Teaching

After Shuichi led Itachi away from the training ground, the two first went to the location of Konoha's Intelligence Department.

At the entrance, a black-haired child stood quietly in place. It was Bai, who had been cleaned up after the Intelligence Department's brain examination. He had changed into new clothes, although he still looked like a girl.

"Lord Shuichi, we've completed the review; there are no problems with the child," said Yamanaka Santen, who had accompanied Bai. "Then he's in your hands."

"Thank you for your hard work. I'll take him with me now. Please let me know if there's any urgent information." Shuichi replied politely.

"Yes!"

Itachi looked curiously at his fellow disciple, a guy who was a little younger than him, but very handsome, with a pure smile on his face.

Although he wasn't good with words, as a senior, he could only speak first, "Hello, my name is Uchiha Itachi. Nice to meet you!"

Haku wasn't shy at all, or perhaps Itachi just seemed like a nice person. His eyes narrowed into crescent shapes as he spoke gently, "My name is Haku. Nice to meet you, Brother Itachi!"

After seeing that they had met, Shuichi was in a pretty good mood. In his own opinion, they were definitely the most Good-Looking Master-Disciple in the Shinobi World, the kind who could live off their looks alone.

"Come to my house, my teammates should be waiting there, they're all the village's genius ninjas..."

The three of them walked together toward the large Villa in the corner of the village. After crossing the last street, they immediately saw two people waiting quietly in front of Shuichi's home.

"Kakashi, Shisui, you're here pretty early!" Shuichi whistled and pulled Uchiha Itachi and Haku over. "These are my two new disciples. You can train them when you have time."

"Shisui -senpai, we meet again!" Itachi greeted calmly.

Shisui wasn't surprised; the two, both from the Uchiha Clan, often met. "Congratulations on becoming Captain Shuichi's disciple. It seems we'll be going on missions together sometime."

"It seems you already know each other, so I won't go into introductions." Shuichi smiled as he walked over to Kakashi and patted him on the shoulder. "This is someone you all probably know, the village's best at Extreme Combat, Hatake Kakashi. His chakra manipulation skills are even better than mine!"

Shisui, Itachi, Kakashi: "???"

Isn't that Kakashi with the Sharingan? And what's with this chakra refining ability...?

Shuichi quickly answered everyone's questions, "He has repeatedly overused his chakra to the point of unconsciousness during battles. His chakra refining ability must be incredibly powerful, right? I certainly wouldn't dare to try it."

"..."

Kakashi, still feeling like punching someone, greeted Itachi and Haku. Soon, everyone was invited inside for a meal. Many of the other crew members were still on missions and would have to get to know them later...

The next day, in the Shuichi's home's training ground, the two new disciples stood side by side, waiting for their teacher's first instruction.

"You two look pretty good. Looks like you slept well last night." Shuichi crossed his arms and smiled at the two children in front of him. "Well... where to begin? To become an excellent ninja, Ninja Way and Ninjutsu are indispensable."

"The Ninja Way is different for everyone, and it takes time to experience and understand, so I won't talk about that for now. Today, let's talk about Genin."

As he spoke, Shuichi took out a wooden board and a large poster from somewhere, spread them out, and stood them up in front of the two of them.

Bai was a little confused looking at the huge pile of dense words. Although Shuichi had time, it was still a short time, and he was just a novice who had just started learning chakra.

As the son of the Uchiha Clan Head, Itachi was quite shocked when he saw this content.

The poster is filled with the names of Ninjutsu from top to bottom and left to right. On the far left is a long, thin, colorful inverted triangle with the word "Difficulty" written at the top. In the middle, the levels are marked with S, A, B... E at intervals, and the corresponding Ninjutsu is on the right.

"These Ninjutsu... the teacher has already mastered them all, isn't that incredible!"

Looking at the first row, high-level Ninjutsu of various attributes, such as Wind Release Rasenshuriken, Lightning Release: Chidori, Lightning Blade, Flying Thunder God Technique, and Water Release: Water Severing Wave, are labeled under their respective categories.

