Chapter 21: A Second First Day

"True friendship is like sound health. The value of it is seldom known until it be lost."

-Charles Caleb Colton


/Garasujo Apartments

/The Village Hidden in the Leaves

/Fire Country

Naruto Uzumaki

For an interminable time Naruto sat staring at a crack in the white paint of his wall. Sleep hadn't come after he dissolved his consciousness and returned to the empty apartment with the knowledge that Kaguya and him were on a convergent path. That was more than nothing.

The darkness of that horrible body, the yellow-eyed beast that tormented him while he slept and now it had a name.

Zetsu.

Barely any time at all had passed, yet it felt like an age as he sat in the dark.

As always, he felt that he was two steps forward one back. Escaping the Gutter, arriving to Konoha, joining the Academy, leaving the Academy, pursuing the Yin Seal, achieving the Yin Seal, getting healed, now joining the Academy again, but now he had one more impossible layer: revenge against what could quite possibly be the strongest shinobi the world had ever known, if Kaguya was right about the capabilities her Will could impart.

What did she really mean by merged?

What, then, were the goals and motivations of this- Zetsu? What about Madara? Was it all Zetsu? Or did they have the same aims?

More importantly- was this something he should be telling someone?

They always joked in those Youth Safety videos in Iron that you should, 'definitely, absolutely tell an adult when you are in trouble!'

So far- almost all the trouble he'd been in was because of adults.

The more Naruto thought about it, the more he believed that telling anyone in power was a death sentence for himself. Kaguya, if she was really all that she had said, was the greatest treasure trove of information about the shinobi arts, or the Aspirant Path as she called it, since the Sage of Six Paths. What would Mikoto do if she knew he had access to a being so far beyond all of them that she was literally creating a world in his stomach right now?

That is, if she was doing what he suspected, based on her Scripting.

How could he defend himself if the Hokage, of all people, wanted Kaguya as Orochimaru did? Naruto was starting to get the sense that all shinobi, regardless of village affiliation, were out for power- even if they told themselves differently.

A polite fiction. One from which even he wasn't immune.

The village system itself hinged on competition. Just look at the bijuu and how they shifted things. Not exactly a shining example of moral uprightness, the bickering and squabbling over those weapons of mass destruction.

Why Orochimaru, one of the most studied and intelligent of the small number of S-ranked shinobi in the world, wanted that sarcophagus was now all too plain. Naruto could even understand why Madara attacked, if that was his goal. Naruto hadn't possessed Kaguya at that point, yet.

So, again, why the emphasis on the Tailed Beasts? Yes, they were strong sources of chakra that lent crazy power to the possessor, but was that really all there was to this conundrum?

Would Kaguya know anything about it?

No. Best to keep her in the dark about all of this until Naruto worked out her angle and Madara's both.

Naruto didn't trust her, or trusted her very little as it was, and he didn't have a full handle on the geopolitical situation or where the Tailed Beasts fit in yet.

He'd need more information.

Always more information.

Naruto understood his father a little more now; his journals constantly cross-referenced other sources, what he called 'primary sources' for things he hadn't seen himself. Minato used information and tactical assessment like other's used kunai or summoning techniques and Naruto strongly suspected that his father was a genius on another level entirely.

His notes laid these issues out in more complicated terms; he understood the problem with rampant power in the world and the centralization of it. Unrestrained and concentrated, without a moral framework to guide it, made their civilization one built on the misery and sorrow of the masses.

Minato was a once-in-a-millenium genius.

Naruto was not.

But that didn't mean Naruto was stupid- or that he didn't understand the usefulness of more data. So, that meant his next step was blazing his way through the Academy faster than anyone could imagine. If he could've cheated, he would have.

Naruto looked at his watch.

The inky darkness outside his bedroom window was cut by a flickering shard of light emanating from a street lamp. Ninja were extremely active at this time. A fluorescent floating green image on a background of black read, '3:30 AM,' on his clock.

Today is the first day of class. My first step.

I think it's Tradecraft and Conditioning with that Mitarashi lady and that Mizuki guy.

He wasn't one hundred percent sure- so he'd have to check his agenda.

Naruto rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with the back of his palms and padded over to his desk. Three neat notebooks, darkly bound, and one messy and loud one were open displaying notations that would baffle anyone that wasn't an Uzumaki.

He'd been working on some battle-field applications of actual Scripting and Fuinjutsu and thought he might be onto something… interesting. After the confrontation with Kaguya and the secrets she'd casually uttered, he'd needed hard work to take his mind off it. The Aegis script, if it worked, would be a game-changer.

Versatility was what he needed and this was that in spades.

Then again, he couldn't get it to work. Forging material chakra into structures seemed impossible.

Infinitely more complex than both of his other Marks and Seals, the Aegis relied on Forged chakra- that is, solid chakra, similar to his Tool Creation. Add in space-time elements and a transferal mechanism and you had a perfect delivery system for anything he wanted. Techniques, items, force… it was going to be glorious. If anybody had been around to see his smile, he was sure they'd think him insane.

But it didn't work.

Yet.

Eventually he'd make it work.

Given the time spearing through the darkness of his bedroom with green light, Naruto only spent two hours sleeping; the rest, furiously thinking.

Who had time for sleep?

Then again, maybe it was a clear sign of an inauspicious start to what was supposed to be his triumphant return and subsequent annihilation of the Academy classes in record-breaking time.

Blowing his hair out of his face, Naruto frowned down at his class schedule. Noting the start time, he realized he only had an hour or so before class started.

Swearing, he fairly teleported out of his clothes, wrapping a towel around himself, and proceeding to shower. Focused as he was, he'd completed his whole morning routine in less than twenty minutes.

Still wet, he contemplated one of the simpler choices he'd make today, no doubt: tie back the hair or let it all hang out?

Professionalism dictated he get his shit together and he needed all the help he could get with the teachers who would decide his future.

Snagging an unopened pack of hair-ties that Shizune had purchased when she realized he didn't know you could bind your hair out of your eyes, Naruto chose one and, with the unease of someone wholly unfamiliar with putting his hair up, wrapped his thick gold hair up in a messy monstrosity of aa bun, little wisps sticking out at odd angles.

Securing his sealing scroll, fat with notes, behind the small of his back, a little contraption that attached like a belt, Naruto pulled his white and green hoodie, the only remnant he had of his father, on and zipped it up over his plain black mesh shirt.

Kneeling, he secured the straps of his sandals to the bandages he'd wrapped around his ankles to anchor his thigh holsters filled with odds-and-ends. After that, he pulled down his black pant leg, making sure it lay flat. His compulsiveness made him double-check the medical kit Shizune had given him with full supplies in it. All of it was there, the same way he'd packed it last night.

That done, he slipped out.

Avoiding the trick floorboard in the middle of the living room was trivially easy by leaping straight over the last eight, giving yourself plenty of clearance to land on the 'Welcome' mat. Which is what he did.

Key in the door, Naruto eased it open, and out into the night.

#


/Konohagakure Shinobi Military Academy

/The Village Hidden in the Leaves

/Fire Country

Naruto Uzumaki

On break, as he panted and his muscles pulsed, feeling like wrung-out noodles, Naruto tried not to feel the strange emotions welling up in his gut as he stared at the class laughing and being… comradely. Choji, fully healed now, offered a bag of chips to the Kuroshiba twins, Yuna and Aiko.

The rest of his class, all ten of them, mingled on their break from conditioning, in a loose circle near the water fountains at the end of the gymnasium. The whole scenario was surreal, like a time-warp where nothing was different except him.

Or everything was different.

Hard to tell, honestly.

All of them looked how a team training together for the last several months should look; at ease, bantering and ribbing each other as the samurai did when Mifune wasn't watching. A casual comfort with each other in close proximity.

Naruto knew he was staring and attempted to wipe the wistfulness of his face. Someone was next to him. If he concentrated, Naruto could reach out and touch it, giving him some sense of the position of the candle flame-like presence in his head. He was sure that was the chakra-sensing that Kaguya had mentioned. Useful.

Very useful.

Based on the headcount of people, it could only be Sakura. He wasn't sure what to expect from her; one moment, they'd connected as friends, the next second she was plunging a metaphorical (though might as well have been physical) knife in his back.

Was that her fault though?

Wasn't that the shinobi system? Hadn't the handbook they'd been given on arrival to the Academy outright stated that in one of their many rules?

Shinobi are tools of their village.

When a commander told you to strike- you struck. No hesitation. No mercy. That was what Naruto had espoused to Kazan- that was what he'd done in prison to those guards. That was what he'd done in the Gutter. That was the darkness that haunted the edges of his mind.

That was the opposite of what his father had done as Hokage? Hadn't it?

That was the opposite of what Kazan had done too- he'd stopped Naruto from killing those guards and he'd died for it.

Tsunade refused to teach him because of exactly that attitude. Naruto knew at least some part of what she'd complained about had been true. He was pursuing the medical arts to heal himself. On top of that, there had been no real thought to become an iryounin like Tsunade or Shizune.

