A/N This chapter is a bit longer than the last two. Young Itachi learns a lot about Lee and about himself. Hope you enjoy. Please read and review. Let me know what you think.

I do not own Naruto.

A Tree Stump

Chapter 3

Lee spread the blanket on the ground as Sakura set out the picnic. It was the first time in a long while they had had an opportunity to spend some family time. With Lee and Sakura both accepting missions for the village, Itachi enrolled at the academy and the care of the twins, time was at a premium. The family grabbed what chance they could to be together. Itachi was playing with Tetsuo. The pink haired boy adored his big brother. Tetsuo would rolled his ball across the grass then say "Tachi, Tachi, go go." Itachi would then get the ball and Tetsuro would do it again.

"Naruto's back in town." Sakura said. "Did you know?"

"No I did not. Did you get an opportunity to talk with the Hokage?"

"Yes, I did." She hurriedly grabbed Tomoko's hand before the little one could tip over the drink container. "No Tomoko, just wait and I'll get you a drink." Sakura continued, "Naruto seems to think that his visit to Suna was quite a success." This time it was Lee who grabbed Tomoko before she got into the salad. "She must be very hungry today," he grinned.
"Yes," agreed Sakura rubbing the little ones curly pink hair.

"

"Well, how did the Kazekage receive the idea presented by Naruto?" Lee asked anxiously.

"Gaara actually liked the idea of an exchange program for genin"

"Oh, most wonderful. Then perhaps it can be implemented right away. The Hokage has an excellent plan." Lee was excited about the program.

"No Lee, that stupid Suna council," Sakara raised her voice startling Tomoko and making her cry. "Oh Tomoko I'm sorry. I didn't mean startle you." She picked up her little one to console her.

Hearing the sound of his sister cry, Itachi ran over to her. "Here Mom, let me take her.." he said as he reached for his little sister. "She can play with me and Tetsuo."

Both Lee and Sakura thanked Itachi as he carried Tomoko in one arm and led Tetsuo by the hand back over to a patch of grass to play with the ball.

"Whew," Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the children go play. "Anyway what was I saying?" Lee grinned, "You were calling the Suna council stupid." He took her hand and pulled her down on the blanket and sat next to her. "The food can wait."

"What happened with the council?" Lee questioned.

Sakura shook her head, "Well, while Gaara is ready to jump on the idea and get it going, they just want to take time to study it. Some of them think that exchanging students might not work.."

Lee furrowed his bushy brows, "I can not see why it would not work. I think it is a very worthy idea."

"So do I. And so do both Gaara and Naruto. But the council wants time to discuss it."

Lee could tell Sakura was not happy about the waiting. After all, she, Shikamaru, and Hinata had worked very hard with the Hokage to put together the exchange program with Suna and it was a very good plan. "So how long does this council want to take to consider this?" Lee inquired.

Sakura slowly shook her head, "A couple of years."

"A couple of years!" Lees bushy eyebrows shot up. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard."

"Me too," his wife agreed. "But the Suna council does not have any students that they feel are ready to participate. However, they feel that in two years they will have several students at the proper age for training." She shook her pink hair vigorously.

Sakura then added, " Naruto would like to come over and discuss all of this in the next evening or two."

"That would be a most perf-" Lee stopped in mid word, he thought about what happened last time the Hokage came, Lee quickly changed his mind. "Sakura do you remember what happened last time Naruto came to our house?"

"Ya, I do." was all she could say. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "He had the twins so wound up with all his horsing around that I thought they'd never go to sleep." Then Sakura's mouth turned into a frown. "Then Itachi came home from playing next door, and – and -" Sakura stopped for a moment. "What happened Lee? When Itachi was little, Naruto always came over and Itachi always sat on his lap while he talked to Sauske. Sauske had hopped they would become close and it looked like they would. But after Sauske died, ...well, Itachi just doesn't want anything to do with Naruto."

Lee took Sakura's hand and gently held it in his. "I'm not sure Sakura-Chan. I'm not sure."

"Hey, look at this!" they heard Itachi holler. "What do you suppose happened to it?

