Chapter Three
An Unfamiliar Home
Five days passed before I was allowed to be released from the hospital and even then I was given a firm warning to not strain myself. My stitches had to be taken out in one week so no stupid stunts as I was told by Tsunade who then proceeded to dump a bag of clothing, money, and a key into my arms.
Now I walked down the streets of Konoha, neatly dodging the bustling crowd with ease. The streets were alive with activity. Men and women shouted to prospective customers from homemade stalls, exclaiming that their wares were of the finest quality and set at a reasonable price. Children wandered away from the sides of gossiping mothers to stare adoringly at a gangly man with a large mustache who presented his spinning tops to the wide eyes of his audience.
I marveled at the revolving array of colors before continuing on to find the address listed on the piece of paper folded around the tiny bronze key that now rested in the palm of my hand. For a good part of an hour I had been searching for the apartment that I would be staying at and so far I've had no luck.
I never knew Konoha was so big!
It all seemed like I was stuck in a dream. This couldn't possibly be happening to me. Me! The daughter of a fugitive! Everything that I've dreamed about was tucked into the bag hanging off my unwounded shoulder. Deep desires that I never let rise to the surface of my thoughts were bubbling over as I nearly skipped down the street, sidestepping a woman carrying a basket overflowing with ruby red apples.
I stopped to crouch down and pick up a fallen fruit. The smell hit me, the ripe scent setting off my stomach. I blushed at the grumbling my belly was making as I handed the chuckling woman her apple back.
"Now I know that these apples will make a fine pie by the sound of your tummy. Keep it, dearie."
I was astonished. "Th-thank you," I stuttered and clutched the fruit to my chest. No stranger had ever given me something freely before.
The middle-aged woman laughed aloud at my stunned expression and patted my head of black spikes. "You would think that you hadn't eaten in days with that look on your face! Run along, child, before your mother wonders where you are."
I whispered another thank you under my breath and rushed away before she could catch the sorrow that filled my onyx eyes. My mother probably forgot about me as soon as she dumped me in my father's arms claiming that she wanted nothing to do with me. A bastard child. A freak.
I was barely a year old when my mother gave me up. Dad told me, when I woke up crying from a nightmare in one of our many campsites, that he knew I was something special, as I laid bawling in a ratty blanket, for my eyes glowed red. An infant and I already stood on the threshold of my inheritance. The Sharingan. It was unheard of. Impossible, the scrolls said.
Freak. I was a freak.
But…it didn't matter. She didn't matter. I would become stronger, strong enough to kill Itachi Uchiha. When I learned all that the teachers here in Konoha would teach, then I would leave. This need – desire – for vengeance was greater than my own longing for a home.
Maybe, after Itachi was dead and I'm still alive, then I could return.
But I highly doubted that I would survive my encounter with the red-eyed murderer. As long as he died by my hands then the rest didn't matter. It could wait.
For now, I would lay low; accept the Hokage's offer and learn. Tsunade-sama said she held a full house in the game we were playing, but I had a handful of aces.
I turned the key and heard the satisfying click of the tumblers locking into place. I tested the door, paint peeling off the sides of it, and pocketed the key before heading off in the direction to the Ninja Academy.
It had taken me another half hour of aimless wandering yesterday to find the apartment building that I would live in. Small, dusty, and pretty much run down, the apartment was more than I could have imagined. Mice had made a home in the corner of the bedroom and there was a faint smell of noodles hanging in the air, but it was mine; a place to call my own.
The cupboards were empty so I had to go shopping later with my monthly allowance but I didn't have time to after I finished cleaning. School was tomorrow and I was too excited about that to barely sleep let alone eat. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time I went a day without food.
I ignored the tightness in my stomach as I walked to the Academy reviewing the rules I made the night before in my head.
Rule number one: do not stand out. I was weird enough coming into the Academy so late, and Tsunade had let the rumor spread that I was from another village. Blend in with the other students; show no talent, no aptitude. Be…average.
Rule number two: always suppress chakra. Even the lightest whiff of my power and suspicions would plant themselves in the minds of the students and teachers alike.
Rule number three: don't let anyone find out about who I really am. In Konoha I was Amaya Soyo who was staying here because my parents were killed in an enemy shinobi raid. I was homeschooled in my old village but decided now to attend the Academy. It was close enough to the truth I had given Tsunade-sama.
It would work. I shouldn't be scared. So why were my hands shaking as I approached the door to the classroom?
Glaring at my shivering palm and berating myself mentally for acting like a baby, I slid open the wooden door. The noise that had filtered into the hallway ceased when I cautiously entered the room. Out of habit, I performed a sweep of the entire area noticing every detail down to the last scratches in the desks.
I had never seen so many kids my own age before! Where did they all come from?
Blonde, brunette, brown eyes, blue eyes, short, tall, girls and boys, and they were all staring at me. I was curious to know what they thought of the small, gawky, black haired girl with dark eyes too big for her face. They probably thought she was a freak just like the mothers who pulled their children aside when I walked down the street of a nameless village with my father. At that moment, as I stood under the scrutiny of the silent classroom, I hated the Hokage for making me come. I was debating turning right back around and forgetting about my stupid curiosity, but a comment stopped me from running scared. Uchihas were not cowards.
