Jūn-sensei accompanies her home to explain to her parents why their daughter is enrolled at the Academy (yes, the shinobi one) and no, she can't just drop out. Wartime stipulations and all that.
Her parents accept it all too easily—they already have their heir and marrying off two daughters is expensive enough. Jūn-sensei has a complicated, sour expression after overhearing their whispers. Shinobi seem to have better-than-average hearing, but Honōka doesn't have to hear what they're saying to know.
Ichimaru is more indecisive about his feelings on it, but Honōka is an unusually independent child. He justifies the whole situation by reasoning she's always been a little different, a little wrong.
Sachiko is already married, so she'll have to be informed later (if ever).
Mikumo is actually worried, and upset she didn't talk to him first. He doesn't know much about ninja, but he knows more than a literal child. And that's what she is to him. A child. He's probably the only one who still thinks so.
Manaka, his twin, is so far in the other direction that she settles on icily indifferent, and refuses to comment at all.
So, with all parties concerned informed, Jūn-sensei takes his leave and her time as an Academy student officially begins.
The next day dawns, and she's back in her preferred seat at the front of the classroom.
The surrounding kids are already gossiping about her, but it's nothing malicious, which is pleasantly surprising.
Jūn-sensei arrives and calls them to attention.
"We will dedicate the mornings to theory," he reminds them, "afternoons will be for practical work. Personal study is open for two hours after class. Kunoichi classes are an hour after class on Wednesdays until further notice."
First up is math, then language, then several other relevant subjects. It's four hours of cram-everything-in-as-fast-as-possible.
They provide thin notebooks and cheap pencils for each subject. Most questions are addressed on the blackboard.
Honōka is confident that theory will mostly be easy—she's already been through elementary and middle school once before.
Of course, there is a difference between what is easy for her and what is easy for others. Jūn-sensei calls on her in math to solve a question and she puts herself out there with what she thought was simple math.
She uses Pythagorean theorem, and an improvised astrolabe to answer the question on determining the distance between a projectile and its origin. Jūn-sensei's head is spinning at the end of her explanation.
"That's… That's very advanced, Honōka-kun. There is a simpler way to answer this question—"
"That's okay. My way is faster for me, sensei."
Jūn-sensei just sighs, having the good sense to recognize a pointless battle when he sees one. "Moving on…"
This happens several times. Obviously, the first few times are more or less forgivable. When it keeps happening some of her classmates get understandably frustrated.
"What a know it all…" one girl mutters as she once again uses an advanced method to solve a basic question. She thinks she should probably stop volunteering her answers, even if they are right and no one else is answering, anyway.
They move onto language, which deals more with how to write mission reports, recognizing coded messages, hand signs (not seals), among other things. They're given a scenario to write a coded message for. She uses Kanji that have common short forms (flower can be read as 'ka' as well as 'hana') to compose a hidden message with poetry.
Jūn-sensei reads her message, and she swears his eyebrow is twitching.
"N-nice efforts, Honōka-kun."
Ah, right—Jūn-sensei doesn't like Kanji.
He gets to Kakashi and nods appreciatively. "Very good, Kakashi-kun—looking beneath the hidden."
Uchiha Obito, who missed the entrance ceremony she crashed yesterday (and who was once again late to class this morning), attempts to hide his message. He's not finished, but is that any reason to block a teacher from offering advice?
"Obito-kun… I'm not sure if it's your spelling or your handwriting… Would you like some practice sheets?"
The morning passes. Honōka is equally excited to apply her existing knowledge and embarrassed to be drawing unflattering attention to her oddness.
It's lunchtime, and she sits at her desk with her bentō. It's pilfered rice from home with a pickled plum and green tea manjū she bought on the way to class. There's a fountain in the yard if she gets thirsty.
She's about to dig in when Rin, the girl with the pretty purple marks on her cheeks, drags Obito to her desk.
"Hello! Do you mind if we eat with you, Honōka?"
She shrugs. That's another thing she hasn't gotten used to. Everyone uses each other's first names here and rarely uses honorifics with their age mates.
