Chapter 9: Ahead of Schedule

Lunchtime at the academy used to be so peaceful. A half an hour where Arashi and Kochi could climb up into the large tree at the edge of the training yard and eat lunch. That all changed when they befriended Kushina a year ago. Not only was there a third person in their group, but at least twice a week they had to scare off some poor soul that was involved in Kushina's latest conflict.

Today's issue was a Nasuda Inuzuka from his and Kochi's class and the boy was pissed. Arashi could only assume it had something to do with the dog at his ankles. A dog that should have had a normal coat color but was now bright red. Coincidentally, the same shade of red as Kushina's hair.

Arashi was crouched on a branch above Kushina, who was on the ground. He twirled a kunai around his finger lazily. Kochi stood on a separate branch next to him, leaning against the trunk, arms crossed, emanating a small but steady amount of killing intent at the Inuzuka boy below, who was yelling at Kushina.

"It's going to take weeks to get this color out! What made you think it was a good idea to dye my dog red!" The Nasuda yelled while pointing to the pup at his side.

"I don't care if it was a good idea or not. That's what the mut gets for pissing on my backpack, and that's what you get for watching him do it." Kushina said smugly with crossed arms and an upturned chin, "I told you the first time when he peed on my leg, if he did it again, there would be consequences. And all you did was laugh with your fellow goons." Kushina spread her arms. "Well, here we are. My Bag smells like dog piss and your pooch is now red. Which I must say is a great color on him."

Nasuda's face scrunched up and turned red as he rolled up his sleeves and walked forward threateningly. "I'll show you red!"

Arashi let loose a short but shrill whistle that immediately got the attention of the Inuzuka with his heightened sense of hearing.

"Back off Nasuda. It was just a joke, and it won't stay forever. Plus, I have to agree with Kushina. It is an improvement." He said while winking at Kushina, who was smirking at him.

"Well, would you look at this. The two foreigners have teamed up. Isn't that just perfect. What, you lost your friend Fumuro and now you've replaced him with another looser?" Nasuda said, sneering at him.

Arashi sighed. While he wasn't friends with many of the clan students in the academy, he generally got along well with most people. Except for Nasuda. Partly because Nasuda was a dick, but also because of how he had treated Fumuro and Motomi when they were still in the academy.

Time to put on a little show. Arashi was confident if things escalated, he could make Nasuda eat dirt. He'd passed him in the class rankings long ago. But if he could avoid conflict, then that would be best.

Arashi stood up, pushed a small amount of chakra to his feet, and began walking down the tree trunk. He'd perfected tree walking a while ago. Turns out chasing Kochi and now Kushina through the streets of the Leaf was a perfect chance to practice and experiment. Also, it was a technique typically not taught at the academy, so it would serve perfectly to intimidate Nasuda.

"Now why'd you have to go and say that?" Arashi said as he gently stepped off the base of the trunk onto the ground, still twirling his kunai around his index finger. He stopped when he was beside Kushina and put his arm around her shoulder, "Maybe you should dye his hair next. I think this village needs more redheads running around." Arashi said, pointing his kunai at Nasuda.

Kushina smiled, "I gave it some thought, but I think he may disgrace redheads. I ultimately decided he was too ugly."

"I think you may be right," Arashi said while suppressing a laugh.

This seemed to make Nasuda rethink his earlier aggression. He was still visibly seething, but he had stopped his approach and was now obviously second-guessing his plan.

The final nail in the coffin was the slight rise of killing intent emanating behind him, resulting in an unconscious flinch from both Nasuda and his dog. The Inuzuka's gaze shifted to Kochi up in the tree.

"Can I kick him in the nuts already? I didn't like the tone he used when talking about our friends." Kochi said menacingly from her perch in the tree.

"If he doesn't back off in 5 seconds, I'll help you do it," Arashi said pushing the final point home.

Nasuda sneered and spit on the ground in front of them in a vain effort to appear tough in his retreat.

"Just stay away from me and my dog. Got it!" Nasuda said as he backed off. The dog joining in and adding an unsure bark.

"Just as long as you keep your dog from peeing anywhere near me," Kushina said back as the boy retreated out of earshot.

Kushina bumped Arashi with her hip playfully, "that tough boy act was pretty cool. If I was on the receiving side, I may have been scared."