The life of a healer didn't suit him. Not in the least bit. Or did it?

But what did that say about him if he couldn't heal- just destroy?

Kazan believed he could be better as did Shizune.

Maybe it was time he tried. To heal some things, more than destroy. As much as he could anyway, in a world like theirs.

Naruto shifted in his seat and eyed her out of the corner of his eye. Drenched in sweat, similar to how Naruto was, she had pulled her hair into a perfect circle perched on the back of her head. He spared a moment to admire the skill that took. Uzumaki couldn't help but notice she eyed him just as surreptitiously.

"Sorry-"

"Listen, I'm-"

They laughed awkwardly. Why was this so damn hard?

What the hell should he say?

She opened her mouth and he closed his.

"Naruto, I'm… sorry about that first class."

He breathed out explosively, realizing he'd been holding his breath, holding up a hand.

"Stop. Nope. Don't apologize," he shook his head laughing, "you have nothing to be sorry for. That guy was a jerk, made us fight, we fought. End of story. I'd have done the same thing."

In fact, he did do the same thing.

He'd be a hypocrite if he got mad at her for that.

"Let's just… agree to never do that again. Unless we're sparring, yeah?"

She nodded, a quick bob of pink hair. She grinned, seeming to relax.

Naruto waved a hand and she hopped up onto the bench next to him at his invitation. Sakura stared at the same thing he was; the rest of the group finishing up their break. Laughing, having fun. Even Satsuki, who he noticed was looking at them, was smiling.

Naruto, wildly unsure of what he was doing, gave her a little wave.

Satsuki noticeably brightened, waved back.

That didn't slip past Sakura.

"Friends with the Uchiha, huh?"

"I don't think I've been entirely fair to a lot of people. She's definitely one of them."

Naruto felt her shrug as she spoke.

"Fairness is overrated in my opinion. Life isn't fair."

Spoken like the true daughter of an ANBU operative.

That was his view, but, well, he was trying to be better.

"I might not be able to control the fairness of the world, but I can control myself. I've already mastered being an asshole."

She snorted. The corner of his mouth perked up.

"...comes naturally, you might say, so I'm trying something new."

An elbow dug into his ribs.

Sakura nodded her head to Shikamaru and Choji.

"Sunshine and rainbows is all nice and shiny, but Shika definitely won't be swayed by your charming self. I'd say he's out for blood, if I thought that was a strong enough sentiment to describe how much he fucking hates you for almost killing Choji. I swear it's a toss up between you and that Hyuuga prick for, 'most hated student in the Academy."

Sakura grinned, slapping him on the shoulder.

"Good going!"

Naruto winced, having honestly forgotten about the Choji-thing.

She continued.

"Last I heard, Choji spent two weeks in the hospital wing. Good luck with that."

"Well… some things take time, right?"

"Yeah, time. Like never. He would one hundred percent unplug you from life-support to charge his phone."

Naruto half-coughed, half-laughed, wincing at the image.

That was probably a fair assessment.

Professor Mitarashi started roaring at the other end of the gymnasium and Naruto's bones and muscles started to throb as he thought about the Atlas Stones. His was half the size of the others since he hadn't had time to adjust properly.

Sakura vaulted off the bench and started towards the other end.

His conversation with Kaguya blasted through his head as he thought about the absolute agony that was lifting those stupid stones over and over and over again.

The feeling of his muscles peeling over the scaffolding of his skeletal structure was a small price to pay to continue inching his way towards true strength, wasn't it?

Naruto jumped, twisting in mid-air to land in a crouch next to Sakura and, together, they walked into another bout of physical abuse. Sakura turned to him just before they got within earshot of the rest of the group.

"I have to ask, what the hell is with the fancy diamond tattoo? Finally coming out of the closet?"

Naruto spluttered.

"What? I'm not- I'm not gay!"

Sakura just looked speculative.

"There's nothing wrong with liking men, though. And really, you're way too pretty to be straight. I just thought, with the hair and stuff you had to be at least metrosexual. How long is your morning routine anyway to get hair that straight?"

Naruto gaped at her.

"I know there's nothing wrong with being gay- wait, what? SAKURA!"

Her laughter, bright and high, rang out.

#


Doing his best not to walk like a newborn fawn, Naruto dragged himself to breakfast and then to Tradecraft; a sisyphean task after beating the shit out of his body in Conditioning.

His medical training had kicked in like a completely unwanted back-up track to tell him that DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness, was a completely normal thing to have when returning to extreme physical regimens after time spent away.

Shizune had kept his real exertions to a minimum during his sprint to mastery of the Yin Seal, as a result, he was not remotely prepared.

That didn't make this any easier and he grumbled and bitched, making his way with Sakura at his side, to Physical Combatives with none other than the man himself.

Tori Nakata.

Naruto tensed as his class was already working in pairs sparring with long knives. Sakura gave his arm a squeeze as she sprinted off to her partner. Nakata, the man who had beaten him within an inch of his life, gave him an unreadable once-over.

"So."

Naruto stayed quiet. He would not let this man get a rise out of him. He would not.

The man's face softened and broke into a… was that a smile?

Naruto couldn't help it, he gaped.

"I'm glad you're back. Hated to let you go- but Headmaster's orders. Yomi's ballsack kid, but you can fight."

Nakata slapped him on the shoulder, squeezing. Naruto reeled.

"I'm sorry- I really am. But the Hokage and the Headmaster gave me instructions to push you. I wanted to tell you now because we need to work together if you're going to get up to speed in time for graduation and I don't want you thinking I don't have your best interests at heart."

He felt his brain short-circuiting and tried to keep up.

"You… wanted me to stay? They engineered the whole thing?"

Nakata leaned against the stone wall surrounding the earthen arena that was his classroom. Naruto sat against the wall with his hands clasped to his head, smoothing back his hair.

"Listen. I know this is a lot, and I'll be getting some flak from Saito on this, but that whole charade was just a load of shit. Why even let you in if you're going to be kicked out anyway? Never made sense to me- but that's why the Hokage is, well, her."

Why indeed?

Was she just pushing him and pulling him for no reason?

Or was there some purpose he couldn't see behind the maneuvering?

Or was he just being naive again and believing that Nakata was suddenly his friend?

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto stood up and looked at his professor.

"Why the hell are you acting all buddy-buddy when this could cost you your job?"

"Fair question."

Nakata put his hands on his hips, thinking. He turned slightly, gesturing with one hand out to the field of students fighting hand-to-hand, knives flipping and skittering. Slash, counter, slash, reversals, stabs. He took it all in quickly. Naruto, no stranger to bladed weapons, could tell they were all fairly skilled. Efficient. No wasted movement from seamless offense to flawless defense.

He could do better. Naruto wanted to show them all, was straining his self-control not to join them, truth be told.

Nakata's voice pulled him back.

"I spent the better part of six months with these kids, undoing the damage that stunt the Headmaster required of me did to the trust these kids have in their teacher."

Tori eyed him sideways.

"I don't have six months with you. I have no time at all. You all shouldn't even be taking the Field Exam for another three years. How do you think that makes me feel as a teacher?"

Naruto thought about that. He nodded slowly. If Nakata did give a shit, he'd probably thought the fastest way to get someone to trust him was to reveal something big and damaging to his reputation.

An exchange of value.

"I want, more than anything, to make sure you kids survive. The world is not kind, it's not fair, and it certainly doesn't give two fucks whether you're prepared. I need you to trust I have your best interests at heart when I tell you to dive into the fires in training. Training has to, must be, worse than anything you've ever faced or will face in real life. Otherwise I've failed you. Do you understand?"

Reluctantly, Naruto felt himself giving the man- a stark contrast to before- a measure of his trust. Not a lot. Not even the same as he gave Mitarashi and Mizuki. But enough that he didn't feel like this was some plot of the Headmaster's or the Hokages. Even though it very well could be.

Naruto felt paranoia seeping into his veins. Gah.

"I've been through a lot worse than you could ever throw at me Professor, no offense."

Naruto hadn't realized he'd spoken, but Nakata appraised him soberly.

He said simply, "I know."

Those words rocked him and he saw his world blur a little bit. Kindness was still a surprise.

Nakata gave him space and spoke just as quietly.

"I was given the full run-down by the Headmaster and the Hokage. They specifically ordered me to target your worst experiences and forced the parallel between what I was doing and the Gutter. They- and I- need to know you won't ever freeze. Your teammates are counting on you and that was one thing I did agree with. You needed to be tested."

Logically, he could understand.

But he hated it with a burning passion.

"The question now," Nakata said, "is whether you can trust me enough to give me everything you have now, as we move forward."

He looked at Naruto significantly, eyebrows raised and with an intense gaze as if searching for something. Evidently he found it.

Naruto nodded.

Nakata acted as if everything was settled as he roared across the field.

"Satsuki- get over here!"

