The vast majority wanted to see the academy arc finished in one go, so here you go! It ended up being another LOOONG one, but just like with the preliminaries, splitting it further didn't seem right. I tried cutting certain days, but that made it feel rushed IMO.

(I keep saying this chapter length won't become standard, but I guess let's see how things go? Also, FFN's character limit for titles is too short!)

Tanya Hiden: A Young Woman's Academy Days

April 10, 8 years BPI

I had messed up. Big time. I still wasn't sure how it had happened, but I doubted that it would matter. People saw results. And the result this time had been that I had fatally injured the child of a clan leader. Considering how politicized the Leaf's clan system was, there was no way this would just get swept under the rug.

The older teacher, Daikoku, had reacted quickly and rushed the girl to the hospital. Meanwhile, the other teachers were informed about the situation, and the class was ordered to return to the classroom and stay there until further notice - including me. I got seated in the back-left corner, and like from some repelling magnetic force, a quarter-circle of empty seats had formed around me. And the reason was obvious: no one wanted to be close to someone who had drawn the ire of one of the big clans, fearing to be seen as an accomplice. Sure, in terms of influence, the Inuzuka clan was more on the lower end of the major clans, but they still were a major clan. More than enough reason not to want to get seen with me.

I rubbed my eyes for the umptieth time. Considering the itch, I had likely overdone it, but my mental fatigue was real. Had I been taller, I would've been sitting limply in my seat with my head on the table. Alas, all my four-year-old body allowed was for me to lean my forehead against the edge while I wracked my brain trying to think of a way how I could possibly get myself out of this mess. Politically speaking, I was nobody. While my parents had been high-ranking shinobi, the Umino family wasn't a real clan.

The biggest variable would be whether or not the girl survived. If she did, maybe things could be talked out. But until that was known for sure, a lot of things could already go wrong. Any obvious way out of this dilemma would require time I likely didn't have.

Come on, think!

Despite this world's - when compared to my previous two lives - wildly inconsistent level of technology, it was largely a feudal society similar to medieval Japan. I needed to think accordingly. Would the Inuzuka clan maybe accept my servitude as an apology?

Far away from my preferred scenario, but weirdly enough, I can picture some perks it might have. I'll keep it in mind if I can't think of something better.

Another - better - solution I could think of at the moment would be to associate myself with a different clan of higher influence. The big question with that idea was, which clan would play along? Each one with a good relationship with the Inuzuka obviously would take their side, and for those that didn't, there really wasn't a reason for them to humor me. How would I even get close to one in such a short timeframe anyway?

As Izumi returned from the toilet and entered the classroom, it was filled with the usual chatter that would always ensue as soon as no teacher was present. Too many voices were mixed to understand anything, but it wasn't hard to guess what everyone was talking about. Her gaze wandered to the last row. A patch of bright, golden hair could be seen peeking out over the edge of the table, surrounded by empty seats.

It was clear as day that they were scared of this tiny girl. And it wasn't like Izumi couldn't understand them. She possessed fearsome strength, and Hana collapsing like that had been a horrifying sight. She still feared for Hana's life. But had they not seen the panicked expression on the girl's face afterward? She hadn't wanted it. Why had she been brought to spar with a second-year in the first place? What was her story? Did no one care?

Izumi couldn't see the girl's face, but considering the way she limply leaned forward, it wasn't hard to imagine that she was crying right now. If watching what had happened to Hana was scary, how much scarier was it for someone much younger to be the one who had done it?

And yet, everyone was avoiding her like a plague. In a way, it reminded Izumi of… well, herself. While she and her mother had been allowed to return to the Uchiha clan after her father's death, she had never felt truly welcome. They were officially part of the clan, sure, but many still saw them as outsiders; tolerated, but not part of them. She didn't know if the compound would feel like a home today if she hadn't met Itachi.

She walked up the aisle to the last row and stepped next to the girl, but hesitated for just a moment as the girl's mad grin right before the fight popped into her mind. Or had she seen it wrong? She took a deep breath.

"Um… hey," she carefully greeted her. The golden-haired girl raised her head and looked up at her. She truly looked miserable, and her reddish eyes proved Izumi correct; she had been crying.

"Sorry, but I never caught your name," she continued. "I'm Izumi Uchiha. Would you mind if I sit here?"

The girl blinked a couple of times but then seemed to finally pull herself out of her stupor.

"Err, yes! I mean, no, I don't mind."

She practically jumped to her feet and took a slight bow.

"I am Tanya Umino. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Tanya. An unusual name, but a pretty one, Izumi thought and chuckled mildly as she sat down. She doesn't talk like a four-year-old at all.

"Alright, Tanya. If it's okay to ask: how did you end up here?"

The story Izumi heard in response was crazy. Not only had Tanya been allowed to enter early, no, she was apparently even ahead of the first-years' schedule. A bit like…

"This wasn't your fault," Izumi finally stated. "The teachers misjudged the situation."

