Chūnin Exams (II).

"Your stance and your movements are too stiff. You will have trouble hitting an enemy with such predictable attacks."

Izumi looked at him sullenly. "You know that I'm top of my class, don't you? I hit all the others just fine."

"Yes," Itachi said with a small, amused smile. "But at the academy, all your 'enemies' are children without any experience who are still learning, just like you."

She sighed but didn't deny it before she let herself fall back to the ground with her arms behind her head.

They were both silent for a moment, only listening to the whistling of the wind and the rustling of nearby leaves.

"Thank you."

He looked at her questioningly. "For what? This is hardly the first time we train together."

She giggled. "Yes, but you were so busy training with your team, your father, and Shisui to prepare for the Chūnin Exams that we didn't have much time to do so recently. I thought that we might not have the chance to train together before you became a Chūnin, so I'm grateful that you somehow found the time for me."

He raised an eyebrow. "You seem pretty confident that I will get promoted."

She heaved herself into a sitting position and crossed her arms in front of her chest before giving him a dry look. "We talked about this before you became a Genin already, remember? When you do something, you don't just participate; you also win." She sent him a mock glare. "Or at least you better do, or else I will look like an idiot."

"In that case, I better increase my training in order of not disappointing all trust you put in me."

She gave him a big smile. "You better!" Then she became serious again. "What kind of training did you do so far, anyway? I know that the finals consist of one against one fights, but there must be more to it."

"Well," he started, "every exam has three stages, and they always differ from the ones of the previous exams. There are always cases where a few exams had similar tests, but it's never quite the same. The only thing that never changes is the third stage that, as you just said, is a tournament where the participants fight one another.

The first exam is usually designed to test the participants for a certain ability every Chūnin needs to possess, things like information gathering skills, deduction skills, the ability to work under pressure. My team and I looked into the records to read about former tests that were held to get an idea and prepare for similar scenarios, and we also asked some Chūnin and Jōnin about their personal experiences. There is not much more than that we can do to prepare for this stage.

The second exam is generally a survival test. Here in Konoha, this test more often than not takes place in the Forest of Death, but there have been occasions where the location was changed. From what we heard from the different shinobi we asked, we deducted that there is regularly an additional objective that needs to be fulfilled during this exam as well, something that isn't obvious at the first glance because the survival test keeps your attention. Unfortunately, no one we asked wanted to give us something more specific than that."

Of course, he had already absolved the exams once, so all this questioning had been pretty boring to him. Still, it benefited his teammates and that was the important thing.

"Of course we have no idea if Iwa's exams are based on the same principles as ours, with the notable exception of the final tournament. This is also the first time that Iwa hosts Chūnin Exams that are open to all shinobi instead of only the ones from their village, so we have no way of gaining information about previous exams held in Iwa. If the consequences of the Third Shinobi World War were already subject of discussion at the academy, you know that villages originally held their own, individual exams and only opened their doors for outsiders after the end of the war as part of the ongoing efforts to keep the peace." He looked at her to see her reaction and only continued once he noticed that she didn't seem surprised by this statement, meaning she already knew it beforehand. "Anyway, besides the already mentioned things, we also researched the characteristics of the land, especially nearby the village, to prepare for any form of test that could be held there." He shrugged. "Other than that, there isn't much else we can do."

Izumi, whose chin had continued to sink the longer he talked, starred at him in clear surprise before she suddenly snorted. "You know, I think this is the longest I have ever heard you speak. I could get used to it."

He gave her a dry look which only resulted in her laughing even harder.

"Maybe the reason I don't talk more is that the topics you bring up aren't entertaining enough?" he said teasingly once her laughter ebbed up a bit.

"Hey!" she exclaimed and tried to act insulted, only to be betrayed by her twitching lips. "That's mean, Itachi! How else would you stay up to date if I don't tell you what happens in the village? You depend on me!"

"I could ask Shisui?"

Izumi crossed her arms. "Yeah, right, you mean because he is so much more social than you?"

He chuckled. 'Well,' he thought, 'she isn't wrong.'

"Of course," he agreed easily. "You're right. I shouldn't have doubted you. How can I make it up to you?"

"Teach me a Jutsu!" she answered immediately.

He raised a brow in surprise. Considering the speed with which she had said that, she must have thought about this request for some time now. Maybe this was even the main reason she had come to his house and ask for a training session this morning. But...

"Do you still have problems with your Sharingan?"

Her posture fell a bit at that. "Yeah..." Izumi looked down dejectedly. "I try to use it every week or so, but I just can't keep it activated for more than a few minutes without fainting!"