The black-haired girl sprinted over and settled in next to Naruto, looking around curiously.

"Yes Professor."

Professor Nakata gestured at Naruto.

"Get him up to speed. I know you've been working in a three-way with the Akimichi and the Nara, but for the foreseeable future, I'm pairing you with Uzumaki. Got it?"

She nodded. Satsuki jerked her head and Nakata acted like they'd been dismissed, moving to observe the twins. Satsuki was leading him to a rack lined with blunted training knives with blades that stretched from the top of his wrist to the tip of his middle finger.

"Where were you this whole time?"

"Oh you know…around."

"Around? You weren't in class."

"No, I wasn't."

"So, where were you?"

"You aren't going to drop it, are you?"

"No."

"Fine."

Naruto waited. She looked at him expectantly.

He sighed.

"There was something wrong with my chakra system, so I had to leave to learn how to fix it."

"And did you?"

"Yes."

"That's good. So now you're back and trying to catch up, huh?"

Naruto gave her a blank look. "Obviously."

She smiled sunnily. Naruto had a suspicion it was intentionally annoying. It was working. So nosey.

"I don't like to assume. You could've been working at a ramen shop trying to work your way through civilian school, who knows?"

Naruto gave an irritated sigh, speeding up to the rack and picking up one of the blades. He tested the edge and, satisfied with its level of bluntness, turned back to face the Uchiha...

...and slid sideways, eyes widening, as the edge of her knife skimmed his nose. The Uchiha had no chill.

He had no time to think.

Raising a hand, blurring with a brief burst of chakra, the knife reversed in his grip, and he drove off the overhand strike with a well-timed slash, but almost missed the fist coming at him from below. Together, they tangled steel and fists, half a dozen strikes exchanged in an instant, their fists meeting with as much force as their blades.

Naruto managed to slip a punch in, knuckles grazing her cheek.

But Satsuki met him with an underhand blow aiming for his kidney.

Naruto's right hand slapped the brutal shot off-center, his other was occupied with attempting to cut the vein in her arm, but that hand had been in the middle of deflecting a strong downward angled cut.

As he reversed the force he was using to block, he instead drove upward. Then, seeing that she was already reacting to hsi gambit, he pulled a switcheroo, driving back downwards and shifting his hips, punching out with his right elbow that was now free.

His opponent read him like a book.

Spinning the knife in his hand, the one close to his chest now, he had to abort his movements entirely. Naruto dodged backwards as Satsuki slithered away from his elbow strike and twisted around him from behind in a diving move, angling to drive her blade up at his back from a newly-crouched position on the floor.

The knife in his left hand, held straight now, deflected the girl's blade in a circular motion, casting her aim wide as he drove his clenched fist in a jab that didn't connect.

Satsuki had anticipated him, spinning with the momentum of his deflection and then suddenly her elbow was speeding towards his nose. Bringing his arm up and cocking it into a triangle that connected his arm to his head, he let the elbow bruise his shoulder instead of the side of his head.

He was inside her guard.

But he'd forgotten her blade. Again.

They were close now, tangling together, and he could feel her hot breath on his face, see the faint sheen of sweat on her forehead. He grinned at her, canines standing out.

Somehow, they exchanged four or five quick attacks and deflections as they stayed close. Naruto, seeking to break the stalemate, seized her shoulder with his free hand and drove his knee into her midsection.

Which she blocked with a quick twist of her hips, retaliating with a driving knife towards his eyeball.

Naruto slid away from that as he paid her back, reversing his grip yet again on his knife, flipping it between them and sending it like a lance into her neck.

That was yet again blocked by her shifting momentum into a backroll that gave them both space. Together they half-crouched, half-stood, circling each other. Naruto spun his knife back around in his hand and stutter-stepped towards her, then unfolded into a serpent's lunge directly center-mass.

Satsuki smiled and, for one unguarded moment, she looked happy and free as opposed to hunched and wary.

Between one moment and the next, where that weird idle thought gone, he found himself flying, having been launched with a spinning head hook to a drop-throw. Not to be outdone, he unfolded, slashing the side of her neck with the blunt edge as he pivoted in mid-air to land in a smooth motion, unhurt.

She grunted, clapping a hand to the stinging pain.

But the next moment she was launching a lightning-quick knee into his head. If he hadn't blocked with crossed-arms, it might have taken his head off, empowered as it was by chakra. Naruto grunted and slid back, falling awkwardly to a crouch as a whistle blew, bringing him back to reality.

Both of them were dripping with sweat, but it was Naruto that was huffing in an embarrassingly agonized way. Naruto quieted his breathing down, taking deliberately slow breaths, counting.

They stared at each other.

Damn. Satsuki was good. Not as good as him, but good.

Applause rang out from several of the classmates and their Professor who was looking mighty pleased. With himself, Naruto imagined. Shikamaru, Shino, and Ino stared stonily at the tableau.

Even Choji was clapping excitedly.

Clearly he didn't hold grudges.

Naruto tried not to redden under the scrutiny. It felt… good.

"Put your weapons away and towel off! We got some theory to go over regarding high-guard, low-guard, and stepping off our center-lines! Go!"

Naruto almost groaned as his sore muscles caught up to him.

There was more of this?

A slim, callused pale hand entered his vision. It was Satsuki. Naruto didn't even hesitate, grabbing it and letting her pull him up. There was a thin purple line on her neck where he'd hit her. Most definitely, that would leave a bruise. Good.

"Nice. I didn't know you were so good with knives," Satsuki said, grinning.

Naruto groaned as he stood, muscles screaming. "Anything sharp and pointy is my specialty."

He brushed his pants off, making sure none of his medical supplies shifted, knowing they hadn't. It gave his hands something to do.

Naruto eyed the youngest of the Uchiha.

"What about you?"

"My mom uses blades all the time- between her and Itachi, who I might add, could kill a whole squad of Jonin with a butter knife…"

She shrugged. Naruto gave her a wary look, swallowing. Holy shit.

"Isn't he… like, blind though?"

Naruto sensed some bitterness as she responded; whether that was in her tone or a twist in her smile, he wasn't sure.

"Itachi has never let anything as insignificant as losing his eyes stop him from being perfect at absolutely everything. The wanker."

"Um, fair enough."

He opened his mouth to say something else, something comforting, and unsure of why he would give a shit, but Nakata called them over, a circle around him of the rest of the students, crouched and ready to listen. Naruto let the subject drop and resolved to focus on making it through the rest of the day.

Healing jutsu was going to come in very handy tonight.

#


When they finally left Training Ground 48, where Nakata held his class, his brain was stuffed to the brim with genjutsu diagrams of wire-figures stepping left and right against imaginary opponents holding knives. They swam and danced in his head and it was only 11:15 in the morning. Exhaustion tugged at him and it was a struggle to avoid holding on to his chakra. He knew he needed to build his stamina back up… but chakra was like a drug.

Especially now that he knew what it felt like to go without.

Field Fuinjutsu was up next and if he was being honest, Naruto was most looking forward to this class because he'd been stuck on his Aegis project. Maybe a fresh perspective, or a return to basics, would help him.

That, and he was expecting to ace the shit out of this class.

The whole day was a wake-up call in the form of his classmates. They had clearly gotten stronger, faster, more skilled; while he's been hunched over a table reading medical textbooks.

They'd been through Nakata and Mitarashi' grueling training regimen, not to mention the rest of the classes, and it showed. Naruto knew he'd gotten paler, lost strength and speed despite eating better, and while his control skyrocketed, his spars with Shizune grew to be too sporadic and infrequent to match his classmates' progression due to his Mark growing too unstable.

Naruto struggled with the rocks, struggled not to use his chakra every second of every day. It was a beautiful feeling and made his movements feel like he was a puppet-master controlling his body perfectly as opposed to a child stuck in an adult's body.

Which is what he felt like now.

Naruto resolved that today, though it was only his first of many, he'd work harder and longer than everyone else to make up the difference. Starting with Field Fuinjutsu.

Shizune mentioned the place that housed Field Fuinjutsu a few times, just in passing. The Research and Development building, an enormous boxy warehouse set back on the Academy campus, almost tucked away from the rest of things, housed Barrier Classrooms. Those spaces were designed to contain explosions, experiments, new poisons, or things too volatile to leave to chance. The Barrier Squad, responsible mainly for the upkeep and manpower dedicated to the wall and proximity Seals and Scripts, also completed and powered these classrooms.

Field Fuinjutsu's classroom looked like nothing Naruto had ever seen.

Resembling a prison hallway, more than anything, there were twenty pods in total; ten on either side, with island workstations positioned throughout, presumably to write reports on reactions. Cabinets and storage lined the far wall from floor to ceiling.

Naruto itched to explore.

But the real magic was the dense forest of scripting covering every inch of the pods. Lines of script jumped out at him, telling him what he was looking at could withstand almost anything and be perfectly fine.

Protection. Loop. Protection.

Siphon. Drain. Siphon.

Redirection. Weaken. Redirection.

