Finally out! (:
Chapter 4: "The Reconnaissance"
"Did you guys hear that thing this morning?" the boy asked his friends as he tightened his scarf around his neck.
"Yeah it was so strange, whatever it was it must have been somewhere close because when I was walking my dog before I had to get ready for class I saw all the birds flying away from the direction of that noise, if I recall correctly it was just before dawn", the girl spoke adjusting her goggles.
The conversations around them were all brought to a stop as the door to the room was opened.
"Good morning children, take out your notes from yesterday as we are going to continue where we left off on our chakra lesson", the spiky haired teacher spoke to his students as he walked to the podium in the middle of the classroom.
A loud collective groan was emitted from every child.
"Ano Iruka-sensei, chakra is boring, when are we going learn how to use cool ninjutsu like Naruto nii-chan? Konohamaru stood up from his seat and pouted.
All the other children nodded their heads and audibly agreed with him, filling the classroom with a collective chatter.
Iruka sighed and waited until the multiple voices talking quieted down.
"Listen kids, first we have to start with the fundamentals, once you get those down, managing ninjutsu will be much easier, without chakra control ninjutsu will be very difficult to control", Iruka smiled at all the hesitant looks, "and that's what will start us off with chapter one on Chakra control".
Iruka was about to start the lesson but turned around to face his students as he recalled he forgot to take the attendance. "Okay kids bear with me one second, I have to take roll then we can begin with the lesson".
The children started talking among their small groups as Iruka took out a piece of paper and started checking off names as he looked at the children's faces. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed the 5 empty seats.
Iruka cleared his throat and got the attention of every child. "Has anyone seen Mayomi-san, Katsuro-kun, Kenta-kun, Nori-san, or Juroi-kun?" Iruka voiced.
The kids looked from face to face seeing as if anyone had seen the group. A young girl with bright orange hair and rosy cheeks stood up and faced her sensei, "Iruka-sensei, I saw Mayomi-san yesterday, she stayed to help me practice my shuriken target practice after class and because of me she had to miss her curfew, it was pretty late, I offered to walk her home but the rest of the group you named and some other boy showed up and insisted on walking her home".
"Arigatou Moegi-san, I hope they show up tomorrow, this is a very important lesson and the faster we finish this the quicker I can start teaching you kids ninjutsu".
The whole class cheered and Iruka started teaching.
About 45 minutes into the lesson Iruka looked from the board covered in chakra notes to the kids behind him. Half were asleep and the other half were looking out the window or passing notes among themselves. Iruka sighed and clapped his hands waking up half the class and getting the attention of the rest. "You have half an hour for lunch, then we can pick up where we left off", Iruka watched slightly taken aback as he saw everyone move out of the classroom at super speed, some moving faster than some fellow jounin. The thought brought a smile to the man's face and headed to the teacher's lunchroom.
"Oi Konohamaru-kun I'll trade you my fish paste onigiri for your plum one", Udon said grabbing Konohamaru's onigiri and putting it under his nose to take in the sweet smell.
Moegi and Konohamaru watched in utter disgust as a long piece of snot landed on top of the rice ball.
"It smells so good! Please Konohamaru-kun!" The boy pleaded giving off his best puppy dog look.
The brown haired boy only nodded quickly, even though he hated fish paste, it was the best filling compared to snot covered rice ball.
Udon grinned, looking at the onigiri like a dog looks at a piece of meat.
"Itadakimasu!" and with that he stuffed the whole rice ball into his mouth, not once noticing the snot.
Moegi and Konohamaru only stared with wide eyes and tried not to barf at the sight.
"Oishii!" the boy said licking his fingers and looked to his friend who was now pale and wide eyed, "Konohamaru-kun, don't get mad but next time can you tell your mom to put less salt, it was a bit salty"
…
After they ate they walked around the school grounds, Udon kept telling them about his new pet turtle while Moegi and Konohamaru were too hungry to talk or care but couldn't seem to get their appetites back after the whole snot ball thing, just remembering that made them cringe.
