The next few days were spent in the classroom, as Itachi tested his students. Sadly, this mostly involved actual paper tests, finding out what they knew of history, math, and even a bit of science surprisingly. The questions were designed with stopping points in mind, to see who knew what, and then post the results on the chalkboard. Each subject, from History to Spelling was listed, with the top three in each field finding their names written under them.
"Alright class. This is how the rest of this year will work. I have on this board, the names of everyone in the class," upon saying that, he motioned for another board to be wheeled in by one of the other students.
"Now then, let's see," Itachi took the next several minutes to put marks under every name that appeared on the test results. When he was done, it was clear that Hinata was out ahead, with her part of the board full of marks, while the closest behind her, Sakura, had less than half as many.
"Alright, that looks to be it. Before I continue, might I ask you children how many of you know the name Hatake Kakashi?" he said, turning to face them. A few hands shot up, while others just looked around, the name sounding familiar to some of them, but not enough to draw a face from their memories.
"Ah, so a few of you have then. Excellent. For those who don't know, Kakashi is the leader of Anbu Black Ops," Itachi let that fact hang in the air, and to his amusement every member of the class got wide eyed. Everyone in Konoha knew the name Anbu, and knew that it was the elite, the best of the best in the ninja world.
"Heh, it seems all of you know what Anbu is, but for those with any doubts, Anbu is an organization made of the best jonin and chunin in the village, and to be their leader is to be only one step below the Hokage in terms of power. Many even believe Kakashi is stronger in some respects, as he is the known by another name I'm sure many of you have heard, the Copy Cat Ninja," this fact was out of his mouth for an instant before it drew he desired reactions. As he'd expected, with most of his class coming from known clans, they all knew that title, and knew it's bearer's reputation.
"You many now be wondering why I bring that name up. Truth is, I asked Kakashi for a favor. You see, he and I are old friends, and he knows how hard it is to get you kids to focus, so he came up with a creative idea," Itachi accompanied this with a flaring motion of his arm, gesturing to the board behind him.
"Every month, during class, I shall take note of the best scores in every subject. First place will earn you three points, second two, and finally third will earn a single point. At the end of the lessons, I shall total up your scores, and the winner will be able to request some extra education, namely Hatake Kakashi shall impart on you one his thousand techniques," that news stunned everyone, as their minds went to all the rumors they'd heard. Kakashi could level mountains, and turn back rivers. Once he even walked out into a hurricane, and with a single jutsu, made the wind stop. These were the stories told about the man with the Sharingan Eye, the only non-Uchiha to have one.
"Of course, just to damp your wild imaginations, we, myself and Kakashi, will be working up a list of ten for the winner to select from, techniques we believe they could use. So don't get your hopes up on some massive thunder jutsu that can crack mountains. That doesn't mean they won't be intense, however, far beyond those techniques normally taught to young people," this was said with a knowing smirk, seeing the wildly varying fire behind those tiny eyes, going down to almost nothing, to becoming roaring fires as he finished. Many instantly cracked open their books and began skimming them, absorbing facts, dates, and formula like tiny computers, something that made their teacher laugh to himself as he took his seat.
Not that that was the end of the surprises, as the next day was given over to combat training. Every student was given a number, and set in a line. A mini tournament then commenced, with everyone told to show off their best taijutsu. One might have expected Hinata, a member of a clan famous for their Gentle Fist technique, who had already gotten to show off a bit of it, to be the best in the class. She would have been too, if the taijutsu trainer, Hizashi, hadn't expressly forbidden chakra use during the fights, claiming he wanted to see how they did without first, before he let them give it their all.
"Excellent work, Mr. Uchiha," said the white eyed man, as another opponent fell to the red eyed boy. His seventh consecutive win. Naruto was up next though.
"Enjoy the taste of victory while it lasts, because it's about to turn sour in your mouth!" declared the blonde, reading off a note that Heero had given him.
"Alright then, let's make this quick," was the only response Sasuke gave, dropping into a fighting stance, with a cocky smirk on his face. Naruto, either showing his own confidence, or his recklessness, charged right at the Uchiha boy. Of course, he'd been training the last year with a master of misdirection, and used those skills well, ducking at the last minute into a slide, something the Uchiha's stance gave little protection against.
The pair then fought in earnest, as Sasuke, surprised, but not daunted, kicked off the ground lightly, intending on landing on Naruto hard as he passed beneath him. Before he got close enough though, the blonde boy spun on one hand, changing his slide to the side, as he flared out his legs. A scissoring motion caught Sasuke's feet as they landed, and with a twist, he was put face down on the mat, with Naruto quickly rolling over on top of him.
"Not bad, baka," was Sasuke's response, as he did something with arms, rotating them in a very quick motion so that Naruto was forced to back off enough to let Sasuke break free, the red eyed boy coming back to his feet, and dropping again into a fighting stance. Naruto, screaming in frustration as they should have been game, drew himself back into a similar looking stance, his feet placed closer together though.
