Itachi Uchiha absently reached up and touched his head, finding a green leaf caught in his hair.
'It probably got stuck there by accident when I was sparring with Brother earlier,' he reasoned. Paying it no more mind, he focused his attention back on teasing baby Sasuke alongside the other two.
"Oh, right," Izumi Uchiha said, suddenly remembering something after they had rested for a while. She glanced at Jie Uchiha with a curious expression. "I heard the village's Ninja Academy finished its renovations. Are you guys going to attend, Jie?"
Jie's face instantly stiffened. How had he forgotten about this?
"Ninja Academy?" Itachi asked.
"Yeah, the Ninja Academy founded by the Second Hokage, Lord Tobirama," Izumi explained with a smile. "Whether they're children of ninja clans or civilians, everyone has to enroll."
"Then I guess we'll be going, if everyone has to," Itachi replied with a nod.
"What about you, Jie?" she asked.
"I suppose I'll have to go too." Jie forced a strained smile.
In the few months since crossing over into this world, he had either been facing off against the Nine-Tails or navigating the deadly schemes of Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi. All these high-stakes, life-or-death maneuvers had almost made him forget one crucial fact: he was currently just a six-year-old boy.
And a six-year-old naturally had to go to school.
Jie imagined his adult mind sitting in a classroom with a bunch of five- and six-year-olds, being forced to learn the most superficial, useless common sense. Just the thought of it made his scalp tingle with dread.
However, the Ninja Academy was an institution founded by Tobirama Senju. At the time of its creation, it was strictly mandated that all children in the Hidden Leaf must attend, regardless of their background. Even as the young patriarch of the Uchiha clan, Jie was no exception to the rule.
'What a headache. Do I really have to play house with a bunch of little kids at the Academy?' Jie thought as he walked home, feeling incredibly depressed. 'I'd rather you just kill me.'
That evening during dinner, Fugaku Uchiha heard that Jie had taken Itachi to the back mountain to practice Jutsu, and casually asked how it went.
"Brother was so mean, he scared me with the Water Dragon Jutsu," Itachi pouted, though a trace of deep admiration quickly appeared on his face. "But Brother is really amazing! Even though my Vacuum Sphere was already fast, it still wasn't as fast as his Water Dragon."
"Water Dragon Jutsu?" Fugaku paused, his chopsticks hovering over his bowl. He certainly didn't remember teaching Jie the Water Dragon Jutsu. And since when had Itachi learned the Vacuum Sphere?
After a moment of silence, a faint smile graced Fugaku's face. It didn't matter where Jie had learned the Jutsu; he was still his son. As long as Jie hadn't suffered any setbacks and remained loyal to the Uchiha clan, what did a few secret techniques matter?
'But still... the Water Dragon Jutsu was faster?'
Although Fugaku wasn't a master of Water Release, he knew perfectly well that the Water Dragon Jutsu required over forty hand seals to execute. To complete forty seals in that short of a timeframe, and to cast it faster than a C-rank Jutsu like the Vacuum Sphere... even Fugaku himself knew that was no simple feat.
Did Jie possess that terrifying of a talent for Ninjutsu as well?
"It's nothing, really," Jie said casually, reading his father's bewildered expression perfectly. "I just improved it a bit and reduced the Water Dragon down to three hand seals."
Fugaku couldn't help but inhale sharply. He simplified a forty-seal Jutsu down to three seals? The difficulty of such a feat couldn't be brushed off by simply calling his son a 'genius.' Was his boy the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths? Otherwise, this level of innate talent was simply absurd.
After chatting for a few more minutes, Itachi suddenly spoke up. "Father, do Brother and I have to go to that Ninja Academy too?"
"Of course." Fugaku smiled warmly. "All children of the appropriate age must attend the Academy. This was a rule established by the Second Hokage back in the day. Don't you want to go to school and make some new friends?"
"Then can I bring my little brother along?" Itachi looked at Fugaku with bright, hopeful eyes. "If Brother and I both go to school, Sasuke will be very lonely at home all by himself."
"Unfortunately, Itachi, little Sasuke is still too young," Fugaku laughed, reaching over to pat Itachi's head. "He can't go to school with you just yet."
"Oh..." Itachi sighed, his face a picture of pure disappointment.
As for Jie, he had already stopped dreading the inevitable. In fact, he had just thought of a brilliant idea.
The Ninja Academy was mandatory, yes—but who made a rule saying he couldn't graduate early? Thinking back to the original canon timeline, Itachi enrolled at age six and only spent a single year there before graduating early. Now, as Itachi's older brother, it was perfectly reasonable for him to apply for early graduation just a little bit sooner than that.
For a moment, Jie wanted to slam the table in applause at his own brilliance.
Time quickly slipped by, and in the blink of an eye, the day to report to the Ninja Academy finally arrived...