Hello all, here's the next chapter. It was meant to be out a bit sooner, but believe it or not, I actually ran into some computer troubles. As in, my computer friggin' died on me. Let this be a lesson to you all: Do not use a USB hub on a laptop. Trust me, nothing but bad things will happen. Also what's that? Bazinga isn't a sound effect? Well it is now! So tell your friends!

It was the crack of dawn. Yuji had gotten up after barely getting any sleep. After Kiriya-sensei and Asuka had left his home, Yuji's mother had spent the entire night drilling into his head just how serious a profession being a shinobi would be. This wasn't some part-time job that he could fool around with; this was a serious job with serious consequences if he failed a mission, being dismissed as a shinobi being the best case scenario and his death being the worst. That was enough to drill it into Yuji's head that this wasn't like one of his manga or video games. This was the real deal and he had to put his best foot forward. Aside from that, his mom had gifted him her broadsword. He'd need a weapon and he already had a little training with it. To get him up to snuff, Minako had run through some basic drills which he had done pretty decently at. It wouldn't do much against a more experienced shinobi, but it was at least something. The reason he was up so early though is due to the fact that Yuji didn't have the proper stealth training and as such to get to the building without anyone seeing him required him to wake up earlier than he would usually, there was also the fact that he was lugging his mother's broadsword with him and the less people out and about to see that the better. If anyone asked, he'd just say it was for a project at school.

"I'm heading out now." Yuji slurred as he walked towards to the door, his mother was still asleep, but he felt it was the right thing to do regardless. Stepping outside and making his way to Hanzo Academy, Yuji was able to slip into the advanced building. He didn't want to go too far though as he was sure he couldn't dodge the traps this time. Heck, who knows, they probably changed them around after he got through the first time. Taking out his cellphone he'd seen the time. It was about 6:45AM. School didn't start till about 8:15AM, so he had some time to wait. And so Yuji decided to do the only logical thing he could think of at the moment.

"I need some freakin' sleep." He muttered, taking a seat against the wall and promptly dozing off

Later, Yuji was tapped awake, his bleary vision making out the form of Asuka looming over him.

"What are you doing sleeping here?" She asked

"I barely got any sleep last night, so I thought I'd get a nap while here. " He yawned "It's nice being woken up by a cute girl though."

Asuka's cheeks flared at how brazenly he'd said such words before thumping him on the head. "Come on, we can't keep the others waiting."

"Lead the way, I uh...I don't want to end up triggering any traps again." Yuji said falling in line behind her

"Then stick close. Follow my movements exactly and you'll get by without triggering any." Asuka replied heading down the hall. She moved slowly, sometimes walking on the side of the hallway or making a small hop which Yuji mimicked as best he could. The entire time Asuka was silent, not saying anything until they'd reached the room where they'd met the previous day.

"Now we go through this secret door here and we'll be at the common room."

Nodding Yuji stepped in, the door turning and then suddenly sending him down some sort of slide. Upon finishing he tumbled into a room where Kiriya and 4 other girls sat. Asuka joined him shortly after, entering the room still standing with all the practiced balance that came from training to be a ninja.

Yuji got to his feet as one of the girls approached him and began sizing him up. She was to put it bluntly: A blonde bombshell. Her long blonde hair was stunning with the blue ribbon she had in her hair helping it to stand out all the more. Her Bluish-green eyes were eye-catching, but by far the most notable part about her is how her blouse had a few buttons missing right at the middle of her chest, allowing a bit of skin to peek to through. Yuji couldn't stop himself from staring, eliciting a snicker from the girl.

"Like what you see? That's fine, I don't mind you staring, just so long as you don't touch~." She said running her hands over his chest "Hmmm, a bit flabby, but not bad."

"F-flabby?!" Yuji exclaimed in shock, sure he'd been indulging himself in a few more sweets from Taro's mother, but still he wasn't gaining any pounds...was he?"

So distracted was he by this, that Yuji failed to realize that the blonde had continued feeling him up, running her hands all over him before a girl with black hair quickly hit her on the head. She coughed a bit before speaking.

