Chapter Three: Academy Years!
3 years. It had taken Naruto three years to finally finish his training. 3 long years of spending night after night, listening to his prisoner and mentor drone on about the history of the Dovah and finally about the language they spoke. It was almost unbearable listening to Alduin drone on every night. If not for the end goal of being able to spit on the villagers that once abused him, Naruto would have surely lost his mind years ago.
It had taken him a good 3 months to finally get such a control over his Magicka that Alduin deemed him ready to learn Dovahzul. However, he spent the first 9 months of that time learning about the history of the Dovah and how they were once the rulers of an ancient land known as Skyrim, a single province on the continent of Tamriel.
Naruto was interested at first when he heard that Alduin was actually the first born son a God known as Akatosh. It was, in all honesty, surprising. To hear that Alduin the World Eater was the first born son of a benevolent God, who was a Dragon himself, and that he had a younger brother called Paarthurnax that had actually gone against everything the Dovah stood for and helped the mortals kill off the their brothers.
The fact that Paarthurnax went against everything that the Dovah are as a race made Naruto angry, even though the young blonde wasn't a member of their race himself. He spent enough time with Alduin now that he was picking up a few habits and his mentality.
Anyway, back to the last three years of training Naruto had to endure. He was glad he had gone through with it, mainly because he started the academy soon after seeing the Hokage. The training made it rather amusing. Especially when they had a sparring session and he was paired with his 'rival' Sasuke Uchiha. He grinned as he recalled the memory.
[Flashback]
A nine year old Naruto walked into his class in the academy, seeing the other children sneer at him as he did. He shook it off, thinking that they were just being children and copying what they had seen the adults in the village doing.
However, when he saw one child, one single nine year old boy, he frowned and growled lightly. This boy was Sasuke Uchiha, sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan Massacre. It grated on Naruto's nerves that Sasuke was so much of an emo over his clan's slaughter, if it were his clan, he would have chased the murderer and ripped him apart, limb from limb.
Naruto took his seat next to Sasuke and laid his head on his arms, he looked at Sasuke briefly and saw he was still staring at the front wall of the class with that air of arrogance and superiority about him. The blonde groaned internally and closed his eyes, thinking on what he had done with Alduin the previous night. He had learned to finally control his Magicka to a point where Alduin considered him to have a mastery over the energy, this then led to Naruto having a small internal celebration before getting straight into learning about the history of the Dovah.
Soon after Naruto started napping, the class's teacher walked into the room. This man was of reasonable height, not being short nor tall, with a scar running horizontally across his nose and a pineapple style to his dark brown hair.
This is Iruka Umino, Chunin of Konoha, and Shinobi Academy teacher.
Naruto looked up having been woken up by the opening and closing of the door as the man walked into the class, seeing him standing at the front of the room and looking over the entirety of the class that had turned up for the lesson. He sighed when he saw that half of the Clan Heirs were not in attendance, seeing as they are heirs to the most notable and respected clans of Konoha they should be the ones setting the example for the civilian children.
Naruto laid his head back down before he heard a light coughing at the front of the class looked up to see Iruka giving him an irritated look, making the young blonde sigh in annoyance. He then saw another man walk into the class, a man he knew all too well from the years he was getting beaten by him. Mizuki.
Naruto growled lightly, almost inaudibly, at the sight of the man. Sasuke had seemingly heard the growl as he looked out the corner of his eye at Naruto, seeing the look of pure hatred pass over the blonde's features for a brief moment before returning to his normal look of boredom. It made him think of Itachi, how he hated the man with such intensity that he would literally give his life to see the man suffer and die. It wasn't something most would think a younger brother would wish for his elder sibling, however, Itachi had slain their entire clan but him and seemed to not care either way.
[Elsewhere in Hi no Kuni]
A tall dark haired man sneezed, his straw hat wobbling on his head. "Hmm... Sasuke must thinking of ways he can attempt to kill me." The man said to himself in an emotionless tone.
