Naruto's eyes dashed across the area. Observing for any disturbances in the area around him. Finally finding something, he flung his kunai in their general direction. The object changed back into the form of Itachi Uchiha, who easily caught the kunai in their right hand.

The impassive look on Itachi's face showed no outward emotion, though Naruto hoped that he had done well enough. His goal wasn't too far away now, with the academy starting, and he himself wanting to pass out the first year that he could.

Itachi allowed Naruto's thoughts to linger. He himself wondering if Fugaku would allow Naruto to pass out. But he also hoped that they would be able to get Sasuke's skill up to a point where Naruto and Sasuke could be on the same team. Though, with the downward spiral the test has become, Itachi wouldn't be surprised if they both passed.

Sasuke was glaring at the targets in front of him. One kunai in his right hand, and seven more in his left, having already thrown two. He pulled his arm back, over his shoulder, and then he slung his arm forward. He released the kunai as he saw it in his peripheral. The kunai flew from his hand, before it plunged into the oak wood.

He glared at the protruding handle. Not quite completely into the wood, nor was it in the center most ring. Instead, a ring to the left, it lied. Sasuke slipped another kunai into his right hand before jerking it viciously towards his target. It missed, plunging into a tree behind it sending splinters of wood everywhere.

He growled at the miss. "Sasuke, if you want to succeed, you have to be calm." A monotone voice instructed.

"But Nii-san it's just not hitting."

"Sasuke, I want you to watch me throw it, alright?"

"I... guess."

Almost instantly, a kunai appeared inside of Itachi's hand. Sasuke looked on with joy, no matter how many times he saw Itachi pull that off, it always was something to marvel at. Itachi slowed his movements down, showing Sasuke exact parts of how he was holding the kunai. He showed the direct angle, and instead of throwing the kunai, he stopped where he would have thrown the kunai for reference. With his example run down, he went through the motions, only throwing the kunai now.

The kunai flew into the center most part of the wood. Embedding itself to the hilt. Sasuke slowly copied the movement. Before even attempting to start a second attempt, Itachi grabbed his arm. Lightly of course, as to not hurt Sasuke, but he had a grip on his arm nonetheless. Itachi slowly dragged Sasuke's arm through the movement, and he stopped Sasuke's hand where should be throwing it. Itachi did this one more time before letting go of his brother. Sasuke went through the motion slowly at first, not throwing the kunai. Then, he went through the motions faster, and threw the kunai. It plunged into the wood, most of the kunai was still visible, but at the very east, the kunai was in the center circle.

"Well done Sasuke, now do it again."

Sasuke nodded happily, shifting one kunai from his left hand into his right. And he once again threw it. It hit the center of the target once more, and Sasuke dropped the rest of the kunai out of his hand as he clapped happily. Itachi watched over him, happy at his brothers small success. He wondered if it would be enough to pass the exam to become a Genin. But, with the minimum being so low, he doubted that Sasuke could fail, so long as he was properly taught how to use Henge and Bunshin.

Sasuke was struggling on trying to increase his chakra control, of course though he was still miles ahead of Naruto, a point of pride for Sasuke. Sasuke and Naruto were still being taught how to keep leaves on their forehead for a certain amount of time. Though, Sasuke already "graduated" from that test, and was actively sticking leaves on his arms and legs, multiple at a time to allow for multi-purpose concentration, or that's what Itachi said at least.

Naruto could use Henge and substitution, but his chakra reserves were just too large to create bunshin, even at such a young age. So, Itachi had decided on teaching him another type of bunshin, an earth bunshin. And that was what Naruto's side goal was for the past week or two. He had made good progress, but it was getting clearer and clearer that his elemental affinity was not earth. But, he continued working on the jutsu, and he was hoping to have it done within the next few days.

But Itachi wouldn't just let them work on ninjutsu, and shurikenjutsu, no, that wasn't the type of instructor that Fugaku ordered him to be, not at all. He was going to torture this children into physical shape. The first day that Itachi had them, he had shattered their hopes.

-_-Flashback-_-

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other in confusion. Sasuke didn't understand why they had been brought out here, while Naruto wondered if they were too young. It was Naruto's fifth birthday, being younger than Sasuke meant that they had to wait until they were both five before they could promise to teach either of them.

But, Itachi kept on staring at them, anticipating the first question. "W-what awe we doing hewe?" Sasuke asks, still having troubles pronouncing his "r's".

"Glad you asked, baby brother, we are here to begin your training."

"What awe we twaining fo?" Sasuke questions.

"Well, you two are going to be enlisted in the academy next year, and the Uchiha are the best right? So, we're training to make sure that we enter the best, and that we stay the best. It's better not to get complacent, or rely on a tool, to become strong. It's important that we are able to train to our full potential, so that we never become complacent."

"But, why now?" Naruto asks.

"Now that Naruto is five years old, we decided that you were both old enough to be trained."

"Why wouldn't we trained at four? We could have had even more time to train?" Naruto questions.

"That would be nice, but, since we are in peace times, Sandaime-Sama has put a regulation on when you can start training a child to become a shinobi. At this current moment, the minimum age that you can start training at, is five years old." Itachi explained.

They nodded at his explanation, Naruto understanding, while Sasuke copied Naruto. "Sasuke, I want you to start running around the house for a few minutes, I need to talk to Naruto for a minute before he joins you." Itachi ordered.

Sasuke nodded, running away from the group and around the corner. Once he was out of earshot, Itachi turned towards Naruto. "Alright Naruto. We're going to be giving you weights, while we're not going to give Sasuke weights. The Uzumaki, the clan you're from, had a special regenerative bloodline that Sasuke, nor I, have. And, we can't risk Sasuke wearing weights, as he doesn't have the bloodline, but you do. So... we're giving you weights."

