almost published this with 'longue' room *facepalm*

a little more of an idea of my konoha. yeah, it probably doesn't make sense and doesn't hold up to actual cities, but I wanted a little more order to konoha. I have a map but it's only done in pencil lmao.

thanks for reading!

Paprika - Foorin

Paprika was a pretty popular song when I was over in Japan (2019). Although Kenshi Yonezu's version I thought of more popular, I found the Foorin version cuter and more... true to the song? If you get what I mean. I love me some Kenshi Yonezu/hachi, but Paprika I feel is better sung by excited children. Which matches this chapter lmao

(The original chapter is too long so I split it in two)

The necklace was thick and made sleeping uncomfortable. The string was several strings woven together for durability, and it was threaded through a wooden cube barely small enough she could close her hand around it. The edges were sanded down and it was lovingly worn, the little symbols etched on the surfaces full of meaning and promises.

Yuri, full name Oniyuri of the Suisei clan, had worn it since she received it three years ago. Her clan's symbol was engraved on one side, a companion to a different clan's symbol on the neighbouring surface. She ran her thumb over the grooves, then dropped the cube under her shirt, patting down the fabric. Her face mask attached, Yuri turned away from the mirror and exited her room.

Ajisai wasn't her brother through parentage, although, only one of her siblings shared a common parent. He was the closest one to her, though. He was also the only one who loathed mornings and loved to sleep in.

"Ajisai, I'm making lunch. What do you want?" she called through the door. Her brother's incoherent answer hardly made it through the walls. She nodded, thinking through what they had as she walked through the lounge room.

Rose's massive frame was squeezed into the couch, even though there was a perfectly serviceable guest room between Ajisai's and Yuri's bedrooms. He had one arm thrown over his eyes, his hairy armpit on show to the world. She would tickle it if she didn't know how sweaty it was.

Breakfast was a simple bowl of cornflake cereal for herself. With how late Ajisai woke up, communal breakfast was wasteful, and cereal required less effort. With that done, Yuri began lunch, preparing sausages wrapped in cheese as Ajisai requested, along with a mini salad and a helping of white rice.

Ajisai's box was returned to the fridge, her own placed neatly in her backpack, fitting in with her books and pencil case perfectly. By then it was seven, and class didn't start until eight-thirty. Factoring in travel time, Yuri only had to leave just before eight.

She settled in the lounge room with one of her course books, flicking through theory she already knew. The rustling pages must've annoyed Rose because he groaned and slowly sat up straight.

"Mornin," he grunted, dully staring at the blank walls. Having just moved in last week, the apartment was lacking in decoration. Yuri was going to fix that, but for now, Rose had to wake himself up.

"Good morning," she replied, closing the book for now and returning it to the coffee table set between the three-seater and single chair. "Got anything planned for today?"

"Nothing until this evening. You still want to go to the hot springs?" she rolled her eyes. "Thought so. Today's your first day, right?"

She nodded. "Ajisai's school doesn't start until next week. Probably so those who drop out of the ninja academy don't have to miss out on much."

"Yeah, the first week is full of tests to figure out where you are." Rose yawned, then twisted his head side to side, relishing the loud cracks. "Some clan kids typically skip one or two grades."

She took the knowledge in with a hum. Years ago, Rose had been Yuri was – in a body too young, getting ready for an occupation that previously existed solely in fantasy.

Like the alluded clan kids, Yuri had previous training. Their clan had about a dozen members who had studied, trained, and eventually returned from their ninja village to protect the Suisei clan as they travelled. Rose's village was Konoha, and so when Yuri chose the Village Hidden in the Leaves, he had taken up the role to introduce the two of them to his old village.

"How many grades did you skip?"

"Immediately, I skipped three years, which I'm sure you'll do as well. Then a few years later war was declared and I was immediately graduated. I wasn't pushed to the front lines until further down the track though."

"Then you returned to the academy," she recalled.