"Please forgive Katsuragi." The black haired girl said in a soothing voice, her blue eyes quickly glared at Katsuragi who shrunk back at the look, fearful of being hit again. "I am Ikaruga; it's a pleasure to meet you...?" she left the question hanging, waiting for him to introduce himself

"Oh right! Name's Yuji. Yuji Egawa!" Yuji said with a bow "I'll admit, I'm new to the whole ninja thing, but let's get along well yeah? Gotta watch each other's backs and all that."

"Hi!" came the voice of a girl with pink hair tied up in two side ponytails with three tiny black ribbons in her hair. Her eyes were...odd. They looked almost like flowers? But that couldn't be right could it? Yuji rubbed his eyes for a moment, but couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"Um...are you okay?" She asked

"Huh...? Oh yeah, I'm fine, I just got lost in thought for a moment."

"Oh! That's' good. My name's Hibari, nice to meet you!"

"Same here, it's a pleasure."

Off in the corner he noticed a girl with silver hair and an eye-patch standing against the wall. She looked to be brooding, but their eyes met for a singular moment before she spoke.

"Yagyu." She said bluntly before being quiet again

"Um...nice to meet you too?" Yuji said, dear lord she was one of those: The brooding type who probably was a big softy underneath. Still despite her short introduction, Yuji took notice of an important thing...or rather two important things. On each of these girls

Boing

Bounce

Bazinga

All of these girls were pretty damn hot. None of them were lower than an 8 out of 10 and Yuji would have to remember to get pictures of them all at some point. Taro and Daisuke would flip their shit once they saw them. Seriously, what the hell did these girls eat, their boobs were out of this world and-

THWACK

His thoughts were interrupted by Kiriya smacking him upside the head " , while I'm sure the ladies are flattered by your appreciation of their looks, I would be remiss if I did not remind you to keep your eyes up at all times. Being distracted by the opposite sex is a death sentence in the shinobi world."

"I-I wasn't staring-!" Yuji lied

"Yeah, and I'm the queen of Japan." Katsuragi said with a chuckle "Like I said, it's okay to look, but keep it to that and nothing more."

Before he could say anything, Yagyu was in front of him glaring daggers at him "Keep your eyes away from Hibari." She said in a cold tone as Hibari had reflexively covered her chest.

Shit, things were going south and fast! What did they expect from him? He's a red-blooded young man dammit!

"Come on, cut him some slack everyone. He didn't mean anything by it right Yuji?" Asuka said stepping up to his side

"Yeah, I didn't mean anything! I just uh...had a moment of weakness; no one is immune to that!" He said with a nervous laugh.

The other girls remained silent but relented. Kiriya let out a cough again to regain control of the situation.

"Now that that is out of the way, today will be going over the basics. Yuji has a lot of catch up to do, so we'll run through the usual. Some laps, push-ups, a bit of combat training, and some stealth as well."

"Wow, an easy day of training. I have to admit I'm not against it." Ikaruga said with a small smile "Besides, it'll be good to see where Yuji stands."

"Even more training? I thought I had gotten enough with what my mom put me through last night." Yuji sighed

"Your mother gave you some at home training?" Kiriya asked

"Yeah, barely got any sleep thanks to it."

"I see, that's good. We can skip the laps then, that was meant to be more of a warm up."

Yuji was pleased to hear that at least.

"Instead, we can replace that with some heavy lifting."

He immediately withdrew that thought.

The training was something straight out a movie, at least for Yuji. The first thing they did were some weight lifting like Kiriya said, having gone to the gymnasium to get the proper equipment. Things started out relatively slow-paced, the weight lifting wasn't anything too crazy. Yuji was lifting about 80 pound weights, which while tiring, Yuji thought he was putting on a good showing in lifting them...only to see that the others were lifting way more. Hibari was lifting what looked to be at least 250 pound weights, and the others seemed to be lifting even more than that which served as a serious blow to his pride as a man. It didn't stop there as they moved onto the push-ups, which Yuji capped out at measly 20 or so. The girls however? Easily above 100 or more and they kept going too.

"Don't worry about it; you just have to keep at it." Hibari said patting Yuji's back as they took a break.

"R-right, I mean, you guys have been at this for how long? Years right?"