Sasuke saw this, and realized it gave him a slight advantage, as he moved forward, chambering a kick just so that he could knock the other boy off balance. Naruto caught the kick, however, using his elbow in just such a way that it smacked hard into the Uchiha's ankle, the pair of them crying out with their shared pain, but their stances allowing Naruto to spin forward with his other foot, clipping Sasuke on the side of his head with it, and sending him flying. When he came to rest off the mat, and out, he looked around in shock, and then started to laugh.
"And I thought this was going to be a boring school year," he said, and rose to his feet, shakily, but still, and then bowed to Naruto, who returned the gesture of respect, before going to the center of the mat, to keep the fights going.
The rest of the matches proved no where near as exciting, with most students knowing only basic katas, or maybe a few from their families styles. In the end, the hierarchy was established. Sasuke was at the top, with seven wins, and Hinata right behind with six. Naruto was in the middle, having lost to his second opponent, only having the single win under his belt. Heero lacked even that, losing to Sakura in his fight with the pink haired kunoichi in training. So the class was ranked, from strongest, to weakest.
The next week was spent with Mizuki, learning the fine arts of Ninjutsu. Everyone paid rapt attention in that class, even those who probably already knew the basic seals and techniques from family members. Most were disappointed that the first lesson was on a simple chakra technique, something like Naruto's chakra pulse, but far easier for those with less of a reserve. This technique, requiring only a single Monkey seal, was simply a way of measuring how much chakra the students had, as their bodies flared out with the stuff.
"Good, good, next," said Mizuki as he wrote down something on his clipboard. The student had flared a good three inches, and held it for a full minute. That was a good reserve for her age, and Sakura smiled as she joined Ino, who'd only had slightly less. Next up was Hinata, who bowed to the teacher, as she made the handsign, and her chakra flared. This time it was almost a good foot out from her body, like a blue fireball engulfing her. She then proceeded to hold that for the required minute, and when she released, she looked winded, but not exhausted, showing she might have actually been holding back a little.
"I would expect nothing less from the Hyuga heir," said the teacher with a smirk, bowing his head towards her. Hinata, finally getting a smile out of her rather chiseled face, bowed back. She then ran over to the rest of the class, many of whom began questioning her, asking her for tips on training chakra reserves and the like.
"Okay, Sasuke, show us what you can do," asked Mizuki, and the Uchiha looked from Hinata to the teacher, before nodding, and then doing the handsign. His flare was almost twice what Hinata's had been, the charka pouring from his body in a bright red stream, before petering out just as the minute ended, and the boy was driven to his knees, sweat pouring down his body. Obviously, he had been trying to show up the Hyuga heir, but still, Mizuki whistled. This crop of students was quite a bit better than any of the years he'd been here.
"I will have to remind you, Mr. Uchiha, that this was supposed to only be what you thought you could handle. We want to train you here, not kill you. Still, impressive," he admitted, being rewarded with a warm smile from the boy, who joined the others on the side of the class room, conversation redoubling as both he and Hinata were pestered for training tips. The next up turned out to be the blonde haired Uzumaki, whom Mizuki just shook his head at.
"No need, Naruto. We saw what you could do with that pulse at the beginning. So why don't you go to the stand with the class?" he told the boy, who was already doing the handsign. Mizuki, even if the students couldn't, already felt the chakra surging inside Naruto from just that simple motion. It wouldn't due to have him show up those from high ranking clans. More importantly, he didn't want any of the students to kill themselves trying to one up him. Naruto, looking disappointed, walked towards the rest of the class, but then joined in with them in asking what sort of training the Hyuga heir had been through.
"Okay, Mr. Yuy, you're up," he told the silver haired boy, who walked next to him, and then dropped into a fighting stance for some reason. He then went through an odd looking handsign, something like reverse snake, but with the thumb extended as well, before going to the required Monkey seal. Mizuki found that odd, but then went wide eyed as he had to retreat from the chakra flare, which extended a good meter and a half from the boy's body, shining white power flowing from him. Obviously Heero, whom Mizuki knew was constantly running on walls in the village, had built up quite the chakra reserve, but still, this was quite a bit more than he would have expected.
The minute passed, and Heero stood there, getting a few looks from the various students, while Mizuki just stared, finally looking down at his clipboard and marking off what he thought the boy's chakra reserves were. Naruto's of course, had an infinity symbol next to it, but Heero's got a number more than three times that of Sasuke's, as the boy barely looked fazed by what he'd done, either having been holding back on purpose, or instinctively somehow. That meant his actual reserve had to be quite a bit higher than even what he'd shown.
"Excellent work," was all he said, as the boy joined his brother on the other side of the class, where many questions were directed at him. He heard Heero start giving the usual explanation for tree walking, and idly Mizuki wondered how many of his students would be running on walls and water before the end of the year. Of course, he still had the rest of the class to do, and after a few more students of more average reserves, he got down to the business of teaching them how to be true ninja.