Graduation

"His name is Shisui Uchiha."

Itachi widened his eyes slightly showing a surprised expression. "You know Shisui?"

"Yeah. He caught me training in the forest a few weeks ago. He said he was impressed with my chakra control and transformations, so from that day forth, we ended up practicing ninjutsu together."

Itachi nodded.

Upon reaching a certain part of the forest, Itachi could see multiple targets strewn over multiple trees. Some were even behind trees and rocks. He also noticed several palm marks on some of the trees.

"This is where I train for the entirety of my day. There's a box of ninja tools over there, you can use those if you want. I'm practicing nature transformation and chakra control, if you want to join me, just tell.", said Ryu as he walked over to a boulder at the side and jumped on top of it, sitting cross-legged.

Itachi nodded. Walking over to the box of ninja tools, he took some kunai and started his shurikenjutsu training.

A few days later, both Itachi and Ryu are training in the forest while their clones are keeping their facade at the academy.

Throwing the last kunai into one of the targets, Itachi stopped and seemed to be struggling with something. Noticing the odd visage of his training partner, Ryu who had stopped his training a few minutes ago, ate the last dango that was on the stick and addressed his new friend. "What is it that concerns you, Itachi?"

Turning around, Itachi looked at Ryu in the eye. "Ryu", he paused, seeming to be thinking about something. "What it means to be a shinobi to you?"

Ryu, who was about to take out another dango stick from the box beside him, stopped. Turning to his friend, he stared at him in shock. [6 years old... at 6 years of age, he is already thinking about such philosophical questions? I underestimate him yet again...]. Pondering for a moment, he answers the knowledgeable yet somewhat still naive boy.

"The definition of a shinobi is something that changes from person to person. As can be inferred by the Will of Fire, the first Hokage believed that shinobi is someone who loves, cherishes, and fights to protect those he loves. It's not wrong to view shinobi in such light, but neither is the absolute truth.", he paused for a moment before continuing, "You are a good person, Itachi. I can see your pacifist heart as clear as water. You want to protect your little brother, to bring the best to your village. You have a big heart but likes to shoulders your hardships alone, just so that you can spare others from your burdens.", he lightly smiles as he observes the Uchiha boy cast his head down. "I won't share my view on what it means to be a shinobi, it will do you more harm than good as this is something that you need to figure yourself.", he finished the rest internally, [... and I don't want to create a rift between us caused by the difference in philosophies.]

Ryu, different from the first Hokage, who believes in the Will of Fire, believes that shinobi is nothing more than a weapon. To him, killing is but a means to an end. While Itachi, a pacifist at heart, wishes all fighting to stop, he sees in war the potential to create powerhouses. And that is his main objective in this world, to be a powerhouse.

With a voice so low that Itachi can't hear, he whispers, "You will be a great shinobi one day, and if I had to guess, a great Hokage. When the day arrives to choose between your village and your own clan, which will you choose, Itachi?", he sighs, as he remembers the treatment the Uchiha Clan is receiving lately, even reallocated to the corner of the village to be watched closely.

Jumping down from the boulder, he walked up to Itachi who was pondering over his words. Resting one hand on his shoulders, he says, "Alright, enough of that for now. I have a new jutsu to show you.", picking Itachi's interest, he continues, "Shisui once showed this to me before, and I tried to improve on it. Watch!"

Performing two hand seals, he takes a deep breath, kneads chakra in his body into fire by using the air in his lungs as fuel, and expel it through his mouth.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

A perfect orb of fire with a radius of about one meter is created. Cutting the flow of chakra, it was extinguished.

"This is the jutsu that your clan uses. It uses the air that you inhale as fuel so that you can more easily knead your chakra into fire. Unfortunately, your lung capacity is limited, which means that there isn't enough fuel to help you knead your chakra into fire. It results in that when all the air is used as fuel, the rest of the chakra is forcefully kneaded into fire by your nature transformation. So in theory, if you increase the capacity of your lungs, you can create more fire as there is more fuel to burn.", Ryu explains the process in which the jutsu is formed using his hands as a demonstration. For a moment, Itachi imagined Ryu in a lab coat using glasses, shaking tubes filled with colorful liquids, all while babbling about science.