"I'm Rin, and this is Obito! It's nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you…" ahh, she can't make herself say their names. Next time.
"Ne, Honōka, you're really smart, right?"
"…?" well, "I guess."
She nods, satisfied with her assessment. "I really like the way you tackle math! It makes sense to be efficient and quick rather than puzzling out all those different steps. Could you teach me how to do it your way?"
Honōka opens and closes her mouth a couple of times.
Rin tones down the coaxing smile. "Ah, if it's too much trouble—"
"No! It's not… You just surprised me, is all."
"You'll teach me then?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Yatta! Thanks so much, Honōka-chan!" She stops herself, and rather cutely sticks just the tip of her tongue out. "Is it fine if I call you Honōka-chan?"
She nods mutely.
Obito is awkwardly making darting eye contact behind Rin.
"Hey, Honōka, can you teach me too? Maybe not the math, but the writing? Baa-chan's eyes aren't the greatest anymore and it's hard to pick out her handwriting."
Ack. This is why she should really tone it down. She's going to have a bunch of kids looking for tutoring!
But… she didn't have many friends in her life before.
"Sure. When is a good time for you guys?"
Obito perks up, and the difference is like night and day. He throws his hands behind his head, absently playing with his goggles as he goes on about his schedule. He's a different person when he smiles, she thinks.
Rin peeks at her lunch and frowns. Then she's opening her own bentō and quickly depositing some kind of braised meat into Honōka's rather meager bentō.
"Honōka-chan, does your family eat much meat?"
"Ah, just fish."
"You should tell them to add more protein to your diet! Being a shinobi is hard work and you'll need all the protein you can get!"
"…that makes sense. I'll tell them…" or, she'll likely have to deal with on her own. If she's not around for mealtimes, there's little she can do—she has no idea how to operate the archaic kitchen at home.
Obito has noticed her disaster of a bentō and drops a piece of tempura fried shrimp in her box.
It's… kind of nice. She likes it.
And then lunch is over, and they head outside to start their practicals.
They start with jogging and stretching. Jūn-sensei wants them all to be as flexible as possible—good flexibility saves lives, or so he tells them.
It's the usual gym class routine. Can you touch your toes? And all that other stuff. Jūn-sensei goes around to each kid sitting and reaching for their toes and pushes them down to see if they can kiss their knees yet. Honōka can already; a lot of kids can. Obito is having trouble, though.
After that they learn the Academy kata, which has several kids complaining.
"I don't want to hear it, you lot!" Jūn-sensei shouts. "Think of it this way if you must; enemy shinobi can recognize the clan styles some of you already know. You don't want to start a fight by giving away your strengths and weaknesses!"
That has them complying. Mostly.
So, they learn a few basic punches and kicks, how to disarm an opponent, and various joint locks. Then they're told to never attempt that against a stronger opponent.
Which is a segue into projectiles—shurikenjutsu. That includes shuriken, kunai, and senbon.
They're introduced to these weapons and the proper ways to hold them, store them, and draw them. There will be no throwing them, yet. Jūn-sensei wants to see everyone comfortable handling them first.
After that, more jogging, and then some light strength training.
Finally, the day is over.
Honōka heads back to the classroom to get her things. She'd like to stay and study—but she doesn't really know what to study yet.
She has other plans anyhow. She brought her allowance. All of it.
"Honōka-chan!" Rin calls out. "Today was fun, right? What are you doing now?"
She considers.
"I'm going shopping."
"What for?" Obito asks.
"Stuff… equipment?"
"Oh! Are you looking for shinobi gear?"
She nods. She made do with her tatami flip flops, but it'd be easier if she had sneakers or those open toe boots everyone in class seems to favor.
"My parents run a shinobi apparel store! Would you like to come over?" Rin grins. "You won't get a better deal anywhere else!"
So, Honōka goes with Rin after school. Obito goes straight home. He promised his grandmother.
They arrive at Rin's home, which is a small family sized apartment above a shinobi apparel store in a part of the village that Honōka didn't know existed.
