(May, year 52 AK)
Yuta was completely fed up with the academy already, he was mentally exhausted, as for the whole month at the academy all he was doing was listen to Mamoru's lessons about Konoha's glorified history and great achievements of the Third Hokage.
During the first days it was hard for Yuta to not be affected with the brainwashing with how good Mamoru was with his passionate words, and Yuta has to remind himself over and over that he was an outsider and that he shouldn't adopt those moral values that Mamoru was expertly instilling into the students.
There is nothing really wrong with making Konoha's shinobi being fully loyal to the village, Yuta thought, but at the same time he himself wasn't a loyal Konoha shinobi to begin with. Sure, he would protect the village if he could, but if to do so he would have to make significant sacrifices then it becomes a different matter entirely.
Also, during this month when Mamoru was calling students by names to ask questions, Yuta finally found out who Itachi was among all the students, he was a black-haired kid in a black T-shirt with Uchiha crest, who occupies the second-row central desk.
Yuta didn't remember clearly Itachi's six-years-old appearance from the anime, so he wasn't able to recognize him before.
When Yuta looked at Itachi, he felt conflicted, 'Is this the guy who kills hundreds of people from his own clan, including children, including his own parents?' Yuta thought unsure what to think of it.
...
'How fcked-up you have to be to cut your own mother and father with a sword... Could it be that it was all because of that piece of shit Danzo, who manipulated Itachi over the years, turning him against his own clan?'
...
'I shouldn't judge Itachi too much without a good understanding of the situation.'
'After all, no matter how genius, he was just a kid who was pushed and manipulated by a bunch of old, shrewd and cunning ninjas.'
'Like Fugaku, who took him into the battlefield at the age of four to teach his son what the world of shinobi looks like, but little did he know, Itachi learned not the lesson he wanted but something else entirely.'
'Like Hiruzen, who was skillfully instilling the "Will of Fire" and loyalty to the village into him from the young age, and that trash Danzo, who skillfully turns him against his own clan in the end...'
'Now that I think about it, Itachi turned for the worse two times during this time period. First time is when his new friend and comrade from his squad died on a mission and he awakens Sharingan. That time Itachi was grieving for the loss of a friend, while his own father praised him for his achievement and told him that he should be proud. That's when Itachi, being repulsed by Fugaku's and his clansmen attitudes, starts to avoid spending time at home.'
'And the second time, it was much more significant, it was when Shisui, his only remaining close friend and was like a brother to him, suicides, and Itachi awakens Mangekyo. This time Itachi completely succumbs to darkness and was given up on his clan. He still wants to protect peace for the village, but everything else was no longer matters to him, except Sasuke that is.'
...
'Shisui. If I remember correctly, he was a smart guy with the right ideas, too bad he trusted that scum Danzo too much... If I can prevent Shisui's death, it should have a major impact on the Uchiha clan's fate, but how do I do that? I can't just go to Shisui, who is probably already a Jonin and in the Anbu under Hiruzen, and tell him to not trust that scumbag Danzo, can I?'
'I need something that would allow me to get into contact with Shisui and also to earn his trust somehow. And with Shisui's Mangekyo, it should be possible to resolve the Uchiha clan's crisis, one way or another.'
'Sounds like a plan! And what is the better way to get in contact with Shisui than through Itachi, right? I should find a way to end up on Itachi's Genin team, that would be a perfect first step. That's enough strategizing for now, let see how it goes...'
...
During the second month at the academy the first practical lessons started, Mamoru was teaching the students the shurikenjutsu, basically it was all about how to throw ninja tools like shurikens and kunai at a target.
Yuta was having a hard time to hit the middle of a target, although those students that aren't from clans all are struggling the same way as him, while those who are from clans shown a much better results from the start.
'Well, doesn't matter, nothing a little practice couldn't fix.' Yuta thought unbothered, 'But still...' He thought conflicted, as he watched Itachi throw kunai at a bullseye, four kunai at once with each hand, outperforming everyone else significantly, his motions were smooth, fast and precise.
There were also taijutsu lessons started this month, it was all about hand-to-hand combat. Mamoru was teaching the class the basics, like the footwork, the positioning, basic moves like punches and kicks, the ways to block and dodge, stuff like that. But all that was taught by him in a practical manner, as he chooses two students to fight each other and proceeds to guide them during practical fights, correcting any mistakes students made.
