Chapter 3
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The following months went by in a flash.
Most of my time was spent on perfecting my chakra control and, to be honest, I was making good progress, considering my age.
After succeeding with paper, I started trying to stick small stones onto my palms, which turned out to be a little tricky.
Unlike paper, which had mostly flat surfaces, rocks were very rough and odd-shaped. So I had to use different amounts of chakra at different parts of the stones. But even with the added challenge, I succeeded in a matter of months. Was this normal? Maybe a child's developing body was just easier to condition.
I also took advantage of my still-developing brain to increase my knowledge. Despite having an adult mind, my brain was still the size of a three year old. I definitely wasn't a neurologist back in my world, but a growing brain should allow for easier learning, it sounded logical to me. And it was true that you learn better at a younger age.
So I began to read. I read about stuff like how the second shinobi world war started and how the hidden leaf was founded.
I wanted to know everything!
Well, maybe not "everything". But I did want to find out as much as possible. Whenever my father was busy with Hinata, I would pester my mother to read to me. It was mostly history, as the history of Konoha was what I knew least about at the time.
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Near the end of March, the new addition to the family arrived.
It was a girl and they had decided to name her Hanabi. It seemed like everyone in the clan had names that referenced to either the sun or light. I did have a little sibling in my world, but I was very young and barely knew what was going on most of the time. This time round, however, I would have the chance to watch her grow up from birth and not miss any part of it.
And besides, having a younger sister meant that more of the adults' attention will be focused on her. I would then have more freedom to practice my chakra control and to do research on this world.
But, some time later, our mother became ill. It must have been a very unusual or rare illness, because even though the doctors had ninja training, even though things that could only be described as miracles frequently happened in this world, they were unable to cure her.
She became weaker with each passing day. And a month before we had even turned four, our mother had passed away.
And I did something I hadn't done since I arrived in this world. I cried.
Why would I cry for someone who wasn't even my real mother?
Well, she may not have been my real mother, but she had been taking care of me since I arrived. I spent almost four years with her, living together, playing together, exploring this new world with her. It was as good as having her be real mother.
It was also the first time I though about why I called Hiashi, father, and her, mother.
At first, it was to allow me to seem normal; what well-taken-care-of child wouldn't call their parents "father" and "mother"?
But after a while, I actually felt like they were becoming my real parents. Even Hiashi, the strict father of the Hyuuga main family, felt like my real father. Despite having disappointed him, he still loved me like his own. Maybe it's because to him, I was his child, but I was still grateful for that. I was genuinely grateful for both of them.
Then I thought about my real parents, and how I had left them. It had been so long ago, I couldn't even remember their faces any more.
What were they doing at that moment?
Were they safe?
Did they miss me?
I guess I would never know.
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Barely a week after our mother died, a man was assigned to take care of Hinata and I. Well, maybe not a man… he seemed more like a boy at about 16 years of age. He was also a member of the branch house. And his name was Ko.
Ko would follow Hinata and I around everywhere. From the moment we left our rooms at sunrise till dinner, he would be within sight of us. Though Ko would sometimes bring Hinata out of the compound sightseeing, while I stayed behind. I though that would be a great time to practice a little more, after all, I had to make up for all my slacking off in the first few months.
When March of the next year arrived, we started attending the academy. Classes were held in a large building located at the base of the Hokage mountain, which puts it at the approximate centre of the village. The Hokage's office and the mission assignment desk were located in the largest section, which had a big sign with the Kanji for fire on it. It was probably the most recognisable building in all of Konoha.
For the next seven years, Ko would take us there for lessons everyday and home afterwards.
All new students were split into two separate classes. Hinata and I, for some weird and unknown reason, were split into different classes. Well, that wouldn't change anything; I would still be learning, with or without Hinata. So I just went with it.
Most lessons taught there were ones that you would find in any school. We had classes for Language, mathematics, sciences, history and even geography.
However, from our third year, there were also classes that taught us about ninjutsu. They consisted of chakra control exercises and the workings of chakra; how chakra was formed, how to gather chakra at specific parts of our body, and how to convert that chakra into ninjutsu.
I learnt that chakra was comprised of physical and spiritual energies. So to increase our chakra reserves, all we had to do was to keep training our bodies via hard physical exercises, and improving our minds via methods like meditation, studying, or just gaining experience. However, while we are able to increase our chakra reserves, there is still a limit to how far we can go. Each person has a personal, unique limit to the amount of chakra they can possess, once it is reached, no amount of training will be able to increase it.
There were also taijutsu classes, which were basically just physical education. We usually just ran around the academy grounds, and did various exercises like push ups, pull ups amongst others.
We also had the occasional sparring sessions during taijutsu class. Students would engage in a mock battles in front of the class, two at a time. Being a Hyuuga, I was able to use the gentle fist. And with it, I overwhelmed every opponent I was pitted against. My classmates actually started getting afraid of sparring with me.
