Chapter 5

To the Academy

Tri, Naruto and Itachi were stood in a line on one of the Academies training grounds. On a platform above was the Yondaime Hokage, decked out in his cloak and hat. He was about to give the speech he gave the new students every year. Looking down at the new batch amongst all the new students who weren't descended from a clan. There were the heirs to the Uchiha and Inuzuka clans. And while their clan's respective heirs weren't yet old enough there was also a Yamanaka and an Akimichi. And for the first time since he and Kushina had attended the Academy, both the Uzumaki and the Namikaze clans was also represented.

Minato took a breath and began. "New students, greetings and welcome to the Shinobi Academy of Konohagakure. Today you begin your first step on the way to becoming the next generation of guardians, defenders of your families, friends, your homes and your country. But what does it mean to be a Konoha Shinobi? It's deepest meaning is one only you can answer in time but its meaning is also one in which you all share regardless of birth or family name. You are all the embodiment of the Will of Fire. When you find yourself struggling, when you find the going tough always remember the Will of Fire. For the Will of Fire is to remember that you don't fight for yourself. You fight for your family, your friends, your home and your country. It is in the defence of those and that which you care for most that you are strongest."

"So work hard, train long and learn what you are taught and you will earn your Hitai-ate's. And with that, you will become true Shinobi."

The ending of Minato's speech was met with rapturous applause from the students and assembled parents. Minato scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. He was a confident man and yet he was still awkward when it came to crowds and speeches. With a brief wave, he was gone in a yellow flash.

Naruto sighed while Tri just rolled his eyes. Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder, turning his head he found it was Itachi's, the Uchiha gave his friend a small sympathetic smile. Tri had detailed last night's events to him after spotting Naruto had lost most of the enthusiasm he'd had bubbling away over the previous weeks.

"Thank you Itachi, I'm fine," Naruto said with another sigh. He had perked up a bit after he and Tri were greeted by Tsunade, Hiruzen, Shizune and Gai who'd been back in the village a matter of hours. Their words of encouragement putting a smile back on Naruto's glum face.

"Tri, Naruto, Itachi. Good Luck!" They heard Shizune shout from the sidelines. Meanwhile, Gai next to here was crying tears of happiness, "YES! Now you three can display the power of youth to your new classmates!" the Taijutsu master shouted. While the man could be a bit much at times the three considered him a good friend as well as a sensei, they each laughed at his emotional display.

In front of all the new students were a small group of adults of various ages all sporting the Konoha Hitai-ate. One stepped forward. "Greetings students, my name is Sora Yui and I am the Academy headmaster and behind me are the teachers. If they call your name then you will be in their class and they will be your sensei."

Sora stepped to the side allowing the assembled sensei to begin calling out names. The students, for the most part, chatted among themselves as they waited for their names. The three friends said nothing as they looked around at all the new faces.

"Uzumaki Tri," the call went out from a man in his early thirties. With a nod to his two friends Tri walked towards his new sensei, he nodded his head in greeting as he moved to stand behind him.

The calling of Tri's name had silenced many of the students and parents. Many turned to get a look at the mysterious adopted son of Minato and Kushina, not that they could discern much with most of him hidden behind his cloak. Tri had only just joined the back of the line when his new sensei spoke again. "Inuzuka Hana". Tri was soon joined by a young girl with long brown hair tied in a ponytail, a lock either side of her face. She had fang shaped red markings on both cheeks and black eyes.

Walking around her feet, however, were what marked her as an Inuzuka, three Ninken puppies. The three young dogs sniffed at Tri's feet, they seemed friendly so Tri squatted down. "Hello you three," he said calmly slowly raising his hand, ready to back off if any of them growled at him. His pre-Academy education had included learning about the various clans in Konoha. So he knew he had to be wary lest you end up with a bite.

