The last few golden rays of the day tucked themselves away into the darkened corners of the room as the sun at long last relinquished
its control over the world and dipped below the horizon. I sat down the book, maybe I was a bit of an idiot, and climbed out the window.
Sitting on the roof's edge I pondered on what the book had taught me.
Chakra the lifeforce- created by kneading together physical and spiritual energies- individuals who run out of chakra die. A majority of
the population only possessing a small amount- Ninja's are the individuals who had learned to control chakra to accomplish superhuman
feats such as walking up walls, or even across the water, breathing fire, and clearing large buildings in a single leap.
I stared up into the velvet sky, at the mass collection of stars scattered across it. I sighed. For now Master's and the Hokage's words
lined up- stay in Konoha.
But, what would happen when they no longer coincided?
I knew the answer clear as day, but would I be able to follow through on it?
A ninja- one who risks their life for their village- for what they believe in. Deciding against persuing the thought I rolled back into the
apartment, locked the window, and fell back into the darkness of my dreams.
Quiet. The world remained quiet… interrupted only by the occasional shuffle of papers. I found myself in front of a low table. Across from me
sat a younger-looking Ryuu gazing intently at the paper in her hands.
"Ryuu~" my voice sounded, "Are you sure you know what you're doing? I don't see how a piece of paper could possibly turn into an
animal..."
"Yes," she replied without looking up from the paper as she carefully began folding, "someone taught me this afternoon".
"Someone?" I questioned.
"Aha!" she exclaimed, completely ignoring my inquiry, "A DRAGON!" proudly she displayed the folded piece of paper in front of her.
"It looks like a fierce little dragonfly," I said admirably poking the wing.
"I'm going to turn you into a little dragonfly!" she said in joking rage.
An obnoxious ringing brought me from the pleasant dream… the clock... I stared at the timepiece in annoyance, 10:00.
"Pft, a fierce dragonfly" I laughed and rolled out of bed.
Rushing through the morning I arrived at long last in the kitchen. I stared at the pile of apples. I should probably eat these...
Grabbing one I munched my way back into my room to collect the Konoha History books. Half of the bookshelf soon became empty as I
removed the thick information hoarding series. Haphazardously balancing the heavy pile I raced back to the kitchen and deposited it onto the
table with a loud thunk.
Finished with the apple I tossed the core into the trash and threw on my shoes. Tucking the key into my shoe I opened the door and hauled
the stack of books into the scattered sunlight of the day. Using my fantastic ninja skills I somehow managed to close the door with my foot
without losing any of the books.
Making my way over to Naruto's apartment I deposited the weight on the ground before knocking. Hearing no noise behind the door I
knocked louder, "Naruto?" I called to the door.
Now hearing a lot more noise Naruto called back, "I'll be out in a minute!".
I sighed and walked over to the railing. Clouds were once again hiding the sky from me. The sad white-grey cotton meandered across the
pale blue sky sending the occasional beam of light down to earth.
The door opened behind me. "Woah!" the blond cried as he somehow almost tripped over the books, "What is this a portable brick wall?".
I laughed, "Nope, Konoha has a very long history... Apparently."
"Maybe there's a lot of pictures?" Naruto grimaced.
Picking up the pile, "Let's hope so. Wanna go up to the roof to study?" I asked.
"Sure"
On the roof, we discovered that there were in fact a lot of pictures in the books.
..
...
.
..
Thankfully.
Harashima Senju- the first Hokage- brought an end to the constant warring between clans when he and the leader of the Uchiha clan formed
a peaceful alliance. Leading other clans to join in thus forming the village of Konohagakure.
"Hey," I said pointing to the picture of the first Hokage, "His face is on that mountain by the academy".
Naruto did not respond.
…
"Naruto! We haven't even gotten through the first book yet!" I shook the sleeping boy back awake.
"W-what?! The answer is 'C'!" he sputtered awake.
I stared at him.
"Senju-Uchiha Alliance. More clans. Harashima Senju forms village. Harashima Senju= first Hokage" I explained.
"Y-yeah" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I knew that".
"You'd better know that Naruto," sounded a very disappointed Iruka-sensei as he appeared on the roof, "I've been telling you that for the
past 4 years".
"IRUKA-SENSEI?! Where'd you come from?" Naruto cried in surprise.
"The printer" Iruka cheerfully said as he waved a stack of papers in front of him.
"What are those for?" I asked hoping they weren't more things to study…
"Study guides to help you and Naruto catch up!" with such a happy voice Iruka confirmed my fears.
"What do I need to catch up on?" Naruto asked incredulous at the accusation.
"You, Naruto, have slept through nearly every history lesson I've taught you" Iruka stated as smoke blew from his nostrils.
"Haha… I guess I did" Naruto said shrinking.
Handing off the papers Iruka vanished as quickly as he had appeared. Sorting through the paper I sighed, "It looks like they're all double-
sided."
"What do they say?" Naruto said nervously.
"Weelllll~," I began as I flipped back to the first page and started reading through the headers at the top of each page, "We have one on
history, one on math, one on science, one on geography, one on reading/writing, then we get into the ninja stuff... shinobi rules, hand seals,
weapon types, ninjutsu, genjutsu... and ugh 'kunoichi basics' and it has flowers all over the page and swirly writing".
The sun dipped below the horizon as we finished reviewing the last of the genjutsu section. "My brain is fried! I don't think I could fit
anything else into it even if I tried!" Naruto whined.
"Yeah, sure would be a shame if this page got carried off in the wind," I said with fake remorse dangling the kunoichi basics paper in the
breeze.
"You kids lasted longer than I thought you would," Iruka-Sense announced as he reappeared on the roof. His arrival producing a sudden gust
of wind the page jumped free.
"Oh, no," Naruto said in mock concern, "What a shame".
"It sure is," I laughed and the page immediately came flying back. Smacking me in the face. Disgusted I peeled it off and Naruto burst out
laughing.
"I got 'buy one get two free' ramen coupons. So I thought I'd treat you two to ramen for working so hard" Iruka said pulling out the coupon
with a grin.
"Thank you Iruka-sensei" we both chanted in celebration.
After putting the study materials away we set off to fill our stomachs with much-needed Ichiraku ramen before falling back into our dreams.