[Back at the academy]
Sasuke frowned slightly more than usual and grunted as he looked at Iruka and Mizuki. Said pineapple haired male looked over the class once more before sighing and speaking, "All right, today you'll be sparring with one another. You'll follow Mizuki and I out to the training field in a minute and then you'll be paired with someone of similar skill. This will be a small class tournament to see who is the top of the class in Taijutsu. Obviously, you have no need to worry if you are bad at Taijutsu, this section of the Shinobi Arts only counts for a quarter of your overall score when it comes to the exam in a few years, and you will have plenty of time to improve."
Naruto grunted, assuming that Mizuki would talk Iruka into pairing him with one of the better in the class just to make him look bad and possibly have him beaten up again. However, even if he did do that, he'd be getting a shock. Naruto had recently developed his own Taijutsu Style which he calls, Dragon Fist.
Naruto grinned internally, hoping that he was paired up against Sasuke right off the bat so he could beat the emo bastard in the ground.
"Don't over do it Naruto, you still have a facade to keep up remember. You need to make the worms in this pathetic village think that you are still that weak child they like to chase and beat, you need to keep up this guise until the proper time when you can reveal your true strength and have them cowering at the very mention of your name." Alduin said in the young blonde's mind. Naruto sighed internally and nodded to himself, understanding what Alduin meant. It was his plan after all.
Iruka led the class out to the training field and had them line up along the edge of the grounds, before speaking to them once again. "Okay, this is how it's going to happen. Mizuki will pick one of you first, then I will pick their opponent. I will pick someone of equal or similar skill to who Mizuki has picked. The winner will proceed to the next round and be paired with someone of similar skill again. This will continue until there are only two of you left, those two will then spar against each other and the winner shall be declared the classes best at Taijutsu."
Naruto grunted as Iruka said this, he was going to be paired with some weak civilian child first, he could see it happening now. He would have to pretend to be having a hard time with the child, though he intended on lasting at least a few rounds.
The young blonde smirked lightly as the first pair were called up, the first of the two being a civilian girl called Ami and the second being Sakura, he pink haired banshee who also happened to be a civilian child.
The fight was rather underwhelming, the two girls were pathetic to say the least. Ami was clearly winning the entire fight, though Sakura continued to get up spouting about how she would prove her love to Sasuke and win his heart. Neither of the girls' were actually doing any training and seemed to be more interested in their looks or boys, which for a ninja will quite simply get them killed.
The two young girls were swinging wildly at each other, showing to the entire class that they didn't tale their training seriously enough to even learn the basic academy Taijutsu stance.
As the two girls fought, Naruto blanked out the rather pathetic fight and started to think about what he would do to make his own fights seen that little more convincing to the spectators. 'Hmm, I wouldn't want to make it seem like I'm getting a lot stronger, even though I am, but I don't want to make them think that I'm really weak either. Perhaps just fighting a few rounds and then 'loosing' to one of the other students. I just need to last long enough to be able to get my fair share of pounding the emo into the ground.' He thought with a hidden smirk as he looked about the assembled students.
'I'll warn you again, Naruto. Don't over do it. You still need to keep up this facade that you're the weak little boy they think you are. If you were to beat or even last a few seconds against Sasuke they would instantly think something was wrong and tighten your seal. Need I remind you of what would happen if your seal was tightened?' Came the booming voice of Alduin in the young blonde's mind. Naruto sighed to himself and nodded discreetly, giving a mental confirmation of Alduin's words before looking back at the fight.
Naruto had to stifle a chuckle as he saw what was happening between the two girls. The two of them were currently pulling at the other's hair, screeching at each other, and kicking at shins. It was truly a pathetic sight and gained a light smirk from the blonde, trying his best to conceal his outright disgust at the two females. They were so lacking in their training they didn't even deserve to be called kunoichi in training.
Naruto sighed as the match was called in a tie due neither of the girls having won, the battle was called after the time was up and the girls continued to claw and hiss at each other like cats fighting over fish.
