Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

The next day Minato departed for his mission and I got to say goodbye to him from the gates of konoha for the first time, before he left he ruffled my hair and left me with the advice to be more careful with my friends.

I spent the rest of the day practicing my accuracy with thrown weapons such as kunai and shuriken, seeing Kakashi's training ground yesterday had really reminded me that I had largely ignored this discipline and I was awful. Really awful. I remembered the proper technique to throwing them, the muscle memory was still there but I was beginning to realise there were too many differences between this body and my old one for this skill to carry over without significant adjustment. Throwing didn't begin in the hand it began in the shoulder and then the elbow and then the wrist before the hand let go at the opportune time and there just too many variables that had been changed for me to throw as accurately as I was used to.

After a few hours with little improvement I decided to take a break and head back inside for some lunch. I stepped inside my house and -

"KeiImissedyousomuchyoudon'tevenknowwanttogetramen?"

The world had taken on a strange hue and my vision had somewhat narrowed in just the brief moments I had been spun. I had heard Kushina say something phrased somewhat like a question but I hadn't even pieced together the first few words before I said "huh" utterly nonplussed.

"Great let's go, you've never eaten at ichiraku ramen have you? You'll love it."

I groaned from my new position under one arm, Kushina kicked open my door and leaped towards the village.

"You really need to stop growing Kei, you're getting too big to be carried"

Kushina introduced me when we arrived to the owners of the ramen stall a man called Teuchi and a woman sat towards the back of the stall heavily pregnant. The stall had apparently been a staple of Konoha for over a decade, it was well deserved though Kushina seemed to have enough enthusiasm for 10.

"So," Kushina began, laying down her 6th bowl, "what happened whilst I was away?"

"I started at the academy" I began, "though I've not actually had any classes yet they've just tested us to see if we're advanced enough to be moved up."

"You're too smart for your own good" Kushina said poking me with a chopstick "did you make any friends?"

"Just one, Kakashi, I had dinner at his house yesterday, his dad even taught me how to regulate how much strength I use in a spar"

"Oh, why would you need a lesson like that" Kushina said from within her 7th bowl

"I kinda broke every bone in Kakashi's arm in a spar" I said sheepishly.

Kushina choked on the broth and put down her bowl, after recovering from her coughing fit she started laughing as hard as I had ever seen her laugh "and you made friends with him" she snorted between fits of laughter, "Kei, you're golden"

I took the opportunity to hide my reddening face in my own ramen bowl and soon after I finished I turned back to Kushina "Also I'm on level 2"

"Level 2?..." Suddenly her mind made the connection and she grew somehow more animated "Kei that's incredible, I thought you'd be on level one until you finished at the academy, I'm going to have to really step up your training"

'No kidding' I thought, she hasn't given a lesson in months. "I am having some trouble with the puzzle for level 3, maybe you could help with that."

"'Some trouble' he says" Kushina muttered "Kei I wouldn't expect you to even come close to level 3 until you were at least chunin"

"Well I aim to at least meet expectations." I joked "I think I've almost exhausted the scrolls I have available and I don't think I'm any closer to figuring it out." Some of my frustration came through in my voice

"Kei, look at me" Kushina said, obligingly I looked up from my ramen bowl "You don't need to push yourself so hard, you've got years to figure this out. But, since you're so enthusiastic, I'll give you some pointers at our next lesson." She saw my excited face and held up a finger "If. You're telling the truth about studying the scrolls you have access to. There will be a test." She grinned maniacally.

Another test. I let my head hit the countertop and Kushina laughed before digging in to her 8th bowl.

Arriving at the academy the next day I wandered into the building with a throng of other children unsure where to go but quickly found a signpost with directions for students that had taken exams which led to the same room we had taken the exam in the previous day. It was already half full with the Hyuga all present and many of the Uchiha too, I spotted Kakashi in a seat towards the front still sporting his arm in a sling and took a seat next to him.

"You still didn't change your clothes then" he said

"I figure if someone is going to judge me for my fashion sense they're not really someone I'd like to know anyway" I replied "Besides, like you said, it'll make no difference with some people"

Kakashi nodded and made no reply.

After a few minutes the proctor from the exam walked in and looked around "it seems some haven't yet shown up but it makes no difference, everyone with the exception of Hatake Kakashi and Keiko is dismissed, please go to room 3A where you will be disseminated between the first years." There was some grumbling at this but the proctors face meant business so eventually they filed out, once they had he turned back to me and Kakashi "You two follow me, you will be joining this year's graduating class"

As we followed the proctor through the school I said to Kakashi "The graduating class? Aren't they 5 years older?"

Kakashi shrugged "They must think we're ready or they wouldn't have moved us up."

I nodded but in the back of my head I could hear Minato talking about getting sent to the front line, no better than cannon fodder. For a moment I considered turning down the accelerated promotion. It would be the pragmatic choice, the war might be over by the time I graduate. I shook my head. If Kakashi was taking the class so would I, he was my only friend so far and I wouldn't leave him.

