This was weird, Sasuke had decided. He was currently picking at his half-eaten bento box, the blueberries he'd bought just the other day slipping into his mouth one after the other. He glanced around the classroom as he ate, the day having been strangely normal thus far. It felt off to him, when he thought about everything that had happened the night before.
He'd headed to class and sat down like normal this morning. No one had bothered him. Well, besides Sakura and Ino, but those two were always arguing over who got to sit by him. The lesson had been pretty normal too. They'd just went over the usual-- kanji, history, taijutsu, weapons. That sort of thing. Now here they all were, eating lunch in the classroom.
It was odd to watch as the girls sat together, the three eating lunch and whispering to each other. The only exception was Ino, who seemed to be bickering about something or another with Shikamaru. Those two always seemed to be at each other's throats. Though Choji tried to help, Naruto didn't seem interested in joining the effort. The idiot was provoking Ino, despite Shikamaru's nonchalant attitude about the argument. Then there was Kiba trying to snatch some of Shino's lunch, only to end up with a face full of beetles...
It seemed like a normal lunch, he noted, still snacking on the bento. Iruka was out of the room, some other sensei having popped in and led him elsewhere. He probably needed help or something, if Sasuke had to guess. The sensei in training who was supposed to be watching them was trying and failing to calm everyone down, the majority of the students either too easily distracted or not caring enough to listen.
It was really annoying. He just wanted to eat his bento in peace, but no, everyone had to be all loud. At least Hinata and Shino weren't making a racket. Even if Shino was freaking Kiba out with his bugs.
A loud clap rang through the room after a moment, the door having opened and revealed a not-too-happy Iruka. Sasuke moved his eyes down to his food as the brunet ordered, "Quiet, quiet! Ino, Shikamaru, opposite sides of the room. Shino, put your bugs away, and Kiba keep your hands to yourself."
Just like that, the room seemed to clear of chaos. Sasuke snacked on his eggs as he watched the room quiet down, Iruka heading over to his desk and beginning the rearrange some papers.
Sasuke found himself wishing lunch would end already, the young Uchiha ready to move on to some more physical learning. He was pretty good at the worksheets and tactics- he got top scores on almost all his papers. He was at the top of his class. It still wasn't good enough, though. It hadn't been up to fathers standards, so it definitely wouldn't be up to Itachi's. The thought made his shoulders drop a little, pausing before setting the lid on his bento. He suddenly wasn't really hungry.
Thinking too much, he reminded himself, hurt. At least once they started their physical training for the day he'd just be using muscle memory for the most part. There wasn't as much thinking when it came to fighting. There would be one day, Iruka was always telling them, but right now they just had to work on getting the motions down. The repetitive motions were nice, he thought as he put his bento away.
His dark eyes flickered up as he heard the sound of Iruka moving from his teaching desk towards Sasuke's own. He glanced to his side briefly. No one was there. He could see Iruka's tired expression as the brown-eyed man squatted beside him with a thin smile. "Hey, Sasuke. You finished with lunch already?"
The young Uchiha nodded, brushing his fingers over the hem of his shirt as he listened to Iruka's question. "Yeah." was his response, not sure what Iruka was wanting or if he'd done something. He was pretty sure he'd been okay.
"Did you pack a big lunch today?" Iruka tilted his head as he spoke, eyeing the box momentarily before looking back to Sasuke.
"Mhm." was his response once more, dark eyes matching Iruka's and pausing slightly. Well, technically he hadn't packed a big lunch. Tobira had done that for him.
Iruka didn't need to know that, though. Or did he? If Tobira was staying like he said, did that mean he was going to be in charge of all Sasuke's school stuff? He wasn't really sure.
"I see." Iruka's words snapped him out of his thoughts. The man rubbed at his neck. Sasuke wasn't sure why he did that, but he did know it was something his mother had always done when she was worried about Itachi.
Internally, he swatted the thought away. No, no, no. This was Iruka, his sensei. Sasuke barely looked over at the man, sure that he was keeping his face neutral as he merely nodded.
Iruka offered, "Do you want to go ahead and train with your shuriken outside?"