Tanya didn't respond, her gaze falling. Izumi felt a twinge in her heart seeing the little girl like this.

"Hana… will make it," she quietly continued. "She's tough. Let's visit her once she's better, shall we?"

"Would she want to see me?"

"Definitely! I told you, this wasn't your fault, and I highly doubt she will blame you!"

"And if her clan does?"

"Then they can talk that out with me."

Tanya got quiet, looking up at her with big, blue eyes. Izumi needed to concentrate to not gush over the cuteness on display. But the incident had clearly made her insecure.

"Ahem. Well, no matter how far ahead you are for your age, we're talking about an entire year's worth of lessons," she tried to switch topics. "If they really let you skip ahead, should we see where you have gaps? If we meet on the weekend I could give you a crash course!"

"I would gladly accept your offer!" Tanya almost shouted, happiness visible on her face. Izumi couldn't help but smile. This enthusiasm had nothing to do with academics. The entire conversation had made one thing clear, and this was the final confirmation: all Tanya had wanted was to make a friend.

"Why would you even put them against each other, Mizuki? It sounds to me like she only wanted to advance in chakra control!"

The teacher's room had gotten unusually loud, and not from idle chatter. A few hours after the incident, they got confirmation from the hospital that Hana's surgery was over and that her condition was no longer life-threatening. Whether she would make a full recovery remained to be seen.

"She also said she knew Taijutsu, so what's the big deal? If she could make it, all good, if not she learns some humility, also good. Why did some random brat get a special permit from the Hokage anyway?"

Daikoku's eyes narrowed.

"I'd say she demonstrated quite impressively why."

"Fine," Mizuki scoffed. "Maybe I should've looked into it a bit more. But how was I supposed to expect this? I mean, she's basically a toddler!"

"You're not wrong," Suzume agreed. "But in situations like this, you're supposed to ask your seniors. You may have only started recently, but a lack of experience doesn't excuse everything. But the same goes for you Daikoku. You should've called out his mistake instead of just going with it."

She sighed.

"And that the Hokage personally endorses her makes this situation all the more complicated. Okay, how about this: we quietly allow her to advance to the second year. If Lady Tsume or anyone else asks, we simply say it was a training accident. Those can sometimes happen, it allows us to take full responsibility, and it's not like anyone needs to know what exactly went on. Neither does Lord Third for that matter."

Hiruzen frowned as he listened to Hawk's report. While it had been inevitable that Tanya's incredible talent would stand out sooner or later, he hadn't expected complications this early on. Had he underestimated her again?

Thankfully, Hana was likely to survive.

"If it looks like something like this might happen again, you're allowed to interfere."

"Understood, Lord Third."

"Is there anything besides that?"

"I think her range is increasing. I might soon need to be more careful."

"I see. Dismissed."

The Anbu vanished. Hiruzen leaned back and allowed himself to let out an exhausted sigh.

April 11, 8 years BPI

"Wow, you're better in history than I am," Izumi noted, impressed. It was Saturday, so she had brought Tanya to the now-empty academy. After learning that Hana would make it and that Tanya would indeed be placed in the second year, Izumi had followed up on her offer to tutor her a bit.

Her brother had been quite surprised when she had picked her up, stating he was glad she had made a friend. That was when she learned that the Umino siblings' parents had died, just like Izumi's father.

Currently, they were in the academy yard, going over some notes.

"I often listened when my brother was studying. Once he had graduated, I spent a lot of time at the library," Tanya explained.

"Huh. I couldn't even read when I was your age. Well, anyway, that's all the theoretical stuff," Izumi concluded and put the scroll away. "The only subject you'll need to catch up on is chakra theory."

"Yes, that material is unfortunately restricted for civilians. All I know comes from my brother's notes."

"No problem. My clan has countless books on the matter and I know some good supplementary ones. The ones with common knowledge shouldn't be an issue to borrow."

"That would be much appreciated, you have my thanks."

"It's no big deal. I needed a lot more help than you when I started. Okay, next is the practical stuff. How good are you with kunai and shuriken?"

"Never touched either."

"Really? Okay, then Bukijutsu will be our main focus. Luckily, that's one of my strong suits. When it comes to Taijutsu…"

The spar with Hana flashed through her mind.

"What… what did you do there yesterday anyway?"

"Nothing special, just some basics," the golden-haired girl insisted.

"Whatever you did, those were NOT basics, Tanya. I doubt many graduates can do that."

Tanya tilted her head in confusion.

"How so? It's just basic chakra control plus a different application of wall-walking."

"You can walk on walls?!"

"Of course, I can. Isn't that just the next step from the leaf exercise?"

"No, it's not! That's not even part of the curriculum, it's an advanced technique!" Or so she had been told after seeing older shinobi do it and getting curious. Tanya meanwhile wore her confusion visibly on her face.

"Are… are you sure? I heard it's a minimum requirement."

"Really? Um, m-maybe I can ask Itachi…," she mumbled more to herself, but Tanya immediately picked it up.

