Chapter :4

Gohan's Attending at the Academy

"Class, we have a very special guest with us today. His name is Gohan and he's a prince from the far away land of the Ox Kingdom. He'll be here visiting today and he'll be sitting alongside you, studying with you throughout your class as a part of learning the experience of the village as part of his royal tour." introduced Iruka while siting at his desk, Gohan standing at the forefront of the classroom looking nervous.

"In addition, we'll be having some Genin from last years graduating class observing the whole proceeding." Iruka said, now pointing at the five standing behind all the desks at the top of the class. Hinata, Naruto, Kiba, Ino and Sakura all smirked as the students all began to murmur about themselves. Saying things like "Wow that's Naruto Uzumaki!" "And that's Kiba!" "Wow Hinata Hyuga, the Hyuga Heiress!" said some of the kids, speaking of them like local little celebrities.

"Gohan? Would you care to tell the class a little bit about yourself?" said Iruka, calling the attention back on Gohan. "Umm? My name is Gohan Son, I'm about 12 years old right now. I've never really been inside an academy before so this is all very new to me. I've been home schooled pretty much my whole life. And because my mom wanted me to grow up as a scholar she made me study things a lot. My grandpa's the Ox King and he lives in a big palace in the middle of town. I live in the country with my mom and dad and my baby brother. My brother's only one year old, my mom works as a housewife and my dad's a GREAT World Champion martial artist. My hobbies, if you could say, is studying new stuff from books and practicing Martial Arts. My dream is to become a great martial artist like my dad someday." Gohan addressed to the class, a little nervous at first, but picking up in confidence as he went along.

After his little address, it seemed that a lot of girls in the class had hearts in their eyes. Sakura even recognized some of the older girls who were held back one year that used to compete with her for Sasuke were doing it.

"Aaawww, can you believe it a real prince." squealed one girl. "And he's so handsome and he looks so nice and warm with that smile." said another. "I think he might even be cuter than Sasuke." Sakura heard one girl say.

"Heh! Can you believe this Ino?" Sakura whispered to Ino. Only when she looked again she saw that Ino was joining in the heart parade, only with a little drool added in. "(Fawn) He seems so nice compared to Sasuke." said Ino, stuck in dream mode. Sakura couldn't believe her ears or her eyes. "Ino, your drooling..." Sakura pointed out in deadpan. Ino snapped out of it and wiped her mouth.

And while the girls seemed to be appreciating Gohan, a lot of the guys weren't so impressed. "I can't believe this kid, soaking up all this attention like this." grumbled Kiba, voicing the jealousy that many guys were feeling at that moment.

Although most of the guys in class didn't really mind him at all. Just thinking of him as he was a nice guy with a fancy title. Naruto for his part felt glad for Gohan, knowing that he was at least an honestly nice guy who actually deserved it a little. Plus he wouldn't blow off about it like Sasuke would do.

"Okay, does anyone have questions for Gohan?" asked Iruka. Pretty soon about half the class had their arms up in the air. Iruka picked out one student to start things off. "Aren't you the same guy from the rumors? The one who's said who took on both Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki at the same time and beat them up both?" asked the boy. Gohan could see Naruto steaming up in the back at what was a must be sore spot for him.

Well... As I recall it, I was the one who gave up at the end, so I couldn't say I won. In fact I think you could say I was the loser! Heh heh heh..." Gohan laughed off with his hand bashfully placed behind his head in typical Son manner. He'd just did it to appease Naruto by shrugging it off like that.

"Well, even so they say that you were so super strong fighting them! That you were faster than the Yellow Flash, stronger than Tsunade and sharper than Shikamaru!" said the kid with stars in his eyes.

Gohan once again bashfully laughed. "Heh heh heh... Well I guess I am a little strong myself. But I don't know any of those people you just mentioned so I wouldn't be able to tell you if I was stronger that any of them." Gohan said, once again appeasing the question. He then signaled for another one to ask a question.

"Was it easy for you to fight them? Were they easy for you or did you fing them hard to fight." asked one other student. "Well... I guess you could say that they were hard to fight because I'd never fought a ninja before. They had quite a few surprises for me but fortunately I guess I was able to hold my own well enough. But they were pretty strong too. I know some pretty famous Martial Artists who wouldn't be as tough as they were." explained Gohan to a bunch of 'Oooohs' and 'Ahhhhs' from the students.

