The rest of my free time went away in a similar fashion as the rest of my days following the lessons with Ebisu, with my splitting my time exclusively between more physical fitness training, chakra exercises as well as spying on the villagers while using the Transformation technique to copy more archetypes.
I had worked somewhat on the cloning technique and made some progress as well, to the point where I had managed making one singular clone look absolutely perfect in any form I wanted, even being able to move him in any way I wanted in a 3 meter radius from me, though I had left distance and quantity training for a later date, as it was more time consuming than complex, a perfect task to leave to a clone who would be charged with mapping different chakra levels among different numbers of clones to make the most efficient chakra possible for the technique.
Honestly, I did not find the jutsu very useful, but I knew that if used properly, and sprinkling them among some of the real shadow clones, it would make it possible to hide make the intimidation factor due to the number of clones summoned double, while allowing me to save loads of chakra.
It was also as good a chaka control exercise as any, while it had the benefit that it did not make me want to vomit or risk injury, so there was no reason to behave as if I was above learning the basics properly.
Time really had a mind of its own, and was slipping through my fingers, and before I even realized it, my vacation had come to an end and I was making myself ready to join my peers for the first time since leaving the orphanage, my little excursion to curb Hinata's weakness notwithstanding.
Now was my time to start making a name for the future, I reminded myself even as I smiled darkly at my reflection and brushed my teeth, admiring my spiky blond hair and cerulean blue eyes.
No matter how often I saw the face, or the familiar features, I would always be thrown off at first, still unable to believe I was staring at myself, though the lack of whiskers made it somehow easier to disassociate between the person I was growing into and the real Uzumaki ball of energy.
I had skipped breakfast this morning, as I was much too nervous and nauseous to want to eat anything, but I was hopeful it would be fine, as logically, I knew the stakes really weren't as high as I had let them feel to me.
It didn't make it easier to pick an outfit or a haircut for my first day, though…
I had opted to go full Minato and wore a white jacket with blue shorts, along with my usual sandals, hoping to elicit a similar reaction from my classmates and teachers as the Fourth had done.
It was still not sinking in just yet that I finally could accomplish what had seemed like a pipe dream not so long ago.
I was going to school.
An act that had actually been an unfulfilled wish in my past life coming true and it was while almost shaking in nervousness and anticipation, that I made my way through the streets of the village, disguised as a Hatake boy, with silver hair and the clan stitching illusioned above my regular clothing, as I had practiced making look natural with the Transformation technique beforehand.
It might have seemed like a small thing, but I had agonized over the choice of disguise I wished to adopt while walking the streets.
Picking a clan child over a civilian was a no-brainer, as it would hopefully earn my alter ego some goodwill among the populace, especially seeing at how trivial it had become for me to impersonate anyone I wanted with my large database of behaviors, as well as a new use with keeping the jutsu running for long periods of time, regardless of my movement level as my control over the technique had improved.
From the famous clans of Konoha, I hadn't wanted to alter my proportions too much, or have to act lethargic and reserved, which had immediately disqualified the Akamichi and Nara from being options.
The Yamanaka blond hair was also much too close to my natural hair color for me to feel comfortable using it as a disguise for my alter ego.
Similarly, the Inuzuka and Nara had ways to distinguish members of their clans from the rest of the populace at a glance, or rather a sniff, whilst at the same time, I had no desire to learn what the Uchiha or the Hyuuga would do to someone they found impersonating a member of their respective clans.
In the end, I had hesitated a little between the Lee and Hatake clans, as they were the ones I was most familiar with, but had ultimately decided to go for Kakashi's as paying homage to him would be the perfect excuse to get me out of trouble if I were ever questioned about my motives.
Honestly, the lengths I was willing to take were probably unnecessary, but I would rather be slightly overly paranoid than have parents pointing me out to their children as the child to avoid before they even had a chance of meeting me for who I was.
I had already reached my destination before I knew it, making myself as small as possible as I rushed past the entrance of the academy, avoiding any chit chat, unwilling to risk a sensor detecting my Jinchuriki self.
I knew already that I was expected in class 106 for my first day, and therefore shyly rushed to enter the building and make my way where I was expected.
Luckily for my frayed nerves, I was no longer alone with my thoughts and I could see dozens of fellow children being accompanied by their parents or other relative for their very first day of schooling, some of them very reticent to enter the building, while others were crying in the corner that they did not want to go as their mothers cajoled them with promises of sweets as compensation for submitting to the ordeal.
It was a sobering thought to realize just how far ahead I was from them mentally and a depressing one to understand just how different from other children Itachi and Kakashi had both been at my age, as no matter how much confidence I tried projecting, my heart was beating at what felt like three hundred thousand beats a second and the feeling of trepidation I had felt all day was now making my palms sweaty.
Not wanting to be late, however, I had forced myself to move forward, sending a quick glance to the numbers written above each door as I passed them, searching for the correct classroom.
I wanted to be treated with respect, to be taken seriously, and the first step in achieving that would be by showing how committed I was to becoming a ninja of the Hidden Leaf, and that meant always being punctual, professional and proving myself to be both trustworthy and reliable.
