Diet Soda Society
"This neurotic head makes me believe danger is omnipresent."
"Nat! Nat! Wake up!" Asuma's loud voice interrupted my sleep.
"Mm," I mumbled, as I sat up groggily. "Wha-"
"We've got our Academy Examinations! Wake up!" he shook me again.
I bolted upright like someone had just flicked my "on" switch. The Examinations were today! How in the world had I fallen asleep last night? I'd been waiting for this day for over four years now, and it was finally here! Today I was going to take my first step towards becoming a ninja. At least, hopefully it was.
There was still one lone wildcard that could prevent me from being enrolled: the Academy Entrance Exam. I would have to pass before I could jump to all the cool ninja voodoo. As you can imagine, I was rather nervous about the whole thing, but of course my results were completely beyond my power. See, the Entrance Exam probably isn't what you think it is. When I had first heard about it, I'd assumed that they were putting kids through some sort of skills test.
In reality, the "Entrance Examination" was really more of a medical check up- a sort of special ninja physical. They took prospective students and they checked their eye sight, their reflexes, their blood work, and their chakra capacity. If a student wasn't up to snuff in any of these categories, they would be sent home and told to either give up or to try again next year. Of course, performing poorly in one of those categories wouldn't automatically disqualify a kid from becoming a ninja. Often times, after a kid failed, they might be invited back under special circumstances. One of Isamu's best friends, a kid named Tonbo, was actually completely blind in both eyes. He was allowed to continue with his ninja education, however, because he'd found himself a special teacher who was instructing him in elite sensing techniques. Who needs eyes when you can circumvent sight with ninja bullshit?
Anyhow, while Tonbo's story was certainly inspirational, I couldn't help but dread being in his situation. Every fiber in my being did not want to fail this medical examination. People kept telling me that I had nothing to worry about because I came from good genes, but I'd always been a little out of the ordinary. I already knew that my mind wasn't quite right for my little four year old body. Was it that crazy to think that maybe my chakra system or blood work had been effected by the reincarnation too?
My stomach was half in knots thinking about what surprises the morning might be saving for me. But laying in bed wasn't going to solve anything.
"I'll be ready in ten seconds Asuma-kun," I said, shooing him away from my bed so that I could get dressed.
"We're gonna be ninja Nat!" he grinned. Then he spun around and ran out towards the kitchen.
Eager to follow him, I rushed through my morning routine. I threw on a plain black t-shirt and a pair of maroon pants, whirled into the bathroom to brush my teeth, and pulled my unruly spiky bedhead into a messy ponytail. I looked a little messy when all was said and done, but I think I made it into the kitchen in fifteen minutes flat. It was probably a new personal record.
"That was fast," Biwako eyed me critically from the table when I trotted over to take a seat. She had taken the morning off work for our first day of school, so of course all three of us were being scrutinized extra carefully this morning. I suppose we'd all grown a little lax with Biwako gone so much lately. We weren't as used to her hawkish gaze primping our every move as we used to be.
"I laid all my clothes out last night so I wouldn't waste any time," I told her with a smile.
"Well don't rush through your breakfast too, it'll upset your stomach for your exam," Biwako said, handing me a bowl of rice. I made eye contact with Asuma. Resignation was written all over his face. If she wanted us to eat slowly, then that's what we were going to have to do. If I'd learned anything these past few years, it was that Biwako always won one way or another.
Interestingly enough, while Asuma and I were chomping at the bit to get out the door, Isamu seemed a little hesitant. He pushed the rice grains around his bowl between bites, and thumbed at his chopsticks absently as we chattered. It could've been the morning lighting, but he seemed a little paler than usual.
"You okay Isamu-nii?" I asked tentatively.
"Hm, what?" he blinked up at me.
I frowned.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. His eyes darted over to Biwako, and then back to his rice bowl. "I just... I might have an exam today too, that's all."
"To graduate," Asuma piped up, eyes wide.
Isamu nodded. "The teachers haven't said anything about it, but they always give the graduation exam when the new class starts."
