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Konohagakure

Gin's hands moved rapidly, forming the necessary seals to perform the fireball jutsu.

After forming the hand seals, Gin sucked in a mouthful of air, and formed a cone shape with his hand, placing it at the end of his mouth.

"Fire Style: Greater Fireball Jutsu"

A stream of fire, shot out from his mouth, and rushed towards the lake, sending steeam up into the air. The stream of fire was almost large enough to engulf a small house in one swoop.

'..It's not molding itself into a ball. Besides after just using it three times, I'm feeling fatigued.' Gin, thought while wiping his sweat. 'The key is to use only the required amount of chakra, as more or less could affect the shperical shape of the jutsu. Secondly, I need to maintain the shape, even after my chakra connection has been cut from from it.'

A week slowly went by, as Gin's routine became more or less stabilized. Every morning he would head to lakeside to perfect his 'Fireball Jutsu', after which he would attend he ninja academy with Obito. Followed by which he would train shurikenjutsu with Obito in the Uchiha training courtyard. Finally he would head back to the lakeside, to practice 'Fireball Jutsu'.

'My current limit is three fireballs when my chakra is full. My success can be attributed to my knowledge of reiatsu, but what about him...' Gin stared at Obito, who failed at using the greater fireball, but instead created his own jutsu from his failure.

"Fire Style: Lesser Fireball"

A thin stream of fire erupted from his mouth. At the end of the stream, the fire turned into palm sized fireballs that shot towards the targets. He could easily fire upto six-seven of these palm sized fireballs.

'..Could he be using different hand seals, which results in a different result?' Gin pondered silently. Afterall, he himself hadn't managed to peform a perfect 'Greater Fireball'.

"Gin, you are always so good at shurikenjutsu." Pouted Obito, after watching Gin's shuriken hit their marks effortlessly.

Gin's hands weaved through the air, as he threw one shuriken after the other. Each shuriken followed a particular trajectory, before squarely landing on Gin's desired location. Looking losely, one could see thin metal wires attached to certain shurkiens that followed abnormal trajectories.

"Wow, you can even manipulate shurikens using metal wires." Exclaimed Obito, showing childish jealous. 'I need to train harder. I have to become the hokage.'

Obito on the other hand, lacked Gin's finesse with shurikens and often ended up nearly wounding the instructors.

"Obito, you need more practice." Spoke the Uchiha grounds keeper.

"Haha, yes yes." Laughed Obito embarrassingly.

"Instructor, I wondering if I could find a sword?" Asked Gin, towards the ground keeper.

"We do have swords, but using a sword require discipline, training and most importantly technique." Spoke the grounds keeper. "The instructor who can teach kenjutsu, is currently not in the village."

"That's fine. I justed wanted to borrow one to try something out on my own." Gin spoke, with his eerie smile.

...........

"Guy, where is your youthful vigor?" Duy shouted loudly, as he watched Guy struggling to lift weights.

"Dad....I can still do this. I have the passion of youth." Guy spoke, while nearly being crushed under the weights he was lifting. Veins started popping up on his face, from the strain on his barely developed muscles, as he lifted and tossed the weights to the side.

"Haah...Haaah....I did it." Guy spoke, his eyes droopy from tiredness and his body drenched in sweat.

"Well done son." Laughed Duy, giving his son a thumbs up. "You are ready for the next step."

"Really? I can finally learn jutsus?" Asked Guy excitedly, shaking away his previous exhaustion.

"Hahah, no my boy. You are not ready for the ultimate jutsu." Guy laughed as he pulled soemthing out from his bagpack. "I meant these."

"Leg weights?" Guy asked, disappointed.

"Why are you sad my boy?" Asked Duy. "It's not that I don't want to teach you the eight hidden gates. Your current body will not be able to handle the pressure that comes with it. Hardwork can not be rushed." Duy tried to cheer his son up.

'I have to surpuss Kakashi...' Guy thought about his rival, and his progress. "Alright dad, put the weights on me."

"That's the passion of youth I've been looking forward to." Laughed Might Duy, as he tied the leg weights around his legs and covered them with orange leg warmers.

'Hmph, how heavy could it possible be?' Guy, smikred with absolute confidence in being able to overcome the weights.

"What?" Guy's eyes widened in shock, as he realized he could barely take step. "Dad, just how heavy is this??"

"Hahahaha. Did you think it would be easy?" Laughed Duy, giving his son a thumbs up.

"Dad, when can I take them off?" Asked Guy, finding it nearly impossible to move around freely.

"Ah, never."

..............