Well, Sasuke didn't have anything better to do. He was done eating and he didn't really want to talk to any of the others. Sitting at his desk for another fifteen minutes would be a waste of time, not to mention boring. "Sure."
He could hear Iruka's sigh, though he wasn't really sure what that was about. Hadn't he just offered? Or was he sighing at something else? Sasuke had never really got Iruka.
Standing to follow the taller man, he moved past the other in the classroom. He noted a few glances following him, but focused on Iruka's back as they walked. Iruka passed him over to another sensei, Mizuki, as they got to the hallway. They exchanged a few words, though he wasn't particularly interested in paying attention to them. The silver-haired man led Sasuke away after only a moment, down to the schoolyard where a group of upperclassmen were practicing.
He was then passed along to Daikoku as they got to the training fields, the bearded sensei greeting him with a smile after Mizuki waved him over. "Hey, mind keeping an eye on Sasuke while he practices on a spare target? Iruka wanted him to get some air."
Sasuke could see a few familiar faces amongst the other class, namely Neji and Lee. He knew of them both, though he didn't remember ever speaking to them. His mother had suggested he try to make friends with Neji a few times, though his father had never cared for the idea much. Something about stirring the pot. Either way, he'd never tried to. As for Lee...well, he didn't really know anything about him, but he'd seen him in the training fields. It seemed like he trained quite a lot. He'd actually considered asking if he wanted to train with him before, but had never gotten around to it. It wasn't like Lee was an Uchiha. Being friends with a non-Uchiha was risky. Father had mentioned that before, though that was when he was having his fight with Itachi. He was acting so weird, back when they were fighting...
His attention snapped to Daikoku, eyes landing on the elder man as he watched Sasuke with the same smile Iruka had given him moments before. Daikoku spoke once he had Sasuke's attention, "The training shuriken are over in their usual spot, alright? If you need anything, I'll be over right over there." motioning to the area behind the students. He merely nodded, heading over to the open target after retrieving some shuriken from the supply box. He stood on the far left, next to a girl with buns in her hair. He just hoped her aim was better than his classmates.
He took the weapons in his hands, taking a breath as he began his warm-up. Steady. Ready? Go. Steady. Ready? Go. Steady. Ready? Go.
In just a few steady motions, he sent his shuriken flying towards the target. He got a solid bulls-eye on each of them. He retrieved the weapons. Steady, ready, go. Steady, ready, go. Steady ready go.
The shuriken hit the target much quicker now, though they'd inched towards the outline of the bulls-eye. He'd need to work on that, he noted as he got his weapons back once more. Steady. Ready? Go.
In one fluid movement, the shuriken landed on the board. Two in bulls-eye, one in the circle surrounding. Hn. That wouldn't do. His arms had begun to grow tired, but he ignored this as he got the weapons back once more. Steady. Ready. Go.
Three shuriken landed in the bulls-eye spot, though he had taken a moment to make sure he really was ready. Again. He took his shuriken, prepared himself to toss them, and-
The sound of congratulations from behind him threw him off, Daikoku patting the brunette beside him on the shoulder as he praised, "Very good, Tenten! Six in a row. Impressive!"
His eyes reflexively wandered over to the target beside his own, eyeing the six shuriken that had made their way into the bulls-eye. Oh. She did have good aim, then. He wondered how long it had taken her to get that good. How long would it take him to get that good? She merely smiled at the praise, "Thank you, Sensei." an aura of pride coming from the girl.
Sasuke could hear his own class coming along now, Iruka nodding to Daikoku in greeting before the man continued, "Alright class, pack up. It's time to head in for the next class."
A few loose groans escaped the upperclassmen, though a few looked relieved to toss their weapons into the supply box. They barely had time to do so before his classmates were making grabs for the shuriken, quick to try to get ahold of the better ones.
...He lamented to himself as Naruto got ahold of one of the better ones, the blond grinning as he held it up over his goggled head. Damn it. Of course it had to be him.
Sasuke watched as his classmates fell into line beside him, relieved that Naruto ended up near the middle. Hinata had ended up beside him, which was great as far as the threat of being knicked with a kunai went. Her aim was pretty good, when compared to some of the others.
