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Chapter 20

"Uzumaki-san. You've been awfully close to Itachi-kun lately, haven't you?"

The cold words brought a frown to my expression. My time at school had been mostly free of snippy comments from the girls in class ever since I started attending theoretical classes with the older students. I'd hoped my absence from Nakamura-sensei's lessons would assuage their concerns, but they'd apparently only been working up the courage to harass me during the taijutsu lessons.

I sighed. Aren't you all too young to be fighting over a boy? Besides, I hadn't even been that close to him. We talked during the intervals between classes, sometimes, but that was all. If nothing else, it was the other girls who never dared get close to him. Oh, tween crushes… among six year olds (!).

I settled into a defensive stance. No student in this class, other than Itachi-nii, was much of a challenge for me, but I could still use the practice. If my repeated losses to Itachi-nii had taught me anything, it was that I needed to exert more patience. Advancing recklessly at him tended to end with me on the ground.

"Why aren't you answering? You're so talkative next to him!"

Okay, now you're just whining. If it was going to keep like this, it would probably get annoying quickly. All this random trash-talk was wasting precious sparring time.

"Let's finish our spar. I'll answer your questions after."

"Ha! So violent… What does Itachi-kun see in you?"

I just made a "come at me" signal with my left hand. And so she did. I sidestepped her offensive, tripped her, and threw her to the ground. Her attack form was pretty decent, compared to many of the other students. Must be from one of the shinobi families. Still nowhere near Itachi-nii's level, however.

Once she was immobilized, I addressed her prone body.

"Look, I don't know what sort of delusion you're under. But if you want to separate me and my brother, you'd better train a whole lot."

I moved to my next match.

"Now, as you see, this position enables me to cover my face with the fan, as well as distract from my other hand, which in turn lets me plant or take an object, poison a drink, or draw a weapon. Note that you can use the sleeves of the kimono to further hide your actions. Now, let's practice. Form pairs, and try to pour these packets of salt in each other's tea."

Girls needed to take Kunoichi classes three times a week, while the boys got extra combat classes. Some might have called it sexism. Me? Rather than sparring some more with the scrubs in first year, I much preferred Mitarashi-sensei's lessons. They were quickly becoming one of my favorite aspects of Academy life.

We had started with tea ceremony, which was a bit boring. Still, it was one subject where I was actually behind; while I'd had some training, thanks to Kaa-sama, after my removal from the clan I had completely neglected the skill. Auntie hadn't been very big on the whole etiquette and politics thing. Plus, turns out that a mostly quiet room is really hard to navigate blind.

Making my way through the room with extra care, I sat across Yumi-san, a quiet kunoichi who radiated nervousness.

"H- hello, Uzumaki-san," she stuttered.

"Hello, Yumi-san."

I listened intently, trying to determine when she would make her attempt. I need to distract her. But how?

"How are your lessons going?"

"Our lessons? We went over weapon trajectories yesterday… I hate physics!" It was a surprisingly forceful statement, from what I knew about her. Extreme hate for the exact sciences seems to transcend world boundaries…

Meanwhile, I slowly moved my left hand, trying to sneak salt into her tea as she put it down to speak.

"It's a pretty important subject, isn't it?" Just a bit more...

A faint sound of liquid sloshing. She'd raised her cup.

"I think I like Kunoichi class more… I love doing flower arrangements. Also, we get to drink delicious tea. Mitarashi-sensei has pretty good taste in tea, you know?"

I raised my cup to my lips while I thought. My attempt had been a failure, but I was sure to succeed on the next try. I took in the fragrance. It does smell pretty good… like the teas okaa-sama sometimes had in the afternoon. I took a sip….

And immediately spit back the brackish tea. When the-?

"I'm sorry! You didn't drink any, so I put more… I'm sorry!"

Yumi-san kept apologizing, even offering me her own tea. That'll teach me to underestimate a shinobi.

"…so I won't be able to come to class over the next week."

"Very well. You are dismissed from theoretical classes for the duration of your survival training."

Tomorrow, we of the first year class would depart on a survival training mission. In other words, we were going to camp on the outskirts of the forest which pervaded and surrounded Konoha. Otou-sama had taken me and Itachi-nii on similar outings a couple of times for training, but I had stayed away from the woods since. Well, until Anko had decided I should get acquainted with her "infallible Forest of Death survival techniques."

They included knowing which few of the many plant and animal species weren't deadly poisonous, carnivorous, or otherwise hazardous, as well as what she termed "awareness training"–following a trap-riddled trail through the woods, while she made surprise attacks. Honestly, by the second round I was done with snares. Hanging from one's foot was as far from a fun activity as I could imagine.