Strengthen. Feed. Strengthen.

The Seals pulled away damaging force, redirecting it downwards, away from Naruto's sight. He imagined it fed into another Seal, led by scripts, that stored it for… some purpose he couldn't figure out without going down to the source.

Immediately, his mind went wild with possibilities. Could I write this on my skin to provide resistance to damage? To feed it back to me?

But no, that would choke off his ability to channel chakra outside his body through tenketsu. Might be worth it though…

That gave him an idea for his Aegis Project though. Food for thought.

Professor Hideo Nakamura, someone Naruto hadn't met yet, waited at the back of the classroom with his back turned, hunched over something. The last Uzumaki took his time walking in order to get a better look at his teacher. Powerfully-built, he looked nothing like the image he'd had in his head of some crazy fuinjutsu master; a weird scientist with goggles and blackened skin raving about scripts.

Instead, his back could pass for the wall around Konohagakure, muscles straining underneath taijutsu robes that looked extremely comfortable. No wild hair stuck up from his head as there was nothing there. Just a bright, shiny, bald pate.

"Uh, Professor? I'm the new student, Naruto Uzumaki."

One brown orb, in the deep set caverns of the man's eye socket, attempted to bore a hole through his face.

"Uzumaki, huh? What a load of horseshit, no matter what Saito says. Fine. Fine."

The man turned back and Naruto didn't quite know what to make of what just happened.

So he bowed, fist pressed to his palm in a respectful greeting. Just because the man couldn't see it didn't mean he could skip it. Besides, Naruto was attempting to turn over a new leaf.

"Go take a seat. I'll be with you in a minute."

The man hadn't looked up from what he was doing, continuing to tinker.

Resigned to waiting, Naruto quickly found a seat next to Sakura and Hayato, the latter which gave him some noticeable side-eye.

Before he could ask what his problem was, or what the deal was with this strange teacher, or really anything; the bear of a man turned, dropping what he was working with unceremoniously as he glared around at the class.

"Honestly?"

Utter quiet met his odd question.

"Yeah, figures."

More silence. The man seemed to be looking for a reaction. But clearly nobody knew what he was seemingly bothered about.

"What," the man barked, "is the Convergent Principle related to when talking about Scripting and Fuinjutsu in practical application?"

Silence.

"Easy. The Convergent Principle is super important. Where function of x equates to which seal/unseal node that must be powered by focusing scripts and chakra. Basically the off or on tells us whether something activates. The principle tells us which functions need to be powered and in what order to achieve the purpose of the script."

More silence. But this time, Professor Nakamura looked- not impressed exactly- but more satisfied with Naruto's quick answer. Master Ouran had covered these basics when he was six. How anyone would have trouble with this basic concept he couldn't imagine.

Could someone be both annoyed and pleased simultaneously?

That was his Professor.

"Acceptable."

From there, the questions only became more difficult, often veering off into territory that Naruto personally hadn't covered, but knew the basics of. It seemed to never be enough as the Professor drilled down, dissecting his answers, extracting specific things that he was looking for, but never explicitly stated.

With each answer, Naruto grew more confident- elaborating on topics that were near and dear to his heart. But, as he did, his heart plummeted as he finally heard what he was saying.

"Armor enhancement is achieved with fuin-ink and a skin-to-metal interface created by a vast array of receptor seal/unseal nodes with looping scripts-"

Those were secrets he shouldn't be telling anyone. He'd sworn to Master Ouran he wouldn't. Though he hadn't taken the Journeyman tests or the Oath, he was potentially the last Armorer that knew Iron's secrets.

His mouth snapped shut. Naruto tried covering it with a smile.

Unluckily for him, the whole class had been silent for over a half an hour, watching their back-and-forth like a sporting match.

Hideo Nakamura was a shrewder man than he'd ever given him credit for being, slipping him into a comfortable banter that escalated, spilling things that he had no business telling anyone.

The huge man was silent for a second. There was no possible way the man could mistake his knowledge for anything innocent.

"Boy, I've been a retired Captain of the Barrier Squad for longer than you've been alive and there are about four people in the world that I know of that have attained my level of expertise in the beautiful art of Fuinjutsu and Scripting and every one of them is older than dirt. So let me ask you- why in the holy hell are you taking my class?"

Naruto felt the eyes on him, every one, as if they'd suddenly noticed him.

So this is what instant regret feels like.

The answers flew out of his mouth in an instant and the whole exchange felt academic and freeing in a way that he hadn't experienced in a long time. Not since his days tinkering in Master Ouran's shop where they would spend hours debating this method or that principle.

Home. That's what it felt like. A piece of normality in a crazy world. A link to his past that he wouldn't have given up for anything. Thankfully, he had not given any real specifics away with his last statement, just theory. So, that meant he wasn't totally betraying his people, was he?

But Nakamura wanted an answer.

"I love Fuinjutsu and scripting, sir. I'm working on my own stuff and figured maybe this class could help push those projects over the top if I received help from an expert."

"Uzumaki, huh? Boy am I a fool."

That seemed a statement muttered to himself and not intended for the rest of the class, but everyone heard him. Nakamura shook himself like a dog. Then looked consideringly at Naruto, clearly ignoring the rest of the students. A few disgruntled blocks came his way.

More and more Naruto realized this might backfire on him socially. He spoke weakly, a bit more defensively than he'd intended.

"What? It's uh, it's a hobby!"

Nobody believed him. Sakura was grinning at him. Shikamaru stared at him with a speculative air. Until he caught him, then the Nara looked away. Satsuki suspiciously had something of a knowing grin. Which was strange. And the rest of them, especially Ino, stared as if some eight-headed monstrosity clawed its way up from the ground to sit amongst them.

"Well. This changes things and in a good way."

He seemed to come to some decision, nodding.

"Right. First off, I'm excusing you from class. Congratulations, you get top marks. Don't know what the Headmaster was thinking, making you take Field Fuinjutsu at your level. Stupid. Should already be in the goddamn Barrier Squad."

To their credit, there were only a few strangled sounds out of the class.

"Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to be coming to you for help with my projects in exchange for your grade- and I'll help you with yours. Fair?"

Naruto nodded, hope rising in his chest like a phoenix.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

#


/Konohagakure Shinobi Military Academy

/The Village Hidden in the Leaves

/Fire Country

Satsuki Uchiha

Satsuki Uchiha has a secret.

She had many secrets, most involved her family and their history, but this was more interesting to her because it didn't involve her in the slightest. No, that prize went to the contradiction, conundrum, riddle, if you will, of Naruto Uzumaki.

The boy was the love-child of one of the greatest Hokage's Konohagakure had ever had- and nobody knew it!

Well, except for her. And her mother. And some other people high-up in the government. In that sense, quite a few people knew. But no one in her class knew and that was something.

What the youngest Uchiha was currently chewing on was the idea that Minato Namikaze was considered the pinnacle of shinobi genius- innovating on Tobirama's Flying Thunder God technique to such an extent that it became something else, something awe-inspiring, crafting the Rasengan, his signature technique that no one managed to replicate, the man killed a bijuu- and not just any bijuu, but the greatest of them.

Yes, he lost his life doing it… but that was still impressive.

Minato Namikaze was widely regarded as the fastest ninja alive.

Yet Naruto Uzumaki seemed to be a different beast altogether.

Satsuki tried finding every reason possible to test him, to push him to show his true colors. When he'd dropped out, that had devastated her. It felt like an affront to one of her idols, the Fourth Hokage. The Yellow Flash's son, dropping out of the KSMA?

The man held the record here in every single category, passing with a score rivaled only by her brother Itachi's score. Even Itachi lost to Minato. Itachi! So- she thought, what better person to measure herself against than the son of the Yellow Flash?

Except her chance had come- and in a blaze of glory- gone, just as quickly.

Until today.

Naruto had arrived to Professor Mitarashi's class looking haggard and thin, but somehow- someway- struggled and made it. At first, she'd been overjoyed. That joy turned to concern when she noticed him. Really noticed him. Bags under his eyes that were almost black, he'd been skinnier than she was when she'd started the school year. His hair, once vibrant yellow-gold like the fields of wheat outside the city, had gone lifeless and it even had an almost white streak in it. The white of fallen snow.

That was impossible though, right? Nobody as young as they were got white hairs!

The purple diamond shape puzzled her most of all as it looked painful; like a gemstone embedded in his forehead. The juxtaposition was jarring when she viewed him from a clinical angle; feeling as though a skeleton was somehow laughing and talking and seemingly full of energy.

That part was very different from when she'd first met him.

He'd been… closed off, cold, and distant. Snappish, prone to anger, Naruto had an edge of barely-restrained violence to him that wasn't hard to sense.

That was almost gone. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like her intuition regarding his chakra issues had been bang on target. Her golden opportunity to verify that came during the class she was most worried about: Physical Combatives, with Professor Nakata. The very place where he'd been kicked out last time.