Naruto nodded his head, not sure what weights were, but happy to have another piece to his family portrait. Itachi asked him to take off his shoes, and then he placed ankle weights on Naruto, they wouldn't slip around his leg, so that took out the risk of them directly coming in contact with his ankle. The weight only weighed around 2.5 pounds, but with two of them on his ankles, Naruto immediately felt slowed. "Now to apply another set on your arms."

Naruto looked at Itachi baffled, this was torture, and even more would just be awful. But, Itachi still put the weights on Naruto, and Naruto felt floored, literally. Itachi had to give Naruto a hand to stand up again. Once standing, Naruto stood on shaking legs. "Alright, now catch up to Sasuke." Itachi ordered and disappeared.

Naruto groveled for only a second before running with his legs feeling as if they were going to collapse under him.

-_-Flashback end-_-

Naruto's weights were now five pounds, having doubling in the past year, and he was due to get seven and a half pound weights soon. It was going to be another increase in weight, but he knew that he could handle it. Sasuke was still unable to use weights, Fugaku disallowing it until he's at the very least a teenager, when the hormones would truly help the effectiveness of the weights, though Naruto's progress with his own weights made Fugaku wonder if Sasuke would be alright.

Naruto only knew one elemental jutsu, the "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu", the Uchiha favorite. Sasuke was still unable to get it down, but he was actively getting better. Fugaku would test their elemental affinities before the exams. It should be obvious by now, but, Fugaku planned on having both Naruto and Sasuke pass out the first year possible, it would truly be amazing if all three of Fugaku's children passed out at age six. A feat no other parent can claim their children achieved. And best of all, it was another point to rub into the smug face of Hiashi Hyuga. His child was the same age as Naruto and Sasuke, but the chances of him having her pass out were astonishingly low. But, that is exactly what Hiashi planned.

-_-Elsewhere-_-

Hiashi watched Hinata. A spitting image of her mother, and was born with such innocence and good will in her heart, that she stood out from the rest of the Hyuga's. But, while he disappeared under piles of paper work and other "important" things he had to do, Hinata suffered through the death of her mother all alone.

Once more Hiashi had failed his daughter, he failed to console her after the death of her mother, now he's trying to get her to compete with children of some of the strongest shinobi to be in the village. He knew that his current actions would drive the stake of differences between him and his daughter into even more of a steep up hill battle to get her trust back, but he hoped that she would see it how he saw it when she got older.

It wasn't just a rivalry between two clans that made up a good portion of the military, it was the prestige of two of the most noble clans in the village. The Uchiha, co-founders of Konohagakure, the wielders of the Sharingan, and 27% of the shinobi force, and the Hyuga, wielders of the Byakugan, and 22% of the of Konohagakure shinobi force. No other single clans reached the level of constant success as these two clans, and as such, it would be expected for the children of the clan head to be up at a level that resembles this. The Uchiha had Uchiha Itachi, the Anbu genius, and one of the rising stars in the shinobi world, and for the Hyuga... Hyuga Hinata, age six, and with a huge insecurity issue.

The Uchiha were better than the Hyuga, though Hiashi would never admit that out-loud. It was a fact that he knew, and Fugaku knew that he knew, but Fugaku and Hiashi still had their silly 'pissing" contest. Though, they both knew why they kept it going. They used to do it as children, before Hiashi could even dream that the Uchiha would be better than them, even during the third shinobi war where the Uchiha had a special "don't attack an Uchiha without a partner behind you" while the Hyuga just had a "don't engage a Hyuga in Taijutsu", none of that matter, they still quarreled. But, Namikaze Minato sometimes got into the argument, the median for some of their squabbles, and he never sided with either of them. Neither his former teammate Hyuga Hiashi, or his wife-to-be's teammate.

It was a coping mechanism of sorts, for the lost of their friend, to keep up the tradition that their friend usually partook in. But, even so, he still trained with his daughter, along him some of the best Hyuga fighters that they had so that they could train Hinata even when he could not. And so Hinata was on track to graduate from the academy for her first year... albeit barely. Hiashi was still proud of his daughter, she truly proved that she was prepared to be a shinobi. He just hoped that he wasn't making a mistake in forcing her to become a shinobi so young.

-_-Elsewhere-_-

"You heard what I said, Inu." Hiruzen declares.

"I can't believe that you're asking me to do this." The man in question replied.

"It's time to stop hiding behind the mask, Inu. It wouldn't be what he would want from you."

"I don't think that I'm prepared to depart from my mask yet."

"It's time for a change, Inu," Hiruzen then continued, "His son is said to be attempting to graduate this year."

"This early, but it's only been-," he started, only to be cut off.

"It's been six years, Inu. It's time to give me your mask." Hiruzen ordered.

"But-."

"I truly am sorry Kakashi but teaching Naruto will be good for both of you."

"But, I've never been a Sensei to anyone before... what if I fail?"

"All teachers go through their learning curve, myself, Jiraiya, Minato, everyone, but it's up to you to see how you train your students."

"I... thank you Sandaime-Sama."

Hiruzen gave him one of his fatherly smiles. "Disperse." And with that, Kakashi left his office.

Hiruzen glared at the paperwork in front of him, cursing Minato once more for causing his life to become a shit-storm. "Sandaime-Sama, Hyuga Hiashi has requested to see you," his cursed secretary just wanted to ruin his life.

"Send him in." Hiruzen yelled back.

-_-Fin-_-

God damn it. I'm really not good at this whole "Consistent update" thing. It's like, the next chapter is either going to be tomorrow, or next month, there's like no in between for the two. It's just like, for every sentence that I type, another week goes by. If you have any questions, feel free to comment, and I'll answer your question in the next chapter.