"In the end, I used a few days to come up with a way to do it. watch this!", after resting for a moment, he got up to perform the jutsu once again.

Performing three hand seals this time, he takes a deep breath as his chest inflates slightly, using the same amount of chakra, he kneads chakra into fire, then expels it once again.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

The result is an orb of fire twice as big as the one before. After a few seconds, he cut the flow of fire, extinguishing the fireball.

"This is the result of my experiment. I used the same amount of chakra, but the orb is twice the size. Impressive isn't it?", he asked with his hands on his waist and a big smile.

"How did you do that?", asked Itachi with genuine surprise.

"Well, I used Yang Release.", fearing that the young Itachi don't fully understand what Yang Release is, he explained, "Yang Release, along with Yin Release is two nature transformation outside of the five basic natures. Yang release uses the physical energy to control vitality, granting life to forms that have none. As for Yin Release, it uses spiritual energy to control imagination, creating form out of nothingness. It's the basis of the genjutsu, so you should be familiar with it.", once again Itachi sees the Ryu in a lab coat, babbling about things.

Itachi nodded, "Yes, I know."

Suddenly, they hear a voice behind them. "As expected of you, Ryu. Coming up with a way to improve the jutsu after seeing it only once. You are really good for your age."

Turning around, Itachi saw someone walking up to them. That person has short, unkempt, dark-colored hair, and black eyes. He wore the standard attire of the Uchiha clan which includes a high-collared, dark-colored outfit along with a tantō strapped to the right side of the back of his shoulder. "Shisui..."

"Hello, Itachi. You are also using the shadow clone trick to attend the Academy? Does it bore you that much?"

"It's too easy."

"I see. I should have guessed so, Itachi.", says Shisui as he ruffles Itachi's hair.

"Shisui, it's been a few days. Were you on a mission? How is your Shunshin no Jutsu performing?"

"I just returned yesterday. I did have some progress on my use of Shunshin.", smiling, Shisui crossed his arms, "Teach us your improved version of the jutsu."

"Alright. Here's how you do it..."

--------------

It's been four months since the Academy started. In the forest, a few youngsters could be seen training. As Ryu was practicing his Shunshin no Jutsu, trying to reach greater speed while still being able to control it, Itachi and Shisui are both practicing shurikenjutsu.

Itachi reaches out with his hand, turning it, a few kunai appeared between his fingers. He threw them at a few targets, hitting every single one of them. Suddenly, Itachi freezes for a moment. Memories that belonged to his shadow clone attending the Academy reached him. Turning around, he started walking away.

Shisui who was about to throw a kunai, noticed him walking away and asked, "What's the matter?"

"I have to get back."

Throwing the kunai, he says, "You do?"

Itachi stops and turned around, "Shisui... Why is there fighting in life?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, he says, "Who knows?", opening them again he turns his head towards Itachi, he continued, "If the fighting can be stopped, I'd like to stop it."

Becoming serious, Itachi declares, "Me too.", then, turning around, he runs off back to the village.

"See you later."

As Shisui watches him leave, with a flicker, Ryu appeared beside him. "Did something happened?"

"He needs to go back."

"he does?", thinking for a moment, he just shrugs, "If something has happened, my clone can release itself and I will know."

Back at the Academy, on the upper floor at the same building. The teacher of the class, Daikoku Funeno, is currently talking to the upper levels of the village.

"... aside from the clone jutsu which is a requirement for graduating the Academy, Itachi Uchiha has already mastered the Shadow Clone Jutsu, a forbidden jutsu. He excels in all other subjects. There's no purpose in keeping him at the Academy any longer."

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the current Hokage, asks, "Isn't he just a freshman?"

"Yes."

"That doesn't matter. This has happened before.", says an old man with bandages covering his right eye.

"That was a different era. This is not the age of war.", Answer Hiruzen.

"The boy is a genius, no?", asks the old man.

"Yes. There's only another student on the same level as him. I've never seen students like them.", answered Daikoku.

