Kioshi spent the night at Akio's house. Due to the short notice, he slept on the man's couch, but Akio assured him that he would make a room for him soon. Kioshi nodded, grateful for such kindness.

The next morning Akio took Kioshi out to explore the village. It was bright, colorful, and full of life. On Kioshi's nose rested a pair of dark sunglasses. An Anbu ninja had come last night and given Akio the face wear as well as some black hair dye to cover Kioshi's purple highlights. The colorful strips were an identifying factor. The Tsuchikage might be aware of the characteristic.

With both the hair dye and the glasses, Kioshi now looked fairly average. The only minority feature was his olive skin, which was okay. The tone was only rare, not completely foreign.

Their cover story was that Kioshi was Akio's nephew who had come to see the village in hopes of joining the ninja academy. Akio had a sister who lived in one of the fire nations' cities, so this was plausible.

The man said that if anyone asked, to say his olive skin came from his father. Akio also said that if anyone asked why he was wearing glasses, to say that it was because of an eye condition. Both of these things were true, so Kioshi didn't see a problem with it.

As they walked, four auras shadowed them. Kioshi figured these were Anbu ninjas sent to keep an eye on him. The Anbu were the Hokage's secret military, police, spies, and guards.

Ignoring the shadows, Kioshi walked down a row of shops. One of the shops caught his eye. Its sign read "Momo's blades and knives." Walking up to the window he saw a display of beautiful knives and swords. They were all shapes and sizes.

A Katana was what his father used to fight with. It was a curved single-edged blade with a square or circle guard. A Ninjato was a shorter version of that. The shop carried both.

Kioshi had always wanted his own sword. His father had said he was going to get him one when he was older.

A sword was important to have for Kenjutsu. You could create swords out of chakra, but only real swords could be engraved with seals. Seals were powerful. Real swords also didn't need chakra to stay solid. In long fights, chakra-formed blades would quickly drain you.

Kioshi used metal rods or charka-formed blades in his past training. His father's blade, sadly, had been too big for him. It had been jealously beautiful.

These blades in the window were also beautiful. None of them were engraved like his father's, but Kioshi couldn't see any flaws. He wanted to reach through the glass and touch them.

"You like blades?" Akio asked, noticing his longing.

Kioshi nodded. "Is there any way I can earn some money here?" he asked earnestly. He really wanted to buy one.

Akio smiled. "I'm not sure, but I can ask the Hokage about it."

Kioshi nodded, taking one last look, before continuing on.

They stopped at a clothing store next. Akio said the Hokage would cover all of Kioshi's basic needs. They bought Kioshi enough clothes to fill a closet.

After that, the man led him to a furnishing store and had him pick out a mattress, bedframe, and room accessories. The clothes and items were set to be delivered to the man's house the next day. Then they went out for lunch and stopped and bought groceries.

After returning home, they filled the fridge and spent the rest of the day clearing out the man's office for Kioshi's new room.

000000000

A few days later, Kioshi was finally settled in. His room was small but homey. In answer to his money question, the man said that the Hokage had decided to give him an allowance. This money could be used or saved for any extra things he might want.

As a welcoming gift, the Hokage also wanted Kioshi to pick out a weapon at the blade shop. Kioshi was ecstatic. He picked out a beautiful Ninjato, guilty one of the most expensive ones available. It now rested in a sheath strapped to his back.

When he asked if he could go train with it, Akio had taken him to a small green field where he could practice his forms and get used to the sword.

It felt so nice to be practicing again. It felt even nicer seeing as he could now train with something real.

While he trained, Akio would sit under a tree and watch him.

00000000

A week later, when Akio was walking him home after a training session, Kioshi turned to the man. "Akio, is there a ninja library in Konoha?"

Kioshi didn't remember one in the TV show, but it seemed likely. How did a ninja learn new techniques? It couldn't be simply word of mouth. A sensei couldn't teach a student everything. There was just too much difference between styles and abilities. And how did academy students study for exams?"

"Yes, there is a ninja library. Why do you ask?" Akio asked.

"My dad didn't teach me a lot about ninja techniques, and I would like to learn," Kioshi said. "I know how to read." When Kioshi turned three years old his mother had taught him basic literature and writing. He was competent in it.

"Well, the Ninja Center is only open to ninjas or those in the Acadamy," the man said. "But I could ask the Hokage for you. Perhaps he will give you a special pass."

Kioshi nodded.

00000000

A few days later the boy was told that the Hokage would grant him access to the academy level of the Ninja Center. Apparently, "Ninja Center" was what the library was called.

The Ninja Center had four levels. The main floor was the academy level. The second floor was the Genin level, the third was the Chunin level, and the fourth was the Jonin level. You had to have a student pass to get access to the first level, and you had to show your ninja rank card to get access to any of the other levels. You couldn't go to the levels above your rank.