Arashi dropped his arm from Kushina's shoulder and gave her a pained look. "I wish I didn't have to keep using it every week. Can you try to not make enemies for once?"

"He had it coming. He told his dog to pee on my bag. I heard it!" Kushina exclaimed.

A sigh from above brought both their attentions to Kochi, who was sitting dangling her legs from the branch, "You know it's going to be really awkward if you get assigned a team with one of these people you've made such good impressions on." Kochi swung off the branch and landed softly on the ground. "Well, at the current rate, it's not a matter of if but when."

"I don't need anyone else. Just you guys!" Kushina yelled as she pulled both him and Kochi into a hug. "The rest are lame."

Arashi rubbed his face in exasperation. "Kushina, please try to get along with others. It's highly unlikely you will be on our team. Heck, it's unlikely any of us will be on the same team."

Kushina's expression soured, but then changed back to a small smile. "I know, I know, I'll try harder." A sly foxy grin then spread over her face as she bumped shoulders playfully with Arashi. "But you have to admit that Nasuda deserved it."

Arashi looked at Kochi for support. She gave him a smirk and shrugged her shoulders as if saying, what can you do.

He looked back at Kushina, who was still playfully looking at him. "You're impossible, you know that?"

Her smile got bigger as she let out a giggle. "Yup! Now let's finish our lunch before we have to go back inside and listen to our instructors rattle on about more useless stuff."

Thankfully, the rest of the day passed without another Kushina event. Despite her quirks and unparalleled knack for getting them into trouble, she was firmly a part of their group now. Over the past year since meeting her, Kushina had become his and Kochi's best friend. The three were inseparable now, with Kushina training and hanging out with them after school, often sleeping over in one of their dorms. Even though he didn't enjoy getting into her conflicts, he knew that both he and Kochi would do anything for Kushina, just as the redhead would do for them.

"Psst, hey Arashi, you awake?" Kochi said as she shook him.

Arashi jerked back to the present and continued packing up his supplies for their walk home after class.

"Yea sorry, was daydreaming."

He looked around and saw that they were the last couple of students in the room. Kushina would no doubt already be waiting for them outside.

As he finished packing up the last couple of things and the class emptied, he noticed Ishino Sensei walking up the aisle to them. When she got close, she sat down on their desk in front of them.

"You two hang out for a bit. I've got something we need to discuss."

"Of course Sensei," Kochi said beside him. "What's it about?"

Ishino Sensei didn't respond immediately and studied them for a moment. This gave Arashi's mind time to race. Could it be about Kushina's prank? Or the tussle last week with one of the students from the older class?

"What's your opinion on the war effort?"

Arashi looked up in surprise. That was not what he was expecting.

"Uhh, what do you mean sensei?" He asked.

"I'm interested in hearing what your opinion is about the ongoing war. How do you think it's going?" After a short pause with no response, she continued, "Oh common, don't be shy. Neither of you have been shy before. What are your thoughts?"

"Worsening," Kochi said to his left. Ishino sensei nodded and gestured with her hands to continue.

Before Kochi could, he jumped in and cut her sentence off, "Ever since the war started 4 years ago, it's been a stalemate. All front lines making virtually no progress. The only area that has seen any noticeable improvement is the land of rain because of the third Hokage's three students. But that improvement came at a cost."

"And what cost is that?"

This time it was Kochi's term to cut in, "Increased activity and aggression on the other fronts. We've heard that there's a lot more fighting on both the land of wind and land of water conflicts."

"And why is that?" Sensei asked, changing her gaze back to Arashi, signaling that it was his turn.

After a short pause to gather his thoughts, Arashi continued, "A shift in the status quo. The progress we made in the land of rain forced the other ninja villages to increase efforts in other areas."

Ishino sensei smiled and nodded. "Very good. While the progress in the land of rain was reassuring, it disrupted the stagnated conflict. Throwing more fuel on the fire so to speak. Now the other villages are clamoring for a victory to prove to the daimyos that their funding wasn't misplaced." With another brief pause she continued, "In other words, due to our victory, the war has moved to a stage of high aggression. And this new aggression is spreading us thin."