Next, Gohan moved to a girl in the class. "If you're a real prince, then is there a princess?" asked the girl coyly. Gohan was stammered by the question and it made him twice as nervous as before since the innuendo of what she was talking about wasn't entirely lost on him. A lot of the girls in the class were awaiting on hands and breath in anticipation of his answer.

"Well... My mom is still the princess of the kingdom but since my dad isn't exactly, equipped to rule a kingdom I'm the official heir and so that's why I'm the prince. But if you're asking that I have a princess? Then not per say no." said Gohan, hoping that he'd diffused another question. Not knowing that in what he'd implied about his girlfriend Videl in his last answer was conveniently missed by the female population.

'Great! Then means he's available. Get ready for prince charming!' exclaimed Ino as she pumped her fists and jumped for joy in her mind. Just as as many other girls in the class did.

"Well then? If there are any other questions then let's move on." announced Iruka. Gohan went on through the rest of question period with answering many more questions. Mostly things about his country and family and things of that nature. Fortunately they were all questions that he didn't have to stretch the truth for.

Eventually question period came to an end and Gohan was seated among the students and started studying with them. It was all so very different from the stuff his mother would teach him. It was all very fascinating stuff, all about the ninja fighting systems and all sorts of other ninja stuff. It was like it combined his love of learning with his passion for the fighting arts all into one. It was all very exciting to him and so he dove head first into it.

"Wow! Gohan sure is a pretty quick study. Not to mention pretty studious as a student. Guess he must really like studying like he said." commented Sakura as she observed him throughout the class.

"Yeah, if he'd been with us in our academy days then he could've made a better student in class then even you, Teacher's Pet Brow." teased Ino, coming up with a new nickname on the spot. Sakura shot her a nasty glare for that last remark.

Eventually the class moved to the outside of the academy for outdoor field excercises. "Okay class, today we'll be doing some shuriken and kunai training. But first, Gohan could you come up here please?" announced Iruka as they stood outside at the target posts. "Umm? Sure?" Gohan said uneasily as he walked up to the forefront.

"Okay Gohan, you've said that you've been training in martial arts. Would you care to show the class some of your moves from your homeland?" asked Iruka. Gohan however, seemed apprehensive about it at first.

"Well... I don't know if I can show you much. But I guess I could show you a little bit." Gohan relented, talking himself into it right there. Gohan then went into showing the stances and katas of his teacher's styles. "This outta be good..." joked Kiba under his breath to some students.

"This is the first style I was taught. This is the Demon Style of my first teacher Piccolo." explained Gohan as he showed the stance and katas. "Hmmm? Impressive." commented Iruka as Gohan demonstrated to 'Oooohs' and 'Ahhhs'.

"And this is the Turtle Style that my father uses. It was taught directly to him by the famous Master of All Martial Arts, the Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi." Gohan explained as he switched stances and went into a different set of katas.

But as everyone looked on in awe, Kiba was simmering somewhere in the crowd. "Hmph, show off... Just because he has some fancy new moves everyone's treating him like a big shot. Well let's see how mr. high and mighty deals with THIS!" muttered Kiba under his breath just before he sprang into action.

Kiba launched himself into the air with his All-Fours Jutsu and went for punch to the jaw from midair. He was on Gohan before anyone could stop him, but Gohan with his alert senses, even though he was caught off guard by Kiba's sudden attack, Gohan still reacted just as Kiba was inches from him.

In a split second Gohan used a backhand to the above of Kiba's fist and diverted his course. Surprised by the quick reaction, Kiba however would't let himself be outdone so easily.

He managed spin out and land on his feet and started attacking in Taijutsu with his All-Fours Jutsu style. But Gohan being the experienced martial artist he is managed to block or dodge every blow while still moving at normalish human speeds.

Finally Gohan caught a punch and then pushed it back causing Kiba and him to break apart and Kiba flipping away landing on his feet.

"Kiba! Gohan! Stop this right now! Kiba what were you thinking?" declared an enraged Iruka as he interfered and got in between the two, separating them like a referee.