Kioshi walked through the shelves of the Acadamy level. There were rows of books as well as scrolls organized in large box slots. Each scroll box was labeled and had about ten to twenty scrolls of the same type. Kioshi looked at the label names and picked out a few random scrolls.

He sat down at a table.

Opening the first scroll he read:

Chakra types- Basic description and information.

Physical Chakra

Physical Chakra resides in a person's core and chakra veins. It is visible to one's eye and causes physical damage when used. It can be shaped into all physical things.

Spiritual Chakra

Spiritual Chakra resides in a person's aura. This chakra is invisible to one's eye and is used to shape physical chakra.

Mental Chakra.

It is unknown where Mental Chakra resides as it can not be seen or felt. Mental chakra is used to direct spiritual chakra.

Okay, that was pretty basic. Kioshi opened the next scroll.

Main Jutsu Types- Basic description and information.

Ninjutsu

Ninjutsu is the art of physical techniques performed outside of one's body. Ninjutsu needs mental, spiritual, and physical chakra to perform. It causes physical damage.

Genjutsu

Genjutsu is the art of illusions. It uses mental and spiritual chakra to manipulate others' mental and spiritual chakra. It does not cause physical damage.

Taijutsu

Taijutsu is the art of enhancing one's body. A person will then use their body to inflict damage.

Kioshi nodded and continued on to the next scroll.

This one caught his attention.

Sensors- Basic description and information.

Natural Sensors

Natural sensors are ninjas with high levels of spiritual chakra. Spiritual chakra forms around all living things in an aura. Aura's naturally get denser the closer they get to their source. Big auras will have dense cores, and small auras will have thin cores.

All auras can sense physical chakra within them. In parts where an aura is dense, it will sense things more clearly.

Natural sensors have big enough auras that their cores are dense enough to sense spiritual chakra. This gives the ninja the natural ability to not only detect physical chakra at far distances but also gives them the ability to sense another's spiritual aura if it is close.

Train Sensors

Trained sensors are ninjas who have trained to condense and send their spiritual chakra to certain areas. This allows a ninja with medium or low levels of spiritual chakra to sense spiritual chakra or sense physical chakra at farther distances.

Elite Sensor

Elite sensors are trained natural sensors. Elite sensors can scan spiritual chakra at far distances and can scan and interpret one's emotions through spiritual chakra.

Sensor Downside

The downside of being a sensor is your exposure to other sensors. Dense spiritual chakra can be detected more easily than thin spiritual chakra. This makes sensors the easiest to target and locate.

Kioshi frowned at the last paragraph. Sensors were highly exposed to other sensors? That wasn't good. He had already deduced that he was a natural sensor. That meant he was a natural beacon.

Stealth was something that interested him. It was something he wanted to learn for a while now. He loved staying in the shadows and observing. If his spiritual chakra was so obvious to others, then his dreams were ruined!

Kioshi pondered on the problem. There had to be a technique that hid spiritual chakra. Kioshi got up and searched the shelves until he found what he was looking for.

Chakra Stealth-Basic description and information

Physical Chakra Stealth

Physical Chakra Stealth is when you hide your physical chakra from others. The easiest way to hide physical chakra is to not use it. Physical chakra is naturally sealed inside a person's core and main charka veins. If it is sealed, it cannot be detected.

Advanced Physical Chakra Stealth involves sealing physical chakra within spiritual chakra. Doing this allows only sensors to detect when techniques are performed.

Spiritual Chakra Stealth

Spiritual Chakra Stealth is needed to hide from sensors.

To hide spiritual chakra one must expand their aura. Sensors can only sense auras at certain densities. When one expands their aura, it becomes less dense. The more you expand your aura, the less likely it is that you will be detected.

The downside of this technique is that the more you expand your aura, the more you will lose the ability to sense chakra. You will also not be able to perform techniques that require spiritual chakra.

Kioshi nodded. This matched what the Zombie man had done. Thinking back, the cloaked man had only obtained an aura once he had started to fight. He must have gathered his spiritual chakra.

But if what the scroll had said was true, then how did the man know that he was in the barn? He didn't feel the man at the time. With an expanded aura, the man's senses would have been completely gone.

Kioshi mentally slapped himself. Expanding your aura only affected your ability to sense chakra, not your other senses. Constantly feeling people's auras made Kioshi forget there were physical ways to track or detect someone.

That made Kioshi feel even worse for not hiding. His father hadn't taught him to hide his aura, but there had been physical ways to hide. Pacing in front of a bright lantern was not the way to do it. If he had hidden, then maybe the cloaked man would have passed him by.

Kioshi sighed. There was no way to change what had happened now. The only thing he could do was try to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.