"You'll thank me for this, pipsqueak. They always send people in there for the chūnin exams. No creativity, I tell you. Now, if I was in charge…" She let the phrase hang, and I hoped she was never put in charge of the exams. Ever.

As for our little Academy exercise, I expected most of the activities would focus on learning the basics, such as lighting a fire and locating water sources. This was all very well, but I was likely way ahead of the lecture. Otou-sama had made sure I knew my way around the local wilderness, while Anko had had decidedly too much fun teaching me to identify poisonous flora through its smell and texture. She's not the one touching the poison ivy.

In any case, the senior years were not going on an outing of their own. They'd dealt with tens of those by the time they reached this point; now, they were only expected to master ninjutsu and tactics. This meant I was going to miss classes, which led to my current activity.

"Yamanaka-senpai, may I have a word?"

"Huh? Ah, it's kōhai-san, Did you need something?"

"Well, the first years are going on a survival training over the next week, so I was wondering if you'd mind saving your notes, so we can go over them together when I return."

I could have waited to arrange this after I returned, but leaving things for later tended to create hassles. Also, though Yamanaka-san was a nice girl, and the one senpai who I'd actually talked to, she was not the most diligent student. Her notes should be good enough, however, and this meant I could repay her by helping her understand the material.

Yep. That's right, senpai! I'm asking this for your own sake, so please agree!

"I- Do you need me to be there? Couldn't you just borrow someone's notes?"

"I could, but I'd need assistance reading them."

"Oh, because you-" Her mouth snapped shut so forcefully I winced. "Sorry! I didn't mean- I meant- Fuck." Language! I'm technically a six year old, senpai!

"It's okay. Anyways, this also means we can help each other with the material!"

"That makes sense… See you next week, then, kōhai-chan!"

"Hinote. Uzumaki Hinote. Thank you, senpai!"

That was easy enough.

"Okay class, find your group and split up!"

Once we were in the area designated for the survival exercise, Nakamura-sensei immediately instructed us to separate into the standard trios and look for places to camp. Groups hadn't been assigned; finding teammates who complemented one's own skills was part of the assignment–unless I'm overestimating the Academy again. I'd wanted to get Itachi-nii, but judging by the squealing we'd both been swamped by girls.

"Will you pair with me, Hinocchi?"

"Come one, Hinote-chan! I'm sure we'll be best friends!"

When the hell did I get on first name terms with you guys!? I had no idea when I became so popular, and I didn't much care for it. I may not be Kakashi, but I valued my personal space. It felt uncomfortable having so many people badgering me, so I moved to escape.

No way I could get to Itachi-nii–from the sound of things, his crowd was twice as big as mine–so I went in the direction of another voice I recognized, where Yumi-san seemed to be chatting with a friend.

"Hey! Yumi-san! Can I join your group?"

"Ack! Uzumaki-san! I- er…"

"Thanks! Please take care of me!"

I couldn't wait for her to assent. I'm running for my life here, okay? From the sound of it, most of those would be Itachi-nii fangirls, attempting to get close to him through me. Geez. Fangirls are scary…

"That was not nice, Uzumaki-san." Came the voice of Yumi-san's friend, in a cold tone.

"Eh!?"

"Chika-chan is a nice girl, so she's easy to push around, but you can't take advantage of her like that. You clan kids are all the same…"

"Kyōko-chan!"

"No, she's right. I am sorry for that."

"Good. Welcome to the group, Uzumaki-san."

"Thank you, er…"

"Tsubaki."

"Yes, Thank you, Tsubaki-san. It's good to know Yumi-san has such a… fiercely protective friend."

Tsubaki-san's family, it turned out, raised birds. Messenger birds, pets, the whole nine yards. In fact, she had brought her own hawk, Rokku-chan, to the exercise. The bird proved useful as soon as the activity started; her scouting saved us a lot of time looking for a place to set up.

Overall, albeit from a civilian family, Tsubaki-san was a boon for our group. Besides her abilities as a falconeer, she was a capable shinobi, and very mature for her age. Not that Yumi-san was incompetent–once I'd started paying attention to her, she'd turned out to be quite resourceful–but shining next to such an excellent Tsubaki-san was tough.

We set up our tents, and went looking for the herbs sensei had told us to find. I mostly stuck to helping confirm and harvest the plants we found, since I couldn't contribute as much to actually locating them. Anko's training or not, just looking around was way more efficient than groping and smelling every plant around.