Itachi was pointing at an old stump. It wasn't a very tall, but was quite wide and looked very solid . One side had large chunks taken from it. "

Lee jumped up from the blanket and ran over to Itachi. He put his hand on the stump, almost reverently. "That is my most special stump."

"Your stump." Itachi said dryly."

"Yes. I spent countless hours practicing my taijutsu kicks and punches at this very spot."

"Your tai- what?"

"My taijutsu kicks and punches. Like this." With that Lee lifted his foot and delivered a hard swift kick to the stump, sending wood chips flying through the air. Then he sent numberless swift, hard punches, sending more wood chips flying.

"Oooh, I'm so impressed," Itachi replied rolling his eyes. He actually knew very little about Lee's taijutsu. His mother had tried to explain to him about Lee's special skills, but he wouldn't listen to her. She had wanted Itachi to let Lee teach him. The boy had just scoffed at the idea. In his estimation taiutsu was nothing. What he wanted was the Sharingan, not some fancy dance steps as he viewed it. However, up to this point, Itachi had shown no indication of having the blood-line trait. This was a source of great irritation to him. Lee was still talking; "Each time you kick you make it better, you know, harder and swifter than the time before, thus improving yourself every time." After he delivered a few more kicks he turned to Itachi, "Now you give it a try."

Itachi shook his head and said, "Why should I?" he turned his attention back to the twins. Lee shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe some other time," he walked back joining the others at the picnic.

That night after Sakura tucked the twins in bed she went slowly up to Itachi's room. He wasn't asleep.

"Itachi, we need to talk."

"About what?" the lad asked.

Sakura sat on her son's bed, "Well for one thing the way you treat Lee."

"Aw Mom," Itachi rolled his eyes.

"He is a good man," she tried to smile as she straightened the hair on her son's forehead, "and he cares for you. He cares for all of us."

Itachi squirmed . "Ya right, He's not even a real ninja, he can't even do ninjutsu or genjutsu. He's such a dobe."

"Itachi Uchiha, how dare you say something like that." Sakura's eyes glared with anger.

"Lee is a great Jounin. He excels in his taijutsu and no one can match his speed. He is excellent in everything he does, and works very hard to become almost perfect in all that he sets out to do." Her words pierced the air.

"So?" the youth said mockingly.

"Lee has fought bravely for the lives of the people in our village. He has fought for the principles we hold dear, and for our freedoms."

With that Itachi jumped off his bed. "I fight for life, mine. I fight for principles, mine. I fight for freedom, mine."

"Itachi"

"No, Mom, no. I just want everyone to LEAVE ME ALONE. Is that too much to ask?"

Itachi ran out of the room and out the front door, leaving his sobbing mother behind.

Lee came to his wife and put his arm tenderly around her. "Do not worry Sakura-Chan, He will find himself, and when he does, great things will happen." Sakura snuggled against Lee's chest sobbing.

Itachi ran through the night, oblivious to where he was and where he was going. He did not count the time that passed. He was angry; angry at his father for dying, angry at this mother for not understanding, angry at his Uncle Itachi for destroying the Uchiha clan, angry at Lee for - for whatever! Angry at the Hokage for causing his father's death. He was angry at all those who looked down him. Angry that he was the last of the Uchiha Clan. He couldn't even defend his Uchiha name if he wanted to. He had no sharingan – none.

All the anger was pent up inside him and he kicked the stump in front of him. He kicked harder and faster and harder. Each time he kicked it was stronger than before. Suddenly he realized that chips from the stump were flying all over. He kicked and punched. He imagined the stump was Uncle Itachi, then his father, then Lee and then the Hokage. He imagined their faces with each blow. It was really Naruto's fault, ya the Hokage's fault, but Itachi would someday fix that. The harder he kicked the more the frustration came out. He kept it up throughout the night.

By daybreak Itachi was so totally exhausted he fell to the ground, clutching the grass in his hands. As the sun rose higher and the air got hotter Itachi woke up. He looked at the stump, amazed at what he saw. There was Lee's precious stump, and he had almost totally destroyed it. "Good," he yelled, "I'll never have to hear about this stupid stump again." Itachi rubbed the tears from his eyes with his fists, "Cry baby" he spat out.

