Konoha Academy's Dormitory (Nejiten)

Train with Us

As soon as they reached Konoha, all of them were summoned to the Hokage's office. The Hokage read the report given by Airin thoroughly before he called them all in. Hiruzen had a weary look plastered on his face, he eyed them all with an exasperated look before addressing them.

"First off, great job. Not many first years can take on a B turned A class Mission like this. Now.. As most of you know, Airin-San reads minds, her reports are usually and extremely thorough/detailed up to the last sentence. She reported what is read in most of your minds..."

"Don't worry, he still doesn't know you are a girl..." Airin whispered quickly against Tenten's ear.

".. so from now onwards, you may stop adding these unnecessary details. My mind can't comprehend what this poetry even mean.." Hiruzen sighed, to which Airin replied.

"I am just carrying out my duty sir, you should ask Gai to elaborate on that fine piece of poetry..." Airin started but was given a hard glare by Hiruzen, who stopped Gai at the nick of time from explaining further.

"Just let me finish.." Hiruzen started as he narrowed his eyes towards Gai and Airin, "Ito Sanosuke has been officially killed by Airin, Kakashi and Gai. They will no longer be bothering Airin and Kakashi for now, which means, you may make it publicly known of your marital status."

Kakashi held onto Airin's hand and gave her a closed eye smile.

"Now, if the rest of you don't mind, I need to speak with Takagi-San and Hyuuga-San in private." Hiruzen stated.

The rest of the shinobi walked out quickly, Airin gave Tenten a wink and a light pat on the shoulder before she left while Itachi looked rather reluctant to leave. Kakashi noticed this as he slowly called out to his junior, "Itachi-Kun. You can wait for them outside."

Itachi replied with a small nod before he left.

"Now then, the fake test turned out to be a real one and the two of you obviously passed. So, have you thought about the proposal? Will you accept to be part of the scholarship program?" Hiruzen asked Neji and Tenten as soon as the door was shut firmly.

"I accept." Tenten answered first.

"I accept." Neji said firmly.

Hiruzen smiled, "Wonderful! It will not be easy but I assure you, if you make it through, it will guarantee your future career. After you training with Gai, you will be trained under a number of Trainers that will be scheduled to you. They will train you on separate days respectively. The area that you particularly excel in will be the highly encouraged path for you. That takes about 6 months. Or in Itachi's case about 4 months. He showed amazing potential in ANBU. Now off you go."

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Itachi was waiting for the duo at the entrance of Konoha academy. A few giggly school girls walked past him, some even went past by him repeatedly just to say 'hi'. He acknowledged them with a slight nod before his entire face lit up upon seeing Tenten and Neji's arguing form, walking over to him.

"Like I said, ANBU is a horrible career pathway. Look what ANBU did to Itachi and Airin, they are pretty mental." Neji started but was interrupted by Tenten.

"They are not MENTAL! Well maybe Airin-San is a bit mental, technically speaking and creepy because she can read us like a book, but come on! Give credits to Itachi! He was super cool! You should have seen how those idiots looked when he activated his genjutsu!" Tenten argued back which made the Uchihaa prodigy blush.

"He thinks I am cool." Itachi thought inwardly before he cringed at what he had become, a cheesy lovesick man and stood out from where he was leaning against.

"Why, won't you look at that.." Neji sneered as Itachi's form came into view, "Evening Itachi."

"Evening Neji. I was told that you could see at a distance of about 300-500 metre radius. I am pretty certain you saw me leaning against the wall even if Takagi-San did not. You called me names on purpose." Itachi replied calmly.

Neji looked unperturbed before he exclaimed, "Are you upset over it? We can always arrange for a spar of sorts.."

Before Itachi could reply, an irritated voice called out to him, "Aniki."

Itachi turned to see his younger brother walking towards him, "Otoutou? What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. I heard you just came back from a mission. I wanted to ask you if you are fit enough to train me tomorrow. It's the weekend and we can finally go home tomorrow." Sasuke explained in a monotonous tone as he greeted Neji with a nod and sent a grin towards Tenten.

"Of course... Teiji?" Itachi called out.

"Y-yes senpai?" Tenten answered uncertainly.

"Would you like to train with us tomorrow? Since I presume you are joining the scholarship program, would you want to have intensive training sessions with us? The program can get pretty tough if you allow your body to slack off.." Itachi proposed.

"You got accepted into the scholarship program?!" Sasuke yelled as Tenten nodded and jerked a finger towards Neji who was still standing there.

"Along with grumpy Hyuuga." Tenten replied cheerily, which earned her a narrowed eye glance from Neji.

Sasuke eyed Neji distastefully before he said dismissively, "Yeah, Hyuuga here is a prodigy, they always take in prodigies just like Aniki. But you! You must be damn good to be recognised by the Hokage! Train with us! We do intense training, Aniki never holds back, he almost killed me this one time..."

"Barbarians, brings us back to the prehistoric days.. Hyuugas train with a preferred air of sophistication. You should instead be training with a Hyuuga, Takagi.." Neji started as Itachi and Sasuke both glared at him, their sharingan activated angrily.

"Come on guys, lay off each other. I would love to train with either one of you but I can't. Gai-Sensei had pre-planned a punishment for my being late. I have to become the referee for his match with Kakashi-Sensei, tomorrow." Tenten exclaimed in mortification, "Maybe next time."

Neji scoffed in response as he walked swiftly away from them and barked, "Takagi! Let's go, this instant. I can't sleep if you rattle the damn doorknob like a maniac again."

"Maybe you should fix it then!" Tenten called out as she waved the two Uchihaa brothers goodbye.

"Do I look like a handyman?!" Neji yelled back as Tenten stomped by next to him.

Sasuke and Itachi sweat dropped as they watched the two teenagers bickering away.

"It's extremely disturbing, but they actually look like a married couple when they argue." Sasuke muttered dismissively before he too, went inside the academy and headed towards his room.

The wind blew Itachi's long bangs against his face, he watched on as his brother walked away from him.

"A married couple?" Itachi muttered.

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