Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

"Somewhere. Now stop talking about them. I don't want any eavesdroppers to learn about them."

Hisuke huffed.

"We'd better start training," Hotaru said, interrupting them. "After all, they've only given us a week to prepare." Her teammates nodded before dispersing.

Chapter 8 – Training

Itachi walked home, ignoring all the annoying girls that were trying to flirt with him, and started to clean his equipment. He was running low on Chakra – a side effect of having his Sharingan activated for almost two days – so he needed to rest, but he had no intention of idling around while he waited for his Chakra to rejuvenate. Caring for his weapons was a good way to kill time productively. He drew his katana and started to sharpen it, making sure that it had a really fine edge. Once he was convinced that his sword's edge was as keen as he could get it, he turned his attention to his kunai – and the ones that he had gained during the first exam. They took a while to get up to his standard, but once he'd managed to get all 37 of them (yes, he counted) up to the harsh expectations that he had, he started on his shuriken.

"You're exhausted," Mikoto said from the doorway. "You should get some rest."

"What do you think I'm doing?" he asked her. "Do I look like I'm training?" She laughed.

"By 'rest' I meant sleep. You've been using your Sharingan almost constantly over the last two days, and despite your large amount of Chakra your body needs to rest and recover." He scowled at her, knowing that she was right but hating to admit it. She walked over to him and gently removed the shuriken from his hands. His glare didn't put her off; she grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet before directing him to his bed.

"Sleep," she ordered, forcing him to lie down. She needn't have bothered – he was asleep before his head touched the pillow. She shook her head at his stubbornness. He just didn't know when to call it a day – he kept on pushing himself harder and harder, ignoring his body's needs. It was a good thing that Mikoto was making sure that Itachi rested when he had to. She looked at his ninja gear, all lined up neatly on the floor, and sighed. He couldn't leave them out in the open like that – they might get stolen. She carefully tidied his weapons away so that they weren't in full view of anyone that walked in the room. Her uncle laughed from the doorway.

"Looking after him again?" he asked. She nodded.

"He's kept his Sharingan activated almost constantly over the last two days," she told him. "He's exhausted."

"And lucky to have such a caring sister," Itachi added, smiling at his niece. She blushed.

"He just doesn't take care of himself – he pushes himself too far," she said. "If I didn't look after him, he'd probably have died from exhaustion or something by now." Itachi laughed.

"Just like Sasuke. The number of times I had to force him to stop training because he was killing himself..." he trailed off. He didn't need to say anymore – his niece could read him like a book.

Below the window, Suigetsu sighed. Yes, he was eavesdropping. He'd heard Mikoto scold her brother before forcing him to go to sleep. He wasn't the only person, though. Both Mamoru no Sunagakure and Koushi no Amegakure were scouting around, trying to gather information on the Uchiha. The fact that he was careless surprised them, as well as the fact that his sister was a Jounin from the first exam. Sasuke snuck up behind the Suna ninja.

"Gathering information on my son, are you?" he asked. Mamoru span around, sand flying out of the gourd on his back.

"Uchiha... Sasuke..." the Suna shinobi said. Sasuke grinned.

"That's me. How's Gaara? I haven't seen him for a while." Mamoru glared at him.

"He's fine. He's coming to the final Jounin exam," he informed the Uchiha. Sasuke grinned.

"He is? This is going to be very much like déjà vu," he commented. The Suna ninja looked at him in confusion. "Oh don't mind me," Sasuke said, seeing the youngster's face. "Your father and I are old acquaintances, that's all." Mamoru glared and stalked off.

Meanwhile, Koushi had been collared by Sakura.

"There's no need to spy on my son," she said sternly. "Go and train." He glared at her but she just glared back so he beat a hasty retreat. He father, Oboro no Amegakure, had once told him about Konohagakure's team seven. The description of the female in that squad was remarkably like the fierce kunoichi in front of him. If that was her... she was trouble.

The other Suna ninja were awaiting Mamoru's return.

"Uchiha Sasuke started to talk to me," was all he said. Usagi, so like her mother, Temari, crossed her arms.

"What did you learn?" she demanded. Her cousin sighed.

"He has an older sister who is an ANBU – she was one of the Jounin at the first exam – and he's very careless. He pushes himself too hard. He's one of those shinobi that won't stop fighting until he passes out – or dies." Taro looked up in interest.

"Careless, is he? And an ANBU Black Op for a sister. Interesting. Not to mention that Uchiha Sasuke is his father..."

Koushi was facing a similar interrogation from his teammates, who were getting very similar answers.

"You got caught by his mum?" Megumi asked in disbelief. "What kind of shinobi are you?" Koushi sighed in annoyance.

"She looks like a kunoichi my father told me about once. If it's her, then she's big trouble," he explained not-so-patiently. Tadashi laughed.

"Never mind. We've still learnt some vital things about him, namely, he trains until he drops, or his sister makes him stop." His teammates sighed and nodded.

"You're right – it was worth the trouble." It was said in unison.

Sometime later, Itachi woke to find his sister still in his room.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked her.

"Someone's got to make sure you don't kill yourself training," she reasoned.

He glared at her and sat up.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to continue cleaning my weapons," he huffed. She grinned at him.

"Go ahead – if you can find them," she said wickedly. He looked around the room before glaring at his sister.

"What have you done with them?" he demanded.

"They're confiscated until tomorrow," she told him. "So go back to sleep." He glared at her in raw anger. "It wasn't my idea!" she defended herself hastily. "Uncle thought of it. It's late anyway. You may as well get a good night's sleep so that you're ready for a lot of training tomorrow." Itachi huffed and looked around for his pyjamas. He found them and looked meaningfully at his sister.

"Out." She got the message and stood outside the door.

