"Oof!"
The wind rushed out of me as I landed with a thud on my already sore backside. That would signify a fail. But at least this time I didn't hit my face. That one had hurt a bit more, unfortunately.
Just one more try. Of course, I said that after the last six attempts, as well. But the fourteenth try's the charm right?
I backed up a few more feet, drew in a deep breath, and started my futile run. My feet connected with my target for less than a second before I felt myself go airborne. I braced myself for what I was quite certain was going to be the most painful impact yet, but it never came.
"What exactly were you trying to do?"
The question was accompanied by an exasperated sigh.
"Trying to climb a tree," I chirped brightly, twisting around to face my savior.
"By running straight at it? Most people actually use their hands, you know. And why are you soaking wet?"
"I tried walking across my pond earlier," I admitted, earning myself yet another sigh. "At first, I thought it was just a matter of building up enough speed, since you guys always sprint during your gym class. So I got a running start and made it to the pond, but then I tripped and face planted into the water. Then, I thought maybe the principal was the same as walking across hot coals, and that the less pressure I apply, the better off I am. I tried walking lightly, but my feet still just went right through the water. It's really all your fault, you know." I pouted for emphasis.
"I don't even hang out with you. How is this all my fault?"
"You set an impossible example for me to follow. If you and your friends acted like normal human beings, these law-of-science-defying ideas never would have made their way into my normally rational mind."
"Ouch!"
I landed with a dull thud. "You could have at least warned me," I complained, turning to scowl at Shikamaru from my painful position on the ground. "You don't just go dropping-"
But he was gone. Now by gone, I don't mean he was in the process of walking away. No, he had completely and totally disappeared. The only thing left behind was the faintest odor of smoke.
What an odd boy.
***
I let out a sigh.
What a waste of a such a lovely day. It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and here I am, stuck inside reading for my Japanese Culture class. Granted, the class didn't meet again until Tuesday, but if I put if off until tomorrow then all my other teachers will decide to swamp me with work. It always happens that way; it's just a given.
We were currently studying the history of the ninja. Sounds exciting, right?
Wrong.
When Kurenai-sensei gave us the assignment, I was pumped. Let's be honest here, ninjas are just plain cool. I had figured that learning about them would have been proportionally awesome. But no. I'm only two pages in and I've already been bombarded by unnecessary dates and names that I had no hope of remembering on a pop quiz.
I sighed again as I realized that I had spent the past five minutes staring blankly out the window. It had been such a strange week. Ever since Shikamaru had caught me trying to replicate their gym class antics, I've just had the odd feeling that I'm being watched constantly. But anyway, back to the books.
Ninja were assassins, trained in the Japanese art of ninjutsu. Ninja, like samurai, followed their own special code of conduct, called ninpo. According to some modern practitioners of ninjutsu, the ninja's specialty was not assassination but rather espionage.
It is popularly believed that the ancient ninja were peasants, who were forbidden under law from studying the samurai swordplay techniques because of the caste structure of their society. This was not necessarily true as most ninja were also samurai, operating as spies in an underground intelligence network.
See also: Shinobi
My hand was visibly trembling as I turned to the referenced page.
It described in detail the evolution of the shinobi and their transition into modern society. It also discussed the matter of chakra, which basically allowed them to perform super human feats by channeling and focusing it.
It finally made sense. Why the other students had looked at me like I was crazy when I said I didn't know what chakra was. Why Tsunade had removed me from my gym class. Why these normal looking kids were capable of such super human feats.
But how could they have kept something like this hidden for so long? Surely I wasn't the only person at Konoha Academy who had noticed their peculiar behavior, especially when it was spelled out in black and white in a required text book! I opened up my laptop, typed 'Konoha Academy' into the search bar, and clicked on the school's link.
Konoha Academy, one of Japan's most elite undergraduate programs, is a highly selective school located on the island of Okinawa. The Academy's mission is to nurture and enhance students' natural abilities and produce self-sufficient graduates who will use their unique talents in their chosen field. At Konoha Academy, we promote both individual and group based work studies and push our students to achieve above and beyond the norm…
The rest of the school's mission statement read similar to that, sounding like nothing more than a normal high class school. There was nothing in it to suggest that they were secretly training ninjas. It just didn't add up. Maybe I'm just overreacting and blowing all of this out of proportion. Maybe they're all just really athletic and my imagination is going into overdrive from reading too many detective novels.
Sadly, that alone did not quell my curiosity. One way or the other, I was going to find out what was (or was not) going on at Konoha Academy. I was going to need rock-hard evidence, and I knew just where to start.