Chapter 7
Iruka walked up to the blackboard, drawing up a big cross before turning to the girls.
"All right, first of all, shinobi and kunoichi have existed for centuries… I am not here to teach you history or geography, if you want to know more there are libraries or you can ask your clansmen… now there are four ways a ninja can fight against another… does anyone want to try guessing what these are?"
Umi frowned. She and Sakura had spent most of the day before getting her settled in and learning about where everything was in the neighborhood in case Sakura got home late so Umi could walk around. It hadn't really been much talking about ninja stuff.
She turned around, blinking as she saw Honoka hold up her hand enthusiastically.
Iruka smiled. "Honoka?"
"Well that kind Kurenai lady showed us a bunch of stuff yesterday where she changed into others and Naruto nii chan showed me and Yukiho something yesterday where he suddenly had a lot of clones… I don't know what it's called, but that kind of stuff."
Iruka chuckled, turning back to the blackboard, writing in the top square of the cross, ninjutsu. "Ninjutsu is the most common way ninjas fight. You can use ninjutsu to change your appearance, bend elements to your will and more… the bigger chakra reserves you have the more ninjutsu you can use. We will tackle this with actual tests after a while, letting you get a little taste for trial and error… all right, next one?"
Eli raised her hand. "Ino nee chan said something about the Yamanaka clan focusing on jutsus that dealt with the mind… I'm not sure what exactly that implies, but if ninjutsu makes things appear out of nowhere I don't think it's the same thing."
Iruka nodded, turning back to the board, writing genjutsu in another square.
"Genjutsu is special in the fact that it focuses on the mental capacity of your opponent. With enough chakra you can either put an entire area around you in a genjutsu field or you can put a single person under the spell. If you are really good with it some people won't even notice that they are under a spell for a long time… it's hard to pull off properly, but if you specialize in it like the Yamanaka clan or the Uchiha clan then you can go far. Two more, anyone want to guess the next one?"
Rin raised her hand eager. "Oh oh me me… when Tsume kaa chan showed me around I saw a bunch of the clansmen fight with like really animalistic martial arts, it was really awesome, that totally counts."
Iruka chuckled at the excited girl, turning to the blackboard writing down taijutsu.
"Taijutsu is the art of fighting with only your body as a weapon… there are some clans like the Inuzukas and Hyuugas who have their own style, and you will probably learn that after a while, but while you guys are here I will teach you the basic Konoha academy style so you have some basics to fall back on if needed later on… almost there girls, last way… anyone want to guess?"
Everyone looked thoughtful for a few seconds, thinking hard, until Yukiho raised her arm.
"I think… well, the people who brought us here had swords… sword fighting must be a thing."
Iruka gave her a small smile. "Correct. Well done Yukiho."
He turned to the blackboard one last time, writing down kenjutsu in the final square. "While not many ninjas specialize in using swords or other weapons, you need to know the basics."
Iruka took out a few kunais from his pocket, as well as a few shurikens, giving them to the girls in the front row. "Send these around; be careful, they are sharp."
He looked up at them. "While you are here learning the basics you will train in accuracy when throwing kunais and shurikens, as well as how to wield kunais in close combat."
Maki took the kunai as it passed her, looking at is closely. "Wow, these look sharper than some of the scalpels I've worked with in hospitals."
Rin who sat next to her took the Shuriken, being very careful.
"They are very light though."
Iruka smiled at them all. "Those are standard shinobi shurikens and kunais… when you go home later I suggest you asking your new family to go buy a pouch filled with them for you to train with… and speaking of, who wants to head outside to the training grounds and see who can hit the targets?"
…
Umi frowned. The group had finished the first day of their training, and everyone had decided to celebrate by going out to eat. And while she saw nothing but smiling faces, many of the smiles seemed… forced somehow.
"Is it just me… or is something up with this village."
Nico who sat next to her looked up from her noodles. "What do you mean?"
"Well… I can't put my fingers on it… but something is off. Like, people are smiling, but some of the smiles don't look genuine."
Maki nodded, frowning a little, looking at the other girls. "Has anyone else here a bunch of ninjas in their clan who looks like they had been thrust through a shredder?"