With this in mind, he refocused on the board. He'd keep an eye out of course, but he was pretty sure he was safe against stray shuriken today.
Steady. Ready. Go. The shuriken landed in the bulls-eye once more, all three of them landing. Though it had taken more time, he had got them all in the center.
Sasuke continued on, working to find a middle ground with his speed and precision. It was difficult, but by the end of the training, he'd at least managed to have the three meet the center four times. It wasn't the best, but it was better than he'd done yesterday. He'd only managed to hit the center two or three times the day before.
He soon fell into the steady rhythm of training, relaxing ever so slightly as he sent the dull weapons flying towards the far away targets. Thick thuds rang in his ears as he practiced, only half paying attention as the girls left halfway through to go participate in their kunoichi classes. The boys were left to continue their shuriken practice for a while longer, which was fine by Sasuke. He needed all the practice he could get.
As he continued to throw his shuriken, he found his mind wandering. Normally, he would end up zoned in on the target or thinking about how great he was going to be at this someday. Instead, without even realizing it, he found his thoughts drifting to Tobira.
Back when he'd been about to set off his fireball jutsu, Tobira had known and stopped him right away. He had to be a pretty good shinobi to be able to move that fast. Plus, he'd hidden so well when he was first home. Were those the kinds of things all shinobi were supposed to be able to do? He'd seen Shisui move like that a few times, and some of the older shinobi seemed able to predict other people's jutsu even without the sharingan. Maybe Tobira was a Jonin, back in Kirigakure?
That was the Land of Mist, according to their history lessons. The Mist got brought up a few times, though not as much as the other nations. They'd never really talked about the village itself, only that it was known to be a powerful place and very far away. An island, with a bunch of small ones surrounding it. The trip to Konoha must have been long, he noted as he idly threw his shuriken. How had an Uchiha even ended up over there? No wonder Tobira's husband had never got to meet his home clan.
Tobira must be a strong shinobi, to have lived in such a strong village and have the skills he'd seen yesterday. Was he good at throwing shuriken too? Maybe he could ask him later, if he didn't seem too busy. He'd just have to make sure not to bug him too much and make him want to leave or be annoyed with him.
If he had Tobira's help with training, he was sure he'd be able to do a lot better than if he was just practicing on his own or with his classmates. Hopefully, Tobira would have time. He had said he needed to talk to the Hokage about fixing the problems with the compound and finding someone to watch him. Sasuke wasn't sure because of how Tobira had said it, but he was pretty sure his elder clansmen planned to stay with him. Well, sort of elder clansmen. Either way, he hoped Tobira would be willing and around enough to train with him. He hadn't trained with anyone other than his classmates all month.
The sound of Iruka calling, "It's time to move on, boys." called him out from his inner thoughts, the Uchiha pausing his arm which had been about to throw another round of shuriken. He merely nodded as he moved to drop his shuriken into the supply box, following after a rushing Naruto towards Iruka and the others. He sat his question aside for now, figuring he'd be able to ask Tobira when they got home if he seemed in a good enough mood.
They all headed inside, Sasuke moving along with the other students as they made their way over to the sparring area. The girls had already regrouped, their class becoming whole once again as Iruka urshed them onto the sidelines. "Alright." Their sensei spoke, standing in front of them. "Today we'll be doing a few standard spars, though three people will have to rotate since we have an uneven number. You'll all be going at the same time today to practice with your concentration. I'll be keeping an eye on things from the sidelines."
Sasuke would be fine with anyone other than Sakura, Ino, or Kiba. He didn't want to fight someone who would make it awkward, but he also wasn't really in the mood to deal with Kiba's dog.
The young Uchiha listened as he heard Iruka call out the sparring partners, starting off, "Sakura v. Choji."
Well, that was one person off the list. He stayed quiet as his sensei continued to list, "Naruto v. Shino, Kiba v. Shikamaru v. Ino, Sasuke v. Hinata-"
He wasn't about to complain about that match-up. Hinata wasn't the best fighter, but she was far from the worst. Her clan did specialize in taijutsu, so she was pretty good at it. She'd give a good spar, he thought.