Author's Note: If there is anyone that understands Japanese roll call in a classroom of who goes first alphabetically, please enlighten me. I tried my best!

Citations: Naruto Shippuden Episode #452, Itachi's Story: [Daylight] pg. 35-43

Chapter's Song: "Pieces" by Sum 41

Chapter 9
Becoming A Ninja

A banner hung at The Academy, reading, "Congratulations On Entering The Academy!"

The Hokage stood up on a small stadium that had been setup in front of the academy. Four teachers to his left, and four teachers to his right, eighty-four new students stood in seven rows of twelve per row. Parents and guardians surrounding the students on both sides and behind.

Mikoto wore a white dress with puffy three-quarter sleeves, her hands clasped in pride and Fugaku with his arms crossed. Itachi stood in the second row, standing two spots to the left of the podium where Lord Third stood.

"Congratulations on your acceptance into The Academy, everyone." Lord Third smiled. "From this day forth, do your best to reach your goals to become a shinobi."

Itachi then out of the corner of his eye caught glimpse of Izumi waving to him from the front row, four people to his right in the front row. She wore leggings, a pleated maroon skirt, and a purple Uchiha shirt. She stopped waving and grinned.

Akina noticed, standing directly back from Izumi in the third row. "She's an Uchiha and she likes Itachi…"

"Akina!" Itachi called out, his hand up to said girl coming into the classroom, he was going to invite her to sit with him by the window, but a few other girls interrupted him. While he was distracted, Akina went and sat down in the front, by the time Itachi had made excuses to the other girls, he noticed that Akina had already sat next to another boy with silver hair.

Itachi approached and before he could sit on her other side, someone else took that seat, so Itachi sat behind her.

There were twenty-seven students in Akina's class, nine desks, three students per desk. Akina sat in the front middle desk, "I'm Yakushi Kabuto," the boy with silver hair to her right said.

"Mochizuki Akina," She introduced with a blank expression. "Nice to meet you, Kabuto-kun."

Itachi sat directly behind Akina, another boy sitting at his right. "I'm Kamano Saisu!"

Akina and Kabuto looked over their shoulder, blankly staring as Saisu then felt embarrassed for being so loud. Akina giggled, which made Itachi smirk.

"And I'm Funeno Daikoku. I'll be your teacher." He introduced, Saisu feeling even more embarrassed as the whole class giggled. "Now then, please introduce yourselves and tell everyone your dream for the future,"

The slightly nervous students looked at each other, confused. Itachi watched as the others chatted— "Hey, what're we doing now?"

Everyone was still unfamiliar with one another. And then he thought, as if he were not a part of the situation himself, that it was no wonder they were confused.

"No one wants to get up first in front of all these unknown people and spill out their dreams." Itachi thought, leaning his hand into his hand.

"All right then, maybe we'll go by student number," the teacher said, loudly, rolling over the murmurs from all corners of the room, perhaps understanding how his students felt, perhaps not.

"Uchiha Itachi... The first character of my name is 'U' so my turn will come up soon… I know what to say. I've had thee same dream as long as I can remember."

"All right, very well done." Daikoku encouraged, and everyone applauded, as Uchiha Izumi blushed and took her seat.

"'To be a great ninja like her father'…" Itachi thought, imagining his own father. "My father is great, but… I don't want to just be the head of the Uchiha Clan and Military

Police Force."

"All right then, next, Uchiha Itachi." The teacher looked at Itachi and smiled.

"Well, there's no point in introducing myself… Daikoku-sensei just did." Itachi thought, standing up and walking to the front of the class.

The other students, the same age as he was, turned interested eyes on him, and he felt a faint itching on his forehead. He patted the space between his eyebrows with a finger, and then thrust his chest out. "I'm Uchiha Itachi. My dream is…" He faltered.

The teacher and the students cocked their heads, almost as if to ask what was wrong.