"You're amazing at the transformation and clone jutsu," I said, fervently. Hell, I watched him practice almost every afternoon. "If they give the test, they'll have to pass you."
"I hope so," he shrugged with a shaky smile. All the while, Biwako was suddenly being suspiciously quiet during this conversation. She definitely knew something, being the Hokage's wife and all.
Between the three of us, dinner was either going to be a big celebration or horribly awkward.
Thankfully, breakfast did finish up in short order, after Asuma and I both showed Biwako our empty bowls. We were just about ready to run out the door when Biwako picked something up from behind the counter.
"Natsuki-chan, I've got a present for you before we go. Tsunade gave it to me in case she hadn't returned by the time you started school," Biwako said.
"Present?" I blinked, curiously. What could that possibly be? Thankfully, it was too big of a box to be the First's necklace. If she ever tried to give me that, I'd probably have a heart attack.
"Can I help you unwrap it?" Asuma asked. I nodded, and put it between us.
Together, we tore at the wrapping to reveal a box with the logo from Tsunade's favorite clothing store painted on top. Inside, I found a simple cream haoiri jacket with red trim. It was pretty small, as far as haoiri went, with short sleeves and a cropped torso that only fell down to my waist. You could tell immediately that it had been fitted to be worn by a ninja. A typical haoiri had a lot of extra fabric, but the small cut of this one allowed me to maneuver easily without it getting in the way.
Upon further inspection, I also found the Senju crest embroidered just above the hem of the short sleeve. Seeing it sent a surge of irrational pride through me. I'd never really felt much like a true Senju before. I'd never known my parents, wasn't particularly proud of all of Tobirama's legislation, and I probably would never learn any of our clan jutsu. That crest though, felt meaningful to me in that moment. It was a symbol of Tsunade and Nawaki. I knew that when I wore it, I'd feel like maybe they were both with me.
Without any further hesitation, I pulled it on over my shoulders and spun around so that my family could see.
"Now you look like a proper Senju," Biwako nodded.
"I'll have to thank Tsunade-nee when she get's home," I blushed.
"How come we don't get anything with our clan symbol on it?" Asuma whined. There was a twinge of jealousy in his voice, because of course there was.
"You will participate in clan traditions and training when you're old enough," Biwako sighed. This wasn't the first time she'd had to tell him this, and I'm sure it wouldn't be the last. The Sarutobi clan didn't start giving children any sort of clan training until they were full fledged genin, and until then they didn't let the children bear the Sarutobi symbol. It was supposed to be a sign that a clansman was an adult or something to that effect.
Asuma let out a moody 'humph,' before Biwako finally ushered us out the front door towards the Academy. It was a gorgeous day outside. Somehow, despite the fact that it was mid-winter, Konoha still managed to be littered with green. We made good time through the brisk morning chill, and before we knew it, we were standing outside the Academy amongst a crowd of other kids all reporting for a day of school.
"Alright, don't dilly dally in the yard too long," Biwako instructed us. "I'll be back in a few hours to pick you up after your exam okay?"
"Okay," I nodded.
Then we split off from Isamu and Biwako, following a big sign that said 'New Students This Way'. There were a few adults standing around with clip boards in the adjacent hall way. Asuma, of course, being the bold little squirt that he was, walked right up to the first one he saw.
"Hi shinobi-san, we're here for the entrance exam," he said.
"Well you're in the right place then. Are you maybe Isamu-kun's brother?" the man smiled down at Asuma.
I watched as Asuma's polite smile fell a little bit from his face. He wasn't quite frowning, but he didn't look particularly happy to be compared to his brother. I decided to jump in before Asuma accidentally said something rude.
"Yes, this is Asuma, and my name is Natsuki Senju," I said, looping my arm through Asuma's. He shot me a vague annoyed look, but didn't fight it. The shinobi started to jot something down on his clip board.
"Great, well if you two can go sit down right over there. One of the nurses will be out to get you in a minute," the man nodded.
