Chapter 7

Chapter Seven,

I am not proud of myself, indeed, I am distinctly aware that both Itachi and Kakashi wer- will be-more genius then I.

I am, however, proud of Fugaku, for the reason that he recently passed the Konoha chunin exams. Now to find a present for him; actually this was his 2nd attempt, so something related to the number two?

"Fugaku-nii, what do you want as your chunin present from me?"

"Want? A challenge, a real chance to test my skills," Ho, quite entranced to be a chunin are we? But I daresay, he is a real adult now, my tiny body stands no chance.

"I doubt I could present even an obstacle to one of Konoha's honored chunin." I gave a mocking bow.

"You like to sell yourself short."

"On the contrary, I would prefer to not sell myself at all, no matter my height." It's amusing to taunt others, though I wouldn't do it with someone I am a stranger to.

"Figure of speech, anyway, how did I do?"

"I think you should be ready to take over clan leadership within eight years."

"That's horribly indirect, how did I do in the chunin exams?"

"You were clearly the strongest contender, I admire your performance." To be frank, I think Fugaku is the most powerful chunin in the village. He is still a proud person though, so he dislikes not being the leader. Hopefully we can curb that portion of his personality, as pride really is a big problem.

"That's more like it, little brother." He answered with a smile.

"Still, don't feel too good about yourself."

"Isn't wisdom a thing for the old?"

"I am old; I've got back pain, even. Anyway, are you going to continue to be an active ninja, or are you joining the police force?"

"Father left the choice to me… I think I'll join the police force." Plus, if he's an MP he'll be home more regularly.

"I agree, that way you can earn a rank and get some experience for when you take over."

"Hn," With a twinge of agreement was his reply.

At this point I am eight-and-a-half, putting Fugaku at fifteen. While late to be promoted to chunin it certainly was not bad for Nii-san, as he has plenty of real experience and skill. Unsurprisingly, Fugaku-nii has 3-tomoe in his Sharingan and a number of powerful fire jutsu in his arsenal.

"How's the academy, otouto?"

"It's good, although the ninjutsu is redundant."

"Of course, you can probably do them with a single hand seal at this point."

"Your praise is heart-warming, I can indeed."

"Let's go eat, kid."

"I would feign offense, but I see no reason to humor you."

After a large meal of Nii-san's favorite, I found myself wishing for a television, or board game. On that note, creating board games was once a thing I did long ago, perhaps this family would appreciate such a gesture? It's worth the couple of hours it takes.

Waving off my family I made the not-so-long journey to my little library, where plenty of paper was available. Tape, was tape a thing in this world, it seemed likely.

I quickly crafted the map for my personal favorite of my creations – though it was not my invention – and then realized I needed pieces for each player. Coins would be the traditional way, but I had no idea if there were more than one kind.

Bah! This whole project was a waste; I was an Uchiha catering to Uchiha. Something like a retractable blade would meet with more success.

I filed away the half-finished game, just in case I wanted it at some point, and abruptly left the room.

XXX

I really needed a novel to read, life was getting dull, what with all the training, eating, sleeping, and schooling. It's not good for a growing boy like me to have no play in their life.

But, I had a problem, playing was inefficient and served no real purpose, and I hated that. It was of no consequence anyway, the academy even sponsors poker. So, nothing regular, I just needed a single day off.

That would actually be incredibly easy, my afternoons were free anyway, but I used them as self-imposed training hours.

Now to plan what I'm going to actually do. Heh, I know exactly who to go to.

XX

"Nara-kohai, I want to play shogi." Shikaku would be getting me out of my no-play zone today.

"Troublesome, why do you want to?"

"I need something fun to do, you're it."

"Fine by me, just don't complain when you do lose." He immediately began setting up a shogi board that he pulled from nowhere, to no great surprise.

At my request he explained the rules; since I had never actually played shogi this was rather necessary.

I'll be the first to tell you that Nara = smart; but my wounded pride would be the first to admit that I hated losing. Thus, losing to Shikaku was both expected and frustrating, more expected though.

"You win, Shikaku-san." I had only managed to take two non-pawns from him.

I went away, five games more the loser and twice as depressed, this was not how I intended it to go. What next, an eating contest with Chouza? No, I don't think so; what I needed was to lose some more, but not at an eating contest.

XXX

Kushina was as obnoxious as always today, "Oi, clan-brat, I think it's time you learned your place."