"Hey! You're the new kid, right?"
My eyes sought out the person who asked the question. My gaze settled on a pigtailed girl with mischievous teal orbs who had stood up from her desk to ask if I was new or not. I nodded, instantly overcome with a bout of shyness.
"Cool! We haven't had a new kid in ages! Do you have any friends? Would you like to be my friend? Why'd ya come in the middle of the year? I mean you must have a reason. Not that you have to tell me, but it must be really important for Hokage-sama to-!"
"Kousa! Shut up and sit down," ordered a deep voice from behind me.
So overcome by the rapid fire questions posed at me I must have missed the entrance of the man.
"Yes Papa-sensei," said Kousa with a sigh.
Twisting my body slightly, I saw the shinobi who must be my teacher and the girl's father. Shoulder length hair as dark as his daughter's, a stubborn chin, and a laid back attitude if anything could be said about his posture; my new teacher seemed to not have a care in the world. Leaning against his desk, the chuunin sighed and lazily ran a hand through his loose hair. I caught a glint of silver hoop earrings hanging from his earlobes before the inky strands settled back into place.
Sharp eyes stared at me and I knew that this man was giving me the same scrutiny that I was giving him. I wondered what he saw.
"You the kid Tsunade sent?"
"Yes, sir."
"Got your scrolls?"
"Yes, sir." I had found a tall pile of scrolls inside the apartment when I had woken up this morning. I was amazed at the amount of information written in the rolls of paper and at the fact that I hadn't sensed anyone entering my…home. Yes, it was my home now.
"Got eyes?"
Confused, I nodded.
"Good, then you should have no trouble finding your seat."
A dismissal if I ever heard one.
I inclined my head a little in respect and made my way to the wildly waving girl in the back row. A laugh bubbled in my throat when I saw the pig tailed girl shove an unfortunate boy out of the seat next to her. Kousa pointed exaggeratingly to the now free chair. I gave her a small smile of thanks before sitting down, quietly setting my bag of supplies on the desk.
"Hi. My name is Kousa Nara, what's yours?"
I looked at the girl for a moment. Many thoughts flew through my head faster than a bird in flight. Was she a spy? Could she only be trying to get close to me to try and kill dad? Did she want – no – she wanted only my name, a name that meant nothing to me or my enemies.
"I am Amaya Soyo. It is a pleasure to meet you daughter of the Nara clan," I said, the formal greeting of shinobi passing my lips.
Kousa stared at me oddly before breaking out into a wide smile. "Well, I can say that no one has ever said it was a pleasure to meet me before."
Mentally I told myself to just be quiet from this moment on. Dad had taught me the ancient ways of conduct before ninja clans. Better to be overly polite than risk an execution because of not showing the proper amount of respect. Besides, dad had mentioned in passing of the Nara clan. He said that their famous bloodline possessed the power to control the shadows cast by the sun. They also owned a large portion of forest land to raise the deer they cared for.
I snapped out of my thoughts when Kousa placed a hand over her heart and quoted an ancient line that acknowledged my greeting. "May your blade remain sharp and eyes keen, battle sister." From one kunoichi to another, the words were another form of good luck. "And I thought mom teaching me this was a waste of time, but it's totally different when you're actually using it. I don't know the proper way to say this so I'll just do it the Kousa way! Will you be my friend?"
This time, I laughed out loud. To think, I hadn't had a friend for twelve years and in ten minutes here in this classroom I was being asked to be a friend. I couldn't express how happy I was so I just nodded enthusiastically to her question.
"Oh that's great! You can come over to my house and we'll-!"
"Kousa!"
The girl gulped. "Yes, Papa-sensei?" She turned to her father.
"Do I need to tell your mother that you're interrupting class? Again?"
"No!" She exclaimed and instantly sat up straighter to show that she was paying attention.
The teacher stared at her for a moment longer to be sure that she wasn't going to suddenly talk again before he began writing on the board.
"Today, we're going to learn about the other countries that are allied with the Fire Nation. Can anyone a name one of our allies?" A green haired boy raised his hand in the air in the front row. "Yes, Geoffrey?"
"The Land of Wind, Nara-sensei."
"Good. And the name of its shinobi village? Kousa?"
Kousa let down her hand to respond. "The Village Hidden in the Sand."
"Correct. The Land of Wind is a large, dry, and desolate country whose cities are typically found near water sources. While much of the country is inhospitable, the population is large and prosperous due to its frequent trading with the Land of Fire," Nara-sensei lectured.
Captured under the spell of knowledge, I listened intently to every word even though I knew all this already. The way he spoke enthralled me. This man really loved his job; it was easy to tell in the loving tone of his voice.
So I listened and was very surprised when Nara-sensei dismissed class for the day. The time seemed to had flown by!
"Amaya Soyo, you stay."
Kousa let go of my arm with a dramatic sigh that she had been pulling to drag me outside with her.