He frowned at that. "Which means you don't have enough chakra to keep up with the amount your eyes require, which is a very strong indicator that you currently also lack the reserves for anything more than the techniques they teach you at the academy."

"But you can use Jutsu just fine!" she exclaimed in visible frustration. "And so can Shisui! Why do you two have more chakra than me?"

"Izumi," he said calmly. "Can you tell me how a shinobi can increase his chakra reserves?"

She looked like she would argue with him for a moment but then she took a deep breath to calm herself down before replying in a way that indicated she had memorized the textbook word for word. "A person's reserves increase naturally as they grow older, which is also the reason even civilians who were never taught in its use have a certain amount of it. The reason a shinobi has more chakra than a civilian is that they regularly use it since their early childhood, accelerating the natural increase even more..." She stopped, obviously realizing what he wanted her to understand. "But Itachi," she said, now more confused than frustrated. "You don't use chakra much more often than I do, right? Or a least you didn't when you still went to the academy, and I know you could use several Jutsu that aren't in the curriculum even back then!"

He shook his head. "My father started to teach me early, beginning with easy methods to improve my chakra control at first and later by teaching me the academy techniques before my actual enrollment to improve my reserves. This worked out well, improving them noticeably especially compared to our peers. You shouldn't compare yourself to me, that only gives you a wrong picture of yourself. You are actually rather above average compared to the other students, both in talent and in terms of your chakra, but most people don't learn any Ninjutsu before they join a Genin team because they're simply unable to."

She looked downcast at him. "So does that mean I will not be able to use any Jutsu before I graduate?"

"Of course not." He smiled reassuringly. "Izumi, you know that performing the Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball Technique) when you're ten is considered a passing of age rite for the Uchiha Clan. How do you think almost every Uchiha is able to achieve this if it were impossible to learn Ninjutsu until after your graduation?"

She looked confused at him for a moment before she started trying to remember everything she knew about chakra, absently biting her lower lip in concentration. The moment she found the solution, it was as if a light bulb went on above her head and she beamed at him with newfound enthusiasm in her brown eyes. "Using the same technique over and over again allows your body to get used to it, making it require less chakra over time, and because every Uchiha starts learning the Fireball Technique a year or two before they need to perform it, our bodies have more than enough time to do so!"

His smile widened a bit. "That is right, but let me remind you that this process will stop once you reached a certain point as there is a minimum requirement of chakra for every technique. While I don't think this will be a problem for you, there are cases where an Uchiha has below average reserves and is still unable to perform the technique by the time they're ten."

"So," Izumi started, ignoring everything he had just said, "how long do you think I will need until I can perform the Jutsu if I start my training right now?"

Itachi thought about this question for a few seconds before he nodded to himself, coming to a conclusion. "That's hard to say. This process is very individual and can last from one week to one year" -he raised his hand when she tried to say something, effectively silencing her- "but I think I know how to help you. I will write down a few training methods to improve your chakra control that you don't learn at the academy until much later, for once. Better control will make it easier for you to perform the technique later on. I will also give you a scroll that has a drawing of how the chakra is molded inside your body when you wave hand seals, the one we should have back at home is only catching dust anyway. I want you to use the hand seals and concentrate on the flow of chakra inside your body, but without actually performing the technique. This isn't quite as effective as repeatedly using a Jutsu, but it still makes your body grow accustomed to it.

In addition to this, I also want you to activate your Sharingan every evening before you go to sleep and then keep them active for as long as you can without fainting. Once you feel like you reached this point, deactivate them again, eat something, and then go to bed. The Sharingan is similar to Ninjutsu in the aspect that you need less and less chakra the more often and longer you use them. It's a fact that most adult members of our clan require only a very small amount of chakra to use them, making the drain feel nearly imperceptible. That naturally wouldn't work for someone who stole an eye of an Uchiha, as they don't have our bodies." He gave her a warm smile. "Who knows, maybe you will be able to use your Sharingan already by the time I come back from Iwa?"

She looked at him for a few seconds before suddenly sending him a sly smile. "I think I need to correct my statement from before; this is the longest thing I have ever heard you speak!"

He sighed exaggeratedly. "I hope you at least listen to me rather than just concentrate on that. It's very crucial for your training, after all." He shook his head. "Well, maybe you need some more motivation to heed my advice, so how about this: If you can perform the Fireball Technique and keep your Sharingan activated for at least thirty minutes straight when I come back after I finished the exams, I will teach you another technique. One that is unique to me, even. What do you say?"

She jumped to her feet and pulled him with her, her Sharingan blazing and a challenging smile on her lips. "Let's start right now!"