The area he was talking about was a row of chairs that were leaning up against the wall towards the end of the hallway. Five kids seemed to be occupying them already. Two looked like civilian first-generation prospects. You could tell by their very normal clothing that lacked bright colors, lots of pockets, and anything that could be interpreted as vaguely ridiculous (like a monstrously long shuriken scarf or a bright green skin-tight tank, for example).
The other three kids, meanwhile, definitely were dressed to be future ninja, and what's more, they were all naggingly familiar. Against the right wall there was a little boy with white hair, the aforementioned green scarf, and a blue mask covering his mouth and nose. Then on the right there was a girl with startling red eyes and a boy in green with dark shiny hair.
The white haired boy, I knew immediately, and I'm not going to lie, I was pretty excited at the sight of him. That mask could only belong to the Kakashi Hatake. Master of the Sharingan. The Copycat ninja.
Of course, that was all ahead of him. Right now, he was just a sullen young boy who quite frankly did not look very happy. Not at all. He was sitting with his arms crossed moodily over his chest, and his little black eyes kept darting over towards the two civilian kids with a good bit of animosity. As much as I was tempted to go over and introduce myself, Kakashi didn't look like he was feeling very social at the moment.
I could feel my friendly greeting dying in my throat as I looked at him... Maybe he just needed some space at the moment.
As for the other two familiar strangers, I couldn't place them immediately.
Thankfully though, they seemed to look a little friendlier than Kakashi at the moment, and there was two empty seats beside them. So without further ado, I put 'meet Kakashi Hatake' further down on my to-do list and dragged Asuma to go join the other two.
"How long have you guys been waiting?" I asked them, as we settled in.
"Not too long," the girl smiled. "They've been calling someone back every ten minutes or so."
Almost on cue, one of the nurses came out and called Kakashi back. He seemed rather relieved to be leaving the hallway anyways. Distantly, I wondered what those kids had done to annoy Kakashi so badly.
"Well at that rate, we're going to have to wait a whole hour," Asuma groaned, interrupting my thoughts. "There's like five people ahead of us now."
"It's okay friend," the other boy grinned. "I'm sure that the waiting will go by in no time. This will be an hour to train our patience!"
"You're the kid whose always running in the park," Asuma appraised the enthusiastic boy for a second. Our new friend beamed at Asuma's recognition, shooting us a big thumbs up.
"That's me! I train every day, so that one day I will become a splendid ninja. My name is Might Guy! Remember it!" he announced.
Ah, that made a lot of sense actually. The way his hair was styled to flare out around his ears had thrown me off, but in retrospect, I probably should have pegged him the moment I saw the forest green tank top.
"My name is Natsuki Senju," I said, trying to be friendly. "And this is Asuma Sarutobi. It's nice to meet you."
"Nat, he's kind of weird," Asuma whispered in my ear. I sent a swift elbow into his ribcage. Be nice, I told him with my eyes. Asuma made a grumbling sound, and shifted to the girl on his other side.
"What's your name?" he asked the girl, purposefully turning his whole back to me.
"Kurenai Yuhi," she smiled. If I could've done a spit take, I probably would've. "And I don't think we'll be here for a full hour Asuma-kun. They've got several exam rooms. We'll be called in no time."
"Well, um, you want to play a game while we wait?" Asuma asked.
"Sure," Kurenai shrugged. The two of them proceeded to start playing a simple word game that Asuma had picked up from Isamu at some point in the past few months. I suppressed a smirk watching the two of them. Asuma was the sort of kid who made really impulsive first impressions. He'd probably already made up his mind in the past fifteen minutes that he was going to be great friends with Kurenai, but of course, he didn't know the half of it.
So, while we waited, I decided to let Asuma and Kurenai chat and turned to make small talk with Guy. This of course was kind of an experience, as I don't think that Guy was used to talking with other kids his age. He completely dominated our conversation, bubbling on and on about training and work outs and the academy. I didn't mind so much, of course. He was a cute kid and was clearly already very passionate about ninja training.
"Tonight, if I don't pass the entrance exam, I am going to do five hundred push ups," Guy was going on. "Then in the morning they will know how strong I am, and will have to take me."
