Chapter 1: Before
Five-year-old Shuurai bounced excitedly around the room of her best friend, Sasuke Uchiha.
"Yay, yay, let's play a game!" Shuurai yelled.
"Indoor voice, Shuurai," Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, reprimanded quietly. Though he did not often show it, he was rather fond of the precocious five- year- old.
"You gotta listen to my older brother, coz he's the best!" boasted Sasuke, standing on top of the sofa. He suddenly jumped down and tackled his brother with a hug. Itachi's magazine, which he had been reading, fell to the ground. "Big brother, I'm so glad you're not busy with missions today."
Shuurai stopped running around and ran to Itachi as well. "Hey I just got a better idea. Can you teach us the Fireball Jutsu, big brother?"
Though Itachi wasn't her older brother, Shuurai had made him one.
"Silly little girl, you're too young!" laughed Itachi. Shuurai and Sasuke were the only two people in the world who could make him laugh. A sudden thought occurred to him. "But I can teach you something else."
From that day on, training started with Itachi. Every day, Shuurai and Sasuke pushed themselves to their limits. Of course, every day they also got lectures from Sasuke's mother for pushing themselves too hard.
"For goodness' sake, you two, you're only seven! Must you pra-train so hard?" Mikoto caught herself. She knew that saying 'practice' instead of 'train' would make her victim to some serious complaints.
"And you!" she turned on Itachi. "Is it really necessary to give them such gruelling training?"
"Mother!" Itachi defended himself. "I always give them easy things to do. They're the ones who take it one step further!"
Uh-oh. Both mother and son turned to see how the two seven-year-olds would take that. A brief moment of silence. Then,
"HEY!" The indignant voices shook the walls of the Uchiha compound. "You told us you were teaching us CHUUNIN-level stuff!"