Authors Forenote – I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does.
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Academy
Naruto almost bounced through the gates of the Academy, his bokken in an orange-strapped sheath diagonally across his back, a sheath designed to let him unsheathe it and deliver a downwards strike in one well-practised move that B had drilled into him. A trio of pouches held his supplies (Roshi had insisted he carry them even, or especially, in training) including Kunai and Shuriken which Yugito had taught both him and Gaara how to throw.
The item that he was most proud of, however, was the metal disc he wore on his shoulder, just above his clan icon. The disc was comprised of eight metal segments arranged around a central one with the numbers 1 to 8 around the edge (except for number 3 which had been left blank to indicate that the Mizukage was not considered part of the Biju Brethren, as they called themselves… well, as he and Gaara called them… well, mainly him, but it was catchy darn it!) and the number 9 was engraved on the middle section. The other Jinchuuriki had their own discs, Gaara's had the 1 in the middle and the other numbers around the outside whereas B had 8 in the middle, and between the central disc and the backing metal was the jutsu formula for the Hiraishin, allowing each of them to know where the others were constantly and, should they pulse chakra through the disc, alert the others that they needed help.
B was working on a way to allow them to alert a specific person, but apparently the Hiraishin formulae was incredibly complex once you got past the first level (whatever that meant) and B was having issues solving the problem. Nevertheless, Naruto was sure he could do it because Killer B was awesomeness personified.
Reaching the classroom he had been assigned to (and why Jiji had looked so relieved when Naruto had asked if he was still allowed to join the Academy despite often popping offto see his friends, he still had no clue. It must have been one of those old-guy things…), Naruto slid quietly into the classroom, trying to avoid getting attention, something that Utakata had taught him.
"A true shinobi is one who is not noticed unless he wishes to be. The best can talk to someone and five seconds later, the person does not remember them. An experienced shinobi only acts when he knows what needs doing. Observe, think, and only then act, young Naruto. And make sure people have no reason to observe you."
It had been hard for Naruto to learn to control himself enough to be stealthy, but the hide-and-seek games with Gaara and Yugito (aka tracking practise) had helped him considerably. As such, he managed to slide into his seat without a single one of the other students sparing him more than a quick glance, if that.
Hiding a smile, Naruto glanced round, then he leaned back in his chair, shifting slightly to settle his bokken into a more comfortable position.
His first day as a Shinobi-in-training was about to begin!
This was going to be totally awesome!
And afterwards, he would meet Gaara at Ichiraku's and boast about how awesome it had been!
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Naruto trudged into Ichiraku's and pulled himself up onto his regular stool before glancing at the trio who were looking at him in concern.
"Hi, Gaara. Temari, Kankuro."
"Naruto… what happened?" Gaara asked worriedly. "You seem… depressed."
Naruto shook his head before letting out a sound midway between a sigh and a groan. "It's just… It was my first day at the Academy today."
"Suna's Academy starts next week." Temari noted.
"Yeah, well, I thought it would be… would be… Argh! It was boring! Even the ranking spars were boring!"
"We have been receiving training from six other Jinchuuriki, brother." Gaara pointed out.
"Yeah, but… I hoped that I'd have a spar that lasted more than five seconds! You know? I want some competition, darn it! I want a rival, someone to compete against!"
"Would a spar after Ramen help you relax?" Gaara prodded and Naruto sighed.
"Sorry. It's just so… urgh."
"I admit that I am now rather concerned about my own learning experience."
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Hiruzen stared at the Headmaster and first-year teacher who were standing in front of him.
"…what?"
"Sir, why has a full genin enrolled into the Academy?" The Headmaster repeated.
"He flattened all the other students." The teacher added. "Almost half of them have quit already!"
"Then they were obviously unsuited to becoming Shinobi." Hiruzen countered. "So, who is this one that you believe is already a genin?"
"Uzumaki Naruto." The Headmaster stated and Hiruzen fought the urge to face-palm.
"He is not a genin." Hiruzen finally replied. "Although, like many of the clan-children, he has received training elsewhere."
"Training?!" The teacher yelped. "Dammit, sir, who's been training him? Itachi?"
From his desk to one side, Itachi (who in order to denote his imminent ascension to the position of Hokage was clad in the same style of robes as Hiruzen, albeit without the hat,) raised an eyebrow.
"Although I have met young Uzumaki several times, I can assure you that I have not been training him." Itachi stated. "While I have been training my younger brother somewhat, that is all I can claim at this point. Out of interest, how did Sasuke do?"
The teacher shrugged. "I don't know, he's in a different class."
"I do believe that I should witness the next sparring session." Hiruzen mused. "It sounds like it could be interesting."
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Naruto trudged out onto the sparring field with a sigh as the other children scooted away from him (although there were nowhere near as many as last time), then the Teacher made a noise of shock.
"Lord Hokage! Jonin Uchiha! I wasn't expecting you here today?"
"Well, I had some time in my schedule and decided to come and witness my shinobi-to-be in action." Hiruzen smiled genially. "As for Hokage Koho Itachi, he decided to tag along too. For some reason, he seems to enjoy listening to my longwinded rambling."
