A/N Good Evening Fellow Central Time Zone Users
heres a chapter
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A letter from the Academy stated that classes would resume on local training grounds the next week. Tenshin treated the missive like a bar of gold.
Riddle had been gone for two weeks now. Inky had nothing to say of his absence, so Tenshin could only speculate.
She hoped he never returned but quickly squashed the thought in fear of him potentially hearing it. Somehow he always knew what she was thinking, and it gave her awful headaches when he responded to her thoughts.
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January
Tenshin arrived at the training grounds shortly after Itachi. They immediately shared what they had been doing since the attack. Itachi had also been pushed back to year four despite his fathers wishes. Fugaku Uchiha, the head of the Uchiha clan and the Konoha Police Force, pushed Itachi hard and was none too happy about the change in advancement. The class began to commence as the other students arrived and Funeno conducted a general review of their previous lessons to refresh everyone's mind.
The absence of several students was not lost on Funeno. He had marked the names off his roster that had also been written on the Monument. His heart felt heavy at the loss of life, despite it not really being new to him. He resolved to train this class harder than ever before in respect to the fallen.
Soon enough Itachi and Tenshin sat on their own, training a small distance away from the rest of the class. They never slipped on the basics and only improved over the break.
They scoured over notes together, but she realized he had made a small error, one he was unlikely to make.
"Are you alright Itachi?:
"I apologize. My mind is elsewhere."
Unwilling or too socially ignorant to press Itachi for more, she dropped the subject and continued reading. Itachi spoke again after a moment regardless.
"My Father... is Wary of our friendship. He asks me many questions about you ever since discovering Funeno's note to keep us in the same class. I am unsure of what to tell him- I do not know much about you."
"You know of my skill, my knowledge, my name, and my civillian origin. What else is there to say?"
Itachi shrugged with a puzzled look on his face. "Thats what I thought but those answers didn't seem to satisfy."
"Hm. I could show you where I live?"
"I am not allowed to stray far from the academy or home."
"My apologies, Itachi. If he asks you something more specific I'll answer it the best I can."
With a grateful nod, Itachi rose to his feet and offered her a hand. She accepted it and the two moved back towards the main group of students to wrap up the day listening to their teacher.
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Weeks turned into months and soon enough Funeno stood before his class to give them one final ramble. Nearing the end of his speech,
"...Now you will move onto year two. I have the highest hopes and respect for all of you. In the aftermath of the attack you all stuck together and truly showed this old man you had the spirit to improve yourselves. I look forward to your final graduations, and I will sleep easily in my twilight years knowing you all are protecting our village. You are dismissed."
Wiping a sentimental tear from his eye Funeno put up a hand to stop his two shining examples of the spirit he had mentioned.
"Itachi, Tenshin. The two of you will make such fine shinobi. Thank you for the honor of having guided you your first year. Here is a letter for you each, detailing where to go for your further education."
An oddly harmonious thank you softly left the two children as they accepted the letters and moved to open them.
"Read then at home please, the information is sensitive."
Confused by the warning, the pair followed the instruction and headed to their respective homes.
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Mikoto smiled warmly at her returning eldest son. "Welcome Home Itachi."
"Thank you mother. I have a letter from the academy I was instructed to read here at home."
Carefully opening it, Itachi showed the letter to his mother after.
"They must not have finished with the year four classroom just yet. Either way, that training ground isn't terribly far. Dinner will be ready shortly, please wash up."
Itachi left to comply and allowed himself to daydream -just a bit- about what tomorrow may bring.
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The letter Hinochi held in her hands detailed meeting in the early hours of the morning in a training ground on the other side of the village. She hoped she could reach it in time and resolved to leave early just in case. Putting it out of mind for now, the young girl picked up on a seal she had begun the previous evening.
She was now nine years old, not that much about her had changed visually. Mentally however, Riddle's absence had left her with an uncharacteristic feeling of freedom. She working in the training room and often fell asleep in there instead of her room. Inky provided everything she asked for and with her previously locked bookshelf opened she found herself with lots to learn.
The seal in front of her was a special project she had been planning for around a month now. The intended effect would be to lock away a feeling a person feels. She didn't have a method to test it so she read tome after tome, book after book, triple checking her work.
