Ah, so we now see Noriko-chan at the Academy.
Sakura observes her friend carefully from the fringes of her hair. Noriko had stared at her books so hard that it caught fire, literally. Luckily no one had noticed and the fire was put out quickly. She had been ecstatic about having her friend here, next to her in class, but Noriko's silence is beginning to get worrisome. She didn't know how to fix this. Presently, Suzume-sensei announces that it is time to leave the classroom for the fields to pick flowers for their flower arranging class. Sakura perks up, perhaps a little fresh air and a change of scenery would help.
As the girls filed out in a somewhat orderly manner, the more brutish of the girls slouching with hands stuck in their pockets muttering about 'useless girly tricks', Noriko remain seated, clearly lost in thoughts. Hesitantly, Sakura touches her elbow and was rewarded with a slow blink and a puzzled glance. For some reason, her face felt hot.
"Um, we're suppose to go outside now,"
Something stirred and shuddered in that one slitted eye, "Eh?"
"Um, Suzume-sensei we're to go out and pick flowers,"
"...flowers..."
"For the flower arrangement, and we need to learn the names of flowers too and the messages behind them and stuff," Sakura finished hesitantly.
The eye blinked once, slowly, "Uh-huh, un," there were no further words, but under the glare of Suzume-sensei, Noriko rose slowly out of her chair and is half pushed, half shuffled towards the doorway, following the line of girls to the field.
Once outside, Sakura dart anxious glances at her friend. Is she alright? Should she get Kakashi-san? She is in the middle of worrying how to tell Suzume-sensei that they might need to contact Kakashi-san when Noriko suddenly flops onto her front in a field of white daisies. There is a giggling sound and before she knew it, Noriko starts rolling around in the flowers like a puppy and squishing the flowers like a rolling pin. There were cries of outrage from the teacher, but Sakura couldn't really hear the words. Next thing she knew Noriko is up, covered in grass stains and a crushed flower stuck in her hair and is lazily zoning out Suzume-sensei's scoldings.
"...and you, Sakura!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Sakura snaps into attention instinctively.
"Keep your... friend in line," her voice dripping with poison, "Don't let her run off like that, she's your responsibility!"
Sakura felt tears pricking behind her eyes, she didn't like being scolded, her parents rarely scolded her, nor do they need to. Sakura is smart, obedient and competent. But here, in the ninja world all her smarts meant nothing, she had no standing, her one friend is a freak and-
"Saa, don't take it out on Sakura-chan," a slow voice rumbles. The tone was polite, if a little vague as if the speaker wasn't even paying attention, "I'll be good, ne?"
Noriko's body language is casual, unthreatening, her eye smiling, but even so the teacher took a step back. The hairs at the back of Sakura's neck felt itchy and she had to resist the urge to scratch at them.
Suzume-sensei's eyes looked a little wild, "Y-you had better not be trouble," she darts a gaze to the trees and back at Noriko.
Noriko waves a hand at the line of trees where Suzume-sensei had looked, "Yeah, yeah, I'll be good, we just need to pick flowers, yeah?"
"Don't make trouble," was Suzume-sensei's last remark before she walks away to where Ino and a number of girls were fighting among themselves.
It wasn't until she got home that Sakura realizes that Suzume-sensei never fully turned her back on Noriko.
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The Uzumaki child disturbs Suzume at the most instinctual level. The only thing that appeases that concern is the knowledge that an anbu had been specially assigned to trail her every day.
Not that Noriko really did anything to increase or assuage that worry. She mostly kept to herself, staring into space during lectures and wondering off on her own during outdoor lessons. Sometimes, she is trailed by that little pink headed girl. Suzume had tried to curb the wondering behaviour at first. Because not having all her kids within her visual range runs havoc with her internal alarm bells. However, when it became apparent that Noriko only wonders off once she had finished her assigned task, and then only after she had helped Sakura and some of the other girls that may have asked for her assistance. Not that there were many, she wasn't a popular girl after all.
At any rate, she would always return a few minutes before Suzume calls the class in, therefore not creating a problem when it comes to keeping class count. Other times, instead of wondering off, Noriko would simply flop onto a grassy patch of floor and just snooze. When the other girls complained, Suzume is at least pleased to be able to point out that Noriko had already done all her exercises perfectly and unless they could do the same thing please desist with the complaints.
