The following morning, Kotori is the last to wake up, the adults having let her rest since these first few days will be dedicated to getting acclimated. There's no rush yet.
"Morning, Kotori!" Naruto chimes in from his spot.
"Did you sleep well?" Hinata brushes the girl's hair as she takes a seat.
The girl manages a nod and a yawn. "Slept a bit weird, but good."
"You're still unused to being in a foreign place. You'll grow accustomed." Samui offers her a portion of breakfast.
"I'm sorry, Kotori. We went ahead and dragged you along with us, but it'll be some time before we actually go home. We'll spend a lot of time in lands foreign even to us."
"That's fine! I get to see a whole bunch of places I've only read about! It's like a dream come true!" She turns to Hinata with a wide grin.
Naruto gives a sagely nod. "See, I told you there's nothing to worry about. And she'll have a head start over the other kids when she joins the Academy cause she'll have seen all this cool stuff already."
Samui has already eaten her breakfast and begins cleaning away the plates. "At noon, you'll need to stop by the Raikage's office so they can decide how to proceed with your future missions given your... new circumstances."
Once breakfast is finished, the group begins their morning ritual. A morning ritual that was mostly started to help Kotori get used to training.
The first part consists of Kotori practicing a breathing exercise that Hinata has showed her. Breathing here is really more difficult, heavier. Much easier to get tired and it feels like she's doing less here than back in Tsuji. She's sitting in the seiza style with her eyes closed, doing her best to focus.
Focusing proves a bit more of a challenge given that Naruto and Hinata are sparring nearby. The two are taking the time to practice their respective Frog Kata and Gentle Fist techniques. Naruto hasn't really used it as much as he could and having an expert taijutsu user is great practice, and Hinata is able to refine her own form against a fighting style that's surprisingly good at countering the Gentle Fist.
The next bit of training involves Kotori learning more basic taijutsu from Naruto and Hinata. They're not teaching her their own forms as they're more advanced but they're not needed for now. She still has much of the basics left to learn.
After that, Kotori trains her chakra and summons as many feathers as she can. She was told to stop once she feels tired. She didn't get the full details, but apparently chakra exhaustion isn't fun.
At noon, the trio are in the Raikage's office for their scheduled meeting. A himself is busy elsewhere, but C is present to speak to them. They're sitting at a side table, rather than the main desk.
Hinata brings up a question that's been on their mind. "This may be sudden, but with Kotori being with us, would it be possible for our missions to be arranged so that only one of us is away from the village, while the other one remains within or close to it?"
"Yeah, we figure she should have someone nearby so she's not left alone in a new place."
C scratches his head. "Well, we were originally planning on having you on one team to better acclimate to the change, and then have you doing separate missions. But now… I suppose we'll have to move things further along."
Hinata offers C a polite bow. "I apologize for the inconvenience. I realize our request makes things more difficult for you."
"No, no, it's quite alright. I enjoy having to change my carefully laid out plans in the last second. The stress really builds character." C's sarcasm is clear to… not everyone.
Naruto breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh, man, that's good to hear. I was worried you were gonna be upset."
C simply glares at him. "As for you." He turns to Kotori. "Are you going to be fine on your own while they're on missions?"
"Umm I think so? I can still train on my own or sightsee." Kotori swings her legs on the chair.
"Then how about this. Instead of being off on your own or wondering what to do, and since the entire purpose of this little endeavour is to keep the good relations, why not join our Academy as a temporary transfer?"
Kotori's face lights up. "Can I?"
Hinata doesn't look as excited. "Are you certain that's fine? She'd be joining late and she's behind on shinobi her age. Training starts early, even earlier for kids of large clans. Would that be alright?"
"C'mon, she'll be fine!" Naruto chimes in. "She's gotta learn one way or another, right? This'll be perfect for her."
"I worry how the other kids will react to her." She looks down to the girl who still seems eager.
"I'll be fine, I promise. I'm gonna become a ninja no matter what and I'm not gonna let anyone stop me! That just means I'll have to try even harder!" Kotori is reminded of what Naruto told her when they first met- about how people put him down and how he refused to give up. If she's going to be their daughter, she can't do any less.
"See, she's already set on not giving up. She's our student, all right!" Naruto laughs.
Kotori's face stiffens at the word 'student' but she brushes it off and looks back at C. This does not go unnoticed by Hinata.
"It would be the more general classes, of course, but she'll be able to learn something and speed up her progress."