Iruka and Mizuki eventually pulled the two squabbling girls apart and cleared the area for the next match to begin. Mizuki looked over the assembled students and nodded to another civilian child, this one being a rather well built boy with short dark brown hair and warm chocolate eyes. His opponent was yet another civilian child whom Naruto had never actually noticed in the class.
The civilian child was a rather scrawny looking boy, similar to how Naruto used to be, and looked like the slightest gust of wind would knock him off his feet.
The fight proved to be entertaining, however, when the scrawny young boy demonstrated some great understanding of the human anatomy and disabled his opponent with three strikes. The first was with a jab to the arm, the larger of the two having thrown a punch and ended up with a paralysed arm for his troubles. The second strike was a palm strike to the larger child's chest, effectively winding the boy and causing him to drop to the ground in plain. The third and final strike was with a nerve pinch to the neck, causing the small boy's opponent to go stiff before loosing all control of his body and going limp on the floor.
This caused the majority of the class to laugh at the larger boy's expense as he was carried to the academy's infirmary by Mizuki before the next match could begin.
Naruto seemed to be in deep thought over the style the smaller of the two combatants was using, 'The style seemed so much like the Jyuuken of the Hyuuga clan, but there was no chakra involved, it was purely physical.' Were Naruto's thoughts as he scratched his chin in wonder, perhaps it was the Jyuuken, simply adapted for use without chakra... No that couldn't be it, the Hyuuga clan would never teach their family style to an outsider.
After a short while, Mizuki returned to the gathered class and the next match was decided between he and his fellow teacher. This match was to be between yet another civilian child and Naruto. The civilian child being a young man with short black hair and piercing yellow eyes, he was of average build and height with a light shade of skin, who's name Naruto didn't remember, though he had only heard his name due to his distraction with his thoughts.
The young blonde walked into the ring and stood near the centre, his opponent doing the same and smiling Naruto. "Good luck." He said to the young Jinchuriki, his smile ever present.
Naruto grinned in return and nodded, "Likewise." He replied.
The match was called to start and Naruto started by leaping back when his opponent showed great speed for such a young boy, and a civilian boy at that. The young blonde readied himself as he watched the black haired child before him rush in once again.
Naruto's opponent showed a lack in training as he swung wildly, attempting to hit the blonde with powerful yet uncontrolled swings of his fists. He threw several kicks at the blue eyed child, who dodged each one with ease.
Naruto soon had enough of dodging and made a show of getting hit by a punch, intending on making it seem like he was still untrained for the most part. This led to Naruto hissing in pain and shaking his right arm out, having been hit rather hard on his bicep. He looked his opponent dead in the eyes who was smirking at having landed a hit on the young blonde.
Naruto rushed forward, slowing himself down some to give the impression he was still weak, and swung with uncontrolled blows. He landed several hits on his opponent, the young dark haired boy having slower reactions than him, and eventually wore the boy down. The black haired boy's guard dropped as his arms grew tired from the constant pounding they had received from the blows Naruto was delivering and received a powerful blow to the face.
The punch threw the yellow eyed boy from his feet and rendered him unconscious. The match lasted for about two minutes, having been dragged out by the dodging Naruto did at the beginning.
Naruto was declared the winner and grinned, putting up his usual goofy persona as he gave a thumbs up to Iruka and said, "You better believe I'd win!" He then walked out the ring and went to stand under a nearby tree, focusing less on the following fights and more on his thoughts.
'Alduin, how long until I have completed all my training under you?' He asked the great black dragon in his mind, he received a deep humming as a response. "I can not say for certain, since it all depends on your ability to learn. However, I would say that you will have another four years of learning to do. You still have yet to learn the entire history of the Dovah, and then you will need to learn my language word by word. Of course, every word you learn will take at least a week or maybe two in order to fully understand it, this will mean that you will have to learn Dovahzul for many years. I will teach you the way of the Thu'um to begin with, this was the art that my brother, Paarthurnax, taught to the humans and eventually Dovahkiin. You will learn each shout at a time and then I will teach you the rest of my language gradually." Alduin replied, his deep booming voice echoing around the dank halls of Naruto's sewer like mind scape.