Sensei's face darkened. "It's good to see that you're not just buried in your books and study and are actively observing what is happening on the national stage. You're going to see it firsthand faster than you think."

Arashi felt a hand clasp his own and looked down to see Kochi's hand shaking in his.

"You're moving us up?" Kochi said shakily beside him.

"Yes. One year. The class above you is having some students graduate early to support the war effort. This is causing a chain reaction, moving people up to fill the holes.

Class 1A needs three students."

This doesn't make sense. Why he and Kochi? Neither of them was the top student. There were still students from clans ahead of them.

From clans…

"Why us? There are several students in this class that rank higher than us," Kochi asked.

"It's because they're all from clans." He said silently. Almost to himself, looking up to sensei for confirmation of what he already knew was correct.

"Yes. The requests to move them up were all protested and denied by their clans." Ishino sensei said, "so you two were chosen from this class because you were the only others along with the third student from class 3A that were deemed ready."

"When do we start?" Kochi whispered beside him.

"Tomorrow. You will report to class 1A where you will complete your last year of the academy."

Kochi's hand started to shake. Arashi gave her a reassuring squeeze as he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

A hand on his shoulder brought his attention back to Ishino sensei, who was now crouched at eye level with her other hand on Kochi's shoulder.

"Your reactions show me I wasn't wrong in thinking you're ready. You both know what is coming and the dangers that follow," Ishino sensei put her finger under Kochi's chin and raised her gaze from her shoes, "remember you always have each other. Good luck." And with that, Ishino sensei stood up and left the classroom.

The silence was smothering. Arashi and Kochi stood, hands still clasped at their desks. He needed to move. Needed to get out of this room.

"Come, let's go back to the dorms." He said to the silent girl next to him.

He received only a nod in response as he swung his backpack over his shoulder and lead her out of the academy building where Kushina was leaning against the tree out front.

"Hey guys, what took you." Kushina paused mid-sentence with a worried look on her face.

As Arashi and Kochi wordlessly approached, Kushina rushed over, and seeing that he was the more alert, whispered in his ear, "What happened?"

He shook his head. "Let's talk at the dorm." Thankfully, Kushina didn't question and took the hint.

Silently thanking the proximity of their dorm to the academy, they made it to Arashi's room in a couple of minutes, where immediately Kochi sat on the bed with her back against the wall and pulled Arashi's pillow into a hug.

Kushina was much more subtle and caring with her friends, unlike her enemies. Immediately she scooted next to Kochi and slipped her arm under one of Kochi's and snuggled in tight.

"What happened?" Kushina whispered to Kochi.

Kochi took a breath as Arashi climbed onto the foot of the bed and leaned back against the bed frame.

"They are moving us up a year so that we graduate in one more year instead of two," Kochi whispered back to Kushina.

"What! Why?" she said, looking back and forth between him and Kochi.

"Because the war isn't going well," he said, grabbing Kushina's attention. "3 students from class 1A are graduating early this week and now they need three students from our year to move up."

"But that's not fair!" Kushina yelled. "Why you two specifically? There were others with higher scores."

Kochi's hand squeezed Kushina's arm. "Kushina, that's enough."

"No, it's not! It's dangerous out there. You said it yourself, the war isn't going well!"

"You don't think I know that!" Kochi yelled in a rare outburst, startling Kushina. Kochi then took a large breath to calm down. "When I signed up to become a ninja, I knew something like this could happen. A ninja is expected to do whatever their village needs, even a ninja in training. It's what my parents did when they were both deployed at the same time, leaving me here, and it's what I will do now."

Kushina looked down in frustration and sighed. She raised her hand to grasp Kochi's that still gripped her arm, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking about your parents. I'm just… I'm just worried. The start of this war destroyed my village." Kushina took a shaky breath. "I know we've only known each other for a year, but you two are important to me. I hate the thought of something happening to you two out there while I'm stuck here doing nothing."

"Nothing will happen to us out there," Arashi said, quieting the room and causing both girls to look at him.

"We still have a year. We'll step up our daily training and push ourselves harder so we're better prepared."

Kushina nodded solemnly in response and reached over and grabbed his forearm, "Promise me you two won't leave me alone in this village. Promise me you will do everything you can to stay alive out there and come back."

Arashi placed his hand over Kushina's and squeezed it. "Of course we will. We promise."