"You've got thirty seconds!" she called through the door, using her Sharingan to track his movements through the door – just a precaution to make sure he didn't run off to do some extra training. It seemed that her brother had no such thoughts, however, as he hurriedly got changed, just managing it before his thirty seconds were up and his sister walked back into the room.

"Bed," she commanded. He didn't bother arguing – there was no way he could change her mind so he obeyed. It didn't take him long to fall back to sleep. Mikoto sat in a corner of his room and watched him sleep. She knew that some of the other competitors might get it into their heads to try and assassinate him while he slept – it was what she would have done – so she was going to stay guarding him all night. It wasn't against the rules of the exam – after all, there were no rules. Most of the night passed without incident, but once an Ame shinobi entered the room and padded over to her sleeping brother. She threw a kunai at the intruder, who looked at her in fear, taking in both the Sharingan blazing in her eyes and the ANBU tattoo on her upper right arm, and decided not to press his luck. Though he was bigger than the kunoichi, she outranked him so he decided not to risk it, retreating quickly.

"Well?" Megumi whispered as Koushi entered their hideout. He shook his head.

"His sister seems to have gotten it into her head to protect him while he sleeps. I'm bigger than her, but she's ANBU so I didn't like to push my luck."

"Isn't that against the rules?" the kunoichi demanded. Tadashi grinned.

"There are no rules, remember? She's perfectly eligible to do that if she wishes."

By the time dawn broke, all of the contestants were wide awake. Itachi wanted to go and train immediately, but Mikoto made him eat breakfast before allowing their uncle to return his weapons. Finally, he was permitted to go out to train. He made his way to the clan's special training spot and worked on his accuracy with the kunai knives. At about noon, Mikoto came to find him with a boxed lunch. Just as he finished eating it, Sasuke turned up.

"I'm guessing that you want to learn a new technique," he said disdainfully. Itachi looked at his father in confusion.

"A new technique?" he asked dubiously. His father nodded.

"It's called Kirin and it's really a last resort jutsu, but powerful for all that," he told his son. "First of all you need to use Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu – aim it at the sky... don't do it yet. It's not really something that you can practise, but it's relatively easy to do. The heat from the fireball will create storm clouds. Provided that you do the Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu early enough, it takes up very little Chakra, which is what makes it a useful jutsu." Itachi looked at his father, memorising everything that he was told.

"And there's your 'Ace in the Hole'," Sasuke said. "In case you ever need one." Itachi grinned at his father.

"Thanks, Dad," he said.

"Want to spar?" his father asked. Itachi nodded.

They both activated their Sharingan, but before they could start, a calm voice intervened.

"You two know each other's fighting style too well," Itachi said. "Let me spar with him." Sasuke looked at his son, who shrugged.

"Sure," he said. Sasuke stepped back and his brother took his place, Sharingan activated.

"Don't use your Mangekyo Sharingan," Sasuke reminded his older brother, who nodded. Neither moved – they were both waiting for the other to initiate the fight. The teen shifted his stance slightly and the older Uchiha attacked. He held some shuriken in his hand, in clear view of Itachi, who immediately sprang sideways, keeping his uncle's hands in full view the whole time. He didn't want to be surprised by a sneaky jutsu while he was evading the shuriken. The older man threw the shuriken, realising that Itachi wasn't fooled. Then, he did some handsigns that were as familiar to Itachi as the back of his hand:

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Itachi sprang out of the way and copied his uncle, even though he knew that it wouldn't work. He was right, and his uncle dodged to the side with terrifying speed. There was no way that Itachi could beat him with genjutsu, so he didn't try, and his chances of winning on ninjutsu looked to be slim, too. He didn't want to kill his uncle, so he didn't try out Kirin, although he was sorely tempted. He decided to resort to taijutsu. His uncle's speed had been terrifying to see, but it was nothing compared with his, 'copied' directly from Rock Lee. He ran around his uncle at those Chakra-enhanced speeds, so fast that his uncle's Sharingan had difficulty keeping up. Suddenly, he disappeared and the older Uchiha looked around for him. He saw the kick aimed at his jaw, but he couldn't move fast enough to evade it and so he was sent flying. Sasuke watched in amusement as his son used first the Kage Buyō, and then his own Shishi Rendan. The older man didn't stand a chance. He crashed down to earth at a frightening speed. Itachi landed, panting heavily, and surveyed the damage he had done. To his surprise, his uncle shakily stood up.

"I think you win," Sasuke said to his son. The older Uchiha nodded in agreement.

"It's been a long time since I've fought anyone and struggled so much," he told his nephew. Itachi's eyes widened in surprise. There was a laugh from behind Sasuke. Mikoto stood there, covering her smile with a hand.

"That was well fought," she complimented. "Even if it was over rather quickly. You're a pushover, Uncle," she scolded. Her uncle shrugged.

"I'm best at genjutsu and ninjutsu, but Sasuke wouldn't let me use my Mangekyo Sharingan. The fight would have lasted a lot longer if I'd been able to use that." Sasuke laughed.

"Don't kid yourself – Itachi was being nice and gentle while he sized you up. He didn't use any of his Chidori techniques – the only remotely high-ranked jutsu he used was the Kage Buyō combined with the Shishi Rendan," he commented. His brother sighed.

"OK! I get it! He's stronger than I am."

Sasuke grinned.

"That's enough training for today," Mikoto told Itachi. "Home time." Her brother glared at her, but she wasn't taking no for an answer. She grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the training field.

Unnoticed, Tadashi no Amegakure watched. He grinned triumphantly as the Uchiha family went home. Now he knew one of Itachi's techniques – but what was Chidori?

What is it with Ame ninja and eavesdropping?

Thanks for reading!

Tsari