To be invited to spar with the person she'd longed to measure herself against had been heaven-sent.

Minato, by all counts (according to the Biography she'd read on him), had been calm, level-headed, and measured in both military and political dealings.

His son was anything but.

Yet today, during their sparring match, she'd seen him; or what she thought he'd been like as a kid. Like a surgeon performing a dissection, she'd watched him carefully peeling apart her defenses with his eyes the color of the summer sky. Not ice any longer, but full of life, they'd seen through her gambits, again and again with a calmness and thoroughness that surprised her.

She'd matched his speed, exceeded it at points, but the fight had been closer than Satsuki wanted it to be; expected, really.

Then just when she thought she had the upper-hand- he'd turn a line in her throat that would've opened her up had they been fighting for real.

That both pleased and frustrated her.

She'd been right to pick him as a measuring tool- but some part of her had gone so long unchallenged in a fight, those spars hadn't interested her as she'd trounced all of her classmates by at least three matches to one, that Satsuki felt like it was almost a foregone conclusion that she'd prevail.

When she didn't, it was surprising.

Now, as she worked on her scripting in Field Fuinjutsu while watching the interaction between Professor Nakamura and Naruto Uzumaki, another puzzle emerged.

Like everyone else, she didn't believe for a second that he was apparently a master-level Scriptor and Fuinjutsu expert as a fucking hobby. So that meant he'd trained under someone, or had yet another secret on top of the doozy she already knew about. Her mother's task resonated in her mind and it didn't feel as onerous as it had previously.

Satsuki determined that, come hell or high water, she'd figure out Naruto Uzumaki if it killed and buried her. Maybe, if she was lucky, they'd even be on the same squad. His pariah status amongst the others made this situation, and her intelligence-gathering efforts, difficult.

How to fix that?

If anyone had been watching, they would've seen a manic smile slowly form on her face.

A plan took shape in her head that would solve two problems at once.

#


/Konohagakure Shinobi Military Academy

/The Village Hidden in the Leaves

/Fire Country

Naruto Uzumaki

He spent the remainder of his time in class, and a good portion of his lunch period, working with Professor Nakamura to perfect his Aegis formula. As it turned out Professor Nakamura, who insisted Naruto address him as Hideo while they worked outside of class hours, already had a name for the technique he was attempting to script into his formula.

Hideo held up two fingers.

"When a Barrier Squad is deployed, usually one of two things are the reason: first, enemy denial. We anchor a physical barrier that prevents enemies from entering or exiting an area."

One finger went down.

"The second is entry. We demolish barriers or do fuin-hacking or script-breaking on an enemy position. What is relevant here is that fuinjutsu and scripting use Forging to create physical barriers. Which is what you are trying to do with this Aegis technique."

At Naruto's blank look, Hideo seemed pleased.

"Forging is a technique where layered chakra creates a crystalline structure that is, for all intents and purposes, real. This is shape manipulation for static chakra. Barriers don't require a ton of Forging- they require us to set the shape, but the Fuin-script to power and keep it going. A thin barrier is usually all that is required, the strength of the shield irrelevant to the thickness of the barrier."

Then Naruto had it, the idea crystalizing in his head.

The Tool Creation Technique was chakra-intensive- far more so than Naruto had ever realized until his pool of available energy had almost been cut in half by the Yin Seal, but the technique required very little skill because you were brute-force Forging. The skill that Hideo was talking about blended the ultimate form of the Tool Creation, the pinnacle of Forging- with Script. He could create floating shields, seal and unseal things on the fly, project force through the medium of the physical Aegis.

His mind was going wild with the possibilities.

Actually doing the technique proved… difficult.

The reason Barrier Squads operated as, well, squads was the sheer chakra requirements were off the chart. Naruto could operate his Tool Creation Technique for around five minutes, tops, as of right now- and that was equivalent to one minute of holding a barrier. Spread out, the power requirements were manageable. Most of the members of the Barrier team were monsters in the chakra department, but it was really the control aspect that made moving barriers impossible.

Without a script to create the barrier, you didn't have a barrier. Which is why they required the anchor points made of arrays of fuin and script together. Each team member would power a different anchor.

What Naruto was proposing simplified the process.

And massively complicated it.

Using Tool Creation, he'd funnel chakra into a crystalized version of the fuin-script, the anchor points in the Barrier example all pressed into one space, which would create whatever effect he needed.

No paper.

No anchor.

Just chakra taking a hard-edged, realized version of the Script. Explosion on command. A weapon dropping into his hand with no delay. Projecting force out of his scripts. The only limit would be his knowledge of the right script/fuin combination to produce the effect he wanted.

This opened so many doors.

"Your next class starts in about a half hour, Uzumaki. Better get going."

Naruto started, realizing the time. Fruitlessly, he realized that this wasn't something that was going to come quickly or easily.

Sourly, Naruto imagined his life would always be an example of, 'doing things the hard way.' Why did everyone else seem to have it so much easier?

"I know I can get this- I just need more practice."

"What you're doing seems… impossible. To be frank, kid, I'm amazed you even figured out how to Forge so quickly. You've been getting those silver sparks of yours- and even the hint of a line which the way I figure, means you're doing a sight better than anyone else."

Hideo was thoughtful for a moment.

"Naruto. Do not, under any circumstances, tell people what you're working on. Do you hear me? If asked, I'm going to deny knowing anything about this. Operational secrecy is important for any technique you're creating. This," Hideo fingers his chin, nodding. "This definitely qualifies for going in the Forbidden Scroll. Though, to be fair, I'm certain only you could get full use out of it. But that's irrelevant when it comes to military secrets."

Naruto thought about it and realized he couldn't exactly argue. The man was keeping his secret. Hideo, it seemed, really did believe there was something worth pursuing here.

If only he could get it to work the way he wanted…

Naruto waved, finishing packing his backpack, and headed out to Chakra Theory and Practice.

#


Naruto was utterly lost.

Not physically, thankfully, but mentally.

Professor Kurama, who didn't look much older than eighteen, hadn't spared him a second of introduction, guidance, or much of anything that could be considered, even if you looked at it sideways and squinted, like instruction. Instead, she'd dropped a book on his desk that resembled a boulder.

Emblazoned across the top was, 'Ishigaki Hotsunami's Chakra Theory and Practice: A Primer.' Naruto was told, in an off-hand tone while she was passing him, that he needed to read the introduction and Chapter 1, after that work through the visual guide to hand-seals and attempt to perform a clone technique; and not a particularly advanced one. More genjutsu than real.

Not something Naruto thought fit his toolkit.

Up to this point, Naruto hadn't revealed that his skin had been irrevocably marked by ink, but people certainly had noticed his Yin Seal. The soft white glow emanating from the Control Seal, the dark sigils looking burnt into his skin, now drew sharp gazes from almost everyone in the room as he tapped into them to make his Bunshin, the Doppelganger Technique, as accurate as possible with as little chakra as needed.

But he wasn't practiced- at all- at using hand seals and it took him far longer than he ever thought he'd need to get through Ram, then Tiger, then Snake, his hands contorting in ways that almost gave his fingers cramps.

Instantly, there were two copies sliding out of his body to stand next to his seat.

Nobody was paying him a lick of attention. What the hell was he supposed to do after succeeding with an E-rank jutsu? Obviously he was going to succeed quickly. He wasn't an idiot. Naruto tuned into what Professor Kurama was saying regarding something he wasn't familiar with.

"...elemental recombination is an advanced skill and not a topic I would normally pursue until at least your third year. However, given the accelerated timeline of curriculum that the Hokage and the Headmaster have agreed upon, we will be discussing the theory today. Lucky you."

She looked around, meeting gazes, holding them to impress upon the class that she wasn't optimistic. Quite a change from, kami help him from saying this, Nakata or even Nakamura. Let alone Professor Mitarashi.

"If," and you could hear the stress on the word, "you engage with the topic and show a foundational understanding of my explanations, we will be attempting some practice in the Barrier rooms. Is this understood?"

A chorus of agreements met her words.

"Turn to page 456, Chapter 26, Recombination Within the System."

Naruto watched, getting more annoyed with his teacher, as he looked around, people flipping through their enormous folios to the chapters the Professor indicated.

Screw it. I'm catching up.

Naruto heaved the book to page 456 and started at the characters and illustrations painting the page. One phrase jumped out at him and was bolded. Recombination, it read, is the active and controlled adjustment of type-ratios within a chakra system so as to produce a given elemental or non-elemental effect.

What in the holy fuck was a type-ratio?

"...a type-ratio, as we read in the definition, refers to what?"

Shikamaru, in a wild departure from what Naruto knew of him, had his hand up. So, too, did Satsuki, Ino, Shino, and Hayato. Sakura was clearly deeply into reading the book, instead of listening. Everyone else just kind of looked around curiously. Professor Kurama called on Shikamaru.

He spoke, words coming out even and sure.