About an hour later, Kushina left to go back to the Senju clan compound, leaving Kochi and Arashi alone. Kochi was still tightly holding one of Arashi's pillows to her chest with her back against the wall. Arashi scooted next to her, and Kochi immediately dropped the pillow and wrapped her arm around his and pulled herself into his side. As she leaned her head against his shoulder, he could feel her shivering. He pulled her closer and rested his chin on the top of her head, silently hoping she couldn't feel his own frantic heartbeat and nervous shivers.

"What are we going to do?" Kochi whispered.

Arashi looked down fondly at the top of her head. Three years he'd known her now. Three years of academy classes and training. Three years of jumping around rooftops, pushing each other to their limits. Three years of laughing and having fun. He would do anything for her and despite her fear of graduating early, he knew she would jump into battle on the front-line tomorrow without hesitation to save him.

"We will do what we have always done. We'll train every day until we can barely make it back up the steps to our dorms. We'll push each other harder in spars and chakra exercises until we are covered in bruises. And when our bodies can't take any more physical punishment, we will read all the books we can."

"But will it be enough?" She whispered as she buried her face in his shoulder.

Arashi paused. He contemplated saying yes, but he wasn't sure himself and he refused to lie to Kochi. For all the things she had done for him since moving to the leaf, she deserved the truth from him, always. Even if it would cause pain. Even if it would bring back painful memories of her parents.

"I don't know Kochi. I don't know. But we will do everything we can to make sure we have the best chance."

"Ok." Kochi said, still clinging to his side.

Slowly, Kochi's shivering eased to a stop, and he felt her breathing slow as she fell asleep. He gently laid her down and moved to get off the bed to grab the discarded blanket on the ground, but felt a tug on his shirt. He looked back to meet Kochi's eyes.

"I'm just grabbing a blanket." To which Kochi responded with a small nod.

With the blanket in hand and the nightstand lamp switched off, he climbed back onto the bed and laid down next to her pulling the blanket over both. He wrapped an arm around Kochi and pulled her close.

Three years ago in Tekan, the thought of becoming a ninja excited him. The chance to travel the world and become someone was his dream. It was enough of a draw to push him to leave all he knew. It pushed him to leave Ayame. Meeting Kochi, Kushina, and even Motomi and Fumuro had strengthened his resolve. But now in this bed hugging his scared best friend while trying to hide his own fears, he wasn't so sure. He wasn't an idiot or one of his eager classmates who voiced their desires of winning glory for the leaf on the battlefield every chance they got. He knew the statistics of young genin on the front lines. They weren't promising.

They had one year. One year left before getting their headbands. They had to make it count.

Arashi pushed his face into Kochi's back as he felt his eyelids getting heavy, and as he drifted off to sleep, he had one repeating thought in his head.

We have to get stronger.

Kochi was definitely not a morning person. It was a surprise to Arashi when he found out. She had an amazing work ethic, often pushing them to do one more lap or one more spar when Arashi was bent over, hands on his knees, ready to give up. But the girl hated waking up not on her own time. So, when the alarm went off and a moment later he heard the offending object impact the wall across the room, all he could do was suppress a laugh.

Shaking his head, Arashi flung the blanket off, revealing a curled-up ball with black hair and two green eyes glaring at him, to which he met with his biggest smile.

"Wakey wakey. Class starts in an hour." He said as he purposefully rolled over the girl, squishing her and getting a squawk in response.

Arashi stood and stretched next to the bed and then made his way to the bathroom to take a shower, flinging his shirt off halfway to the bathroom.

As he turned on the shower, he yelled through the closed bathroom door, "Meet back here!" The only response he received was the opening and closing of the dorm's front door.

Arashi sighed when he felt the warm water of the shower hit his forehead. Yesterday was stressful to put it lightly. They had discussed the possibility; they had even entertained purposefully performing slightly worse to avoid this possibility but had decided against it. Ishino sensei had already seen their abilities and work ethic before they recognized the danger they were in. Surprisingly in the end, Kochi had been the one to decide not to hide their true performance. Arashi believed it was her desire to not let her parents down and serve the village that won over her fear of the war.

No longer could she push the war to the back of her mind. It was coming faster than they expected. Unless something drastically changed in the status quo, Kochi was going to fight in the same war that claimed her parents' lives.