They explained that it was because the gentle fist, despite being 'gentle', was actually very painful. The chakra inserted would increase the pressure in their body, causing slight stings. But at the high speeds the martial art was performed, being attacked with the gentle fist art caused aches after the battle and limbs which were used to blocked attacks would also swell a little. I should have felt bad for them, and I did. But I was also a little happy for the fact that at least I was not defenceless.
Lastly, there were genjutsu classes. These didn't teach us how to use genjutsu, but rather, they taught us how genjutsu worked. What goes in to creating an illusion, how to identify if we were caught in an illusion ourselves and how to identify if someone else was caught in an illusion. Probably the most important skill taught there was how to release genjutsu.
Genjutsu are just illusions, so it is relatively simple to break them. The simplest method would be for the victim to experience pain. If the victim's chakra flow is disrupted enough, it would also release them.
I took every chance to learn as much as I could about this world. In spite of how interesting some of these lessons were, there were still students who would skip lessons. They obviously didn't know what they were missing out on. Or maybe I was only able to appreciate learning about these chakra related stuff because of my origins. Chakra was an everyday thing for them, while I had only just recently discovered chakra upon entering this world.
Yeah, that was probably it.
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Just before my sixth year of being in the academy started, I was suddenly informed that I would be transferred to the other class. But it wasn't just me. When lessons officially began, I found that some of my previous classmates had also transferred together with me, while some members of that class took our places. What was the purpose of it? Were we sent to the better class? Or maybe it was the worse class?
But I figured it was probably the former, as when we entered the classroom, I immediately saw the ones who I recognised as the Rookie 9, the best of their year. They were all there; Shikamaru, Ino, choji, Kiba, Shino, my sister, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke.
Sasuke…
He looked so… sad… and yet so angry at the same time. And he seemed so annoyed with… well, everything.
Had the Uchiha Massacre already happened?
Was I too late?
I probably couldn't have prevented it though, as it had something to do with the village elders and the Hokage and I definitely did not want to get involved with those kinds of things… yet. And with the Uchiha Massacre already carried out, I knew what would happen after, as opposed to if the massacre had not happened; there would be significant changes in the timeline. Some things were probably best left undisturbed if my future knowledge was to be of any use.
I decided that the best thing I could do was to help him, by showing him that there are people here who care about him, by trying my best to stop him from turning to the dark side.
Yes, that was the only thing I could do for him now…
Life at the academy proceeded quite smoothly afterwards.
You wouldn't believe the size of the smile Naruto had when I went forward to befriend him. He was so happy someone didn't shun him, for once.
Did I genuinely want to be his friend? Or was it just to achieve my goal of "fixing" things?
Well, at first it was just the latter, but over time, I discovered that Naruto was actually a great guy. He could be nice to you, and he would help others, even strangers, even if they didn't ask for it, as long as they needed his help.
He also pulled many very funny pranks, some stupid, some genius, but they were all equally hilarious.
Although over time, the number of pranks he pulled gradually decreased as I managed to introduce him to others like Shikamaru and Choji. They, especially Choji, were very accepting of Naruto, particularly because of Choji's… size. He would always be made fun of by other students; he was more or less an outcast, just like Naruto.
The four of us got along well. We ate together at every lunch break and got together whenever we had group assignments. Sometimes, we would get together with Hinata and some of the other girls, too.
It was also around this time that I noticed Hinata… blushing… whenever she was around Naruto. At first, I had though I was seeing things. But she did grow red each time they met. I hoped it wasn't going to be a problem in the future…
I also learned that before I arrived, Hinata always won her spars. So I intended to show them that Hinata wasn't the only one they should fear, and that I was capable of beating them too.
Hehehe
Then I remembered what I had told myself when I first saw Sasuke. I had wanted to help him.
So I started to talk to him, asking him about his day or if he would like to join us for lunch, those sort of things.
At first, he would ignore me.
For many months, he would ignore me.
But after some time, he started to reply. They were mostly one-worded answers or grunts, but at least they were something.
Sadly, though, he had rejected my offers every time, choosing instead to be alone.
I knew it wouldn't be easy; he had just lost his whole family and every living relative he had. But at least I was trying.
And that was how the next two years went by. Every day was spent learning more about this place and getting stronger. My chakra control was improving at a faster rate than most, if not all of the other students; I had even tried walking up the side of walls and trees!
And yes, they were successful.
Before long, the day they graduation exams was drawing near.
Things were about to get much more dangerous.
And I would have to work hard if I wanted to survive out there.
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Author's Notes: And there, chapter 3. The next chapter will start having stuff like conversations, so sorry if these ones were boring, I really didn't want to drag them out for too long (where my limited writing skills wouldn't be able to save me). These past 3 chapters were pushed out really quickly for my writing speed, but as school resumes soon, I most probably will be slowing down a bit. Next time: graduation exams. Enjoy.
