The second part of this chapter involves character interaction and other escapades so it's not all monologue.

Also I did a double release today.

'Thinking'

"Talking"

I do not own Naruto, obviously.

Frankly I was starting to feel a little bad for the kids around me. We have been doing nothing but walk down the path for about three hours now and it was showing. At first the kids were quiet and trailing after Eyepatch like little ducklings, hero worship gleaming in their eyes.

It started to wear off after about 10 minutes.

Now the kids are doing nothing but panting as they shamble after him, topics of conversation long since abandoned to save energy; not that there was anything to talk about along the road anyway. It's all misty so you can't see past the first layer of trees and all the trees are the same in that unique, anime background way. It's actually quite uncanny..

I'm different from the others though in that I have been spending the last year training my body, especially the legs. That's not to say the other kids are in bad shape actually, they do spend all day playing after all, but playing is not a substitute for an optimized training regimen. Not to mention that Eyepatch is walking at a brisk pace which already sounds tough to do for three hours straight but gets even worse once you realize that he's an adult whose legs are about three times longer than us three year olds. Even I, who is in fantastic shape for my age, am starting to feel the burn.

'Are we three ye- THERE, are we there yet?' I asked the clique question in my mind.

I didn't bother verbalizing it because the question has already been asked before about 20 minutes in, and it got the same reply as every other attempt at inquiry or conversation with Eyepatch. Nada, zilch, squat, fourth thing. Ever since he finished the speech Eyepatch has been as quiet as the dead, marching on without even his footsteps making the sound of crunching dirt. If I were to stand right next to him and close my eyes I wouldn't even know he was there. It's quite impressive. He is doing a more advanced version of what I can do on floors or it might be more correct to say that I am doing a lesser version of what Eyepatch is doing outside. I'll definitely have to work on outdoor silent stepping later at the academy, it's basically a staple of being a nin- and we're here.

Out of the mist, like hell appearing before a dead sinner. the academy started to manifest. Facing down the location of my fear for the past year I was struck by how…. Well I'm not going to say impressive. How...building-e it is. It sure is a building, much brick, very gray. I can totally envision it housing people? What I'm trying to say is that it's the most boring building I've ever seen. For as rundown as the orphanage was it at least had a personality to it, even though that personality was probably human right's violation. But then again I'm sure they were going for the lifeless approach when they were designing it, like a concentration camp. Which it kind of is from a certain perspective, i.e. mine. Looking around, the other kids were as equally unimpressed, although they were relieved to finally reach our destination. As for me, I would have gladly walked for several more days if it meant never having to see this place but we can't all get what we want in life.

"Line up" Eyepatch spoke suddenly and authoritatively, as he stopped at the gate to the academy courtyard.

Several kids jumped, including me, and we rushed to fulfill his orders for his tone of voice brokered no complaints. His tone was very much different from Matron-san's in that it did not even allow for the thought of protest; with Matron-san you could ignore what she said if you were ready to face the punishment afterwards but for Eyepatch there would be no punishment because you were either going to follow his directions or die trying. Contrary to this long speech bubble, I did not dare allow myself to get lost in thought and promptly formed up with the other kids.

"Alright students listen up for you will only hear this once. This is the Academy of Kirigakure, The Village Hidden in the Mist and by stepping through this gate you will be becoming one of its ninja. Any of you who think you are not up to the task are free to turn around now" At that he slowly looked all the orphans in the eye one by one including me.

I tried to convey determination through my gaze but as I said before, I am a shitty actor. I wonder what Eyepatch saw.

I did not even contemplate turning around, I had no doubt that if any of the kids here had the audacity to go back to the orphanage they would not even make it five minutes down the path. In a village like Kiri, not being someone who would throw away their life for the village at the first chance is tantamount to treason. This question was not a question at all but another loyalty test, like the box; to weed out the most weak willed or just those who the "ninja are awesome" propaganda hasn't gotten to.

Seeing that no one left, Eyepatch said "Good I can see that you all have the markings of brave Kiri shinobi, I can hardly wait to start working alongside you all".

'Oh bullshit' I could hardly believe he was able to say that with such a straight face.

