Dull thuds sounded as sharp metal was repeatedly embedded into painted wood, the points securely sunk straight into the very middle of every target that stood before the young shinobi in training.

The boy's body was doubled over, hands on knees; his back rose and fell quickly with each shallow pant that revealed his exhaustion.

Though he had hit every target in near perfection, he still felt as if it wasn't enough. It was late, and he was pushing himself so hard that he would momentarily lose balance or see spots swimming in his sight, but he felt as if he was missing something. He hadn't felt like he'd accomplished anything all day.

Stubbornly, he withdrew two more kunai. The metal glinted in the moonlight that filtered through the thick foliage above him. A quick flick of the wrist sent both weapons whistling through the air, the tell-tale thud sounding their landing and the boy looked up to see they had both hit the center of two different targets.

He didn't understand it.

His aim was perfect, his chakra control flawless in its slight guidance of the weapons- so why did he feel like it was all a waste of time?

"Out a 'lil late, aren't ya kid?"

The boy turned to find an older shinobi emerge from the tree line. He adorned a chuunin vest and wore a confident expression on his face.

"…"

"You should probably go home; you look like you're about to keel over." The stranger tried again, walking closer to the panting form of the boy. The moonlight revealed more of the stranger's features; he was a young guy, not too much older then the boy himself. His short deep maroon locks framed his face and caressed the very top of his neck, but wasn't long enough to be held back in a ponytail. His eyes were navy blue- the same shade as the night sky.

"Can't." The boy replied curtly.

The stranger quirked an eyebrow in question. "And why not? I'm sure your mother must be worried sick…"

"Chuunin exams are being held next week. She understands."

"Ah, I see." He said, more to himself. "But… aren't you a little young for those exams…?" Recognition flashed in his eyes for a moment and he continued. "Wait… you're Fugaku's son, huh? Uchiha Itachi?"

At the sound of his name, Itachi straightened and gave a small nod of confirmation.

"Wow, I heard you're the up and coming shinobi to beat! I guess I'll finally have some competition soon!" He chuckled a bit before walking to where he could stand directly in front of Itachi, and extended his hand for greeting. "The name is Uchiha Shisui. I'm sure you've heard my name bouncing around the compound a bit."

Itachi took his hand in a firm shake. He had indeed heard of Shisui; Shunshin no Shisui, Shisui of the Mirage, the most skilled of the Uchiha clan.

Shisui leaned down a bit, his hand shielding his mouth from the side as if he were about to tell a secret. "Honestly, not all the things you hear are the truth. But the ones about my luck with women… you can bet your ass those aren't just tall-tales!" He winked a deep navy eye for emphasis.

Itachi couldn't help but chuckle a bit at this- he had never even heard mention of Shisui being slick with the ladies.

"Heh, so what are you doing then, Itachi?" Shisui asked, straightening a bit and looking critically at the hammered targets before the two of them with a hand on his waist.

Itachi shrugged helplessly. "I don't know anymore. It all just feels like a waste of time."

The older man looked at him, at the targets, then back at Itachi again.

"I know what you mean… and I know exactly why."

The young shinobi glanced curiously at Shisui, his questioning dark eyes urging him to elaborate.

"…It's easy really. You need more of a challenge." He walked over to the targets and began pulling out the embedded kunai one by one. "After a while, simple exorcises like these begin to mean next to nothing. I'd say- whoa!" He grunted, clasping a certain kunai with both hands and lifting a foot onto the target to give himself more leverage against the stuck weapon. It finally came free, and Shisui stumbled back a bit and eyed the newly liberated kunai in his hand while muttering something along the lines as 'He must have a strong arm…'.

"Anyways," He continued, collecting the rest quickly before approaching the stationary younger Uchiha with the kunai. "I'd say it's about time you practiced one-on-one with someone else- just to change things up a bit."

Itachi took the pro-offered weapons, then looked back up at Shisui with critical eyes.

"And… you're volunteering?"

Shisui smiled what could only be considered a charming smile.

"Yeah. All you gotta do is hit me. The instant you draw blood, the exorcise is over."

"Hn." His grunt held amusement in it. This didn't sound hard at all.

"Go ahead." He urged in a playful tone. "Challenge yourself."

Itachi opened his mouth to retort the overly-confident Uchiha before him… only to find the man no longer standing there. He sensed chakra to his left, and found Shisui to be leaning smugly against the trunk of a tree at the very edge of the clearing.

He's fast. Itachi mused to himself. He has a formidable reputation, but we'll see how challenging Shisui of the Mirage really turns out to be.

He flung one of his kunai in Shisui's direction, and two more at either side of him to catch him when he dodged. All three collided with the bark of trees instead of a body.

Amazing. Itachi hadn't even seen him move. He had just… disappeared.

