I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 5
Timeskip, 1 year later.
Academy, Konoha
I was happy to finish the firs two years of the academy. Almost half of my class didn't make it this far.
It was finally time for the clan kids to join the academy. I was curious how I would do against them. I was very talented compared to most civilian kids, but that didn't mean shit in this world. Most of those kids would end up as cannon fodder eventually. 'Kill or be killed' I thought.
Clan kids had a better chance to survive. Most kids had access to better training and usually weren't sent on the most dangerous missions. It was logical, nobody would bat an eye when a civilian born died on a mission, but having a clan kid die would have consequences. Most of the parents had at least some political power.
"All the more reason to become stronger." I murmured.
I was currently on my way to the academy, it was the first day of the new year. Today, the new classes would be announced. I felt well-prepared. My friend Arata and I made a lot of progress with our chakra control and taijutsu. We also started with the basic principles of ninjutsu and genjutsu.
"Hey Masashi, you cut it pretty close today!" I heard a voice shout when I made my way past the academy gates.
I turned around and saw Arata coming my way, he certainly grew a bit taller, as did I. He was right, I was almost late today, which was unusual. But I had to get some things sorted out. Most pressing was my housing situation. I submitted my request for an academy apartment a few weeks ago and got my confirmation this morning, so I took a little detour to take a look at the apartment building.
The building itself was nothing special, just a standard, if a bit run down, apartment complex. I spotted a few children around my age, some a little older, leave there. So, I was fairly certain, that I was not the only academy student living there.
Arata had received his letter a few days earlier, he lived just a few blocks away. I told him about my new living arrangements, he seemed happy to hear it.
We arrived in the packed academy lobby. I grumbled about the noise, and Arata had to bite back a snort at my antics.
The people grew quiet and whispers broke out as a person made his way towards the small stage in front of us. It was my first time seeing the hokage with my own eyes. He obviously looked a lot younger than in the anime, without gray hair and all. Still, his presence was radiating authority.
'So this is the god of shinobi.' I thought with bated breath.
"It is my pleasure to welcome you all to the shinobi academy." he began. "Here, your teachers will provide you with the tools to succeed and grow strong as a shinobi. Always remember, every leaf is important for the beauty of the tree." he told us with a small smile. "Let the will of fire burn bright, young students." he finished.
The speech was nothing spectacular. 'Must be doing this every year, gets boring I guess.' I thought and chuckled quietly.
The surrounding kids began to cheer, and shortly afterwards an academy teacher stepped forward and announced, that we could look for our names on the lists, that were hung up. With that, people began to leave the room. Arata and I decided to stay behind for a bit so that things could cool down a bit before leaving.
"Look, Masashi, we are in the same class!" Arata announced cheerfully, pointing at the board.
I made my way over to him and went through the list he was pointing at. 'Huh, two clan kids, one Aburame and one Hyuga.' I thought. What surprised me was that our sensei was still Akira Tanaka.
"Heh, seems like Tanaka-sensei didn't want to leave us." I snorted."Let's head to our classroom." I joked.
We decided to headed to our new classroom. Most of the others were already there, so we both took one of the few free desks.
Looking around, I spotted the Hyuga in the row next to me and the Aburame at the back of the room. Both seemingly ignoring the others. 'Huh, not gonna lie, I was expecting this.' I thought.
The Hyuga were usually too stuck up to talk to what they deemed 'commoners' and the Aburame were as a whole not very social.
As Tanaka-sensei entered the room, he proceeded to introduce himself and did a roll call. He also gave us a rough outline for the coming school year.
Seemingly done with all the organizational stuff, we moved to the training yard for taijutsu practice. We started with sparring matches, so sensei could get a rough estimate of our skill.
"Masashi and Aburame Shohta" Tanaka-sensei spoke.
I think Shohta's name fit him rather well, meaning big person. He wore goggles and a mask, which covered his hair and most of his facial features. He looked really cool. 'Maybe I should get a mask too?' I thought.
We both stepped into the ring and bowed to each other. I knew that Shohta had the strength advantage, I was rather tall myself, but he was still almost half a head taller than me. I needed to outsmart him.
"Ready?" sensei asked and received two nods "Begin!".
Neither of us rushed in, waiting for the other to move. We started circling each other until he seemingly had enough and decided to make the first move. He tried to strike at me with his right hand, which I ducked under. He continued his assault towards me and using his superior range forced me to keep defending.
I am slowly pushed back, and I am close to the outside of the circle. 'Fuck, I need to do something, and fast!' I panicked slightly. Deciding to do something unexpected, I sidestepped a kick to my head, but instead of hitting him, I just tackled against the larger kid. Not expecting this move, Shohta stumbled back a bit, which gave me the opening I was looking for. I faint left, but attack his right side. Not reacting quickly enough, my fist passes his guard and connects with his head.
Shohta landed on the ground with a thud. I couldn't see his eyes because of the goggles, but I think he was surprised at the outcome. He had a small bruise on his cheek, but otherwise seemed fine.
"That's enough, good job Masashi and you to Shohta." He told us, seemingly pleased with our performance.
I went over to where Shohta was trying to stand up, extending my hand to help him up, which he took.
"Well fought, I got lucky there." I spoke with a smile.
"Thanks, you as well. I didn't expect you to tackle me so suddenly." he said in a voice almost devoid of emotion. But I think he enjoyed the fight too.
After doing the seal of reconciliation, we continued to watch the matches. Arata was up against another civilian. The fight was over fairly quickly, with Arata being the winner. The only other fight, I was interested in, was the fight of the Hyuga, who was apparently called Hisoki. I was a little disappointed, his fight lasted barely 30 seconds.