"Type-ratio refers to what percentage of elemental or non-elemental chakra that is required to make the technique work. I.e. A fire technique requires one to recombine your pure chakra into fire chakra within your chakra system. However, it might require a higher percentage of Yin or Yang chakra- thus you'd need to adjust the type-ratio."

Professor Kurama, for the first time, let out a pleased smile.

"Yes exactly. Well said. Our type-ratio is unique- and can even vary with the same technique and different people. Kumo ninja are said to have a higher type-ratio of Yang chakra within their elemental lightning techniques. This gives them more of a presence, for lack of a better word, than others."

She held up a finger, striding like a general to the white erase board at the front of the room. Flourishing the marker like a sword, she stroked out some characters on the board as she spoke.

"Most ninja simply refer to elemental recombination as 'nature transformation,' but this is imprecise. When dealing with delicate topics like this- and especially when it comes to shape transformation, which we'll discuss in a later series, is why we must be clear with our nomenclature. This is also why the textbook refers to what you know as shape transformation as, 'shape manipulation in Chapter 35."

Finishing her inking, she recapped the marker.

"Any questions?"

Naruto put his head down and groaned.

#


An hour later, still stuck going through the beginning chapters, Naruto shut his book and groaned out loud, the sound echoing through the quiet classroom. This particular room, a twin to the one Professor Nakamura used, had the same open plan.

Professor Kurama, unlike Hideo, didn't seem to like him at all; let alone notice that she had a new student. Beyond a cursory glance, a few muttered instructions or two, and a dropped textbook Naruto was sure he didn't even exist on her radar.

Knowing his reputation for being a hot-head was well-earned, especially here, Naruto did his best to be respectful as he marched up to the front of the room, planted himself like a tree in front of her, and cleared his throat.

She cut him off.

"Work up to Chapter 10 on your own time. When you've caught up, I'll give you more. Regardless of our advancing timeline, you won't be ready to attempt the more advanced material until you've mastered chakra control exercises one through five."

Naruto opened his mouth, waiting for her last words to finish.

"The Recombination. I can't do it."

"You aren't supposed to be attempting that. Like I said, you must finish with the control exercises first before being allowed to utilize a Barrier room to try the recombination."

She didn't even look at him. Evidently, to her, the topic was closed.

"I can do all five control exercises."

At least this time, the youthful Professor gave him something other than total apathy: skepticism.

"You can Spread, Divide, Adhere, Push, and Diffuse? All to maximum levels? I doubt that very much."

Naruto felt his eye twitch at the corners. In an effort to give her the benefit of the doubt, he imagined it was fairly rare to have a student skip a hundred steps with a scripted seal- he wouldn't have believed it either.

The Yin Seal made other control exercises look like a cakewalk.

"I can show you if you don't believe me."

So that was how Naruto ended up in one of the control pods walking across the five by five wave generator pool in the center of the room, then adhering himself and walking up the side of the wall, diffusing his chakra across his feet to transverse difficult sand, launching himself using bursts of pushing control, and dividing his control by doing multiple control exercises at once.

Narutally, it was impossible to cheat at those things.

But Professor Kurama took a dim view on his Control Seals.

Very dim.

The words were; and he knew them by heart now, "The lengths kids these days will go to in order to, 'game the system,' were exorbitant and would get them killed, but did anyone listen to her? No!"

Naruto just nodded in agreement.

He was very lazy. Yes, he totally would get killed one day trying to do too much.

Absolutely.

He wouldn't hold her responsible for improperly following steps.

Anything to get to the part where he blasted fire from his fingertips.

Back at her desk, she handed him a small piece of paper. Naruto eyed it doubtfully.

"What is this?"

He honestly tried not to let out the annoyance that was no doubt on his face. Naruto had been told more than once his face was too expressive.

Based on the look she gave him, his annoyance was noted.

"This is Affinity Paper. We use this to identify a student's chakra affinity."

When Naruto looked puzzled, she elaborated. She was not pleased, judging by her tone.

"If you'd read the chapters I'd assigned, you would know that everyone has an affinity. Everyone. Your affinity is merely the elemental type you will have the easiest time recombining within your chakra system."

She pointed to a wheel drawn on the far right of the board behind her; a pentagon labeled with all five main elements.

"Think of it as the element with which you start your journey. A beginning, not the end of your path."

Naruto nodded, waving the paper.

"How does the paper thing work?"

"Just channel some chakra into it and the reaction of the paper will tell us which elemental affinity you'll be working with in class."

That was weird. He'd been sending chakra through his network as they spoke. He'd picked up the gist of what she meant when she told him it was to test affinities.

"I am channeling. Nothing is happening."

Professor Kurama's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.

"I was going to ask you if you knew how to channel, but you've already demonstrated that. No reaction is impossible."

Something tickled the back of his head; a germ of an idea of what could be causing the lack of reaction. His system had been almost entirely destroyed and half-way rebuilt by the simultaneous extraction of the bijuu and his body's immense natural regenerative capabilities. But he'd thoroughly changed his body's construction by adding his Lightning Mark.

"Uh, maybe I… uh, did it wrong? Can I try again?"

She proffered the paper. Naruto took it, holding it up between two fingers and, with a brief burst of focus, activated his Lightning Mark.

Instantly the paper crinkled. He expected it to be quick, but the piece of paper shrivelled in his hand, accordioning down to almost nothing in his fingers.

"That's… lightning affinity, right?"

"An...unexpectedly strong reaction, excellent. Odd that first reaction, however."

She nodded, long brown hair swaying.

"Well, I guess that settles that. I think it takes a bit for my chakra to get going."

The blank look he got for his admittedly shitty reason was deserved.

"Chakra doesn't work like that… but let's go with it."

For the first time, she looked thoughtfully at him. Her eyes weighed and measured him, a pool of calm amidst the chaos of class in full swing around them. Rummaging through her drawers, Naruto noticed that they were labeled by first initial and last name.

N. Uzumaki.

The Chakra Theory professor came back up with a sheaf of loose papers and handed them to him.

"Study these. There is a few E-rank jutsu and one major C-rank technique in here that will be the basis of your assessment for the end of the year. Everyone will have the most rudimentary understanding of their given affinity-based techniques before the Field Exam arrives or you all won't be taking it. So I expect you to take this very, very seriously. For you, as the only Lightning Release affinity in class, I've selected Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder, a short-range technique with five basic handseals, as your capstone. Questions?"

Naruto shook his head, thankful she came around and stopped being such a frigid bitch. He kept that thought firmly in his head.

"As I've mentioned to the other group, I have techniques for all five elements and select from there."

"...I'm not that curious, to be honest."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Suit yourself. Be ready with those- I mean it."

"I understand. I'll study these and memorize them."

"Out of curiosity, Uzumaki, how did your control get so good? It can't just be a seal."

Weighing whether or not he should say, Naruto shrugged.

"I've been studying iryou-jutsu non-stop for the last six months of my life. I had a very, very persuasive reason."

Professor Kurama nodded, her brown eyes softening.

"I'm not lowering my standards just because you're behind, you understand that? Fall behind and you will be left behind."

"I understand."

She paused.

"But control is the hardest thing to teach. I'll be watching you."

This time it was Naruto's turn to nod.

"Very well. Dismissed."

Naruto left. Happiness bubbling up inside him unbidden.

This was a moment he'd dreamed about as a kid. A shinobi, a real shinobi, wielding the elements to defeat his enemies. This was, admittedly, NOT how he imagined he'd arrive at that place, but he was here. For what that was worth.

Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder sounded so fucking badass he couldn't wait to try it on an unsuspecting tree.

#


Reading his Dad's journals had given him some interesting insights into Konohagakure's inner workings. Things like previous Teams, who's worked with who, that sort of thing.

That was why Naruto was currently eyeing Raido Namiashi, his Geopolitical History teacher and the unknown goofball who'd first brought him to Konoha, like a vulture circling a soon-to-be-dead carcass.

The man was one of his father's best friends; and part of his platoon of bodyguards.

So why not tell him?

Several reasons immediately sprung to mind: one being the Hokage. She was quite prone to bottlenecking information on a need-to-know basis. Why, in this case, he didn't know.

But the other was that Raido might have thought Naruto blamed him for letting his father die. His job, after all, had been to prevent exactly that scenario.

Naruto sat still, in his seat next to Sakura in the multi-leveled classroom built for a hundred. The class numbered somewhere around twelve, so most of them were spread out, quietly taking notes. He didn't even realize how much he was clicking his pen till Sakura, without looking at him, smacked his hand.

"...subsequently, understanding Hidden Rain's modern motives cannot be accomplished without talking about the Dawn Revolution and the deposition of Hanzo the Salamander."

Raido, a dark slash against the white walls of the room, eyed them all like an eagle. The man had a tendency to pace and stop every once in a while to emphasize a point.

" Akatsuki, this military cabal of extremists named themselves, have called for the unification of the continent under an Emperor, which as you recall, we have not had since the time of the Bright Lands, a topic we discussed earlier in the year."

