Chapter Nine - The Academy
Several years have passed in the blink of an eye. Naruto and I are now 8 years old. We started the academy at five and events have gone as they should have for the most part.
Naruto still saved Hinata from bullies, though without being knocked out, due to his training with me. Hinata is still the little stalker she was in canon, too. It's not hard to find her watching Naruto whenever she has the opportunity. I'll have to see if I can do something to move their relationship forward much faster.
The Uchiha Massacre still happened as in canon, other than the fact that Sasuke wasn't alive to be spared.
Things at the academy have been… strange. Naruto doesn't act out and doesn't prank the whole village as he did in canon, I like to think this is because he's not been left to grow up by himself. He does still prank the class with some light-hearted pranks, however, some things don't seem to ever change.
The first few years of the academy follows a curriculum similar to what any regular school would, just at a more rapid and condensed speed. Most of the learning that prospective ninja do happens within those years of the academy, with very little actual ninja training happening.
Naruto is achieving fairly decent grades. He was never stupid, just needed someone to watch over him and make sure that he studies and does his homework instead of getting distracted and going off to get into trouble.
The children in our class are pretty much how I expect them to be, with the only exception being Hinata is more confident. She's still shy and withdrawn, but was inspired by Naruto and believes that she can succeed if she tries hard enough.
I seem to have filled the role of Sasuke. Without all the hate and disdain of my classmates. I just hope that all the fangirls don't flock to me when that phase starts.
Today is the first day of a new semester. The semester that starts our ninja training finally begins. I've avoided a lot of training that will be covered by the academy due to my age. The academy starts the training at an age where your body can handle the strain and won't cause any long term issues.
My extra training has mostly been in chakra control and sealing techniques. I'm fairly certain that my chakra control is perfect, or as close as anyone can reasonably get. Most of the exercises I do are to push the limits any further. I've come up with several additional methods of training chakra control that I've had Naruto learn as an attempt to help him with his massive amount of chakra. I don't think he'll ever be able to do the academy's clone jutsu, but he'll at least have much less issue with the others.
The day begins as usual, with the class waiting for the teacher to arrive. With everyone being extra excited to start ninja training.
Eventually, the door opens and Iruka walks to the podium and turns to the class before saying, "Alright class, today's the day that you've all been waiting for. Starting today, the majority of the curriculum is ninja training."
Cheers break out across the class for several moments. Naruto and Kiba somehow manage to be heard above the others.
The class settles down after a while and Iruka continues. "From today on we're going to increase the amount of physical training done during the academy, which you will be expected to continue on your own time. We'll also be starting your training in shurikenjutsu, taijutsu, chakra control, and the three ninjutsu required for graduation."
He paused to clap his hands. "Now, everyone come forward and Mizuki Sensei will provide you with a weapons pouch. Once everyone is geared up we'll be heading outside to start our first lesson on shurikenjutsu."
"Yes Sensei!" The class exclaims, followed by a line forming to the front of the class as Mizuki begins handing out the pouches full of kunai and shuriken.
As Naruto and I take ours, I notice that Mizuki handed us specific pouches, not from the top of the pile as he has been for everyone else.
'Is he really that transparent with his sabotage attempts? How did nobody notice this in the canon? Even Naruto caught that something is fishy, but he just doesn't know what… Not to mention that Mizuki made it even easier to stop him. He included me since I live with Naruto.' Thinking this, I take a look inside mine and Naruto's pouches before turning to Iruka.
"Iruka Sensei! Naruto and I seem to have gotten a bad set. They're all slightly bent and off balance."
Frowning he comes over and inspects our pouches. "You've got a good eye, Ayo. The damage is very slight. Just enough to cause minor issues with accuracy and make it incredibly hard to learn with. Let me have them."
He then swaps our pouches with others from the pile after checking the new pouches for quality and then goes through and checks the rest of the class. Nobody but me seems to notice the subtle twitch of Mizuki's eyebrows.
"Alright class. Let's head out to the training ground," he says before leading the way.
On the way out Naruto nudges me and whispers, "How did you notice that? I thought something was weird, but I didn't know what."
With a wide smile I respond, "Our library has a good book on weapons. It has a section that tells you how to notice damage and things like that." Frowning, I continue, "Be careful with Mizuki Sensei, if he does anything else that you think is weird and I don't notice, make sure to let me know."
Naruto nods, "Okay Big Bro! Thanks for looking out for me. I don't know if I would have noticed that by myself."
Smiling, I give him a light punch on the shoulder as we approach the training ground, "Of course. What kind of brother would I be if I didn't?"
Before Naruto could respond, Iruka stops and begins speaking. "Now, we're going to begin with a demonstration of the correct form and technique, and then you'll break off into groups of three and practice with Mizuki Sensei and I walking around helping as needed."
With that said, Iruka begins demonstrating the correct form for throwing shuriken and kunai, showing how to aim and adjust.
After finishing his demonstration he says, "Alright, now everyone group up, head to a target, and begin practicing."
The class began to split up, and soon only Naruto and I seemed to be left without a full group. Sighing, I turn to Naruto, "We can probably make do with just us two."
"Umm. Can I join your group? We're the only ones left." A quiet, timid voice speaks up, cutting me off. I turn and see a girl standing just behind us. She is slight, with shoulder length, aqua blue hair. She stands there blushing, her gray eyes downcast.
Mentally berating myself for not noticing her until she spoke, I responded, "Of course, we'd love for you to join us… It's Kayana right? I'm Ayo, and this is Naruto."
Seeming startled hearing her name, she looks up and says, "Y-yes. T-thanks."
Naruto raises his hands into the air while shouting, "Awesome, now that we've got a group, let's get started! I'll go first, this'll be a piece of cake for a future Hokage!"
He then takes a stance, pulls out a shuriken, takes a deep breath, then throws. His throw is punctuated by the thud of the shuriken striking a target, the bullseye of another group's target to be exact.
Naruto stays frozen, arm still extended after throwing for a solid 15 seconds before sheepishly scratching the back of his neck and saying, "Exactly where I was aiming."
I stare silently at Naruto for a long while, until the silence is broken by the sound of giggling. Kayana eventually speaks between bouts of giggling, "N-naruto, I think you're going to be a great Hokage." Before suddenly stopping, looking at the ground, and turning a shade of red I didn't think was possible.
Naruto and I look at her with our jaws on the ground before I burst out into laughter and say, "Naruto, I think our new friend already has a very good understanding of you!"