disclaimer: Naruto and G-Gundam aren't mine. Yeah, it's a tragedy.
All you are, now I'm on the next page.
All you are, it's time to close the book up.
All you are, now I'm on the next page.
All you are, close the book up now.
- The Deftones, "Back to School (Mini Maggit)"
So here's chapter two, featuring the first day of our demon-fox container turned apprentice of the Undefeated of the East. No word as of yet if he'll promise to conquer the North, South, West and East to become Super Asia and overshadow his Master.
By the way:
Statement in italics - thought
Statement in boldface + italics - Kyuubi thought/speaking to Naruto
Naruto: Moeagare Toushi
Chapter 2: A New Day Dawning
"You must understand, child, the first rule about subtlety. Make people see what you want them to see."
Uzumaki Naruto smiled as he tied his Whirpool forehead protector back on his forehead as he walked out of the Hokage's Tower and into town.
Several of the townsfolk had been surprised to see his blond hair, blue eyes, and whisker-like markings... but it had been the hitai-ate that had drawn most of their attention.
His smile widened until it almost shut his eyes. They might bother a ninja of Konoha, but not a visiting genin from Whirpool. People these days really don't have much common sense. Is this a ninja village?
He shrugged. Well, Konoha IS the most prosperous village of them all, so it is to be expected for the villagers to grow complacent.
Hah, complacent. When those children at the Academy see even a fraction of what I can do...
Pot, meet kettle, echoed a voice within him.
About time you showed up, he replied. I can almost begin to see why you wanted to burn this place down.
Would it make a difference if I told you that I was put under duress to do so?
No... not really. You still want to do it?
I don't care. All I want is out of here.
All right, we'll find a way. I don't know how we'll be able to do it, but we'll do it together. That okay with you?
I suppose so.
His feet had taken him to a ramshackle ramen stand called "Ichiraku's"... and strangely, memories from when before he had started along the path of the Undefeated of the East came to him, and he found himself drooling at the aroma of dear, sweet, heavenly miso ramen...
"Good day," he said, taking a seat on one of the stools.
"Good afternoon," the old man at the counter said. "What will it be?"
"A bowl of miso ramen, please."
"Coming. Ayame! One miso!" the old man yelled.
"All right!"
"Well, we don't see people from Whirpool around these parts so often," the old man said, beginning a conversation with the boy.
"That's because I'm not," the boy replied. "I wear this in memory of my mother, who used to be from Whirpool. Pleased to meet you, uh..."
"Ichiraku Teuchi."
"Teuchi-ojiisan! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I've just come back from a training trip."
"Well now! How about you tell this old down-on-his-luck ramen chef details about that while you wait?"
"Sure, Teuchi-ojiisan!"
The talk had been wonderful - with Naruto telling ridiculously understated or exaggerated versions of where he'd been and what he'd seen on the road of training with his Master, and the ramen was simply divine - Naruto wanted to ask for thirds, but he had been taught by his Master to exercise moderation in all things. After promising to return regularly, he paid for his meal, left a generous tip (because seriously, he couldn't deny the subtle interplay of flavors that only ramen from this stall could provide) and returned to his tour of the town of Konoha.
He had gone through roughly two-thirds of the places he needed to be when he finally noticed a presence had been hovering around him ever since he left the ramen stand.
Naruto laughed to himself a bit as he simply swung around a bit and then...
"...excuse me, miss, are you looking for someone?"
He tapped the person who had been following him on the shoulder lightly as he asked this question.
"Eek!" squeaked his pursuer, and both of them were surprised at what had followed: the person spun around and then simply crumpled onto the sidewalk, leaving Naruto to gape at what had happened.
Fainted?
It's a girl, you dimwit.
I know now.
***
She came to gazing into the strangest set of blue eyes she had ever seen.
"Glad you're back," the owner of said eyes quipped. "Would you mind telling me why you were following me?"
"Uh... um..." the girl answered as she stood back up, "no... no reason."