"Yeah, we've all been training as ninja since we were children I'm pretty sure. So don't worry about it, we'll get you in top shape soon enough! Kiriya-sensei is a great teacher!"

Though he wasn't so sure, Hibari's words were reassuring to Yuji nonetheless and so with renewed vigor he got back to training exercises. What came next was the sparring practice. And of course, Yuji was the first up, Kiriya saying that he needed to get a good feel for what kind of combat prowess he had. However, what Yuji didn't expect was who his opponent would be.

"Wait...I have to fight Hibari?" Yuji said incredulously

"Yes you do. Hibari acts as a baseline. She's still a first year, but even so, she's still one of Hanzo Academy's elite shinobi. Going against her will a good way to gauge your combat potential."

Yuji got the gist of that. If he was parsing that correctly, Hibari was probably the physically weakest of the group of Hanzo elites and if that were the case, then if he couldn't put on a good display against her, then he'd probably not be cut out to join them.

"Come on Yuji, I'll take it easy on you!" Hibari said as she got to her feet and taking a position on the other side of the gym "Give me your best shot!"

Getting to his feet, Yuji went and picked up his broadsword that had been sitting against the wall before taking his position as well.

"This battle will last for 3 minutes, when I blow my whistle you are both to stop fighting immediately. Understood?" Kiriya called out

"Yes sensei!" The two replied in unison

"BEGIN!"

The second Kiriya uttered those words Hibari was closing in on Yuji faster than he expected.

"H-holy crap!" He shouted bringing up his broadsword to block her strikes which...looked like wild flailing if he had to be honest. Still, despite that he could feel the blows impacting the blade as he blocked them. He couldn't stay on the defensive however and once he thought he saw an opening, he swung his blade with as much power as he could imagine. Hibari easily dodged the attack, but Yuji figured that her backing off was better than nothing, and seizing the chance he ran towards her as fast as he could. The sword was slowing him down, but not enough that he couldn't get a good pace going. Once he got in close he swung his blade at her, it was still slow and Hibari easily jumped over it, however, mustering as much strength as he could Yuji brought the tip of the blade upwards, actually catching Hibari off guard.

"Eeek!" Hibari yelped as she stumbled forward a bit, however just as Yuji thought he had her, she instead ended up headbutting him using the momentum from her mid-air stumble to add to the damage.

Yuji stumbled back holding his head in pain "Hell, what is your head made out of, pure iron?!" he grunted

"Sorry Yuji-san!" Hibari said with a concerned look "Are you okay?"

"I'll live!" He replied getting into another ready stance

"Okay, here I come again!"

Just like before, Hibari was fast and just like that previous maneuver he was caught off guard when Hibari instead of coming at him with flailing fists like before instead she came at him ass first, fully intending to hit him in the face with her butt.

Normally, he'd probably not be against that, but since this was a sparring match he was going to do his damn best to come out on top. So, twisting his sword so that the flat end was facing her, Yuji proceeded to hit Hibari square on the ass, as if she were a human baseball coming right at him.

THWACK

"KYAH!" Hibari cried as she felt the pain of steel impact her butt. She was sent flying away, careening towards a wall and she would have hit it too were it not for Yagyu catching her at the last moment.

"Hibari, are you alright?!" Yagyu asked with clear concern

"Ow ow ow ow ow! That hurts!" She squealed rubbing her butt in a futile attempt to numb the pain.

"Why you...!" Yagyu snarled, summoning an umbrella and brandishing it at him "You'll pay for hurting Hibari like that!" She began to slowly walk towards Yuji with the full intent to kill, downright eager looking even, which caused Yuji to back up a little in fear of what might happen next.

A blow of the whistle brought a halt to Yagyu's movements "That's enough!" Kiriya shouted "Though a bit unorthodox, I believe we'll call that match in Yuji's favor."

He won? He won!

"Hell yeah, I did it!" Yuji said giving pump his fist in glee "Oh uh...sorry about your butt Hibari!"