Introducing ourselves to the class was… awkward. It was clear by the glares that they didn't think we deserved a place, we introduced ourselves at our teachers behest and hastily found a seat. It seemed by the time classes reach the final year the class size dwindles significantly, only around 70% of desks were occupied so Kakashi and I were able to sit together at a desk near the back.

"OK, most of you already know who I am but for any newcomers I am Saku Sarutobi, for many of you this will be your final year at the academy, we will spend most of these first few months learning the basic ninjutsu required to become a genin, after that we will touch on genjutsu and some other speciality areas. We will be sparring once a week and there will be an exam every 4 weeks. Any questions."

There were none. This man commanded respect, his tone was clipped and his eyes unflinching, that he was a Sarutobi did not surprise me, it seemed this clan bred natural born leaders. Looking around and seeing that there was nothing more he sent us outside to spar.

"You will now draw lots to spar against each other. Your performance in these spars will form a large part of your grade." Saku announced once we were outside, "Hatake Kakashi and Keiko, you will be sparring with me, you may have passed the exam to qualify for this class but it's up to me to decide if you're ready. I can see you're injured Kakashi so we will delay yours until you're fit to spar again."

Kakashi and I shared a glance though a large amount of our initial anxiety bled away watching the first few spars. They were decent enough but they were nowhere near as polished as Kakashi and myself.

Eventually the time for me to spar came and I stepped up in front of our teacher and showed the seal of confrontation which he mirrored and then we began.

He didn't strike straight away, he seemed to be waiting for me to make the first move, I took a moment to analyse his stance. He had lowered his center of gravity by crouching slightly and had one arm crossing his chest with the other stretched downwards. A strong stable stance it seemed. I decided I would be better trying to keep at range against him, being drawn in would probably result in a grapple and I wasn't confident I could overpower him.

I began my assault the with a swift punch, aiming for his abdomen, I sent some chakra to my muscles to speed up my movements noting that I would need to practice in future to make sure that such actions became second nature, I drew back my punch before impact to make sure I didn't strike with the strength I did against Kakashi and Saku caught it with his hand though he flinched still at the force behind it. I made to pull away but noticed he had my fist held fast, grinning he sent out a sweeping kick intended to drive me down to the floor where he could easily pin me. A flash of shock crossed his eyes when I grinned back.

Jumping up so that my body ran parallel to the ground I used both legs to kick his head, I was more than strong enough to stay there with my weight supported by my hand but after the first kick drew a satisfying thud to his head he let go and shuffled back.

I withdrew as well, it wouldn't do to get overconfident and he had still held his stance so he wasn't yet off balance. This time though it looked like he wanted to bring the fight to me, he leapt forward landing in his crouched stance in front of me, he shot out a fist to punch my shoulder but I managed to knock it off target with a punch of my own to his forearm, he was too close though and it was only a matter of time before he tried to entrap me in a hold.

As if he read my mind before I could recover from deflecting his punch he shot out his other arm to the same shoulder but instead of a punch he held my shoulder locked in his hand, his arm now crossed between our bodies holding us together yet separate, not ideal at all for me, he then shifted his leg so that it locked behind both of mine, still somehow holding himself in his crab like stance, he planned to use the leverage from his arms grip to force me to the ground.

With my options limited I decided a dual fisted hit on his torso would best force him back and in the moments he began to struggle to lever me down I struck with both hands directly to his torso. He certainly moved backwards and not without injury if his grunt was any indication but he never lost his balance his feet merely slid in the dust with my legs being brought with him, I finished the fight face up in the dust and the proctor for the match called it as I had been the first to fall.

I lost the spar but I never really expected that I could win, tall I might be for a 4 year old but I was still a 4 year old against a full grown adult. What was more important to me is that I learned something that I hadn't considered since before I was reborn in this body and that was my stance. I was much shorter now than I had been and had been holding myself in the stance of a much stronger and taller man as a result, even though he had likely never seen a fighting style similar to mine I've no doubt our teacher with his experience had immediately seen the flaw. In the weeks that followed in practice and in spars I made sure to adjust how I stood accordingly until it became second nature, it really made me worry that perhaps there were other things I hadn't considered but until I encountered a problem it was impossible for me to know what I didn't know. Our teacher marked the modification I had made at the very next spar I had against another child from the same class, he didn't say anything - Saku was rare to give out compliments - but he nodded approvingly to me afterwards.

Kakashi's spar against Saku lasted almost as long as mine, partly because he moved so fast it took a few attempts for Saku to pin him down, once he did though Kakashi resigned knowing he couldn't win in a head on battle, I did see a change in Kakashi's training also from that day though, on evenings when I would sometimes come to his house to train together he no longer trained purely to increase his speed and agility and was even seen to be lifting weights on some occasions.

It was around a week after Kakashi's spar that Saku finally released the standings for the class so we could see how we ranked against each other.

I met Kakashi at his house on the way to the academy, it turns out that his house was actually more or less on the way. When we arrived at our class we found the front was thronged with people with the few not at the front giving us newfound looks of appraisal. I didn't give it much thought, in the few weeks I had been in the class no-one had taken the opportunity to even try to talk to me and the attempts I had made had resulted in extremely one sided conversation.

