A quick pro tip for all your readers out there: Don't drop your laptop down a flight of stairs. That is apparently very bad... LoL! But regardless of my clumsiness, my computer is fixed and
Chapter 4: Paragon of Their School Days
"Is that really him?"
"It can't be!"
"He's changed so much… we just saw him a few weeks ago!"
"Hey, he's not wearing a lot of orange today… I mean, it's on the inside of that white robe and that sash is orange, but still…"
"And what's with the black and white bath robes?"
"The bath robes? I'm more worried about the bokken he's carting around like some kinda gangster!"
Naruto stepped through the Academy building entrance with an air of nonchalant ignorance. The courtyard, along with the hallways were quite crowded with students and instructors. His freshly pressed stark white haori gently billowing in his wake. The bokken he carried around these days rested at his right hip, safely tucked away into the orange obi sash. Although, despite some things about him changing, Naruto's hair was still unkempt as he self-consciously scratched at the back of his head. He was used to the stares and whispers of people talking behind his back, however, the way they were talking was now totally different than a few weeks ago. It was no longer with an air of disgust and annoyance, but now folks were regarding him with interest and curiosity, things Naruto had never garnered from his peers ever before.
"Is that the same Uzumaki?"
"Yeah, yeah… He doesn't look violent."
"Nor like the brat that used to run through the halls. And is he… quiet?"
"Yeah, never seen him like this before. Maybe he's not so bad after all…"
"Hey, Uzumaki! Good morning!"
"Good morning, Marino!" Naruto greeted the older kid back, being sure to wave and smile so all the others could see him. The others looked at this curiously, thrown for a loop by a less juvenile Naruto Uzumaki.
Ino would be so proud once she heard about his progress!
"Ha! I always knew he could be cool! He just needed to calm down a bit!"
"…well, better you than me for finding out…"
Naruto continued to smile and greet others who dared to welcome him for the day. He could hear many of the students whispering amongst themselves. This was quite a shock to him and he found it odd to endure murmurs that ranged from neutral to even positive about him. Normally it was "brat this" and "orange nuisance" that. However, his personality never did not allow him to simply grow depressed about what they said. It had only ever made him more determined to prove them all wrong.
And now… now he was finally doing just that.
Reaching the door to his perspective classroom, Naruto stopped just short of entering as he took a deep breath to steady himself. Today would change everything about how people saw him and how Naruto saw himself. No longer would Naruto Uzumaki be known as the Orange Brat of Konoha, but instead as something new. Something greater!
Throwing open the classroom door, Naruto stood proud and tall in the doorway as he made his dramatic entrance. He could tell that he had caught them all unaware as all eyes cut sharply toward his way and silence became deafening to the room. Naruto grinned as he marched forward a few steps, placing himself decidedly in the room and where everyone inside could gaze upon his new appearance.
He hadn't wanted to return until he was completely sure, after all. Now, after only a month, he was without a single doubt. His resolve was stronger than steel! And now, right then and there, everyone would know it.
After seeing that everyone had settled a little bit from his sudden appearance, Naruto spoke. "I would like to introduce myself to my classmates. I am Naruto Uzumaki, rank of Captain and leader of the Fifth Division. You may not have seen me over the course of the last few weeks to a month, and that is understandable. While you all have been getting your education, I had to look inside myself for a little learning. I learned who I was and what I wanted to do from this point onward. So, you can all just call me Captain Naruto from now on, dattebayo!"
Naruto gave them all a casual salute with his pointer and middle finger. His cheeky grin was obvious to all as it displayed just enough of his white teeth to be seen as charming.
All of the students gathered in the classroom were deadly silent for a few moments before they began murmuring at the sudden affirmation of the rumor. Some of them had thought Uzumaki had moved away to another village. Others had thought he was taken by a rival ninja populace. And even still a few had believed Naruto had disappeared to gain wisdom from a sage.
Those last few were right… well, kind of right, at any rate…
"Captain Naruto, huh? Well, Uzumaki sure went and got full of himself…"
"Maybe so… yet, look at him, Oshiro. He's dressed different, and even seems to carry himself differently… Uzu—I mean, Captain Naruto might have become stronger in his weeks away from the Academy…"
"Whoa… Uzumaki sure knows how to make a return to school… Never seen anyone come back from a whole month away looking so… different…"
"Hmm… this will need further observation…" black shades reflected light as they focused in on Naruto still standing easily and casually at the front of the classroom.