Eli and Nozomi nodded, Arisa speaking up. "Inoichi oto san was really weak… Ino nee chan yelled at him for being out of bed, said he had been bombed and was lucky to still be alive… she sounded really scared."
Kotori looked outside at the streets. "Have you guys noticed that Konoha seems to be made very deep in the earth? And that the further down you get into the center the newer the houses look."
Umi looked out, seeing what Kotori had just pointed out. "What in the world happened here?"
"War happened."
Everyone turned around, seeing a man smiling at them sitting at another table, wearing a green armless leotard, sitting in a wheelchair.
"The village is buzzing with news of a group of young girls being transported here from another world… I take it that is you guys?"
Nozomi nodded friendly. "Yes we are… who are you?"
The man smiled. "I am Maito Guy, a former ninja of Konoha."
Maki frowned. "Former?"
Guy chuckled a little, pointing to the wheelchair. "I fought my best and then some in the war… my chakra coils exploded and now I can no longer fight for my village… but you guys… you still have the soft and fresh faces of youth, you will go far."
Umi looked at him. "You said that this village was marked by war… could you please explain more?"
Guy looked at her, his smile faltering a little. "War is no easy subject matter girls… but I can give you a general overlook. About four months ago there was an organization driven by one man… a man who gained control of 9 powerful creatures known as the tailed beasts… he sought to use them to bring death and destruction to our world, and all the shinobi villages gathered to fight him… it took time, but we did it… but many died…there is not a person here in Konoha or in the other villages that have not lost someone, a friend, a partner, a family member… and on top of that, Konoha was hit hard before the war started… in fact you might say the war started because of it."
Guy looked at the girls morosely. "The group leader sent one of his puppets here to retrieve one of the tailed beasts who Konoha had in their possession… when we refused to back down he decided we needed to know pain and suffering, and dropped a bomb."
Guy pointed to the large Hokage Mountain. "If you want to know how devastating it was, you'll get your best view from the Hokage Mountain."
He looked at the girls, his sad face disappearing into a large grin, giving them thumbs up. "And the trek up will be great stamina practice. Go forth young ones, and show the world your essence of youth."
…
"I 'pant' can't believe 'pant' the amounts of stairs in this place."
Nico groaned, finally getting to the top of the stairs, exhausted.
Hanayo whimpered slightly. "No more… I yield… I need a double portion of white rice."
Eli shook her head, but took a deep breath herself. "I think that if we need more intensive stamina practice for this ninja thing, these stairs could probably be a good substitute for the shrine steps back in Tokyo… Umi what's wrong?"
Umi hadn't spoken since she came up, simply looked motionless out on the view.
Kotori looked worried, looking in the same direction as Umi. Her eyes went wide, the girl giving a small gasp.
Every girl walked over, curious at what Kotori and Umi was looking at.
In front of them the entire village of Konoha panned out in front of them, tall fences showing the border of the village, the houses flowing inwards until…
Arisa fell backwards, landing on her butt, taking deep breaths.
"What… what made that?"
Yukiho shook her head in shock. "If this was one single attack… what was the war like?"
Rin scowled out at the sight in front of her, turning to Hanayo and Maki, rushing over to grab both of them in a hug.
Maki grunted. "BUEH, Rin, what are you…"
"I won't lose."
Maki blinked in shock, looking down at the ginger holding her best friend and her girlfriend close. "We are in this world now… because of me… I won't falter because of this. I will train and become the best ninja ever, and I will protect all of you with my life."
Maki blinked, then grinned, ruffling Rin's hair. "Don't get cocky Rin… I'll fight you for the title of best ninja; I don't plan on sitting by either."
All around them the girls faces went from sad or shocked to grinning and proud.
"That's right" Honoka said, looking at her scarf and the Uzu sign on it. "We have families to make proud… now let us all head home and train hard."
Everyone nodded and gathered in a circle, holding their hands together.
Honoka grinned. "For Konoha."
Everyone nodded and yelled back. "FOR KONOHA."
The girls raised their arms in the air before hugging each other smiling and laughing out the last of their nerves, going back to the stairs and back to each of their homes. In a nearby tree a man with short brown hair stepped out into sight with a grin, looking at the girls walking away, not even aware that he was there.
"Jiji… these girls may not have been born here… but their will of fire is strong… I think they will fit right in."