"I don't learn my place, I earn it."

"Oh really, I hardly think so, in fact you're such a coward you'd refuse to fight me right here!"

"Indeed I am; I fear Aoki-sensei too much to fight you in the classroom."

"And you should. Sit down class."

"Yes, sensei!"

A lecture on the documented uses of kunai followed, to my great interest.

"Hiashi-san, how goes it?" Actually, I'm fairly sure it goes rather poorly; his overall grade has dropped by almost 4% in the last six months.

The pale-eyed Hyuuga glanced at me, "My attention has been devoted to chakra control, almost exclusively."

"Indeed, I'm sure your control must be at least twice as good as my own."

"Your compliment is not merited, Uchiha-san."

"I hardly think so; your intelligence is high, so it follows that your chakra control would be." The Hyuuga have a massive advantage in the Byakugan but I think they squander it by using it only for scouting and Jyuuken.

"My own intelligence is surpassed by our own, Uchiha-san, so if anything your control would be superior."

"Ah, but you have a distinct advantage: you can see chakra."

"Indeed, the Byakugan can."

"And so I rest my case, I hope you and your brother still spar."

"Of course, perhaps you wish for a spar yourself?"

"That was my hope, Hiashi-san."

It's somewhat curious that I call him 'Hiashi-san' whereas he calls me 'Uchiha-san' but it's simply to avoid confusion, and since the Hyuuga twins never interact with Isao, they can just call me Uchiha-san.

And now I have a spar with Hiashi lined up, no way are we doing only taijutsu, I guess the rules will be decided on the site.

XXX

"Hizashi-san, thank you for agreeing to referee," I thanked the younger brother.

"It is no trouble, Uchiha-san."

"Hiashi-san, rules?"

"No jutsu, only taijutsu and bukijutsu." To explain, bukijutsu refers to pretty much any weapon use. While these both end in 'jutsu' the real jutsu in common circles are nin and genjutsu.

This would be hard; perhaps it's time for a field test for my precious whip? I unsealed it.

Hiashi narrowed his eyes, activating his Byakugan wordlessly, "I am ready, Hizashi."

"I as well, Hizashi-san."

"Then begin!" I quickly raised my right hand, ready to lash out.

Hiashi looked me over and then almost elegantly jumped forward, dodging easily my initial downward swing. I twisted my wrist after him causing the whip to careen in Hiashi's direction once more. Rapidly I lashed in and out, swinging with all my novice skill and keeping the Hyuuga heir very much on the defensive.

After I had lacerated the older twin's arms several times, I began to tire slightly, and he seemed inpatient. Hiashi threw four kunai at an impressive rate and charged in, deflecting my whip with Jyuuken. The chakra covered fingers were completely unharmed as the exceedingly precise Jyuuken knocked my whip away.

That was a weakness I'd have to look into. I jumped back, throwing shuriken and pulling my ninja whip with me in my left hand. Swapping hands back I took a kunai in my left and made a straight shot at Hiashi with the whip, the dangerous tip aggressively speeding towards the Hyuuga.

Hiashi ceased his forward rush, content to let my whip impact nothing but thin air. I brought it back in, ready to do the same once more. My less nimble left hand was meanwhile throwing kunai with all the accuracy it could, which was considerably less than my right hand could manage, another weakness to rectify.

Hiashi had used far less energy than I had so far but even though he was Hyuuga the Byakugan could only be activated so long. As far as I knew even Neji a year after graduation couldn't keep it on for much more than an hour.

This fight had lasted seven minutes so far.

Hiashi was clearly aware that he had limited time to finish this; he also knew I had yet to activate my Sharingan. The Hyuuga took a stance, breathing in and out as I watched, finally he rushed forward, deflecting or dodging all of my attacks with minimal consequence to himself.

I threw away my whip as he rushed past its effective range, drawing a kunai as I did so. The speedy blows were too much for my eyes to catch and I was unable to create distance, in a few seconds I felt pain almost all over and fell limply to the ground.

"Why did you not use your Sharingan?"

"Who says I have one?" Let it never be said that I revealed my ultimate advantage to the academy, although Hiashi was 95% sure I had it.

"You do, it's obvious."

"Oh, how so?"

"Your chakra network in the eyes is different from Isao-san's; I can say with certainty that he does not have the Sharingan, so it must be you."

"The Byakugan really does see everything, doesn't it?"