When it was Yuta's turn to fight, he was put against a boy named Saisu, he was from a civilian background as far as Yuta could tell, but he had a quite arrogant attitude.
"Hey, teacher, I want to fight Itachi, why did you put me against this weakling?!" Saisu yelled as he was called next by Mamoru, Mamoru didn't replied and just glared at Saisu until he reluctantly came to the center of the field and stood in front of Yuta.
"I'll beat you in no time!" Saisu declared confidently, but Yuta didn't reply and just formed the hand seal of Confrontation, as this was a tradition, the sign was simple, just a fist with two fingers pointing up – the index and the middle finger.
Saisu charged at Yuta rashly and started punching and kicking angrily. Yuta was keeping up, dodging and blocking, he was focused on the things Mamoru had taught them so far and winning the spar was not as important in his opinion. He tried his best to recreate the moves and footwork during the spar while staying on the defensive.
After being on the defensive for a while and feeling that fatigue starting to catch up with him, Yuta observed his opponent and noticed that Saisu was breathing heavily and was exhausted more than him. After noticing that, Yuta switched to offense and thrown some punches and kicks of his own at the moments he felt was right or whenever he saw an opening.
Shortly after that, Yuta found an opportunity to connect a direct kick to the chest, and it came quite strong at that, and Saisu fell to the ground.
"Enough!" Mamoru spoke loudly, "Now seal of Reconciliation."
Yuta waited for a few seconds while Saisu stands up with some effort and breathing heavily, he looked quite dejected, reluctantly Saisu formed the seal of Reconciliation and Yuta completed it, it was like a handshake but with just two fingers, it felt weird for Yuta but it was a tradition after a spar and they were ordered to do so.
Then Mamoru proceeded to lecture them about their mistakes during the spar, Saisu was reprimanded for losing his composure and charging blindly, and Yuta received some pointers to correct his moves and told not to lose initiative during the fight.
'Well, that was my first fight as a shinobi, to be fair, it wasn't much.' Yuta concluded after he joined the other students on the side of the field and proceed to watch another spar, 'The fight itself wasn't easy by any means, my hands and legs are still stings in the places I used to block, and although the spar didn't lasted for long, I'm quite spent.'
'But compared to Saisu, I can tell that I'm prepared much better than him physically, and winning against him wasn't that hard, it just requires some effort and to not make any major mistakes during the fight, I could simply outlast him in the war of attrition, or I could win by finding an opportunity to connect a few good attacks like I did before.'
...
'And there is him...' Yuta thought conflicted, as he watched Itachi beat his opponent in one swift move like it was nothing.
'Itachi is already above everyone else by a mile... He seemed so bored and distant, like there is nothing here that could be interesting for him. And when anyone was trying to talk to him, he just ignores most of the time, or makes a short reply and leaves...'
...
'If I try to approach him, I have a feeling that it would be the same way, he will just ignore me and leave...'
'I'm trying to think of a way to save your clan and your own future here, and you are not making this easy for me, Itachi...' Yuta thought begrudgingly.
...
'I could've caught his attention by getting on his level of strength I think, but during the academy's practical lessons of shurikenjutsu and taijutsu it is not possible, physical strength is not my strong suit, and I can't improve it much even with my time-travel.'
'Gradually improving our relationships through small talks and such - is not an option either with how distant and dismissive he is. He probably thinks that other students are too naive and childish and there is nothing he could talk with them about... How the tables have turned, huh...'
'The only option I could think of right now, is to use my knowledge of this world and it's future in some way to catch his attention, and maybe win his trust that way...'
--- AN ---
Rewatched some Naruto anime and compared it to the timeline events described on naruto fandom site and found some inconsistencies in the dates, but well, what else is new...
Either way, I spent a lot of time trying my best to conclude the correct dates of the events and to build a correct timeline and it still feels wrong one way or another, so at this point I'm just going to roll with it and assume the dates based on if it feels right to me, and if it still wrong – so be it. There are too much vagueness and contradictions in the source material itself, and a lot of stuff is a guessing game, so that's that.
If there is some wrong dates and timeline events in the story, I do apologize for it, but I'm already doing my best to make it as accurate as I possibly can.
In the old fic I chose to give Fire element affinity to the MC, but now I'm hesitating to follow the same path as back then, I was thinking about switching it to Water element affinity, what do you think? Please let me know in the comments.
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