"Huh? I was just testing to see if wonderboy here was all show or not. I'm guessing everyone here wanted to see him in action and see what he was made of for real. So I guess I'm not hearing many complaints." Kiba sortu've made up, at least it was partially true from his point of view. Nobody believed him for a second, although he was right about them wanting to see Gohan in action.

After a severe lecturing from Iruka, Kiba was dressed down in front of the class but not punished, yet. And so the class moved on to Shuriken practice. "Alright people! We'll be training in target practice with Shuriken and Kunai today." announced Iruka and soon Shuriken and Kunai began being passed out.

Gohan found himself handling a Kunai and he started checking it out in his grip since he'd never really handled one. "So princey boy? Ever handled one of these before?" asked Kiba, quick to sass.

"Uh? No, not really. I've seen them used by Naruto and Sasuke when we had our little fight. But other than that I've never even seen them before." replied Gohan as he continued to check the weapon.

"Well why don't you let a pro show you how it's done first. Hey teach!? What do ya say I go first to serve as example and then let Gohan get a shot since he's the guest of honour?" suggested Kiba, eager to show him up after being humiliated earlier.

"Well, I guess that sounds like an interesting idea. Are you okay with this Gohan?" asked Iruka. Gohan just shrugged his shoulders. "Meh, I don't mind." he said. The class mumured as they saw that Kiba had once again laid down the challenge and Gohan had accepted.

Kiba got into position and delivered an almost perfect spread of Shuriken lined up on the the target post. Everyone in the class seemed impressed with the performance. "Yes! Now that's how you get it done. But then again I was always pretty high in my classes with Shuriken and Kunai." Kiba boasted, soaking up all the attention.

Although Gohan seemed to be pretty non-plussed about it. But when it came his turn to step up to the line, he felt pretty nervous since he'd never thrown one of these before so he didn't know exactly how much of his strength to hold back. He didn't want to freak them out and shoot it through several buildings by accident.

But, all things considered, he just threw it as slowly as he could to the best of his estimation and hoped for the best. The Kunai hit perfectly dead center of the post but then it came out the other end and embedded itself in the wall behind.

Everyone's eyes practically bugged out at that point. "Well, I guess I don't know my own strength. Maybe I shouldn't've thrown it so hard." Gohan sheepishly excused, his hand once again rubbing the back of his head.

Everyone seemed to think that he'd tried to throw it too hard and so he was glad he'd managed to pass it off as that. But then he was mounted to try again and this time he was ready. He grabbed handfuls of Shuriken and, now knowing exactly how much strength to use, he threw them and he got a perfectly accurate line dead center of the post!

Everyone was impressed to say the least as not only did he say that this was his first time handling Shuriken but he'd gotten them dead center. It reminded a few noteworthy people (namely Naruto, Iruka and a few others) of when a young Sasuke used to do it. It definitely showed a lot of pure natural accuracy talent. Kiba glowered as he once again was showed up by the visiting prince. And now the girls were twice as hearty eyed as they were before.

The rest of the day at the Academy went pretty uneventfully. With Gohan spending his time studiously learning ninja history and the like, always fascinated by the subject. All the while the many schoolgirls dreamily googled at him. Which left a bad taste in the mouths of Naruto and Kiba and the like as it reminded them too much of how Sasuke used to get all the female attention like that.

But eventually the school day came to an end and they all separated and went home. Gohan went back to his room at the Hyuga compound and went to bed. It had been his third day in the Leaf Village and his second day with the Hyugas. It had all been a bit of a whirlwind but it had proved to be endlessly fascinating.


Author's Thoughts: And so now we see Gohan participating the Academy and impresses. Well what do you think? Wouldn't that have been the best place for him to have been in had his life not been where it was? And in the process gets some unwarranted female attention. Now remember this, the kids in the Academy at this point are those who are only a year behind the Konoha 9, and plus even maybe a few repeats from the precious year. So those those girls I'm talking about are about the same age as Gohan or the others.

Though I hope you enjoyed that little scene with Kiba and the challenge with the Shuriken. Gohan's only lucky that he's in a village full of energy weilding ninjas otherwise they might not have but that one. And although I would think it wouldn't be fair for Gohan to be compared to the way Sasuke was. But for the services of this story I think it only serves its purpose. Nothing could be more flattering to the latter, and nothing more insultive to the former. But I still find it fun sticking in a little of the "fangirl" buzz around.