"Should I even tell them?" Itachi wondered, hesitating. "All their dreams were modest and simple… Mine will sound so grandiose…"

"Is he nervous? No… He's over-thinking. Come on, Itachi… Just say it." Akina worried in her thoughts, as she caught his eyes and gave him a smile. He smiled back.

"My dream…" Itachi started and hesitated again.

"It's all right, go ahead and say it," the teacher urged him.

"It doesn't matter what they think." Akina thought to communicate that thought to Itachi as he looked at her again, and he knew what she was thinking. She gave him the confidence to not care.

"I want to be the greatest ninja ever, great enough that I can erase all fighting from this world." Itachi said unwaveringly, he was brave and stern. It made Akina smile with a shining in her eyes, feeling inspired, even though she already knew his dream.

He heard someone laugh in a corner of the classroom. Akina looked over her shoulder with disgust for whoever laughed, and she began applauding. And then immediately after, came the pre-established harmony of applause.

"Well done," Daikoku said and patted Itachi's head.

"They all want to laugh at me, they just clapped mechanically… They must think I'm delusional. I'm serious, though." Itachi sat thinking, slouching his arms forward on his desk.

Akina turning to whisper, "You'll prove it to everyone one day."

"Thanks," He half-smiled at her.

Akina turned back to face the front of the class. "Now what will I say?" Akina thought, as she waited for her turn. "Is it really a dream? My dream?"

"Mochizuki Akina…" Daikoku read to easily find the girl before her. Her shining green eyes rose and she got up, meekly, but dignified.

She turned and faced her class, looking at each person as she then looked lastly at Itachi, who nodded to encourage her.

"My goal is to be the next Clan Head of the Mochizuki Clan, this being the Sixteenth Clan Head. I will do so by my sixteenth birthday." It came out all at once.

Everyone stared, and applauded robotically. They may have not understood her dream, but she was at least articulate about it.

"Very honorable." Daikoku smiled, and Akina bowed her head to go and retake her seat.

"Only few understand this pressure, and even those who are from noble clans, aren't the children of clan heads..." Akina eyed around the room. "The only other one here besides Itachi who is a clan head's kid is Inuzuka Hana… And her dream was to be a vet…" Akina sighed.

"I'm sure some of you have already been taught ninjutsu in your households… But here at the Academy, you will also train to coordinate and work together as a team when you are in a group." Daifuku said. "The fundamentals are very important, make sure you learn them well."

This class was basically a test to see how many of the twenty human figures setup all over the schoolyard a student could hit with kunai in a short period of time. Each student took a turn individually.

Akina's classmates had all run around the schoolyard at top speed, managing to complete the task in just over five minutes, panting all the while.

Before the class started, they had shown the location of the human figures; all of them were in annoying places like the top of the tallest tree, or behind a half-open window on the third floor. So everyone raced around frantically, and managed to do it in an average of five minutes. Kamano Saisu had managed to do it in four minutes.

"So he's not just a loud-mouth," Akina thought. "He's still doing it wrong like everyone else…"

"Uchiha Itachi…" The teacher called out, for Itachi to pass Akina, and proceed to the middle of the schoolyard.

"Beat that," Saisu cockily mouthed to Itachi as they passed each other. Once Saisu stood next to Akina, he smiled flirtatiously and her eyes went slant in annoyance.

Itachi stood in the center of the schoolyard, analyzing. He drew a line in his mind to split the range into four, and then further roughly divided up the areas of concentration of the targets, before he categorized these as ones he could reach from the starting point, and ones he would need to move to hit.

There were twelve that required him to move. He then sorted the targets that required movement, and calculated a trajectory that would allow him to go round with the most efficiency.

"Go!" As the teacher gave the start signal, pressing his stopwatch to start, Itachi launched the eight kunai he held in both hands at eight human figures simultaneously. That didn't even take two seconds. From there, he started running, tracing out the route he had pictured in his head, and made a swift tour of the yard.

And all his kunai hit the figures precisely in the head or the chest, in almost exactly the same place each time; the slight differences were only due to the differences in how much of the figure was actually exposed. His kunai had all hit with almost flawless accuracy.

