Ch. 6: Now I know!
The assigned dormitory was in the northern sector of the civilian district of the village. The Academy, on the other hand was to the west of the village, and one could sooner reach the Training Grounds to the south, or even the Village gate to the west, than reach the Academy from the Dormitory.
So, early Monday morning, Arashi had finished his second day of physical training, and gotten ready well in advance, so that he could reach the Academy with plenty of time to spare.
When he reached about forty five minutes early, he found the empty compound with the occasional Chunin instructors going about preparing the material for the new term. A few glanced his way, but seeing no remarkable discerning resemblance to the known clans in the village, then left without paying any attention to him.
He noted that there was quite a bustle inside the academy, and after looking at the notice board and seeing the classroom he was assigned, he began to go through the list for known shinobi names he knew.
He noted there was no Senju name to be seen, and there were quite a few Uchiha names, but there were a few names he knew Hiashi Hyuga, Hizashi Hyuga, and Mikoto Uchiha were all in the class 1A which seems to cater the elite prospective ninja, and clan members who are expected to grow to at least Jounin Level.
He noted there were quite a lot of Uchiha members, but only two more were found in 1A, besides Mikoto. The rest were either in 1B, or like him in 1C and 1D, which seems to have the civilian populace, genin member families, and also orphans like him.
After having determined the rough estimate of timeline, and the friends he needed to make, he had mentally set an objective for at least this year. He would find himself allocated to class 1A, where he could befriend the future clan heads, and secure a good relationship with the future ruling class of the village.
With that in mind, he went to his class 1C, and sat at the back row seat, and began to concentrate on his chakra while waiting for the class to start.
With a shock, Arashi was startled out of his chakra exercise, and found a paw on his back which was the culprit for disturbing his concentration.
"Oi Oi, are you sleeping?" He saw a plain boy, with brown hair and brown eyes wearing a regular civilian boy's clothes, with no distinct features to make him noteworthy. The said boy seems to have garnered the attention of the now filled class, which was looking at the source of the loud voice.
Arashi sighed at having been stared at, which was equivalent in his mind, to having failed his objective of drawing as little spotlight on his actions as possible. Looking at the culprit of his failure, and decidedly future victim during the Training spars, Arashi answered peacefully. "I am sorry, you were saying?"
The boy seemed content at the apology, and fluffed like a sheep in winter. "You are forgiven. I am Karasu Hibachi. And you are?"
A civilian then, Arashi conferred. A nameless grunt who will either fill the reserve or the paper-pusher bureaucrat, if his parents are influential in the community. No need to antagonise him, when there are subtler methods to make their life a living hell.
"Please to meet you", Arashi replied with a smile, leaving the boy unaware of the bristling annoyance in Arashi's mind, "I am Arashi, an orphan."
Hearing the word orphan made Hibachi to sneer in distaste, and saying a half-hearted "Yeah. You bet." he left to make friends 'befitting his station', while networking with other civilian members who could be associated within his circle.
He had noticed, that the civilian had a clear distaste for the shinobi class, whom they saw as mere goons and killer-for-hire. And the Academy was treated with equal distaste and merely a channel for networking and meeting new people, while getting basic education required to survive.
The motto of Naruto world was always "see underneath the underneath", and seeing the classroom which could be a subset of the society, with heavily skewed civilian population, it had become apparent that the civilian are merely subdued by shinobi due to their lack of martial prowess and since clan folks were richer than civilians in general, at least in the village as much as he has seen.
But there will always be clashes between the two factions and it would cause the village to implode, if the Shinobi World Wars don't keep occuring every few years.
As it goes, Arashi was content in making observations and making note of the certain groups that began to form in the classroom. A few civilian merchant's children and relatives, a few genin and chunin's relatives and children who knew each other from before, and finally a handful of loners who neither associated with the distinct labels, or merely wanted to be left alone.
As the bell rung, and the homeroom teacher walked in, the class settled down and the Chunin instructor asked for introductions and gave class notes as assignments.
Then the next teacher came, and it became apparent that the classes for civilian population were quite lax and more about the theoretical knowledge like geography, math and basic home science, than the combat oriented class he expected.
And so, as the day came to an end, Arashi had realised that unless he pushed for getting himself inducted into upper classes or at least sent to 1A to see how they are faring, he woulf stagnate in his progress at the peak time, when he had a decided advantage compared to his peers.
With that in mind, he left towards the Teacher's Office and found his Chunin Instructor sorting documents while chatting with his colleague, a roguish young man, with a distinct scar on his left brow, which came short to his eye and extended into his hairline.
Seeing him approach, their discussion stopped, and the roguish man looked at him curiously, while his teacher smiled at him.
"Hello Arashi-kun. How can I help you?"
The boy smiled back in confidence. "Hello sensei. I was hoping, I could discuss something with you."
