Ayame- Iris- Fem Harry Potter

Shiriusu- Sirius – to-san/father

Ryu – Dragon – Draco- itoko/cousin

Miya – Beauty – Narcissa – oba/aunt

Asebi – Andromeda- oba/aunt

Takeo – Ted – oji/uncle

Maiko - Nymphadora– itoko/cousin

Chapter 38

It had now been nearly a year since class 1-S had first entered the academy, it was mid-March and the end of the first full term, seeing as their first term had started late due to having the academy repaired. The first mini-term had been spent bringing most of the class up to the same level as Ryu and Ayame in the basics. Reading, writing, mathematics, exercises and meditation. By the start of the second term in October Reo-sensei felt that class 1-S had enough of the basics covered to be able to move on.

October had been the true start of the differences between 1-S and the rest of the school. Everyday the started at 6am with exercises and meditation before a balanced breakfast was provided for them. They had been informed that if the course was to continue after this year they would be learning to cook their own breakfasts and lunches as well as learning what proper nutrition for a shinobi was. They then had a morning block of inside learning before heading outside for an hour of running through different assault courses before their lunch was again provided. After lunch was again split equally between inside and outside learning. At 4pm they were released from the academy and returned to their families but the learning still did not stop there, there were home-learning assignments and practice that they needed to have complete for the next day's lessons.

All the students were clan children and there had been a couple of complaints that there was not enough time left for the children to learn their clan techniques (cough*Hyuga*cough). Reo had informed the worried relatives that Sundays had no lessons and they were free to train in clan techniques on that day. What he hadn't informed them was that if the class continued after this first year, clans would be approached about tutors or scrolls of clan techniques the student could study during school hours. Reo, and most of the advisors the Hokage had gathered together agreed, felt that it was a waste of resources and time to teach the academy style taijutsu when it was rarely used after the academy and never by clan's that had their own style.

The worry that non-clan children would be at a disadvantage was put to rest when it was suggested that a taijutsu specialist be made available to assess the children and make recommendations on the style of taijutsu a student should learn. There was no point a small waif of a child learning punches that needed weight behind them and a more heavy-set child would not be as comfortable with a speed-based style.

It had also been decided to limit the book learning to what is actually needed, instead of studying the dates of historical battles they discussed the strategies and what could have been done differently. Geography wasn't just a list of details and numbers, who really remembers the estimated population of a country? It was important landmarks and cultures that they studied, the building blocks of infiltration and undercover work.

Reading was important as they were encouraged to learn on their own from the beginning, as a shinobi they would not always have access to someone who could teach them a technique, sometimes a scroll would be all they had. They were taught how to read the scrolls and extract the information they needed from them. The were all taught to write calligraphy on top of being taught legibility, it was intended for all the students of 1-S to be able to produce at least their own basic sealing scrolls by the time they graduated.

Shizune already spent one learning block a week teaching basic field healing and first aid. The entire class now knew how to preform resuscitation upon a civilian and the recovery position, as well as how to bandage and splint a broken arm. The Hokage himself had taken one exercise lesson to demonstrate the use of a bo in combat. The intention was to expand these lessons and to have many demonstrations on different parts of shinobi life, there had already been murmurings of interest from the intelligence division, who as their name suggested had more knowledge about class 1-S then they really should have. The thought of having a whole class of students knowledgeable in even one basic Konoha code could make a huge difference and if they managed to catch the interest of just one child, the possibilities that could develop from an early start were endless.

The interest from the intelligence division had brought the class to the attention of the rest of the shinobi force, which led to now. With the end of the first full term of class 1-S there were now comparable results for Hiruzen to share with the council, who had been demanding an explanation as to why the Hokage was not following the agreed upon curriculum that had been the basis of the agreement for the civilian side of the council to fund the re-building of the academy. The shinobi within the council knew that they civilians had deliberately 'dumbed down' and had out right removed parts of the original course that they didn't agree with, to improve the chance of their own children becoming shinobi but even they did not know where the Hokage had gotten his ideas for the new course from. It was so radically different then what had gone before and there had been no explanations or warnings given, only the meeting the day before the academy's reopening, that they were as insistent, if not as vocal, for an explanation.

