Chapter 9

Even though they were still basic classes, there was advancement from the previous year, as well as a change in teachers. Instead of the history teacher there was a new teacher who I recognized as the person who actually caught me during my mad dash a year ago. Which he confirmed when he winked in my direction as I entered the classroom.

He introduced himself as Miura Takeo, and said that this was the next step in the basic knowledge course. The next step was, as it turned out, basic mathematics and physics, told through the narrative example of how that applied practically to the field of ninjas. Unlike in our previous class, we were expected to think about the material, which frankly shocked most the students when the teacher called upon students at random to get their input on questions. Miura-sensei seemed fairly amused by the reaction.

Afterwards, myself, Chōjurō and Suigetsu split off to go to our Kenjutsu class. It was noticeably smaller. The new instructor didn't comment on that at all, and instead presented us each with a new practice sword. My sword was shorter than the others, but then it struck me that it was about the same weight as the short sword I pulled off the rack. Instead of the standard sizes and weight, they were giving us weighted equivalents to what we had tried to use when we combated Kisame.

I was trying to figure out what they did to make it weight the same when the instructor spoke.

"Alright, to those who have returned, congratulations on passing your first test. Unlike the other courses you take, advanced courses have a definite pass and fail requirement. Fail enough times and you will be removed from the class. Fail enough advanced courses and you will likely be removed from the academy."

Oh, so this was the actual grading process, then. I suppose that made the previous year ninja kindergarten, go figure.

"Those swords", he continued, pointing at one of the practice swords, "are to be your constant companion in all your courses and exercises. If you are caught without them by any of your instructors you will be reprimanded. How you store and carry them is up to you, but keep in mind that if you were to lose or damage them, the academy will not provide you with another. As swordsman your weapon is a vital aspect of yourself, much like a limb, and as such should be respected and handled with care. If something were to happen to your sword during a mission, replacing it during said mission would be nearly impossible until your return to the village."

The instructor paused at that moment.

"If you return."

With that note, he started with the class instruction, which was several basic exercises that seemed more about us getting familiar with our swords. It was easier for some of the students who had chosen sizes were that of a katana or just a bit smaller. Chōjurō's sword was a little shorter than a normal katana. Not that it was unusual, especially compared to Suigetsu's sword, which was probably two feet longer than a normal katana.

Some of the students had moderate size swords, but on eight year old children they were huge and it would be quite a task for them to carry them through their other lessons.

We continued practicing basic forms with our new swords before we headed to the next class. Several of the students hesitated before they left, trying to figure out how they were going to move around with some of the more exotic shaped swords. Personally, I just poked a hole through the top of my pants and slipped the sword in there. It kind of bounced on my leg as I walked, but I could deal until I managed to get a belt. I had to run slightly to catch up with Chōjurō, who instead of doing anything fancy just stuck the sword on his back and seemed to be holding it there with chakra.

That probably wasn't a bad idea for training.

"Hey!"

He slowed down a step to look at me.

"Hey."

He said it quietly, before looking towards my hip.

"A short sword, that'll be good for you."

I smiled up at him as we walked down the hallway before poking the longer sword on his back.

"Why'd you choose that one?"

He stopped for a moment and thought about it before answering.

"Well, I didn't think I'd be able to get in very close if I couldn't block any of his hits and this one seemed sturdier somehow."

I nodded and the two of us headed to lunch in silence.

Everyone who returned from the Kenjutsu class got some strange looks as we ate, well, mostly Suigetsu who had a bit of a hard time moving through the tables with his long katana on his back. But nobody really had the nerve to ask him about it. Enji was a little mythed though, saying that he'll have to work harder so that he can get into the class and get a cool sword. There were a couple nervous looks from the other students who were in the advanced classes at that comment.

Following lunch, Taijutsu was just us stepping up to more basic forms. Though with the added weight of the sword I was a little off balance on my right and the teacher frequently asked me to adjust my stance. I wondered how the boys were handling their much larger and heavier companions in the advanced class.

As we were leaving to our chakra control classes I saw Kiriko break from the group. It was a bit unusual so I followed her for a bit and realized she was headed back to the barracks.

"Kiriko!"

She turned at me, surprised that she had been followed, but her face softened.

"Oh Ume, shouldn't you be going to class?"

I looked at her sideways.

"Shouldn't you?"

She turned away and put a hand on the wall.

"Um, I'm not feeling too well.."

"Don't."

I held out a hand.

"You know you're a horrible liar. Whats wro…."

My mind caught up to my mouth in that moment. She was going to her Genjutsu class, she was scared that they might put her under again and make her see something horrible.