An ordinary ninja would probably question their existence upon seeing this; the number of these S-rank Ninjutsu is almost more than all of their own Ninjutsu combined.

Further down the list, there are countless A-rank and B-rank Ninjutsu, enough to make even Jonin cough up blood and Chunin weep.

Itachi is actually a very confident person. He is very strict with himself, and the habit of pursuing excellence seems to be ingrained in his instincts.

But he now felt the pressure of being a disciple of Purple Aurora. Even a genius ninja would be very strong if he could master one-third of these techniques by the age of 16, let alone so many ultimate-level Ninjutsu.

Just as Itachi had expected, Shuichi explained, "These Ninjutsu listed on the paper are the ones I'm proficient in. You certainly don't need to learn them all; instead, choose the ones that best suit you."

"Knowing a wide variety of Ninjutsu doesn't necessarily mean a ninja is strong in combat, but it at least shows that they have a diverse range of skills. When faced with unpredictable events, choosing the right Ninjutsu can always make things much easier..."

After introducing his own Ninjutsu, he first turned his attention to Haku: "Your Kekkei Genkai is Ice Release, so your style is relatively easy to determine. In the future, you will mainly use Wind Release, Water Release, and Ice Release, supplemented by Medical Ninjutsu. You basically won't have any obvious weaknesses."

Shuichi knew that Haku, who was only a teenager, could form hand Hand Seals with one hand, so he would definitely have no problem learning Mystical Palm Technique with that kind of chakra control ability.

Moreover, he is kind-hearted and patient, so he can certainly endure the tedium of studying a large amount of human anatomy.

He doesn't have Ice Release Ninjutsu yet, but Shuichi is confident he can master it himself in the next few years. With his experience in developing Kekkei Genkai, it's not a difficult problem.

As for Bai Xin's weakness of being too soft-hearted to kill, it's not a big deal. He can just team up with a few teammates to finish her off later.

"The Ninja Academy starts in a few days. It'll be good for you to go there and make some new friends. I'll also arrange some extra learning materials for you, which I'm sure won't be difficult."

"Next is your turn, Itachi." Shuichi turned his head, thought for a moment, and said, "You're a very opinionated child with a calm and meticulous mind. You definitely won't be greedy and try to learn all the Ninjutsu just because you see them."

"Fire, wind, water, Sharingan —these are the paths you can choose."

"I won't go into Fire Release since your clan has its own tradition. The Sharingan is a special Kekkei Genkai, but from what I understand, it doesn't require a lot of time to master. It mainly depends on the strength of your Dojutsu and your usage techniques."

"I can help you build a solid foundation in Taijutsu and Genjutsu. Once you awaken your Sharingan, your father or Shisui can provide guidance."

"The only point of contention is the emphasis on these three attributes. You need to figure out your own style as soon as possible. For example, among S-rank Ninjutsu, Water Severing Wave Rasenshuriken, while several B-rank Wind Release are more suitable for your main combat Ninjutsu than Fire Release techniques. Given your limited chakra reserves, you'd better set clear training goals."

After listening, Itachi remained silent for a while, then decided to ask his teacher's opinion first, since it concerned his future. "How do you think I should practice?"

"Start by selecting some low-level elemental Ninjutsu; with your talent, it won't take too long," Shuichi advised. "Add Shadow Clone and Shurikenjutsu, and that should be enough for your early offensive needs."

"Use the extra chakra to train your control and hone your physical abilities. You need to have confidence in yourself. With your talent, you won't be late in awakening your Sharingan. When that time comes, you can simply use your Sharingan my Ninjutsu, which will save you a lot of time."

"If you find Wind Release and Water Release easy to use, you might even have a chance to learn Ice Release in the future!" Shuichi mischievous grin. "Because Shiro is right here, you can borrow his chakra to keep researching. This is a very rare opportunity."

He felt that Uchiha Itachi's art style was going to completely change from now on; would he become like half of Danzo...?