"Okay, if you're sure. How do we go about signing her up?"
C makes his way to the desk to take an application. He also uses this opportunity to inform Naruto and Hinata on available tasks that might require their help and their skills would prove invaluable. Missions that would benefit from Hinata's ability to search over vast distances with her Byakugan or place where more manpower is needed with Naruto's Multi Shadow Clones.
"These are the details, along with your teams for the assignments. You're set to head out in 3 days' time, which is when Kotori can begin classes."
The three of them excuse themselves and exit the office.
The three days come and go pretty fast. They continue teaching Kotori and help her get accustomed to her new life. Samui also takes time out of her days to show them around and they even spend some time with Karui and Omoi, and Bee. The latter is only met if Bee has adult supervision. Raikage's orders.
One the assigned day, Naruto and Hinata take her to the Academy and introduce themselves to the teacher who takes over and leads her to class. The two head for their respective missions; Hinata's taking her away from the Hidden Cloud and wouldn't be back for a couple days, while Naruto will be nearby.
Stood in front of the class, Kotori didn't expect to be this nervous. She has loads of experience being around kids, both older and younger, but these guys? They're ninja. They can probably already do all these amazing things that she can't even imagine and here she is barely a week into training. That puts a whole different level of pressure. Sure, she told Hinata she'd be fine but that was like 60% bravado. Maybe 70%.
"Alright, students, for the next 2 months you'll have a new classmate, an exchange from the Land of Fire. Please do your best to get along."
Kotori gives a rather stiff bow. "I'm Kotori Uzumaki. It's nice to meet you all."
She's shown to her seat at the end of a large desk. They're wide enough to fit 4 kids and the space just next to her is empty.
Her neighbour is a boy with light brown skin and short silver dreaded hair. "I'm Hayai. Groovy to meet you."
"You,... too?"
The nearby kids greet her, while some of the others are very visible and audibly murmuring about her, while others… don't seem to care one way or another. She kind of expected all these reactions. The teacher quickly puts an end to all the talking and gossiping and begins his class about the nature of chakra, things Naruto and Hinata had told her some of the things but not everything.
Everything is nice and quiet and is much more like an ordinary class than she expected. The teacher explains, the kids write and occasionally answer questions. Once the class ends, however, the quiet ends.
Most of the class swarm her desk and begin asking questions.
"Where are you from?"
"What can you do?"
"Are you really Uzumaki?"
"Are you with the hero Naruto?"
She's quickly overwhelmed until the considerate soul, Hayai, sitting next to her interrupts the crowd. "Let her talk a little... Geez…"
They eagerly await her answers.
"I'm uhh from Tsuji Town in the Land of Fire, and yeah... I'm here with Naruto Uzumaki. He adopted me back home and now we're travelling."
"Wow, so lucky!"
"Is he adopting any more?"
"So, wait, you're his daughter?"
"Uhh yeah, kinda. But I guess I'm more of a student than a daughter." She gives a nervous laugh and tries not to dampen the mood. What Naruto said made things clear. To begin with, Naruto and Hinata are actually younger than Takeo and he's a big brother-figure, not a parent figure. There's no way they'd see her as an actual daughter when they're so young.
"So what jutsu can you use?"
She hesitates for a bit but decides showing something, however meager, would be better than keeping quiet. Otherwise they might question why she's even here. So she forms her trusty Bird seal and summons two feathers which hover around her. She's learned to control them a bit but it's still a work in progress.
She's met with the oohs and aahs of those around.
From the corner of her eye she can see some of her new classmates grow annoyed at the ruckus and leave the room. It was expected she wouldn't be entirely welcome but she hopes to gain their favour during her stay.
At this point she sees and feels a presence sit in the empty seat next to her. She turns to see a girl who was sitting in the back corner of the room but for some reason came to sit here. She has dark skin and wavy black hair that reaches just past her cheeks and hides eyes.
She's a rather large girl, easily over a head taller than the second tallest in the class, which means she towers over Kotori and has some muscle even at her young age. It kind of reminds her of how Naruto and the Raikage look standing next to each other. The tall girl picks up the feather and wordlessly hands it to Kotori, her face expressionless.
Kotori takes the feather back. "Ah, thanks. But they kinda disappear after a bit so it's alright."
The other kids begin pulling Kotori away. "You don't have to talk to her, Kotori. Come on, let's go outside."
