A True Godfather
Ch4 – A New Life: Shinobi Academy: The best days of our lives
"Naruto!" Normal speech
'What is he doing?!' Thought
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Techniques
"KILL,KILL,KILL!" Demons
Disclaimor: If there was a way to own Naruto, I haven't heard of it
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela
Last time on: A True Godfather
"N-Naru-chan? Y-y-you remember m-me?" Instead of replying he just leapt forward and hugged the girl, the first person to ever be his friend. This of course caused her to blush and then pass out, which in turn caused Naruto to laugh in remembrance.
While all of this was happening, Sasuke just sat there, bewildered. It took a while, but eventually he got the story out of them. As the three began to talk, Naruto loudly, Sasuke softer but just as strong and Hinata soft, stuttering and shy, they never noticed the little toad sitting just out of sight.
By the time the three left the stall, they had vowed to play together tomorrow, and from then on, the three students would be as thick as thieves.
Year one
After the excitement of the first several weeks, the following days felt slow in comparison. Soon Naruto got caught up in a routine, though it didn't help that the school days were split up into five days, and hardly differed.
Day 1 was conditioning, where the teachers would take them through the first year obstacle course, followed by the leaf exercise. The obstacle course was a small set of swings, bridges, ropes and harmless hidden traps, designed to slow down and irritate instead of harm. They would also have lectures on basic chakra theory and healthy living.
Day 2 consisted of basic taijutsu forms and basic sparring. Afterword's they would have a lecture on history.
Day 3, more conditioning, and a lecture on the Shinobi Rules.
On Day 4, they had Bukijutsu practise, where they began to seriously learn how to throw kunai and shuriken. They also learnt how to be silent and use stealth and how to set up and detect traps (only the basics however.)
Day 5, the last in the week, saw them going through the hand signs, and ending the day with a test of the week's work.
During the course of each day, the teachers would also go through other studies, such as Mathematics, Geography, Science, Business, Language (Spelling and context) and other such subjects. These courses were put in for those students who never made genin, allowing them a chance in the village.
Other than the Uchiha massacre, nothing really interesting happened that first year. Sasuke became the source of affection for many a young girl, his two biggest fans being the Yamanaka heir and her best friend, the pink haired Haruno Sakura. Every day the two would fight to sit next to Sasuke, only to lose to Naruto and Hinata.
Hinata quickly became good friends with Sasuke, easily putting behind her, her clan's animosity towards Uchiha's. When the fangirls became a problem, Hinata opted to sit next to him rather than Naruto, protecting his left side from being violated. She still stuttered and would faint if Naruto got to close or if he accidentally touched her, but she was improving.
Naruto quickly learnt not to get in between Sakura and Ino's fights; instead he let them distract each other while he sat down next to his friend. He and Sasuke continued to egg each other on, pushing the other to do better. However, no matter how hard he tried, nor how hard Sasuke pushed him, he still struggled with the written exams.
During the year, they met and befriended a number of fellow students; however, six of them really outshone the rest.
Inuzuka Kiba, the son of the Inuzuka clan head and the second loudest person in the class. His mother, Tsume is the head of the clan, making him and his older the clan heirs. He was also quite skilled (for his age) in taijutsu, but like Naruto struggled in the book learning area. Naruto learnt something interesting one day, when Kiba mentioned that he didn't have a father. Apparnetly his mother scared him off! To this day, no one knew what happened to the man, but rumor has it he is now part of the ANBU, and has vowed never to reveal himself. But hey, kids will think of anything, right?
Next on the list, Aburame Shino was a quiet child, always keeping to himself. It didn't help that he had a fascination with insects, although this was due to his clan's special abilities. They are a clan of insect users. They commonly use a species known as the kikaichū, though there are other species available. At birth, an Aburame child is offered up as a nest, allowing hundreds of thousands of the insects to live just under their skin, feeding off of their chakra. In return the kikaichū allow the Aburame to use special techniques without hand signs or having to convert chakra.
Haruno Sakura is the daughter of two civilians. Having no other ninja relatives, she doesn't have anyone to really guide her. Instead she "apprenticed" herself under Yamanaka Ino. She is incredibly book smart, being the smartest Kunoichi and second smartest student in the class. Unfortunately she is also a fangirl, and so she does not push herself as much as she should.