Realizing lunch time was up they headed to their classroom. Almost everyone was already in their seats. Iruka walked in with a smile and was about to continue with the lesson when the door in the front was slowly opened revealing a gloomy looking girl with three other kids behind her.
Iruka raised an eyebrow at this and waited for them to walk to their seats. He was about to comment on their tardiness but noticed the whole demeanor these kids seemed to possess. All four of them had an almost invisible rain cloud over their heads; all of their eyes were dark and lifeless with dark circles around them as if they hadn't slept in a week. This was considerably strange as he remembered how only yesterday they had been the happiest kids in the room, always laughing and making jokes. Mayomi was walking up the stairs to her seat but tripped on the last one and collapsed.
Everyone snickered and Iruka immediately went to help the girl. She had scraped her knee and trickles of blood were coming from the wound. Iruka took out a bandage from his leg pouch and started wrapping it around her knee when she harshly pushed him away. Everyone's eyes widened except for the other three kids who had just walked into the room.
"Don't touch me! I just fell, nothing to be all worried about, it's n-not l-like like-" the girl sniffled as she clearly remembered the scene from just the night before, tears started rolling down her cheeks. She promised she wasn't going to cry in class but it was no use, Katsuro was in critical condition and instead of being in the hospital with him she had to come here.
"It's not like what Mayomi-san?" Iruka questioned her, his words dripping with concern. She stayed silent and everyone sat there motionless in the awkward silence. Iruka looked from Mayomi to Kenta, from Kenta to Nori, from Nori to Juroi, and then from Juroi to the empty seat beside him.
"By the way kids, where's Katsuro-kun?" the teacher asked still looking at the empty seat.
Four bodies stiffened at the words. Mayomi felt the tears increase and her sobs got louder. "YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE HE IS? WELL I'LL TELL YOU! HE'S IN THE HOSPITAL, AND INSTEAD OF BEING THERE WITH HIM WE HAD TO COME TO THIS CLASS WHERE WE DON'T KNOW IF HE'S DEAD OR NOT!"
The whole classroom sat with their mouth agape. Iruka was about to speak but the girl continued after a few seconds of loud sobbing. "YESTERDAY NO ONE WAS THERE TO HELP HIM, NO ONE BANDAGED HIM UP AFTER HE GOT HIS ARM CUT OFF, YOU THINK THIS WAS BAD?" she said pointing to her knee, "YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HIM, H-HE COULDN'T EVEN STAY CONCIOUS FROM THE AMOUNT OF BLOOD LOSS-"
Mayomi looked at the blood on her knee in disgust.
"W-we couldn't do anything for him", she said in a whisper, "when she showed up, out of nowhere, we couldn't have done a thing"
'She?'
"That girl hurt Katsuro kun and I'm going to make sure she pays for what she did to my friend, I don't care how long it takes, I want to see her get punished"
The stillness in the room only seemed to increase by the second. Some were holding in their breaths without realizing as to not disturb the silence.
"Mayomi-san, I'm not exactly sure what's going on but this sounds serious, where did this incident with Katsuro-kun occur?" Iruka had a very uneasy feeling about all this.
She sniffled a few times and spoke, "not too far from here it was about a 20 minute walk outside the main gates around the southeast forest where the shuriken target practice is held".
Iruka inwardly panicked. 'Why hasn't it been known about what happened to that boy? A lot more people could be at risk, I have to let the Hokage know right away'. Iruka grabbed his folder and papers and started packing. He looked to the kids who had not moved an inch.
"Everyone, I have something I must do, it is now study period from now until class ends in an hour, you four that walked in late, come with me". He grabbed his stuff and walked to the door holding it open for the four kids to exit. A thud echoed the room, no one spoke, no one moved. Konohamaru stood up, his chair making a loud screeching sound that woke everyone up from their own thoughts. "Moegi, Udon, let's go, we have to tell Naruto nii-chan what happened". The two nodded and ran out the classroom.
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