Hey everyone! So yah another update! Whoot I'm on a roll. Don't worry I have been keeping track of where I've been, and last chapter I added a piece of dialouge I left out. Emiko's pregnant... so she'll be having a baby this chapter. Who is this baby? Well we all know who it is.
Warning: Fluff and unneeded drama caused by selfish kids? Also very competitive ninja who bet on almost anything and everything. (talking about them irresponsible academy teachers. We all know you hold bets about who is going to have the best class!)
Disclaimer: Children shall be awkward, weird, strange, and all sorts of thing. But they do bring little snippets of life, light, and fun. Therefore, Naruto is not mine, because of how many angsty children it's filled with.
Beta: None, because I choose to own up to my terrible typos/grammar-mistakes/any-other-crap-I-put-in-here
Chapter 4: The Path is Chosen
Entering the Academy
Kagami looked at the two tired youngsters, as Obito laid out stark flat on his back panting for breath. He was covered in scratches and dirt, he'd need to scrub himself down very well tonight. Akarei was on her hands and knees, glaring at Kagami, as she huffed and puffed for breathe.
"Well I never said this would be easy, now did I?" Kagami teased at the young two. This was their third and final practice, and while they had made great leaps; Kagami looked on over at Obito. He would have to work extra hard, since he didn't pick it up as easily as he thought he would. It took him way too long to learn the fireball justu, even then it was very small. It confused him, because Ai and Yuto had been slightly above average as ninjas, so the boy should at least be average with those genetics. Here he was, at the level of a civilian. Okay civilian might be cutting it close, he was an above average civilian, but below average shinobi kid.
Akarei, however, hit that same limit as Ai. She had potential, but it wouldn't come quickly. Not as quickly as he had seen it come to that Hatake kid.
"So you two, continue you're own training. I have duties to take care of within the clan. Have fun tomorrow on your first day. Remember not to be late."
Akarei let out a hoarse reply. "Hai, Kagami-san."
Obito held up a thumbs up, while he remained catching his breath.
With that, Kagami left the two in the rarely used training ground.
Morning came, as Akarei prepped to go. Atsuko had to leave early to go to some elderly Uchiha meeting, which would take all day. Atsuko looked tired, and Akarei felt bad since she had been sowing the Uchiha symbol to the backs of their clothes all night long.
Akarei shook Obito, but he didn't wake. She removed the blankets, but he kept sleeping like he was dead. She was getting annoyed at this point. She went to the kitchen and began to fill a pot with cold water. She balanced it on her knee, as she went up the stairs with the heavy load.
"Wake up, Obito!" She threw the water on him, as he flopped around like a fish out of water.
"Eh?! Rei-chan, what was that for?!"
She settled the pot down, as she rubbed her sore arms. She'd have to work on her physical capabilities.
"You wouldn't wake. You were sleeping and wouldn't wake, so I had to do it."
He flicked some water at her, while she dodged to the side.
"Geez now I'm soaking wet." He trudged to the bathroom, before he cried back out. "Bring me my change of clothes!"
Akarei let out a gruff sigh, before doing as told. She muttered under her breath as she approached the bathroom. "It's your fault for being a heavy sleeper, and staying up all night last night in excitement." Apparently he didn't hear that, since he didn't remark about it.
Akarei and Obito were now racing to the Academy, as they were cutting it close to the opening time.
The two slid to a stop, as they quickly opened the door and stepped inside.
"Whew, made it!" Obito cried out.
Hiruzen looked on at the two young ones, before coughing.
"Please take a seat."
Obito looked, but then frowned, when he noticed that their were no open seats. The only ones open were next to Hatake Kakashi and a cute girl with brown hair and purple squares on her face. He immediately knew where he was sitting.
Obito left Akarei's side, as she froze on wondering what to do. She watched Obito rush to the middle, sitting next to a girl. She scanned the room, and saw in the back that Kakashi was sitting there, next to another boy with dark hair, who was wearing a white vest with a black and blue striped collar over a mesh shirt. She slowly made her way over, before sitting down.
Kakashi glared at her, while Asuma kept a watchful eye on her, seeing that Kakashi didn't like her presence. Akarei paid no attention to them, as she scanned the rest of the room.
Hiruzen then captured the attention of everyone, as he let out a short burst of chakra to the room. The children in their seats turned their attention to the front, while some lingering parents in the back, mostly civilian parents, stopped chattering.
"We'll be going over the requirements to attend the academy, some papers that need to be signed, scheduling for the children and their classes, drop out dates and cutting lines for those who do not progress well enough, as well as your entrance documents at the end of the first day."
The Hokage smiled, as he gestured to the room.
"I'm glad to see so many talented children in this room today. You will be separated into 3 classes, each with their own head teacher."