As Alduin told his blonde jailer this, several more students had fought their matches, having whittled down the amount combatants to a small group of six students.
Naruto looked up as his name was called again. He walked up to the ring and looked at the gathered students to see who he would be fighting this time, he then grinned widely when he realised that Sasuke wasn't among the crowd. He looked ahead and saw Sasuke standing before him with his usual arrogant smirk on his face.
Naruto growled lightly, thinking about all the ways he'd like to rip that smirk off the emo's face.
The match was called to start and Sasuke darted forward, thinking he could finish the fight there and then with one punch. Of course, he was in for a shock when his fist was blocked effortlessly by Naruto, smirk on his face.
Naruto pulled Sasuke's fist aside, forcing him off balance as his knee raised to meet the black haired boy's side with a powerful straight to the ribs. Sasuke managed to free his hand and jumped back, his face plastered with a glaring frown.
The blonde smirked and leapt forward, his leg raising again to send a roundhouse kick toward his opponent's cheek. Said black haired boy ducked and sent a fist at Naruto's back, intending on making a kidney shot and disabling the blonde Jinchuriki. He was yet again surprised when Naruto continued to spin, avoiding Sasuke's blow and continued his spin into a spinning hook kick aimed for the dark eyed boy's head.
Sasuke ducked and rolled aside, growling as he stopped and glared at his blue eyed opponent.
The Uchiha darted toward Naruto's back and threw a roundhouse with a smirk. His smirked grew as the kick was landed into the Jinchuriki's side, an audible crunch being heard and Naruto giving a sharp intake of air through his teeth.
The blue eyed Jinchuriki turned to face his opponent with a frown, one arm raised while the other held his now aching ribs. His stance widened as he watched Sasuke close the distance quickly and send a punch toward his face, most likely attempting to break his nose or jaw judging by the speed of the blow.
Sasuke frowned and growled as Naruto ducked his punch, he then let out a gasp as his eyes widened when he felt Naruto's fist connect with his stomach, winding him slightly.
The match was drawing to end, Iruka preparing to call the end with a draw due to time out, though he was astonished when he witnessed Sasuke, having been winded, stand and send a powerful right hook to Naruto's temple. The audible smack that sounded made everyone, both teachers included, flinch slightly and cringe as they looked away from the scene for a second before hearing Naruto's now unconscious body hit the ground with a dull thud.
[Naruto's Mind Scape]
Hysterical laughter could be heard echoing throughout the halls of Naruto's mind, the source being the blonde himself. "Did you see that Alduin!? I bet he's in pain now!" He yelled up to his huge prisoner with an ear to ear grin splitting his face in two.
"Yes, Naruto, I saw and I am rather impressed by it. You showed great skill in hand to hand combat." The large black scaled reptile said, his deep voice having a tone of pride in it.
"I know right! I totally kicked his ass!" The blonde said with a grin.
"I wouldn't go so far as to say that, young one. You did loose after all." Alduin said with a sigh, "However, you did indeed give him a run for his money." The dragon said with the tone of pride returning to his voice.
"Well, whatever. I guess I'll see you later tonight, it seems I'm waking up in the real world." Naruto said as he looked at his slowly fading arm, he turned back to Alduin and grinned again, "More training later!" He shouted just before finally fading out of his mind.
[Academy infirmary]
Naruto started to stir as his eyes slowly fluttered open before closing, he then released a groan as he sat up. "Damn, Sasuke hits hard for a girly emo brooder." He mumbled as he scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up, walking out of the infirmary and soon out of the academy, seeing as it was the end of the day now.
[Flashback End]
Naruto stood as he chuckled at the memory, yes he had lost the fight against Sasuke and he had been given a steaming headache for the next week by that right hook to the temple. However, even so he was pleased he had given the emo brooder such a hard time in the fight before being knocked out.
He walked out of his bedroom and into the lounge/dining room of his small apartment and sat on the sofa. It was currently Sunday so he didn't have to worry about the academy, though he was mentally debating whether he should actually go in the following day. It was the Genin exams tomorrow.