"Itachi? You mean Itachi Uchiha, son of Fugaku Uchiha?"

"Oh, you heard of him?" Izumi wasn't all that surprised considering he had been the talking point of every girl in her class, but that even someone as young as Tanya knew him…

"I read his name in the genealogy. Is he also in our class? I didn't see him yesterday."

"Well, yes and no. He was, but he already graduated last year."

Tanya stared at her in disbelief.

"You can do that? I mean, I knew graduating early was possible, but just one year?"

"Um, I think you can graduate as soon as you meet the requirement, theoretically at least. The academy is primarily here for the basics, after all, most other things you learn on the field after becoming a Genin. But one year isn't something anyone can do, Itachi is special," Izumi explained and noticed her voice getting a bit dreamy. "I had hoped I could graduate with him, but he is just that great. But I'll do my best. I already took some advanced lessons and he taught me some things as well, so I think I might be able to do it one year early. Then I could fight at his side."

She noticed she was drifting off and quickly pulled herself back into reality. That was when she saw Tanya's expression had once more shifted. The small girl seemed to think hard about something and ultimately reached a conclusion. She looked up at Izumi and extended her hand to her.

"Alright, then let's make a promise!"

"Promise? What are you talking about?"

A wide grin appeared on her face, making Izumi flinch. It was the same grin as yesterday.

"Why wait? Let's finish the academy together. This year!"

April 12, 8 years BPI

"Shuriken and kunai have blades for a reason, Tanya," Izumi noted as she observed the bottom of the tree trunk Tanya had just hit. "You don't have to throw them with so much force. Precision is more important."

"Prioritizing hitting the target over maximizing damage first, got it."

"Well, uh, that too. But first, you should try not to miss by a whole ninety degrees. Maybe we should start with vertical throws until you get a better feeling when to let go."

"Isn't throwing rough anyways? Wouldn't crossbows or some other kind of sling mechanism be more reliable? Small ones could be easily concealed."

Izumi smirked. She pulled out four shuriken and held them between her fingers and thumb. She then jumped, did a backflip with a full twist, and threw halfway through the motion. Each shuriken struck a target on a different training post. Not perfectly centered, but a hit nonetheless.

"You think you could do that with a crossbow?" She wasn't really one to brag, but the fact that Tanya was finally the speechless one felt a bit good. Especially since it was with a move Itachi had taught her.

"It's not as impressive as it looks. It's a simple matter of training, just stick with it and you'll be able to do it in no time. The one-handed version at least This move can also be done with both hands, so eight shuriken in total, but then you need the Sharingan to hit reliably. That's why it's an Uchiha special technique."

April 16, 8 years BPI

Considering how much Being X seemed to hate it when something good happened in my life, he was probably seething right now. It was impossible to overstate just how much I had lucked out on this. Izumi wasn't just a member of the Uchiha clan, she seemed incredibly close to the eldest son of the clan head, which made her the perfect shield against the Inuzuka's wrath. Even better, she explicitly declared herself ready to fulfill that role.

Well, the records had stated that the Uchiha valued strength, maybe my display had caught her interest. It would explain why she was willing to tutor me, she wanted to nurture someone she saw as a promising ally. I just needed to solidify my position a bit more. Showing her a few appetizers should do the trick.

For the very same reason, I hadn't yet tried to use her to get closer to Itachi. Sure, he would be an invaluable contact to have, but unlike Izumi, he had no reason to show interest in me. Meanwhile, Izumi was clearly aiming for him, if she began seeing me as a rival it would all be for nothing. Networking by proxy would need to suffice right now.

At the moment she was dragging me to the hospital. Hana was cleared for visits again. And while Izumi had shielded me so far, it made sense that she didn't want to antagonize the Inuzuka clan on a permanent basis, and if things could be talked out, I would all be here for it. That didn't mean the upcoming conversation would be easy.

A nurse informed us that things were looking good, but we shouldn't stay too long since she needed rest. Izumi entered first.

"By the way, I brought someone who wants to meet you," I finally heard her say and opened the door. Hana sat on her bed, bandages visible from the rim of her hospital gown. She smiled as she saw me, but I couldn't allow myself to feel too secure. The children here, especially clan children, were not like the children in my previous two lives. That smile could hide anything.

"Good morning. Please allow me to express how glad I am to see that you are on your way to recovery, as well as offer my deepest apologies."

"Tanya, right? What for?" Hana chuckled. Her speech sounded a bit labored.

I see, she wants to see if I am just muttering empty phrases. This could mean she's still angry, so I need to be careful.

"Your injuries resulted from my gross misjudgment of the situation, and I am terribly sorry for that."

"Nah. All you did was break three ribs, puncture my lung, and rupture my stomach. Happens, I guess."

There was not a hint of sarcasm in her voice, but I knew better than to be fooled by that. She was still angry.

"But I heard Mom was livid, some say she was shouting at the teachers for an hour straight."

There it was. The subtle hint that I was only fine because I was under Uchiha protection. The teachers had probably just been the next-best outlet.