"We know where the figures are, and all of them can be reached from the schoolyard…" Akina thought, watching Itachi as his last kunai landed, she glanced at Saisu next to her fuming with shock and jealousy.

"Thirty seconds…" Daikoku announced, sweat rolling down his forehead. "W-well done. All right, next up!"

Itachi didn't respond as he re-took his place. His performance had been so incredible that no one could say a word directly to him. They circled him from a distance and whispered to each other.

Unaware of this reaction, Itachi reflected on the results of the test he had just completed. Before his eyes, the next student was racing frantically around the yard.

"Shisui could have done it faster." Itachi scolded himself. "I could shave another five seconds off…"

"Five point twenty seconds. Good job." Daikoku said as now everyone before and after Itachi felt ashamed. "Mochizuki Akina!"

Akina took a deep breath in the middle of the schoolyard. "Okay, pressures on. Twenty-nine seconds… No exceptions."

"Now!" The teacher signaled, pressing his stopwatch to start, Akina began running first, mapping a straight route around as she ran faster than Itachi, but her throwing was slower, even though it was just as precise as they hit the head or chest.

She was back in her spot in the center of the schoolyard to begin throwing four kunai from each hand simultaneously— Missing one target, for her to throw another kunai to hit bull's-eye in the heart. "No!"

"Thirty-five seconds! Well done, Akina. Well done."

"Not good enough…" Akina scolded herself. She re-joined the rest of the class as Daikoku gestured everyone back inside, Itachi came to her side.

"You seen my mistake, you did great—" Itachi smiled softly.

"It seems we're more then just friends, Itachi…" Her green eyes pierced him, making him blush at her words. "We're rivals."

His expression became sober, as he nodded. "We have the same mindset, Akina. We're not here to make friends. We're not here to compete. We're here with our own high standard that only gets higher as we get better…" Itachi thought, smirking.

Akina made her way to The Academy. "Three months have passed already and Itachi is outdoing me… I'm getting ninety-fives and he's getting one-hundreds in every class…"

"Hey," Itachi jogged to her side.

"Morning," Akina replied.

"You usually wait for me." Itachi mentioned, but Akina was zoned out.

"Akina-chan?" Itachi spoke up.

"…Oh, sorry!" She smiled. "Just bummed about my grade yesterday."

"Not you, too…" Itachi pouted. "School grades and actual ability isn't the same thing. You are faster than me and you're better with other weapons, not just kunai and shuriken like they make us use at Academy."

"You intimidate people you know, with your perfect grades." Akina mentioned.

"We're not at the Academy to make friends…"

"You say that because you're bad at making friends. You're awkward, but you come off as snobby, too stiff, and to-the-point." Akina teased.

"And so? You're good at making friends and having conversation, but you haven't made any friends at Academy."

"Because I'm not at Academy to make friends," She spun in front of him and flicked him on the forehead."

"Hey!" Itachi held his forehead, looking past his wrist to her sweet grin, surprise and wonder filling his eyes as his heart raced.

She twirled around to march away, him still holding his head, and taking it away slowly as he began following her.

Akina sat down in her usual seat. "Itachi!" Izumi smiled. "Sit by the window, it's nice."

Itachi sat in the middle desk closest to the window in the middle seat. Izumi to his right, and another girl to his left. Saisu sat in the desk behind him in the seat closest to the window.

"You're lucky you got a cute face, Itachi, it's the only thing that makes up for your cold and awkwardly shy demeanor…" Akina thought, zoned out as she searched for the page the teacher just announced. "Your shyness is actually the cutest about you, though— What am I thinking? Study!"

"All right, Kamano Saisu. What's the answer?"

"I don't know!" Saisu whined.

"Then… Itachi?" Daikoku grinned.

"The seal is for the Water Style: Water Bomb Jutsu."

Furious embarrassment rose up on Saisu, he was always outdone by Itachi.

"Keep that in mind, everyone. It will be on the test." The teacher reminded, as Akina made note of that.