"So it will be better for Itachi to let him graduate?", asks the Hokage.

"You said that there's another?", questioned the bandaged old man.

"Ryu Nakahara. Excels in everything just like Itachi. Has the highest level of taijutsu I've ever seen. Just like Itachi, I see no point in keeping him at the Academy.", answered Daikoku as he remembered Ryu instantly mastering any jutsu by seeing it once, similar to the Uchiha child.

"hmmm. Do you know if this Ryu also mastered an advanced jutsu like Itachi?", asked the Hokage.

"No. I've never noticed if he did. But I wouldn't be surprised as his chakra control is refined enough to be compared with the highest level of medical-nin.", he admits.

"Ho. Is that so? How about we give the boy a chance? We are already giving Itachi an exception, might as well try this another genius to see if he has the capabilities.", proposed the old man.

"Hmm.", closing his eyes for a moment, Hiruzen says, "Daikoku, call this Ryu boy over. We will give him a chance at early graduation."

"Yes, Lord Hokage."

---------------

At the Academy's training grounds, A few kids can be seen practicing in a variety of different ways. At a certain corner, a girl is seated cross-legged on the ground. She wore light-brown clothes with white fur around the collar. She has at both her cheeks fang-like tattoos. She has one hand outstretched, with the other clasped around the wrist. With gritted teeth, she is staring at her outstretched palm trying too hard to train her chakra control. Besides her, a dark-brown haired boy is giving her pointers.

"Relax, Hana. First, try to spin your chakra in multiple directions at once. Imagine you have a ball of water in your hand. You are trying to spin the bottom half of the ball in one direction, and the upper half in another direction.", instructed Ryu.

"I'm trying. It's just too difficult!", answered the frustrated Hana.

Sighing, Ryu assumes a pondering expression, [Is it really THAT difficult to learn my Chakra Control 101 jutsu? Or am I just that bad of a teacher?], as he was about to show the jutsu to her so that she can try to copy it from him but his Academy teacher, Daikoku, beckons him from afar.

"Ryu, come with me. The Hokage wants to see you."

[The Hokage?! What? Why? Shit, have I shown any abnormality recently? All I did was train in the forest for the past four months. The talent I showed was no more than what Itachi already possess.], puzzled, he nods to his teacher to signal that he understood. Turning to Hana, he says, "Hana, I will be going. You can rest for now if you want."

"Okay.", having a sigh of relief, she nods.

Walking towards his teacher, he calmly contemplates, [There's no way I can escape if this turn out to go south. I may be powerful for my age, but I am still at max low-chunin level if I don't care about conserving chakra and/or stamina and push for the absolute limit. Sigh. There's nothing I can do, I'm still too weak.], sighing, he follows Daikoku towards the room where the higher-ups of Konoha are in.

Entering the room, Ryu immediately became the center of attention of everyone present. Daikoku closed the door behind them. Seeing an old man in Hokage clothing, Ryu bowed, "Lord Hokage."

"Ryu Nakahara, right? Child, I heard you have excelled your peers in the Academy, despite being only four months since you joined.", says the Hokage while smiling.

"It was nothing, Lord Hokage.", trying to downplay his own talent, he answers.

"Talented yet humble. Pretty good, child. You are here because we have some good news to give you.", exclaimed the Hokage. Surprised, he nods to let the Hokage know that he understands and he can continue. Clearing his throat, the Hokage continues, "Do you know Itachi Uchiha? He's a freshman in the same class as you."

Puzzled about why the Hokage would bring up Itachi's name, he answers, "Yes, I do know him. We can be considered good friends."

"Great. The truth is that Itachi, by showing mastery over the advanced Shadow Clone Jutsu, he's been given the opportunity to graduate early..."

[What? It can't be...]

"...also, seeing as you stand at the same level of Itachi Uchiha, we have decided to give you a chance to also graduate early..."

[...mastery over Shadow Clone Jutsu? Graduate early? You are kidding me, right?...]

"...so, if you have anything on the same level as the Shadow Clone Jutsu, we will also make an exception for you and let you graduate.", as the Hokage finishes, he waited for the boy's reply.