Rin leads them in through the back door, where she greets her father.
"I'm home, Otō-san! I brought a friend over!"
Her father waves from where he's sitting at the counter, repairing a tool pouch. Honōka notices that he's missing a leg.
"Welcome home, Rin. How was the Academy?" he glances over his shoulder and notices that Honōka is not Obito. "Who's your new friend?"
"Tsunemori Honōka-desu."
"Ah, well met. Just call me Sō-ji, or Sōji-san. That's what most of Rin's friends call me."
"…"
"Otō-san, Honōka-chan is looking for some new equipment for class. Any recommendations?"
Rin's father scrutinizes her appearance for a few seconds.
"New shoes,"
She expected that.
"What kind of budget are we working with here, kid?"
She takes out her little purse, something she won at a festival. It's shaped like an octopus and is chock full. She dumps it on the counter and Rin's father counts it with practiced ease.
"These your life savings, or something?"
She nods. "I can save again later."
He hands her back a couple thousand ryō. Enough to cover her snack hobby for a week at least. Or maybe she should add more protein to her diet, like Rin suggested.
"We'll work with this first. Go pick out a pair of shoes. They're all the same, more or less. I recommend anything over the ankle, but keep in mind the taller the boot, the more expensive it is."
She nods and starts looking. They're arranged by size, so that helps, and most are black or navy. A few outlandish colors are mixed in… but she goes with black.
"Alright. You have enough for… Two pairs of pants, two shirts, a jacket… I'll throw in compression bandages for free—"
"Socks?" she asks.
Rin's father gives her a funny look. "A pack of six pairs of stirrup socks. Knee-high or over the knee?"
"Knee-high, please."
"Black or navy?"
"Black."
She goes about picking out her clothes while Rin's father hops around the counter to get the compression bandages and the socks. He can't be bothered to use his crutch, which Honōka spots next to the back door.
She goes with two pairs of grey pleated shorts—cute, longish, and kind of stylish. They have deep pockets. Pockets are good. For her shirts she picks long sleeve navy turtlenecks. There's a lot of them and in every size. The material is both dense and stretchy, but cool to the touch. She likes them.
She pauses in front of the coat rack. Most of them are the typical black raincoat—the type that makes you look like a shapeless blob when you put them on.
"Tomoe-chan, I wish you would wear a brighter coat. No one is going to see you in this dreary weather wearing that old thing."
Her hand hovers over black.
She grabs a shapeless white and lemon yellow tarp-like coat that's sizes too big. It has an abstract pattern of triangles alternating between large and small, white and yellow. It's so ugly it might actually be cute.
Rin's father chuckles—but it isn't a judging kind of laugh. Amused, maybe.
He packs up her purchase for her, lips pulling up as he attempts to fit the outrageously oversized coat with the rest.
"These'll last you a little while. Training at the Academy isn't too hard on the wardrobe. But, if you do rough it up, swing by with Rin. Most wear and tear is repairable."
She nods. Rin has a question bubbling in her chest, but she doesn't ask it in the end.
"Thank you very much… Nohara-oji-san. These clothes will be much more comfortable."
He snorts at her, a rough sound with no sharp edges. "Hey, get good and it won't mater what you wear. I've seen the Slug Princess kick ass in heels, and Sage knows Jiraiya wears those damn ugly geta everywhere he goes. I swear, they're competing for who can wear the most outrageous outfits into battle."
Who…? She doesn't know either of those people and says so.
Rin gasps.
"You don't know about Tsunade-hime?! She's only the most amazing kunoichi ever, versed in both medical ninjutsu and battle ninjutsu! She's one of the three legendary shinobi of our village!"
"Densetsu no Sannin?"
"Un! Tsunade-hime, Jiraiya-sama, and Orochimaru-sama! They were a team after graduating from the Academy!"
It sounds interesting.
"Tell me all about it sometime. I've got to go home now though." If she misses supper she won't have anything to put in tomorrow's bentō.