"You want me to enrol into a ninja academy?" Toph asks incredulously. She drops most of the metal that had been brought with her onto the ground. She keeps a small portion of it balled up in her palm.
Zuko awkwardly shrugs as he avoids her surprisingly focused gaze. They're in a simply-furnished apartment with two bedrooms and one bath.
The area that are in is obviously not a very rich or particularly safe neighbourhood, but they weren't about to ask the scary ninja government for better benefits. They certainly knew how to take care of themselves but they weren't particularly keen on trying to find their way around the continent themselves. So they decided to suck it up and stay in Konoha.
"They want you to have schooling if we are to claim citizenship, and I don't actually have any way to prove that I can homeschool you. Besides, it seems as though everyone here attends the academy. It could be good for information gathering, " he reasoned.
"And what the fuck would you be doing then?" Toph says. She walks over to a short table and plops herself down over a hard zabuton, folding her legs over each other in an easy pose. Zuko winces as she idly pushes metal against the surface of the wooden table until it dents.
"I'm getting a job. We do need money after all,"
Toph nods and stretches her arms up and behind her. She begins leaning back and eventually just ends up laying on the ground.
"Alright then." Toph bends her knees up and taps the heel of one of her feet into the ground, the metal in her hands shoots up and stills in the air. Zuko watches it warily for a moment before it plummets back down to Toph and stops a hairsbreadth away from her stomach. It begins to shift around in shape. "I'll become a 'ninja' for a while, but don't be surprised if I test out of the classes. Do you think there are any fight clubs around here?"
Zuko sighs and walks over to her area in the living room, he sits on the table and turns toward Toph- though he doesn't really have to.
"I wouldn't know. Please don't draw too much attention to yourself?" He asks. Toph scoffs before scowling.
"Right back at you, buddy,"
Zuko wanders the street of Konoha. It's the next day, and he was given some money that he doesn't know the value of, but after some careful observation of other people in the market, he was able to discern what each different bill should be about.
They had at least four days until Toph had to go to the academy. Until then, Zuko will be looking for a job and Toph will be in the library researching.
It was harder than he thought it'd be to look for a job. When Iroh was around, Zuko would just go along with whatever the man illustrated for them. Now, Zuko can't seem to find many old men in tea shops willing to pay some scarred teen to make tea.
And you have gotten used to the rather lavish life of a Firelord. Druk unhelpfully adds. Zuko tenses for a moment before his brain quickly registers Druk's presence. He nearly forgot about Druk's particular arrangement.
He was getting frustrated. And hungry. Zuko's stomach growls and he embarrassedly grits his teeth as a woman glances at him pityingly. He looks down at the few bills he had brought with him.
Fine. He'll eat lunch and then find a job.
Toph isn't as bored as one would think she'd be. Zuko's bright plan 'Send the blind girl to a library,' wasn't as dumb as it seemed on the surface.
For one, she can listen to what people are studying about together in the library. A few talkative study groups can help indicate a few things about the society they're in. There was a lot of vague history, more mentions of wars, but also a few mentions of fighting styles. She hears one student complain about certain history being too secretive, and then she hears another scold them for the sentiment. Definitely, a ninja town of paranoia if she's ever imagined one.
Secondly, Toph gets to see how accommodating they are to disabilities- which turns out to be very. She was immediately led to a blind section when she asked, and though the intern guy that led her there immediately left after, Toph was impressed.
There's a whole two aisles of braille-like texts in the library. The braille numbering here seems to be the same, but the alphabet is different.
No matter, she'll just learn a new alphabet.
She hears a new person wandering over and immediately reverts into a more childish disposition. When they get into her range, she scratches her head and hums.
"Could you-" Toph scrunches her nose up and her hand raises to rub against the top of it, "Could you help me real quick?"
She hears the woman- no, the man, shrug before crouching down near her. The steps are light in a way that indicates the same militant training as the ninja she's met, but they're also more relaxed.
"What do you need?" He asks. Toph smiles brightly and turns toward the man. He already exudes a teacher-like presence.
"Can you help me find a workbook on the, the alphabet for blind people?" Toph asks, she carefully adds in a childish stutter to her speech. She can practically hear the man smiling kindly at her.
"Of course! Give me one moment,"
And it really was a quick moment. Less than a minute passes before the man is crouching back down near her and carefully holding a book out to her.
"Here you go, I'm holding out to you by the way. Where's your guardian?"
Guardian, the man had asked, not parents. His voice is swathed with concern and Toph can't decide on whether she should be offended or glad that there's at least one adult in this world that treats kids like kids. War might've ended closer to current time than she had originally thought. Toph reaches out and pats over the book before holding it and bringing it close to her chest.
