บท 7: Genin Days (IV).
The smoke had almost entirely faded away when the situation became apparent:
Itachi was lying on his stomach with Anko sitting on his back, pointing a kunai at his head. But instead of having a victorious smile on her face, her eyes were wide in shock. The reason for that was the other Itachi standing behind her, holding a kunai of his own at her throat.
"The match is over, Uchiha-san has won."
That had been a surprisingly interesting fight, Itachi thought. He had been pretty sure he would win but didn't expect his opponent to resist as much as she did. No wonder she had become a Chūnin as young as she did, she certainly had the abilities. Until now, he had only sparred with his father who obviously held back during their fights and pushed him only hard enough to make him struggle without beating him in the ground, and against Izumi where he was the one that held back. This had been his first fight since coming back where he fought against someone who fought against him with everything they got and wasn't so much weaker in Taijutsu that he would easily win if he wanted to.
Of course, things would have been different if he used Genjutsu or even some more Ninjutsu. That would have prevented him from getting a better grasp of the limits of his body, though, not to forget that his reserves were still rather limited.
A user of the Sharingan was able to copy every technique that didn't require a bloodline to use, no matter it's elemental affinity. Sadly, an elemental jutsu that was not based on the affinity of one's chakra consumed more energy than the ones that were. This meant that Itachi was currently unable to use Ninjutsu that wasn't a Fire or a Water Release without wasting much more chakra than he was comfortable with.
"You can release her now, Uchiha-san." he heard Tanaka-Sensei say.
He nodded and removed his kunai from her throat. He also released his Kage Bunshin, having no use for it any longer.
"That was amazing!" Anko suddenly exclaimed, her face morphing in an expression of awe. "That was a real clone, wasn't it? It was definitively not a fake, as the clones of the Bunshin no Jutsu. I thought this was one of these 'super-secret techniques', one of those they only teach Jōnin and the occasional lucky Chūnin. How did you get your hands on that?"
He looked contemplative at her for a second before activating his Sharingan. "I saw a member of my clan use it a few weeks ago and it seemed useful, so I copied it."
Her mouth fell open. "Wait a second," she said. "Why do you have these eyes? I thought you Uchiha guys didn't awaken it until your teens or something? And why the hell didn't you used them in our fight? Do you think I'm too weak to handle them?!"
Considering you already lost against me when I didn't use it, this assumption isn't too far off, he thought, but I probably shouldn't say that out loud.
"Many Shinobi who possess a Kekkei Genkai become dependent on it, and the Uchiha are no exception. I didn't use my Sharingan against you because it's important to me to improve myself without being reliant on my bloodline."
She narrowed his eyes at him for a moment, before she finally nodded. "Fine, I will give you the benefit of the doubt for now. But you're gonna fight me with these fancy eyes of yours soon or I will get really angry, you got me?"
"Of course," he readily agreed.
"Well then," their sensei interrupted their conversation. "Now that everything is settled, and nobody can argue Uchiha-san's worth for this team, why don't we proceed by introducing ourselves? After all, we have a new teammate."
Neither Yukio nor Anko seemed impressed by that idea, though maybe it was only because it was Tanaka-sensei who proposed it, but they didn't argue with it.
When nobody said something, he started speaking once again:
"I guess I will start. As I said before your little match, my name is Akihito Tanaka, and I'm 36 years old. I like long walks through the park as well as cooking. What I don't like are people who ignore other people's privacy. I hope to retire from active duty one day in the near future and maybe open a restaurant or something like that. Ability wise, well, I'm obviously a Jōnin, which means I'm pretty well versed in most shinobi arts, but I specialized in Ninjutsu. My elemental affinities are fire and earth, but I also possess a fair share of lightning techniques."
He was silent for a second, most likely pondering if there was something he wanted to add, before deciding against it. "Yeah, that's it. Your turn."
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds where everyone waited for someone else to speak before Anko decided to introduce herself next.
"Alright, I guess I will go next. My name is Anko Mitarashi and I'm 13 years old. I like everything fun, but there is nothing better than fighting! My own fighting style focuses on Taijutsu, and I like to use poison too. I also use Ninjutsu, but mainly as support only. My elemental affinity is fire. I don't like vegetables, the stuff is gross. My dream is to one day become the strongest kunoichi of this village, even surpassing Tsunade of the Sannin!"
She stopped talking for a moment and her smile fell from her lips. Somehow, it felt oddly wrong for her not to smile.
