Chapter 17: The Stars in his Eyes

"Who was the Yellow flash?"

" The 4th Hokage, Minato Namikaze!"

"Who are called the legendary sannin?"

"Orochimaru, Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraya!"

"And who gave them this title?"

"A-ahm…. The daimyo?" *Smack* "Ouch! Not the head!" Atsuki complained as Shin smacked his head with a rolled up newspaper. " Who is the leader of Amegakure?" Shin continued with his questions while walking around the lounge in vertical circles. "Ahm.. oh Hanzo?" Atsuki replied to which Shin asked a follow up question, "And with what title is he mostly known?" Atsuki looked at the kid who was now walking across the roof with leg and arm weights attached while reading a book. "Hanzo of…Amegakure?" Atsuki replied while getting ready for another smack that never came. He looked up to see Shin nodding, he was sighing in relief as he suddenly heard a rustle and looked up. Shin jumped downwards and spun, releasing all the force in a *SMACK!* "OUCH!" Atsuki rolled around the floor while a frustrated Shin scolded him, "Hanzo of Amegakure!? Of Course he's from Amegakure! He's their Kage! It's Hanzo of the Salamander! One of the most feared ninjas of the second shinobi war! The man who defeated an entire army and gave the legendary sannin their titles!"

Atsuki sat back up while still holding his aching head, "Why do I have to learn all this anyways? Who's gonna ask me history questions when in a fight?" "Do you want to pass the Chunin exams or not? It doesn't matter how strong you are if you can't even pass the written exam!" Shin continued to scold Atsuki. Before the two could continue the doorbell rang and Shin tossed the book to Atsuki, "You better have memorized the next page by the time I'm back!" "The whole page!?" Atsuki yelled in disbelief.

Shin put on his shoes as he stepped down and opened the door. Outside, a young girl with spiky black hair, wearing red and black clothes stood holding two vouchers to Shin's regular Cake Shop behind her back. When Shin saw the girl he was surprised, "Yukia? What are you doing here?" "O-Oh, ahm, I came by before but you weren't there so… here!" She presented the vouchers to Shin, "As a thank you… you know, for treating me when I was injured." Shin took the vouchers, surprised that the shop even had vouchers in the first place. "Ah, thanks. It's from my favorite shop too. How did you know?" "Is it? Haha, weird coincidence. I just got something random!" The girl turned a shade redder while fidgeting.

The two stood a while in silence when Shin checked her level, 'Level 16 huh, makes sense, she's only 8.' "So… I heard you tried the graduation exam again, did you pass?" Shin tried to make conversation, he couldn't just send her away after she brought a gift, while knowing that she hadn't because her title was still [Civilian of Konoha] but he had to say something to end the silence. Yukia however turned sour, "I didn't. Are you going to make fun of me too?" she said defensively. Shin could only smile and shake his head, "Of course not." He flicked her forehead. "You Uchihas get way too emotional. I just wanted to say that you shouldn't try so hard, I know you are already good enough, you just need to take a step back and relax.. I'm sure you'll pass next time."

The girl held her forehead and looked down, "oh… A-hm, I should be going now. Bye!" she spoke in a small voice before running away, leaving a confused Shin. 'Did I go too far with the flick? We aren't close after all. It's that damn Atsuki's fault! Making me hit him all the time has turned it into a habit.' With new found aggression towards Atsuki, Shin closed the door and went back inside, "You better have completely memorized the next page!"

As Atsuki was being tormented- ahem, educated by Shin, Yukia made her way towards the Uchiha compound, her hands still on her forehead as she distractedly walked into someone. "Ah! I'm sorry!" The girl immediately apologized to the other person before realizing who it was, "Itachi oni-san!" the girl smiled. Like many children in the Uchiha clan, she too admired this genius and tried to follow in his footsteps. "Oh Yukia. Are you alright?" The boy asked. "Yes I'm fine! Thank you!" the girl quickly replied. "Alright then." The older boy started to walk away before the girl immediately thought of something and called him out, "Hold on! Itachi oni-san, aren't you going to participate in the upcoming Chunin exams?" "Yes." the boy simply replied. "Oh, Two of my classmates are also going to participate, Shin and Atsuki." the girl tried to make a conversion. Itachi thought for a bit and replied, "Yes, I've heard about them. They are students of Fujio Hatake right?" "That's right!" The girl smiled before continuing, "I've heard that this time the Exam is going to be in Suna and they don't have a 3 person team either. I know you probably don't need any help but if you do then you can team up with them. They are really strong," the girl helpfully suggested "Alright, thank you for the suggestion." With that the boy went away and Yukia went back home.

.........

It was early march when a group of ninjas departed from the gates of Konoha. It was a team consisting of 6 genins, 2 Jonins and 1 cat, their destination was the great desert in the land of wind. Of the 8 ninjas, 4 were part of a team with three genins and their Jonin sensei, the most notable name among them was "Iruka Umino" which greatly surprised Shin since the guy was only at Level 24 and their Jonin sensei was only at Level 72. Among the other 4 were Atsuki at level 32, Shin at level 40, Itachi at Level 68(+30) and Jonin Kouki Uchiha at Level 94(+25). 'I knew Itachi would be strong but this is just absurd, he is nearly the same level as Fujio sensei! And what is with those "+"? Assal?'