Naruto had copies of those notes from Sakura, all done in her cramped, straight-up-and-down writing. The Uzumaki found this conversation intriguing because his father had referenced the 'Bright Lands' in his notes, as well as the concept of central unification. The blonde leaned forward, his ponytail brushing the back of his hoodie.

"Recall addendum 5, Chapter 16 talking about the Shattered Empire, the time before the Warring Clans Era. This is the old lore that Akatsuki cites in each of its conflicts. They drive towards the usurpation of the Big Five system."

Here, Raido paused.

"You might be asking, 'is there really even a genetic heir to the last Emperor alive? Well, perhaps. Supposedly, around 1130 PS, the line of the Emperor went across the sea and disappeared, never to be seen again, as the Continent descended into the chaos of the Warring Clans era. We have reliable reports that they believed, an immense distance away from us and over unstable oceans, lay another continent entirely- one where they could forge a utopia that didn't have the immense wealth inequality and violence that plagues us today and, indeed, was worse before the Unification Accords of 1413 PS speared by Hashirama Senju."

Naruto surreptitiously attempted to get Raido's attention.

A look of resignation flashed across his face and he gave a subtle nod.

"... start reading Chapter 17, The Fall of Hidden Sky, and answer the questions in the chapter summary."

The only response was a susurrus of turning pages and the scratching of pens and ink.

Naruto made his way down and cornered Raido.

"...what the fuck man? Why didn't you tell me you and Aoba were best friends with my dad?"

"That's Professor Namiashi, Uzumaki."

"Oh fuck off with that."
"Sheesh. Language."

"Don't mess with me. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was a badly kept secret in the village honestly. I thought you'd find out from some random stranger and so I wanted to tell you… but we had orders from old man Sarutobi before Lady Hokage… and it just became something we did without thinking."

"So, a big part of your past just.."

He snapped his fingers.

"Poof, vanished into the sands of time? Really?"

Raido's tone, scar crinkling on his face as he spoke, sharpened.

"You don't get to speak to me that way, got it? I loved Minato like a brother and I would've died for him. I didn't get that opportunity and that isn't my fault. I think about him every day and I was trying to be there for you, but you threw your shitty attitude in my face. Look to yourself before blaming others."

Naruto struggled, taken aback. There was truth to what he said.

But what about the fact he was just a kid and facing things no kid should ever deal with? Even for child killers, what happened to him was objectively fucked up.

Ultimately, something in him agreed with Raido. He couldn't control the circumstances of his life, the actions of those around him, or when death came for him, as it had many times; the only thing he could do was to control himself.

Maybe the man saw all that in his face because he softened, just slightly.

"We'll talk later. How does tomorrow sound, yeah? I'll bring everyone; all the members of the Hokage Guard Platoon-we'll talk. Get everything out in the open, okay? I know a great Ramen place. Ichiraku's, ever heard of it?"

Naruto shook his head, not trusting his voice or himself to speak just yet. After a moment, he opened his mouth and his voice rasped.

"I...I'd like that."

#

Dinner was a solitary affair.

The hall was packed, but Naruto felt more alone than ever. Luckily, Sakura kept him company. But watching their cohort laughing and talking so freely tugged at memories he'd left buried with Iron Country.

Shimizu, the person who'd taught him that almost all occasions benefited from a good blue streak of swearing. Her blue hair twisted up in complicated braids as she worked the forges. That's how they'd met, actually, working in conjunction on some projects for Master Ouran; which is also where they'd met Roran, his other best friend. Apprenticed to another of the Master Fuinsmiths, Taz Fushukumon, Roran had been the kind of person you could sit comfortably with for hours, or chat amicably about almost any topic. Conversation was never dull. The kid knew way too much about really outlandish nonsense.

Kazan… what happened to him wasn't Naruto's fault. He knew that in his head, but the heart was more difficult. For a long time he'd been angry with Kazan, or thought he was, but he was really just angry at himself the more he'd thought about it. Would having more friends make his life easier or harder?

Naruto couldn't have made it without Shizune. Or Kazan. Or Chiyo.

Sakura… well, Sakura was going to be a comrade. He was sure they'd save each other more times over the coming years than he'd be able to count. So, yes, more friends would make his life easier. This was more than that, though. He wanted people to share his burdens. Roran and Shimizu would've been right there with him, helping him fight the Conqueror.

Besides, given what Kaguya said… this fight was now bigger than them.

Bigger than Konohagakure. World-shaking.

He needed allies. Naruto needed to do better.

Finishing his dinner, some type of steak and potato combination, he headed off to Combat Mathematics.

#


Calculating parabolic arcs for trajectories of thrown weapons and long-distance kills was not Naruto's idea of a good time.

Sakura enjoyed it- and so, too, did Shikamaru, apparently and most bizarrely- Hayato. But almost no one else.

The textbook, 'Stratified and Codexed Combat Calculus' felt like half the size of his chair in size and weight and was almost entirely practice problems. The teacher, Professor Aoba Yamashiro-another name connected to his father's Bodyguard Platoon-winked at him and did his best to get him up to speed. For a math genius, which Aoba surely was, he was quite whimsical. Naruto was fairly certain the colorful, floral-print shirt under his flakjacket wasn't entirely standard issue.

Neither were those sunglasses.

Regardless, Naruto resigned himself to a difficult time catching up in this class. Though precisely identifying poison ratios for varying effects was something he was adept at doing.

The class clearly ranged from ballistic trajectories to logistics planning, to statistical analysis to data collection and poison concentrations and precision ratios of chakra mixtures for techniques, to everything in between. Naruto couldn't possibly see how it was useful (minus the chakra part given his recent foray into Forging), but his father's journals backed most of his theories with statistics in colorful charts. So the blonde made an effort to focus.

That sort of helped.

The headache that came after sucked.

He put his head down on his forearms, resting on his Control Seals stamped in thick black ink around his wrist.

"...uh, do y-you maybe need some help?"

Naruto raised his head and met the chalk-white orbs of Hayato Hyuuga. How unexpected. Glancing down, Naruto realized the Hyuuga was done with his work on chakra mixtures. Hazy memories of his time training with Shizune swam to the forefront and he realized that Hayato had worked with him a few times at the hospital when he'd been learning the ropes as a junior iryounin. The Uzumaki had called it slave labor, Shizune called it training. She'd told him to shut his mouth and do the work.

Hayato was skilled, as far as those things were measured and was also apparently very good at Combat Mathematics.

Other than that, Naruto knew exactly nothing about the Hyuuga or Hayato in particular other than there was some controversy over his position in the family. What that was, Naruto couldn't say.

"Yeah actually. That would be great."

Hayato gave him a questioning look towards his notebook where half-written equations were haphazardly strewn across the pages.

"By all means. Have at it."

Naruto slid the book over and waited, watching closely.

Now that he was paying attention, Naruto noticed that Hayato kept his dark, almost bruise-purple hair, which was about half as long as his own, in front of his face, covering his forehead, drooping into his eyes a bit.

Nothing inherently gave away that the Hyuuga was covering something, but that was the impression that Naruto got anyway. There was a shiftiness to the way that he looked around, as though through his bangs, angling his head down, and constantly smoothing them as though afraid they'd pop up.

Far be it for him to pry into others affairs. What did it matter anyway?

"So, these are us-used to mo-model complex sys-sytems, in this case our biological system. I.e. chakra systems. You need to use the variation of parameters to solve the differential… but only if the general solution to the homogenous version is known. Makes s-sense?"

Naruto stared blankly at Hayato, who seemed so sincere.

His forehead throbbed.

"Y-yeah, carry on." For a second, he'd sounded like Hayato. Yikes.

The two worked in silence for a bit as Naruto attempted to struggle with moving equations and establishing the bounded fields required by the formulas. He stopped a time or two to ask a clarifying question to Hayato who answered promptly.

As they winded down, the lateness of the hour showing outside the second-story window they were perched next to, Hayato spoke.

"S-so, I heard from Shikamaru that you would be moving back into the a-apartment. That true?"

Naruto paused, pen hovering over his notebook. Forehead wrinkling, he stared at the Hyuuga.

"What?"

"Yo-you aren't? He said they got an official visit by Professor Iruka, making sure the space was cle-cleared for y-you. I guess I just ass-assumed."

Shizune hadn't been at the apartment for awhile, opting to sleep in her office most nights to catch up on paperwork and catch her shifts, but he still thought of Garasujo as the closest thing he had to a home. Nakamura Hall, on the other hand, specifically 34N, felt like it could've been something special- but Naruto hadn't been in the right state of mind to see that. To see how rare an opportunity he'd been given to have ready-made friends and comrades.

Naruto squandered the opportunity and most likely wouldn't get it again.

But he did need allies. Could he give up the safety of Garasujo for a hostile living space in the off-chance they'd give him another shot?

Hayato wasn't too bad. Kiba was… Kiba.