"Captain Naruto, sir! Good morning to you!" Kiba greeted Naruto with a cheeky grin of his own and a proper salute.
"Heh, heh! Captain Uzumaki! Over here!" Choji joined in on the antics, "Good morning, sir!"
"Yup! Good morning, Kiba! Choji!" Naruto chuckled effortlessly, never thinking that he'd cause such a stir so early. A few words and some new clothes were doing more than he could have ever thought. "You can all just call me Captain Naruto, or Captain Uzumaki from now on! Ha, ha, heh! Whichever one you feel more comfortable with addressing to me!"
"Ugh… Naruto… why are you so troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered, but smirked as he saw a few others daring to welcome Naruto back to the classroom. Namely folks like Hinata waving meekly and Morino Utani just saying hello.
It was then that Naruto's alert senses warned him of an incoming danger. His eyes darted upward. His hand flew in front of his face, catching a blunted kunai between two fingers that had been hurled his way from within the clot of students who were seated at their desks.
Standing within the rows of students was a fair-skinned beauty. Her teal eyes were narrowed upon Naruto's form, pinning him in place with just her gaze. Long pale-blonde hair swayed back behind her in the ponytail she wore it in, reaching around mid-back. The bangs framing the right side of her face didn't hide her glare from Naruto's vision, making him feel quite small under such intensity.
Wearing a black, backless, sleeveless undershirt that was easily seen from the opening of her purple over-shirt with two white straps on each shoulder, the girl stood strong with a hand on the large beige sash around her waist above her hips. Black stretch pants were peaking from beyond the desk, just visible enough to tell Naruto that this girl was in full gear today before she had assaulted him. He suspected that she was even wearing the pair of lightweight brown shoes, which allowed for stealth and easy use of speed techniques.
This girl was Ino Yamanaka, and she did not look pleased. Her small hoop-earrings jingled as she began to address Naruto directly instead of throwing more deadly weapons his way.
"That is no way for a captain to act!" Ino snapped impatiently, her face set in that feminine annoyance only displayed upon a particularly vexing male. "If you're gonna go around bragging that you're a leader, then act like one! We don't need fancy speeches; ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS! Show some humility and self-respect! Stand tall and enter, then get the hell to your seat! That is how a true captain should be!"
Unlike Naruto, who the class was now having fairly mixed reactions to with his recent changes, Ino had no such reputes to her popularity with her peers. Cheers and applause rang out as the other girls of the class cheered Ino on for taking the new Naruto down a peg. The boys who liked Ino and didn't quite respect Naruto yet nodded to Ino's words as they applauded her.
"That's right, Ino! Make him show some respect!"
"Good show, Yamanaka, telling Uzumaki how it is!"
"You're right, Ino, as always!"
"Hmm," Naruto stood thoughtful for a moment before grinning up at Ino, giving her the same casual salute as before. "You're right, Ino, as per usual! A leader is one leading the way for others to follow. Good thinking, dattebayo!"
Ino nodded back at Naruto even while basking in the attention of their fickle classmates who were still hyped over her deconstruction of Naruto's new confidence. However, Ino was not as vain as she had once been. She watched Naruto closely as he made his way up to the highest row, which also happened to be the furthest in the back of the classroom. She noticed how he stopped for a moment to look at her shoes. Ino didn't understand why; her shoes were just the simple brown pair he had gotten for her a few weeks ago. They were light and made it easy to run and sneak around. She liked the shoes better than the shinobi combat sandals, at any rate.
Shikamaru was also watching Naruto, but he was keeping an eye on Ino as well. Far be it for the class princess to show anyone that she was actually hanging out with someone like Naruto on a daily basis. Ino obviously didn't want her reputation and public image ruined by being nice to Naruto in in public, much less their classroom where all the girls Ino liked to hang out with were in one place. Hmph, how troublesome…
Ino's eyes caught onto how Naruto's robes had changed since last she saw him. No longer was he wearing the solid white sash she had led him to purchase, but now it was replaced with an orange obi sash that had black stripes toward the ends. And the inside of his haori had changed as well, because Ino was damn sure that when they had purchased the long coat, the inside of it was colored a mellow turquoise, close in hue to her own beauty eye color rather than the garish bright orange he had apparently changed it to behind her back.