"By the way, my name is Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto, turned twelve just a few weeks ago, and about to attend the Ninja Academy," the boy said, standing up and bowing lightly as he introduced himself.
"M-my name is Hinata. Hyuuga Hinata, and I'm an Academy student, too. Um..." she said, twiddling her fingers, "I've never seen you at the Academy before."
"...that's because I just got back from a training trip. I'm gonna start a crash course at the Academy tomorrow," Naruto replied. "Say, I forgot to ask Hokage-sama for a guide, and you've done a good job of tracking me so far. If it would not inconvenience you, Hyuuga-sama, would you assist me in finding my way around this Village?"
Hinata chuckled. "I would be honored, Uzumaki-san."
As they resumed his tour of the town, he had to drop a remark about her stuttering going away when he had taken the speech of a nobleman asking a fellow noblewoman for a favor, which got her blushing and repeating syllables in her words all over again, to their amusement.
The tour was done, and Naruto had bid his new friend good bye for the day - or make that night, since it had been a few moments after the sun went down when they had parted ways.
That's a good start for today, wouldn't you say?
As good a start as any.
After a little walking, Naruto finally reached the apartment that Hokage-sama had prepared for his arrival. After he fished out the keys, he opened the door and walked in to find that the place was sparsely furnished. He had expected almost everything, but this would suffice.
Yes, it exceeded his expectations: it was rather spacious to allow for the various at-home training regimens that his Master had taught him, and it was mundane enough for him to spice up the decor - the School of the Undefeated of the East had also touched upon interior decoration as part of its lessons on the various social graces.
As he unpacked the little amount of clothes he had into the small wooden closet in the bedroom, he took a moment to take in the day's events.
First, he had finally made it to Konoha; next, the Hokage had welcomed him, allowed him to try and attempt a crash course at the Ninja Academy, and had taken the trouble to offer him a place to stay; and then he had taken an impromptu guided tour around the town with a rather strange girl named Hinata.
Oh yeah, and Ichiraku's Ramen was the best ramen ever.
That was one thing his Master wouldn't answer: just where did the boy acquire his predilection for the noodle dish?
He didn't bother to think about that. Tomorrow was his first day of Ninja Academy, and he had a lot of catching up to do.
While the Ninja Academy assembly time was at 8 in the morning, a certain blonde Academy student had already awoken and finished his morning rituals two hours before.
He spent the next hour and a half jogging around the town, mentally marking the training grounds he saw along the way according to how well they'd work when he sparred: sometimes he would get so into the moves that he would leave a literal trail of destruction in his wake.
That's all well and good when you live day to day hand-in-hand with Mother Nature, but this was different.
Of course, having the half-civil and half-grumpy fox in you didn't help matters any - it was only recently that he'd gotten her (!) respect and was pleasantly surprised to know that before she had become the strongest of the Bijuu, she was also an adept in the Sage ranks.
She had given him one ninja technique to use, but truth be told, he didn't even know how and when to use it. Every time he'd ask the fox for more information, she'd simply tell him "first things first".
He had finished his run well ahead of schedule, so he went back to his apartment, showered the exertion of the morning off, and picked up an apple he'd bought along the run, intending to eat it on the way to school.
And upon his arrival at the Konoha Ninja Academy, he found a group of kids his age talking among themselves, and about which teams they'd end up with upon graduating.
He hesitated a bit, because he knew he had to pass through this before he'd have the right to wear the hitai-ate of the Leaf. Speaking about forehead protectors, he untied his mother's memento and pocketed it before walking within the visual range of his new classmates.
Curious looks were given by the students as he passed by, and several of them were about to edge close to start a conversation when the bell signaling the end of assembly rang, and the students rushed towards their respective classrooms in a sort of ordered chaos.
***
"You wish to be Genin?" the Chunin instructor had asked him.
"Yes, Iruka-sensei, if that is possible," Naruto respectfully replied.
"You understand that first, I have to give you a placement test; and second, the graduation exam will be held in six weeks from now?"