"I swear I will do what I can to make it up for you!" I promised with a bow.

"Hey, don't stress yourself! It'll be weeks before they allow me to train again. I don't even know when I can even visit classes again."

In other words, she wanted me to help her make up for the lessons she missed because of me. If that was all, that was a peace offer I could live with.

April 18, 8 years BPI

"Why are we in a flower field? Is it to train on uneven ground?" Tanya asked, making Izumi smile.

"No, nothing of sorts. But I doubt you had any special kunoichi lessons yet."

Once again, Tanya looked confused, but this time it wasn't surprising. Izumi had contemplated whether she should even teach her this considering how young she still was. However, after knowing the girl for a bit over a week, it had become clear how mature she already was. Had it not been for her size, Izumi probably would've forgotten the difference in age by now. Plus, the teachers didn't seem like they were planning to hold back for her sake.

"Being a woman can have its perks," Izumi explained and struck a 'teacher' pose. "Because of that, kunoichi are often used for infiltration. In these classes, we learn how to blend in and how to use our femininity. Ever wondered why you rarely see kunoichi walk around with flak jackets?"

April 23, 8 years BPI

"It's nothing to be ashamed about," Iruka insisted as he put a new band-aid on my finger. "I constantly nicked my hand when I first held a shuriken. As did anyone else, it's normal."

I gave his work a quick look and nodded, satisfied.

"So, anyway, how are you liking the academy so far?"

"I'm doing fine so far, thank you for asking. Izumi is also helping me a lot," I explained.

"It's great that you found a friend so quickly. But are you okay not having friends your age?"

"I do not see any merits in pursuing such."

"Heh, I guess," he shrugged. "Still, is there anything that's giving you trouble?"

I didn't answer immediately, contemplating what I should say, but in the end, I concluded that when it came to my brother, honestly admitting some weakness would be better.

"The hand sign exercises are a bit difficult."

"Right, weaving those fast is key for a ninja. Ninjutsu lessons should start later this year for you, I believe. Sorry, but there isn't really a trick or something like that to it, it's a simple matter of training. All I can advise you is to not get lazy with your stretching, it's important to keep your wrists flexible."

He shook his head.

"I can't believe you skipped ahead after just a week."

I raised an eyebrow at his statement.

"Didn't you finish a year early, too?"

"I built that up over three years of effort, that's not the same thing! Man, you really are incredible."

It seemed like he didn't know about the incident. The other kids in class had probably been coerced to stay quiet about it, so even if one or two tattled, no one would believe them; but that even Iruka had heard nothing was a good sign. I really needed to make sure I would pay my debt to Izumi.

"If you say so… what are the requirements for finishing early anyway?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I am merely curious."

April 24, 8 years BPI

When classes on Friday ended and Izumi left the crowd of students to go to the academy yard, Tanya was already waiting for her, sitting on a training post.

"Determined as always," she joked. Tanya stood up.

"Actually, I thought that maybe, I could pay you back a little."

"Tanya, you don't have to-"

"I do. I'm eternally grateful for what you are doing for me, but it's also halting your own progress."

"It's not, teaching you also is good training for me!"

"Maybe, but it's not enough if you want to finish this year."

"You were serious about that?"

The golden-haired girl crossed her arms.

"Of course! Didn't you say you want to stand next to Itachi?"

Izumi could feel herself blushing.

"I-I guess…"

"Good."

Tanya let herself fall forward. Izumi flinched and tried to catch her, but the tiny girl's body suddenly stopped, standing horizontally on the training post.

"Then let's not waste any time!"

April 26, 8 years BPI

"Let's have a spar."

Izumi's words made me freeze. While I slowly started to have a better scope of things, I still didn't know exactly what had gone wrong back then. Injuring my benefactor now would be a catastrophe.

"...are you sure?" I carefully asked.

"We will have training matches in class again soon anyway, so we need to address this. Don't worry," she assured me with a smile. "Hana got blindsided. I know what's coming. Just trust me, okay?"

Still unsure, I went into position. As a starting signal, she threw a kunai up into the air.

At that moment, I felt something at the edge of my chakra sense. It was just for a fraction of a second, gone before I could even turn my head. Had I just imagined it?

As soon as the kunai landed between us, I moved. Izumi's eyes flashed red. The next thing I knew was that I was staring at the sky, a faint, dull pain in my torso.

"Just as I thought," I heard Izumi say. "You are fast. And strong. I don't know how you do it, but those are impressive feats. You also seem to have decent body control. That fighting style of yours is a bit strange, but it's good enough as a basis to build upon. But you have one big issue: you don't move like a shinobi. And if you can't surprise your opponent, that will be the reason you lose ten out of ten times."

She walked into my field of view and smiled.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you: Taijutsu is what I'm best at."

April 28, 8 years BPI

"I feel like Suzume-sensei was displeased with me."

"Errm, Tanya? As impressive your knowledge is - and ignoring the questions it raises - I think you may have misunderstood the point of the special kunoichi lessons."