Hana herself was watching with interest, her three companions were usually cautious around new sights and smells. She was ready to call them to heel should they growl but they didn't. "I take it they aren't normally so nice?" Tri asked, having seen the slightly surprised look on the girls face. "Err, no. They are normally shy or they growl."

"If you want to head to the classroom, your new classmates will join you when I've called them, Room 2, Floor 3." They both nodded and headed inside, the Ninken following at Hana's feet.

Naruto and Itachi watched Tri and Hana walk into the Academy. Several more names were called out before everyone had their heads turned again. "Uchiha Itachi," The Uchiha heir and Naruto shared a look before Itachi shrugged his shoulders as he too walked inside, his sensei telling him the classroom he was heading too.

Time went by as more and more names were read out. Eventually, Naruto was one of the final few yet to have their names called out, it had been over ten minutes since Itachi's had been called. And now Naruto was getting nervous but he wasn't sure why. Then it happened.

"Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto." The yard went quiet at the utterance of his name. He stepped towards the man who'd called his name, his new sensei gave him the room he needed to go to. The nerves were now in full effect, so nervous that he didn't even notice the man who'd called his name was the same man who'd previously called Tri and Itachi's names.

With a final wave to the group of onlooking Shinobi who'd spent the past three years training him, he headed through the main door into the Academy.

Heading up to the third floor he came out into a corridor, looking at the numbers above the doors he found the room he was looking for, Room 2.

Opening the door he looked into the classroom to find a dozen or so students. Two of whom were Itachi and Tri, upon seeing his brother and best friend he let out a sigh of relief. He stepped through the door shutting it behind him. Looking around the room against one wall was a blackboard with a desk in front of it. Opposite the desk was two columns of tiered desks each containing three rows, those further back raised higher than the ones in front. There were six desks and they were wide enough for two people and it was at these desks he found the two familiar faces.

Tri was sat at the second desk up nearest the door and sat next to him was the Inuzuka he'd seen earlier. Tri was still busy being introduced to her Ninken. While Itachi was sat in the row behind Tri but on the other side of the room. Sat next to him was a lithe girl with large black eyes and long brown hair. Naruto could see the fan emblem on the back of her light purple outfit marking her as an Uchiha. There was only one seat left in the room and that was at the desk directly behind Tri so Naruto heading towards it. He got a smile from Itachi as he walked past him and Tri gave him a thumbs up despite his full attention on the puppy playfully biting his other hand as he fussed the animal.

Naruto sat down on the bench behind the desk. He extended his hand to the person he'd be sitting next to. "Hi, I'm Naruto," he said introducing himself. "Maruten Akimichi," was the gruff reply as the larger boy shook his hand. They'd barely shook hands before the door opened again and in walked the man who'd called their names outside.

He put his books down on the desk before clapping his hands together. "Morning class, my name is Daikoku Funeno, you call me Daikoku-sensei. Understood," he said in a loud slightly aggressive voice startling some of them into sitting up straight. Daikoku was a large man with short brown hair and a goatee, his attire was near identical to Kakashi's.

"Hai, Sensei," they collectively replied. The large man smiled before speaking again, this time in a much softer, jovial voice. "Excellent, now why don't we start by introducing ourselves since you'll all be getting to know each other anyway." There were six desks in front of him, he pointed at a girl sat at the bottom left desk. "You can start us off."

The girl stood, "I'm Saki Yua," she said in a quiet voice. She had hair Naruto thought looked similar to Kurenai-san's in style just with the addition of a top-knot and that her hair was green. She wore dark blue long legs sandals reaching mid-thigh, In addition, she wore short blue pants with a black half-skirt around her right hip. On her torso she wore a black sleeveless top that cut off at the belly button, she had bandages around her stomach and her right hand, her arms had red sleeves stretching from upper arm to her wrists. Finally, under the entire outfit, she wore mesh.

