Chapter Five:
~Tsuki's POV
I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I hardly recognized myself after all these years. My hair was long, reaching down to my waist. Some of my hair was pulled back, tied with my white ribbon. Tenten had returned it to me during one of her visits when I was still in the hospital.
I looked at the clothes I was wearing. They were clothes recovered from my clan's compound after the massacre. Lord Hokage had given them to me, saying they were rightfully mine.
The white kimono had blue trimming on the sleeves and hem. It stopped at my knees and was tied together with a white sash around my waist, the ends trailing down the side of my left leg. My family's crest was embroidered in blue on the end of the sash, the seven pointed star. My leggings were a light blue and stopped under my knees. These clothes were very comfortable, and I could move easily in them. Lord Hokage must have assumed these would be best suited for me.
I looked in the corner of my room. My bow stood against its stand, a quiver of arrows next to it. This was my weapon of choice when I was a little girl. It's foreign to the ninja world, originally having come from my people's homeland. This was given to me by Lord Hokage as well.
Lord Hokage led me to a storage room down the hall from his office.
"Everything we were able to salvage from your clan's compound is in this room. We're having the compound rebuilt. With your return, we are hopeful more of your clan will return as well."
I walked inside and looked around. There were several boxes lining the walls. They were probably filled with clothes and mementoes recovered from the compound.
Something else caught my eye. I walked over to the shelf on the far side of the room.
"These were the only ones we could find," he told me. "We're hopeful the others had escaped."
There were two sets of weapons on the shelf. A bow and a quiver of arrows. Twin bladed fans. The bow was mine.
Instinctively, I reached up, and my hand hovered over the fans. I stopped and clenched my fist, closing my eyes.
Lord Hokage put a hand on my shoulder. "We are listening for any word of her whereabouts, as well as the others."
I took both weapons.
I kept my sister's fans on the table in my new room. If she ever did find her way back, I wanted to return them to her myself.
A knock sounded at my door.
"Um, excuse me, T-Tsuki." The door slid open, and Hinata stood there, smiling shyly.
I didn't know Hinata when I was a kid. I was always with Neji when I visited the Hyuga compound. Lord Hiashi introduced her to me when I arrived here. She was his daughter, which would mean she's Neji's cousin. When we had gotten to the compound, Neji walked past her, as if she wasn't even there. I didn't want to ask why.
"Sorry to bother you," she said. "But we have to leave now."
I nodded, smiling a little. I knew she was shy by the way she acted. And when her father spoke to her, she stuttered. She was easily intimidated, but I'm happy she didn't feel that way with me.
I followed Hinata out of the compound. Neji was waiting by the gate, and Hinata hesitated in her step upon seeing him. I stopped next to him, and he but ignored Hinata's presence.
"I'll be in the training fields when you've finished," he told me. "Come find me. We'll help you train."
I nodded and he walked off. I looked at Hinata and motioned for her to led the way.
We arrived at the academy. I could see students walking inside, a few chunin outside. They must be the instructors.
Hinata turned to me. "Well, I have to get to class. Follow me."
Hinata brought me to stand in front of a man waiting outside the door. His brown hair was tied back, and he had a noticeable scar across his nose.
"I-Iruka-sensei," Hinata greeted. "T-This is T-Tsuki Senjo."
"Ah, that's right." Iruka-sensei smiled at me. "Nice to meet you, Tsuki. My name's Iruka Umino. I'm an instructor here. Lord Hokage has made me aware of the situation. Thank you for bringing her here, Hinata. I'll be in class shortly."
Hinata nodded and waved to me before scurrying off. Iruka-sensei asked me to follow him inside, and he took me on a small tour of the academy building. Once that was over, he brought me to a classroom. He opened it and went inside. I waited by the door as he spoke to the students.
"Alright, class, settle down. That means you, Naruto!"
The chatter inside died down.
"Now, I'd like to introduce you all to someone." He looked at me and waved me over.
I sighed lightly and walked in. I kept my gaze down until I stood next to him. I turned to the students and looked over them. I recognized Hinata, and she gave me an encouraging smile. The other students all gave me curious or disinterested looks.
"This is Tsuki Senjo," Iruka-sensei said. "She'll be joining us from now on."
The students started whispering. My sharp hearing allowed me to pick up some of what they were saying.
"Senjo? As in the Senjo Clan?"
"That means she's a survivor, right?"
"She better not try to go after Sasuke."
'Go after who?'
Some of the girls were glaring at me, but it looked like it was more out of jealousy than anger. I didn't understand, but I didn't really care either.
"Now, now, quiet." Iruka-sensei cleared his throat. "Now, Tsuki will be learning with the rest of you until graduation. Since she'll be behind the rest of you, I expect you all to treat her as your comrade and support her. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sensei!"
I sighed as I looked out of the window. My first day of class at the academy went well. I was struggling, but Iruka-sensei and Hinata tried their best to help me. If I wanted to graduate this year with the rest of them, I had a lot of work to do.
The day was over, so my classmates were filing out. Some of them hung around to talk with each other. Hinata had gone home already. Iruka-sensei wanted me to stay behind to talk to me. I was waiting for him to finish his business with the other instructors.
"Tsuki." I looked up and saw one of my classmates. He had a stoic expression, his eyes black as night. I nodded for him to continue.
"You don't know me, do you?" he asked.
I tried to place his face among those from my memory, but I couldn't. I shook my head, confused. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a lot of the girls who stayed behind glaring at me.
'This must be the one that girl mentioned earlier,' I thought.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha," the boy said. "I knew your sister, before the massacre."
My eyes went wide in surprise. Of course, this boy is my sister's age. And he's from the Uchiha Clan, then he must be the one.
I pointed at him, and he nodded, understanding what I was asking.