[If that's true, then why haven't I showed then my clone much earlier? I thought it would be too freakish to show mastery over such jutsu when I had barely entered the Academy. Sigh.]

Speechless, he stood quiet for a few seconds. Seeing that Ryu was staying quiet, Daikoku rests his hand on Ryu's shoulder, and tried to talk to him, "Ryu...", just to be interrupted when Ryu cleared his throat.

"So... If I show anything on the same level as the Shadow Clone Jutsu, I am automatically sent to graduation?", seeing the Hokage nodding, he continued, "Well, in this case, I don't have to do anything, you are already looking at it."

Puzzled looks could be seen throughout everyone's faces. As he slowly understood the implication of the boy's words, the old man in bandages narrowed his left eye slightly but decided to not voice anything.

Contemplating for a moment, the Hokage asks Ryu with a serious expression, "Are you saying that the one before us... is a clone?", seeing the boy nod, he asks, "can you confirm that?"

"I can release the jutsu and have the main body come here as he receives my memories."

Looking at each other, as everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion, Hiruzen nodded towards him, "You can do that."

Smiling, he waved at everyone before bursting into a puff of white smoke.

"... he really was a clone."

As the bandaged old man watches the smoke disperse, he evaluates him, [Interesting boy. It may be worth watching him.]

Back at the forest, Ryu was seated atop the boulder in a lotus position while recovering his chakra with his eyes closed, when suddenly a burst of memories appeared inside his brain. Opening his eyes, the corner of his mouth started rising slowly. Jumping down, he looked to his left where Shisui is practicing his Shunshin. Multiple after-images are being created as he uses Shunshin at a high level. [Impressive... I'm nowhere near his level in Shunshin. I may be faster than most chunin, but Shisui is a monster using this jutsu. If I just owned the Sharingan...]

"Shisui, I'm leaving now."

Stopping his high-speed movement, the after-images started disappearing one after another. Looking over to Ryu, he asked, "Does it have any relation as to why Itachi left?"

Nodding slightly, Ryu responded, "Somewhat. Don't worry, it's actually a good thing.", saying that, he turns around and walk away while waving.

------------

Later that day, at Ryu's house.

"Graduate? So soon?", asked Endo Nakahara as he looked at his son.

"Yeah. As long as both of you agree, I can graduate. You just have to go to the Academy tomorrow.", he responded while playing with a kunai in his hand, spinning around his finger. Just to get berated by his mother who caught the kunai from him, and punched the top of his head.

With a smile on his face, he exclaimed, "That's my boy.", as he saw Ryu massaging the bump on his head.

------------

When both boys turned seven, they finally attended their graduation ceremony.

Both Ryu and Itachi can be seen walking out of the Academy as the ceremony ended, showing their new forehead protectors. Excusing himself, Itachi goes off to find his parents. Seeing Itachi leaving on his own, he sensed his parent's chakra before walking towards them.

Seeing their son wearing a protector at such a young age, both adults of the Nakahara family were sporting a big smile, pride filling their eyes.

"Look at him. So young and already a shinobi. I'm so proud!", says his mother as she keeps squeezing both his cheeks.

"He will be a jonin in no time. I'm sure of that.", says his father with a smile despite his stern face.

As Ryu is walking towards his home with his parents, he sensed a chakra signature following them. Thinking for a moment, he says to his parents, "Mother, Father. Go ahead first. I will buy some dangos for myself. Don't worry, I will go home in no time."

"Dango? Don't you ever stop eating that?", asks his mother while eyeing her son.

"Eh. I like those. There's nothing I can do about that.", he says with a shrug as he turned around and walk off in the opposite direction.

A few minutes later, Ryu is exiting a dango shop with a small paper bag and a dango stick hanging off his mouth.

"Please, come back anytime!", declares the counter lady.

Walking through the streets of Konoha, he can still sense the chakra following him. So he decided to go eat at one of his favorite spots, the roof of the building where he first watched the Kyuubi's rampage through the village. With a distortion of his body, he disappears.