The nerve of that idiot!
Almost immediately after Naruto had taken a seat next to Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba, their instructor, Iruka-sensei had entered the room with a pleasant expression. He greeted the class warmly, and they returned the greeting just as well. Iruka smiled up at all of them, however, he groaned silently to himself when he saw that Naruto had finally made a return to the classroom.
Not because Naruto was attending, but because he was still wearing that ridiculous getup as the blond had been for the past few weeks. Iruka hadn't even seen him buy the damn thing, but it appeared that Naruto had purchased another one with some added changes to the original. As much as it pained Iruka to admit it, Naruto really was one of the only people he knew who could pull off all that orange…
"NARUTO!" Iruka roared with the might of a lion, "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! WE'VE BEEN GOING OVER IMPORTANT NEED-TO-KNOW INFORMATION AND EXERCISES FOR THE PAST FEW WEEKS IF YOU WANT TO PASS YOUR EXAMS!"
"Mah, mah, Iruka-sensei…" Naruto waved Iruka's concerns off, "I'll be fine. I've been doing some highly important training of my own for the last month I've been away. I've become way stronger than I was when you last saw me!"
"Hmph," Iruka sniffed, his expression prim and tight, "Is that so?"
Sasuke Uchiha had entered the classroom, setting all the girls on edge as they fawned over him.
Naruto smirked back at Iruka, "Darn straight! My training took me to whole new levels of awesome! Before a few weeks ago, I didn't even know half the moves I've learned were even possible!"
Sasuke moved through the class after greeting Iruka properly. He was just about to take his seat when Iruka spoke up again.
"Then you won't mind giving the class a demonstration of these… moves, you called them? I'm very interested in seeing if you've actually been doing more than reading comics when you could have been learning with everyone else here in class."
Sasuke had a bad feeling about this…
Naruto slammed a hand to the desk, startling a few of his peers, "Of course! I'll knock the pants off anyone here! Any time, any place!"
Iruka turned to Sasuke, who looked like a startled deer by the way his teacher was now staring at him. "Sasuke, would you mind helping to showcase Naruto's new skills in combat… or lack thereof, later, if possible? I'd like for you two to give us a sparring demonstration for Taijutsu practice session today."
Before the Uchiha student could even get a word in edgewise, Naruto slammed his hand to the desk again, "Sasuke? You want me to go up against Sasuke with all my new awesome super techniques? You've gotta be kidding me, dattebayo!"
Instead of addressing Iruka-sensei as he should have, Sasuke turned back to stare up at the back of the class where the blond annoyance was currently sitting. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"
Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and put on a strained expression as though it would pain him to have to explain anything to Sasuke Uchiha.
"You just don't get it, do you?" Naruto shook his head and gave a sigh of long suffering. "You and me? We were equals before I left class on my own amazing super self-imposed training session, but now… there's just no comparison…"
"IDIOT!" Sakura Haruno bellowed, making some students wince at the volume of her voice, "YOU MAKE IT SOUND LIKE YOU SWAM ACROSS SEAS AND CLIMBED MOUNTAINS ACQUIRING ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE, OR SOMETHING!"
"YEAH!" another of the girls shouted, now roused to anger, "ALL YOU DID WAS A COUPLE OF WEEKS TO PROBABLY LOUNGE AROUND WATCHING TELEVISION!"
"DON'T COMPARE YOURSELF TO MY SASUKE!"
"YOUR SASUKE?"
"Fine… our Sasuke!"
"Marginally better. Thank you."
"My self-training might not have taken me out of the village," Naruto said with his arms still crossed, "but it did afford me a boost in skill and strength. I'm at least ten times stronger than before, dattebayo! That's why I've acquired the rank of Captain!"
"YOU DUMMY, YOU MADE UP THAT RANK TO MAKE YOURSELF SOUND COOLER!" Sakura snapped back at the blond moron. "DON'T ACT LIKE IT WA SOME KINDA HARD-EARNED PROMOTION!"