So, not horrible- except if you were a girl, he was sure. Choji didn't seem like he held a grudge, but Shikamaru definitely did. And Naruto hadn't exactly left the best impression on Shino either.

Naruto made his decision in a flash. Shizune would understand.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. Um, I'm moving back in today actually."

"C-cool. Well, if you want, you don't have to, right? But if you wanted, I could help you study for this stuff? No pressure, I just thought- m-maybe…"

Naruto cut him off, half-smiling. The guy was so earnest and nice, the blonde wondered how he'd fair as a cold-blooded shinobi. The idea was so congruous that he grinned to himself. He felt himself softening.

"No, no, that would be great. In exchange, I could help you with Fuinjutsu, if you want? To be fair?"

Hayato visibly brightened

"I'd like that."

Naruto noticed his eyes were actually a pale shade of lavender, not the chalk white he'd first thought. Hayato was very different from Sakura, who didn't seem to give a shit about much and was brutally upfront and honest, but Naruto could see them being friends too.

Combat Mathematics came and went quickly after that.

Sakura joined them as they left, heading to Report Writing with Professor Umino which turned out to be the absolutely the most boring fucking class he'd ever been hated enough to be subjected to, yet also the one that had the strictest requirements to pass.

The three of them chatted as they worked. Apparently Sakura hadn't had much interaction with anyone besides Naruto and Hayato and her quickly became friendly, having the same sort of brain helped, Naruto supposed. Though Sakura was brutal and Hayato was… not.

When Hayato started talking about clan politics, the Uzumaki found himself listening closely as he described a world shrouded by the Caged Bird Seal.

A script… interesting.

Hayato and Sakura both became worth their weight in gold as they progressed through triplicate requisition forms and practicing submissions to the Quartermaster in the field.

Who knew that a Hidden Village's lifeblood was paperwork?

#


"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I think it's time. Plus, you know, how will it look with an older woman living with a young man for so long? Scandalous. Not good for career advancement."

Naruto attempted to avoid the punch to the back of his head, but he was way too slow.

"Ow! Fuckin' hell Shizune!"

"Don't joke about stuff like that. People believe those kinds of rumors!"

He could not have rolled his eyes harder. Naruto rubbed his head, finishing packing his meager belongings in a backpack. His stuff had grown since coming to live with Shizune, but that still didn't amount to much.

"Besides being pedophilia, nobody would ever be able to stand you long enough to trap you in a relationship."

Naruto snorted.

The Head of Konoha General stopped by to pick up dinner and he caught her by lucky chance. She leaned against his wall, black hair pulled back revealing a thoughtful expression.

"I can't say I'm not sad to see you go. This place needed life in it and you gave it that. I'm too in-and-out to put down roots."

Naruto paused.

He'd been going non-stop for the last year that Iron felt like a lifetime ago. At least that long since he'd had a room to call his own. Nice didn't adequately describe how much this place meant to him. He scratched the back of his head.

"Thanks again Shizune. Really. For everything. I don't know what I would have done had you not reached out. I was a different person not six months ago...and… well, I guess I blame you for how I am now."

Naruto's whiskers had faded and gone, so now he didn't look quite so mischievous when he grinned.

He found himself swallowed in a hug. Amazing how such a small woman could give such big hugs. The blonde gripped her back with surprising strength.

"I won't be a stranger, Naruto. I'll be around."

"I know."

And that was that.

#


Finding Nakamura Hall again took less time than when Raido stumbled them around blindly. Running the gauntlet of security checkpoints was way easier, navigating past the cafeteria, academic offices, classrooms, and then finally into the central structure of the Academy Dormitories felt new, despite his familiarity with it.

Perhaps he was more different than he'd credited.

Naruto hitched his backpack up on his shoulder, rounding the barren stairwell and exited the door into a hallway that, now that he was experienced, seemed not as nice as he remembered. Still plush, but filled with replaceable things.

The carpets were still the official KSMA colors; red and silver, as most of the things in Konohagakure seemed to be with leaves and leaf-shaped artwork everywhere, painted to contrast.

Lights spaced equidistantly along the walls in between the many doors casting a flickering shadow line. Numbered though they were, Naruto barely looked, heading straight to 34N.

Without hesitating for an instant, Naruto knocked heavily. The time was fairly late, but Naruto knew that the boys were definitely still up. As he stood in front of the door he could hear the laughter and conversation beyond the door. The bark of Aka...akamdudo? Akamaru? That was it. Clear as a bell.

Shino answered the door, eyes still covered by dark, circular sunglasses.

Naruto couldn't prove it if someone put a knife to his throat, but the boy seemed reluctant, but unsurprised by his presence. That tracked with what Hayato said.

Who could tell with an Aburame?

"Hey Shino."

Pause.

"Let him in Shino. We all got the notice."

Shikamaru.

As he let him in the door, Naruto pasted a smile on his face. One very unhappy face greeted him, turned on the couch, with two other neutral ones in various chairs and surfaces in the apartment. Clearly not a study session given the soft blue glow of a video game up on the TV. Hayato gave him a small, encouraging smile, which bolstered him, but Choji and Kiba were fairly neutral.

Naruto wasn't sure how to play this: aloof and uninterested?
Or eager to make friends?

Truth be told, he could feel his palms sweating. Battle didn't stress him out as much as his peers did.

"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry Choji for, uh, bashing your skull in. That was.."

Naruto coughed into his hand because Shikamaru looked even angrier.

"...uncalled for and unsportsmanlike? Um, not what a good comrade would do at any rate."

Hayato was wincing. Shino seemed ambivalent. Kiba struggled not to laugh.

"I'm trying to turn over a new leaf…"

Shikamaru seemed about to leap over the couch. Kiba snorted.

Even Choji cracked, just a little bit.

"Pun intended." Naruto sighed, dropping his stuff. "Look, can we just agree I was a Grade-A asshole and move on? I have to live here," not entirely true, "...so we might as well make the best of it, right?"

Shikamaru finally cut him off, leaping over the couch to stand in front of him. He was almost half a head taller. That was unexpected. A finger poked his chest bone with enough force to bruise.

"You think this is a fucking joke? That you can come in here and make a stupid fucking statement and it's all forgiven? You almost killed him. Choji is too stupid-," Choji made a noise in protest, but Shikamaru rolled over him, "to realize he shouldn't be so quick to let back in a traitor that could turn on us at any moment."

Hayato opened his mouth, holding a finger up.

The Nara, black ponytail swaying, didn't even look at him.

"No, Hayato. For a Hyuuga, you are surprisingly thick."

Naruto frowned at that. That was going a bit far.

"Hey- don't talk to Hayato like that."

The Hyuuga boy was frantically waving his hands. Naruto knew that meant leave it alone, but still. Shikamaru was annoying him, even if he probably felt justified.

The dark-features of the Nara drew together in a sneer that reminded him of Hayato's cousin more than anything.

"All of a sudden, one help session and Hayato is your best friend? Get fucking real. You're a snake. Like all snakes, you use people for your purposes then you fold like a house of cards when people lean on you. I should've known that from the first time we met and you bailed on us. That was my mistake. Fool me once though."

Naruto held up his hands.

"Fine. I get your beef with me, but how about confining the comments to me."

The Nara just glared, sniffing.

"Get your shit, put it in your room and then stay out of my way. We can coexist as long as you pretend I don't exist because I'm sure as shit doing the same. The second you get troublesome…"

There was a weight behind his glare. Naruto wasn't too moved by it.

"...I get troublesome. Got me?"

"Crystal."

Naruto was left in the center of the room, the boys turning back to their game, a heavy silence laying on the room. He got the hint. Hayato and even, surprisingly Shino, seemed regretful.

The Uzumaki headed into his room, still shared by Hayato and Shino, and didn't bother unpacking. Instead, he pulled out his work on the Aegis and tried to forget he'd asked for this.


A/N: Writing this was actually a thousand times easier than the last chapter. I wanted to cover a lot of ground with a look at each of his new teachers (minus report writing). This is just one day, but the next chapter has a time skip. I prefer to show, not tell, about Naruto's progress. Much more fun to read about his new tools in battle, am I right? I found it difficult to write the relationships amongst the boys of 5U... as I'm trying not to be too wordy (and we're already at 250,000 words). I could honestly write a chapter from everyone's perspectives, but I feel like that might bog us down... and people have already reviewed telling me that they are confused why, 'nothing has happened.' I try to ignore those voices, but sometimes it feels that way despite A LOT OF THINGS HAPPENING.

Regardless, I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you feel you have a handle on why something might be off, drop a review! I'm starting to realize that 'visibility' for a story has more to do with reviews than views. I have a huge amount of views... and comparatively small amount of reviewers. If you enjoyed it, hated it, want to support the story- best thing to do is review! Not for me ego, obviously, but just so the story reaches more people. Not a ton of great new stories and I'd like to think mine is one of them. Starving from a lack of fanfiction is bad for your health!

Anyway, enjoy the double-quick chapter posts and till next time.

-J.B. Macleod