Saki sat down and the girl next to her stood, "My name is Kazue Yuuki." The girl was blue, very blue her entire outfit and her hair was the exact same shade of light blue. She wore her long blue hair in a prominent high ponytail with a second ponytail below it. She had a single bang stretching from the top of her forehead to just above her nose. Her arms and legs were practically covered in bandages while she also wore mesh that covered her torso. She wore a one shoulder vest over her upper body with a short diagonal skirt that reached her upper right thigh but extended to just above her left knee. Her heel sandals reached to below her knees.

Moving onto the second desk was a boy with brown eyes and eyebrows that made him look permanently annoyed. He had long straight grey-black hair. He wore light grey sandals, full-length green pants and a long-sleeved black shirt that reached his upper thigh. Finally, he wore a plain red bracelet around each wrist. His name was Rokurou Kenta.

Next to Rokurou was a girl named Mei Moe with light grey hair tied in two long braids reaching her tailbone. She had a ponytail like bang either side of her face that reached down to her chest. She had light brown short open heeled sandals with black three-quarter pants. Her black over shirt was very similar to the one worn by Anko Mitarashi, a Kunoichi that unnerved Naruto greatly. However, Mei also wore a black high blouse in accompaniment that reached the bottom of where her breasts would one day be leaving her stomach exposed, the blouse also completely covered her neck.

The next desk was Hana who stood, introduced herself as well as her Ninken, the three Haimaru Brothers. Tri stood to introduce himself removing his cloak in the process so everybody could actually get a look at him.

Next was a girl with platinum hair tied in a simple ponytail, the giveaway sign of her entire clan. Keiko was her name and she was a Yamanaka. She wore a sleeveless light blue Qipao dress with thigh length dark grey sandals. She wore mesh around both hands with bandages wrapped around her right arm.

Next to her was Saisu Kamano who's long, spiky light brown hair reminded Naruto far too much of Jiraiya. He wore a grey cloak over a black shirt with dark blue pants and blue sandals. Slung over his back a Kama hulled in bandages.

Moving to the third row saw Itachi introduce himself along with his fellow clanswoman, Izumi Uchiha.

The final desk saw Naruto introduce himself. Before last but not least Maruten did the same. The Akimichi wore a brown hat, an orange-white shirt with the kanji for food on the back, and plain black pants. He also had distinctive circular markings on his cheeks and chin.

"Excellent, now we shall begin our first lesson together." Daikoku clapped.

-An hour later-

Their first lesson was well underway. Daikoku-sensei was covering chakra control and its importance. Thankfully, all twelve had awakened their chakra prior to their first day.

It had been an hour and Hana's Ninken had, for the most part, settled down, one was asleep across Hana's feet, the second was sat on its hind legs next to Hana, its Inuzuka master gently scratching the dogs head. The third was curled up in Tri's lap fast asleep. Hana was absolutely baffled by her Ninken's actions, she'd never seen then take to someone so quickly.

"You find something more interesting Miss Inuzuka?" The words jerked her back to attention, her Daikoku and the entire class were looking at here. "Nn…No Sensei," Hana managed to stutter, embarrassed at being caught out.

"Perhaps you'd like to tell the class what could hold your attention more than your lessons?" Daikoku asked. Hana tried to find an answer but before she could Tri spoke. "Don't blame Hana-san Sensei, it's technically my fault." The confused look on the Chūnin's face giving him license to continue. "It's her Ninken Sensei, she's still trying to figure out why they're so friendly towards me. I'm baffled by it too." Daikoku studied the young Uzumaki, 'If he's lying then he's good at hiding it'. "Well in that case then Mr Uzumaki, if you're accepting responsibility then you can do the punishment of sorts. Stand in front of my desk facing the class if you please."

Tri shortly nodded, he gently lifted the Ninken out of his lap and handed it over to Hana, earning him an annoyed mumble from the animal following its unceremonious waking from its nap. Tri made his way to the front and stood next to his teacher. "What do you require of me Sensei?"

