...
Pretending to be a knight shouldn't be a life changing decision, but not even Sakura can disagree with how much influence their silly game has. He can't speak for Ino, who keeps her silence with a mysterious smile, but Sakura and he are falling into their characters effortlessly.
He means in both ways. Sometimes he wakes up thinking: Kiba, future ninja of Konoha. Other times he wakes up ready to defend King and kingdom as Sir Gawain.
He would be anxious about becoming a samurai reject, but his mother and sister really are supportive of his life decisions. Perhaps a bit too supportive if this newest recruit is anything to go by.
"Girls can be ninja too!" Tenten cries, body language daring him to argue with her.
"Uh, yeah?" He agrees, unsure why this is in question. "Obviously? They have kunoichi classes, and you met my mother."
He wondered why Ma threw him out the door with some money and an order to go eat at Ichiraku's. Ma had an alarming smirk on her face as well. What kind of bizarre luck did he have for this girl to have met his mother?
Still, he doesn't quite understand Tenten's reasons for wanting to join. Akamaru shifts on top of his head, and he moves the ninken into his arms. His partner is becoming more sensitive to his moods; hopefully it means Akamaru is getting ready to speak.
"Your mother's so cool," Tenten gushes before frowning, "but she's the only one."
He tilts his head in an unspoken question.
"My dad—I heard," Tenten stresses, "that most girls grow up and marry or not fight. I want to be a ninja."
Oh. He gets it now. It's not something that comes to mind considering he's constantly surrounded by women high up on the food chain, but he knows where Tenten is coming from. Sakura sure rants about it enough.
No matter how progressive the hidden villages are, women still have a stigma attached to them. Kunoichi are mainly valued as infiltrators and wives for ninja clans. Even the most powerful women are expected to retire into motherhood eventually.
"What's that got to do with the Knights?" He asks, still confused over this point.
"I watch you a lot," Tenten admits. "Everyone's treated equally. You guys are strong, and you don't make the girls stay away."
That's another thing he's noticed. Children here like to divide themselves into groups by gender. It's probably a subconscious mimicry of the adults around them. The exclusive kunoichi classes in the academy aren't going to help that divide either.
"I'm not stupid enough to do that. My rival will probably be a girl," he says flatly.
He believes it too. Hopefully he won't meet her like he did Tenten—a pair of chopsticks flying by his ear followed by an empty bowl and a loud declaration.
"Right! So you have to let me join!" Tenten claps her hands together. "Please?"
He considers the wide, pleading eyes. Despite Naruto's and Lee's complaints, the Knights of the Round Table are now an exclusive group. "No new members!" Sakura and he declare after Lee's formal knighting.
("Surely we can spread shayari to other—"
"No, Brunor."
"But new friends!"
"No, King Arturus.")
Still, he thinks he can make room for one more.
"You're going to need a name and a sword," he ends up saying.
The beaming smile he gets back is potentially worth the headache of "But you said" he can already hear being thrown around. Still, he's left with the impossible.
What is he going to call Tenten?
("Lamorak," Sakura says.
"Rejected," he replies immediately.
"It's the only thing I've got," Sakura cries, throwing her hands up in defeat.
He flops onto his back to stare up at the sky as grass digs into his arms and legs. Akamaru's paw reaches out to his leg, and Sakura huffs next to him. Sasuke's one-sided bickering with Neji floats in the air like bad background music.
"How about Gingalin?" He asks.
"You'll have to explain that one to me," Sakura says.
It took months to remember the name as Gingalin wasn't the most prominent character. Tenten doesn't quite fit the knight—no one truly does—but it's a closer match than anything else he could come up with.
"Gingalin, The Fair Unknown, had a lot of adventures that the other knights don't know about. In fact, the knights don't know a lot about him other than the fact that he's pretty," he tells her.
Sakura makes a face at him, and he shrugs.
"Gawain's secret fairy child that he didn't even know about. Go figure.")
Lee and Tenten agree to wait and enter the academy alongside Neji. He wonders if it's Naruto's charisma or their accidental religious indoctrination that convinces the two.
("It's not a religion," Sakura hisses between her teeth.
He raises his eyebrows and turns to where the majority of the group is. Neji and Ino aside, the rest of the Knights surround Naruto, who speaks from on top of a stump.