Kotori looks confused and kind of goes with the flow. The tall girl doesn't really give much of a reaction one way or another.
"Why are we going out? Wasn't that kinda rude?" Kotori looks back to the room, concerned.
"That's just Takai. She's weird so don't worry about her." The unnamed character dismisses the named character.
The break goes somewhat well, she's shown the outside by her classmates. Some are sparring, others are playing more normal games, others are playing those same games but using ninjutsu. It's pretty hectic. The kids here seem nice so far, although her mind keeps wandering back to thinking about what the ordeal with that Takai girl was.
When they return back to the classroom, Takai is still sitting at Kotori's desk and has even moved her own books. Kotori excuses herself and sits on her seat again, now between Hayai and Takai. Did she want to become friends? She hasn't actually said anything, just vaguely looked at Kotori and acknowledged her presence and desire to sit down, but that's it.
The remainder of the day goes on a bit more awkwardly but overall fine and interesting. Ninja Academy is more similar to normal school than Kotori originally thought it'd be. She thought there'd be more flames being thrown or people flying or something. But it's a lot of studying and some practical things which she didn't take part in being new to it all.
At the end of the first day of school, everyone is in a rush to get home. They go to the entrance, find their families, say their goodbyes, and head their separate ways. Just as she's about to make her way on her own, she sees some of them gathered in a small crowd with Naruto in the middle of it. When he sees Kotori, he excuses himself and goes to her.
"How was it?"
She rushes over to hug him. "It was great! I met a lot of cool kids and learned a lot of things."
Naruto laughs. "Good to hear. I never did pay a lot of attention when I was in the Academy."
The two begin walking to Samui's home and talking about the day when Kotori spots someone leaving the Academy after the rest. Takai is heading out but no one's here to meet her. Kotori looks back to her for a few moments and sees a bird land next to the taller girl.
It's a large, predatory bird. Sharp beak, pointed talons, thick black plumage with whte around the neck and tip of the wings and no feathers on the head, oddly enough. Kotori had never seen a condor before so doesn't recognize the bird.
Her initial reaction was to call out for her new classmate to watch out, but the bird seemed familiar with the girl. In fact, she immediately takes out something from her bag and gives it to the condor to eat. She pets it on its bald head and for the first time all day, Kotori sees her smile. The girl begins walking down the street and the raptor follows after her, waddling awkwardly.
Naruto sees where Kotori's attention is focused. "Classmate?"
Kotori nods. "Yeah. But she didn't really say anything and keeps to herself. The others don't seem to like her."
"Did she do something bad?"
"I don't think so… No one said anything and she didn't do much today."
"Hmm. And what do you think?"
"I don't think anyone should be excluded, but if she doesn't want to talk…" Kotori had seen cases like hers at the orphanage. Kids who'd come in and not talk for various reasons- some due to trauma, some due to fear, some because they didn't like their new arrangement. Miss Shiina and the others always knew what to do or say and they always told the other kids not to bring attention to it and let them open up on their own time. She really shouldn't press a stranger.
"Y'know, Hinata was like that, too."
"What? She was?" Hinata has been nothing short of graceful and beautiful. She can't picture her being nervous at all.
"Yeah. Shy, reserved, kept to herself. She'd been through a lot so she didn't really open up to anyone. Looking back on it, I know I could've done something for her. I was just too dumb a kid to figure her out and actually be her friend." He looks down a bit embarrassed and gives a nervous laugh. "But you don't have to do anything you don't want to, alright?"
"I know. But I still wanna try to be her friend."
"That's the spirit." He ruffles her hair and they continue walking.
"But didn't you say you were gonna be home later?" It now dawns on her that Naruto's supposed to be on a mission.
"Ah, actually, I still am but I sent a Shadow Clone over to take you home."
"So you're not really Da-..." She stops her sentence. "You're not real?"
"I mean, kinda. But when my Shadow Clones go away, the real me remembers everything they said and did. We're the same person, there's just a lot of us."
"Huh. Does it get confusing, having weird memories?"
"Nah, not really. Besides, these memories are worth it." He gives her a huge grin.
A big reason he sent over a Clone is because he remembered how he felt all those years of being the only one to not have anyone waiting for him when the day finished and he didn't want Kotori to ever feel like that. He had to step up his game as it's no longer just about him. Shikamaru warned him of the day he'd be the one teaching and not the one being taught. Those days just came earlier than either expected.