"Muuu...it's okay, just be gentler if you're going to do that!" she replied weakly, still rubbing her bottom the entire time, Yagyu continued glaring, even though Kiriya had called everyone to group up again. The next bout of matches was Yagyu against Katsuragi and then followed by Asuka against Ikaruga. Yagyu was able to defeat Katsuragi pretty handily using her umbrella to easily block and parry Katsuragi's kicks, despite that, Kat was able to surprise Yagyu with a few techniques of her own such as when she managed to trip Yagyu and spin her around via what looked to be break dancing moves before slamming her into the ground with her feet. Despite a hard hit like that, Yagyu was still able to defeat Katsuragi easily via a hard crack to the head. As for Asuka and Ikaruga's battle, that one was a bit close as Ikaruga and Asuka were a bit on the opposite ends with their styles. Ikaruga had a longer blade that she could deliver powerful strikes with, and due to the length she could keep Asuka on the defensive with her swings. On the flipside, Asuka's blades were smaller but this allowed he to move more quickly and get in on Ikaruga's blind spots and deal several small but fast attacks that while alone wouldn't seem like much, it was very much a 'death of one thousand cuts' scenario. Asuka wasn't great and dealing big damage immediately, but the damage she did deal would build over time, slowly eroding an enemy's offensive capabilities until it was too late for them. Still, despite that, Ikaruga was able to persevere and win against Asuka.

"That's enough!" Kiriya called ending their match "Alright, you can all break for lunch; we'll reconvene in an hour and continue on with the training."

"Yes Sensei!" The girls replied in unison

There's more training?! Yuji thought incredulously, he took out his phone and looked at the time. It was noon on the dot. They'd been training for that long and there was still more to do afterwards?!

"Hey, Yuji, we're gonna grab some ramen, you coming with?" Katsuragi asked breaking him out of his train of thought.

"I could do with some ramen, I'll come along." Yuji replied getting to his feet.

The six left the gym, heading towards a secret passage way that lead out of the school onto the west side of it. Yuji was shocked for a moment before reminding himself that he was dealing with ninja. Secret passageways that lead into and out of places were far more likely than not. The others were busy talking to one another, when Asuka took notice of him and broke off and decided to talk to him.

"So...enjoying your first day as a shinobi?" She asked

"Well...I gotta admit it's kinda cool. The training is hell though; my arms and legs feel like lead."

"Tehee, don't worry, it'll get easier the more you do it, just be sure to take proper breaks and overdo your training. That said, you aren't too bad already, you just have to keep at the fundamentals and you'll start to see improvement."

"Really, you picked all that up from a 3-minute sparring match?" Yuji said with a raised eyebrow

"It comes with being a shinobi, you'll be able to do it too soon enough."

"I sure hope so." Yuji sighed

The group continued on their way until they reached the shopping district. It was the best place in the city for when someone wanted to hang out. Be it shopping, eating, just killing time, this was the place to do it. Katsuragi led the group into a small ramen shop where she was immediately greeted by a middle-aged man dressed in white. He smirked as he greeted her, placing a bowl in front of her. Apparently Katsuragi was a regular if he already knew what it was that she wanted.

"Thanks boss, you all go ahead and order, I'm gonna dig in!" she said turning to the others

After ordering, the six were all seated next to each other, once more talking to each other. Katsuragi had taken to trying to steal some of Ikaruga's food who was busy batting her away and Yagyu was fussing over Hibari, leaving Asuka and Yuji as the odd two out.

"This ramen is pretty good!" Yuji said as he took a bite

"Yeah, it's great, but not as good as futomaki I think." Asuka replied

"Really, you know where to get some?"

"Yeah! My parents run a sushi shop, I'll bring some for you and everyone else tomorrow!"

"Cool, I'll bring some sweets from this bakery I know about."

"A bakery?!" Hibari exclaimed in excitement, having picked up on the word specifically

"Yeah, my friend Taro's mom runs one, I won a bet recently and so I can get as many sweets as I want. Ever heard of Yamada's bakery?"

"Yamada's?!" Hibari shouted loudly "I've heard that they've got top quality sweets there!"

"You heard right! Anything in particular you want Hibari?"

"Cake! I want cake!"

"Alright, I'll snatch some up. A little bit of everything! I'll get some cookies too." Yuji said with a chuckle "That sound good?"