Yamanaka Ino is the heir to the Yamanaka clan, a clan that specialises in mind ninjutsu, allowing them to easily invade someone's mind. This allows them to either steal information or actually take control of the victim, forcing them to do what they want. However doing so leaves them vulnerable, as they are actually using their soul as an attack. When the use their jutsu, their body becomes immobile as it no longer houses a soul.
Akimichi Choji was a BIG BONED child, who enjoyed eating. His clan are all big boned as their jutsu requires them to use up a lot of calories. Never, ever call him fat. He's best friends with Nara Shikamaru.
Nara Shikamaru is one of the smartest people in Konoha, even though he is still a child. He comes from the Nara clan, a clan famous for its deer, shadow users, brains and laziness. They have also been Konoha's top strategists since its founding. Shikamaru prefers to spend his time in class sleeping, and never pushes himself when out on the field. He also enjoys playing shogi, and has not yet lost a game except to his father.
Year 2
In their second year at the Academy, Jiraiya increased the difficulty of Naruto's morning routine. 20 laps around the estate, followed by a doubling of the workout system set up by Jiraiya. Once he had mastered the first stage of the leaf exercise, he moved on to the next stage, moving the leaf in a set pattern. At the academy, the work also increased, as they started working on more advanced stuff. The days were still sorted the same, however, there was some differences.
Day 1 still highlighted physical strengthening; however the actual course was more advanced than before. Students would begin on a raised platform and have to hope across poles planted in the ground. From there the needed to climb over a wall, hurdle over then roll under a set of horizontal bars. Next they had crawl along the ground in mud, avoiding the wires criss crossing above their heads. These wires were electrified with a small ration jutsu. Just powerful enough to force a small cry from someone, but not enough to seriously hurt them. Once that was through they had a short sprint to the end. Throughout this they had to avoid all sorts of traps. Afterword's the continued to learn about chakra and how to live healthy lives
Day 2 they once again had taijutsu practise, but they learnt more advanced forms of the academy taijutsu style. This style was created to allow for all forms, so even if they were learning a clan style, the academy style did not affect it. The lecture was till on history but also included a bit on tactics
Day 3 was another few runs through the second year obstacle course, followed by more advanced Shinobi rules
On Day 4, they still had Bukijutsu practise, where they continued to throw kunai and shuriken at targets. Their stealth and trap setting courses went from theory to actual practise, and every day they would have a competition to see who could do the best. Throughout the year, Naruto came top in this course. This was also the only course where he would get full marks for the written side.
Day 5 they carried on with learning the hand signs, but they also learnt to do it faster. Once again there was a test at the end.
It quickly became obvious the Sasuke was going to be the rookie of the year. He was the top student in everything but stealth and trap building, where Naruto outshone him.
Hinata had come a long way since that first year. She no longer stuttered and only fainted occasionally when around Naruto. She had also quickly risen to the top, being the best Kunoichi in taijutsu and Kenjutsu and the second best when it came to written exams.
Naruto had come along way as well. His classroom marks were not the greatest, but no longer were they the worst. He also made his mark in the academy when he was dared by Sasuke (who had become annoyed at being beaten once again by Naruto in the stealth challenge) to steal something from one of the Jonin and then remain hidden. The catch was that he couldn't stay in the same place for more than 10 seconds and that he had to wear something incredibly visible.
Fortunately, Naruto knew just the Jonin to steal from, and so Hatake Kakashi came home one morning, after a long mission, to discover that his precious Icha Icha Paradise had been taken, the only clue a small handwritten note saying 'come find me, Kashi-niisan.' For the rest of the day, Kakashi went from one spot to another, searching for the gaki, however every time he thought he had him, he would only find a small picture of a stick figure running with a book. Kakashi gave up on the search at just before sunset, vowing to get revenge the next day. When he again entered his house, the neighbourhood was rocked with his scream of irritation. There, sitting where he had left it was his book, and next to it was a crumpled up orange jacket, a jacket he could have sworn he had seen at least a dozen times in his search.
From that day on, nobody disputed Naruto's abilities in stealth.