May 4, 8 years BPI

As the school year entered its second month, classes began to gather traction. Izumi made sure to pay close attention. She had doubts at first, but Tanya's enthusiasm had managed to infect her. Somehow, she felt like she might actually be able to do it.

She was also happy to see Hana rejoin the classes. She needed assistance for certain things and wouldn't be able to train with them in the foreseeable future, but at least she was no longer tied to a hospital bed. After classes, when Hana found out that they would stay at the academy for a couple more hours, she decided to remain as well.

"I don't mind, but we're mainly training," Izumi explained. "Wouldn't that be boring for you?"

"Less boring than sitting around alone, that's for sure. Are you two doing this often?"

"Originally, I just wanted to help Tanya catch up, but by now, we're either training or learning together almost every day."

As they talked, Tanya returned and dumped a bunch of scrolls in front of Hana.

"Here. I've compiled everything you missed. I also worked it up and added context from supplementary material to compensate for the fact that you didn't hear the teacher's explanations."

"That's… wow, thanks!"

May 5, 8 years BPI

Izumi was sweating, her hands resting on her knees. Yesterday's training had once more been about Taijutsu and during that, the conversation had shifted to Izumi's Sharingan. Once she had finally explained to Tanya all she knew about her Dōjutsu, the golden-haired girl had insisted she should use it more and focus today's training on it.

"Again!"

"I… can't…," Izumi panted. "I told you I can… only use it… for about half a minute. If I… do it now… I might faint again."

"You need to cultivate your chakra more, your reserves are among the lowest in our class," Tanya responded. "But for now, you have to make the best out of what you have. Now let's do it again!"

"Wait, how do you know how much chakra I have?"

Tanya cocked her head.

"Well, I can sense it. It's not like you're obscuring your chakra signature or something."

"You're a sensor?!"

"Sensor? I'm just using a normal man- err, chakra sense."

Izumi blinked.

"Yeah, that's what being a sensor means!"

May 23, 8 years BPI

I was a bit nervous as I followed Izumi. Since she was with me, no one questioned my presence in the Uchiha compound, but that didn't change the fact that I was in the Uchiha compound.

Izumi had gotten Itachi to recommend her some more supplementary material from the clan library, and with the mid-term exams right around the corner, she had invited me to a study session at her home. That part was a bit like back in my first life.

I obviously accepted her invitation. Even ignoring the myriad of social reasons why I this was the right call, my grades also needed to be top-notch if I wanted to finish the academy early. Hana was also with us. All in all, my situation at the academy could have been a lot worse.

Most of my classmates still avoided me, but it didn't really matter. Izumi had the most value in terms of networking, and while clearing my debt with Hana, she and I inevitably got closer as well. The only other classmate I would've liked to socialize with was Maruten, a boy from the Akimichi clan, but two out of three was good enough for now.

Izumi's mother Hazuki was a nice lady, and her home-made Nikujaga was delicious. Especially after years of take-out and convenience food.

May 30, 8 years BPI

Finished with grading all the exams, Daikoku entered the names into the class rankings. Tanya Umino, the four-year-old who on top of that had also skipped a class, ranked first in every subject except for chakra theory, where she was third. Just who in the world was that girl?

June 8, 8 years BPI

'Bushin no Jutsu!' [Clone Justu]

I smiled as Daikoku-sensei created two illusory copies of himself in front of the class. Finally, we would begin learning spells- no, I shouldn't use that word anymore, even just in my thoughts. I should remove it from my vocabulary.

Back in the empire, distracting the enemy with illusions of myself had been one of my favorite tricks, so it was good that we would be starting with something familiar. That way, I would have a direct comparison between the formulae for mana and for chakra, and if I could figure out the system behind it, I might even be able to recreate the spells I knew.

"Ninjutsu," he began explaining, "is the art of using chakra to create a desired effect. While at the academy, you are going to learn three basic Ninjutsu, but there are countless out there. Eventually, each of you will acquire a set of skills that is unique to them."

"Why Ninjutsu?" I whispered as I leaned over to Hana. "I thought Illusions were called Genjutsu?"

"They are," she whispered back. "But those aren't illusions, those clones are more like mirages."

That distinction sounded a bit arbitrary but in the end, the label didn't really matter.

June 20, 8 years BPI

I had already expected the first Ninjutsu to be the most difficult. After all, this was the one I had to learn the core principle with. But expecting didn't change how difficult it was.

The teacher had said we shouldn't stress ourselves about it and that it was normal to only get it right during the final year. But we didn't have that time. According to Iruka, we needed to apply at the latest in October if we wanted to finish early and by then, we would need to have mastered all three, not just the clone jutsu.

Equating hand signs to the computation orb had also been wrong. While the role was similar in the sense that it reduced the number of calculations one needed to formulate manually, they didn't do anything about chakra movement in the body; that, we had to do all by ourselves.