"Excellent, I look forward to it." Ikaruga said with a nod

"Heh, look at you Yuji, worming your way into our hearts with sweets! And they say the best way to woo a man is through his stomach!" Katsuragi laughed

Yuji noticed as Yagyu glared at him with her eye, causing him to shrink back again "You had better not be planning to do something to Hibari." She growled

"N-no, I'm just sharing some food with her! Honest!" Yuji squeaked in reply, waving his hands in front of him. Yagyu didn't drop the glare until Hibari motioned for her stop. The rest of the time was spent with everyone talking to one another and Yuji getting more info on the Shinobi world in general courtesy of Asuka, before finishing up though, Katsuragi proposed that as a way to welcome Yuji into the fold they all take a picture together. Bunching up together, somehow everyone managed to fit into the screen on Yuji's phone, with Yagyu being the only one with any real distance between them, still the picture came out nice all things considered. Once lunch was done, the group returned back to school and just as he said, Kiriya had put the young ninja to work. There was more training, ranging from laps, to swimming, to weight training and even playing dodgeball (Which Yuji thought would be fun...until Yagyu started throwing balls as fast as bullets) and then even more sparring, in which this time he was beaten easily by Asuka, the girl being too fast for him to land any real hits at all. He'd initially felt embarrassed for such a poor showing, but was again reassured that he'd done fine for his current level of skill.

By the time the late afternoon had rolled around, Yuji was finally allowed to leave, his body feeling like lead as he dragged himself home. The girls and Yuji had all said their goodbyes to one another, wishing them safe travels on their way home. Once he'd gotten there, Yuji didn't even bother greeting his mother who sat at the table with some juice in her cup, instead, she watched as her son tiredly made his way to his room and promptly passed out from what wouldn't be his last day of rigorous shinobi training.

All Minako could do was laugh to herself. She'd done exactly the same thing when she had started her ninja training all those years ago.

-00000-

Kiriya sat in his office, going over what he'd seen in today's lessons. Yuji was definitely an amateur. His attacks were too slow, he left himself wide open on several occasions and he had no real speed to speak of, or even any technical prowess as well. Still, one thing Kiriya could give the boy credit for was his creativity in combat and his ability to think on his feet. That strike he'd gotten against Hibari was all Kiriya needed to see the potential Yuji had. All it would take is the proper training and that talent of his could be properly molded into a very powerful Shinobi. It'd take some time for sure, but Kiriya was sure that he could mold the boy into a strong Shinobi just as he felt he could do with Asuka and the others. Besides, despite everything, Rin and Daidouji had become fiercely powerful in their own right. Even though Rin had joined the evil Shinobi, there was no doubting her power, especially after what he'd seen in Kyoto.

As he thought to himself, his door opened. A man with entered with a jovial laugh upon seeing him.

"Kiriya my friend, it's so good to see you!"

"Hanzo-sama, what brings you here?" Kiriya asked with a smile "If I'd known you'd been stopping by, I'd have prepared some drinks for us."

"You need not worry. In fact, there was something I wanted to ask you about. Pertaining to a young man named Yuji Egawa?" Hanzo said crossing his arms

"You know him?" Kiriya asked with a raised eyebrow "I take it Asuka told you about him?"

"Well, she told me that he would undergo shinobi training, but I came here to...make a request. But first, I should ask: What do you make of him, do you think he has any talent for being a ninja?"

"It's definitely there." Kiriya said with a nod "He's definitely got room for improvement, a lot of improvement, but still with time I think he'd be good at it."

"I see. I had a feeling, and that brings me to my request: Whatever improvements are made, I would like you to send them my way. Barring that...tell the boy's mother. Directly. Messages and the like aren't secure enough." Hanzo said, any sense of jolly gone from his voice.

"I'm...sorry? Do you know something about the boy Hanzo-sama?" Kiriya asked intrigued.

"I do indeed, though what that is in particular, I feel it isn't my place to say. Or at least, that's how it feels anyway. Don't worry, I'm sure eventually Minako-san will tell you on her own.

"Very well, I suppose I can do that Hanzo-sama. I'll be sure to get in touch with you if anything interesting comes up."

