A/N: This is the first story in a three-part trilogy. The story focuses on Akina Kugo and her progress as a young kunoichi of Amegakure. The story has many Ocs due to the fact that events takes place before the 'Naruto' story actually begins. This is also in an alternate universe, which means events will be different. I would like to thank my beta reader for editing the story for me and making sure Akina wasn't a mary-sue. Also thank you for reading this story and I would appreciate constructive critism. Without further ado I present to you "Akina'.
January 1
Akina was startled out of her peaceful slumber by the blaring of her alarm clock. She groaned and turned in her bed, throwing a pillow over her head; but it did little to block out the alarm. Akina's hand hit the sleep button on the clock as she grumbled something about it being too early for loud noises.
She swung her legs out from underneath the cover before rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Chills were sent down her spine as her feet touched the cold wooden floor.
Akina removed her sleeping gown and put on her daily clothes; which consisted of a woolen white sweater, black cargo pants, and black sandals. She grinned as she examined herself in the mirror before leaving her room.
"Morning, father," Akina said. She slid into a chair facing her younger brother, Daichi.
"Where are you going nee-chan?" Daichi asked. His big green eyes were filled with curiosity.
"Today is your sister's first day at the academy," Akina's mother answered, as she sat next to Akina.
"That's so cool. You get to learn shinobi stuff," Daichi said, grinning widely.
"I guess so," Akina said. She shrugged as she reached for a slice of toast and munched on it.
"Come on now. You should be excited to go," Akina's father said. He took a slice of toast, smearing butter over it before eating.
"You already taught me a lot of what they'll teach me in the academy," Akina mentioned.
"Then I expect you to graduate at the top of your class," Akina's father said.
"I hope to graduate early," Akina stated smugly.
"That's my girl," Akina's father said. He smiled at Akina as he placed bacon and eggs on his plate.
Akina glanced at the clock. "It's six o'clock already," Akina said in surprise, "I have to get going if I want to meet up with Momo," she added. Akina slid out of her seat and gave her brother a hug and parents a peck on the cheek.
"See you when you get back," Akina's mother said.
"Have fun nee-chan," Daichi called.
"Okay. Bye," Akina responded. She grabbed her raincoat before leaving the house.
"Morning, Momo-san," Akina greeted, as she caught up to her friend. She slowed her jog into a walk.
"Morning, Akina-chan," Momo greeted back. She smiled at Akina as the two began walking towards the academy.
"So how are you feeling?" Akina asked. It was also Momo's first day at the academy and Akina was hoping they would be in the same classroom.
"I'm really nervous," she muttered, "What about you?"
"I'm not nervous at all. I'm actually confident that I'll graduate early," Akina responded, proudly.
"Of course you are," Momo mumbled, rolling her eyes dramatically.
"Don't be like that Momo. I have a feeling that both of us will graduate together," Akina assured, grinning widely.
"I really hope so," Momo said.
"Welcome new comers to the academy. Today you'll begin your training to become a full fledge shinobi of Ame," boomed Toka. His cold gray eyes scanned the crowd of future shinobi and kunoichi in the room.
"You will be trained in Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, and Kenjutsu. You will also be trained in chakra control. On top of all that you will occasionally also be doing simple missions," he continued. "Any questions?" Toka asked.
"How many of us do you expect to graduate," asked a boy.
"I expect all of you to graduate, unless you plan on dying before you become a shinobi," Toka replied. The boy shook his head rapidly. "Good, any other questions," Toka said. He was met by silence, which made him grin. "Then I shall now hand you over to your sensei," he said. Toka stepped down from the podium and left the room.
Another teacher came up and split the children into four groups and assigned each group their own teacher. The groups had then been ushered to their classroom by their respective teacher. Akina had ended up in group three with Jun as her sensei; while Momo had been placed with group one with Ichirou as her teacher.
"Welcome to classroom thirteen. My name is Jun Takashi and I will be your teacher for this year," Jun greeted. "Please take any seat you want, but be warned that it will be the seat you sit in for the rest of the year," she added.
Everyone complied, friends sat next to one another while people like Akina took a random seat. Soon the entire class had taken their seats and was now looking at Jun.
"I'll tell you all how my classroom is operated, since it is only the first day. Firstly, most of our time will be spent outside of the class, since I do have to teach you Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, et cetera," Jun said.
"Secondly, I hold you all to a very high standard and I don't like it when my standards aren't met," she added.
"Lastly, you guys will be split up into groups of three at random and will do D-rank missions with one of the older kids. So I expect you to listen to your upperclassmen," Jun finishes. "So let us get on with our first lesson," Jun said. She picked up a piece of chalk and began writing on the board.
"I'm home," Akina called out. She removed her raincoat and hung it up before walking into the living room.