"NARUTO, STOP PRETENDING TO BE SOMETHING YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY NOT!" another Sasuke-fangirl yelled, beside herself with fury on behalf of her crush.
Sakura turned to Ino, who by now usually jumped on Naruto as well whenever he thought he was better than Sasuke. "Ino! Say something here! Naruto thinks he can compete with Sasuke."
Ino blinked from where she was leaned over the desk, trying to convince Choji to let her borrow Volume 23 so she could finally catch up to them all in the series. "Huh? Oh…"
She looked over to where Sasuke was sitting, appearing supremely unconcerned with Naruto's chatter against him even though his face looked pinched. "Eh, Sasuke is a big boy. I'm sure he can take care of himself. In fact, he doesn't seem worried at all to me. So really, who even cares."
Sakura and all the other girls of the class gasped in unison. They were shocked by Ino's dismissive words. Even Sasuke himself arched an eyebrow, knowing that Ino was one of the fangirls who screamed the loudest wherever he walked in a room. Normally she was one of the most volatile tempers in class, leading the charge on any who dared to disrespect Sasuke's name without the slightest hesitation. Ino had even once thrown Marino Hinamori through a window just because he had said Sasuke wasn't "all that great".
Marino never took another window seat since that day…
While the class's Uchiha source of controversy was busy feeling sorry for poor, poor Marino Hinamori, Sakura had gained a smirk on her face.
She had figured out Ino's game.
"Ha!" Sakura crowed, a confident look on her face as she peered up at Ino, "I've got you pegged, Ino-pig. You're just trying to play it cool. Pretending you don't care. Using positive reinforcement so you can impress Sasuke. Well, you're fresh outta luck!"
"Did I give Sasuke a candy bar, or something?" Ino asked off-handedly, glancing over to see that Sasuke's head had turned toward her at the mention of getting a candy bar. "No, I did not."
"But you did offer encouragement through dismissal. I'm smarter than I look." Sakura sniffed, turning her nose up at her rival.
"Well, that doesn't take much effort… Hopefully…" Ino muttered, just loud enough for Sakura to hear.
"What'd you say?" Sakura seethed, but Ino pretended to ignore the pink-haired girl. "Ugh, INO! STOP TRYING TO BE COOL!"
"Haruno, you could only dream of being half as cool as I am." Ino shot back smoothly, making Sakura growl in anger.
"INO-PIG!" Ino's eye twitched at that one.
"BILLBOARD-BROW!"
"BLEACH-BLONDE BIMBO!"
"PINK-HAIRED BANSHEE!"
Iruka watched as the two girls dissolved into a glaring match across the classroom. He sighed as he collected chakra to perform a jutsu he had hoped he won't need so early in the day.
But of course, with Naruto finally back in class and all…
"SHUT UP, ALL OF YA!" Iruka's head grew to the size of a beast, his voice amplified to the extreme as it shook the room, "TAKE YOUR SEATS, AND GET YOUR BOOKS OUT! LEARNING STARTS NOW, AND IF YOU CAUSE ANYMORE TROUBLE I'LL KICK YOUR ASSES!"
And just like that, class had begun for the young prospective shinobi of Konoha's Ninja Academy. The lesson was nothing new, as the academy had been teaching about the infrastructure of ninja villages for as long as Iruka could remember. He lectured them on how the ninja system worked, how it was created, and how the squads were organized based on each ninja's talents displayed in the very academy his students were now sitting inside.
"Iruka-sensei!" Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose before even turning to the voice.
"No, Naruto, you may not be excused for a bathroom break. You'll just end up heckling Yukena-sensei for her lazy eye, or something…"
"No, that's not it." Naruto shook his head, looking a bit confused. He hadn't made fun of Yukena-sensei's eye-thing for a long time. At least a few months… "I wanted to know about the squads. How many are there?"
Iruka raised an eyebrow at the question, but was happy none the less. Naruto rarely paid any lecture its due attention.
Maybe he really has changed…
"Hmm," Iruka thought about it for a second. "As of right now, I believe that only three squads are active."
"Why only three? Shouldn't we have at least… Oh, I don't know… Somewhere around thirteen active squads at all time?" the blond inquired, looking deeply perplexed.
