Chapter 12: School

-Hinata

Tomorrow was the start of the new school year but, surprisingly, Kiku and Ayame weren't scared of their first day at the Academy. If anything they were excited; whether that was because they knew they were going to be in their father's class or because they actually wanted to learn some Jutsus, I don't know. But one thing was certain; Naruto would be caught off-guard for who his partner-in-teaching is.

-Kiku

I really don't know why everyone was expecting us to be scared. What was so scary about school? It was easy; you learn the Jutsus, get good grades, and you graduate; easy as pie. Having your father teach the same class you are in, well, that was just an extra bonus.

-Ayame

The class was lined up in alphabetical order and conversations were being shouted across multiple people. I sat next to Kiku, not exactly paying attention to what she was saying. I was more absorbed in what today was going to be like. Horrifying images flashed into my mind and I tried to clear my thoughts. Hopefully, today won't be as bad as it could be.

"Do you know what I mean, nee-san?" Oh geez, I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yeah," I said kind of slowly, "I know what you mean."

"Isn't it crazy though? Giant rattlesnakes!" Giant rattlesnakes?

"Yeah…crazy…"

"I knew you'd understand. Say, what did you dream about last night?"

"M-Me?" I stammered, not prepared for that question, "I uh…I don't think I dreamt about anything."

A shocked expression was on her face. "Nothing? Absolutely nothing?"

"Y-Yeah…Isn't that normal?"

She still looked dumbfounded. "Normal? Are you crazy nee-san? There is absolutely nothing normal about that." Really? I'd always thought that it was okay to dream about nothing… "It you're dreaming about nothing, you should go see what's wrong with you. I always dream about something." That would result from your crazy imagination, I thought, rolling my eyes. "And if you die, I wouldn't know what to do. I'd go crazy and jump off a cliff or drown myself in the river or…" Great…another one of her insane mind trips.

"Alright," a voice said, obviously not Dad's but whose? As he turned the corner, I recognized his face. He was uh…what's his name? Ikama or something. "My name is Iruka, I will be one of your teachers. And, if you don't like me, well…you better get used to it. I'm going to be your teacher for the next 4 years."

The rest of the children gasped. "Four years?!" somebody shouted.

Iruka chuckled. "Yes."

"Is there a problem with that, Yoshiro?" That was Dad's voice. I looked up to see him sitting on the roof.

"S-Seventh Hokage?" he stammered, sitting back down. Kiku was suddenly interested. If anything could shut Yoshiro up, something was obviously going on.

"Cool," she said, somewhat uninterested. We got all the attention for that. Why hadn't she just stayed quiet?

"'Cool', that's it?" another boy said.

"Mmhm," she told him, doodling in the dirt.

"Anyway," Iruka spoke up and I silently thanked him for pulling us out of that situation, "We will be seeing just how advanced your skills are today. I know a lot of you have come from ninja families and you've probably already climbed a tree using your chakra or maybe even walked on water, but we're just seeing where everyone stands today, clear?"

"Yes, sir," we repeated in unison.

"Alright," Dad said, pulling out a stopwatch, "The first one to the river gets a lollipop."

-Kiku

I stuffed the lollipop into my pocket. I finally beat Ayame-san at something, I thought. Yoshiro looked at me with pleading eyes and opened up his hand, changing his face into a somewhat expectant look. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"How many of you have never climbed a tree before?" Iruka asked. Nobody raised their hand. "So you can all climb trees?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, how about walking on water?" One or two hands showed. "Alright, will the students with their hands raised follow me while the others go with Naruto."

"Seventh Hokage," Yoshiro corrected and Iruka shot him a really-did-you-have-to-say-that look. I laughed. Suddenly, all the attention was on me.

"What? It was funny," I defended.

"Well, are you guys coming or not?" Dad asked.

"Yes Hokage-sama!"