He was going to learn stealth. To do that he needed to learn how to hide his chakra and how to hide from physical senses. He also needed to learn how to use his physical senses better. Coming to this decision, he moved on and picked up another scroll.

This one was the most interesting.

Medical Ninjutsu-Basic description and information

Medical Ninjutsu is the art of healing yourself and others. It requires extreme chakra control as well as extensive knowledge of potions and anatomy. Medical ninjutsu can also be used offensively against opponents.

Kioshi stared at the scroll longingly. This art resonated with him even more than Kenjustu. The sport of Kenjustu was thrilling, but in serious situations, he preferred healing over fighting. He hated violence and causing people pain.

He also didn't want to be helpless again as he watched someone die. If something like his father's injury happened again, he wanted to be prepared.

Kioshi looked at the requirements. Okay, so he needed to learn potions and anatomy. He could do that. It would be mostly facts, right? The only question was chakra control…The scroll said that medical ninjutsu required an extreme level.

Kioshi searched the shelves. When he found the desired scroll, he opened it.

Chakra Control-Basic description and information

Chakra control is the ability to control and shape chakra. Chakra control comes from having the right balance of mental, spiritual, and physical chakra in your techniques. Your mental chakra must be equal to or higher than your spiritual chakra. And your spiritual chakra must be equal to or higher than your physical chakra. Having an imbalance of this will cause strain or loss of control.

Kioshi nodded thoughtfully. This was probably why Naruto in the TV show had such a hard time controlling and implementing techniques at first. The yellowed haired boy had so much physical chakra that it was hard to hold back and form the right balance.

This would also explain why losing focus made you lose control over techniques. Mental chakra must come from imagination, focus, and determination. This mental energy somehow moved spiritual chakra, which in turn moved physical chakra. If you naturally had more mental and spiritual chakra, then performing complex techniques came more naturally. If you naturally had less physical charka, then performing complex techniques also came more naturally.

Kioshi had large amounts of spiritual chakra. This was perfect for complex arts as long as he had enough mental chakra.

Kioshi went and asked Akio if it was alright to check out some of the scrolls and books. It wouldn't be nice to keep the man waiting all day. Akio said he could, so Kioshi got two scrolls on physical stealth and textbooks on anatomy, poisons, and herbs. Hopefully, that would keep him busy for the rest of the week…

000000000

Two weeks later, Kioshi walked alone through the village. A week ago Akio had stopped following him, and he was free to explore by himself. This was probably due to orders from the Hokage. The old man probably wanted to see what Kioshi would do without an audience.

Kioshi liked the new freedom. Even though he was still being shadowed by Anbu, it felt nice not to have to deal with direct scrutiny or questions.

For the past two weeks, Kioshi had trained with his sword and studied healing. He had also started to practice stealth by walking with precision on a grass training field. Now he wanted a bigger challenge. How would stealth techniques work on sticks and leaves?

Reaching a large forest area, Kioshi walked deep into it, practicing his steps and enjoying the sounds of peaceful birds. His steps were getting pretty quiet. Kioshi hoped that one-day stealth walking would become second nature.

His focus was drawn elsewhere when he suddenly felt a faint spike of chakra. Curious, Kioshi headed in that direction, continuing his stealth practice. As Kioshi got closer, flashes of chakra became stronger and clearer. Getting even closer, Kioshi began to feel a person's aura.

Kioshi thought that this was a great place to test his stealth progress, so he crept even closer. Peering through the bushes into an open clearing, Kioshi blinked at what he saw.

There was a young boy, about his age, practicing Kenjutsu. His body was enhanced with chakra, his sword swings blurring together with great speed. Occasionally he would stop his forms and blast an area with fireballs.

The boy was amazing! He looked just as good as him. The boy jumped, flipped, and then threw some ninja stars at a nearby tree. They all lined up in the center of the trunk. The boy then landed in a crouch.

The boy turned and looked at him. Kioshi cringed. Apparently, his stealth needed work. The boy raised an eyebrow at him and continued to stare, politely waiting for him to leave.

Kioshi blinked back. Kioshi had noticed that the boy had the symbol of the Uchiha Clan on the back of his shirt as he fought. Now that he had turned, Kioshi could also see that he had pronounced tear tracks on his face.

Was this Itachi Uchiha? The boy had the exact features of the character from the TV show, and Itachi was also the only Uchiha he knew of that was this skilled at this age.

Kioshi didn't know the exact time period he was at. He hadn't run into any other characters on the show besides Hiruzen. If this was Itachi, he looked to be around 5 or 6. That meant the Nine-tailed fox attack happened fairly recently. Naruto was still a baby.

"Uh, Hi," Kioshi chirped lamely.

Itachi stared dully back. After a moment, the Uchiha raised his eyebrows again. "Do you need something?"