Iruka smiled at Naruto's newly inquisitive nature. Better that the blue-eyed troublemaker has his questions instead of running around the village like a delinquent. "No, Naruto, I'm afraid that is not the case here. You see, the village has maybe ten active squads at any given time, but those squads are made up from Genin-level ninja working together."
"Three Genin-ninja to a team with a Jonin-sensei to guide them. Once a Genin of the squad is promoted, they acquire the rank of Chunin. Normally it is then that the squad is broken up so the new Chunin can be assigned to patrols, village organizations, more dangerous missions, or even to lead Genin-ninja into missions on their own merit. The other Genin of the team would then go to where their abilities would best serve the village. However, in rare cases, the squad stay together with the Chunin leading their teammates on missions regularly. Does that make sense to you, Naruto?"
Naruto's expression was strained, but he nodded to convey he understood. "Yeah, yeah, I get it… We go from Academy students, or division members… to Genin-level ninja, or active Seated members, if you will."
"Yes, that's right. Though they are squads, not divisions. Squads usually consists of any number between three and twelve shinobi. A division of the village's ninja could be a lot higher."
"Jeez, it's just a reference…" Naruto groused, but continued onward even while Iruka was left sputtering, "If division members are just people who deal with all the paperwork and everyday duties of the division, then normal civilians and Academy students like us could fill that role. Cleaning the building, organizing paperwork, overseeing recruitment, training under Seated members—I mean, Genin shinobi… Yeah, so we can totally do all that!"
"Naruto, you're getting off track…"
Naruto ignored his sensei, nodding to himself. "And Seated members take on missions. They do all the real work by completing missions before they get promoted through the ranks to something like Fifth, Fourth, or even Third Seat of their division!"
"There are no seated positions in the shinobi system!" Iruka corrected, looking a little uneasy. Naruto was running with naïve ideals. "You move up from Genin to Chunin if you've proven yourself ready for the extra responsibility through an exam."
"Yeah, but my way of thinking makes more sense…" Naruto nodded to himself again, caught up in his own little world. "It allows more room for error… umm, without welcoming a higher level of danger than the person can properly take on, dattebayo. Chunin should be ranked between Fifth and Third Seat."
"No, Naruto. That's not how it goes. The ranks are as follows: Civilian, Academy Student, Genin, Chunin, Special Jonin, Jonin, ANBU Black Ops, and Hokage." Iruka frowned a bit more than he wanted. "People smarter than me and you created this system for shinobi to follow."
"Well it's pretty dumb to me…" Naruto waved a hand dismissively. Just because a bunch of wrinkled old prunes sat down and made something didn't make it good or meant it withstood the test of time. "If there are Special Jonin, then why not Special Chunin, or Special Genin. And why do the ANBU rank higher than Jonin? You should be splitting hairs at the lower levels of foundation, not near the top! You can't tell me that the ANBU do something that a Jonin can't do, or that a Special Jonin is so much stronger than a Chunin that they deserve their own rank just like that!"
"Naruto…" Sakura groaned as she banged her head to the desk. The others in the class were muttering about Naruto's stirring arguments, and all she wanted to do was show how smart she was by answering the class question. Sasuke was sure to be impressed by how thoroughly she had memorized the material. "Smart girls are sexy! Cha!"
"All I'm saying is we should divide the ranks a little more evenly. Besides, that would make Special Jonin into Lieutenants, which is kind of understandable if Jonin-ninja are Captain-level. Jonin lead really dangerous missions and also teach Genin-squads, right?"
Iruka rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. "Yes, Naruto, that's right."
Naruto crossed his arms and nodded in self-satisfaction. "Then that means that while Special Jonin took care of supervising daily operations, the Jonin would do all the really important work while also reporting directly to the Hokage… The Head-Captain or Captain-Commander, if you will."
"I will not, and I think you need to learn these real facts before dreaming up your own system to govern shinobi affairs, Naruto." Iruka said sternly, his own arms crossed in a much firmer fashion. But then he smiled, glad that Naruto was at least participating in class, "Who knows? Maybe if you speak to Lord Hokage, he'll even entertain your ideas for more than a few seconds."