Itachi could recognize the emotions that danced across her face, no matter how hard she tried to hide it; anger, sorrow, sadness, determination. It somehow reminded him of Sasuke. Not the one of this timeline, but the one from the last.
He knew what she would speak about before she actually said it.
Revenge.
"And then I'm gonna kill Orochimaru and hang his corpse above the entrance of the village for everyone to see!"
Itachi nodded to himself. Just as he had thought.
His last teammate spoke up next, stopping him from dwelling too long on this thought.
"My name is Yukio Kenshin, I'm 13 years old. I like spending time with my siblings and I dislike doing chores at home. My dream is the same as Anko's: I want to bring Orochimaru to justice. I mainly use Taijutsu, but I want to specialize in Ninjutsu in the future. My elemental affinity is earth."
He sounded pretty annoyed, although not as much as before. Itachi wondered if he was the reason for his teammates' bad mood or if it was the argument he had with Tanaka-sensei before he had arrived.
"My name is Itachi Uchiha and I'm six years old. I like spending time with my brother, as well as the rest of my family. I also like to spend my free time reading, especially about history and philosophy. I dislike unnecessary fighting. My dream for the future is to be the best older brother I can possibly be."
He hesitated a second, remembering what his dream had been when he had been six years old before he continued: "I also want to become as strong as I can to protect the village"- and end all fighting- "and I prefer using Genjutsu in fights, but I'm also capable at Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. My elemental affinities are fire and water."
Anko snorted. "Are you kidding me? 'Capable at Ninjutsu and Taijutsu'? You kick ass, boy!"
"Be that as is may," Tanaka-sensei chimed in, "I'm more surprised about you having a water affinity. I heard that's rather rare for an Uchiha."
"If my clan's records are correct, which is most likely the case, I'm the first Uchiha with a water affinity in several generations. My father was surprised as well when we tested my affinities with a Chakra Induction Paper."
"I see."
Another awkward silence. They seemed to be somewhat of a regular occurrence.
"Well, how about I explain to you guys how we will proceed from here?" Tanaka-sensei asked.
"Normally," he continued after everyone had nodded their agreement, "the first day is meant for introductions. That, we already finished. The usual procedure would include me telling you that you can only become part of my team if you pass my own, second test, which would happen tomorrow. Not passing would mean that you were forced to return to the Academy. Now, our situation is a bit different. While Uchiha-san indeed just finished the academy, the other two of you did so years ago. I think it would be unfair to proceed in the usual way, which means I will not hold some test of my own. Instead, we will start training the first thing tomorrow."
Itachi blinked. There would be no test? As far as he knew, Jōnin had to test their new Genin. There wasn't anything voluntary about that.
He blinked again. Ah, he thought. I understand.
He would probably watch how well they could work together and decide if the team could continue to exist or not depending on the results. By not telling them about the test, he also wanted to guarantee that all of them acted as real as possible instead of just faking getting along.
"You said we will start training tomorrow," Yukio said. "Why not start now?"
"Haha, you see, I thought we could use the time for some team bonding, or something like that?" Tanaka-sensei said while laughing nervously and scratching the back of his head.
"Especially with Uchiha-san just join-" he wanted to continue but was again interrupted by Anko.
"Damn, get the stick out of your ass. He's a member of this team now, just call him Itachi."
"It's impolite to just call someone by his name without consent, Anko. You should know that."
Itachi decided to interfere before things could escalate in another fight, even if only a verbal one this time. "I don't mind if all of you just call me Itachi as long as you don't mind me calling you by your names either. But I will naturally still call you sensei, Tanaka-sensei."
"Hah! You see? He has no problem with it!" Anko exclaimed victoriously.
The Jōnin sighed. "As I was saying, especially with Itachi just joining the team, it might be a good idea to get to know each other a bit better. Any suggestions for what we could do?"
Surprisingly, it was Yukio who answered first. "There is this tea house I know. It's not very well-known, but the tea is great. You could invite us there?"
"Well, going out together seems like a good enough idea, but I don't see why I should-"
"But Sensei! You're the adult, act like one and pay for us," Anko said. "Come on, Yukio, show us the way."
So that's why they so readily agreed for a get-together with Sensei, he thought. They want to get something for free.
With that, Anko grabbed the other boy's arm and pulled him in the direction of the village, leaving Itachi and their sensei with no other choice than to follow them.
"Oh, and before I forget it," Anko exclaimed and turned her head around without stopping to walk. "Itachi, call me Nee-chan from now, alright?"
Itachi only gave her a deadpan look.
That's not gonna happen.
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