He merely nodded in reply, his Byakugan deactivating as he did so.

Although it can be blocked or countered, it really is an awesome tool.

After discussing the match, including the natural surprise because of the fact I used a whip, I wished them both a good day, informing Hizashi that I'd be asking him for a spar soon. I then picked up my weapons, and decided I needed more. More what you ask? Weapons of course.

Senbon were on the fore-front of my mind, so I visited my blacksmith friend.

"Haven't seen you in a while."

"Indeed, my money stocks were rather low after our last piece of business. I understand you sell shinobi supplies?"

"Buying ready-made? No custom order?"

"That's right, I need senbon, what do you have?"

"I've got plenty, not many shinobi use them when compared to kunai, but there are still quite a number; standard size?"

"Standard is good yes." I compared my new purchase to my senbon from Fugaku, noting with satisfaction that they were the same. Apparently, you could also buy medical senbon and heavy senbon, but I had no need for either.

After paying the money, one ryo per, I had forty senbon and a ten ryo senbon pouch. I took the products home, and naturally, began training in their use. While I had done this a while back, I certainly needed the practice, as evidenced by my less than exemplary accuracy.

Still, by the days end I had satisfactorily completed my regime. Now, I wonder if my little library has books on poison.

After bathing, and then dinner, I made my way to the library that my father had provided for my perusal.

Non-Lethal Poisons, Basic Poison Mixing, and How to Safely use Poisoned Weapons, were the offered titles, I quite like the fact that the names mean exactly what the book is about. Non-Lethal sounds like a good first choice, then Safely.

The book outlined many poisons, and where to find them, as well as a few instructions and some complex poisons. A complex poison is merely a visible compound I.E mixing oil and milk is a complex substance.

The most interesting poison, dubbed Chakra Poison, affected chakra control to the extent that using chakra was pretty much impossible. Unfortunately the ninja eating monster that produces it is uncommon, although the forest of death contains it.

A fairly weak and common poison though was what I would probably to using; it caused paralysis in reasonable doses and could be inhaled, if dried, or inserted into the bloodstream. It grew in every known country, resulting in its popularity. Unfortunately, the antidote was also widely known.

I highly doubt I'll ever become a poison legend like Sasori or Orochimaru, but I can make use of what is already known.

Though the book was not long, only around 100 pages, I was tired and it was getting late, so I retired to bed.

Come morning I was ready to skip school to find poisons, but then I remembered: Today was the weekend, which meant Hiroshi-sensei. This also meant no poison searching, or making, for today and tomorrow. Well, I like Hiroshi so I'll forgive him.

"Nanashi-kun, how do you feel about learning another Katon technique?"

"I perceive myself to be ready."

"Good, don't use your Sharingan for this, Katon: Fiery Beheading!"

A thin line of fire came out of Hiroshi's mouth, twisting rapidly around the dummy's 'neck', closing in and then blazing with fury upon impact. The affected section was moderately burnt and decently damaged by the small impact explosion.

"A personal favorite, this one is a real challenge to learn, I expect it'll take a month."

No kidding, this probably takes control almost on the level of chakra strings to create. Hiroshi explained the proper stance and the hand signs for the technique, filling me in on the fact that the length of the string was manipulated by the quantity of chakra used.

I gathered chakra in my belly, exhaling it while focusing on the concept and still holding the last hand seal. I instead exhaled nothing, he wasn't kidding when he said it would take a while.

Incidentally, I've never heard of this, high C-rank, jutsu before; the preparation time makes it almost impossible to use in a close range battle, but I'd say it's incredibly useful against immobilized enemies. Next justu to learn would have to be the Doton beheading thing that Kakashi uses against Sasuke.

I concentrated, carefully lining my insides with protective chakra and then again exhaled this time saying the name of the technique, "Katon: Fiery Beheading."

A wavy line of chakra that I could not see without my Sharingan exuded from my open lips, fizzling out after a few inches. As expected, controlling chakra in such a shape outside your body is quite difficult.

Now to keep at it, "Thank you very much Hiroshi-sensei."

"No trouble at all, once you've got it down, let me know; we'll be meeting like normal after this." Before he took off he corrected any visible errors in my method and gave some tips. Apparently, this isn't a common jutsu, the lack of destructive power making it unpopular among mainstream Katon users. The fact that its fire, however, makes it disliked among assassin style ninja as well.