The others students chuckled at the subtle dig against Naruto by Iruka, but the blond boy was not deterred. He would speak to the old man about his ideas, but probably not that same day. It was still pretty rough in the making, so Naruto would need time in order to iron out all the details.
As the lesson got back on track with its normal pace, Naruto remained quiet for the rest of the afternoon, only answering when he was called upon. Iruka was in a very good mood with Naruto's behavior so well, and even allowed the class to take a ten-minute break since he was able to get through his lecture earlier than he would have thought. Iruka left the class to prepare the field for weapons practice while the class was allowed to mingle amongst themselves for the time.
"Come on, Choji!" Ino stressed, pulling at the chubby boy's arm. "Just let me borrow it!"
"But I can't!" Choji whined, feeling his arm hurt from Ino's strength, "I don't even have it!"
"Yes you do! You were the one who had it last!" the blonde girl accused, "I need to catch up with you guys! Stop being a jerk. Don't you know you're supposed to give a lady whatever she wants."
"I don't see any ladies around here…" Shikamaru muttered, being sure that only Ino and the guys heard him.
Ino rounded on him quickly.
"You wanna repeat that, Nara!?"
"…I'd rather not, thanks. Besides, Choji can't give you something he doesn't have. We keep all the books at Naruto's house so they don't get lost or damaged."
"Liar!" Ino accused, pointing a finger dramatically at Shikamaru, "You brought Volume 17 to the park that one time! And Kiba takes books home all the time."
Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto all rounded on Kiba, who was sweating minutely.
"Uh oh… Looks like the jig is up, Akamaru…" Kiba mumbled weakly to his canine companion while the others pinned him with glares.
"Kiba, you moron. Those books aren't supposed to leave Naruto's house unless we tell each other about it. And that is supposed to be on very rare occasions." Shikamaru sighed as the troublesome mutt would give him a headache over this.
"Yeah, man. What if they get lost or stolen while with you? Then we'd be out a volume from the entire collection! That'd be like missing a piece from a puzzle." Naruto shook his head with disapproval.
"Hey! Some of us have chores and training when we go home! I need to take the books home if I wanna keep ahead of Ino… We all know she's a gossipy shrew when it comes to lording over the likes of us…" Kiba defended himself, right up until Ino grabbed him by his fur collar. Akamaru whimpered in fright as Ino got in Kiba's face.
"What'd you say, you housebroken mutt?" Ino snarled as Kiba wouldn't back down from her.
"I called you a shrew, you nosy gossip! All you do is talk about every detail after you've read it. And then you like to talk about who's dating who in the comic. It's not about that, or the way they dress. It's an action manga, so why do you feel the need to tell us about how good a wife Rukia will make Renji?"
"Because Renji and Rukia obviously love each other very much, you tasteless swine!" Ino snapped back at Kiba, making Akamaru cower in the boy's jacket.
"Says the girl called Ino-Pig… Jeez, why don't you just give it a rest—Arck! Ugh!"
Ino was strangling Kiba, throttling him without mercy as Choji and Naruto quickly jumped into the mix in order to ensure Ino didn't commit murder.
Iruka had returned, and seeing Kiba's pale face with his soul slowly ascending to the afterlife he was fairly disturbed. Ino was still choking his limp body, with Naruto and Choji off in the corner clutching each other in fear with many bruises and Naruto having a quickly healing black-eye each. Shikamaru had his head down, snoring coming from where he was obviously taking a nap to avoid the situation. The rest of the class was giving the furious Ino wide-berth as they watched in fear. Sasuke had Akamaru in his arms, gently petting the dog's fur as he stared at Ino with apprehension.
Iruka could only sigh at the scene in front of him. It would seem that despite his thoughts earlier, it was indeed going to be a long day now that Naruto was back in class…
So, this was just a nice chapter to show some passage of time and how everything is coming up Bleach with Naruto and his friends. It is also to show that while Naruto has always taken his training seriously, he's now taken it to a whole new level of intensity. The next few chapters will display more of a "Slice of Life" vibe, but that's okay because after that will be the main plot picking back up.
Next up: Naruto vs Sasuke! The Divisions finally take form!
Until Next Time, See Ya!