Childhood and Academy days
Short note:
Second chapter, this time with 1100+ words. I will try to upload around 4-5 chapters a week and might even increase the length of each one, depending on how well this goes. Hope you enjoy this one!
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It was three years now since the adoption of the child. His new family loved him, even if they weren't his real parents, and even gave him a name. Izuna.
The two parents were a short haired father, Taichi Uchiha who was a jonin, part of the Konoha Police Force, and a mother named Mizune Uchiha.
His mother retired from ninja duties a short period after becoming a chunin, simply because the shinobi life was too much for her. Izuna's father decided to work in the Police Force in order to stay near his family and to protect them.
Izuna, who was now three years old, started to look a little more like his biological father. His hair had grown all the way to his back, and even though it was spiky and long, he never wanted to cut it.
His appearance in the compound was seen by many as a surprise, especially a few years later, when the adopted child started showing signs of being a genius, being able to understand many things easily, and being able to speak fluently already.
Two more years have passed. Izuna is now five years old.
"Hey Izuna, want to go training together again?"
"Sure, Shisui, let me get my equipment and we'll go to the training grounds."
In the last year or so, Izuna and Shisui got acquainted and became great friends, along with Itachi, who was the same age as Izuna.
'Today I'm finally going to learn my first Ninjutsu from my father. It's going to be amazing!' The skill to which Izuna was referring to was the "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu", which was taught from a young age, even before graduating in the academy, to the shinobi from the Uchiha. It was a jutsu considered by many the "first step to adulthood" and an initiation on the path of the shinobi.
Izuna was excited greatly about this, since he always wanted to become a strong shinobi in order to protect his loved ones and his clan. Even if he wasn't a direct relative to the Uchiha clan's head or any clan elder, he was still imagining himself as the clan head in adulthood, feeling a great pride from his name.
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(Fifteen minutes later, in the Uchiha training grounds)
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"Wow Shisui, that is amazing!" said an overly excited Izuna. "The amount of fire you can compress into a single ball is incredible!"
Shisui was slightly older than Izuna and Itachi, and therefore was better skilled than the two.
"Thanks Izuna! Isn't Taichi-san going to teach you this jutsu today?"
"He is! I showed him that I am able to control chakra and he accepted my request in teaching me. I can not wait to be able to become a ninja!"
"Just promise me you won't hurt yourself Izuna, it is your first time playing with fire after all."
Shisui always looked at Izuna like at a younger brother that he didn't have.
"Hey, Shisui, Izuna. My father taught me the Great Fireball jutsu yesterday. I was wondering if you could help me with it Shisui." and then Itachi went ahead and formed the hand seals necessary and spit out a decently sized ball of fire, although smaller in size than Shisui's, still impressive.
"Wow Itachi, you learned it too? You guys are incredible, but I'm not going to be left behind!"
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(Later that day)
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"Look Izuna, since you showed me that you're capable, I am now going to teach you how to use fire style jutsu. Look closely and try to learn the hand seals." Taichi then started forming the Serpent, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse and Tiger signs before putting his hand to his mouth and spitting a massive flame taking a spherical shape above the lake.
"This Jutsu is used by our clan due to the affinity we have to the fire element. Since you are an Uchiha as well, I expect you to-"
Before finishing his sentence, Taichi was surprised to see his child already doing the same hand signs and then releasing fire from his mouth. The size of the flames was not as big as his, obviously, but it was a great amount even for a genin. He was then assured that his son was a genius.
"I did it father, look!"
"I'm proud of you son, you are growing faster than even I was at your age."
"When are you going to teach me more?" said an impatient Izuna.
The kid had already learned the Great Fireball jutsu, and was able to use it from the first try. Taichi was wondering what other things he could teach him, but he wanted to let Izuna train with the technique he has now before going to a new one. This way he could increase his skill in controlling chakra by trying to enlarge the fireball or compressing it.
"You should focus on improving this jutsu, Izuna. Learning too many and not mastering any techniques is not something a shinobi should do. Maybe after you graduate from the academy and become a genin I can teach you a couple more, or maybe even during the academy, depending on how well you perform there."
Izuna was excited. He really wanted to learn more and become stronger, but he listened to his father very well. What he said did make sense after all.
On that note, Izuna remembered something. Next year, he was going to enroll in the academy, where Shisui had already graduated after only one term. He wanted to surpass Shisui and Itachi, and by going to the academy and graduating early, he wanted to do just that.
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(The next year. Izuna and Itachi both joined the academy)
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It was a month after joining. Izuna remembered the speech the hokage gave and how boring everything else was at the academy. They were taught basic stuff like Jutsu knowledge, history, geography and many others, but Izuna already learned most of the things taught at the academy a long time ago. He already knew how the ranking system works in a village, already knew who the hokage was and what he did. What he was interested in, however, was that he had more time to practice shuriken jutsu, which he loved.
Every time they had shuriken practice, the other kids were barely able to hit the target, while Izuna could hit every time and even pick any part of the dummy. Because of his genius talent and the training he went through with Shisui and Itachi, shuriken throwing was no problem to him. Even kunai throwing was easy.
Ever since they first saw how bored he looked and how he managed to get perfect scores on all tests despite not paying any attention to lessons, the academy teachers talked about graduating him early. He threw shuriken and kunai better than a genin, he had knowledge comparable to that of a chunin and he was generally known by everyone as a prodigy even among the Uchiha clan.
However, one day, something very specific made them decide to graduate him early.