"In my hand, I have a leaf, I would like you to demonstrate the leaf concentration exercise I have just described."

"Hai, Sensei. Where would you like me to hold the leaf?" He received his answer as Daikoku placed the leaf on his forehead, the leaf which should fall to the floor instead stuck to Tri's forehead as per the exercise. "Very good. Now let's test your ability to split your concentration," Daikoku commended before placing another leaf, this time on Tri's cheek. Again the leaf stuck in place.

The teacher kept adding more leaves and just like the first two they stuck fast. After a dozen Daikoku stopped. "Fascinating Tri-san, you display remarkable chakra control. Far beyond your years, I'd say. I'm intrigued as to how you've achieved this."

"Practice Sensei, lots of practice. I have abnormally large chakra reserves as is normal for Uzumaki's. It meant my chakra control was bad, so for an hour a day for the past three years I've practised it." Daikoku nodded as he listened to his student. "Ok Tri-san, pass those leaves amongst your classmates before you take your seat again and well done."

"Thank you Sensei," Tri replied as he began handing out the leaves. Hana received her leaf last since Tri sat next to her. After he'd sat down he looked over at her and gave her a wink. "Ok class, you've just seen a demonstration, I'd like you to practise this exercise until lunch. You can practise holding the leaf on your finger first if you wish, but the ultimate aim is to have it stick to your forehead," Daikoku finished with a clap as his new students set to work.

The teachers at the Academy were told to keep an early eye out for potential prodigies. And at the back of his mind, Daikoku wondered whether he had one in Uzumaki Tri. Surveying the rest of his class he could see both Naruto and Itachi already had the leaves stuck to their foreheads.

"Umm, Itachi-san, how are you doing it exactly?" Izumi next to him asked. He turned his head towards her, "It's like a more advanced version of awakening your chakra. You need to pull on the chakra and draw it towards your forehead," Itachi explained before he could continue, however, Tri spoke up. "There's no Tenketsu point in your forehead to send your chakra towards which is why concentration is key." Next Naruto added his own advice. "You need to use the right amount of chakra too, too little and the leaf won't stick. Too much and you'll push the leaf away."

The entire class had listened to the three of them explain the exercise and the faces of many of them seem to brighten as they understood. Over the next ten to fifteen minutes, several more of them managed to get the leaves to stick even if only briefly. Tri, for the most part, had been watching Hana attempt the exercise. His attention was drawn to the desk in front of him when he heard a thud. Looking down, the grey-haired girl Mei had her head on the desk.

Mei jerked up straight as she felt someone sit down on her bench next to her. The Red and Black hair allowing her to identify Tri who leaned his head on his fist as he stared at her. "What's up?" Tri asked her. Mei sighed, "I don't know if I'm doing it right, how am I supposed to tell if I'm channelling my chakra correctly." Tri calmly nodding as she explained her troubles. The Uzumaki heir tapped a finger on his lips, trying to think of a way he could show her. His eyes widened slightly as he thought of a way. "Ok, I think I have a way I can show you. I'm not sure if it will work but we can give it a try," Mei gave him a firm nod. Tri held out his hand, "Give me your hand, Mei-san, we'll form the monkey seal with them," the grey-haired girl suddenly felt nervous, a tinge of red on her cheeks, most of the class was now looking at the two of them. Tri gave her a small reassuring smile, swallowing her nerves she placed her hand on his, his right hand and her left together forming the Monkey hand seal.

"Now what I'm going to do is manipulate my chakra through your chakra network, this might feel weird," the boy said closing his eyes. "Okay.." Mei had barely spoken before his eyes went wide, she could feel his chakra surge up her arm, it soon spread across her entire body. She could feel the heat, it made her feel like she was in a sauna. All of the foreign chakra in her body quickly made its way to her chakra coils. 'So much,' she thought as it surged through her.