"I understand, sensei, and I will do as much as I can in the little time I have been given. Will this placement test be practical?"
"There will be a written portion, Naruto-kun."
"Pardon me, sensei, but I have little to no factual knowledge of this town and its history. I have not even had the chance to read up on the most basic of ninja theories."
"Ah. Judging by your choice of words, you HAVE had a practical grounding in ninja education," Umino Iruka said, smiling. "Hmm, I suppose you could spar one of our graduates for us to see your combat skill, maybe a few weapon drills, and a ninjutsu or two. If you prove to be adequate in those fields, I'll recommend the Hokage to let you in the remedial classes. All right?"
Naruto bowed. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei."
"Now how about we head to the classroom so you can introduce yourself to your classmates, eh?"
"Yes, sir."
***
"All right, pipe down! Even though it's gonna be the graduation exam in a short while and you're supposed to be preparing for them, you'll be having a new classmate today! He'll take up classes here and some remedial lessons to catch up with you guys!" Iruka announced as he entered the classroom.
He turned to the boy who was still in the doorway. "Okay, you can go and introduce yourself to the class now."
The students in the classroom gasped as they saw the same blonde kid this morning walk into the classroom, stop in front of the teacher's table, bow to Iruka-sensei before facing his new classmates.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and it is an honor to study alongside all of you," he said, bowing.
"Excellent introduction, Naruto-kun. Now, please take a seat and I'll go over today's review about the geography of this continent."
"Yes, sensei."
He quickly went towards an empty table, trying to memorize faces, facial features and clothes, so he'd be able to pair their names with them upon introduction. When his gaze swung over to a dark-haired girl seated in a far corner of the room, he smiled.
Their eyes met briefly, and his smile grew wider as he took his seat.
Thankfully, most of the vacated seats had a few papers and a pencil stored - Naruto made a mental note to either go to the library and read or do a little work on the side to be able to buy a few books for his own use.
His thinking was interrupted as he focused on his sensei's narration of previous lessons, which he would have normally dozed through - if not for his training. That was when his Master had taught him about note-taking and how to prevent the mind from going into a lull.
Only the slight shaking of his shoulders betrayed his distaste for this activity, but if he did, it would be like betraying his Master's gift - the old man did teach him to read and write, after all.
***
Lunchtime was a boring affair of rice balls and vegetables boiled to death that while bland, had tasted much better than most of the things he and his Master had to partake in their travels. He had actually left the school premises and sat on the swing he saw just outside the school, as it looked like an oasis in the midst of a rather sweltering noon.
However, mere minutes after eating, he sensed people coming towards him.
It was the black-haired kid wearing the blue shirt and white shorts, and it seemed most of the other students here saw him as their impromptu leader or something.
"Fight me," he said.
Naruto only pretended to hear, this wasn't the time or the place to show even a bit of what he could really do.
"Can't this wait until we do get a chance to spar against one another, uh..."
"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."
"I'm glad for your offer, Uchiha-san, but I'm afraid I was given a few discretionary words by Hokage-sama and Iruka-sensei not to physically spar until I was given proper clearance," Naruto explained. "Please understand."
"Hn." Sasuke nodded and then walked away.
"What's wrong, Sasuke-kun? You would've whooped him good!" one of the girls flanking him said (this one had pink hair).
"Yeah!" confirmed the other (this one, on the other hand, was blonde).
Naruto could hear a sigh of frustration from the boy as he walked back into the Academy, shrugged, and followed them.
Back in the classroom, Naruto had the great idea of asking his new friend Hinata to let him leaf through her notes so he'd not totally make a mockery of himself (and by extension, his Master) at next day's quiz. She, of course, accepted - but the boy didn't seem to notice her twiddling fingers and reddening face even after he handed over her notes when he sensed Iruka-sensei returning.
That was when his hands brushed hers lightly, and when he looked up, he could have sworn someone swapped out Hyuuga Hinata's head for a ripe tomato wearing a wig.