Year 3
In Naruto's third year, Jiraiya once again increased his training regime. He doubled the physical exercises, and also an obstacle course filled with traps. For chakra control, Naruto now had to balance other things on his body, while still moving the leaf in different set patterns. It was also the year that Jiraiya began to teach Naruto Fuinjutsu; however he made Naruto swear never to practise without Jiraiya around, nor to use anything he made unless he was given the ok by Jiraiya. At the Academy, the days remained the same, except for the more advanced work.
Day 1 the obstacle course once again improved. Students would still begin on a raised platform and have to hope across poles planted in the ground; however the polls no moved up and down randomly, and instead of having ground underneath, they were situated in a small pool of water 10 meters deep. Once done on the polls, they had to shimmy across a rope to reach land, and then hurdle over or roll under a set of moving horizontal bars. Next they again had crawl along the ground in mud, avoiding the wires criss crossing above their heads as well as non-poisonous snakes followed by a longer sprint to the end. Throughout this they had to avoid all sorts of traps. Afterword's the continued to learn about chakra and how to live healthy lives
Day 2 they went through even more advanced taijutsu forms, finally completing their academy style. The lecture now consisted less on history, and more on tactics employed by those in history.
Day 3 still followed the obstacle course of day 1, followed by the final set of Shinobi rules, as well as psychological training, preparing them for their first kills, etc.
Day 4 the Bukijutsu practise now included moving targets and throwing multiple weapons at once. The stealth and trap setting was still dominated by Naruto, who quickly made a name for himself amongst the village shinobi.
Day 5 saw them finish up on hand signs, and just continuing to improve the speed at which they moved. The end of the day still included a test of the week's work
Sasuke continued to outshine the other students, and word quickly spread that Mikoto and Fugaku had created a second prodigy. He still hadn't awakened his sharingan, something his brother had been able to do at a young age. For this reason, he refused to accept the title of Uchiha prodigy and continued to work hard, improving his skills so that he could match up to Itachi.
Speaking of Itachi, Hiruzen once again decided to retire, and had nominated Itachi for the post. The other two nominees were Hatake Kakashi and Jiraiya, neither of which wanted the post, but had been nominated by the village council. Naruto had put his name forth, but was obviously rejected. The winner would only be announced the following year, as there was a six month period of testing to be done.
Hinata now no longer stuttered nor did she feint around Naruto. This new found confidence allowed her to gain respect amongst her clan, especially her father. At first, Hiashi believed it was a result of his training, but one look at her school life made him rethink this. With the realization that it was not him, but her friends that helped, he changed his method of training her; instead of being harsh he became supportive. This at first confused Hinata, but as soon as she had become used to this new father, she flourished. However her newfound relationship with her father and respect with the elders further distanced her from her cousin, Neji, who believed her to now be just like the rest of the main branch.
With his reputation from the previous year, Naruto was easily one of the more popular boys, even with many of the civilian born students being told to keep away from him. He continued to cement his name in history, especially when he decided to start pranking anyone that was mean to him or his friends. People soon learnt not to mess with him or his friends, as no matter how skilled a shinobi they thought they were, he always found a way to get even. His marks in the written exams also continued to improve, although he had resigned himself to the fate of never being more than in the middle in that field.
When Jiraiya began tutoring him in Fuinjutsu, he thought that he would still struggle with the art. This proved to be so far from the truth, the East was closer to the West in comparison. He took to it like a duck to water, having an innate ability to read the seals, something even Jiraiya struggled with. Not to say he could just see a seal an be able to tell you what it was and what it did, but while Jiraiya had to decode each part of the seal separately to see what it did, Naruto was able to read it like a scroll. But like every language, he needed to learn the words first. Thus Naruto's third year ended
Year 4
The fourth year at the academy proved to be a tough one. Jiraiya increased the difficulty of the workout routine, as well as teaching him how to cling to objects with his chakra. Every day, Naruto would have to run up and down a tree and once he had mastered that ability, he had to do his physical exercises on the tree. This included pull ups on a branch where he could only use his palms, followed by sit ups with only his feat attached to the branch. Jiraiya also started getting Naruto to wear training weights while he was at it, as well as further improving Naruto's Fuinjutsu skills. Naruto could now safely produce his own kibaku fuda (explosive tags) and sealable scrolls. Along with Jiraiya increasing his workload, the academy subjects also changed, as more advanced stuff was introduced.