"Is there any new business to be discussed?"

A spokesman for the civilian side of the council stood and answered the Hokage's request.

"We would like to know why the Hokage has redacted on the agreement made with this side of the council over the funding of the repairs to the academy."

He had known there would be a demanding of explanations but the Hokage did not like the veiled threat that the civilian council had added to their inquiry.

"I have not redacted on the agreement made within this council as to the academy, what I have allowed is a privately funded course to be opened up to other students of a similar age range. I have allowed this to run along side the current course as a social experiment to see the differences the style of learning makes in our students. This has no baring on the agreement made." This was in fact a true statement or at least it had been for the last 6 months, when the Hokage had nearly had to scrap the course due to lack of funds Kuro Shiriusu had stepped forward to fund the course. Apparently Ayame-hime really was her daddy's princess and he would do anything that she asked, including keeping the lessons she enjoyed going for the whole class. As Shiriusu had explained it, it was cheaper and less hassle to fund class 1-S than to privately hire tutors and convince the other parent to attend the private lessons so his daughter could keep her friends.

It had taken a lot of convincing and one application of Ayame's puppy-eyes no jutsu for Shiriusu to stop demanding it be called the Shiri course. Ever since the 'you can't get rid of us now party' when someone had taken Kuro-dono aside an explained that no-one would call him "Shiri" as it was a rude word for bottom he'd been even more insistent, claiming his cousins had always called him an ass and now everyone would know it. *

Another civilian council member rose to their feet. "Why were none of our children given the opportunity to join this privately funded course?"

Hiruzen had to duck his head and use his hat to hide the smirk of glee that spread across his face. He had been waiting to use this answer for months after Asebi had pointed it out to him during a meeting with Shiriusu. As he funded the course he was included in all decision making as to the future direction of the course, this meant that Shiriusu had dragged his cousin along to the meetings to bring other ideas to the table, or so he claimed. Hiruzen suspected that Shiriusu hoped to distract Asebi with something constructive after whatever had affected the women's disposition in January.

"I would have thought you'd prefer your children to attend the course you had argued so hard for, was this not the case?"

Not sensing the trap that the Hokage had laid out for him the councilman angerly retorted, that of course he did not want his child on what was clearly a sub-standard course, not in those words but the message was clear.

"So, you acknowledge that the curriculum specified by the council in the agreement for the academy is a sub-standard course of study? I had not realised you had access to the intelligence divisions findings on the subject?"

The councilman tried to bluster his way out of the hole he dug himself but only made it worse but actually admitting that the council had known that they were putting the potential shinobi graduates at a disadvantage to make it easier for their own children to pass the final exam by lowering the standard.

The killing intent that had leaked from the shinobi side after the admittance caused the unfortunate man to soil himself as he fainted when his brain caught up to his mouth. Hiruzen was amused at how much the civilian sides grip was loosening on the control at the village now that That Man was no longer pulling the strings behind the scenes. Now nearly a year old there were still schemes and secrets of That Man coming to light. Hiruzen still did not know where to start explaining to the Uchiha about the sharingan implanted arm they had found upon That Man as they had stripped searched him. Fortunately, he still had time to stall as the investigation into That Man was nowhere near finished.

"You do realise I could have the whole civilian council brought up on charges of treason at this admittance?" The Hokage's words raised the tension within the room as the civilians were reminded once again of the real power structure within the village. "I would not want to have to have every civilian council member put through T&I for a full investigation over what I'm sure is an unintentional side-affect of the council's desire to increase our shinobi force. Perhaps we can come to the agreement that quality is better than quantity within Konoha and create a committee to look into the implication of rolling out class 1-S course across the whole academy?"