"It's like a bowl of hot noodles," Naruto croons, "filling, warm, and the reason to get up in the morning!"
He turns back to Sakura.
"Alright, maybe," she concedes with a pinched expression.)
The days to the academy grow ever closer, and with it comes even more change. Life is truly bizarre, he thinks while munching on a piece of egg and staring across the table. Uchiha Itachi stares back as if just as shocked as he is.
"My apprentice," Ma announces. "You brats already know each other, so I ain't making any fancy introductions."
Well, okay then. Clearly something big has gone down behind the scenes, but he can't fathom how this result came about. He resolves not to think about it. It's his secret technique to avoid pulling out his hair.
"Sasuke wants a better bokken," he says before stuffing his face.
"Perhaps when he gets taller," Itachi remarks, making no move towards any of the food on the table.
Ma has no time for timidity; his mother all but shoves a plate full of breakfast into the Uchiha's lap. Watching Itachi try to wrangle out of eating is more amusing than it should be. He makes sure Akamaru gets a good view.
"I don't give a damn if you're not hungry," Ma growls. "You're with me now. Get that protein in you. I won't have Fugaku crying about his brat passing out."
Itachi loses the argument in the end. The Uchiha will eventually learn that no one wins when it comes to the demon that is his mother.
(Sasuke gets wind of Itachi's new morning schedule. They gain another addition to their breakfast table immediately. Sasuke's parents are less than pleased, or so he gathers from the chatter around him.)
Against expectations, nothing happens when it comes time to enter the academy. He looks around and comes to a sudden realization that change has already taken place.
"Say that again," Neji commands darkly.
The kid in front of Neji pales and moves away from Hinata. The Hyuuga heiress is looking down at the ground, hands clasped together, but he knows it's not out of shyness. The shaking isn't out of fear either.
"Remember, only draw your sword for a worthy cause," Neji tells Hinata softly.
Hinata nods and breathes deeply. She's probably counting backwards from fifteen. It's a little trick Ino taught her to calm down.
"I will show everyone the worth of shayari!" A loud yell grabs everyone's attention.
"Calm down, Lee!" Tenten says with a shake of the head. "Actions, not words!"
Tenten begins moving into a martial arts form, and Lee copies her movements only a second later. It's Tenten's favorite way to quiet Lee down. No drawbacks, only benefits, she tends to say.
"Aw, come on! I'll pay attention, I swear!" Naruto pleads to Sakura.
"You'll get this back after class," Sakura says, placing a manga book under her arm.
Sakura had the brilliant idea to teach Naruto reading by way of manga. It worked a little too well. Getting Naruto to stop reading is Sakura's new task. Naruto falls to his knees, crying out in despair to an unmoving Sakura.
He shakes his head. Good luck, Sakura.
"Hey, this is my man. Don't even look at him!" Ino snarls, arm looped with Sasuke's.
He admires Sasuke's poker face in spite of the situation. Every female in class is already vying for the Uchiha's attention.
"Hey, Chouji, Shikamaru, get over here!" Ino yells, slowly moving Sasuke behind her.
No doubt Ino is helping solve Sasuke's fangirl crisis before it even begins. Sasuke is used to the extraordinary girls of their group; the kid is completely unprepared for interacting with these normal, lovesick girls.
"Ugh, fine," Shikamaru rolls out of a nearby bush, causing some of the girls to squeal in fright.
"Hey, Sasuke," Chouji greets cheerfully, stepping out of the same bush far more gracefully.
"Chouji," Sasuke acknowledges. "Shikamaru," Sasuke says more blandly.
Shikamaru and Chouji stand in front of Ino, effectively blocking Sasuke from view. None of the girls feel brave enough to attempt to get past the new wall blocking them.
"The real journey begins here."
He doesn't jump, having caught the scent beforehand. Shino moves next to him, and Akamaru lets out a quiet bark in greeting. He brushes his shoulder with Shino's, getting a slight buzzing sound in response.
"We'll make it," he says simply.
Maybe not as ninja, maybe not as knights either. Whatever they end up being, it'll be enough to bring down Konoha's enemies, of that he has no doubt.
"We're the Knights of the Round Table after all," he grins.