It would be placed at the nape of her neck to be close to her brain. Tracing and retracing the runes for actually locking the feeling away, she settled on performing the seal Tonight.
Taking the ink brush Inky had brough her she carefully begun drawing the symbols.
If she had felt even the slightest error she would erase the whole structure and start again but she felt assured in her ability. After an hour of meticulous drawing with her eyes forced shut to concentrate, she put the last piece in the seal; the target. She would lock away her Fear.
Pushing chakra into the ink, the seal work pulsed from the back of her neck and faded into her skin. It took on an almost tatoolike appearance with the sorounding runes writhing up into the target rune and behind the rune for Fear.
She let the chakra settle before opening her eyes again. She didn't feel all that different at first. When she stood, she wobbled a bit, and while it wasn't usual for her to wobble she felt no panic or worry. She simply righted herself and cleaned the sourounding materials up.
She walked back to her room and closed the door behind her. Hinochi ignored the pain the door handle shot into her. She wasn't afraid of the door anymore, she couldn't be. With a determined yet soft smile she fell into sleep.
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Tenshin and Itachi arrived to the training ground from their letters at almost exactly to same second. Politely ten minutes early of course. Itachi immediately noticed.. Something different about her but left the topic alone as they strode further in.
They both tensed and jumped away as a kunai found the ground between where they had been walking. Both students leapt into the trees dodging follow-up kunai as they ran further inwards.
Itachi had speed over Tenshin as she wasn't quite used to tree jumping, but she grew accustomed to the movement quickly. Still escaping a Hail of Kunai the two skidded to a stop in a clearing, taking up the simple academy stance and Uchiha family stance respectively.
The kunai onslaught continued but simply made a circle around the two. Tenshin had drawn her own kunai in the trees and Itachi followed suit now that they had stopped. A ninja neither recognized rushed the two with a tanto from the treeline. Neither had experience against the weapon but quickly formed unique movements to defend against the blade with their Kunai.
Both had come to the most likely conclusion; This was a test. Why? Who? It didn't really matter. Neither of them had failed an academy test before and neither gave the idea the slightest bit of attention.
After nearly five minutes of uninterrupted slashes from the swordsman he leapt back and them poofed in a cloud of smoke. The peace lasted seconds as a large shuriken blasted towards Itachi with incredible speed only for Tenshin to thread her kunia perfectly through the Windmill Shuriken's handle. Ferociously she threw the weapon back on the exact trajectory it had come from.
After a moment more a second identical weapon appeared headed for Tenshin's back but Itachi replicated her maneuver in response. Suddenly a fireball appeared above them, bearing down fast. Itachi made to jump away but Tenshin grasped his arm and stood stock still below the flames.
After a momentary confusion he understood what she had already noticed; the lack of heat coming from the supposed fireball. With a handsign he flared his chakra as his father had once taught him. Tenshin quickly copied him on instinct and both saw the sword wielding shinobi from before standing before them.
Standing still, Tenshin finally got a good look at their assailant. Short black hair the same shade as Itachi's matched with black eyes. Certainly a Uchiha then. Genjutsu and Kenjutsu certainly matched that information. His jacket was now recognizable as a Chuunin jacket, and stitched upon the breast pocket was a Konoha forehead protector. The rest of his gear matched the plain standard style of most lead chuunin. He began to speak but had a more.. Feminine voice than tenshin anticipated.
"Well done Brats. I see Funeno hasn't gone senile and truly meant the praise he gave you in his reports. Welcome to year four of the Shinobi Academy. Report to room 4b tomorrow, same time as usual."
With a swirl of leaves the man was gone.
The pair of dark haired students looked where he had been, looked at eachother, and calmy left the grounds. They had passed.
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Haruhi Uchiha watches her newest advancement kids leave the grounds from a nearby branch. Truthfully, she believed every word Funeno said. He had been Her sensei once too and she trusted him not to bullshit her. That being said she didn't get the chance to mess with the brats often and set out to test them on her own.
They cleary dodged on instinct when the kunai thrower activated, but it didnt look like that knew they had tripped a trap wire. Their movement through the forest was almost acceptable for genin. Their defence against her half-hearted sword strikes was impressive despite being clearly improvised. Itachi nearly fell into the final trap but the girl, Tenshin Peverell, recognized the weak genjutsu for what it was.
