" Aiko called happily as she followed her two brothers.
"Aiko-chan is lucky..." Sakura said quietly, "Having two older brothers."
"Tell me about it." Naruto said, "I wouldn't care if they were older or younger, I wish I had just one sibling."
兄弟
"Nicely done, Aiko. You hit the target ten out of ten times." Itachi said when he and his younger siblings had made it to their backyard so that she could show him what Sasuke had taught her. Aiko pursed her lips in dissatisfaction.
"Yeah, but my shots are all over the target. Sasuke-niichan's are grouped much closer."
"Niisan can hit the dead center every time." Sasuke remarked.
"You're both still young. You're not even in the Academy yet." Itachi told them, "There's no need to rush." Sasuke shrugged in response to this and headed inside while Aiko followed Itachi to the target to retrieve her shuriken. "Why were you suddenly so determined to learn this, Aiko?" Itachi asked, a note of concern in his voice, "I thought you weren't interested in training before entering the Academy?"
Aiko's gaze dropped, her expression somewhat unreadable. "That is how I felt before, but... After Mama and Papa died, things changed..." Tears welled in her eyes as she continued, "Everything changed." She wiped her eyes, not feeling the need to elaborate on that statement before she continued, "I couldn't help but think, 'If I had started training sooner, if I had been stronger, maybe they'd still be here.' Of course, I'm aware that the past cannot be changed, but because of that, I decided that I would work hard to get strong. As strong as possible. I know that... there's no guarantee that I'll never lose another loved one, but... At the very least, I don't want to ever find myself simply standing back and watching again..."
Itachi nodded in understanding. In this regard, he and Aiko were very similar. Sasuke was different. He trained earnestly out of a sense of rivalry with Itachi. He desperately wanted to catch up to him despite being five years younger, which was why he was so modest about his own abilities. Aiko was different. She didn't particularly have anybody that she compared herself to. She just wanted to be strong.
兄弟
A few days later, Aiko was playing in the park with Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura as usual. Itachi was, as expected, training to prepare for his exam, whilst Aiko and Sasuke had continued their routine of training during the mornings. Everything was peaceful and quiet, until a shower of cherry blossoms began to swirl around the four of them, and all four stopped in their tracks. Aiko was a bit confused. The cherry blossoms had only just started to bloom, they shouldn't be falling like this yet. She felt her eyelids grow heavy and her mind surged in alarm. She quickly clasped her hands together in a sign. "Kai!"
Just as Aiko felt the fatigue leave her body, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all dropped to the ground.
"Oh... who would've thought that she would see through the genjutsu?" A voice remarked as Aiko looked around in panic. She gasped in fear as three genin from the Hidden Stone stepped out in front of her. They had to have come here for the Chunin exam, but why had they tried to cast a genjutsu on her and her friends?
"She really is a prodigy, just like we were told." The lone female of the group said. Aiko took a step back and then suddenly sensed a presence behind her. Before she could react, a strong arm wrapped around her upper body, pinning her to somebody's chest as a cloth was held over her nose and mouth. Aiko squirmed and desperately tried to scream, but to no avail. She felt her eyelids grow heavy as her body became weak, and then her consciousness faded.
兄弟
Uchiha Shisui was on his way home from a mission when he spotted three children sprawled on the ground of the nearby playground, one of whom he instantly recognized, even without the very obvious Uchiha Crest on his back. "Sasuke-kun!" He rushed over to Itachi's younger brother and knelt next to him, quickly realizing that the child—and probably the other two as well—was under a genjutsu. He placed a hand on Sasuke's back and formed a sign with his other hand. "Kai!"
Sasuke opened his eyes and blinked, looking up at Shisui as his vision came back into focus. "Shisui-san? What's going on?" He sat up, looking around in confusion, "Where's Aiko?"
Shisui frowned. Sasuke's confusion was understandable. That wasn't what concerned him. "Was she here with you before?"
"Yeah." Sasuke said. "What happened?"
"Somebody placed a genjutsu on all of you." Shisui answered as he moved to awaken the other two children. The pink-haired girl with the Haruno crest on her back was unfamiliar to him, but he was fairly certain that the boy with the spiky blond hair was Uzumaki Naruto, the son of the late Fourth Hokage.
"What happened?" Naruto asked in confusion as he rubbed his nose, due to having landed flat on his face.
"Isn't it kind of early for the cherry blossoms to fall?" The Haruno girl asked as she rubbed her eyes. Shisui wondered how she could even see anything beneath the wispy bangs that were covering her eyes.
Suddenly Naruto's bright blue eyes locked onto Shisui, "Hm? Who are you, Niichan?"
"Uchiha Shisui." The teenager told him, "It looks like somebody placed the four of you under genjutsu and then took Aiko-chan."
"No... I don't think so..." Sasuke said suddenly, "At least, that's not exactly what happened." He turned to Shisui with a grave look on his face and something in his hand. "This is Aiko's handkerchief. If she were caught in a genjutsu, there's no way that she would've been able to drop this, and it couldn't have fallen out of her bag on accident. She keeps the flap fastened with a snap."
"Which means that either she wasn't caught in the genjutsu, or she saw through it." Shisui agreed, placing a hand on Sasuke's head, "Good work spotting that, Sasuke-kun." He turned his attention to all three children, "It's too dangerous here. I'm going to take you to Sasuke-kun's house." He looked at Sasuke again, "Then I'll find Itachi, and we'll find Aiko-chan and rescue her."
This is probably going to be my longest story ever, as I don't really have an exact length in mind. It will eventually end more or less where the original storyline does, but for the time being, I haven't even made it to the genin years! I don't really mind though. I like focusing on Sasuke and the others when they are all little kids and aren't yet concerned with who's a prodigy and who can barely write his own name.