Root Headquaters

"Lord Danzo, I've bought the report you've asked me to." Spoke a man wearing a white mask and a black cloak.

Danzo read through the report. 'The Uchiha clan is laying low. Izuru has definitely awakened the Mangekyo sharingan.....I need to know about it's abilities.'

The only thing that truly terrified Danzo about the Uchiha, is the ability to place a target under a eternal genjutsu.

'There are a pool of extremely talented individuals from the Uchiha Clan. Fugaku Uchiha is definitely on the top of the list. With his performance in this war, he would definitely be considered as a prime candidate for the fourth hokage. That must not happen. There is also Izuru's son, Izuki Uchiha. Although not as talented as Fugaku, Izuki is an accomplished member of the anbu. Being in the Anbu makes it a little harder for me to get to him...'

From the academy students section, Danzo felt no interest towards any Uchiha. However is finger that was navigating through the list suddenly stopped. The word it stopped on was a profile report, by the name 'Gin Uchiha'.

'Miyabi's son?' Danzo became slightly interested as he flipped through the report he was going to ignore. 'He's capable of using 'Greater Fireball Technique', and that too upto three times in a go. Most talented Chunins of the uchiha clan can only use it about four to five times before expending their chakra. He's also demostrated exceptional abilities in shurikenjutsu.'

"I need someone to crosscheck and verify the information providing in the report about 'Gin Uchiha'." Spoke danzo as he handed the report to the white masked Root member. "I want the person who wrote the report on this child, to exclusively follow him from today onwards, and update me regularly."

"Yes lord Danzo." Spoke the white masked Root member, as he vanished from the room.

'...Interesting. If all goes according to plan, I'll recruit this youth into the 'Root'.' Smiled Danzo as he thought back to the meeting he had with Izuru earlier that week.

*Flahback Open*

"What do you want Danzo?" Asked Izuru, hinting that he didn't want to further this conversation.

"Don't rush Izuru." Danzo spoke in a stoic manner. "I have come with a proposal for you."

'He has an ulterior motive' Izuru narrowed his eyes as he stared at Danzo. He noticed that Danzo was avoiding eye contact. Seeing this a smile appeared on Izuru's face. 'So he knows that my Mangekyo Sharingan has powerful genjutsu...'

"I'm listening." Spoke Izuru.

"I feel like the Uchiha clan's talent lies in the field of espionage and sabotage." Spoke Danzo.

"Get to the point." Spoke Izuru, not wanting to host the man in front of him any longer.

"Allow me to recruit a few young shinobi, from the Uchiha clan." Danzo spoke straightforwardly.

"You must be out of your mind, if you think I'll allow my clan members into your organization." Izuru spoke, carefully concealing his wrath behind his words.

"Izuru, you must realize that the Uchiha clan barely contributes to any war related missions. At the very best, you manage the peace and harmony in the village. Without stellar accomplishments, no one from the Uchiha clan will become a Hokage. These stellar accomplishments can be acheived in my organization. Do you wish to ruin the chance for Uchiha members to eventually become a Hokage, due to your petty reasons?" Spoke Danzo twisting the facts. It was no surprise that the Uchihas have been ostracized from recieving important missions, to prevent them from raking up achievements.

"....Danzo, leave. I have nothing further to discuss." Spoke Izuru. Izuru, knew that although twisted, nearly everything Danzo said was the truth.

"Hmph. Think it over Izuru, I'm provinding the Uchiha clan, with an oppurunity to redeem itself." Spoke Danzo, as he got up and picked up his cane. "I'll be waiting for a reply."

Since the reign of the Second Hokage, the Uchiha clan had been tasked with meager and menial tasks, nothing of importance. This prevented most Uchiha members from becoming accomplished Jonin, who would gain the acknowledgement of the villagers. On the contrary, the assumed the position of the Konoha Military Police Force, which often put them at odds with the civilians and other shinobi of the leaf. Which resulted in nearly no members being put up as a candidate for the position of Hokage. Izuru, seeked to revolutionise this system, to give all Uchiha clan members an equal fighting chance, alongside the other shinobi of Konohagakure. He kept most of this information to himself, just like the previous clan head, so as to not rouse any unwanted feelings in the Uchiha clan members towards Konohagakure. Izuru, wanted to make the clan resign from there post of Konoha's Military Police Force, but that would require giving the clan members a reasonable excuse, while at the same time he couldn't disclose anything to the clan.

*Flashback End*

'I need to arrange a Uchiha body for Orochimaru. It's about time he returned from Amegakure.' Danzo thought. He too had a shortage of Uchiha bodies, after transplanting their sharingans into his arm.

.............