That final tidbit surprised her, and she be sure to mention the slip to Fugaku later. Uchiha were known for their prowess concerning the application of and defense against genjutsu. Her darling cousin Itachi got shown up in that regard, by a civillian child no less, and that just wouldn't do.
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Itachi hadn't known his cousin Haruhi would be his teacher but he should've expected it in hindsight. His father was unhappy enough with Itachi not being moved to the final year; he must've requested Haruhi be his teacher to make up for the perceived slight. He hadn't recognized her at first with her standard chuunin outfit, as she typically wore an Uchiha emblazoned jacket.
Anyway, he felt confident in their performance and gave Tenshin a quizzical glance. She appeared to be standing nonchalantly to the side but clearly in thought. It then occurred to him that he was expected to be gone the entire day. What he could do with the rest of the day we wasn't sure but almost as if hearing his thoughts,
"Itachi, would you like to see my home now?"
He nodded, thankful for the offer. He wasn't quite ready to go back to his own home yet. His mother would likely be busy with Sasuke and Itachi would not be able to effectively train without disturbing them.
Previously established rule to not stray far forgotten, Itachi followed his friend through the streets of Konoha.
The walk was definitely further than his walk home would've been but he didnt mind. He did find himself somewhat startled when Tenshin disappeared. He curiously looked around until a hand pulled him forward through a door he wasn't sure was there.
And in front of them stood an odd person roughly their same height, with elongated ears and a malnourished appearance.
"Good afternoon Inky. I've returned from my first day, and I've brought Itachi Uchiha to visit our home."
"Very well miss. I'll have food ready for the two of you shortly. Welcome Mr. Uchiha."
Stunned by the person's appearance and odd manner of speech Itachi of course managed his typical polite nod but failed to speak. Tenshin continued down a hall into a room and gestured for Itachi to follow.
The large room felt like a sheltered courtyard more than indoors. The large floor was littered with human shaped targets, some standing, most not. Two tables sat against a wall and were overrun with books, papers, and ink brushes. It was all well lit but he couldn't quite identify a light source.
"Well, Itachi, would you care to train with me?"
Mentally mathing out that he had several hours until he would need to go home, he agreed to the familiar activity with a bud of excitement rising within him.
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Two sweaty kids rested against a wall, having spent all their energy attacking training targets for hours. They had only paused to eat a small lunch but fit in at least 4 hours of intensive kunai practice. Itachi trained constantly but this had felt different somehow. His normal regimen was rewarding and in its own way a source of solace for Itachi. This training, with Tenshin, was Fun.
He felt a smile on his face and looked over to see Tenshin bearing an identical grin. He expressed his gratitude for the training, and the food, and bid both residents a good evening. His walk home Itachi found himself strategizing more ways for His style and Tenshins style to complement eachother. He daydreamed fighting off a squad of enemy shinobi with her at his side, an unstoppable duo.
His was rewarded for his innatentiveness of his soroundings with a rope across an alley few people took. Rope, Pulley, Bucket, and Itachi was brutally shaken out of his daydream by a cold water bath. Instantly he turned his head to spot who else but Shisui Uchiha. Giggling like a loon. Crouched, sideways, on a wall.
Itachi couldn't help the flushing of his cheeks as he realized that for the first time in his life, Shisui had managed to prank him. He would likely never hear the end of this, even if it was just a lame bucket of cold water.
In between chuckles Shisui managed to cough out, "That wasn't even.. wasn't even meant for you Genius Itachi ahahaha... that was meant for cousin Haruhi! and you just" Shisui cut himself off with more raucous laughter.
Itachi now realized that his cousin Haruhi was also Shisui's teacher this year. With an internal groan, he resumed his walk. Stopping only to dry himself off best he could without burning himself on a fireball jutsu.
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AN/ An Itachi centered episode, unintentionally. This is the last chapter to have anything re-written, most of this being fresh of the press. I hope it's enjoyable, and set up the au characterization Itachi will have going Forward.
feel free to ask general lore questions as well, the more I can flesh out the world building the more details I can sprinkle in.