As Sasuke and Itachi reached the open training grounds of the Uchiha compound Itachi turned to the small boy beside him and spoke in a clear encouraging voice.
“Show me Sasuke the results of your training.
I want to see how far your practice has taken you since the last time I taught you shurikenjutsu.” Sasuke nodded with serious determination and pulled a kunai from the pouch at his side.
He threw the first blade and watched it strike the exact centre of a tree bark.
Without pausing he took a second kunai and threw it so that it landed just below the first.
A third blade followed and sank into the wood in a neat line.
When the last throw was finished he turned back to his older brother with a beaming smile that showed how proud he felt of the clean hits.
Itachi walked forward and rubbed the boys hair in the same gentle way that Julian had once rubbed the hair of his own little brother Justin.
“Good.
You have completed level one of shuriken training.
Your aim is steady and your hand is sure.
That is a solid beginning.” Sasuke looked up with open confusion and asked the question that rose at once.
“Level one?
I thought hitting the centre of the target was the whole skill.
Is there more to it than this?” Itachi smiled at the curiosity in the young voice and answered while stepping into the open space in front of the trees.
“What?
Did you think that this was the only thing to Uchiha shurikenjutsu?
The clan has spent generations turning simple throws into an art that can change a battle.
Let me show you level two and level three so that you can see the path that still lies ahead.” Sasuke watched with eager eyes as Itachi prepared.
The older boy stood with kunai tucked carefully between his fingers.
Four blades rested in each hand so that eight kunai became his weapons of choice.
He took a slow breath as he closed his eyes and pushed the air out of his lungs from the bottom of his stomach.
The world seemed to grow still around him.
He crouched low and then kicked at the ground as hard as he could.
His body rose into the air and flipped upside down in one smooth motion.
While he hung inverted he held his arms close to his chest and then shot them outward to both sides.
Eight flashes of light scattered in eight different directions.
Sharp sounds of metal striking wood echoed all around the clearing as he landed lightly on his feet.
Every blade had pierced the exact centre of a cedar tree bark.
The throws had been so fast and so precise that the eye could barely follow them.
Itachi turned to Sasuke who stood frozen in pure awe.
“Now it is time for level three.
Watch closely Sasuke.
This next part is where the true skill of the Uchiha begins to show.” His eyes turned red as he activated Sharingan.
He took out nine fresh kunai and threw them in a single fluid motion.
Sasuke stared as one spinning blade struck another in mid air.
The impact changed the direction of both kunai so that they flew toward the trees and struck the blades that were already buried in the bark.
Each new hit dislodged one of the earlier kunai and sent it falling to the ground.
In only a few heartbeats Itachi had knocked every one of the eight earlier blades free from the wood.
The display looked impossible yet it had happened right in front of the young boys eyes.
Sasuke bounced on his feet and shouted with excitement.
“Wow nii san that was amazing!
How did you do it?
Tell me the secret right now!
I have been in the academy for some months and even the instructors who are much older than you cannot throw like that.
Please teach me!” Itachi looked at the eager face and answered with honest simplicity.
“The answer is training, hard work and talent Sasuke.
You already have the last of those three gifts.
If you focus on the other two and never stop improving your hand and your eye, you will one day be able to do the same and even more.” Sasuke nodded with fresh determination shining in his eyes.
He clearly intended to remember every word.
Itachi then pointed toward a quiet spot beneath a tall tree and spoke in a calm practical voice.
“Now train Sasuke.
I am going to take a small nap over there under the shade.
The morning practice has left me ready for a short rest.” He added a further reassurance so the boy would not worry.
“I will wake up by myself when the time is right so you do not have to stop your own practice to call me.
Just keep throwing and keep your mind on each movement.” Sasuke nodded again though a small frown of confusion crossed his face.
His older brother had woken only an hour earlier yet already needed sleep.
The puzzle did not last long.
The chance to train on his own with the memory of those impossible throws still fresh pushed the question aside.
Sasuke turned back to the trees and began his practice with renewed energy.
Itachi walked to the chosen tree and settled himself against the trunk so that his back was supported and his body was relaxed.
Once he was still he spoke a single quiet sentence under his breath.
“It is time.” Inside the shared mind the original Itachi asked the question that needed to be heard.
‘Are you sure about this path?
Fifteen years is a long stretch of loneliness even if the real world only loses half an hour.’ Itachi answered with firm certainty.
‘Yes.
I am sure.
The gain is worth the cost.’ The original Itachi then asked the practical detail that still remained.
‘So what are you going to train during those fifteen years inside the illusion?’ Itachi replied while already preparing the final steps.
‘I am going to try every jutsu you know and test different ways to use each one.
After that I am going to learn Shisuis body flicker technique, the jutsu that made people call him Shisui of the Body Flicker.
The speed of that movement will be valuable in the days ahead.’ The original Itachi offered a clear warning based on the limits of the body they shared.
‘But that jutsu requires a chakra affinity toward wind.
You and I both know that this body does not hold that nature.
Without the affinity the technique will be far harder to master.’ Itachi answered with the wider knowledge he had drawn from the memories.
‘The Hokage does not have an affinity for every chakra nature yet he still uses techniques from all of them.
Kakashi Hatake has a natural affinity for lightning but he has learned and used many other kinds of jutsu as well.
Having an affinity only means that learning techniques of that nature comes more easily.
Learning techniques outside your own affinities simply takes a longer time.
Time is the one resource I am about to have in large supply.’ He finished the plan with a light smile that the original Itachi could feel through the link.
‘As for everything else I will look through your memories and decide what other skills are worth the years of practice.
Now adios.
I will see you again after fifteen years and that will probably feel like only half an hour to you.
Do not forget to wake me when the real time is finished.’ Itachi drew a single kunai from his pouch and held the polished metal so that it caught the morning light.
From the memories he knew that Itachi had mastered genjutsu so completely that reflective surfaces could carry the illusion through his Sharingan.
A glance at water or at the shine of a blade was enough to trap a target.
He opened the Mangekyo Sharingan and focused its power through the bright surface of the kunai turning the technique upon himself.
A thin line of blood slipped from the corner of his eye yet the world around him already began to fade as Tsukuyomi took hold and the long years of training began.
——-Author Notes——– Thankyou Ladus and Mitchell Prevost for supporting me!