"Don't let him bully you," she told me as she walked with me down the steps to the front of the room where Nara-sensei waited. "He's actually very lazy and if he decides to give you detention he'll probably let you go because he doesn't want to stay after to deal with snotty nosed brats. So if he does anything just tell me and I'll tell my mom. Right, dad?" She spoke a little louder at the last part of her babble, the comment directed at her father.
"Women," he sighed. "So troublesome."
His daughter sniffed haughtily with her nose pointed in the air. "Hmph" She turned to me. "I'll see you tomorrow. May your strike always be true," she whispered and winked as if we shared some sort of great secret.
Nara-sensei and I watched the bubbling girl leave. Neither of us spoke until the door closed behind the last student and the classroom emptied out. The man took a moment to straighten a miscellaneous stack of papers on his desk, red ink marked through illegible scribbles. He sat down at his desk and opened a drawer to the side. He selected a packet of papers, blank except for diagrams, numbers, and words with question marks at the end and placed the papers on his desk.
The black haired teacher looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't take notes." A statement, not a question but I shook my head anyway. "You already knew the information." I didn't bother to answer. It seemed that he already knew. "I wonder how much you know and whether or not I can teach you anything at this level." He spoke more to himself than to me, so I ignored him politely.
A few moments passed in silence as Nara-sensei thought on his words. I narrowed my eyes. I would have to be very careful around this man. He was very sharp. "Here," he suddenly said, pointing at the pile of papers held together by a single staple that he had pulled out of his drawer. "Answer these questions to the best of your ability. You have an hour. Get started."
I took the sheets and the offered pencil and sat down at a random desk, my eyes already scanning the page.
I was twenty minutes into the test, on the second page of four, when a realization suddenly hit me. My pencil ceased scratching across the page for just a few seconds. Suddenly, I felt eyes on me. Nara-sensei was watching me very closely, studying my posture and the speed as to which I was answering the questions. I pretended to think for a moment before going on to the next problem.
If an enemy positioned at Point A at an elevation of fifty-three feet threw a shuriken at a twenty-seven degree angle towards Point C with a slight wind blowing at three miles per hour-
This was a more difficult problem than the last ones which were mostly theories on chakra expulsion and control. It would take a minute to fully answer, so it wasn't the difficulty of the matter that bothered me, I could do it; it was the difficulty that the class would have to solve it. If Nara-sensei was covering intercontinental relationships only today then…oh, the man was smarter than I thought. Didn't dad say to never underestimate an opponent? Well, point to you Nara-sensei, for catching me off guard. I would have to tread carefully in this little game that we've started. You're trying very hard to figure out who I am and what I know.
But he had underestimated me as well. I sniffed out his intent with this little test, but what would he try in the future?
Nara-sensei was looking at me again when I paused to gather my thoughts. I didn't know if I could keep up the charade without giving anything away that I would rather keep to myself. I was here to learn, not for others to learn about me.
So I took my time with the last portion of the test, answering questions briefly without going into detail or getting them wrong completely. But I was careful. I wanted to appear average, not stupid. Besides, I had a feeling that Nara-sensei would sense any deception in a heartbeat.
I looked up through the thin veil of my eyelashes to see my teacher yawn widely and scratch the back of his neck as if he hadn't a care in the world. For a moment I entertained the notion that maybe father's paranoia had rubbed off on me more than I thought before shaking my head and telling myself that I could never be too careful.
"Time's up," the lazy man drawled, covering up another yawn. "Give me your test and get out of here."
I inclined my head slightly before handing off my papers. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and I shrugged innocently before walking out the door.
As soon as I silently slid the door back into place, I let out a troubled sigh. The wood of the door felt cool against my forehead when I leaned against it. My thoughts whirled about my head like a hurricane mixing together my fears and worries into one giant storm that threatened to blow out my ears. I clenched my eyes shut forcing back the uncontrollable tempest in hopes that the raindrops wouldn't slide down my cheeks.
It was hard…being someone that I wasn't. I wasn't a lost little girl who needed comfort and pity because she lost her parents. I wasn't an innocent pawn in reality's chess game. I knew the dangers of the world of shinobi. I knew because I was one and had seen more death and sorrow than any of the wide eyed children in that classroom.
The kids in there knew nothing of what happened outside Konohagakure's gates. They sat in an enclosed room, safe from outside dangers, and learned secondhand techniques that wouldn't save them in a real battle. Maybe a handful of students in that class would become genin, the lowest ranking of a shinobi. From then on about three or four would become chuunin in their lifetimes, and if they lived through their first couple
of missions, one or two would become jounin. The ones who achieved the high ranking would live to the age of thirty, if they were lucky.
I wanted to scream and shout and yell into their faces that an enemy ninja would not wait for them to perform a jutsu or clumsily execute taijutsu. An enemy would strike without notice, leaving not a trace of their existence and disappear back into the shadows from where they sprung. A shinobi did not care if their opponent was a child. There was no hesitation for even a split second of uncertainty could mean death.
Those children did not know this. They were ignorant of the dangers around them. They knew nothing of white hot pain, the numbing blackness of death, or the red haze of bloodlust.
And I was jealous of their innocence.