"Yeah, taught for a few years, then joined their version of the Men in Black. About a year before you were born I quit and returned to the clan." Rose sighed, dwelling for a moment in the memories. Then he grunted and heaved himself up. "Oh boy, that couch is pretty squishy. I'm going to make myself some breakky, oooh yeah, baby…"

Yuri wrinkled her nose at the couch as Rose entered the kitchen singing under his breath. She wanted far firmer couches, knowing she would concentrate more if the couches weren't so comfy. Couch surfing didn't matter when they had a guest room! But Ajisai had demanded, and so they got a couch worthy of sleeping in (even though, as Rose had shown, it still gave pretty bad neck cricks). The couch she was sitting on was her side of the bargain. At least she could claim it as her couch and not have anyone else sit in it.

Fifteen minutes to eight, Yuri slid on her tabi and geta. Ajisai wasn't even close to waking up, so Rose had left a note on the fridge door for him. Together, they left their little apartment.

The streets were already alive with yelling children and hurried parents. It was the residential area, so it lacked shops apart from the occasional homemade sweet store and was peppered with playgrounds and parks between the roundish white buildings housing everyone. Their apartment was quite close to the Central Square, close enough that the giant tree could be seen peeking over the orange tiled rooftops of every apartment. On the other side of Central Square was Inari's Hemisphere, the hub of trade and services in Konoha.

Here were all the stores where nearly every civilian worked. Tucked behind the first few streets of yelling store owners and bright storefronts were the workshops and work sheds, where bigger items were made and stored. Behind that were the stores for the permanent residents, like bookstores and tea shops.

Along the curved edge of Inari's Hemisphere was the tourist area, as it was the closest tourists could get to the magnificent Hokage faces before they got into the richer, and private, civilian housing. To the side of the faces was the Hokage tower, standing nearly as tall as the cliffside that protected the south of Konoha. The tower sat at the end of Fire Shadow Way, as it couldn't be called the South Road as it was more south-east.

As the Hokage was at the end of Fire Shadow Way, shops continued to line the road. Yuri knew that behind the two-storey and sometimes three-storey buildings was more residentials. Between Fire Shadow Way and the East Road were the comfy civilians. Yuri and Ajisai had chosen to live in the (slightly struggling) civilian area, which was the corner of the North Road and the West Road, snug against Central Square.

Yuri could see young children like her dragging their stressed parents towards the Hokage Tower. The ninja academy rested at the foot of the spire, perhaps a physical representation of the little kids who would someday grow up to enter the Hokage Tower.

The two of them turned left just before the Tower, following the wide and worn road to the academy. There were thick crowds of parents and their children, as it was about ten minutes before class started and little Yuuko had yet to fix her clothes.

Yuri turned to Rose, straining her neck until the larger man squatted.

"Alright!" he grinned at her, getting one in reply. With her face mask though, he could only see the crinkle of her eyes. "Looks like it's your first day at school!"

"Wow," she dryly said, "This is totally my first day of school."

"Ooh boy, those teachers won't know what will hit them." Rose rubbed his hands together with a smirk. "They didn't know what to do with me. You? You'll twist words right 'round their heads!"

"Japanese isn't my first language," she protested.

"Yeah, but you'll know what to do when they treat you like a dumb shit." He laughed. "Go get them, tiger!"

She rolled her eyes at the name, but turned and walked away.

She found her name easily enough and the class with it too. When she entered, she chose a front desk and didn't bother to interact with the other six-year-olds. There was no way she wasn't skipping a few grades.

Her teacher wore a thick jacket over the dark blue of typical Konoha ninja; his green chuunin vest peaked through the open front of the trench coat, and, to top it all off, he wore wide sunglasses. He entered the class quietly and stood behind the desk, holding what Yuri guessed was a class role.

"Good morning, I'm your teacher Aburame Seiji. The next three days we'll be holding placement tests to ensure you will be placed in your skill level. I will now call your names. Please respond with a here, and if need be, the name you wish to be referred to as."