The civilian side where quick to agree, they did not want all their dirty secrets found by T&I after all, and the shinobis had seen or heard about class 1-S, what with each of the main shinobi clans having a representative within the class and the way shinobi gossip, and thus were quick to agree as well. Hiruzen knew that it would be difficult to get the funding to implement the full s-class program but even just some of the methods being used would be an incredible advantage for Konoha. He had tasked the intelligence division to compare each of the academy's classes and evaluate their 'readiness' to be Konoha-nin. He had allowed the examiners to decide what their own definition of readiness was and been incredibly surprised by the results.

As was their way the information division had gathered a wide range of comparable results, the thesis that had been provided to Hiruzen had to be at least an inch thick, but could be basically summarised to Class 1-S already being 'readier' for shinobi life than students 3 years older than them, who were currently in the 'civilian approved' course, and if they continue with the presented ideas to expand the course then class 1-S would be better prepared for Shinobi life than most who have passed the Chunin exams within the last 20 years. Those who had received field promotions were in a different category due to the type of situations field promotions happen within, this didn't make the results any less impressive and he would be making the thesis available to those on the academy committee.

The Academy Committee would continue decades into the future, a mix of shinobi and civilian, parents and teachers; always evaluating the academy's practices and results improving the standard of education while trying to keep it affordable enough that all who wished too, could attend. It was considered a great privilege to serve on the committee, even though there wasn't much criteria beyond an investment in improving the education of future shinobi, and anyone found to not be working to the students' best interests were summerly shipped off to T&I for treason and questioned fully. Konoha's education system would become the envy of all the hidden villages.

As Hiruzen left the chamber he was approached by Asebi,

"I hope the Sarutobi family are still able to attend dinner this evening?"

"Certainly Asebi, we are much looking forward to it and I, in particular, am looking forward to seeing little Naruto-kun again."

"I'm glad, Naruto loves his 'jiji', you're all he babbles about for days after each time you visit."

"How is his development? Is there anything to be concerned about?"

"Nothing we haven't already faced with Ayame, too much energy and too many thoughts within their heads. Ayame has already started to try and teach him the relaxation techniques she learnt as a child. She was a similar age when Reo first started teaching her. You should visit on a Sunday, it's so cute watching both her and Itachi teaching their otoutos together, I believe that Kasuga-kun has been threatening to kidnap his clan's heir to join in on what he calls group nap time, since he first heard about it."

"Kasuga-kun?"

"The young Nara in class 1-S."

Hiruzen hummed, it made sense now, no Nara would turn down the opportunity to be allowed to relax and nap and lessons meant just for that would be the idea of heaven for them. Sarutobi was glad that the Kuros had taken in Naruto, the boy had grown in leaps and bounds within the last 10 months. It had taken a week for Shiriusu to get back to Hiruzen with news that it would take at least 6 months before the contractors could have his house finished but that they had added more rooms to his miracle tent and that they family was ready to take the little guy home that day.

Hiruzen's biggest worry had been the possible jealousy from the older children but they were quickly erased when Ayame had taken to 'stealing' her new little brother every moment she could and along with Itachi, Sasuke and Ryu (and Naruto's secret Anbu guard), going on 'adventures' around the village. So far there hadn't been any overt actions towards the small jinchuriki but there had been more than a few rumblings of displeasure about his presence. The one merchant who had made a comment about 'that demon' in Ayame's hearing had soon found himself in a very awkward situation when the Kuros had manged to convince the other shinobi clans to boycott the merchant and he found himself with plague of bad luck; like when a recent storm had ripped off a few tiles from the roof, causing the backroom to flood, damaging all stock he had on site at that time, or the time that a runaway horse had stampeded through the market but only the merchant had been knocked over. There was no proof of outside influence on any of the events befalling the merchant but people were much more careful about what thoughts they voiced within hearing range of a Kuro, the lack of shinobi trade had driven the merchant into bankruptcy within 3 months and the last anybody had heard he'd fled to a small village with no shinobi on the coast. Yes he was very pleased with his decision to place Naruto with the Kuros.

AN: *thank you mckertis for that factoid.

Does anyone think they could write a better summary for me? I don't think mines very good but i can't think of one better, anyone interested?