He held a hand to the three shinobi standing beside him. A man with purple eyes and dirty blonde hair, with brown ends leered around the room. He looked big and muscular, his biceps popping out from his short sleeved ninja shirt. Another man who looked quite thin and tan. His black eyes shifted back and forth across the room, as he pushed his square glasses up. His short cropped brown hair looked ordinary. Finally a man with strong brown eyes, held a serious gaze to all in the room, as his greying black hair was pulled into a low ponytail.
"Yamanoue Akira, Takishita Keizo, and Ishihara Tetsuno will be in charge of these classes, respectively. All the children will come up and pick from this box. The number they pick will correlate with who they are taught by."
The children's chakra shivered with anticipation, some with fear.
Akira snickered, his smile a bit on the creepy side for some parents and kids. He folded his arms across, as he eyed the room.
Tetsuno sent a glare his way. "Stop intimidating the children. You're supposed to make them like you, now that you are an academy teacher." He mumbled so none of the children or parents in the back could hear him.
Akira's purple eyes locked with Tetsuno's brown, as he muttered. "I just want all the strong kids in my class. I'm not losing this 4 year beat to either one of you."
The other two glared back, as Keizo spoke up. "Well, then. If you put it that way, I feel sorry for your class."
All three of them looked to Hatake Kakashi, all them desperately clinging onto the hope he would get in their class. Said child, felt shivers up his spine when he locked eyes with them.
Hiruzen chuckled at the rivalry between the three teachers. He clapped his hands, as he gathered the attention of the room. "Well then, everyone line up. We'll begin drawing now."
All the children moved, as Akarei made her way over to Obito and his new friend; but as she pushed to get ahead another child pushed her back.
"Hey no cutting!" He cried, while Akarei looked at him, expressionless. She looked to Obito, before looking to the back of the line. She figured it would be better not to cause a ruckus and embrass Obito, before turning back and heading to the end of the line.
"So yah, my little sister was the one that headed in with me." Obito bragged, as Rin listened.
"I see. Oh, she's not headed here anymore." Obito turned as he saw the back of her red head.
"Hey, Rei-chan! Rei-chan!" He waved, but she didn't turn back, like she always would when he called her name.
He felt a small tug on his sleeve, as Rin pointed. "We're almost up to choose Obito. She'll probably meet up with you later."
"R-right." Obito suddenly felt lonely, and open. He usually always had Akarei by his side, and now she just ignored him.
Rin picked her number, as she showed Obito it was a number 3. Obito looked to the box, as he prayed in his head to pick the same one, or at least pick the same number Akarei would pick. Oh! Also for Kakashi not to get the same number as him.
He pulled out the slip of paper, as he sighed with relief, and showed the number 3 as well. The line quickly shortened as others started to pull papers. Akarei was almost to the front, as three children stood in front of her. From the conversation she had heard, the two up most front were Yuhi Kurenai and Sarutobi Asuma. A lot of the other kids were talking about them. The person directly in front of her had introduced himself as Shiranui Genma, and held a toothpick in his teeth.
"So what class do you want to get in?" Genma looked to Akarei, as she stood their silently. He felt a bit awkward around the quiet child.
"It doesn't matter. I would like to be with Obito, but grandmother told me not to act out if I get put in a different class than my brother."
Genma raised an eyebrow at that. Not to act out? What did that mean. Was she a spoiled clan kid? She did say she was an Uchiha.
"I see."
Genma felt even more awkward as the girl didn't try to facilitate the conversation. Akarei could feel his chakra, wondering why he was so nervous. She remembered, that grandmother also told her to speak more with other children.
After Kurenai had pulled her slip, and Asuma was about to pull his, Genma felt a pull on his shoulder.
"What class would you like to be in?"
Genma played around with toothpick as he thought. "Hmm, probably class 3. I definitely don't want to be in number 1."
Akarei nodded her head in understanding.
"Hey you! Hurry up and pick!" Yamanoue commanded, as Genma flinched. He turned around quickly pulled, thankful for the number 3 that popped up.
Akarei went to pull hers, and based on how the instructors chakra was, she figured that the only number left was number 3; with Tetsuno's harsh calculating gaze on her.
She showed them her number, as she joined the collective group of class 3. She was preemptively hugged as Obito grabbed her.
"You totally ignored me in line! Is it because you had to wake me up today? Don't hate me Rei-chan!"
Akarei stood there confused. "No, it's because I would be cutting the line." Her black eyes noticed the girl behind Obito.
"Hello." Akarei greeted. Rin waved, as she approached closer.
"Hi, I'm Nohara Rin. You're Uchiha Akarei, right?"
Akarei nodded, as Rin smiled. "Obito talks a lot about you. He also talks a lot about Kakashi." Obito turned a bit red, before shouting out. "Yah, but I only talk badly of him."
Kakashi's eyebrow ticked with frustration, but Tetsuno quickly came over before a quarrel could occur.