"He's busy working right now. I gotta practise reading while he's out. He'll pick me up later though,"
Toph feels the man relax, confirming her assumption of how independent this place let their kids be.
"Alright then. Do you need any help with the workbook? I'm actually a teacher" he asks. He isn't lying.
Surprised only for a moment, Toph shyly nods.
Zuko eventually finds his way to a food stall blanketed in a meaty aroma. He wasn't able to find any of his usual spices or preferred fruits in the food market, and he has yet to come across any of the scents associated with the spicy food of his culture.
As he shifts onto the stool standing against a counter, he hears a happy "Welcome! I'll be with you in a moment!" Zuko smiles back, though the man can't see him, and picks up a nearby menu. Oh, he thinks, This is a noodle place. Carefully, he reaches into his pockets and pulls out a couple of bills.
"Hiya! Are you a ninja? I haven't seen you around- Where did you get your swords? Wait, are you allowed to be here?" a voice suddenly cuts into his ears. Zuko's relaxed smile strains a bit as he turns towards the voice's owner.
A short, blonde-haired teen looks up at him. There's a metal band around his forehead indicating his status as a ninja. A closer look at the teen's clothes and he can see that he's just a genin. Zuko eyes him for a moment before turning back to the banknotes he pulled out.
"Scarred-Eye! I was talkin' to you! Are you allowed to be here-"
"Naruto!"
Zuko is saved from reprimanding the kid himself as the cook from earlier begins scolding 'Naruto' on respecting strangers. The man sighs and pats the now-pouting blonde's head before turning towards Zuko.
"Sorry, young man, he didn't mean to offend you. Name's Teuchi, what would you like to order? First one's on Naruto here since he was so ready to bother ya," Teuchi says loudly, he sends a pointed glance at Naruto whose mouth opens for a moment before solemnly closing.
"I'm sorry, I was just wonderin' about your weapons, is all,"
Zuko softens slightly and nods before hesitantly pocketing his bills and ordering beef ramen with lots of pepper flakes. He turns hesitantly towards Naruto and smiles as kindly as he can. He watches as Naruto tenses.
"I'm a swordsman, not a ninja. I just moved here, and I already have a license for these so don't worry," he explains, gesturing to his swords as needed.
Naruto immediately brightens up and Zuko grimaces slightly as the boy hops onto a stool next to him and orders three bowls of 'the usual.' He pauses though, as Druk suddenly growls into his thoughts.
There is something wrong with the boy, Druk whispers to him. Zuko keeps back his immediate wish to incredulously shut Druk down. Zuko focuses back on Naruto's face and takes in the almost-innocent shine to the boy's eyes.
"What's your name? I'm Naruto, and I'm genin by the way,"
Zuko pauses before hesitantly introducing himself.
"My name is Zuko, it is nice to meet you too,"
The kid brightens even more and Zuko can feel Teuchi's eyes on them as the man cooks their meals. Naruto seems to vibrate in pure excitement, and Zuko can't help but compare him to Sokka's overenthusiastic kids. Zuko eyes the bit again before an idea sparks in his mind.
"Does being a ninja pay well?"
The teacher, who's name is Iruka as Toph learns, buds her farewell and good luck as he leaves the library. He was actually extremely good at teaching and didn't seem to be annoyed or pitying about her blindness at all.
She's got the alphabet fairly memorized now, and though It's getting late she figures she can look through some more books.
Her fingers trace over the raised digits along the book spines. She passes over some interesting-sounding historical texts before stopping abruptly on one.
"Basic Chakra Techniques of a Ninja"
She pulls it off the shelf and carefully sits on the ground next to it. For the next hour, she reads through the book with increasing wonder and interest.
The book instructs on techniques about pulling out your inner chakra, which would've been familiar if not for the fact that their definition and description of chakra was wildly different. The author had gone on about meditating- also familiar- but had waxed poetry about some sort of singular pool of energy within each form of life. There was nothing about restricted energy flows or types of chi at all.
She gets to the end of the book and carefully closes it. She wonders for a moment upon whether or not she should bring it with her before sighing and placing it back on its spot on the shelf. Hesitating for a moment, Toph closes her eyes and settles back down upon the ground, and pulls her legs into a meditative shape.
A deep breath and she's extending a form of herself inwards. She passes chi points and familiar wells of power before stopping at her centre, where her supposed chakra should be.
There's nothing there.
Frustrated, she pulls at her core harder, extending her reach throughout her abdomen in a curious search for this world's chakra. But again, there's nothing similar to the chakra mentioned in the book at all.
Alright then. She carefully falls out of the meditative trance and stands.
She doesn't have access to this world's chakra, but that's fine. She's never needed more power anyways. She begins to head back home and puts the niggling disappointment she felt into a box at the back of her mind.