Deciding he would indubitably have a better chance with his bloodline activated, he quickly called upon his sharingan, and saw the world around him become more acute and clear as his iris' bled red.

Shisui was behind him about two kilometers. Without even turning around, Itachi sent a kunai flying in the other Uchiha's direction, and an array of its brother's followed in a slightly adjusted path following Shisui's quick movements. But even as Itachi anticipated Shisui's next movement and had a kunai intercepting that path, Shisui still managed to be ahead of the projectile.

When Itachi ran out of kunai at hand, he used his own speed to collect his previous throws and continued to send them Shisui's way.

Both boys were a blur amongst the clearing, each quietly concentrating on their goals; the only sound was the muted push of feet as they made impact with the ground, and the never-ending whistling of kunai searing the air- but never hitting, never even scratching flesh.

Itachi was beginning to get a bit frustrated. His aim was precise; his timing flawless. His eyes kept up with Shisui's impossibly fast movements, but Itachi's arms couldn't. Every time, his kunai would miss by a fraction of an inch. He even caught the very end of Shisui's curious maroon hair once, and when he retrieved one of his kunai, he found it had snagged a bit of the dark fabric of the shirt underneath Shisui's chuunin vest.

But Shisui himself was impossible to hit. Itachi was beginning to think the man had something else up his sleeve, like some sort of jutsu that allowed him to remove pieces of himself that were in danger of being scratched.

He could have sworn a few of his throws had been impossible to avoid.

Itachi's body had already been worn down from an entire day of non-stop training, so since he saw that the long range throwing of kunai didn't seem to be working all that well, he decided he would go for a different approach.

He stood stock still in the middle of the clearing, his sharingan watching closely as Shisui literally ran circles around him in a blur of forest green and deep maroon.

His trained eyes caught the slight zig-zag of Shisui's running pattern, and he smirked as a plan formulated in his young mind.

If he couldn't get Shisui of his own volition, he would just have to manipulate Shisui's movements to his liking.

He shifted his remaining weapons so there were two kunai held in each hand. In an instant his left hand sent both its weapons flying parallel to each other, and with a flick of the right wrist, a third followed soon after. The last one collided with one of the first, altering its projectile path slightly. Shisui found himself trapped by the two whizzing kunai, and had no choice but to alter his own path and run in between them to avoid being hit.

Calling upon his own speed, Itachi moved to intercept Shisui's path with both arms extended behind him, only to run slightly past it.

Smirking in his small victory and feeling slightly lucky at Itachi's miscalculation, Shisui continued forward and passed Itachi from behind. When he made it to the other side of the clearing, he turned to see that Itachi just stood idly where Shisui had passed him, looking at the older shinobi expectantly.

Shisui's smile faltered when he felt a slight stinging sensation on his left cheek. He raised a hand to it, and drew it back only to see blood smeared on his first two fingers. His eyes shot up to inspect the lone kunai still held in his younger companion's hand: sure enough, the dark metal blade was stained with small drops of crimson.

His smirk was back in place when he realized Itachi had purposefully passed through his path so that Shisui would run right into the extended kunai on his own accord.

"Heh. Smooth move, kid." Shisui congratulated, a bit sheepish from having actually lost their little game. He came to stand in front of Itachi before questioning, "Are you sure you even need to take the exam? I'd say if you pulled off a stunt like that again, they would grant you title of Chuunin right here and now."

"So, you think I've got nothing to worry about next week, then?" Itachi asked, a hint of a smile on his face. He had never been one to doubt his own abilities; he was pretty sure he had that exam in the bag regardless. But to hear it from someone as admired as Shunshin no Shisui?

He definitely wouldn't mind the praise.

"Hell kid. I wouldn't worry at all about you when it came to something as mundane as the Chuunin Exams." He clasped a comforting hand on Itachi's shoulder. "But what I do gotta worry about is you taking my title as one of the best Uchiha out there! I can't have that happen, now can I?"

"Heh." Was Itachi's amused grunt. He was beginning to like this Uchiha Shisui. He could no doubt learn much from him, and grow as a shinobi. Not to mention, Shisui made him feel at ease. He didn't feel like he had to prove himself, because Shisui knew how it felt to have everyone carry such high expectations for him.

Itachi felt that he could reach his own potential around Shisui- more then anything, he felt he could relate, and possibly even confide in the older Uchiha.

"I guess from now on, I'll have to keep a close eye on you, Uchiha Itachi." Shisui's smirk was friendly and comforting, and his quick wink only served to reinforce the playfulness of his tone.

After that, the two were practically inseparable.

xXx

Heh, I don't know why, but I picture Shisui as being really cocky and outgoing; maybe because it's such a big contrast to Itachi's personality.

I hope that the small fight scene was easy enough to follow…

Thanks very much for reading! Leave a review to tell me what you thought, yeah?