I quite like it though, despite it similarity to a whip, or perhaps that's the reason? No matter, I'll get it down.

I spent the rest of the day alternating between eating, using my new jutsu – or trying to -, and throwing kunai with my left hand or lying down.

By the time supper rolled around I was less than proud of myself. Still, 'I learn more from my failures than my successes' is what they say, right? It's just another way of saying, "You've got no talent, but don't feel bad."

Which isn't a wrong saying either, with talent you have no control over it, so feeling bad about it is stupid, whereas with being fat you should feel bad, since you could have prevented it. Dying of starvation, however, was not something to feel bad about, since you can't control it. Well, unless you're an idiot who starves themselves when food is all around you.

On that tangent, you should feel bad about not eating dead human bodies if that's the only way to survive, somehow, I think this is flawed. Anyway, I'm very tired, another early night it is.

"Good night, Nii-san, Haha, Chichi."

"Good night, Nanashi," My father answered for the group.

"Fugaku, you really need to push harder," Were the last words I heard as I dropped off into blissful sleep.

XXX

For fun today, I applied a genjutsu on Kushina, who is rather weak to them, that makes her see my eyes as Hiashi's. This'll be fun.

"Oi, clan-bo-," She cut herself off as she finally saw my eyes. I should mention; I used the henge before I used the eye-to-eye genjutsu for this fine morning. Everything looked quite natural.

"How in the name of the Hokage did you get the Hyuuga's freak eyes?!"

"Do I have the Byakugan?" I asked turning with a confounded look to the rest of the class. In unison they shook their heads no, further adding to the effect.

Kushina rubbed her eye and even hit herself, enough to dispel most low-rank genjutsu I noticed, and then looked at me again. I cocked my head to the side, my now white in her sight eyes following my movements perfectly normally.

"The heck is going on? You still have them freak-eyes."

"Shall we take you to the doctor?" I asked, veiling my mocking tone only thinly.

"Take who to the doctor?"

"Good morning, Aoki-sensei!" The class chorused as said man entered the room fully.

"Ah, Uzumaki-san seems to think I have the Byakugan." I explained, lacing my voice with concern and sheer befuddlement.

In response the teacher narrowed his eyes at me and then Kushina, scowling after he did so.

"Hyuuga Hiashi, as class rep you have the honor, take Uzumaki to the nurse." Yoshiro said shortly, causing said Hyuuga to get up with all his grace and gesture for Kushina to exit; she did so, at length.

As Kushina left I allowed my chakra in her brain to leave, no evidence now.

"Now that that's over, we can get down to business, today we'll learn exactly what clans live in Konoha and their specialties."

"From the top, the Aburame, a Noble clan, are a clan of insect users…" He continued and I allowed my mind to stay half-focused for only minor clans, the main ones I already knew about.

Incidentally, no clans I did not know of popped up. This made for a rather boring class hour, though I kept my mind occupied in other ways. How much should I change things? Should I even try anything at all? No, Nagato needed to be dealt with, one way or another, and I didn't have much time.

Jiraiya was his sensei, so I'm guessing Nagato was taught by Jiraiya before said Sannin taught Minato. But what if I was wrong? What if Jiraiya only went to Ame after Minato was already a jonin. It was a real dilemma, if Yahiko died there would be no chance I could swerve Nagato away from becoming Pein.

And wasn't Danzo somehow involved in that whole spiel? Gah, I wish I had studied Naruto history more. Still, relative to Obito and Orochimaru I rank that rather low. Since Akatsuki wouldn't really go after the Biju without 'Madara' saying so, all I needed to do was either kill Obito when he was born, or stop him from coming in contact with Madara.

Choices, choices. The answer was simple; I needed a tracking seal, something to place on Obito that would tell me where he was at all times. Still, I don't think there is such a thing; sure, maybe one to point direction, but actual location? That'd be a wonder.

The simplest option was to convince Minato to teach me the Hiraishin once he learned it, or steal it from him, barring that. If I could do this, I could feasibly plant one on Obito and then check up on him every once in a while.

Still, the simpler option was to get rid of Obito altogether whilst stopping Sakumo from killing himself. This way I wouldn't be able to predict anything, freeing me from obligation.

If I could pick, I'd want either Orochimaru or Hatake Sakumo as my jonin-sensei, then I could, perhaps, influence them. If the snake boy didn't do his doggone human experiments, then Sarutobi wouldn't make him a missing nin.