July 6, 8 years BPI

As the year progressed, it was hard not to notice that during training matches, I was exclusively pitied against Izumi. I didn't particularly care since it wasn't all too different from our personal training. Thanks to her, I had by now understood what it meant to 'move like a shinobi'. There was more to Taijutsu than simple hand-to-hand combat, it was almost an entire philosophy on how to operate your body at any given moment.

When it came to style, Izumi wasn't using the standard academy style either, instead utilizing the aptly named Uchiha style taught in her clan. Since she had called the imperial CQC a good basis I had stuck with it, occasionally expanding it with the more exotic movements I copied every now and then.

The teachers also showed us two more Ninjutsu: Henge no Jutsu, the transformation technique; a literal temporary transformation if I understood it correctly, even into objects. And Kawarimi no Jutsu, the substitution technique. Basically, you would switch places with an animal or object you had prepared beforehand, while leaving behind an afterimage, duping the opponent into thinking they had hit you. Unfortunately, despite how it looked, the technique wasn't actual teleportation, more like fast movement paired with an afterimage. Its conditions made it very restrictive, but it could buy you valuable seconds in a fight. Just like before, we got the basics explained and then were told to learn them at our own pace in whichever order we felt most comfortable with, as we only needed to have them down by the time we graduated.

In early summer, Hana was finally allowed to train again. She had done rehabilitation exercises during her timeout, so she wasn't out of shape, but it soon became very apparent how much the energetic girl had hated sitting around. She didn't quite live up to her clan's feral reputation, but she had her moments.

From that day on, she would often join us during the days we did practice fights.

July 15, 8 years BPI

"You want to finish this year?!" Hana burst out, making Izumi flinch.

"Ah, sorry, I guess I completely forgot to tell you," she sheepishly admitted.

"That explains why you two are so obsessed with training. I knew you were aiming for one year early, but when did you decide this? And Tanya… one year, that's even crazier! If I didn't know about Itachi, I'd call her insane, but she might actually be able to pull it off. Did you tell anyone else?"

"Not yet," Izumi said as she shook her head and looked out of the window. She and Hana were on cleaning duty today, so they had sent Tanya outside - after insisting that the tiny girl's help wasn't necessary - to already train a bit on her own. She was practicing shuriken throws again, the one thing where her incredible talent seemed to stop. And it had been clear how much it had frustrated her. Tanya was a perfectionist. On the days she led the training, she was absolutely merciless. But she was just as hard on herself. To Izumi, it was hard not to admire her at least a bit.

If Tanya managed to pull this off, she would probably be the youngest graduate in academy history. And yet, Izumi felt just like Hana did; if it was Tanya, she might be able to do it.

August 25, 8 years BPI

As usual, I woke up early in the morning with more than enough time before the academy started. I sat up and was about to begin my morning exercises when I sensed two unusual things. One, Iruka was already up and in the kitchen. Two, he wasn't alone.

I postponed my stretches and left my room. Hectic shuffling could be heard and right as I opened the kitchen door, a loud party horn was blown into my face.

"Happy Birthday, Tayna!"

Looking past the wannabe instrument, I saw that my brother was flanked by Izumi and Hana. The trio then stepped aside, revealing a cake that, surprisingly, looked well-made yet not store-bought. Five candles burned on top of it.

"Man, did you fall out of bed?" Iruka joked. "We almost weren't ready in time. Thankfully, Hana could smell you coming."

I looked at the Inuzuka daughter who just shrugged with a grin. She had smelled me? If her nose was that sensitive, maybe I could come up with some ideas for her to try. But that would have to wait, for now, there were customs to follow.

"Make a wish!" Izumi called as I climbed up the chair. I was obviously above such childish superstitions, but there was no harm in a little act for the sake of friendships, so I closed my eyes and blew out the candles. When I opened them again, three wrapped packages had been placed in front of me.

The first present contained a leg sheath and a belt pouch, both filled with kunai and shuriken.

"I noticed you only ever used the training blades from the academy, so I thought I could give you your first own set of ninja tools," Izumi smiled. "They can't fit as much as regular-sized ones, but in turn, they should fit you better for now and won't encumber you too much until you hit your growth spurt."

The second gift turned out to be less obvious what it was supposed to be.

"It's a kit to quickly make simple medicine and poisons," Hana explained, "as well as a manual on what plants to look for when in the field."

Knives and poisons. Perfect for any five-year-old. Well, sarcasm aside, I do need equipment, and some DIY medicine can actually be pretty helpful.

By process of elimination, the last one had to be from my brother. It was a small bag filled with what looked like paper marbles.

"The grey ones are smoke bombs, the red ones chili pepper bombs. Don't get them mixed up!" he said with a smirk.

Birthday cake wasn't exactly an ideal breakfast, but I couldn't deny that it was tasty. Though a bit too sweet for my palate. It was an out-of-season hanami cake that, as it turned out, had been made by Izumi's mother.

"Alright, I gotta meet my team," Iruka said his goodbye. "Remember to lock the door when you leave for the academy!"