"Okay, I think I've learnt your chakra network. Now, I'm going to draw my chakra from your coils to your forehead, I want you to remember how it feels." With that Tri worked chakra from her coils towards her forehead. Daikoku who had until now been watching with great interest stepped forward and held the leaf against Mei's forehead. And there the leaf stayed putting a big smile on her face.

Tri ceased and the leaf glided down onto the desk. "Ok, now I want you to try. Don't worry about how long the leaf sticks for. Just focus on re-creating that feeling." Mei took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated. Some of Tri's own chakra was still laced in with Mei's, with it he could feel how it moved around the girl's network.

"That's it, use a little more chakra to make the connection stronger." Again their Sensei placed the leaf on her forehead and it stuck there for a few seconds before Mei lost her concentration. "That's it, Mei, see you can do it," Daikoku encouraged his student. "Thank you, Sensei," Mei chirped. "And thank you Tri-san."

Her Sensei just nodded while Tri replied, "Your welcome, Mei-san. But I was wondering." Mei gave him a confused but intrigued look. "Could I have my hand back Mei-san?" he asked, another slight smile on his face. Mei quickly looked down and sure enough, their hands were still together in the Monkey seal. She pulled her hand back as she'd received a static shock, her face going bright red. A few chuckled at her expense but Tri only smiled sympathetically.

He channelled chakra into one of the storage seals on his arm and a scroll popped into his hand. He offered the scroll to Mei, "Here, this scroll has a few chakra control exercises you can practice with. Some are easy, others not so much." Mei took the scroll, "Thank you," her voice barely a squeak.

Daikoku was now deeply impressed, for a child to possess control great enough to manipulate his own chakra through another person. He could only shake his head as Tri retook his own seat.

-A little while later-

"Okay class, that'll be all for now. After lunch, meet me outside on the shuriken training ground." Daikoku said to his students as they began filtering their way out. "Tri-san, could I see you for a moment." The Uzumaki just stood by his Sensei's desk and waited until everyone else had left.

"Don't worry you're not in trouble. I'm interested as to just how you've obtained such chakra control. You've been here a matter of hours and you have already displayed better control over your chakra than any student I've ever taught. Now you mentioned you practice your control daily, but it's not enough to explain what I've seen today."

A wide smile on his face as his Sensei's complimentary words rang in his ears. "Your right Sensei, while I technically do only spend an hour a day working on my chakra control. I am kind of cheating on the time issue."
"Cheating how?" Daikoku asked. Tri formed the Clone hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" (Shadow Clone Technique). A poof of smoke later and there were two Tri's stood next to one another. It quickly made sense to Daikoku, "I see, you're using the memory retention of shadow clones to augment training. How many are you using?"
"Twenty four for an hour a day." Daikoku was stunned into silence, Kage Bunshin required a great deal of chakra to create. And to create two dozen just to train one specific aspect was astounding.

"Will that be all Sensei?" Tri inquired, dispelling his shadow clone. He only received a nod as his Daikoku sat on the edge of his desk. The Chūnin managed to regain his voice before Tri had left the room, "Are Naruto and Itachi able to create Shadow Clones?" Tri stopped in the doorway, "Not as many. But yes," And with that, he slid the door closed.

-The afternoon lesson-

"Alright class," Daikoku said, welcoming them back. He held three shuriken between the fingers of his right hand. "I expect you've been introduced to wooden shuriken and kunai but here you'll be using the genuine metal ones. Your task is simple enough. Throw the shuriken and hit your mark," he added pointing at the wooden targets down range. As an example, Daikoku threw his three shuriken and struck a target with limited spread.

With his introduction complete, his new class got to it, hundreds of shuriken flying downrange. As Daikoku expected Itachi and Izumi set themselves apart at throwing shuriken. 'The Uchiha teachings with shuriken bear fruit once again' he thought as he watched the two strike the bulls-eye over and over again. The two seemed to have made it into a game, each trying to best the other.