Once, Suzume sent a letter to Hatake Kakashi, informing him that Noriko is more than qualified for a higher level class and could he please sign this form to authorize the upgrade? The Copy Nin had appeared at her office the very next day with a sheepish look and explained that the Sandaime had actually forbidden him from letting Noriko skip her class level unless her social skills improved. Seeing the increasingly odd behaviour in Noriko, Suzume had very little hopes of seeing that happening any time soon...
Today is an outdoors class, a lesson in foraging. Baskets in hand, or in Noriko's case, balanced precariously on her head, the kunoichi in training ventured just a little deeper into the woods of Konoha. Though, a native Konohan may scoff at the word 'wood' for the sparse number of trees found in the little clearing.
The girls are supposed to forage for edible plants and herbs. The classroom work for identifying various types of useful foliage had been done two days earlier, allowing the information to soak in their brain or be forgotten completely. So far, most of the girls took it as a chance to be children, running around playing tag and gathering flowers instead of herbs. Only Ino, Sakura and Hinata were serious about gathering the required herbs. Noriko busied herself filling her basket with water cress, a type of wild herb that looked like large clover plants. Possibly for the evening's dinner, thought Suzume with a cautious sort of amusement.
The semi-controlled chaos was soon interrupted by something unexpected. Something brown and swift zipped into the clearing. It is a brown fox cub. It barrelled carelessly from beyond the long grasses towards the girls. It is a cute little thing, as baby animals tend to be. Its snout is still short, sweet little teeth sharp behind a happy lolling tongue. Suzume is immediately suspicious. The thing barked and yipped playfully, nearby girls cooed and tried to coax the brown thing to them. It dodged past grasping hands, running full tilt for Noriko, Suzume realized with some measure of alarm.
A summon animal? A demon? Suzume is immediately alert, her fingers filled with senbon needles, ready to defend, to fight-
A pained yelp startled her. The little brown fox is rolling away from Noriko, barking and whimpering in turns. Several girls surrounded them to watch the spectacle, Suzume herself is striding forward.
"Sensei!" someone shrieked, "Noriko-baka kicked it! She kicked the little foxy!"
"It's cruel!"
"Mean!"
A cold feeling crowded up her throat. What?
The brown thing whimpered, one of its legs lifted from the ground. The bile in her throat lessened at the sight. It is a pitiful looking thing. Not at all like the pretty red and white foxes that sometimes ran in the woods. She almost didn't dare to look at Noriko, but duty insisted. There is an unreadable look in Noriko's eye, a lazy speculating gleam that reminded Suzume of the famous Copy Nin. One by one, the girls fell silent under the subtle killing intent. Only the whimpering of the fox cub broke the silence. Easily, lazily, Noriko ambles forward. The cub's yips grew excited, happy, thought Suzume in sick horror. It didn't know that Noriko intends to kill it.
What happens next blurred in Suzume's mind. Her own reaction shocked herself. Suzume always had a special sensitivity towards chakra. Unfortunately, her other skills did not quite qualify her for field work, let alone in becoming a hunter nin. Nevertheless, it is sharp enough for the school masters to qualify her to work with children as her chakra sensitivity made it possible to work with children and spot trouble through chakra detection alone.
It was one of the reasons Noriko is placed in her class.
A thin edge of red outlined Noriko's palm, almost invisible to the eye. The chopping motion is done without hesitation. A clean strike targeting the victim's throat. Suzume's body moved without her permission.
The fox cub whined under her arm. There is a three inch deep gauge in the dirt where the animal had been lying on. Suzume noted Sakura's startled gasp as well as the reactions from all the other girls. They were all shocked and appalled by the senseless display of violence, and no wonder, these are peace time children at the gentle age of seven or eight. Somehow, Suzume doubted that an eight year old Kakashi would have similar reactions.
Noriko straightened casually from her slightly crouched position, wiping her hand against her pants. One of the trees above them acquired an additional shadow and Suzume drew strength from the knowledge that the anbu watching Noriko is nearby.
The animal in her arms pants happily, oblivious to how close its brush with death had been. Suzume isn't quite sure how to deal with this, but deal with it she must, perhaps she could start off with simple questions...
"Why did you do it, Noriko?" her voice was kept calm and steady by force.
Noriko shrugged, "It's just a dirty useless animal,"
The animal yelped, Suzume had accidentally squeezed it too hard. Carefully, she loosened her hold. "Why would you think that, Noriko?" she didn't really want to know, but this is a potentially dangerous creature in her classroom, and it is her duty as a ninja to find out all she could about it.