Even though it was such a bold faced lie, all the children's eyes sparkled like the night sky. Their naivety only served to remind me of how young they were, how young we were.

'We really stand no chance at all do we?' I thought morosely

Eyepatch seemed to like what he saw, well I thought so at least. Eyepatch's facial expression never changed, not even minutely. As his eye fell over me I once again wondered what he saw in me.

"That being said these will be the most difficult coming years of your life."

'Yeah because most of us won't live past graduation so they're the most difficult by default.' I sarcastically commented in the safety of my mind.

"That being said, the graduation age of the academy is thirteen so most of you will be spending the next ten years together with me unless you show off enough skill to graduate earlier. You may refer to me as instructor Ao or Ao-sensei and I shall be your homeroom teacher for the next several years of our lives. Follow me and I shall lead you to your new living arrangements."

As the pack of orphans started to follow him inside, I thought about my new death date.

'Ten years huh?'

To finally have a guaranteed time frame fills me with equal amounts of relief and dread. A decade is a long time to improve my skills, but remember, I have also decided to go the path of the prodigy so I will not actually have a full ten years. Additionally, I know for a fact that my peers will not be slacking off either.

Eventually the man newly dubbed Ao-sensei lead us to what I presume is the dorm section of the building which was actually located underground. Looking down the hallway I realized the place was designed like a military complex. Not sure why I'm surprised, this feels very par-for-the-course for Kiri. The only thing of interest that happened on the way was us passing a massive room that was about 80% pool, I'm sure I'll be seeing that place a lot.

"Now children," Ao- sensei began, "everyone pick a room, one to a room. And go in. Stay there until dinner is called. If you break this rule you will be immediately expelled and returned to the orphanage, never to become a ninja."

Wow, a test for rule following as well as the loyalty test at the front gate. Does this mean that they are going to do something to encourage conflict in the next few minutes as well. Oh who am I kidding of course they are, this is Kirigakure Academy, I need to mentally prepare myself for I'm sure that I'll be beaten up day after day here.

Heaving a small sigh I picked a room to the far right of the hallway. Not too far from the back but not too close, just like an anime protagonist's classroom seat. Casually walking in, my eyes were drawn to the scenery of the room.

Grey walls, a shelf in the middle, a bed on the right, a bed on the left with Chibi Yagura on it, two chests in front of the two beds, a mirr- CHIBI YAGURA!

Immediately backtracking to focus on the other small occupant in my room, I was struck by what was indeed a kid version of the Mizukage nonchalantly and blank faced on the left bed.

'Dear god, where the fuck am I in the timeline?'

Not reacting at all to what I can assume was my face making a very hilarious expression, Yagura simply moved his eyes onto me as I entered.

Forcing my body to move, I went to the chest and looked inside it in what was a ploy to buy myself more time to think without having to stare directly into Yagura's piercing eyes. I still feel them on my back but at least the effect is reduced.

'Okay Satoshi what do you know about Yagura? Well for one, he is or will be the Fourth Mizukage and he was or will be, targeted to be put under some genjutsu of Tobito's that made him super evil.'

See I had always just assumed that Yagura was Mizukage by now. No real reason for it, my mind just made the connection that Yagura was Mizukage before the start of Naruto and I am before the start of Naruto so Yagura is Mizukage now, but apparently I'm suuuper wrong.

'Wait does that mean I don't have to kill someone for graduation? Wasn't that something Yagura instated when he was under the evillifier jutsu or was that always a thing? Dammit Kishimoto you couldn't have focused more on Kiri before the Hokage Summit Arc. My spoiler gotten knowledge is starting to run thin here. Shit, well at least I didn't reincarnate into that one village Hidan wrecked, that would have been a disaster.'

'Okay Satoshi what else!? Hm Yagura I know has a baby face, it's one of the reasons I was interested in him as a character in my last life.'

Not in that way, get your mind out of the gutter! I just found that clip where Naruto unintentionally made fun of him to be really funny.

'Wait does that mean that this Yagura could actually be a lot older than I think, or is he really three with a real baby face? I have no idea if these dorm rooms are mixed age or not so it could be either or.'