Kioshi scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Uh no, I was just walking by," he said, stepping out from behind the bush. Your sword skills are really good."

Itachi's blank emotion didn't change.

"You're really fast! Could I train with you?" Kioshi blurted, not knowing where the question had come from. After he said it, however, Kioshi realized that it was something he really wanted to do. Itachi was considered a prodigy. Even if he hadn't seen his skills, he'd want to train with him.

"I like Kenjutsu too," Kioshi said to the still silent boy, pointing to the sword strapped to his back. "I don't have anyone to fight with."

Itachi looked reluctant. Before the Uchiha could provide an excuse, Kioshi continued. "We can just do one duel. One duel and I'll leave." Please, please, please! Kioshi mentally pleaded.

Itachi must have seen the hope and eagerness in his eyes. "Very well", he sighed, as if it quickest way to dismiss him. "One duel."

Yes! Kioshi nearly jumped in joy. He reached behind him and unsheathed his sword. "Do you know how to coat your blade with dulling chakra?"

Itachi tilted his head curiously but nodded.

Kioshi smiled. "Okay, let's do that. And is it okay if we focus just on Kenjutsu?" Kioshi didn't know a lot of other things, and he really didn't want to be blasted with a fireball.

Itachi nodded again.

Kioshi smiled, walking over to the other end of the clearing and readying into a stance. He then sent a tiny bit of chakra to his face to stick his dark sunglasses to it. It wouldn't due to have them fall off.

Itachi got into a ready stance too, staring and becoming more focused.

Kioshi took that as his cue and rushed forward, pushing chakra into his legs. Kenjutsu was like Taijutsu except you used a blade along with your body.

Wind from his speed brushed Kioshi's hair back as he attacked. The force of the impact caused a ripple of dust to spread out away from the clashing blades. The boys then broke apart and clashed again, and again, and again, Kioshi attacking while the other black-haired boy defended.

At this point, they were simply testing each other. As they continued, the fight slowly began to build up speed.

Kioshi was having a blast. This was the first time since leaving the farm that he had felt true joy. After a fierce attack, Kioshi blasted away from the other boy, backflipping and landing across the clearing. He nodded down to his sword, communicating that it was Itachi's turn to go on offense.

Itachi at this point was breathing visibly. His eyes were full of shock and wonder. Snapping out his state, the Uchiha responded to the silent invitation, rushing towards Kioshi. Kioshi grinned and braced himself.

They clashed, and Itachi began to attack Kioshi with great ferocity. After about ten seconds, Kioshi found an opening and shifted his defense into an attack, putting Itachi on defense. Swords blurred to the point that they almost created after images. The boys were now using their full speed.

Itachi finally left himself open and Kioshi struck hard and fast. His sword hit Itachi in the stomach and sent the boy flying. Kioshi watched Itachi tumble through the air and slam into a tree, creating an indent. The Uchiha boy stayed stuck to the tree for a moment before crashing to the ground.

Itachi didn't move from his face plant. Kioshi panicked, and rushed over to him, almost shouting the boy's name out in worry, before realizing that he wasn't supposed to know it yet. "Hey! Hey, are you alright!" He asked, coming up and kneeling down next to the still form.

Itachi mumbled something into the dirt, and Kioshi sighed in relief. Good. He didn't kill him. With dulling chakra, his blade had been as sharp as a baseball bat. But a baseball bat could still kill someone with enough force.

The Uchiha boy slowly rose from the ground and leaned up against the back of the tree he had crashed into. He held his stomach and breathed out in pain. Then he looked at Kioshi.

The boy's face didn't show any anger, only bewilderment. "Who are you?" he asked, gasping.

Kioshi scratched the back of his neck, apparently something he did commonly when he was embarrassed. "My name is Kioshi. I just moved here," he answered. Kioshi then tilted his head at the boy and asked. "What's your name?" It would be good to be sure of the boy's identity and to not have to worry about slipping up again.

"Itachi," the boy replied. "Itachi Uchiha." The boy studied Kioshi after he said his last name, searching for some kind of reaction.

Kioshi just nodded in response. He had already suspected that. "Well it is nice to meet you Itachi," he said smiling. "Thank you for the fight. It's been a while since I've trained against someone. And I've never fought against someone my own size before! It was like real adult sword fighting!"

Itachi nodded in agreement. "I have not fought a skilled opponent as small as you either," he said after a moment.

"Maybe we can do it again sometime?" Kioshi suggested. He had promised to leave after the duel, but he hoped the Uchiha would agree to fight with him again now that he knew he could give him a challenge.

Itachi thought about it. "Yes, I believe that would be beneficial," he said. "I come here almost every afternoon after the academy. You can meet me here."

Kioshi beamed, and then got up and walked out of the clearing.