"Sure," I mumbled my vague agreement. The more Guy talked, the more certain I was that he knew he was going to fail this exam. He was making a lot of subtle excuses and talking about all the things he was going to do to make them accept him. It was starting to make me kind of nervous actually. I really didn't want to have to do five hundred push ups to prove my ninja potential to the administration.
Thankfully, Kurenai had been correct. The wait wasn't half as bad as Asuma had been anticipating it to be. Within the first fifteen minutes both of the civilian kids were gone. Then by twenty minutes of sitting, they called Guy back. Another five, and then Kurenai left as well. Asuma started bobbing impatiently the minute his new friend was gone, but at that point the worst was over. They called him five minutes later, leaving me out in the hall alone with a few other random kids who had shown up after us.
"Natsuki Senju?" a woman stepped into the hall a few moments later. She had purple hair, and was wearing typical cream colored nursing attire. Absently, I wondered if she was one of Tsunade's and Biwako's co-workers. All of the staff helping with the entrance academy must be.
"That's me," I raised my hand.
"Follow me please," she said. I nodded, pushing myself up to my feet. She took me around the corner into a surprisingly white examination room. I had basically walked right into a little mini hospital, with the white tile floor and the cream colored wall. There was a reclining patient chair in the center of the room and a long countertop by the window with all sorts of medical equipment spread out along it.
Immediately, I knew I hated it in there.
"If you could just take a seat," the woman said. I padded numbly towards the chair, pulling myself onto it with sweaty hands. I don't think I've been close to a hospital since I'd died. Well, I suppose I must've been born in one, but I couldn't see clearly back then. It was different. The last solid memories I had involving medicine were completely surrounded by pain, depression, and grief.
"Alright Natsuki-chan, are you ready to get this over with?" the nurse asked, as she pulled on a pair of gloves. "My name is Rika. I'll be examining you. Has someone explained to you everything we test for?"
"Blood test, eye sight, reflexes, and chakra network," I recited nervously. The air stunk of sanitizer, and it was setting me on edge. If I closed my eyes, I could almost see another nurse, from another world standing in front of me.
You're sick hun, real sick.
Just the thought of that day made my entire being want to shrink. That wasn't an option though. Squeezing my eyes shut for a moment, I tried to ground myself. This wasn't the time to be distracted- the entrance exam was important to me.
"Natsuki-chan, are you okay? Did you hear me?" Rika touched my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see her concerned face peering at mine.
"S-sorry. I'm just nervous," I told her.
"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. I'm good friends with your Biwako-san you know. She's told me a lot of good things about you," she said sagely. "Here, we can start with an easy test if you want? See that sign on the wall over there with the pictures? Lean back in your chair and tell me what they are. Start at the top."
I did as she instructed, stiffly sinking into the patient chair. The actual sight exam went just fine. The sign she was talking about hung on the back of the door, and had a pyramid of different animals on it. I went through and told her what each one was without any errors.
"Lion, cat, mouse, monkey," I finished with the bottom line.
She scratched something down on her notepad. "Very good. See, this isn't so bad at all. One test down, three to go," she cooed.
With a swallow, I nodded, and we moved on to do the reflex and chakra exams. Both were pretty simple. The reflex exam consisted of a few simple exercises with a ball, as well as some poking and prodding by the nurse. I dropped the ball a few times out of shear nerves, but I don't think they were looking for coordination. It was more of an experiment to make sure that all of my limbs were functioning right and that I reacted to the ball in a natural way.
For the chakra test, she had me lean back in the patient chair and lift my shirt so that my stomach was showing. Being in the patient chair made my nerves flare up again. Thankfully though, this procedure wasn't exactly something I was familiar with. While I was leaning back, her hands started to glow blue.
"Sorry if this is a little cold," she said as she pressed her palm to the center of my stomach. A strange chilled tickling sensation fluttered over my stomach, and I suppressed an involuntary shudder. "Oh, very good. You seem to have quite a lot of chakra for someone your age," she commented idly.
A corner of doubt in my mind was silenced by relief. That was the test that I was afraid of failing. If something had been wrong with me, it would've been in the chakra department.