The girl absently contemplates the overhanging branches above them. She is too young to even begin to know how to detect hidden ninjas, especially those in anbu level, she couldn't! Suzume is busy going through all the things Noriko shouldn't know when the sensation of being watched prick up her back. Her eyes snapped into focus against the yellow slitted eye of her most dangerous student. The Hatake ward. Suddenly, all kinds of information fell into place. The foul chakra last year, the disappearance of one of the Academy's pre-genin, Hatake's sudden announcement of a new ward and Noriko's fox like eye...
Her hands shook, she took a step back, the little fox whined from being squeezed so tightly in her arms again. Then suddenly, the fox was gone and Suzume almost stumbles back from the lack of weight in her arms and there is Noriko holding the little cub disdainfully by the scruff of its neck. There was a flash of sharp light and suddenly the fox was running for the forest on all four legs, yelping pitifully with its tail between its legs.
Noriko picks up her basket of water cress and starts for the classroom. Sakura hesitates for a moment before scampering after her. It took Suzume less than half a minute to recover, but she is grateful that the elite shadow did not move from the branches until she manages to get herself together and had the girls' attention again.
So, the girl is that jinchuuriki. Her hands still shook whenever she thought of that foul chakra and the shadow that had been painted over in front of classroom B-3 and wonders how she is going to survive the rest of the year with that monster in her classroom.
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The sparing session for academy students approached all too quickly for Suzume-sensei. It is an interclass activity and she wonders how Noriko is going to react with children from other classes. Noriko is the enigma of the school. The death of Mizuki is mostly hushed up by the authorities, but there is no way to silence something that had happened in front of so many witnesses. She had seen the way other teachers poke curious heads over to look at the child with most of her face hidden.
Students from other classes are children of ninja, and knew the idea of death and secrecy peripherally. Even those not of a clan knew. This is a ninja village after all. Whispers followed Noriko as well as those who chose to follow her. Cynically, Suzume wondered what Hiashi thought of his oldest daughter creeping after the jinchuuriki for crumbs of affections and approval.
She had tried to put it off, but sparing between classes is something of a tradition at the Academy. It is also one of the unofficial ways for teachers to show off how much their students had progressed. Usually the class with the most wins would be recognised as the elite by ninja families and its teachers be sought of by clan leaders. The class with the poorest showing are generally given the misfits and 'trouble' students.
However, Suzume could care less about class ranking and just hope that she and the rest of the student population survive the lesson. There is an Uchiha in one of the classes. Suzume had overheard him parroting the words of his clan about the thieving Hatakes and knew that the child would try to personally challenge Noriko. The glint in the Uchiha's eyes as well as the superior smirk of his sensei that made the possibility of him treating this like a regular spar rather than a clan challenge grows dimmer by the second. Suzume itched to be anywhere but here.
The spars had been pre-arranged. Some of them were over as soon as it had begun, others dragged along as the pre-genin sized up their opponents warily. When it is Noriko's turn everyone, including teachers, students, janitors and jounins lounging in trees with too much time on their hands perked up with interest.
"Uzumaki Noriko vs Nara Shikamaru," the assistant teacher, Umino Iruka, declared clearly.
Suzume almost smiled when her sharp ears caught the muttered 'troublesome' as the genin shuffles forward. The Naras are famous for two things, their intellect as well as their apathy. Among all the boys, Shikamaru would be the one least likely to provoke a serious confrontation. She could almost feel the marked disappointment among the spectators against this match up.
"Uzumaki Noriko, please step forward,"
Suzume blinked at the extra command. Odd, why did... Oh, there's Noriko, busily shoving the ever present brown fox into Sakura's basket. The animal had shown up again, and no matter what everyone did, sort of killing the fox, nothing seemed to prevent it from tailing Noriko everywhere. Sakura had taken to dragging a large basket with a lock on it to stuff the fox in just to keep it out of Noriko's hair. Apparently it likes to chew on the fluffy red and yellow spikes. With the lock finally secure and Hinata sitting firmly on top of the sturdy rattan container, Noriko stepped forward to face her yawning opponent.
They faced each other across the fighting mat, each with a loose pose and at least one hand stuck in their respective pockets. The tension rose with every second. Finally, just when Suzume thought she would just scream from the inaction, the Nara kid shifted his pose.