Despite their little competition, Itachi still found time to give Saki and Kazue some tips. "The arm provides the power, the flick of the wrist provides direction. Work on accuracy first, power comes later." Daikoku nodded at the sound advice one of his Uchiha students provided. Looking around he found Naruto doing the same for Rokurou and Saisu.

"Sensei, is it just me or is there another target behind the tree on the right?" Naruto shouted. Daikoku smiled, he had put the target there, intrigued to see if anyone would notice it and furthermore if any of them could hit it. Yes Naruto-san, there is a thirteenth target behind the tree. Anyone who can hit it from where your standing gets a commendation."

"But Sensei, its hidden behind a tree?" Saki asked. "Precisely Saki-san, advanced Shurikenjutsu allows for ways to get shuriken around corners. Same for kunai."

"How high off the ground is the target Sensei?" Itachi asked making Daikoku smile, he really wanted to see If anybody could hit the mark. "It's eight feet off the ground at a 16° vertical angle," his Sensei replied.

Itachi nodded, with a single shuriken in each hand. He threw the first from his left hand. The way he threw it meant it was travelling slightly to the left away from the tree. Most of the students looked confused.

Then Itachi threw the second from his right hand, it travelled much faster than the first, quickly catching up and smashing off the first. The collision re-directed the second shuriken massively to the right, around the tree where they heard a dull thud. Daikoku shunshined forward to check and sure enough, Itachi had hit the mark.

Shunshining back Daikoku patted Itachi's shoulder. "Well done Itachi-san." He turned to face the rest of the group. "As Itachi has just demonstrated, you can re-direct shuriken around trees and other potential obstacles. To do this, you need to able to mentally solve collision equations and impact vectors. Of course, should you carry a Fūton element affinity, you could simply throw the shuriken through the tree." Daikoku finished.

Naruto shared a look and a slight grin with Tri, the blonde raised an eyebrow, silently inviting him to do just that. Tri gave the slightest shake of the head. The three had previously agreed not to display their abilities with elemental chakra.

In the end, several more of them tried to hit the hidden target. Izumi hit her mark, Naruto barely hit it while Tri missed by two millimetres much to Naruto's mirth. And at the end of the day, as their lesson drew to a close, as promised, Daikoku gave an official commendation to Itachi, Izumi and Naruto. He also awarded one to Tri for his helping Mei in the morning. After which he dismissed them until tomorrow.

The twelve of them broke into smaller groups, having conversations amongst themselves. Hana, Mei, Keiko, Saisu and Izumi all decided to go get some food before heading home. Hana turned around, intending to invite Tri, Naruto and Itachi. Only to find that the three were already jumping across the rooftops towards the training grounds. "Where do you suppose they're off to?" Hana heard Izumi say over her shoulder. The Inuzuka grinned at the Uchiha, "Why don't we go find out."

The rest of their little group soon agreed to tail their mysterious classmates. "Okay boys, find Tri," Hana instructed the Haimaru Brothers. The young Ninken shot off in pursuit.

While they chased off after them, Daikoku was walking into the office of the Academy headmaster. "Daikoku-san, what can I do for you." The teacher bowed slightly. "Sora-sama, you instructed us to inform you if we found any exceptional students. Sora seemed surprised, "It's only been a day, are you saying you've found one already?"

"Not quite Sora-sama, I think I've found three."

-Konoha Training Fields-

The new students had managed to track the trio of Tri, Itachi and Naruto to the training fields furthest from the village. They could hear a commotion up ahead, it almost sounded like a battle.

They walked out into a clearing before hearing a voice. "Suiton: Teppōdama" (Water Release: Gunshot). There was no time for them to react, the ball of water was heading straight for them. Then a figure appeared in front of them, who were they were they couldn't tell, they flashed through hand seals. "Fūton: Ressenpu" (Wind Release: Violent Whirlwind). The ball of water was struck by a powerful gust of wind, pushing it away from the new arrivals.

