Itachi enters the academy

7 months passed…

Ryuu and Itachi were walking towards a spot Shisui found right outside the village and near the Uchiha compounds.

"Itachi, you're almost the age to go to the academy, right?" Itachi nodded.

"Father said by next year I should have started." Ryuu nodded.

Itachi stopped walking.

"Huh?" Ryuu looked back.

"Big brother, I wanted to ask…

What was your dream when you began the academy?"

Ryuu smiled.

"When I was young, a lot of kids wished to be like their parents, or like the Hokage when they grow up, I never wanted to be like that.

I experienced a lot of stuff before going to the academy…

Stuff that I didn't want to happen to many others, I saw things that no one should and so; I made my dream.

My dream was to become the most powerful shinobi of all time, even more than all the Hokage combined, those who would come before me and after me.

And when I do, I'll stop all the fighting in the world, and finally, shinobi will live in peace and harmony, and I'll be the Hokage."

Itachi's eyes widened.

'Big brother… he's just like me…' Itachi said to himself.

Ryuu saw Itachi's look.

"Has your dream ever changed?" Itachi asked.

Ryuu shamefully looked down.

"It has…

At the time, it was the biggest loss I had ever received, of course, for now, it's nothing compared to losing lord fourth, I truly miss Minato and Kushina, I really looked up to them, you know.

Anyway, during the third shinobi war, Obito and I had been crushed under a rock, we were supposed to be dead but…

This man manipulated and used us; he convinced me that one way or another, shinobi must fight.

I was weakened at that point and my belief in the dream I had wavered, for a long time my dream was completely different.

Around that time, I made a horrible mistake that almost cost the lives of many and I did it all because of hate and revenge.

Eventually, I came back to my senses and resumed my pursuit of peace, but still…"

Ryuu frowned, remembering those days.

"The point is, if you truly want to achieve that dream, you have to understand, nothing will ever be easy, you'll go through a lot of tough situations, but if it means that much to you, you will always come back to the right path."

'Big brother's past failures and trials are things that have helped him grow into a great shinobi, they've challenged him but he still never gives up.

If there was a shinobi, I was to look up to, it would be him.'

Itachi followed Ryuu.

They were just outside the village.

Nearby was a cliff outside the village, in a spot only they knew about.

Below the cliff, rising perpendicularly to the ground, there was a river that meandered along from behind the Hokage Monument and flowed out of the village.

By the time it reached them, the water flowed much faster and deeper than at its starting point in the village.

"Sensei, you're here too?"

Ryuu nodded.

"Yeah, I'm the reason Itachi arrived so late, I was distracted by someone on my way here."

"No problem, sensei." Shisui responded.

Ryuu looked around, enjoying the view.

He glanced at Shisui and remembered something.

"Sigh."

Ryuu sighed.

Itachi and Shisui noticed Ryuu's depressed look and sat near him, hoping they'd change his mood.

"Itachi, Shisui, I want you to know something." They looked at him.

"Things in the village are heading towards a temporary dark path, but…

No matter what happens now, remember that I'll always protect you, it doesn't matter what I'll have to do, just know that I'll do it.

But I'll need your help."

He looked at them.

"I want you both to give it your all to become stronger than ever, the war may be over, but times will only get tougher before they get better. I just want to know that you'll also get tougher." They nodded.

"We promise," Shisui said, Itachi nodded in agreement.

"Well, Itachi, from now on I'm going to be training you, not just in ninjutsu, I'll teach you everything I know before you join the academy.

And before you know it, you'll be a shinobi too."

"Really? big brother?" Ryuu nodded.

"Let's just hope I don't get that many missions that take long." Itachi nodded.

'For the next six months, whenever I was free, I would teach and train Itachi, being the genius he is, he would learn anything and everything incredibly fast, I also took time to train Shisui.

I also spent some time with everyone else, I barely got any sleep during that period because Naruto was always waking me up, at least now he can sort of speak.'

Early in the morning, after showering and wearing his Anbu uniform, Ryuu walked to the Uchiha compounds.

He passed Fugaku's house and went towards the Uchiha training grounds and found Itachi sweating and panting while he threw shurikens toward the targets.

He got them all at the dead center.

"All that hard work is paying off, huh?"

Itachi looked back with a smile on his face.

"I still need to improve if I ever want to be close to you." Ryuu smiled.

"You're being too humble, Itachi, you're much better than anyone your age and even better than a lot of people older than you." Itachi nodded.

"Anyway, I can't wait to see you off on your first day in the academy." Itachi's eyes glowed up.

"You're going to be there?" Ryuu nodded.

"Well, I have to be there, I'm the Hokage's second-hand man, you know.

Although I'm also the one who's been teaching you and it would be a shame to miss this." Itachi nodded.

Itachi and Ryuu ran back home.

Ryuu smiled as he looked at Itachi, who was beside him, keeping up with him.

'Itachi's finally keeping up with me in terms of speed, I know he's gotten a lot stronger.

Well, he better have, all those difficult training sessions we had and all that time and effort we spent will never be considered a waste.'

After showering, Itachi ran outside after saying bye to his mother and Sasuke.

"Good luck!" Mikoto yelled.

"Thanks!" He yelled back.

Meanwhile, Ryuu and Kakashi were escorting Sakumo to the academy.

"So Fugaku's son is finally attending the academy?" Ryuu nodded.

"Kakashi thinks he won't graduate early."

"I'm just saying that because you think he'll be done within a year, just like you did."

Kakashi stated.

"I bet it'll even be less than a year, I taught him everything, you know." Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't mean much if we're being honest."

Ryuu frowned.

"What does that mean?!"

"I'm just saying, even though he's learning from a worldwide war hero, he's still learning from a big pervert."

Ryuu's eyes widened.

"For your information, my old ways ended as soon as I… nevermind!

Well, at least I've acknowledged that I'm slightly perverted.

I couldn't say the same thing about you, though.

You're a complete closet perv, you know."

Sakumo smiled after seeing the two of them bickering like in the old days.

"Guys, Guys, calm down, you're not kids anymore, now you're both co-captains of the Anbu unit that protects me, but all I'm thinking about is how many times I could've died while you were bickering." Ryuu and Kakashi both shyly scratched their heads.

"Oh no worries, dad we're surely focused right now.

I mean Hokage-sama!" They both said.

'That never fails to freak me out.'

They reached the academy.

All the parents stood in a line behind their children.

It didn't take long for Ryuu to find Itachi.

He winked at Itachi, and he smiled before hiding.

Ryuu and Kakashi hid in the shadows to protect Sakumo as he welcomed the new students.

Sakumo stood on some steps while the other Chunins and Jonins stood beneath and beside him.

These were the teachers and instructors.

'Even though he didn't show it, I could see how excited Itachi was to attend the academy, not because of school itself, but because he was most excited that his path to becoming a shinobi was beginning.'