This whole web of possibilities was all rather mind-boggling. Still, the most all-encompassing and convenient option was simple: KILL OBITO; this was foremost in my mind. One good kid for the sake of many, it was sick maybe, but it was needed.

Without him, no Kyuubi attack, no Biju hunting organization, no massacre. It was simple, it was needed, it was horrible! What right did I have to take away a boy's life? What right did he have to cause the death of thousands? None, but I had the knowledge, I had the right to use it.

My course was set, Obito had to die, even if the 3rd shinobi war was lost because of it, the consequences were too dire.

But that's all assuming this is cannon-based, what if this is an AU? This is all so complicated; I'll deal with it when it comes. Should I even interfere? If I 'died' now everything would be 'ok', but what's life without risk? It wouldn't be mortal life, that's for sure.

Eventually the class-time ended, breaking me out of my revere.

"Ninjutsu, maggots! Get your lazy rears down here, and show it."

"Henge first, dimwits," Aoki announced, with henge we did it all together, everyone holding theirs until he was done inspecting.

"Everyone here will look like my assistant there in three seconds, clear?"

"Crystal, sir!"

"Go!" I flashed through the two hand-seals I needed for the technique, and transformed into a hopefully perfect rendition of Yoshiro's assistant teacher.

After exactly three seconds the slowest student had transformed. Aoki paced down the line, looking over each fake carefully, very carefully. As he inspected each student, how he knew who was where escaped me, he marked down something on his clipboard.

"Uchiha Nanashi, my assistant's pants are a single shade darker." Well sue me, he's in the shadow, plus no matter how I look at it, the other kid's henges look the same.

"Yes, sensei," Much as I hate agreeing with things I most certainly do not agree with, I doubt any of us are up for one of my stubborn arguments.

"Uzumaki Kushina, my assistant's nose is not that red." Yoshiro pointed out with narrowed eyes, I glanced at said nose and almost burst out laughing, a clown nose, really Kushina?

The rest of the class, minus the Hyuuga boys, had less self-control, most laughing outright and some chuckled, needless to say, some henges were broken. This culminated in group punishment for Kushina and everyone whose henge dispelled. Of course, I was rather happy after this occurred, my lack of physical laughter scoring me some points.

Gambling resulted in my utter defeat, my pride from the previous session being completely crushed.

We ended with some running around the track, after which we were encouraged to use the gym, and, being only slightly sweaty, I availed myself of the offer.

One thing about being young, so little perspiration it's crazy.

To my immediate concern, the three bullies from a while ago are very much in shape and very much present.

"Oi, Uchiha, come here," The tallest one called me over.

Not one to wimp out, I strutted over, "Yes?"

"We's been thinking…"

"You've been thinking…"

"We want a rematch, one at a time, fair like."

"Oh? I'm more than happy to spar." I made sure to not sound condescending, from the look of things I succeeded. The one with the lightest hair handed over a wad of cash to the short one, grumbling about unpredictable clan-brats or something.

"You can call me Ichi."

"And call me Ni." I think I see where this is going, and I don't like it.

"And I'm San," The short one finished.

"Together we are! Teammates for life."

"We need a better catch phrase."

"We need a pose."

"We need to be popular."

"Are we going to spar or are you guys going to argue?" Their personalities seem distinctly different since… how long ago was our last encounter anyway? No matter, they might be a challenge.

"Ah right, there's a sparring ring just outside, I'll lead," Ni spoke up. I followed the boy outside, where a very official looking fighting ring was present.

Ichi stepped in, jumping over the elastic ropes that lined the ring; I lifted them up and walked in, "Considering the nature of our surroundings I'm going to assume just taijutsu."

"Yeah, we'll settle this like men," Ichi answered forcefully.

"Considering that we are male yet not yet men it's only slightly appropriate, do come at me." I ended my little speech with the sign of confrontation, the polite thing to do.

Ichi made no such gesture, instead stretching his muscles in preparation, seeing to reason to wait I jumped forward, landing a solid kick before the surprised boy could react.

"Oi! No one said begin hot-head."

"You never mentioned that someone would, I took advantage of the loophole." I do so like taking advantage of loopholes, especially when they're verbal.

The tallest of the three 'Teammates' snarled back at me, refusing to even admit he was injured by my attack. A foolish decision, it's always better to accept and work with your own body, I'd know.