He removed one hand from his pocket and raised it up near jaw level. With his palm facing outward, he opened his mouth.
"I quit,"
Suzume did scream then. So did various other spectators so her little shriek was actually drowned by the cacophony, especially when assistant teacher Umino Iruka bellowed for explanation. The Nara boy merely shrugged, "We did a will power battle and I lost," he said, shuffling out of the battle area, "better luck next time I guess,"
There was a stupefied silence following his explanation..
His way was blocked, not by Umino Iruka or any other instructors in the area as Suzume might have hoped, but by Uchiha Sasuke. To his credit, the Nara child merely looked bored. He did not try to push past the Uchiha, nor did he move away, his manner when confronting the clearly irritated boy was calm, bored and uninterested.
Then, the Uchiha smirked, "Too much of a coward to face a girl, Nara?"
"Eh, whatever," said Nara waved his hand dismissively, "women are troublesome," he spared one lazy glance at the Uchiha, "you had better be careful," with that final cryptic remark he shuffled to the side and joined his fat friend on the sidelines.
The Uchiha remained where he is, prideful and contemptuous, "Sensei! I will take his place to fight Uzumaki!"
Umino frowned, "Well now, I don't think that's appropriate, you're scheduled for a fight next-"
"Then I'll fight both opponents," he declared stubbornly. Stupidly, thought Suzume. She muttered darkly to herself, her mind busily penning letter to Uchiha Fugaku, explaining why the boy's injuries had nothing to do with her.
"Sasuke-kun," begin Umino, "I really don't think-"
"I'm an Uchiha," declared the boy. From the corner of her eye, Suzume thought she saw Noriko shifted her weight. It could be a trick of light, she couldn't be sure.
"Aw, let him fight," the boy's class teacher grandly stated. Suzume immediately begin a letter to the hokage explaining why this man's injuries had nothing to do with her either.
"Well..." Umino hesitate, it is his job as the mediator of the interclass sparring contest to enforce the rules and to keep an eye out for problems. However, he is still the most junior of the teaching staffs and technically had to concede to more senior staffs.
"Relax, I'll take all the responsibility, yeah? Let the kids fight, should be interesting stuff," the sensei's large jowls stretched around his grin.
Tokubo-sensei, decides Suzume as she placed finishing touches to her letter, is an idiot. Still Umino hesitates, smart kid, thought Suzume grudgingly. The boy would probably outlive all of them. In the end, the decision was taken out of their hands. The Uchiha boy, impatient for action, feint to the left, out of Umino's reach and charged with a fist cocked back towards Noriko.
The blow landed solidly against Noriko's blind side. Suzume thought she heard Sakura gasped. For a moment, Noriko seemed to be suspended in the air, body listing from the force of the blow, the Uchiha smirking at his easy victory. Then, without warning, Noriko flexed her body into a sweeping kick, taking out the Uchiha by his legs. The anbu shimmered next to them, only to be blast aside by a sudden explosion of foul chakra. Noriko followed up with the attack as though the anbu did not exist. She leapt towards the Uchiha's falling form, right arm cocked back slightly, left hand extended to accelerate the boy's impact against the ground. When her fist landed, it felt like something had exploded.
The anbu charged past Suzume with incredible speed, but it was too late, too late! Screamed Suzume's mind. The anbu lifted Noriko bodily away by the back of her shirt, Suzume craned her neck, expecting to see a smashed head, blood, fire, anything but a dazed and frightened little boy with a thin graze on his left cheek and a tiny fist shape hole next to his head. Cracks formed from the hole like a star burst. Seeing the boy still more or less intact, the anbu set the girl roughly down at the far end of the mat and rushed to check on the boy's condition.
Beside Suzume, Tokubo-sensei is currently sweating like it was midsummer in Konoha, lungs bellowing as though he's just been chased down by enemy ninja. Oh, yeah, he'd said he'd take all responsibility for Uchiha fighting Noriko. Hah, the idiot, thought Suzume half hysterically.
It took a while for the boy to regain his senses. Soon he was shaking and clinging to the anbu, there were no tears yet, but Suzume is sure they would come as soon as he's safely at home. They were ninja after all. Noriko was studying her fist, dusting off minute dusts as the anbu prepared to send the Uchiha to the hospital. She looked up and waved.
"Bye Uchiha-baka, next time I'll make sure not to miss, yeah?" she chirped.
That did not go well at all.