Despite his exhaustion and a limp in his left leg, Itachi made his way home and got ready for the academy. Sakura watched him as he entered the door. She could see something had taken place during the night. Her heart ached for her son. She had wanted to go after him. but Lee suggest they let the boy alone. She shook her head so hard the curlers in her pink hair bounced up and down. "What do you suppose is going on Lee?" Lee noticed Itachi's tired and moist eyes.

"I think our youthful lad is beginning to find himself. In which, time will reveal this most curious thing."

Itachi eyed the boys as he entered the academy. He was tired and sore and he certainly didn't want to be here today. He suffered through a long day at school. Right after classes ended Itachi saw Gaki making his way over to him. He tried to go the other direction but there were too many students in the way. "Well, well. The little Uchiha boy. You know what Uchiha stands for?" Then he got right in Itachi's face. "It means murderer and traitor. If I had my way there will be no more Uchihas." Then he laughed. "Hey when you gonna start wearing green pajamas like your old-man?" At that moment Itachi just went into action. All he could see was the stump and without even thinking he automatically swung his left foot hard and fast and landed it solidly in Gaki's groin. Gaki let out a high pitched yell and crashed to the ground. Everyone looking on backed up and gasped. Even Iruka - sensie was stunned. Is this Itachi? Iruka could hardly believe his eyes. He walked over and put his hand on Itachi's shoulder. "Come with me Itachi.

Oh crap, Itachi thought, I am so in trouble.

"Exactly where did you learn that? Did Rock Lee teach you?" Iruka questioned.

"Well, not really. He did sort of show me, but not really." Itachi said

"I have long wondered why he has not taught you his great ninja ways." Iruka said.

"What?" Itachi asked. "What great ninja ways?" Did Iruka know something that he didn't?

Iruka smiled. "Oh Itachi, you have no idea how many jounin would love to have the skills Lee has."

Itachi didn't say anything, he just rolled his eyes.

Iruka continued, "Itachi, it appears there is a lot that you don't know about Lee.

Itachi frowned

"How about the time your step-father challenged your father." Iruka smiled,

The boy shook his head in the negitive.

"Well," Iruka said Naruto decided to attack first and he got his butt whoooped."

The youths mouth formed a perfect 'O'. The Hokage, Lee beat the Hokage? He could not believe what he was hearing. Lee's taijutsu beat NARUTO.

For just a split second Iruka thought he caught an almost sinister glint in the lad's eyes, Very much like what he had seen in Sasuke's. But he shook it off, after all he was Sauske's son.

"Ya," Iruka chuckled, "Then your father stepped in, and what a fight. Ya, Sasuke Uchiha got his butt whooped too. It would have been a lot worse too, if Gai hadn't stepped in and made Lee stop. Did you know that Lee was the first to ever get a real blow into Gaara of the Sand."

"What, Iruka? Gaara, the Kazekage! When did this happen?"

They say before Lee fought him in the chunnin exams no one had ever been able to put so much as a scratch on him. No one could get close enough to the sand ninja.

Itachi lowered he head. "What else happened,"

"Well, Kakashi Sensei taught your father some of Lee's taijutsu. That tai-jutsu aided your father in defeating Gaara. Berfore we were allies of course." Itachi felt a bit humble. His father, the great Sasuke learning some of Lee's tai jutsu?

"Anyway, Lee was hurt so bad from his fight with Gaara that they said he'd never fight again. And for a while it looked to be true. But not Lee, you can't keep him down. The 5th Hokage was a great med-nin and helped him heal. She performed a very risky operation. But a lot of it had to do with Lee's will power. He believed hard work could overcome everything and so he worked hard, almost too hard, and over a long period of time he won. He came back stronger than ever. Lee is an excellent Shinobi." Iruka took a long breath, "Hey, Itachi, I best be getting my paper work done, see ya later."

Itachi left the academy grounds and headed home. He couldn't figure out how he had not know these things. Lee beat Naruto and Father one right after the other. Wow. He jumped and punched the air. Ideas turning in his mind. He walked in the house with his head held high and his shoulders back. Sakura and Lee couldn't have been more surprised when they asked what was going on. He smiled for the first time in a long time "Let us just say – I can kick butt."