'I guess I have to wait to see how strong the Hyuga really was.' I thought. He was also probably not from the main branch, seeing as he was covering his forehead with a headband.
After the sparring, we were separated into groups of four and trained our reaction speed.
Hearing the bell ring, Tanaka-sensei called us all together again to end the day.
As the other kids were leaving, I made my way over towards the Aburame kid, Arata following me.
"Hey Shohta, can we talk for a minute?" I asked him.
"Sure." he simply responded.
"I was wondering if you would like to train with us. Arata and I often meet after the academy. We mostly train taijutsu and chakra control currently, but we also do prep for the other subjects. If you want, you can join us." I told him.
He seemed to consider the idea for a few moments, before responding.
"That would be acceptable. Why? Because you beat me in our match." he reasoned. His speech was kind of weird, but I attributed this to being a member of the Aburame clan.
"I could join you every Wednesday and Friday after the academy for a few hours, if this is okay for you?" he asked.
"Sure, we can use one of the academy training grounds. Glad to have another sparring partner."
With that, we decided to leave. Arata and I continued talking about our new classmates on our way out and decided to treat ourselves to some ramen.
Apartment Building, Konoha
I made a lot of progress in the past few weeks since the academy started. The new classes are fairly challenging, but I can handle it pretty well. Ninjutsu and Genjutsu are difficult to learn and require a lot of dedication. Without a lot of talent, you have to train really hard to master it. That is why most of the civilians are struggling with the classwork.
Our almost daily extra training is helping a lot. It is also cool that Shohta joined us. He has excellent taijutsu skills and regularly wipes the floor with me and Arata.
For months now, I have thought about what I could do to grow my chances of survival. In my opinion, the best choice was Fuinjutsu. The problem that I can't practice until I learn something like the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu or get a good teacher. It would be beyond stupid to try seals yourself, one imperfect brush stroke, and you are done.
With a sigh, I placed the idea in the back of my mind. The risk was simply not worth it at the moment.
Other than that, I tried growing my chakra reserves. As a result, I was almost passing out every evening from chakra exhaustion. Once I managed to land a stint in the hospital. I was lucky that Arata was with me. Otherwise, this could have ended badly.
The good news is that my reserves have grown and are probably on par with most of the clan kids. Which is the minimum I want to maintain, knowing that the Second Shinobi World War is just around the corner. I had the chance to see what kind of power even chunin hopefuls wield, and quite frankly it terrified me.
Flashback Chunin finals
"Who do you think will win, Masashi?" Arata asked from my right.
"I think the Uchiha will win. The Suna shinobi is good, but he got lucky his last opponent underestimated him." I responded.
"I also think the Uchiha will win. Why? Because he has a fire affinity and the Suna shinobi has a wind affinity." Shohta reasoned. I nodded to that. It was unfortunate for him, but he was clearly disadvantaged. Further conversation was stopped, when a voice was heard over the speakers, and we turned to the arena. Down in the middle of it stood the proctor, a leaf shinobi. On opposite sides of the arena stood the two contestants.
"Welcome to the finals of the Chunin exams." he began. "To my right is the finalist of Konoha, Uchiha Taiko." a massive round of cheers could be heard after the announcement. "To my left is the contestant from Suna, Kazu Oeda." the cheers were a lot quieter this time.
"No killings are allowed." He spoke to both contestants seriously. "On my signal, the fight will start. You will also cease all fighting if I use the whistle after that, Is this clear?"
"Hai" "Hai"
The proctor nods.
*WHISTLE*
With the signal given, the two contestant ran towards each other.
Katon: Great Fireball Technique the Uchiha shouted.
Fuuton: Great Breakthrough the wind user responded.
The wind user was obviously disadvantaged, but he must have known this because as the two jutsu clashed, he disappeared from his position and reappeared right next to the Uchiha. Only closely dodging a kunai, the Uchiha and the other boy started a taijutsu fight.
It was an impressive display, and It was very hard to follow their fast movements.
The surprise wore off very fast and the Uchiha again gained the upper hand, his sharingan spinning madly. He could easily predict the movements of his opponent, who was aware of his predicament. He used his Shunshin to get some space between him and his opponent. Only moments later, the Uchiha follower with a Shunshin of his own in quick pursue.
That's when the Suna ninja made his mistake, he looked the Uchiha in the eyes. I didn't know what jutsu he used, but from the reaction of the Suna shinobi, I would guess it was a genjutsu. His eyes diluted a bit, and he lost his focus for a split second. This was enough for the Uchiha, that was now holding a kunai to the other shinobi's throat.
*WHISTLE*
"The fight is over! The winner of this year's chunin exam is Uchiha Taiko." the crowd cheered in obvious approval. My two friend also looked on in awe and cheered for their local champion.
"He is really good, don't you think?" Arata asked us.
"Yeah, we have a lot of training to do until we reach his level, that is for sure." I reasoned with a sigh. It was quite frustrating to see the skill difference between the Uchiha in the arena and us academy students.
Flashback end
The chunin exams were also the first time, I could observe foreign shinobi, although I kept my distance. I wanted to avoid causing any trouble.
On a happier note, I now receive the stipend for academy students, which means that I no longer needed to do so many odd jobs besides the academy. That gave me back some leisure time, which I really needed, feeling the stress slowly building up.
With that in mind, I decided to go to bed early today.
Hey guys, chapter 5 is now live.
I hope you liked the little flashback to the last chunin exams :)
Like always, please read and review.
SSW