"Damn it Naruto, you need to pay attention." Itachi near shouted, the irritation evident in his voice as he appeared next to the group. Naruto soon appeared next to Itachi scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his face. "Yeah sorry about that," he apologised to no one in particular.

The group had now through the power of deduction gathered that it was Tri who'd stopped them getting wet. "Please don't tell me you didn't know they were there," Tri asked in an accusing tone. Naruto tried to look at least slightly guilty, he failed miserably. Shaking his head in disgust Itachi turned to the group. "Our apologies Izumi, Hana, Saisu, Keiko, Mei."

The group struggled to register his apology, they were still caught up in the display of elemental Ninjutsu. Keiko snapped out of it first, why her hands on her hips, "So, any reason we walk into a clearing only to find a water bullet shot at us?"

"It's because my baka brother can't aim his Jutsu Keiko-san," Tri bluntly replied. An evil looking grin spread across Itachi's face. "We were sparing Keiko-san. All of you, please feel free to join us."

Hana caught on to his meaning first. "Ninken, get him," she ordered pointing at the blonde, the three Haimaru brothers shooting towards a wide-eyed Naruto, Keiko and Saisu quickly joining them much to Tri and Itachi's delight, both laughing as Naruto was chased around the clearing. And they continued chasing him for nearly at full speed for nearly fifteen minutes.

The chased and the chasee's all collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. Tri formed half of the Dog Hand seal before pouring a bottle of water on his left hand, the water formed a ball around it [1] which he held out for the Ninken, the three practically jumping into it to quench their thirst. "Thank you, Tri-san," Hana said, getting a thumbs up with his spare hand in return. With the dogs watered, Tri began pulling more bottles of water from one of his storage seals and passed them around, apart from Naruto's who instead had the bottle bounce off his head.

"Ow, what'd you do that for?" the blonde complained. "To show you that you still need to work on your positional awareness. Baka!" Tri shot back. "Oh come on, are you still complaining about that."

"Yes, Kami forbid if you had used a Katon Ninjutsu," Itachi replied.

"So, shall we leave you three to continue arguing or are we going to confront the elephant in the room that is you using elemental Ninjutsu?" Keiko asked the three of them. The three looked at each other, Tri nodded, Naruto shrugged his shoulders leaving the talking to the Uchiha. "Yes, the three of us can manipulate our chakra elements. I trust we can rely on your discretion on the matter?"

-Three months later-

It was the end of another day at the Academy and the twelve students of Daikoku had all become good friends. But in particular, the eight of Tri, Naruto, Itachi, Izumi, Hana, Keiko, Mei and Saisu had become near inseparable. Together at the Academy, outside they trained and hanged out together.

It had only taken the first week for Tri, Itachi and Naruto to be given the 'prodigy' titles. The bestowing of said title made for a proud Fugaku and Mikoto whereas Minato and Kushina seemed totally unaware and if they did know they were ignoring it.

The progress of the other five had increased as a result of training alongside the prodigal three. Hana was beginning to display an affinity for Taijutsu alongside her Ninken and chakra control. Keiko had her clan Jutsu and Genjutsu. Izumi for Genjutsu and Shurikenjutsu. Mei who's progress in chakra control had just kept accelerating with Tri's help. Finally Saisu for Kenjutsu and Taijutsu.

All had progressed enough that the prodigal three introduced them to their chakra nature affinities and had begun showing them how to mould it. Although progress on that front was very slow.

When the prodigal three had first joined the Academy, they had expected to just go through the motions, graduate and be done with it. But what they had found was nought but a pleasant surprise. Meeting new people, making new friends and learning from them. All three were loving life in the Academy.

End Chapter

[1] The five basic elemental nature transformations have a hand seal that commonly affiliated with it:

Tiger: Katon, Doton

Snake: Doton, Raiton

Bird: Fūton

Dog: Suiton