Around Yuri, her classmates kept on shouting, ignoring their teacher. Yuri looked back to the teacher and realised he was staring at her. She shrugged. His shoulders sagged.

Fifteen minutes later, after a lot of arguing and haranguing, the class was quiet enough to hear their teacher. Aburame didn't bother with the introduction again, realising that his students were very young kids. Instead, he jumped straight into the roll call. When Oniyuri was called, a few kids around her made faces.

"Why would you be called tiger lily?" a girl demanded.

"Clan custom. Everyone is called a flower." She answered, then waved her hand at Aburame. "Please call me Yuri though."

"What's your dad called then?" the same girl demanded. She was confused for a second before she figured out what she was asking.

"He isn't my father. Bara is just a fellow clan member."

"He's called Bara? But he's HUGE!" the kid threw open her arms just so Yuri could understand how big he was.

"I know," she smirked under her mask, "Quite fitting, is it not?"

"Now, now," Aburame sighed, wary of the six-year-olds losing concentration. "Let's continue. Next is…"

Half an hour later they were frowning over tests and exams. The language was incredibly simple, and the problems they offered varied from why-are-you-asking-me-this to a few seconds of math working to the side of it. Aburame must have seen how fast she flew through the tests and gave her a language comprehension test… then a kanji when she was done with that. By the time the other kids had finished their first test, Yuri had finished three and still had plenty of time left over. She was bored, but it was expected. A university graduate being graded on Pythagoras theorem-level questions. It was almost the start of a bad Mary Sue joke.

Aburame had the sense to not keep the enthusiastic kids inside any longer. They trooped outside and were tested on their physical shape through running laps and climbing over playgrounds with passion. Most of the kids were raring to go, viewing it as playtime, but either exhausted themselves quickly or lost focus on the goal.

Yuri trudged through the tasks one by one. Aburame had come, to that point, expect her results, and quickly sent her on unique tasks that demanded higher and higher standards… for a six-year-old. Who had never studied before.

Yuri wasn't the only clan kid who outstripped others; there were kids from all kinds of clans who were physically in better shape. Most of them were from the Inuzuka clan, but there were more than enough from the other Konoha clans, like the Hyuuga, or the Yamanaka. There was a particularly spirited Akimichi as well, their determined face framed by loads of sweat.

It was barely after lunch when Aburame declared the day over. "Suisei, Akimichi, please stay behind." Was all that he added.

The kids all left rapidly, and she lined up with the strong-willed Akimichi. Their teacher looked far more exhausted than this morning, as his shoulders had fallen into a slouch sometime during their physical examinations and not risen since. He didn't rub his temples, but it looked like a serious effort not to.

"Aburame-sensei?" Yuri questioned. He looked at them and sighed.

"You two will be moved up a grade. You both have good physical levels, but even better, your much more mentally prepared than your age peers."

Akimichi cheered at his words, fist-pumping the air.

"Are we the only two? Other clan kids were also our level."

"Only physically. Clans tend to forget that they also have to teach their kids the book side, not just the physical side of being a ninja. Akimichi, well done on proving you can go up a grade. Suisei, I don't think anyone could teach you anything from the books no matter how long you stay at the academy."

No shit, she said to herself. But she could see Aburame's point; physical condition could be achieved pretty easily. Book knowledge tended to be harder to learn, particularly at this age.

"Before you go, please tell me you have experience in kunai and sharp weaponry." Yuri nodded while Akimichi shook their head. "Alright then. I'll tell the teachers then. Have a good day." The teacher almost stumbled out the door.

Yuri didn't have to hide her grin at that.

"You did pretty well out there. You looked like you were putting in a lot of effort." She said to Akimichi.

"Yeah! My friends are in a grade above me, so I really want to join them." They grinned, proud. Then they looked at Yuri pretty seriously. "I saw how fast you were going through those tests though. You have nothing on me!"

"I have a little advantage, though." She dismissed. "Have fun with your friends."

The Akimichi was a little confused by her words but they separated at the gates with simple goodbyes.