Being smaller than the rest of the class actually made it easier to cut in between people to get to the front to see the paper stapled to the wall with the class standings and when we did Kakashi and I both blinked in shock.

We were both top of the class, Kakashi was ahead of me, in the few genjutsu lessons we had had he had been much better at it than me but Saku had told me that my chakra reserves were abnormally high for someone my age, equal to some Jounin he had said which will result in me finding tasks that require more delicate chakra control more difficult no matter how much I practice chakra exercises, it was disappointing and not a problem I was used to encountering, usually if there was a skill I struggled with I just practiced until it became easier, to hear this was something I would always struggle with was gutting in a way and what was more he told me it would also mean there would be very few medical ninjutsu I could perform due to the control required. To have seen Tsunade perform that healing on Kakashi and now know I'd never be capable of such wonders myself was frustrating to say the least.

Saku went on to tell me something else however. In the weeks I had been attending the class he had noticed it had been steadily growing at rate he's never seen, apparently Saku was an extremely well trained sensor and could detect the chakra levels of anyone in the vicinity. He informed me that normally he would tell students with as much chakra as I had that they should look in future to being more of a ninjutsu specialist but considering my already existing talent in taijutsu it wouldn't be a problem to concentrate on those two areas.

So Kakashi has edged me out with his score from the genjutsu lessons but I knew he wouldn't care too much about that because he still hadn't beaten me in a spar and he did not like losing.

When I arrived home that I evening I found Kushina waiting for me.

"Ready for a test" she said

"How did you even get in?" I asked

"I'm a ninja" she replied

It was a fair enough reply, lock-picking was one of the first things they covered in the textbooks at the academy. I sat down at the table across from her and saw that instead of any kind of written exams on the table was scroll after scroll of seals.

"I made all of these the other day, some of them aren't complete, some of them have been completed incorrectly and you will need to make it work and some of these aren't even seals but you will need to take whats on the scroll and incorporate it into a seal." she explained.

That seemed straightforward.. With the exception of the last but before I could ask any questions Kushina rose from her place at the table.

"I'll leave you to it, I'll be back tomorrow to see what progress you have made, I've locked the bookcase down so there'll be no cheating. Good luck." she close the door behind her leaving me to the scrolls.

I put my head in my hands and groaned

The first few seals were simple uncompleted low level seals such as storage seals, from there though the difficulty rapidly increased, there were some seals that seemed to have been intended to be destructive in nature but after close analysis they turned out to be seals designed to clean surgical equipment or to remove moisture from items sealed within, I came across seals that had purposes that were ridiculously simple like one desire to store small items the size of a brush and other ones later that had purposes so esoteric that without a general idea of how the seal was to come together I would have had no clue what it's purpose one, some of these seemed to be designed to seal away such things as sound or chakra and then later still there was one that was designed to seal away certain ideas. This test definitely gave me an increased respect for fuinjutsu, the power to seal away an idea was almost too powerful, I now understood why there were so few practitioners after all I could easily see the possibilities if you could seal away a thought or idea, how difficult might it be to unleash a thought or idea upon a person.

Through the night I worked and by the time the first light had appeared in the morning sky I had gotten to the final category Kushina described and felt like I had finally lost my mind for in my sleep deprived mind having worked through a medley of seals and with designs dancing through my head I could see designs appearing unbidden upon the scrolls to match the few odd marks that had been placed there, designs I had never seen sprung forth from my brush, I'm sure even as I put brush to paper on many of the seals I did not properly understand what my intention for the purpose of the seal was.

When at last it was morning I rose from the table, staggered sleepily to my waiting futon and was asleep before my body struck the ground.

I awoke some hours later to the sound of excited squealing.

AN: Back to about the normal length, I hope you enjoy, I might not be able to post another for a few days but until then. See you in the next chapter.

Bonus round: Review responses!

So the main few things I've seen to respond to is why didn't Keiko just show Minato/someone his file. Well the answer is he was a bit morose at the time finding out his mother was dead and stuff and he just threw it onto the remaining fires from the orphanage a stupid decision in hindsight but how was he to know that was literally the only record of him being a registered citizen of the land of fire, they did ask some of the orphans if they remembered him and they got mixed answers, some were young so couldn't remember too much, some didn't like Keiko because he was different so renounced all knowledge of him and the matron died in the fire. I think most of this stuff is in the first chapter or Keiko's file later on. Minato didn't see the file as he showed up a few minutes late and the only files he brought back were the ones still in the cabinet and Keiko didn't even bring back the clothes off his back because they were covered in blood and burnt.

Also someone had a concern that Keiko's journal/book would be translated and used against him at some point, I don't want to give much away but I can say you don't have to worry about that... probably. It is at least not my intention for that to happen right now and I think for it to happen some really weird stuff would have to be introduced. So no, they're just going to be a bit suspicious because as far as they can tell Keiko is writing in tongues haha.

Oh and there was another person that had an idea about him growing up away from konoha with the Ame orphans, that actually got an idea going in my brain but I'll probably only get to it after this one is done (If I'm not yet thoroughly ashamed at my inability to write by then) so at least there's that to look forward to.

Everyone else thank you for the reviews, I've decided to read them after all.