"You only know that because of me, Itachi." She pouted. "I'm the water-user."

"Akina!" She then perked up. "Daydreaming?"

"No, sir." Akina shook her head, embarrassed.

"Water is strong against what? And weak against what?"

"Water is strong against fire and weak against earth, sir." Akina nodded, knowing this.

"Correct."

"And I know that because of you," Akina smiled.

Out in the schoolyard again, Daikoku called out names, and Akina perked up at the names given.

Saisu tried to be cool as he gestured towards himself with his hand with all four fingers tight. "Itachi… Come at me."

"All right! Begin!" Daikoku signaled.

Itachi grabbed his arm with both hands and flipped him, protecting his head from hitting the ground with Itachi's own foot.

"The match is over!" Itachi released Saisu.

And all the girls, except Akina, were giddy with admiration. This annoyed Saisu even further.

Itachi sat crossed legged on the floor, he clapped to encourage Sasuke to crawl to him, and the one-year-old Sasuke did so. "Okay, okay…"

When Sasuke got to him, Itachi smiling picked him up under his armpits and placed him to sit on his butt on the floor as Itachi then stood. "Sorry, Sasuke. Some other time, okay?"

Itachi then turned to leave, sliding the door and closing it behind him to enter into the hall. Sasuke went to crawl after Itachi.

Fugaku handed Mikoto his bento, Mikoto kneeling in the foyer. "Welcome home, father!" Itachi greeted, dashing to him to stand next to his mother. "Please teach me jutsu!"

"Jutsu?" Fugaku asked, placing his hand on his hip. "Aren't they teaching you at the Academy?"

"It's too easy." Itachi stated matter-of-fact.

Fugaku smiled in pride at his boy, Mikoto smiling, as well. "I guess it would be easy for you. Wait for me at the training grounds."

"Okay!" Itachi nodded, as he sat in the foyer to put on his sandals.

"Make sure you're home by dinner." Mikoto sweetly ordered.

"Got it!" Itachi agreed as he headed off out the door. Fugaku watched as the door opened and shut.

Another day of school ending, today Itachi got to train with Shisui instead of his father, it had been the first time in awhile they would get the chance to train together, which Itachi gratefully appreciated, knowing that Shisui's name was quickly becoming known in The Village. Izumi made him dawdle as she chatted with him as he tried to leave, making it to the door as she followed him.

"We take the same way home, huh?" He heard Izumi ask as he zoned back in.

"There's only one Uchiha compound. Of course we take the same way."

"Uh, um," the girl Izumi said, hanging her head. "M-maybe we could—"

"Sorry, I'm in a hurry." Itachi turned his back to her, and started racing down the hallway

"Don't you have kunoichi training with the rest of us?" Akina perked up asking.

"Yeah, but we don't have it everyday… I thought I would get him used to the idea." Izumi sadly held her elbow and shrugged.

"Look over there! It's Itachi! He's leaving this way!" A girl's voice rang out giddy. Six girls stood gawking at the window, Izumi rushed over.

"I've never seen him at this angle! He's so handsome!" Another mewed.

Saisu and two of his friends were furious and annoyed listening to all the girls in class fawn over Itachi.

"Where?" Asked another girl.

Akina felt this shift in their aura and looked over her shoulder. "Why are you guys here?"

"None of your business!" One of the boys spat.

"Hey, don't talk to her that way! She's a lady!" Saisu defended.

"Detention?" Akina's slack lip mocked.

"Shut up!" Saisu growled in rage and Akina turned away.

"Why aren't you gawking at the window anyway?" Saisu asked, tilting his head.

"Because I'm not stupid." Akina mumbled, wishing that the kunoichi class teacher would show up already to lead them to the outdoor class

The girls' giggles continued, "Oh he's walking. He's so cool!"

"Oh, he's looking this way!"

Akina looked to Hana next to her, "You're not a fan-girl, either?"

"I like dogs more then boys." Hana closed her eyes as she said it.