Thinking about Kochi's problems was reminding him of his own. The ones he had been suppressing for a while now. He had come here seeking something more than the slums. The allure of being powerful enough to change his destiny. But to what? A famous ninja fighting for a village he had little connection to? Kochi, Kushina, Ayame, Motomi, and Fumuro were the people he cared about and the people he would gladly risk his life for. But the others? He wasn't so sure. The academy constantly drowned them in what the ideal leaf ninja should be. A ninja ready to give everything for the land of fire. Someone who would take a kunai for a civilian they had never seen before, had never formed a personal connection with.

Despite her fear and the loss she experienced from the war, Kochi was fiercely loyal to the leaf and its ideals. Her parents had died for them, and she would not trample over their sacrifice. Arashi saw all the attributes of a leaf ninja in her. But he did not see them in himself. He nodded with the rest of the class and played along. But he did not have the same connection they all had.

Arashi leaned forward and pressed his forehead against the cold tile wall of the shower, the warm water rolling over the bruises on his back from yesterday's class sparing session. He had realized long ago that his original motivations were childish. He had escaped the slums, could do things he thought were only possible in the fantastical stories the sailors and dock workers told in the tavern. But now what?

A knock on the bathroom door brought him out of his thoughts.

"Hey did you drown in there? Class starts in 15 minutes!"

Arashi shook his head, wondering how 45 minutes had passed by. Shutting off the water and wrapping a towel around himself, he leaned against the counter, wiped the condensation off the mirror and looked at his reflection. He gave himself a quick slap on the cheeks. He needed to push all his worries to the side, all his misgivings about his original motivations. The next year was vital. It could be life or death, and Kochi needed him.

Arashi quickly got dressed in the bathroom and then walked out into the rest of the dorm, where Kochi was standing with his backpack outstretched towards him in one of her hands.

"I already packed your stuff up. Let's get going or we'll be late for our first day in the new class," Kochi said as he grabbed his bag from her hand and watched her walk by him out the front door.

Typical Kochi, the difference in demeanor between last night and now you'd think she was a different person. But this was one of the reasons why Arashi thought so highly of her. When things got real, she could flip a switch and push her worries behind. It's when things were slow that Arashi worried about her.

Thankfully, despite Arashi's delay, it only took them 10 minutes to reach classroom 1A but before entering both of them paused. Arashi heard a deep breath and looked over to see Kochi's shoulders relax from a large intake of air. She looked up at him, nodded, and reached for the door.

"Excuse me. You two wouldn't happen to be the two other students that were moved up into this class, would you?" A voice to their left asked.

Both Kochi's and Arashi's heads jerked to face the newcomer. A blonde-haired blue-eyed boy a bit shorter than Arashi greeted them. Both Arashi and Kochi regarded the boy for a moment, causing him to scratch the back of his head nervously.

He looked familiar. Arashi was sure he had seen him running around the academy, but he had never interacted with him.

"Yes we are. I'm Arashi and this is Kochi Sanayoshi." Arashi said while gesturing towards Kochi, who nodded at the blonde newcomer.

"Hi, I'm Minato Namikaze. Nice to meet you."

Author's notes 1/12/2022

Sorry for the late update! The holidays were super busy. I have been doing a lot of travel between the west and east coast for work and family, but I'm finally back on a normal schedule and ready to continue the story.

How is everyone liking the story so far? Please leave reviews on how you think the story is going and your opinions.

Another time skip. This time 1 year. Kushina is now a part of the gang! A year of training, pranks, and academy has gone by and Kushina has joined the group. I'm really liking the girl friendship between Kushina and Kochi. I'm really enjoying writing them and brainstorming how they can progress and lean on each other for support. But we also see how Arashi and Kochi are just that little bit closer. They share feelings and worries that they don't yet share with Kushina.

Minato makes his appearance! Despite his limited appearance and characterization in the show, Minato has always been a character I've really liked. I very much enjoy reading fanfics that include him and I'm excited about developing him in this story.

Grammar around dialogue is probably still a mess. Sorry! I keep looking up examples and trying to improve it.

Character ages:

Arashi: 10

Kochi: 10

Kushina: 9

Minato: 9