Ichi slipped into the academy stance with an ease that spoke of unremitting practice and drill, cute. Knowing this, he's probably only fought fellow academy style users, I took the interceptor stance.

I made the come here gesture with my right pinky, syncing it with waggled eyebrows. Ichi simply took it as the signal for making his move. Initially, he took me by surprise by using the Kata's in a working but unconventional order, however, I do not focus on speed in name only.

After Ichi had launched a particularly wide kick I took the opening, giving him a forceful double palm while taking a glancing fist in return. He's obviously been working on his strength; it smarts a little.

Ichi stumbled backwards, finally catching himself on the elastic material that lined the ring; he dodged left just as I attacked with a vicious uppercut, saving him from sure defeat. The move cost him slightly though, my foot-work spinning me around in plenty of time as I struck out with a left straight, Ichi's hasty defense, however, succeeded in taking the blow.

With the boy very much on the defensive now I began kicking fruitfully, landing several hard blows that finally incapacitated him.

I rolled my shoulders, feeling kind of good about that fight, my skills have certainly advanced, more importantly, so has my reach.

"Who is next in line?" I asked politely.

"Me, clan-boy!" Ni shouted as he literally slid under the 'railing' and stood up with nary a stumble after he had crossed the obstruction. If showing off was the point, he got 9.9/10.

"I'll say when to start!" San yelled eagerly.

I simply stood in my position, Ni opting to pace around loosely. Within ten seconds San's yell of "Begin!" sent me flying at the enemy with a serious kick. To his credit, even though surprised, Ni moved out of the way, earning himself the right to only be spun around by my full weight.

Of course, it had to be Ni who liked such flashy things as spins and such, so he spun, but with a leg kicking in an aggressive fashion at my position. My eyes nearly widened but they didn't have time to, instead I somersaulted backwards, effectively avoiding Ni's maneuver.

"Not bad, kid, but not good enough!" The boy announced loudly as he came in with a cart-wheel kick.

The power was good but the speed was lacking, I easily avoided his kick, but was unable to counter.

After I had knocked away some of the - former?- bullies punches he again spun, this time on his own, with a spin kick, using my shorter frame to my own advantage I slipped under his leg, and gave the older male a knee to the groin.

He, understandably, yowled at the pain my less than honorable blow having done him in. To finish things, I punched him out cold.

"San-san, you're up." I informed tonelessly as I unceremoniously dumped Ni off the slightly raised platform.

The shortest of the trio nodded fiercely, clearly wanting to avenge his brethren. He stepped into the ring without fan-fare and looked at me.

"Any time," I smirked confidently, however, despite my bravado my stamina was low; Ichi's fight especially had taken energy out of me.

San, though I doubted it was his real name, watched me warily for a full minute, unconsciously letting me get some much needed rest. At the end of that period, though, I attacked skillfully injuring his wrists in particular.

San, however, turned out to be a terrible match up for me; he had plenty of stamina and even more pain tolerance. After I had exhausted myself on his defense for I don't know how long, the boy struck, leveling me with a straightforward punch that I should've been able to dodge.

However, I was too tired to move quickly, and I found myself on the ground.

I spat out some blood from a cut gum, this sucked. San instantly straddled me and began the traditional punch out, if this weren't taijutsu only I might've won by now.

Heaving myself with a great effort I wrapped my legs around his neck, but I was too weak and he didn't go down. Defeat was mine, "I yield." I somehow said around his unremitting head blows.

It hurt all over; still, it did take three guys older than me to do it.

"You punch like a girl, these two suck." San replied as he cautiously got off of me.

"Ah well, even girls can punch hard." I'll be the second to admit, Kushina hits harder than I do, her skill is somewhat lacking though. In case you wondered, the first to admit it would be Kushina herself.

I was far to wasted to do any more than eat and sleep for the rest of the day. My mother was kind enough to call over a healer, the Uchiha had only a few, and she took care of my bruises and cracked bones.

In the morning I was quite well, and ready for my fight with Hizashi, though I had a little lingering soreness. Class was mostly normal, though today Minato was quite loud about being Hokage; I think he read something inspiring.

In true party crashing fashion, today was the day for the obstacle course, I'd have to put my plans for Hizashi's spar back a day. A certain Aomine Ryota had the honor of being first. Five minutes later the next kid was sent out, then the next.