"So," I began, once we were done for the day. The sun was sinking, so there was little point in continuing to look. "Your family raises birds, Tsubaki-san?"

"Yes, like I told you before. We're the best in the Land of Fire!" She huffed–is that her puffing out her chest?–and Rokku-chan cried to punctuate it.

"I see. Do you think you could tell me more about it later? I've never heard of a falconeer shinobi." It did sound like something with plenty of applications.

"Sure."

We were working to pitch our tent before complete dark, while Yumi-san set some traps around the camp. These were supposed to be the safer parts of the Konoha forests, and sensei was patrolling the area, but we were still better safe than sorry.

The next morning, we set out to complete our herb-gathering quest. It was pretty easy-going. I did feel a bit useless, since my teammates did most of the herb spotting, but I was here to learn. I'll need to ask Shuku-sensei about sensory boosting techniques.

Much like most shinobi could increase their muscle power using chakra–Guy-san being the premier example–there were also ways to boost one's senses with chakra. Since I could use Strong Fist techniques with no ill effects, I should be fine with a sensory boost… so long as I didn't overdo it. Otherwise I'll run out of senses fast.

"Uzumaki-san."

Yumi-san broke me out of my reverie. I felt the heat rush to my face, knowing I had been slacking off. And I was already contributing the least.

"How are you so strong? I saw you spar with Akimichi-kun the other day. Even Kyōko-chan lost to him… but you beat him so easily."

"I'm not that strong. I could never catch up to Itachi-nii. And out there… See, Yumi-san, I've been training since I was three. I have more experience than you guys, But don't be mistaken, I'm not strong at all." Not nearly strong enough.

"See, Chika-chan? I told you! It's all a question of training. These clan kids have been training for years. We'll need time to catch up to them."

"But Akimichi-kun is from a clan too!"

"If anything, I should be the one asking you, Yumi-san. Didn't you beat me at Kunoichi class?"

"Eh? That was just… You were distracted, so I poured the salt in. It's nothing like what you can do."

"Tch. Have more pride in yourself, Chika-chan!"

The slap Tsubaki-san gave Yumi-san's back resounded through the forest. Ouch.

"Good morning… Uzumaki-chan, was it?"

"Good morning, Yamanaka-senpai."

Once we'd come back from the trip, I met Yamanaka-senpai for our "study group". She'd volunteered to come to my home in the afternoon, so we studied in the bedroom Kakashi and Rin-chan had given me.

Yamanaka-senpai turned out to be a practical learner, more suited to trying things out than sitting in a lecture, so I had her help me put together a few makeshift miniatures, which I used to illustrate formations as she read. I had tons of fun. Beats TA'ing for Algebra I students any day.

She had a clear voice and precise enunciation, especially considering she must have been eleven or twelve. In another life, she may have been a singer, a voice actress, or a translator. Here, she was a soldier and a spy. Such is life in the world of shinobi.

We made a pause, and I brought out some onigiri I had helped Rin-chan make in the morning. I'm definitely getting better at this! By then, I could consider myself an actual cooking asset for the house… I hoped.

"Who drew these?" It seemed senpai had been looking around.

"I did."

"They are beautiful!" Well, I have some fifteen years more experience than you think. "Is this Hokage-sama?"

I nodded. I had, indeed, drawn Hiruzen-sensei once, when I'd found him sleeping off his overtaxed body and mind, back when we'd had semi-regular lessons.

There was an awkward pause.

"So, let's move on to lesson four, okay? It's the first lesson on scouting techniques and…"

And so passed the rest of the day. Yamanaka-senpai stayed for dinner, when we had curry chicken for dinner. She had the ultra-rare opportunity to fangirl over Kakashi. I didn't tease him about it at all once she went home.

"Wow, Hatake-sama! You're so popular with the Academy students! Should I bring the rest of my class over next time?"

Okay, maybe a bit.

A/N: A new chapter? Gasp!

Yeah, so IRL stuff got tough near the end of June/start of July, and then I was full of other things to do (including relaxing! I need breaks). So when I got back to this I was wholly out of touch and needed to retouch it a lot. In the end, I had to break what I wrote in half... So hey, at least you know next chapter is almost certainly coming out on time!

Bunch of new characters in this one. Yeah, I know. But don't worry, soon I'll start killing them all! Mwahahahaha! Well, who knows...?

In any case, I hope all of you have had a nice two months! Reviews are welcome... even if I left for a while. Please?