"Welcome home nee-chan," Daichi said.
"How was school," Akina's mother inquired.
"We had a lesson on chakra control," Akina replied. She takes a seat in a chair facing her mother. "We than went outside, in the rain, and practiced how to control our chakra," she added.
"Sounds like fun," Akina's mother stated.
"Where's papa," Akina asked, looking around.
"He is currently at a meeting," Akina's mother replied.
Akina sighed, "Thanks, I'll be in my room if anyone needs me," she said. Akina stood up from the chair and walked out the living room and into the hallway. She briskly walked down the hall and entered her room, closing the door behind her. Akina then collapsed on her bed and drifted off to sleep.
Akina ducked underneath her sparring mate's leg and moved into his defense. She struck his nose with the palm of her hand and heard a resounding crunching noise. Akina quickly delivered a kick to his side, which sent him flying out of the ring.
"Winner, Akina," Jun announced, nodding at Akina.
Akina grinned, wiping the sweat from her forehead. She had been sparring since she arrived at the academy, which was only an hour ago. Akina promptly removed herself from the ring and sat down in time to see the boy being taken away by the medics. Her eyes snapped away from the medics and back to Jun.
"Next spar is between Arisu and Amaya," Jun declared.
Two girls, whom were talking to each other, head snapped towards Jun when their names were announced. The two scrambled to their feet and into the ring. Akina, not deeming the spar important, tuned it out.
It had been two months since the academy had started; the first two weeks had focused on improving their chakra control. Jun had taken them to a pond on the outskirts of the village. She than explained that they were to walk on the lake and given hints on how to do it correctly, although the hints had been annoyingly vague. Akina had gotten the feeling that Jun took pleasure in seeing her students lose control and plummet into the freezing waters.
"Winner, Arisu," Jun announced, snapping Akina out of her tranquil state. "Alrighty everyone, we're going back to the classroom so I can tell you all how you did," Jun said.
Akina watched as Jun paced around the classroom with slight worry. The last time Jun had paced around the classroom, she hadn't been pleased. Akina could feel a lecture coming on, but she hoped she was mistaken. Jun suddenly stopped pacing around and turned to look at the class.
"Today wasn't a good day," Jun says. She shakes her head in disappointment. "We have been on this style of Taijutsu for over a month and still half of you are mediocre, while the rest of you are competent."Jun shakes her head again. "How do you think this makes me look? That half of my students are barely passing in Taijutsu," Jun questioned. The question was met with pure silence, that only seem to aggravate Jun to no end. "We are going to spend another week on Taijutsu and hopefully you all will improve. Until than, no mission what so ever," Jun says. She picks up a piece of chalk and begin to write on the board.
Akina holds back a groan, not wanting to risk Jun's wrath. It was starting to look like her hopes of graduating early was becoming slimmer and slimmer. She sighed as Jun went over the lesson same Taijutsu style, making sure everyone was listening. Akina sighed, but listened as well. There was no way she was getting out of this one.
Akina watched and observed her opponents every move. This was the final test to see if the class could move on to Kenjutsu, and Akina wanted to pass it with flying colors. Yet she knew it wasn't going to be easy since her opponent also wanted to pass with perfect marks. Akina could feel everyone eyes on her and her opponent, waiting for one to launch the first attack.
Kuzuna, Akina opponent, was first to attack. He lashed out with his right hand, which had been anticipated by Akina. She ducked underneath the attack and aimed for his torso. Akina didn't want to end the fight early, fearing Jun would make them spend another week on Taijutsu if she was to find one person incompetent. So instead of finishing the fight quickly, she decided to prolong the fight until she thought Jun had seen Kuzuna's skills. She deemed three minutes long enough before she launched her assualt.
Akina's fist made impact with Kuzuna's chest, though the attack wasn't to harm him. No the attack was a distracton. She spun around, gaining momentum as she did so. Akina swung her leg up in a powerful kick that connect nicely with Kuzuna's torso. Kuzuna fell harshly to the ground, holding his side as he writhed in pain. Akina shook her head, avoiding calling the boy weak in Jun's presence.
"Winner Akina," Jun announced. "I'm happy to announce that starting next week we shall start on Kenjutsu and get back to doing mission," Jun happily said.
The entire class erupted with cheers. Akina was grinning madly, since they were now moving onto Kenjutsu. It took Jun almost ten minutes to quiet the class down, but everyone could see that she was just as happy.
"Don't get to excited. Since we are currently behind in training, I'm going to be working your butts off," Jun says. "There is only a five months before you go on to the second year and I refuse to have any of my students behind." Jun looked at the faces of every one of her students. "Do you all understand?"
"Yes," the class said in unison.
Jun grinned as did the rest of her students. Things just got interesting, was Akina's thoughts as she grinned at Jun.