Finally the count came to me, and I jumped forward. Curiously, Minato holds the current record, though I find it remarkable to believe it's not Hizashi or Hiashi.

I licked my lips as I slid under a falling log, two trees farther back than normal, interesting. I nimbly jumped over a deep pit, studiously ignoring the pleas of a fellow student who had not been so fortunate. They don't make this easy.

A wickerwork with blunt pokers came up from the ground at moderate speed; it was reminiscent of Vietnam to be sure. Though less fatal then the alleged traps that were commonplace there.

A noose sought to capture me and pick me up but it failed spectacularly. Somehow I think chunin or genin are seriously on the scene during this whole session, sadistically resetting traps.

Finally I came to the now redundant rapids that churned with fury over the somewhat dangerous rocks. I had, by now, refined a method of crossing that was startlingly simple, a chakra enhanced jump. While my skill with said technique was nothing impressive, it did get the job done in peaceful environments like this.

Now it was the home stretch, I came out only three minutes after Isao, proving why I was the best of my year.

After this we had taijutsu and genjutsu theory, finally ending the day with arithmetic. Now I could get to those poisons.

I excused myself from Konoha proper, instead foraging in the surrounding forests, where plants that produced incredible substances were not uncommon. I doubt poison will ever be my specialty, but I do feel like it's a useful subject.

Not unexpectedly there's a shop in Konoha that'll identify the poison you've brought in for a small fee. Incidentally they also buy and sell poisons. Orochimaru was the major funder of the institution, I noticed, though Tobirama founded it.

Still, I learned that my three hours of labor had earned me a good bit of paralysis poison and also some that just caused itching.

I sold them my non-extracted poison - meaning it was still inside the plant - in exchange for some prepared poison, combat ready in red letters right on it. Maybe the poison mixing book has some instructions on how to remove the stuff from plants and animals.

To my great and utter delight, it did. After supper I had investigated, finding the book and reading it. I found the entire thing interesting, although some of the stuff was decidedly tedious.

After reading the entire volume, I found that the time had gone right over my head, it now being midnight. The candle I had been reading by was on its last legs so I snuffed it out and went to bed.

Dreams of murdering children assaulted me, finally morphing into an intriguing zombie nightmare. I woke up all too soon, the abrupt ending of the movie-like dream upsetting me to a degree.

Of course, I would have classified the thing as action/adventure as my mind simply is incapable of imagining 'horror'.

Breakfast was eaten and I left to go to school, blowing bits of smoke and changing head-seals as I went. The reason for this was obviously the Fiery Beheading practice that I had been neglecting to a painful degree.

XXX

Two months and a win over Hizashi later I was finally capable of using the thing, taking inordinate pleasure in my belated success.

"It took forever, Hiroshi-sensei."

"Yes it did, I find myself wondering why you took so long."

"Well, I did spend lots of my afternoons poison gathering."

"You are pretty random Nanashi-kun, you sure you don't want to pick something to specialize in?"

"Eh, that's for chunin."

"Indeed, I suppose it is."

"What's on the agenda today?"

"3-tomoe Sharingan is! Get to it."

"Uh, how?" I asked, with uncharacteristic unintelligence.

"Use your 2-tomoe for a long, long time, and learn techniques with it activated." It should be mentioned that he does mean learn, without 3 tomoe the 'stealing' ability of the Sharingan is limited.

"Will you teach me then?" I asked.

"To an extent, we'll do some sparring and stuff too."

The technique he taught me was a D-rank Katon technique Burning Touch, the flaw with it was the chakra cost, rather high for D-rank, and power, not much damage was done. In actual combat it also had the tendency to burn the user.

After I had learned the rather simple technique, Hiroshi put ointment on my burns and we began our taijutsu spar.

With my Sharingan, I lasted longer than before; Hiroshi finally putting me down with a two-foot kick that knocked me down for minutes. I kept my Sharingan on in spite of the wastefulness of doing so during this time.

At length I got up, and then began throwing kunai, my form as text-book perfect as possible, yet loose enough for real combat. Eventually supper came around, and Hiroshi sensei and I went in for said meal.

"How was he, Hiroshi-san?" Father asked bluntly.

"He'll get there," Was the younger Uchiha's cryptic answer.

"Good, you've done well, Nanashi, continue to do so."

"Of course, Father, I won't let you down."

"Let's eat," Was his answer. And so we did.