"Oh trust me Kiriya, there is no 'if' in regards to the boy. But let's put that aside for now, how about you and I get out of this stuffy office and go have a drink? I know a place that's doing a special discount tonight!" Hanzo said, his grin returning

"Well, I suppose a drink or two would be nice. I have been working nonstop lately."

With that Kiriya got up from his desk and joined the older shinobi for night of enjoying some cold ones with Hanzo.

-0000-

Yuji awoke to a small ping from his phone. Blearily opening his eyes, he looked at the clock to see the time. It was nearly midnight, meaning that he'd slept for the entire rest of the day, and he had to be up and about early again in only a mere few hours. Rubbing his eyes, Yuji looked at his phone to see that he'd received a text message hours ago from Taro and Daisuke. The three were in their own private group chat, one where they'd chat about what went on at school or whatever struck their fancy in the moment.

Taro: Congrats on joining the advance class man!

Daisuke: I wasn't aware your grades were THAT good. Really, congrats my friend.

Yuji quickly wrote out a message of his own, the two were more than likely still awake at this hour if they weren't heading to bed already.

Yuji: How'd you guys find out?

A few minutes passed before a reply came to him from Taro

Taro: The principal told our class. She said that there had been an error when your transcripts were received and that you should have been in the advanced class.

Daisuke: It was kind of shocking, but at the same time, it felt kinda cool since we're your friends. A lot of people were asking about you after that.

Yuji: I hope they were good questions

Taro: People thought you were a super genius or something, some thought you were some super special athlete or even an assassin!

Yuji couldn't help but sweat at that last one...since that was probably exactly right since he was a ninja now.

Daisuke: You enjoy being in the class of the gifted. Don't forget us alright?

Yuji: Don't worry, I'm not gonna abandon you guys or anything. In fact, here's the other students in my class. We went out to lunch together today. Think of it as a way of me promising to never leave you guys behind.

Sending the image, Daisuke and Taro were quiet for a few moments before both started typing messages.

Taro: THEY'RE HOT!

Daisuke: THEY LOOK AMAZING!

Yuji: Heh, I know, well except for Yagyu(The girl in the back) I think she hates my guts already. But that doesn't matter. Hey Taro, can I swing by your shop early to grab some leftover sweets?

Taro: What do you want?

Yuji: A little bit of everything. See that girl with the pink hair? She really likes sweets, she's even a fan of your bakery Taro.

Taro: Seriously? Please bring her and her friends along some time! I'll let them eat for free!

Daisuke: Don't go making promises you can't keep Taro...your mom wouldn't like that.

Yuji: Well maybe at some point in the future, but I don't think they'd be willing to tag along right now

Taro: I get it. Kudos on you for making a move already though!

Yuji: What do you mean? I'm not doing anything like that.

Daisuke: Really? All those cute girls and none of them strike your fancy?

Yuji: I...didn't say that.

Taro: Don't worry, we're your allies in the battle of love, right Daisuke?

Daisuke: We sure are! Show em some of that Egawa charm! And while you're at it, put in a good word for me and Taro okay?

Taro: Oh I like that idea! Especially the blonde, she's a real looker!

Daisuke: The girl with white hair seems more my type. That cold distant look she's got makes her look even cuter than ever. I bet she's a real sweetheart underneath it all.

Yuji rolled his eyes, severely doubting that about Yagyu from what he'd seen during the day. The trio continued talking for a while longer before finally deciding to call it a night. After taking a quick shower, Yuji was once more back in his bed and asleep within minutes. He'd have to remember to pick up those sweets on the way to school once he woke up. After all, he didn't want to disappoint the girls That just wouldn't do! And not because he wanted to come off as cool...that totally wasn't the reason at all.

You know, I actually had a bit of trouble with Yagyu's name? I kept spelling it with two Us instead of one. That's gonna get in the future I'm sure. Also, I wonder if anyone caught on to what timeline shenanigans I'm pulling here. If so, I hope those of you who figured it out won't mind too much. That aside, Yuji's officially in! His Shinobi training will start in earnest. Things are all looking up from here...right?