"And what would that be? Is it private?" He said while looking at the roguish young man beside him.
Arashi smiled and shook his head. "No sensei, there is no need. Seeing the instructor, am I wrong to assume you are either teaching upper classes, or teach the classes 1A and/or 1B?"
The two Chunin seemed surprised, while the addressed roguish young man replied with a gentle smile. "I am Takashi Hamaru. And yes, I teach 1A class. But how did you guess that?"
Arashi took a deep breath. "That is partly what I wish to discuss with you, as well as what I wanted to talk about. To answer your question Takashi sensei, you looked near combat ready, and seemed to be the first one to spot me. Your scar also says close brush with death with an equal or superior opponent, and I guessed you must either be on mandatory rest from field duty, or wanted to take a break from missions for a while. Generally that would also mean that all resources will be appropriately utilised, and if you cannot be an active shinobi in field, then the next best thing would be to have you teach prospective Genin candidates or the upper years, or train elite prospective shinobi from the classes 1A or 1B, which houses the major clan heirs or Jounin candidates who are likely to either graduate early or be assigned a Jounin instructor."
That seemed to surprise them both. And his homeroom sensei merely glanced at his colleague before he asked Arashi. "How did you come to know of the clan heirs and elite classes? To put it bluntly, a civilian orphan is not supposed to privy to such information."
Arashi smiled at that. "The Academy handbook has a map of the civilian and shinobi districts. From that, the major clan compounds can be seen. Uchiha, Senju, Nara, Akimichi, Inuzuka and Hyuga clans. I asked around and found out the speciality of each clans, and that they are either rich and influential, or prospective Jounin members. On the other hand, the known clan members are all sent to 1A, while a few others are sent to 1B. I saw the noticeboard, and recognised that the members sent to 1B were also with other students whose surname I didn't recognise. That meant, they were either randomly grouped, or they are grouped with either children of Jounin and Tokubetsu Jounin or they have higher expectations associated with them. My class has civilian merchant's, Genin and Chunin descendants and relatives and only me with higher chakra reserves despite being a civilian orphan. And class 1D is the bottom feeder which has other civilian orphans and other students who, I guess, would be those students who ranked poorly in their Aptitude assessment."
Arashi, in his monologue, to be assigned to better class, failed to notice the other Chunin gathered around and looking at the boy in surprise. He also failed to notice a bearded middle-aged man in a hat looking at him in interest.
The man smiled and whispered in the young man's ear who stood beside him, and the man nodded resolutely.
Just when Arashi was done, he heard a voice behind him. "And how did you know that class 1A students are assigned Jonin instructors? There is nothing to hint at that in the Handbook or anywhere else."
Hearing that question, he turned around and faced the young man who looked curious. Now, Arashi noticed that the entire department was paying attention to him, and he cursed himself, when his small decision to get better education led to attracting attention from supposedly the entire teaching department.
But not one to falter, and knowing that failure to answer logically would lead to a trip to the TI department for "enhanced interrogation", Arashi resolutely answered.
"Since Konoha is a major hidden village with plenty shinobi of every rank, there is a gap of one rank between each level of hierarchy. Civilians and pre-academy students interact with Genins, academy students with Chunins, elite Genins with Jounins, while I am guessing the Reserve Genin forces have Tokubetsu Jounin as their squad leaders and commander. And to bridge the gap between high Genin to low Chunin, assigning a Chunin commander is not smart, as it may lead to turbulent disparity in skills and reduced team cohesiveness. So, I simply guessed, if we have people to spare, and this is war, where we want more tentative growth to bolster our forces, having Jounin sensei to train Genin would be a pragmatic idea."
And with that, satisfied and content, he turned to his sensei, failing to notice the twitching eye of his sensei, the baffled looks of the chunin around him, and his powers of observation having failed him the one time they could be of use, to recognise that the man who asked him the question was not a chunin like the rest of the teachers here, but a Jounin.
But remarkably ignorant, Arashi asked his sensei, "I wanted to ask you sensei, if there is any way to be advanced to Class 1A or 1B? I don't feel like I am challenged enough in the civilian oriented class, nor do I find myself interested in the civilian oriented curriculum."
The twitching eye of his sensei had grown more pronounced, while the roguish young Takashi sensei had a smile on his face. But their expressions schooled, when they saw the bearded man who came to stand behind Arashi.
Seeing the change in mood, Arashi looked around, only to see the shadow of man behind him. Assuming it would either be someone akin to Principal or Headmaster of the Academy, he turned around only for his jaw to crash to the ground (figuratively, of course!).
The bearded middle aged man was distinctively familiar, if not from the TV show, or the books, then from his visage carved on the mountain which was even now visible from the windows of the academy.
And all Arashi could do was stutter out. "Greetings Hokage-sama!"