"Oh Kiriko", I whispered before taking a step forward to her side.

She leaned against the wall like it was the only thing holding her up. I leaned into her and she put her arm around me. I couldn't quite prop her up since I was still smaller than her, but she looked a little better that I was there.

"I don't want to go back."

She whispered to me.

"I don't want to see something like that, ever again. I don't want to learn to do something like that, to make people see such…"

She trailed off, her head lowered with tears forming. I put a hand on her cheek.

"They won't. I went to my class, they didn't attack me again and…"

I had to think for a little bit.

"They'll probably show you how to break it too. Genjutsu is common and…"

She let out a cry at that and I pulled away.

"No, I mean, it's not real. You won't really get hurt, you won't."

She didn't stop, though. She started to slump against the wall, pulling us down into a crouching position until we were both seated on the floor. I was at a loss. I guess it didn't matter that it hadn't been real, it had felt real to her, it had still hurt her. Even though we had a year of training that was likely her first real exposure to what real violence or horror might have looked like.

She was scared and she was scarred, and I didn't know what to say. So I did something else, I started to sing.

"You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies lit up the world as you fell asleep."

She calmed down, curious, and I continued. The rhythm was a bit off because of the language difference but I tried to keep the same beat.

"Cause they'd fill the open air, and leave teardrops everywhere. You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare. I'd like to make myself believe, that planet earth turns, slowly. It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep, cause everything is never as it seems."

She looked at me as I stopped and wiped her eyes.

"Where do you learn such pretty songs Ume?"

I let out a breath, at least she calmed down. Even if that was something of an awkward question.

"It's not important. But you can't just run away."

She pulled her knees up to her chest.

"But I don't want to do that to people, it's so mean."

I stood up and turned to face her.

"Then don't. Genjutsu's just a tool, it can make people see anything. Even pretty things like..."

I took a moment to think on that, but she interrupted.

"Like ten million fireflies?", she offered, and I smiled at her.

"Yeah, like that. Anyway, we need to get going. I don't want them to cut dinner cause we were late to class."

Kiriko nodded and pulled herself up. We both started jogging to our respective classrooms, but before we split she stopped.

"Ume?"

I turned to face her.

"Yes?"

Her tears were mostly dry, though her fair skin still showed slight blotches of red around her nose.

"That was a pretty song, is there more to it?"

I smiled.

"Sure, I'll sing it to you tonight."

She nodded.

"Okay."

Then we separated and went to class.


Chakra control turned more into hand seal memorization and execution. After a few weeks, that went into doing one handed seals with your off hand while you held another item in your hand, like a scroll, a kunai, or in my case my sword.

Throwing practice changed as well. We basically started over from the beginning, except instead of throwing in normal light, the instructor covered the entire classroom with a thick mist. So we had to throw our ball to our partner and catch it in the mist. That was really tricky but, considering the village's name, being able to pinpoint people in foggy conditions wasn't that unusual a teaching. It helped me learn to intercept and predict some of the movements of the students.

When night fell I taught Kiriko the new song, but she wasn't the only one who wanted to learn it. Since I came to the academy I would sometimes sing random songs. In my old life that was normal, I was a bit of a music nerd and singing even slightly off key helped fill the silence. Don't Stop Believing was one of the few songs I'd been asked to teach everyone else, but we had gotten so caught up since the start of the first year that I hadn't really done it much since. Now though, the kids were nervous. They'd had a taste of what was out there and they wanted a distraction, so because of what happened before, I had been the nominated distractor.

Now, that was all well and good, but there was a distinct problem with trying to teach songs. One, it's hard to match pitch when you don't have perfect pitch. Two, the other kids couldn't read music. I could, I took piano lessons in my old life, not that there were any pianos here that I'd been able to practice with since. But I didn't know how I could teach something they didn't really have much of a concept of. But Kiriko and, surprisingly enough, Enji stepped in with that.

While the other kids probably didn't have the patience to sit down while I tried to explain while funny symbols on a piece of paper made a music note, they were more willing to listen. Also unlike me, Kiriko had good pitch. Not perfect, but better than mine. The songs I tried to write from memory were likely wrong in a lot of places and had a lot of holes but then, it was probably alright since we only had drums to accompany it with. At least until I came in one of the Kenjutsu classes and saw that one of the kids had brought an umbrella. When asked about it, she said that they could use any means they saw fit to transport their weapon, and this was a much stealthier way to walk around with than openingly carrying a sword. I approached her about it and she stated that if I asked the instructor he might be open to suggestions if it gets approved.