The Back Mountain behind the Uchiha Clan Compound.
It was an undeveloped area, though there wasn't any real danger there.
A long time ago, when Gua had wanted to become a time assassin, he had brought Itachi here to climb the mountain. Unfortunately, he had failed that time.
Gua had originally thought that, now that he finally had a day off, he could idle away at home again.
But intimidated by Shisui, he had gotten up early, eaten breakfast, and headed for the Back Mountain.
"Gua, are you meeting a friend?"
"Yep~"
"That's rare. Good luck!"
Before he left, his mother, Nai, cheered him on.
Gua's mouth twitched.
He was going to train at the Back Mountain, not pick up girls. What was his mom getting at?
He made his way to the Back Mountain.
It seemed he had arrived early.
When he reached the meeting spot, neither Shisui nor Itachi was there.
So Gua sat alone on a rock and idled for a little while.
Soon enough.
Shisui and Itachi walked over side by side.
"Ah~ I thought you wouldn't come."
Shisui wore a gentle smile, the very picture of a cheerful big brother.
"Itachi and I agreed to go straight to your house and drag you out. But when we got there, your mother said you'd already left."
Gua turned and nodded at Shisui.
"If you ask me to come, Shisui, of course I'll be here."
Could he possibly not come?
He knew Shisui's temperament all too well.
Shisui had said he would storm his house, and today, he really had.
Luckily, Gua had planned ahead and spared himself a beating.
"Itachi, Gua, you're both Ninja Academy students now. You'll have to work hard on your training."
"I've always trained diligently," Itachi said.
"Can I not?"
Gua asked.
Shisui looked at Gua with a beaming smile.
"All right, looks like I'll have to train diligently too."
Gua could only nod.
"Come on, let me see your combat skills. No ninjutsu. I want to see just how much you can do."
Shisui pulled Gua and Itachi to opposite sides, resting a hand on each boy's shoulder.
"Ready?"
"Yeah!" Gua said.
"I'm ready," Itachi said.
Shisui released their shoulders.
Itachi moved first.
He launched a side kick at Gua.
Gua instinctively raised his arm to block.
Thud!
After the dull impact, Gua thrust his arm out, knocking Itachi back.
Itachi retreated several steps.
Just as Itachi steadied himself, Gua charged over.
Rather than a frontal punch, he went straight for an elbow strike. Itachi reacted quickly, instantly raising his own elbow to block.
Their arms collided, then sprang apart.
After landing, the two charged at each other again.
Itachi's straight punch missed. Gua tilted his head aside to dodge while kicking at Itachi's left leg. Itachi stepped back, and Gua's attack missed too.
But Gua pressed forward again.
Itachi retreated once more.
Gua suddenly accelerated.
Too slow!
Itachi!
You're too slow.
Although he hadn't awakened his Sharingan yet, a week of idling his eyesight had given his eyes better tracking ability than the average person's.
The longer the fight went on, the clearer Itachi's movements became in Gua's eyes.
Until, at last.
Gua kicked Itachi in the chin, sending him flying.
Thump!
Itachi fell to the ground.
Gua walked over and offered a hand to the fallen Itachi.
Taking Gua's hand, Itachi got to his feet.
"I lost. Gua, you're so strong now."
Itachi's eyes were full of sincerity.
Shisui walked over with a smile too, clapping Gua heavily on the shoulder. "I never imagined your Taijutsu was already this good! Have you been hiding your abilities all this time, Gua? You're a Taijutsu genius!"
Gua looked up into Shisui's eyes.
Shisui was three years older than him and Itachi, so naturally, he towered a head above them both.
"I'm not a genius. I'm just using cheats."
Gua's tone was flat, without a trace of delight or surprise.
Shisui paused, then smiled and patted Gua's shoulder again. "Glad you've had a breakthrough. That's good. It's better than idling all the time."
Gua: "..."
I said I was using cheats, but they insist I've had an epiphany!
I said I wasn't a genius, but not a single person believes me.
"All right, that's enough Taijutsu sparring. Itachi, you'll have to work harder on this from now on. Today, I'm going to teach you-shuriken throwing!"
After encouraging Itachi, Shisui took a shuriken out from behind his back.
Then, with a twist of his fingers, one shuriken became three.
"Shuriken?"
Anticipation appeared on Itachi's face.
Gua, however, remained expressionless.
I wonder if shuriken throwing counts as a skill I can idle.
"Watch closely. I'll demonstrate first!"
Shisui pointed toward several targets hanging from trees in the distance. "Go!"
Whoosh-
Whoosh-
Whoosh-
Three swishes rang out together.
Thunk, thunk, thunk!
After three dull sounds of metal sinking into wood, the three shuriken sat in the ten-point rings of three targets.
Itachi took a deep breath. "Can I try?"
"Of course."
Itachi retrieved the three shuriken and stood where Shisui had just been, ready to give it a try.
He concealed three shuriken in his hand.
His fingers hooked them out.
With a gentle twist, one shuriken became three.
Whoosh-
Whoosh-
Whoosh-
After three swishes.
The three shuriken embedded themselves in the targets.
Ten points, nine points, seven points.
"Very good results."
Shisui praised Itachi's talent, then called Gua over. "Gua, you try too."
Gua might have been bad, but he never got stage fright.
No matter the situation, he possessed a bot-like composure.
Gua walked forward, calmly retrieved the shuriken, and stood where Itachi had just been.
He hooked out the shuriken.
Clatter!
One of the three shuriken fell to the ground.
Shisui's mouth twitched.
So he's only talented at Taijutsu? Fair enough. Heaven is fair.
Itachi, however, kept watching Gua.
Gua's expression remained calm as he picked up the fallen shuriken like a bot and put it back in his hand.
Three shuriken.
He threw them all at once!
Whoosh-
Whoosh-
Whoosh-
There was no "thunk, thunk, thunk."
Because all three shuriken missed their targets.
Gua remained expressionless, completely unruffled.
As long as you weren't embarrassed, someone else would be. Shisui was that someone.
Shisui scratched his cheek.
"That's really... really quite a troublesome level of talent."
Gua was absolutely the least talented Uchiha he had ever seen, without exception.
"Gua, don't be discouraged. If you practice diligently with shuriken and such, you're sure to see results."
"I'm not discouraged."
Gua said.
Shisui: "..."
Sure enough, names could be wrong, but nicknames never were. Uchiha Gua truly lived up to his reputation.
That calm, bot-like air.
Was this what being unflappable meant?
Gua hadn't wasted this time, either. He was about to start idling.
After watching Shisui and Itachi throw shuriken and trying it himself, a new skill had appeared on his panel.
[Shuriken]
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