[Abnormal energy detected. An unnatural body modification, allowing subject to bring forth uncommon power which is being marked separately]

'Oh, well I suppose it's because they are all part alien. Still, even without it he is at least mid Jonin and he is only 10! No wonder he is called a prodigy. And the other guy they sent to protect him is no joke either. A total level of 119, this is beyond an elite Jounin! Fujio sensei is an elite Jounin, this guy is something else. No wonder the Uchiha are so feared! Before, I was worried about going to Suna, now I am worried about the fool that would dare mess with this guy.'

The journey was slower than expected, the genin team being unable to keep up high speeds for too long hence the group having to make regular stops to let them recover. During these stops, Shin tried to strike up a conversation with Itachi which consisted mostly of Shin talking and Itachi listening with occasional short replies. Atsuki was curious about what I was doing before but soon started to bring Itachi into their conversations as well. The elders of Konoha had decided to make the three gennins into a temporary team. Apparently it was a last minute change as they only found out about it today. This was their first interaction and the three tried to assess each other. Kouki Uchiha arranged for a light spar between the three so they could get used to each other's fighting styles. Even if it was supposed to be a free for all, it was mostly Itachi dodging the two boy's attacks swimmingly, like a fish in water, unfazed by the currents around it. Atsuki was hurt (emotionally), he always looked down on his fellow classmates that were from big name clans but still couldn't beat him. Now he was not even a challenge for Itachi. Shin tried to console his friend, "Not all clan kids are so strong you know!. I mean Yukia failed her graduation exam again and you passed that like a year ago!" This seemed to calm him down and regain his confidence while Shin mentally apologized to Yukia for using her like this but SHin needed Atsuki to be in top condition.

As the journey went on, the air became drier and the trees grew more and more sparse. Soon, all the group could see was an endless stretch of barren land that soon turned from rocks to sand. The group's speed became much lower as they encountered the shifting sand dunes and surprise quicksands randomly sinking them in. 'No wonder no one tries to attack Suna, no one can survive in this terrain while the sand ninja are born in this place, molded by it.' Shin looked at the endless yellowish brown and rethought his conjecture, 'No one would even want this place in the first place.'

The Jonin senseis used this opportunity to demonstrate the 'Sand walking technique' which was essentially the same as its tree or water counterparts, only on sand. Shin was able to learn it within a minute since he already knew the other two, Atsuki was able to get it down in a few tries and Itachi might've been born having already mastered it. The other genins had some trouble so the speed of movement didn't increase all that much overall.

The journey through the desert took several days at least so the Jonin senseis took the genins to resting spots like small oasis villages or rocky caves but tonight they lay in the open desert, under the bright starry sky. Shin lay there, peering into the vast universe above, "I wonder, if there is other life out there." His words grabbed the attention of others as they sat around smoldering coals. "Where?" Atsuki asked in confusion. "There." Shin pointed to the sky, an assortment of colorful stars twinkling with gentle lights. "The sky?" Atsuki asked again. Shin shook his head, "No. beyond the sky. Beyond this world." Atsuki gave Shin a weird look but Shin just turned to Itachi who was sitting beside him, "Can you tell me what you see?" Shin asked the boy.

Itachi understood the boy's intention and looked towards the sky again, this time his eyes turning red. Shin saw Itachi's eyes turn slightly wider as he looked deep into them, hoping to see in them, to see what they see, to see through them. After a short while, Itachi looked back down to Shin and spoke but struggled to explain, "It's… it's like seeing the colors of the rainbow… scattered across the sky." "Rainbow? I Don't see any rainbow." Atsuki looked up, trying to see a colorful arch. Shin looked into Itachi's eyes as they regained their pitch black color and smiled before looking up again, "I see." 'Colors of the rainbow huh. Powerful sharingan can see through the body and into the secrets hidden beneath. Perhaps they can also see a larger spectrum of light as well. I wonder what it looks like to someone with a Sharingan.'

The night passed quietly as the group of ninjas, trained for nothing more than to lie, kill and cheat, looked up at the sky in wonderous awe. For the people that lived to see death and destruction at every step, perhaps this was the first time in their lives that they saw the night sky and enjoyed its allure and beauty.

When the day came, the ninjas set off with the first light of dawn. Reaching Sunagakure just after noon. They were escorted through the great sandy walls, under both curious and cautious gazes of the ninjas hidden in battlements of the huge wall before they entered the village itself.

They were escorted by a Suna ninja whose whole body was covered except for his eyes. The man didn't speak more than necessary and straightaway led them to the hotel arranged for them. "The first portion of the exam will begin tomorrow. Avoid leaving the hotel without an escort. Farewell." The man simply spoke his piece and left them at the hotel lobby. The hotel itself was simple but apparently, also the best in the village. Shin quickly stopped Atsuki from making any remarks that would get all eyes on them, at least until they got to their room. "This is the best in the village? Sheesh. The hospitals in Konoha are better than this!" Shin rolled his eyes while warning Atuski about bringing them unnecessary trouble and the trio started to discuss tactics for tomorrow's exams. The two teams both had separate rooms while the Jonins both stayed in individual rooms. This allowed Shin, Atsuki and Itachi to discuss strategy and try to make up plans for passing the exams.

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A/N: Thankyou everyone that is giving me votes but I'm afraid they are wasted since I dont have enough reviews to get in the rankings, I need 10 reviews to get listed. Looking forward to reading your thoughts, Enjoy reading.