"Do you…know what happened to her?" he asked me.
I closed my eyes and shook my head. He nodded and walked away, heading out the door.
These last few days have been full of surprises. I had escaped my captivity, found my way back to Neji, and now I've met the boy my sister was engaged to. Now that I think about it, my parents seemed to have had a bad habit of engaging their children.
My thoughts were cut short when Iruka-sensei called for me. I walked down and followed him outside. Just outside the academy doors, a woman and two genin were waiting patiently. They looked up when we walked up to them.
The woman was much taller than me and the two beside her. Her midnight hair was long, layered, and pulled into a high side ponytail on the right side of her head. I couldn't tell if she was dressed to impressed or if she was truly comfortable. She wore a dark blue mid-drift, and a long sleeve fishnet over it. Her blue shorts were covered with a black short skirt, and her ninja headband was pinned to her skirt like a decoration. Her knees were covered with fishnet sleeves to match her shirt, and contrary to normal wear her sandals were heeled.
"Tsuki, this is Nanako Tsuzumuchi," Iruka-sensei said. "Once you graduate, you'll be assigned to her squad of genin. She asked for you personally." He looked at Nanako-sensei. "I spoke with Lord Hokage and he approved of the assignment, given the situation."
"Thanks, Iruka," Nanako-sensei said. Iruka-sensei nodded and left to go back inside.
She smiled at me humbly, her gray eyes sparkling. "It's good to meet you, Tsuki. I'm Nanako. This is Yoshiko Sakamatsu and Ryoma Nakamoto. They'll be your teammates once you've graduated."
Yoshiko was smiling at me widely. Her light brown hair reached her waist after being pulled back into a high ponytail. I imagine it would be much longer when it's loose. She was wearing a beige sleeveless top with light brown shorts. A dark brown belt hung off her waist, and she wore her ninja headband on her forehead. Like Nanako-sensei, her eyes were gray, just darker.
Ryoma's hair was a deep red. It was choppy and reached his shoulders. He wore a gray vest open over a long sleeved black shirt. His black pants were plain, and his ninja headband was tied around his upper left arm. His amethyst eyes were hard, but they held a sort of kindness in them as he looked at me.
I greeted them formally with a nod.
"So, it's true," Nanako-sensei said. "You don't speak."
Yoshiko clapped her hands together happily. "That makes you perfect for our team!"
I looked at her curiously, wondering what she meant.
"Tsuki, do you know what sign language is?" Nanako-sensei asked me. I nodded, and she continued. "I make it a point to teach my students sign language. It's useful when you need to communicate during a mission but can't reveal yourself to the enemy. When I heard your story I decided I wanted you on my team."
"This way, you'll be able to communicate with us normally as well," Ryoma added. "We'll teach you."
"Ryoma and I already graduated last year, but we don't have a third member anymore," Yoshiko said. "So we'll help you train so you can graduate with the rest of your classmates."
I smiled and nodded.
"Welcome to the team, Tsuki," Ryoma said.
My days were spent training and learning. Iruka-sensei taught me what I needed to know to be a ninja. Nanako-sensei taught me sign language. My future teammates and Neji's team helped me train every moment I had to spare.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Eventually, it was almost time for graduation. My classmates were all looking forward to it. I shared their enthusiasm, but for different reasons. They were all excited to gain the ninja title. While it was exciting to think about, all I wanted was to get out of here.
The academy was great. Iruka-sensei and the other instructors made me feel welcomed. Hinata was my friend. I occasionally spent a few minutes with Sasuke. He didn't talk much, but he did tell me some stories of him and my sister when they were kids. I could tell he missed her, but he never truly showed it. He was much like Neji that way, I suppose.
There were some others who were kind enough to be civil with me. Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi were really relaxed boys. They were always together, so when one started talking to me, the other would join. Then there was Naruto Uzumaki. He was nice, but lonely. He was always getting into trouble for acting out. But with the way people treat him, I couldn't blame him. I helped him one day after class, and ever since he was nice to me.
The academy was great, really. But excluding those few who were kind to me, everyone else strayed away. The girls hated me, something about being too close with Sasuke. Clearly he was popular. And everyone else avoided me for one reason or another. I didn't mind it. But I was looking forward to being around people who actually liked me. Yoshiko and Ryoma have become really good friends since welcoming me to their team. And I haven't even graduated yet.
We were waiting for Iruka-sensei to arrive and start class. My classmates were talking with one another, excitement coursing through them. Graduation was right about the corner, and today Iruka-sensei was supposed to tell us about the final exams.
Moments have passed with me staring out the window, thinking. Finally, the classroom door slid open, and Iruka-sensei walked in.
"Today we'll be going over your final exam for graduation," he told the class. Then he looked directly at me. "Tsuki, because of the age difference, you'll be receiving your final exam today. Someone will be waiting for you in the next classroom."
I stood up calmly and began walking down the steps. On the way down, I could hear the chatter from my classmates.
"She's always an exception."
"What makes her so special?"
"I heard she already has a team."
"Good luck, Tsuki!" I paused and looked up. Naruto was giving me a huge grin, waving his hand. I gave him a grateful smile.
I saw Hinata giving me an encouraging smile and she nodded.
I continued my way out. 'I can do this.'
"Congratulations, Tsuki!" Nanako-sensei exclaimed. "You're an official part of Team Nanako!"
"Thank you." I said in sign.
"Good. You've been practicing." Nanako-sensei put her hands on her hips. "Today we celebrate. Tomorrow, we start the real training. You three may have been training together for the last few months, but we haven't even scratched the surface yet. We have a lot of work to do."
"Yes, sensei!" my teammates said. I nodded.
I looked at the headband in my hand. I tied it around my upper left thigh. Once it was secure and I was satisfied, I followed my team.
