While I was training to counter genjutsu, Itachi would often stop by and offer pointers. It was never formal training. Just small corrections, quiet observations, mostly focused on shuriken and kunai work. Shisui was good at all of those, but Itachi was more specialized, more precise. Shisui was teaching me far more than he reasonably should, and I did not want to place even more pressure on him.
Itachi was accommodating in a way that surprised me. He enjoyed my food far more than he let on, and he treated the meals as payment for the advice he offered. Of course, I was not going to become the best in the world in a single month, but it was enough to smooth out some of my rough edges and point out habits I had not realized were holding me back. I was genuinely grateful for that.
I could tell he wanted to spar with me from the very first day. When I turned him down initially, he accepted it without complaint. He remained polite and patient afterward, which caught me off guard. I remembered him having those qualities in my previous life, but back then he had buried them beneath duty and restraint. Here, he seemed to act that way simply because it was the right thing to do.
Around that time, the compound itself was thinning out. Those who accepted the offer to move back into the village proper began to leave in small numbers. Others refused and stayed behind. That worried both me and Shisui. He spoke with them often, trying to encourage reintegration. I never attended those meetings, but I had a growing suspicion about the ones who chose to remain. They felt like people who wanted power rather than peace.
I shook those thoughts aside as Itachi nodded toward the target practice field, now crowded with embedded shuriken. He studied it for a moment, then nodded again, clearly pleased. "Shisui was not wrong," he said. "You pick things up quickly. Your rate of improvement is close to my own."
I laughed and cracked my neck. "Since this will probably be our last training session before I leave for the Chunin Exams, care for a spar?"
His expression lit up instantly, even though he tried to suppress it. It did not work. He must have been lonely. Very few people were strong enough to spar with him seriously, and even fewer had the time. Shisui was occupied training us, and his injuries from the ambush ensured he avoided chakra use whenever possible.
Shisui's ears perked up the moment he heard us. "Finally," he said, stepping over while finishing a sandwich. "Some entertainment."
He looked between us, then gestured outward. "I would like the compound intact, my house standing, and both of you alive. So, no offensive ninjutsu. We are moving to the nearby training ground. Everything else is fair game." He then glanced at Itachi. "And do not hurt him too much. I need him in perfect condition for the Chunin Exams."
I clutched my chest dramatically. "Sensei, do you think I will be defeated that badly?"
Shisui chuckled. "We will see."
We walked to the training ground in silence. Once inside the marked area, Itachi and I stopped across from each other. Shisui moved to the edge of the field, a grin already forming.
"Ready," he said.
A brief pause.
"Go."
Itachi exploded into motion, cutting into the space between us as I summoned my spear to my hand. I was already moving, hurling it in a powerful throw that relied only on the weapon's weight and my momentum, no chakra at all. The spear tore through the space between us in an instant. Itachi's eyes widened in surprise. He had never seen me use it before. His reaction speed was absurd. He tilted his head just enough for the spear to miss, close enough that it sliced a few strands of his hair as it passed.
He smiled as he drew a kunai and aimed for me, but in that same moment I resummoned the spear to my hand and swept it wide, forcing him to jump back. I had the advantage in reach, and I pressed it hard. Quick thrusts followed one after another, keeping Itachi on the defensive as he evaded. Every time he tried to duck low or leap high, I shifted into wide slashes that forced him back again. I could tell the reach difference was irritating him, even as his mind kept working, testing angles and approaches.
I was grinning now, driving him just impatient enough that he finally made a mistake. He ducked too early. I dropped the spear from a thrust into a downward strike. Itachi grunted and rolled away, sending a kunai flying toward me as he moved. It was fast and packed with strength, but my Static Field caught it, subtly altering its trajectory. I sidestepped it with a simple weave and followed with a powerful thrust. Itachi jumped back a long distance, landing lightly as he eyed me warily.
My grin only widened. That finally got under his skin.
His expression sharpened, and his eyes shifted to red as the tomoe spun and locked into place. Three tomoe formed in each eye. I immediately lowered my gaze, hoping I had made it in time, panic creeping in as I tried to sense that familiar wrongness I felt whenever I was caught in a genjutsu. Things were about to get complicated. Now I had to avoid both his eyes and his hands, and that was far easier said than done.
Itachi gave me no time to think or search for that feeling. Multiple shuriken were already in the air. I spun my spear and deflected them cleanly, but by the time the last one fell, he was already airborne above me, a kunai descending toward my head. My Static Field screamed a warning, and I barely evaded in time before more shuriken came at me from behind. I cursed and planted my foot, sweeping the spear in a wide arc before slamming it into the ground with enough strength and chakra to fracture the earth. Stone and debris erupted forward, intercepting the incoming weapons.
Dust and fragments filled the air, obscuring my vision. Through my Static Field, I sensed Itachi moving low, approaching fast. He burst through the debris, thrusting a kunai straight at me, its path masked by the flying stone. I dismissed my spear instantly. He was already inside close range, and a long weapon would only slow me down. I summoned a kunai and slashed downward, metal screaming as our blades collided. Sparks flew as Itachi spun on his heel and drove a kick into my side.
I dropped and brought my shoulder up to guard. The impact hit like a truck. Pain flared sharp and deep, but I stayed upright. I had taken worse hit while training with Genta and Takemura. Itachi's eyes flickered with surprise at my sturdiness as he formed a hand sign. My eyes widened and I snapped my gaze to his arm, avoiding his fingers.
From my low position, I lashed out with a kick. Itachi jumped over it smoothly and threw a kunai from an angle that was hard to track. If not for my Static Field, that would have been it. I sensed it and twisted at the last moment, already preparing a punch in return, when my stomach dropped.
Genjutsu.
I disrupted my chakra immediately, forcing it uneven and rough, but I was a fraction too late. The kunai's position was not exactly where my senses told me it was. It scraped along the outside of my arm instead of striking cleanly, the damage reduced only because my Static Field had already altered its path slightly.
I flickered back a long distance, heart pounding.
The realization was horrifying. Genjutsu did not change how Static Field worked. It could not. It altered me. It distorted how I interpreted the information Static Field gave me. The genjutsu was minor, subtle enough that I felt it too late. I cursed under my breath. I had met his eyes for an instant. His fingers for even less. Two fleeting mistakes. He had layered the genjutsu across both moments. Under those conditions, it was barely viable, and yet he had turned it into something dangerous. Was that really all it took to twist my perception?
Questions raced through my mind, paranoia creeping in as I settled on the only solution available to me.
I took a deep breath and forced lightning chakra through my network, deliberately destabilizing my flow. The circulation became erratic and uneven. I would not be able to use ninjutsu. Static Field was gone. Stormdrive remained inactive by choice. It was an offensive technique, and I did not want Itachi to see it yet.
Itachi's smile vanished. Both he and Shisui focused their Sharingan on me, observing the state I had forced myself into. Understanding dawned in Shisui's eyes, followed by a proud smile. Itachi, by contrast, looked confused, then intrigued, and finally amazed as he realized what he was seeing.
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A/N: Look at me spoiling you all hahaha. Make sure to analyze this and let me know in the comments what you thought of the first part of the fight and the way they both approached it.