With 'breakfast' done there wasn't really any reason for us to stay much longer, so we soon departed as well. Outside, however, Izumi stopped us.

"Is something wrong?" Hana wondered.

"No, it's just… he has a lot to do, but he said he would see if he could make it."

"Who's 'he'?"

I felt his chakra just barely before he already stood in front of us. He was a boy with long, raven-black hair about the same age as the two girls, wearing a headband with the Leaf sigil. Was that...

"Itachi!" Hana recognized her former classmate as I tensed. So that was the son of Fugaku Uchiha.

He returned her greeting with a nod before he turned to me.

"You must be Tanya."

"Yes," I stated, doing my best to sound calm.

"Izumi told me a lot about you. Sorry, but I can't stay for long. Happy Birthday, and good luck with your goals," he said with a neutral expression as he handed me a scroll. Then, he was gone.

"Welp, that was unceremonious," Hana quipped. Meanwhile, I wondered what the scroll contained. Maybe a recommendation? He was the son of a clan head, after all. Not wanting to speculate, I removed the cord and opened it. However, there was no letter or anything of the sort inside, just a bizarre array of symbols.

"Woah, that's a storage scroll," Hana realized. "Those can get pretty expensive."

A short explanation later I realized I had received what was effectively a form of portable pocket space. I hadn't even known something like this was possible. There were multiple ways to interpret such a gift coming from him. And all of them were quite good.

August 29, 8 years BPI

A personal, expensive, and clearly thought-out present from the future head of the Uchiha clan. While I had a great ability to discipline myself, the effect of external motivators should never be underestimated. After going through the steps one more time, I finally managed to produce a short, flickering image. Far away from a proper clone, but that didn't matter. I had managed to create an external effect through chakra.

We were far from done, of course. We had less than four months to master three different Ninjutsu. But as long as I didn't forget this feeling, I had a foundation to build upon.

August 30, 8 years BPI

Hana tilted her head, barely avoiding the blunt kunai Izumi had thrown at her. The blindfolded girl grinned.

"Hey, this is actually kinda fun."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Izumi questioned. "I know your sense of smell is incredible, but… pin-pointing the blade just by smelling?"

"Hey, unorthodoxy makes ideas just more interesting," Hana countered. Lifting her blindfold, she looked over to Tanya, who had just managed to throw three shuriken at once into three different targets.

"Two bad you two will be gone next year. Would be interesting to see what other things she would come up with."

"Wow, not even a doubt that we might not make it?"

"No. By the way, I get why you want to finish. But why Tanya? She could take all regular years, repeat two, and would still be done at a younger age than most. Seriously, it's really easy to forget that she just turned five."

Izumi thought for a moment, only to realize she had no idea. Tanya had never even mentioned her motivation. Maybe something personal she didn't want to talk about?

September 12, 8 years BPI

I looked up at the door in front of me. It wasn't just any door. It was the door to the Hokage's office. So this was it. It would finally meet the strongest shinobi in the village. I had seen him from afar before, but now, I would actually talk to him. And, more importantly, it was the first time for him to meet me. His first impression of me. This was no doubt going to be the most important conversation of my life so far.

I took a deep breath and entered. Behind the desk sat an old man with a goatee, looking harmless for anyone dumb enough to not pay attention. His chakra reserves were immense. The only other person I had ever met who came close was Mr. Hiro.

"Good morning, Tanya."

"Good morning, Lord Third," I returned the greeting as I knelt down.

"That's not necessary, you can stand up. Now, I heard you wish to take the graduation exam, despite only attending for one year so far. But since you are below the minimum age, you wish to ask for a special permit on top of the one you were already given, did I get that right?"

"Yes, Lord Third."

"May I ask why? You already started your education earlier than anyone else, wouldn't you want to make sure you learn everything the academy has to offer?"

Oh, how I wished I could just answer that truthfully. But I doubted 'I need to get powerful as soon as possible because a crazy wannabe-god has a personal vendetta against me and will likely sooner rather than later make a move again' would convince him.

"I do. But I believe that has already happened. Besides, I made a promise with a friend of mine that I wish to honor."

"And what if you are wrong?"

"Then I will not be ready for the exam, fail, and try again at the appropriate time."

The Hokage sighed.

"You know, early graduations are a vestige of the war. The plan is to slowly phase them out. Age differences can also cause issues in new teams, and yours will be extreme anyway. Your friend will already have to face this, but you right now would need to work together with kids almost three times your age. Is that really what you want?"

No clear rejection, so he wasn't completely averse to the idea. Time to press on.

"Lord Third, I couldn't possibly overstate how grateful I am for the trust you've put in me when you allowed me to enroll early. All I'm asking for now is to be treated the same as my classmates. It's not like I'm asking you to forge my birth certificate or something like that."

A deliberately absurd example to make the actual point seem much more reasonable, a classic in negotiations. The Hokage's eyes narrowed and he got quiet for a while.

