Chapter 3
He finds Fuu and Sasuke sparring at one of the training grounds, having challenged a team of Kumo genin to a taijutsu-only match. Itachi watches for a while, proud of their progress. The match is a foregone conclusion, because they have been ready to become chuunin for two years.
More interesting is what happens afterward. Itachi has not been their only observer; Suna’s jinchuuriki steps forward to challenge Sasuke, introducing himself as Gaara (no family name, because if Itachi recalls correctly his father renounced any clan when he became Kazekage). Fuu demands to fight Gaara too—she wasn’t able to show her true skill in a taijutsu match, because she is better with genjutsu and ninjutsu, and she’s always gotten offended when anyone assumes Sasuke is better than her. He tries to silence her with a hail of sand kunai, and it turns into a real fight. Gaara’s siblings hang back, unsure if they should defend their brother, making it one on two.
Yet the advantage is Gaara’s, because he seems to have no concept of collateral damage. When the wings flick out of Fuu’s back and she jumps into the air, Itachi decides it’s time to intervene. He flickers to stand directly in front of Gaara and activates his sharingan, freezing him in place.
“Please return to the hotel,” he says to all the assembled genin, including the Kumo nin hiding out behind one of the sturdier trees at the edge of the training ground. “There will be enough time to try to kill each other during the second phase of the exam, and I would rather you all stayed in one piece until then.”
As the rest of the genin disperse, Itachi turns to Fuu and says in a low voice, “How common do you think the power to manifest wings is, little sister?”
“They won’t know what it means,” she mumbles. “I bet none of them even knows what kind of… thing Choumei is. Not even… Well, he might have figured it out, if Shukaku told him.”
“Shukaku?” asks Sasuke, who is hovering behind Fuu’s shoulder, still ready to fight.
“Shukaku is number one to our lucky seven,” whispers Fuu. “Choumei doesn’t like him. I don’t think anyone likes him, really. I still want to try talking to them in private, though.”
“There’s another j—one here?” hisses Sasuke. “This is going to suck. No wonder he’s so powerful.”
“Two, actually,” says Itachi. “Sasuke, do you remember Uzumaki Naruto?”
“Don’t tell me that idiot is one too. I barely remember him but he was so obnoxious. He kept trying to fight me even though I always kicked his ass in about ten seconds.” A fairly vivid lack of memory, Itachi thinks.
“He’s on a team with our cousin Haromo—I believe she is our father’s cousin by adoption, technically.” Itachi doesn’t mention that he heard her complaining about Kakashi-sensei, which suggests that Sarutobi has finally decided Itachi’s old captain needs to be distracted from his debilitating emotional problems. Every time Sasuke hears Kakashi’s name he scowls and his chakra flares in anger. He is much more determined to bear a grudge than Itachi, who has done his best to forget what happened. It doesn’t work, because of his sharingan, but he hardly thinks about it any more.
“How do you know everything,” says Fuu admiringly. “Anyway, since you’re making us stop training you have to buy us dinner.”
“What I said was that you should return to the hotel. They are serving dinner for free there.”
“How’d you get to be such a cheapskate?” asks Sasuke, falling in as Itachi starts back toward the hotel. “Weren’t our parents filthy rich?”
“I was being trained to run the clan,” Itachi reminds him. “I know all the expenses our father had to deal with.”
“And somehow you ended up running a whole village’s finances,” says Fuu, looking slyly at him. “You love haggling for good deals and then proving how good your deals are with math. ‘Cause you’re a nerd.”
“I find it more soothing than fighting for my life,” Itachi says. “It’s a personal failing, Shisui says.”