Seated at the border of the roof, Ryu eats the last dango as he waits. Finally, after waiting for a while, a voice comes behind him.

"You were waiting for me?"

Standing up, he says, "I merely sensed someone following. Although, I wasn't sure at the beginning. But as you are here now, it confirms it.", Turning around, he sees an old man being supported by a cane. He has black, shaggy hair, and his right eye was bandaged.

"My name is Danzō Shimura. An elder of Konoha."

"I remember you. You were there the day I was called by the Hokage."

Danzō nodded.

"So what is it that you want?", asked Ryu.

"Boy, if you as a shinobi, were in a mission where confidentiality is of utmost importance. One of your teammates got captured in order to obtain the information needed. To obtain it, you infiltrate the captivity place and got hold of the information from him, but you are unable to save him due to his legs being broken and can't save him without being detected. what would you do?", he presents Ryu with a riddle.

Without even thinking, Ryu answers, "Kill him and destroy the body. Then returns with the information."

Pleased with his answer, he nodded, "Grow well, child. I will be watching.", he departs.

---------------

A few days later, inside one of the rooms at the Academy.

Ryu and Itachi could be seen amidst a class full of older kids.

"Graduates! You will now be assigned missions from the village. We'll be forming three-man teams led by one Jonin, and you will be undertaking your mission under their guidance. And now, I will announce the teams!"

"Team one..."

"Team two. Itachi Uchiha, Shinko Inari, and Ryu Nakahara! Your Jonin sensei is Yūki Minazuki."

"Team three..."

------------

The day following the formation of the teams. Team two's sensei asked the newly appointed genins to meet him under a tree beside the Academy.

Walking towards the Academy at a casual pace, Ryu only stopped halfway to buy a few dangos before continuing on his way. Munching throughout the entire second half of the way, he finally arrives at the given location. Itachi was already there, along with a grey-haired girl. She has two braids, one at each side of her head.

"Oh, am I late? Where's Yūki sensei?", he asks as he approached. Taking a dango stick from the bag, he hands it to Itachi, who accepted unconsciously.

"He didn't arrive yet.", answered Itachi.

"Hello, nice to meet you. I am Shinko Inari.", says the girl with a foreign accent that indicates that she's not a native to Konoha. Due to being on the same team as two geniuses who graduated early, she seems to be a bit apprehensive.

"Nakahara Ryu. Here, take it. As a first meeting gift.", he hands a dango stick to her as well. An action that served to diminish her apprehension towards them.

Sensing someone approaching, he looks to the side and sees his new sensei approaching. "Yūki sensei's here."

Everyone turned to face the Jonin. Standing before them, Yūki briefly evaluates his new students. Noting that he now has the most talented pair in the recent batch of graduates.

"Team, I am Yūki Minazuki and I will be your sensei from now on. For today, we are going to just introduce ourselves."

Losing interest in the meet-and-greet, Itachi wanted to leave but seeing that Ryu still stood there with no intent to leave, decides to stay.

"First of all, I want each of you to announce your name, likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future. We will start with the oldest one."

"My name is Shinko Inari. I like cute things and dislikes all things that are not cute. As for my dream, it's to be a great medic-nin!"

"Hmm. You next.", he said as he looked at Itachi.

"My name is Itachi Uchiha. I like my little brother and dislike fighting. As for my dream, is to end all unnecessary fighting."

"Oh. And how will you accomplish that?", asked the sensei with interest.

Pondering for a second, Itachi gave his answer.

"By becoming an influential shinobi, I can use my words to influence others without the need for violent means. By ending conflicts through a peaceful resolution, we can avoid situations in which the only solution would result in bloodshed."

"Good. Well said, kid."

Yūki got a good first impression of Itachi after hearing his answer. Now having some expectations for the last student, he turned his head towards Ryu.

"And you?"

With his hands on his short's pockets, he answers lazily, "My name is Nakahara Ryu. I like dangos and there's nothing in particular that I dislike. As for my dreams..."

[To erase my own existence.]

"...is to be the strongest entity in this world!"