'In conclusion, you lack info and should just bite the bullet and talk to him. You're composed enough at the moment to do so. Stop staring at the ninja gear and, oh hey wait ninja gear!'

Bringing my attention to the contents of the chest I was fake rifling through, I now start real rifling through.

'Sweet! Brand new clothes, what a miracle.'

In the orphanage I never got anything new, not even when I turned three, and especially never for clothes. Whenever a kid rips their clothes (which is a very frequent occurrence) one of the matrons takes it and sews it back up, simple as that. Well aside from the fact that some of these clothes are probably over 20 years old. After a while it started to turn into a Ship of Theseus scenario; is it considered a new shirt if every piece of fabric from the old shirt has been replaced? The answer my friends is a resounding no.

So seeing the three new pairs of shinobi academy clothes filled me with a happiness unique to this life, where things considered so basic such as new clothes are a luxury. New shoes too, is it my birthday?

"My name is Karatachi Yagura. What is yours?"

'Holy shiiiiii- I forgot he was there.'

Nearly jumping out of my skin, I turned to the boy who was most likely going to be my new roommate for the next several years. He was still watching me with those appraising, pink eyes but since I had time to sort my thoughts after the shock of walking into the room I was pretty sure I could hold a conversation with him now.

"My name is Shimizu Satoshi, it's a pleasure" I said while channeling my best customer service smile.

Completely unfazed, he just nodded and started to stare at the grey wall seemingly lost in thought.

'That's it? I guess I hyped up this situation a bit more than I should have. He is a kid after all; it was probably dumb to expect a conversation with the same number of dangers hidden inside it as with say, Ao-sensei. Still I expected a bit more.'

With Yagura's curiosity sated I turned back to my chest of goodies to see what else was inside it.

'Lets see what we got here. A few kunai, some shurikens, a spool of ninja wire, a cleaning kit I think, some bandages. Awesome sauce.'

Thanks to Matron-san, I am pretty decent when it comes to wielding kunai since she had me use one to cut ingredients for lunch with increasingly fancy moves in some of her most unsubtle ninja lessons. Can't throw for shit though, not to say that I didn't try. During a few of my free times I tried to increase my aiming abilities by throwing rocks at a tree but my lack of talent combined with lack of a teacher made it so my skills never improved that much.

'And that's it. I can't tell if this is more or less than I expected.'

"Attention new recruits! Make your way to the dining hall!" Someone yelled right outside the hall.

"Well" I said turning to Yagura who looked back at me "shall we go?"

"Sure." he said while nodding back with his blank face.

As we were walking out the door I observed, 'Oh hey he doesn't have that scar on his cheek yet. That's good since I would probably get a little worried if he got it at three. I wonder when and how he does get it though?'

Me and Yagura silently followed the other children who were emerging from their rooms to the dining hall. I hoped it was the dining hall at least; at the moment we're just following the crowd to whatever its destination is.

Speaking of the crowd, there were a lot more kids leaving than there were who entered with me, but that was well within my calculations. There were also a few kids with candy colored hair among them which was very odd to see since the orphanage only had kids with natural colored hair.

It was inane thoughts such as these that occupied my mind as the crowd finally reached the cafeteria. I was immediately hit by an odd mix of deja vu and nostalgia as the room came into focus and I realized it was just like a scaled up version of the orphanages. Not in the decor, which is still all grey and lifeless, but in the people and atmosphere.

Yes, I recognize this bloodthirsty atmosphere all too well, where it's either one fights for their meals or starves. In addition the room was full of kids of all ages. Three year olds and thirteen year olds eating their dinner side by side miring each other in killing intent. It appears that our group was the last on campus to get the memo for dinner so we were the last to come in. Our group of rowdy "fresh meat'' was sure to draw the attention of all the sharks in the room, and in Kiri everyone is a shark whether they got the teeth or not. That was why it was very surprising that me and Yagura were able to get halfway through the line before getting interrupted.

'Ahh I haven't had to deal with this in a long time.' I reminisced as a group of three kids came up to push us out of our spot.