"Okay, so we have 30 of us. Let's move out."
Tetsuno could not believe how little of the class passed. He probably got the worst roster. He figured a few of the non-passing students would still be able to become ninja, but the average score was way too low. Way too low to win that stupid bet he had made while out drinking.
Only Hatake passed with flying colors, immediately turning in his paper first.
His perfect quiz score only helped to average that Uchiha Obito's terrible quiz score.
Nohara Rin and Uchiha Akarei got the same score, but different answers. Rin was more so knowledgeable in the medicine and gathering field. While Akarei, as with most Uchiha's, was proficient with academics and strategic battle maneuvers. However both still barely passed.
Sarutobi Asuma passed well, while Yuhi Kurenai did worse than Rin and Akarei.
He looked to the trio of boys sitting next to each other. Shiranui Genma smiled with a relaxed aura, while Might Guy looked tense under Tetsuno's stare, and Ebisu constantly fidgeted with his glasses and books around him.
He looked at Gai's test, a horrible score as well for everything not related to taijutsu and proper training techniques to prevent injury.
However Genma and Ebisu had the same test score, along with the same answers. He stared at Genma, as the boy started to sweat under his gaze. No doubt he cheated, although he didn't know how he did it. The rest were all over the place. Tetsuno knew that rest of the students wouldn't last all 4 years at the academy.
"Well I have to say I'm impressed."
The class looked up excited, except for a few. Tetsuno noted those faces. Sarutobi Asuma, Hatake Kakashi, and Uchiha Akarei. They would probably give him the most trouble.
"With the low quality of children that applied to be in this academy. Almost all of you failed."
The class quickly grew quiet, as chakra signatures grew stagnant and fearful.
"By this time next year, I suppose 10% of you will be gone, we will get new better applicants to replace those numbers, and each year the percentage will grow with time until graduation." The class looked around at one another.
"It would help to have someone to train with, give you a better motivation to become a better ninja." The only ones who didn't look around were once again the trouble-maker-trio. They all stared at him, before he began with their entrance ceremony pass outs.
After he was finished he looked out to the class. Some were discouraged, others determined; but what strangely disturbed him was how those three seemed to just know they would make it. Like they knew what future they would build at the age of 5. That is what made fearsome ninja, ones who knew and had the information to continually build towards their goal without deterrence.
He would not wish up any jounin that fearsome three to be a team.
Atsuko was at home, when she heard the door burst open.
"We're back!" She heard the shuffling of shoes, as Obito quickly came running in, holding up a folder.
"You have to sign them, granny." He laid them on the table, before rushing off to his room. She raised an eyebrow.
"Where are you going, Obito? Dinner is almost ready!"
Akarei came inside, as she had just gotten done with straightening out the shoes out front.
"Hello, grandmother. I'm back."
"Welcome back, how was school?"
Akarei stared at the kitchen, seeing all the ingredients laid out. Tonight they were having hot pot with dango for dessert. "It was fine. I passed my first quiz."
"Oh, how did Obito do?" Atsuko questioned, knowing Obito would surely tell Akarei.
Akarei didn't say anything, and turned her stare to the floor.
"Not too well, huh? That's fine it's just your first day."
Akarei turned her head back up, as Obito came into the kitchen, dressed for training.
"Come on Rei-chan, hurry up. We need to ask Kagami-sensei to teach us more stuff!"
Akarei however stood there. "I don't think we should bother Kagami-san." Atsuko dropped her ladle as she heard Akarei. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? Was Akarei at a disagreement with Obito?
"Why not!? I need to get better, so I can beat Hatake's butt! I need to leave him rolling in the dirt."
"I think you should pay more attention to your studies." Akarei mumbled.
Obito frowned. "First you ignore me in class, and now you bring up studies. You're no fun anymore Rei-chan. I'm leaving, granny! I'll be back later!"
The boy took off, as Atsuko picked up the ladle, putting it in the sink.
"Long day?" She looked at Akarei, who looked a little lost. She stared at the front door, which was wide open. "Akarei?"
Akarei turned to Atsuko. "I'd like to go to the library. Is it okay if I go?"
"Sure. Take my library card, they've seen you around with me, I'm sure they'll recognize you. Remember to check out books you'll finish before the dead line of return."
"Yes, grandmother." Atsuko looked on worriedly at the sad child's face. She quietly left the house, before closing the door.
Atsuko sat, before sighing. She turned to a picture of her young son on the altar at their home, his picture next to Ai's. "Oh Yuto, what am I to do?"
Kagami paced back and forth in the hospital. Oh his daughter was having a son. A son! He looked to her husband, as he sat down his hands twitching and legs shaking. The nurse exited, as the light above the room died down.
"The baby was successfully delivered, you can speak with Emiko-san now."
The husband rushed past him, as he began apologizing for not being by her side. Kagami breathed to calm himself, he was so excited to be a grandfather. Emiko had chosen well for a husband.