Itachi's face seemed blank, but Naruto spotted the slight flicker that suggested he had stomped firmly on the impulse to roll his eyes.
"So," Hiruzen continued as he sat down on the chair that a briefly-visible ANBU had produced from a scroll, "How does this work? I have to admit, it's been quite some time since I was a trainee, so my memories are rather rusty."
"Ummm, yes, Lord Hokage. As you say."
Naruto managed not to laugh at how rattled the teacher was. "Alright… the first two names, please?"
The assistant teacher reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out two folded pieces of paper.
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"Something more interesting than this lesson?" Mizuki asked with a frown at the Inuzuka boy who was ignoring the writing on the board and staring out the window.
"The Hokage's on the sparring field!"
"Don't be stupid." Ino Yamanake sneered. "That's even less believable than your… what? Hey, he really is!"
"Told you." Kiba growled as the majority of the class abandoned their lesson and rushed across to the window for a better view.
"Who's the blond boy?" Shikamaru asked after a moment. "And how did he do that?"
"He just threw my cousin out of the ring in one move!" Choji gasped. "How did he…?"
"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed. "It looks like he used the attack to power his own move. That's… actually quite interesting. Who is he? A style like that would be a gift from the kamis for my clan."
"Because you're a bunch of lazy…" Ino started before catching Iruka's quelling gaze and shutting up.
"It looks like he's surprised about something."
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Naruto looked round in confusion. The last time he had sparred, he had won almost without trying, which had led to him being told he could sit out the rest of the sparring time. This time, though, they had put his name into the bag for the second round.
What was going on?
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"Second round, he's going out again." Shikamaru noted. "This time he's up against a… that was fast."
"Did he just… jump-kick his opponant out of the ring?" Sakura sounded totally shocked. "There's no way he's that strong… is he?"
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"Naruto-kun, what technique was that?" Hiruzen asked, his voice perfectly pitched to carry without having to shout.
"It's a derivative of the tree-climbing technique." Naruto called back. "If you pulse your chakra right, it pushes things away very fast. You can use it to jump as well."
"The tree-climbing technique?" The main teacher sounded shocked. "We haven't even properly started the leaf-floating exercise yet!"
Naruto frowned in confusion. "You haven't? You mean I'm the only one who has?"
Hiruzen shook his head. "Itachi, can you spar with him? Naruto, let's see what level your fighting skills are… we'll use the largest ring."
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"They're moving to the Competition Ring." Shikamaru mused. "Why would they do that? Unless…"
"Brother?" Sasuke exclaimed in shock as Itachi shed his robes to reveal he was wearing a standard ANBU uniform underneath. As Naruto stepped into the ring, Itachi replaced his weapons with ones that the ANBU who had provided Hiruzen's seat brought him, then he entered the ring and took up position, the two bowing to each other before dropping into their stances.
"What's your brother doing?" Ino prompted.
"He's in the basic stance for the Intercepting Fist." Sasuke noted. ""He's not using one of the advanced stances, but he… what?!"
"How did he launch himself like that?" Choji wondered as the blond boy rolled to his feet.
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Naruto hurled the practice Kunai that he had palmed at the start and used to lead his attack while with his other hand, he unsheathed his bokken in a diagonal downwards slash, only for it to be halted by a straight wooden sword. Naruto grinned at his adversary, then did a spinning attack using a trick he had picked up from B, dropping his bokken and catching it in his knee before somersaulting backwards, then catching the falling bokken and using the momentum to perform a rising slash.
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Choji's crisps fell to the floor as everyone gaped at the scene before them.
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Itachi recovered his balance. Although he was not using his sharingan, his reflexes were more than up to the challenge before him, although he believed that the highly unorthodox move that Naruto had just pulled would have come close to penetrating even Hiruzen's bojutsu defences due to the sheer unexpectedness of it.
While he could easily defeat Naruto in seconds if he went all-out (even without using his sharingan), the strange technique had intrigued him.
As Naruto tensed ready to attack again, Itachi countered him by launching his own set of strikes. Caught off-guard, Naruto staggered backwards, frantically defending himself, then he caught on to the patten and his blocks and redirects became smoother and more fluid as he fought to reclaim control of the spar.
Whoever had taught him kenjutsu had obviously been a master, although several of the blocks held hints of a different village's style.
A couple of probing attacks revealed to Itachi that the one who had trained Naruto had learned their style in Kumogakure and his wooden blade moved in a disarming technique developed specifically for use against Kumo kenjutsu practitioners. Naruto's blade spun into the air, but even as Itachi swung the sword back down, Naruto had pulled out a pair of practise kunai and had dropped into a defensive stance.
"Halt."
Naruto looked down and sighed at the sight of his foot just outside the line.
"Thank you for the spar, Itachi-sama." Naruto bowed, his kunai seeming to vanish.
"You have great potential, Uzumaki-san." Itachi replied calmly, not even a single drop of sweat showing that he had been in a spar as opposed to a conversation. "I look forwards to seeing what you can achieve when you have accepted your hitai-ate."
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"…troublesome." Shikamaru sighed as everyone watched the two bow to each other again. "I think that we're going to find ourselves pushed harder than I expected. What a drag..."