"All right, we're heading out to the Training Grounds for some target practice! uzumaki! Stop flirting with Hinata!" he yelled, causing the rest of the students to look back at those two.
He just scratched his head and laughed while Hinata looked away, blushed even redder and began twiddling her fingers again.
What is it with these people?
At the training grounds, they all lined up to throw shuriken and kunai at various training targets placed in various points along the field.
"Naruto, how about you start? Try to hit the target," Iruka said, handing the boy a brace of shuriken.
He took a full five minutes examining each one, causing the class to start muttering among themselves.
"It's like he hasn't even seen a shuriken before," snickered a brown-haired feral-looking classmate with a small white puppy peeking out of his jacket.
"Pipe down, Inuzuka," Iruka-sensei said. "Uh, Naruto-kun, is there...?"
"No sir, just checking each one for balance," Naruto replied. "Which target? That one?"
He tossed a shuriken aside.
"Or that one?"
He tossed another.
"Or this one over here?" he asked as he tossed a third shuriken aside. "What's wrong?"
He looked back at his classmates and sensei, and all of them were gaping at him.
He didn't hit the intended target, but three other targets were pegged near the bulls-eye by the throwing stars Naruto just cast carelessly.
"What? Oh, you mean the targets? I was already scoping out how to hit most of the targets while I was weighing the shuriken I held for balance."
"You have heard of the term 'multitasking' before, have you?" Naruto asked, and only the dry leaves raised by an afternoon wind answered him.
"T-t-t-t-that was awesome!" the Inuzuka replied, pointing at the Uzumaki's feat with awe in his eyes. "You have got to teach me that move!"
Naruto's eyes widened a bit. But this was just simple target practice! All you had to do was... he thought.
Needless to say, he spent the rest of the afternoon explaining his "methods" on throwing to both his teacher and classmates.
After classes, he had decided to drop by an unused Training Ground and practice the more rigorous moves that his School required. He had already warmed up as he took a few laps around the Civilian District before jogging to his present location.
He took a deep breath, and began his movements, all the while thinking about how his first day of school was rather interesting, even if it did get weird towards the afternoon. He did, however, get the names of all his classmates, which in and of itself was a good achievement.
The School of the Undefeated of the East was technically the most fluid martial arts school of all, because it required no specialized skill. Rather, it took the specialties of the practitioner, allowing it to grow at a natural pace. The saying that "good artists copy; great ones steal" did not technically apply to the School, as it was neither closed off to new techniques or too open to not have a defining style of its own.
Naruto thought that this form was the most appropriate art he had been taught, for it allowed him to well, be himself, as much as he had been conditioned by his Master in the more subtle arts of communication and strategy - integral parts of the School of the Undefeated of the East that most other schools seemed to gloss over or worse, neglect outright.
At first, he thought it was a royal mess: the dichotomy of what the School's intents and methods were apparently conflicted, but when seen in the right light, they actually complemented each other.
It was the first big discovery he had made ever since becoming the apprentice of Master Asia, and he smiled.
Tomorrow would be more of the same. He moved into the next step of his forms, confident in both the facts that these six weeks will probably be rather repetitive and that anything unexpected could happen at any time. He was already used to those facts even before he went here...
Uzumaki Naruto, apprentice of the Undefeated of the East, finished his forms and hurried back to his home to prepare for his second day of classes.
Chapter 2 - End
a/n: Not thinking of shipping for the moment. Yeah, there are fluffly scenes but that won't carry him through. And yes, there will be even more surprises in store as Naruto goes through six weeks of Ninja Academy cram school.
Sorry if the fic ends up slow, as there will be enough building-punting action soon enough.
Next chapter will feature Naruto's appraisal by the best Taijutsu-specialist genin, a rivalry will be born, and the most ridiculously epic manly greeting will fan the Fires of Youth of a certain individual to ridiculously epic levels. Oh yeah, and Naruto gets to spar against Sasuke.
And please review! Reviews are the lifeblood of a fic. :D