"Father, do you want to come see him?"
Kagami came closer, as he looked at the red faced baby, his black hair. He was breathing, sound asleep. She offered the bundle, as Kagami held the baby close.
"His name is Shisui. Uchiha Shisui."
Kagami looked at Shisui.
"A fine name."
Obito came back home, as he kicked his shoes off. Atsuko noticed his grumpily attitude.
"Welcome back. How was visiting Kagami-kun?"
"He wasn't at home. I looked all over for him, but I couldn't find him. I bet if Rei-chan helped me, I would've found him."
Atsuko gave him a glass of water. "Did you want to eat?"
Obito drank the water, as he nodded his head. He looked around him, before sending out a small burst of chakra. "Where's Rei-chan, didn't she stay home for me?"
Atsuko prepped a bowl from the hot pot, as she set it down with a bowl of rice. "She went to the library."
"But she's too young to have her own card." Obito reasoned. Akarei hated reading inside the library alone. Everyone would always stare at her, and whisper about her red hair. That's why she always checked out books and read them on her own. She could only do it with granny though.
"She took my card, I'm sure the workers and volunteers will recognize her." Atsuko thought they should, since she is the only Uchiha with a wonderful red haired grand-daughter.
Obito pouted, as he ate.
"Are you angry with Akarei?" Atsuko questioned.
"Yes! No. Sorta?" Obito didn't know what he was feeling. "Rei-chan used to be more fun, we'd do everything together. Now that we've gone to the academy, it feels a bit like she doesn't want to do stuff with me anymore. She doesn't even sit next to me in class."
"Did they assign seating arrangements?" Atsuko questioned.
Obito nodded his head. "Yah, but I was expecting Rei-chan to throw a fit."
Atsuko raised an eyebrow. "You remember when she threw a fit at the daycare?"
"Yah, she was raising a ruckus and causing so much noise. It was the first time I thought, 'wow Rei-chan is really cool and strong.' She always beat up anybody who would talk bad about me, even if she would lose. Now it's like she's treating me like a stranger."
Obito laid his head against the desk. Atsuko patted his head. "You'll find new people to befriend Obito."
"But I don't want to lose Rei-chan!" Obito cried out. Atsuko pinched his cheek, as she used to do with Yuto.
"What you are feeling is jealously. You worry someone will take her away, right?" Obito rubbed his cheek as he nodded. "Don't worry, Akarei will always be there for you."
"But-"
"You have to trust her, like she trusts you. Akarei listens to you, cares for you, helps you, how can you say she'll just leave you after one day at the Academy."
"She's never done this before..." Obito whined.
Atsuko let out a sigh, trying to convince her grandson, that he was just being too dramatic.
"You will see, she'll stick by you through thick and thin. You are siblings are you not?"
Obito nodded, as he continued his meal.
Atsuko watched Obito play by himself, as she cleaned the dishes. The door creaked open, as both of them felt the familiar signature of Akarei.
"Welcome back!" Atsuko cried out. She felt Obito rush towards the door.
Akarei set her books down, and as she was about to take her shoes off, she was tackled to the ground.
"Obito, what are you-"
She stopped as she saw Obito holding back tears.
"You were gone for so long! Why didn't you take me with you!? I know I say I hate the library and books, but granny wouldn't let me go by myself since I get lost easily on the way there! Rei-chan, you said you would be on my side always!"
Akarei looked on stunned, before wiping at Obito's eyes.
"Sorry, Obito. I shall ask for permission next time. I won't leave, I promise." Obito glared at her, before declaring.
"Alright, I accept your apology. But you also have to give me your share of dango tonight!"
Akarei looked at Obito a bit confused, before smiling.
"Okay, Obito."
I don't know about everyone else's relationships, but with my older sister she was 3 1/2 years older than me. So when she went to school, I used to throw fits for her to stay home since we were really close. Have you ever felt that way about someone before? Just want to throw the world into chaos if you couldn't have them around... Maybe I was a psychopath when I was young :b
Well I hope nobody seemed to weird, or unreasonable. I think these are reasonable feelings for 5 year olds. They are going to be immature, selfish, and have different ideals. Akarei is starting to see it's okay to not constantly be at Obito's beck and call. She'll still want to help, but she's starting to develop her own way of thinking.
And Tetsuno will only help with that, by making her realize things next chapter!
Also I was asked this question: What's the hardest part I find writing this story?
Answer: Remembering that Obito refers to Akarei as Rei-chan. Oh my god you don't know how many times I type Akarei, and then realize Obito was speaking... thank goodness for ctrl + F...
Thanks for listening to my random comments above.
If you want to leave behind any comments/questions/suggestions/leave a review!
I shall try to get them to be genin by the end of next chapter, but realistically I see myself splitting it up into two chapters... Just saying.