Unfortunately, I didn't actually feel better knowing that I was probably out of the woods in terms of this exam. I still had the blood test left, and while I was almost certain that I was going to register negative for any of the number of things they tested, I adamantly didn't want a needle being stuck in my arm.
"You're doing great Natsuki-chan. Just one more to go," Rika said as she drifted over to the counter with all the medical equipment on it.
My entire body felt like it was breaking out into a cold sweat. I knew the procedure back at home for getting blood drawn. They'd done tests quite often after they'd found out I was sick. Every few weeks I'd have to give a little bit more so that they could see if my treatment was working. But of course, you know that it didn't. It was irrational to think that this blood test would come up with something strange in it. I remembered all too vividly what it felt like to be sick. I wasn't like that anymore. I had so much energy now. I could run, do strength exercises, and I'd always be back to 100 percent in just a few days.
That didn't change the fact that I did not want that needle in my arm.
"Do we have to do the blood test like this? Can't we, um, do some other sort of test? Like a urine test maybe? Or a spit test? Something without needles?" I asked, staring at her prepare a few tubes. It didn't look like they'd be taking much. Just a few ounces so they could inspect for specific problems.
"Sorry, this is the one we have to do," Rika said, sounding sympathetic. "I promise it won't take more than five minutes though, and you don't have to watch me while I do it. If you look away and it will just feel like a small pinch."
"No really, I don't like needles," I said, feeling a wave of panic crushing me. My limbs were shaking, and I suddenly felt like I couldn't breath. My heart was beating in my throat. On every thrum I swear I heard that retched nurse:
You're sick hun, real sick.
"Natsuki-chan?" Rika asked, sounding alarmed. She dropped the needle she was holding and appeared by my side instantaneously. Her fingers wrapped around mine, and with her free hand she started rubbing circles on my back. "Calm down sweetie. It's going to be okay. You're having a panic attack. Take deep breaths with me, okay? In. Out. In. Out."
In. Out. In. Out.
I focused on the sound of her voice, forcing myself to follow her rhythm and shutting everything else out. In. Out. In. Out. Everything was going to be okay. I wasn't sick anymore. This was just supposed to be a simple physical, and before I freaked out, I had been passing everything with flying colors.
In. Out. In. Out.
Slowly, my throat opened up again and my heart beat started to settle. The horrible choking feeling had passed, leaving me scared but in one piece. I'd never experienced anything like that before, not even the night that I'd overheard Hiruzen and Biwako talking about the impending war. I'd just been dealing with an information overload before, but this time, I literally felt like I was dying.
"Better?" Rika asked peering down at me. She looked pretty damn concerned, not that I blamed her. I bet I was the first kid to ever have a full blown panic attack during the Academy Entrance Exam. For most people, this wasn't that big a deal after all.
"Y-yes. I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I really don't like needles."
"Have you ever had to deal with them in the past? Did you ever fall down when you were little and have to go to the hospital? Or maybe did one of your family members say something to you about them?" Rika asked.
"Um, well no. I've just ah, read a story once where needles were bad," I replied. It was a pretty thin lie, and I knew it was going to fool nobody. But what was I going to tell her? Why yes Rika- ma'am. I actually had a terminal illness in my past life and now I associate needles and hospitals with death.
Yeah right, that'd go over like a lead brick.
"Right," Rika frowned at me. "Well, this is part of the requirements to get into the Academy. If you want we don't have to do this today, okay? You can go home and it will be completely fine, and you can come back another time when you're ready. But I can't let you go join the rest of the class without getting your blood work. We need to make sure that you don't have any bad things in your system, because if you do then ninja training could be dangerous for your health."
I swallowed and peered over at the blood test equipment. Going home sounded like a swell idea, honestly. Except that if I left today, everyone would know that I failed. I'm sure Biwako and Hiruzen were going to hear about the panic attack one way or another, but that didn't mean that Isamu and Asuma had to. Just thinking about Asuma's potential reaction to this mess made me cringe. He was like my partner in crime, the fric to my frac, my brother. I didn't want to let him down.