"You will write the upcoming mid-terms of the second, third, and fourth year," he finally said, his voice sounding a lot more stern for some reason. "Pass all and you get one attempt. If you fail, you will repeat the year and won't get another attempt until you complete your fourth."

Well, that was the best offer I was going to get.

"That is more than enough, thank you, Lord Third."

October 1, 8 years BPI

The wood cracked under the impact of Izumi's kick. Then, a puff of smoke shot up as she dispelled both the clone jutsu and the transformation jutsu. Finally, she deactivated her Sharingan and took a deep breath. She felt fine.

"I… I did it. Tanya, I did it!"

"Yes, you did. Great work, Visha."

"Thanks! …wait, what did you just call me?"

"Oh, err… nothing, forget it."

"You sure? It sounded like you-"

"I bit my tongue, now let's keep going!"

October 14, 8 years BPI

"Do you think I could be a good teacher, Tanya?"

She looked up.

"I lack the information necessary to evaluate that notion."

He snorted at her answer. Yup, that was the sister he knew. Still, the thought stuck. He had enjoyed explaining things to Tanya, in fact, he wished she would ask him more. And from a pragmatic standpoint, being a teacher once he made it to Chūnin had its perks. He would have a stable income, more time for his sister, and little risk of her losing him. Maybe he should look into it a bit.

Oh well, even if she skipped ahead, there are still a couple of years until Tanya will graduate.

November 2, 8 years BPI

The mid-terms weren't much of an issue. Itachi's supplementary material had gone into far more detail, and I had made sure that I soaked up every bit of information that was available to me. Soon after, I got the expected result. Izumi had passed everything with flying colors as well.

"Guess you won't be here much longer," Hana said with a smile as we met after classes had ended. "It's time for the final spurt, huh?"

"You could say that, yes," I agreed.

Hana stepped in front of me, still wearing her smile.

"Then how about we make sure you're ready? Unlike you, I may have not fully mastered clones, transformation, and substitution yet, but I've learned something else. You might find it interesting," she stated as she formed a hand sign and went down on all fours.

'Gijū Ninpō Shikyaku no Jutsu!' [Imitation Beast Ninja Arts: Four Legs Jutsu]

Her features became more animalistic as her fingernails became claws and her teeth grew into fangs.

"Gloves are off now, Tanya!"

January 15, 7 years BPI

Mizuki gave a side eye to Hiruzen. The mistrust he - or more specifically, 'Hiro' - was getting from the teacher was a bit amusing. But if they knew who he really was, it would only create misunderstandings. He had only shortly decided to observe the final test, more out of curiosity than anything else.

Tanya had played quite the risky card when she mentioned the forging of the birth certificate. How she had found out that he and Danzō were currently doing exactly that with Itachi, he didn't know. It wasn't even done yet, they were just preparing for it. It wouldn't be put into use until maybe two years or so from now. But the girl did have connections to him. Either way, the hidden meaning in the young girl's words had been clear. She had caught his attention, so he had decided to humor her and once more put up the act and now played an observer sent by the Hokage to be present at the final test.

The written portions were already done and graded, and the Taijutsu tests were currently held and about to be finished. Only those who passed would come into this room where Mizuki and Daikoku would test their Ninjutsu. In other words, everyone who would pass this one would graduate. The headbands with the Leaf symbol already lay on the table in front of them.

He quietly watched as they tested one student after the other. According to the two teachers, everyone's results lined up with what they had shown during class, so there were no surprises. There were only really two wild cards: Izumi Uchiha and Tanya Umino.

The former entered next and performed well, transforming into Mizuki and creating three clones afterward. Daikoku congratulated her and gave her her headband. 'Hiro' remained silent.

Finally, it was Tanya's turn. Daikoku was about to announce the task when Mizuki raised a hand to stop him.

"Transform into Daikoku," he ordered, making Hiruzen raise an eyebrow. Transforming into Mizuki like everyone else had would've already been more difficult for her. Transforming into someone bigger wasn't easy, and Tanya was a lot smaller than the others. Daikoku on the other hand was big and burly, making the task even harder.

Tanya, however, didn't complain. Without forming a single hand sign her form grew, shifted, and eventually, morphed into a perfect copy of the teacher. Mizuki and Daikoku stared with their mouths agape, seemingly not realizing what the golden-haired girl had actually done. He couldn't suppress a chuckle which quickly turned into laughter.

"Not bad!" he called loudly. "But they can't give you your headband if you can't come in."

The transformed clone vanished and the real Tanya entered, letting go of the 'ram' sign she had been holding. Her eyes widened as she spotted him.

"Hm, guess you couldn't see me from your angle. Long time no see. Daikoku, I think she demonstrated her skills sufficiently, wouldn't you agree?"

That snapped the teacher out of his stupor and he quickly grabbed one of the headbands, handing it to the youngest graduate in the academy's history.

January 18, 7 years BPI

"Team 4: Nichien Hyūga, Izumi Uchiha, and Tanya Umino!"