"My aunt won't let us have a dog, but I definitely agree." Akina nodded. "Dog are good at tracking, and they're better listeners."

"This is not good. Don't you think, gentlemen?" Saisu growled as another seventh girl joined in with the other girls gawking, and then two more joined in. "For his sake, if he gets swept up by all this and gets the wrong idea…"

"I agree." One said.

"He's stuck up!" Another said.

Itachi stared up at the girls staring out the window at him.

"It's me! He's looking at me!"

Itachi then turned away. Not seeing Akina amongst any of the girls.

"No, it's me!" Another girl pushed.

"He started walking again! Itachi's walking!" They all waved trying to get his attention, but failed no less.

"What airheads…" Akina mumbled.

"It's decided then…" Saisu said in utter annoyance.

"Yeah!"

"Right!"

An older kunoichi then came in, "I'm sorry, girls, class will be postponed today. You're dismissed!"

"Come on," Akina whined.

Hana stood. "You must be the only one that complains when school is dismissed."

"We're here to learn, aren't we?" Akina looked up at Hana. "I guess I'll catch up and see if Shisui and Itachi will let me train with them…"

"The reason she doesn't like Itachi is because she thinks like a boy, she sees him as a rival and is competing with him." A girl with bobbed brown hair and a pretty dress bullied. "Guy's don't like girls that are stronger than them."

Akina got up from the booth, placing her bag over her shoulder. "So you want me to nerf myself?"

"You'll never be as great as Itachi… Whattaya say about that?"

Akina looked at the girl with her emotionless stare to address, "I personally and honestly say… I don't care. Because unlike you that cares about what other people think, I don't. I'm doing my best and I'll continue to do my best."

The girl glared with utter defeat when Akina left the classroom— The weird girl in the class, the outcast, and the only one that didn't fall over Uchiha Itachi.

"Maybe she's right… Maybe I should just go home and train with Benjiro instead?" Akina thought, feeling annoyed with Itachi being naturally so good. "He does train hard, too, though… He was in such a hurry to meet-up with Shisui."

She nonchalantly hopped to a rooftop, walking along when she would stop all of a sudden. The girl with wide green eyes looking down to a boy running away from girls, losing them as he took a corner into an alley. "Itachi…"

"Those girls…" Akina rolled her eyes. "They're not focused on becoming kunoichi, they're focused on love which is against the Ninja Creed."

She would come to break from her thinking, watching as an academy girl turned the corner. "He's over here!"

Akina would chuckle, watching Itachi run away from the schoolgirls. She would then hop from her rooftop, leaving Itachi to deal with his own problems.

Even though it was amusing watching Itachi be set in dismay, more fun would come from destroying the girl's fun. Green eyes glanced back over her shoulder with her curiosity getting the better of her.

Itachi lost the girls turning down the alley, but it wouldn't be long before they'd find him. He had to think where he could hide. Until— A hand stretched from the wall he leaned against, Akina's hand, pulling him through to the other side. Where she would stand. "Wha—!" Itachi would exclaim to then look at Akina standing in front of him, she flicked him in the forehead.

"Hey!" He complained and looked back over his shoulder to the brick wall she had pulled him from the opposite side. He went to meet her eyes again, but she was gone, he looked to his right side, focusing on the moon and rose crest on Akina's back.

Itachi would quietly follow the Mochizuki. The emerald-eyed girl glanced to her side when Itachi came beside her. "How'd you do that?"

"…You should know. Don't you get straight A's?" Akina would mock smoothly calm.

Itachi would frown, slightly pouty. "I never said I knew everything."

"Hiding In Surface Technique." She answered.

Itachi would smirk, raising the corner of his smile. "Obvious name. Thanks for what it's worth."

Akina nodded, watching him turn away, he was just as distant as her. "Don't mention it… Go meet-up with Shisui."

"Aren't you going to train with us?"

"Nah, not today. See you!" Akina jogged ahead, waving as she jumped to the rooftop and took off.

Itachi just watched, blankly. "See you."