Speedrunning the Ninja Academy

In truth, the Clone Technique was naturally child's play for Madara Uchiha as well. His main reason for saying that was to show his teacher the more advanced Shadow Clone Technique. Though he had only been attending school for a few days, Madara Uchiha was already sick of this tedious student life. Making him sit in class with these six-year-olds was worse than killing him.

"Itachi, don't tell me you mean..."

In front of the entire class, Madara Uchiha straightened the index and middle fingers of both hands and crossed them.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

As a cloud of smoke rose, five identical Madara Uchihas, all wearing Uchiha Itachi's face, appeared before everyone.

The Ninja Academy teacher reached out in disbelief to touch Madara Uchiha. Only after discovering that the two Madara Uchihas beneath his hands were both solid did he realize he truly wasn't dreaming.

This six-year-old child, Madara Uchiha, had already mastered the forbidden Shadow Clone Technique, which even the teacher himself had never learned.

"You graduated after just two days at school? You really are something else, Itachi!"

After demonstrating his Shadow Clone Technique, Madara Uchiha had attended just one lesson in each subject offered at the Ninja Academy. Since he displayed abilities far beyond those of his peers—and even the academy teachers—in every class, the teachers recommended him for early graduation. After all, keeping Madara Uchiha at school would have been both torture for him and humiliation for the other students.

Graduating after just two days at school was an achievement worthy of praise even in wartime, so Shisui had naturally heard the news. Seeing Madara Uchiha training with him during school hours, he openly expressed his admiration.

"The Ninja Academy's standards are too low. Speaking of which, Shisui, you've had a lot more free time lately."

More free time?

Hearing Madara Uchiha's response, Shisui couldn't help giving a bitter smile. Normally, he would probably have been out on a mission, but now the mission Lord Hokage had assigned him was to monitor Uchiha Itachi. As Shisui watched Madara Uchiha practicing Taijutsu before him, guilt slowly welled up inside him.

"Itachi, now that you've graduated from the Ninja Academy, what are your plans? Will you join the Police Force right away? It would bend the rules a little, but with your abilities, I doubt anyone would object to you skipping ahead and joining."

After Shisui finished speaking, Madara Uchiha simply looked at him in silence without answering his question.

"What's wrong, Itachi?"

Though Shisui did his best to conceal his emotions, the seasoned Madara Uchiha had already noticed his unease the moment he asked about his future plans.

Those two brats, Hiruzen and Danzo, must have noticed me. How ridiculous. The leaders of Konoha, guarding against a six-year-old child. Fine, there's no harm in telling you my plans.

"I'll follow the normal path of a ninja. First, I'll become a Genin and go on missions with a team, then become a Chunin and a Jōnin. If possible, I'd like to become the Uchiha Clan's first Hokage."

Madara Uchiha laid out his future plans to Shisui in plain terms. Taken at face value, he was saying he intended to devote his entire life to the village.

"A Hokage from the Uchiha Clan? That's really cool! Speaking of which, Itachi, have you considered joining the ANBU?"

Hearing that Madara Uchiha wouldn't skip ahead to join the Police Force, Shisui breathed a sigh of relief for his friend. Whatever Madara Uchiha's future held, as long as he didn't join the Police Force right away, the Hokage and Danzo wouldn't firmly assign him to that camp. In Shisui's view, with his friend's talent, even if Konoha's leaders were wary of him, their priority should still have been to win him over.

"The ANBU? I'm not interested. If all you do is dirty work that can't stand the light of day, you'll never step into the public eye. Shisui, if you can, I'd advise you to leave the ANBU as soon as possible too."

The kunai left Madara Uchiha's right hand. Once released, what had appeared to be a single kunai instantly separated into five. All five struck their respective bull's-eyes with precision. Even Shisui, a fellow member of the Uchiha Clan, inwardly applauded Madara Uchiha's throwing technique.

"The ANBU aren't that bad, surely. We're Lord Hokage's personal unit. Even some Jōnin have to treat us politely."

Seeing his friend look down so much on his current position snapped Shisui out of his admiration for Madara Uchiha's flawless kunai-throwing technique. He wouldn't have cared if anyone else looked down on his position, but for some reason, hearing it from Madara Uchiha bothered him.

"Do you remember when I asked what you thought about your future, Shisui? As an ANBU member, if you die, no one except the people you know in the Uchiha Clan will mourn you. In the end, a lifetime of effort will amount to nothing more than a few documents in the Hokage's archives. No one will remember what you did in this world, what you contributed, or how you died. That's the life of an ANBU member. Even if you're lucky enough to survive all those countless missions, what identity will you return to Konoha under in your old age? And that's not even mentioning all the secrets you'll inevitably encounter over your long ANBU career. Some secrets could cost you your life simply because you know them. Every part of your existence is solely for the Hokage. Even after completing countless missions, you still won't have any say in the village, because the ANBU are, by definition, nothing more than the Hokage's tools."

As Shisui Uchiha listened to Madara Uchiha analyze his position, his pride in being an ANBU member slowly faded before he even realized it.

Before meeting Itachi, Shisui Uchiha had always been proud of his position in the ANBU. To him, dying for the Hokage meant dying for Konoha, and dying for Konoha was something to be proud of. But now, after witnessing Konoha High Command's discrimination against the Uchiha Clan and the collusion between Lord Hokage and Danzo, and after Madara Uchiha had laid bare what being an ANBU member truly meant, Shisui suddenly felt that he, too, wanted to leave something behind in the village as a ninja. He wanted to become someone who could influence other people's decisions.

As a prodigy of the Uchiha Clan, Shisui had naturally received care and attention from many of its elders: the teacher who had first trained him and given him ninja weapons, the elderly neighbor who had supplied him with clothes. If the Hokage ever decided to abandon the Uchiha Clan completely, Shisui wanted to have enough influence to ensure that these ordinary members of the clan could continue living peacefully in the village.