Hell, he was probably already waiting in the classroom for me to come join him.
Again, I looked at the blood testing equipment. It hadn't been so long since I'd been getting blood tests on the regular, and no matter how opposed to it I was, I had to do this today. For Asuma.
"No," I said. "I can do it now, please."
"Alright, well. Why don't you just lean back and close your eyes. If you want me to stop at any point. Just say so and I will. No questions asked," Rika nodded.
I did as she instructed, feeling my palms start to sweat again. My stomach was in knots, but I didn't allow myself to loose it this time around. As she flitted around the room preparing the testing equipment, I focused on my breathing.
In. Out. In. Out.
She wiped down my arm with some sort of sanitizing cloth, and my heart beat started to pick up again.
In. Out. In. Out.
There was a familiar pinch of the needle going in.
In. Out. In Out.
For what must've just been a minute or so, I could feel my pulse beating in my arm. The tube that she was using felt warm against my skin. Then, suddenly the pinching feeling was gone, and I could feel her pressing against the spot where the needle had been.
"Alright, you can open your eyes now," Rika said. She was handling a bright pink bandaid with her free hand, and a kind smile was stretched on her face. "You did wonderfully."
"Does that mean I passed?" I asked immediately. The anxiety over my test results had returned with a force as I peered at the little vial of my blood on the counter. What if they found out I was sick? What if I had some sort of anti-ninja disease? Or worse, what if I was dying again?
"Well, let's find out," Rika said cheerily. For the first time, I noticed there were several scrolls sitting on the counter, each decorated with a different pattern of strange characters. Rika took the small vial of blood she had extracted and started putting drops of it onto the center of each seal. Each of them started smoking the moment my body fluid came in contact with them, and after a few moments they rolled up with a quick swish.
Rika turned them over, looking at a new symbol that had appeared on the scrolls like a seal.
"Yup, looks like you're in the clear," she told me.
I felt a huge grin growing on my face as I leaped up out of the patient chair and launched myself at Rika's legs. "Thank you so much Rika-san! I'm sorry for being a bad patient," I beamed.
"That's perfectly fine, you did great," she smiled down at me. "Now let's get you off to class. Wouldn't want to miss your first few hours of lessons right?"
We left that wretched examination room behind, and headed off towards one of the classrooms. When I stepped through the door, I spotted Asuma immediately in one of the middle rows. Kurenai was sitting on his right, but the spot on his left he appeared to be saving for me. With another wide grin, I thanked Rika one last time before trotting over to join him.
"Took you long enough Nat-chan," Asuma said.
"Sorry," I shrugged, not really feeling sorry at all. "The blood work just took a long time I guess."
"Well whatever, we're ninja in training now," he told me, happily. "Just wait, we're gonna be even stronger than Dad."
"Maybe," I smirked. Asuma was being a little optimistic there, but his mood seemed to be in the right place. The entire room had an infectious sort of excitement to it, as all the little ninja-to-be filed in.
Sitting there, I couldn't help but feel, at least for a moment, that I'd finally started moving in a good direction.
Arc title and Chapter quote from song Diet Soda Society by The Maine
A/N New chapters up. It's a bit longer than the few before, but that's because I'm finally starting to get into some of the ninja stuff :D
Pika5490- you had a question about ages. This chapter takes place in early January. Nastuki is 4 years old with her birthday in March. Asuma is 5 years old with a birthday in October. Kakashi is 4 years old with a birthday in September. Kurenai, Guy, Rin, and Obito are all also 5 years old as well (so Asuma's age). That puts both Kakashi and Natsuki as a little bit younger than the rest of their class.
Kishimoto definitely made ages pretty difficult to keep track of haha. I figured it'd make sense to make Kakashi a little bit younger than everyone else so that his rapid climb up the Konoha power ladder doesn't all have to happen instantaneously. As I introduce some new characters now into the story I'll try to keep you updated on their ages as well. You'll see eventually that I've fudged a few ages for the sake of my story, although we're not quite there yet.
Alright thanks so much to everyone who left a review on the last chapter, and remember to leave another one :)
Until next time,