When I finally found the correct room, with three minutes to spare, I took a second to myself, centering my emotions and regulzing my breathing before dismissing my disguise and entering the room and stopping in my tracks for a few seconds near the door.
I didn't know why exactly I was surprised, but the room was jam-packed with children, yelling and speaking to each other from across the room in a cacophony of loud sounds and terrible smells.
Unexpectedly, the gender segregation that happened among children was clear to see, with the girls all sitting near the front, most of them sitting in a circle and introducing themselves to each other, while the boys were in the back, in small groups of two or three.
Some of these children I knew I had seen around the village during the three months I had spent on my own, some I had even impersonated for an hour or two to buy clothes and food without being stared at.
Still, it was strange to see so many people, but not be able to recognize anyone in the class.
Actually, that wasn't quite right, as there was one person I would recognize at a glance ten out of ten times in a sea of people, if only due to her hair.
Naturally pink hair was trippy that way, after all.
Sakura was the only person from the Konoha nine to be part of the civilian course of the academy, and the only person I knew from among these nameless grunts would make it into the real world with me, eight years from now.
No wonder Naruto had had a crush on her, she was his longest standing acquaintance besides the Hokage and old man Ichiraku.
I didn't stand near the entrance for a long time, making use of my memory to memorize the layout of the room as well as the seating arrangements from one furtive glance before making my way towards an empty seat near the middle, making sure to not make eye contact with anyone just yet.
It was a very paradoxical position I found myself in, wanting recognition and appreciation from everyone around me, but also not wanting to waste my time with the masses of nameless, clanless grunts surrounding me.
It made sense, however, and wasn't a question of elitism or snobbishness, but rather that I had a limited amount of social interactions I was willing to put up with, until I learned how to make clones, at least, so I would rather concentrate my energy on people I knew for a fact would reach the age of adulthood at some point.
From what I had observed of the fictional universe of Naruto, the chances of our friendship surviving past graduation between civilians and shinobi were almost null and I did not consider it to be worth the trouble and effort I would be putting in if the relationship was doomed to only last a couple of years.
Selfish from my part? Yes. It probably was, but I was completely unapologetic about it. I knew for a fact I was going to be a shinobi, hopefully a very powerful one at that, and no matter how nice or funny a child was, if they were not going to be following me into the profession, they would probably never be true friends of mine beyond the role of acquaintances.
I had nothing against the civilians of Konoha, well the ones not hating me for no reason at least, but they were more or less NPCs in this world, and no matter how good a person NPCs were, you would never befriend one for real. They could not relate, nor understand what was going on.
That line of thought, however, meant only named characters and other fully fledged shinobi were eligible for the possibility of serious and real long-term relationships, which was fair.
I had never had a friend before, and though I intellectually knew what that entailed, I was somewhat nervous about my chances of making them. Sure, I knew that humans were social creatures that always adapted and unless an outrageous behavior, or terrible flaws were present, they would always befriend the people closest to them, from classmates, coworkers, to roommates, but even then, I remained wary of my ability to befriend anyone or make them care about my well-being. The real Naruto had not managed it prior to graduating, after all and he had been much more charismatic than I had any right to expect I would be.
More importantly, my social life wouldn't have been as bad a prospect to me if rejection wasn't something I feared innately on an emotional level, even as I dismissed everyone else's existence as meaningless. Insecurities about my self-worth as a person were still well rooted in me.
I did not want to be told that someone had no interest in befriending me due to my personality. The civilian disgust towards the Kyuubi was already bad, of course, but at least I could compartmentalize it, as there was absolutely nothing I could do in order to change the situation I was born into.
My personality and behavior on the other hand was all down to who I was as a person and would be entirely on me, and I was terrified of being rejected for who I was, making me much worried about my chances.
Which was a large contradiction, since I was rejecting more than three fourths of my classmates from ever becoming close friends of mine.
It was very difficult to balance the fear of rejection with being picky…
Luckily, I did not have to wait for long before the instructor finally entered the room, shouting at everyone to shut up before introducing himself once the class had calmed down and everyone had sat at a desk.
"Welcome everyone at the academy. My name is Daikoku Funeno and I will be your instructor for the upcoming year." The fairly large man with brown hair and a goatee declared. "Today is introduction day, so all we will do is introduce ourselves to each other and you will receive your calendars and timetables, take pictures for your IDs and then you can all be on your way home."
"All you have to do when it's your turn is to stand, say your name and what your dream is before coming here so I can take a photo of you." He explained, pointing at a small stool with a white screen in front of the class.
"Let's start with you, in the first row." He decided, and a white-haired girl at the front stood up, introducing herself as Saia and dreaming of one day owning her parents' bakery.
I didn't really pay much attention to her or the three following students, each of which wanting something small and practical as their dream careers, but I couldn't help but roll my eyes and scoff when a boy stood up on his chair and with a shout, declared himself as Daichi Yurei and declared to all his desire to be a kick-ass shinobi.
I was deeply amused by how low he was aiming but knowing he would not be among the nine that would graduate the ninja academy eight years from now, I had to admit his dream might have been an appropriately difficult one to reach for someone like him.