"So newbies, why don't you let us have your spot and move onto the back and we won't have to make any trouble." The one in the lead who looked about seven sneered as his two companions snickered to themselves. The three were a very odd mismatch as the guy in the lead actually looked like a main character with cool, wild black hair topped off with some kind of three horned face headband, in contrast the two younger goons behind him could not have been more generic if they tried with short, similar colored black hair and dull facial features.

All around us similar confrontations were happening to the other new kids; I would not be surprised if getting knocked to the back of the line was some sort of orientation. But the thing is I'm not an idiot. Even if I get beat black and blue here I have to fight back or I'll be marked as an easy target for the foreseeable future. I had seen it happen to the other orphans back in the day and I would have been included in their number if I hadn't punched out Ryo and anyone else who tried it.

That being said, I remained silent and gave these punk kids my best glare while I assume Yagura remained expressionless behind me. The three shrunk back only for a second in intimidation and surprise before their menacing aura tripled and they donned bloodthirsty smiles.

'I knew it wouldn't be that easy. Time to go down swinging I suppose.'

My body tensed for what was about to be the coming smackdown. Not only were these kids a few years older than me but they had the numerical advantage of 3-2, or 3-1 if Yagura decides to bail on me.

Around the room I could hear the beginning of fights among the others who decided to fight back, and from the young laughter I could assume they were losing.

Taking a step forward, the lead asshole swung at me at a speed much faster then someone his age should be able to do. It was only due to the fact that I was in much better shape than someone my age should be that I could dodge it. Ducking in, I landed a solid hit to his face causing him to take a few steps back. His eyes opened wide in surprise before rage overcame his features.

'Welcome to pain town population me.' I remarked in anticipation of the beatdown that was about to come.

This kid was a ninja-in-training who has been fighting others in this harsh environment, probably longer than I've been alive considering he seemed to be about seven. The element of surprise was not going to work twice now that he has solidified his resolve to destroy me.

Rushing at me with a speed at least three times faster than his punch earlier, I didn't even react fast enough for my body to tense before his fist was already smashing into my right eye. Smacking into the ground I braced myself for what I knew would be a flurry kicks; only to hear the smack of flesh on flesh? I was surprised because the flesh that made that sound wasn't me getting my lungs kicked in.

Opening my eyes from my fetal position, I saw Yagura standing over me with his foot intercepting the bully's with a light of anger in his eyes. What proceeded was not pretty.

In short, Yagura beat the crap out of the guy. He was on his butt within five seconds from a flawless throw and he never got the chance to get up again. After what seemed like hours but was really only about a minute, Yagura was standing over the poor boy's bloody, unconscious body with nary a scratch on him.

Tearing my eyes away to look around us I could see everybody in our general vicinity looking at us with wide eyes, many of the older kids whispering to themselves with pale complexions, likely glad they were not the unlucky saps to mess with us.

My thoughts once more looping back to our aggressors, I looked to the right of me to see goons numbers 1 and 2 out of commission on the floor but still in infinitely better shape than the would be bully.

'So this is the power of the future Mizukage huh?'

Entering the academy I was under the impression that I was hot stuff no matter how much I reminded myself how that was not the case. This forming black eye and showing by Yagura should serve as a wake up call; I am not strong, I am not a true genius, and I am not guaranteed to survive simply by working hard. I must use any trick or scheme at my disposal if I want to have a hope of surviving here in this world.

Yagura, sufficiently satisfied with his beat down of the horned asshole, turned to me and said.

'Are you alright Satoshi-san?' In an astonishingly genuine tone.

"Yea," I said while pulling myself up "I'm fine except for this black eye I can feel coming up."

Nodding, Yagura went back to his place in line leaving a space in front of him for me.

A warm feeling grew in my chest at that.

'Oh no, don't you dare get attached Satoshi, you know his fate.'

That warm feeling was obviously friendship, I had a lot of experience with it in my last life. I did die for my best friend, remember?

It is exactly because I died for my best friend that I am in no way going to befriend someone who is going to be specifically targeted by MadarObi. Only people who I know lived through canon are acceptable friend candidates.

Eating our trashy lunch together in silence I could already feel my new resolve weakening.

'What am I getting myself into?'