The following few were equally forgettable with a variation of 'cool', 'badass', or 'super awesome' added as a qualifier, but they all wanted the same thing more or less, to become shinobi of the village.
It was somewhat frightening how everyone was dreaming of becoming a ninja even in the civilian section of the academy, but I couldn't blame them. I had been the same way from the moment I had known I was being reborn into this world. Being anything other than a shinobi or perhaps a samurai for those that had the opportunity to do so, was a submission to a life of weakness.
"My name is Sakura Haruno and I want to make my parents proud one day." The girl whom had, just like me, been staying far from others, shyly watching them mingle among themselves had been called upon to answer and I found myself surprised by the answer she had shared, it not really going with the image I had of her older self, but it made sense when I thought about it, her obsession with love having only come later in life as a personality trait she had picked up to better fit among her peers.
As far as I knew, Sakura had never been too invested in her shinobi career as a child, most of her skills not really developing beyond the paltry requirements to become a Genin of the Hidden Leaf, at least until she was accepted as a student under Tsunade.
I was not yet entirely convinced on the merits of befriending her as she had not been a great person as far as I was concerned, no matter how strong she had become by the end, though I worried about her trying to hit me, because I knew for a fact that if she ever tried landing a hand on me, I would return it hit for hit, as a wise man had once said, "Equal rights and lefts for everyone."
Honestly, though, I was a good looking, well dressed, smart, and hopefully very strong student. The odds were fifty fifty regarding her becoming a fangirl of mine, which as far as I was concerned, was good enough to have positive relations with her in the future.
It never hurts to have a medic you can rely on as a friend, though a few suggestions here and there could probably ensure a Genjutsu prodigy could be born, though medics were probably more important and useful in the long run.
More and more of the other children said their dreams, most of them unoriginal desires to be Hokage, a strong shinobi or following in the footsteps of their parents in whatever career they worked in.
The only ones of note were a boy wanting to be a musician, but honestly, I was barely paying any attention at that point, at least until it was my turn to introduce myself, which I did without fanfare.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I will be Hokage." I stated calmly, smiling as gently as I could, while making sure to avoid the presence of any arrogance in my tone, before politely bowing to the class, before silently making my way to get my picture taken.
As I expected, mutterings could be after I had said my name, and I felt my heart drop. The dislike for me had already been ingrained in them, and with it, the difficulty I would encounter while trying to form bonds with my classmates would grow tenfold before I had even had the chance to know them personally.
I felt my mood sour, imagining parents reminding their children to stay away from me on the very first day of classes, and it's while avoiding the gaze of anyone that I returned to my seat once my photo was taken.
Luckily, attention was taken away from me as more children started introducing themselves one after the other, though it had, to my annoyance, taken more than an hour for the class to go through all thirty-eight children and the teacher, Daikoku as my memory reminded me, returned to his seat in front of the classroom.
"Good job, everyone. It is a pleasure meeting all of you." He said with a smile. "Starting from tomorrow, you will officially be students of the Konoha Academy and allowed entry to most of the facilities available to students; the cafeteria, the Academy training grounds, obstacle courses and most importantly the library. Classes will be starting from nine in the morning until midday and for the first few weeks, we will be concentrating on learning to read and some physical testing to have a baseline of what you are capable of."
"What if we already know how to read?" A red haired girl interrupted the man, smugness radiating from her tone, though the roll of eyes from one of the boys sitting next to her and Sakura"s unsubtle shift in posture let me know she wasn't the only one that had a head start in her education.
"Then I would recommend you bring a book with you to occupy your time. I will not have any lazing around in this classroom once the year properly starts." The teacher responded, eyeing us in distaste, making me grin, imagining him having to deal with a Nara. Who knows, perhaps this was why he worked among the civilian children rather than the Shinobi.
"What kind of exercises are we doing tomorrow?" a civilian girl asked with apprehension.
"Nothing to worry about." Daikoku answered with a kind smile, appeasing everyone's worries. "A bit of running, some pushups and a few sits ups. It is not graded, so don't stress yourself over it, I just need to see what your baseline fitness level is before you enter the academy so we can analyze your progress at a later time."
A few nods and a lot of chattering later, it was clear the man had no other information to impart on us and dismissed the class. I had stayed behind, not wanting to mingle with the others or attract any attention to myself, as I knew an ANBU was probably waiting for me outside.
It was interesting to see how the boys had immediately jumped for the door, racing to be the very first ones out, while most of the girls, Sakura included, had done the exact same as me, remaining seated to avoid the masses.
I had considered introducing myself or even simply nodding politely to her but had decided to not risk it yet. I was still a blank page so far and I could try and befriend anyone at any point over the next almost-decade of schooling we would share together, there was no reason to rush, as I did not wish to appear clingy or annoying.
I really needed to work on my social anxiety if I wanted to grow, I decided, even as I walked outside. I hadn't done everything I wanted today, but this was enough for now. There was no need to rush, everything would come in its time.
For now, at least, I had a meeting with Ebisu to get to...