Day 1 did not change much, with only the obstacle courses traps becoming more dangerous, and the speed of the moving objects changing. The snakes in the mud pit were now of a breed whose poison inflicted a terrible pain upon its victim. The Horizontal bars now had a repeating current going through them, forcing the students to be faster or risk a painful jolt. The rope that they needed to shimmy across would now occasionally plunge into the water, and then quickly pull back up. The water was also kept at just below freezing, with a small wave maker preventing the water from freezing over. Afterword's was a lecture on the Shinobi lifestyle and coping mechanisms
Day 2 consisted of tournament style taijutsu matches, where the students could use any style the wished. The top five students, in order were Hinata, Sasuke, Kiba, Naruto and Choji. Hinata and Sasuke were evenly matched however, and so would often swap places in the top spot. At the end of the day they had a lecture on advanced tactics.
Day 3 was now all about survival theory. From camping to extreme conditions to first aid, they learnt it all. They also had a lecture on the different equipment used by everyday shinobi, as well as the pros and cons of the Hyōrōgan and Zōketsugan, the chakra and blood replenishing pills. The psychological tests continued, preparing them for the future
Day 4 was the most exciting of the five days, as it saw the students begin to learn their first jutsu! Starting with the basic henge, followed by the kawarimi and lastly the classic bunshin. Once they had mastered the henge, the stealth training took on a whole new level as they began to learn how to impersonate other people and animals. Naruto still took the top position, able to almost naturally take the form of other people. In fact, his henge was so realistic, he was never caught. Whenever he was about to be discovered, he would lose his tail for a second and henge into something or someone else. He was also the only student to be able to pull off a sealess and smokeless henge, something even some Jonin struggled with.
Day 5 was set aside for specialization classes. These were the unique classes that students could choose to take, classes that would define their career as shinobi. Sasuke took the advanced Kenjutsu courses, taking a strong liking to the chokuto sword style, Hinata decided to go for the basic first aid courses, Naruto was the only student who took the Fuinjutsu course, a course that Jiraiya had begun when he had adopted Naruto. Sakura, Ino and the rest of the girls in the class all took the special Kunoichi training, this included makeup application and flower arranging. Kiba took a veterinary course, suggested by his sister. Choji followed Shikamaru in basic astronavigation and Shino took a private course in entomology. After their special classes there was a test on all of the week's work, minus the work done in the specialization classes.
Sasuke soon became the second best stealth specialist in the class, as he would often follow Naruto around and try to keep up with him. By doing so he had managed to eventually get down the sealess henge, but could not get it to change without smoke. By the time the final year test of his skills came along, he had proven his spot as future rookie of the year, getting 100% in all of his tests. Half way through the year, his brother had been elected as the next Hokage, causing a renewal in the life of the fangirls. With his brother as Hokage, people now expected even greater things from him, but all that he wanted to do was become strong, and have fun with his friends.
Hinata was close behind Sasuke, and was easily the number one candidate for Kunoichi of the year, having an aggregate score of 97%, having lost out to Sakura in the written test. She was also a much more confident girl, nothing like the little princess she was when she began her studies: However, even with all of her confidence, she could never confess her feelings for Naruto, no matter how hard she tried.
Naruto was now considered to be the Prank King of Konoha, having gotten away with countless pranks, pranks that no one could ever prove he pulled, even though they knew it was him. He also continued to excel at hiding away in plain sight, having almost mastered the henge. His goal now was to get his henges to flow smoothly from one to the next, instead of a straight up change. This would allow him to change even when he was seen, provided he did it slow and subtle enough. As for his Fuinjutsu, with Jiraiya, a recognised master in the art teaching him, he was quickly proving to be a natural. For all of this, he still could never manage to get the bunshin to work for him. It always came out looking like some kind of zombie, before expelling.
Year 5 (Final year)
The final year at the academy came so quickly, it felt like just the other day he had first woken up, late for school! With the final year, came some final changes. Jiraiya's training regime took on a whole new level. To increase Naruto's reflexes, he hired a newly minted tokubetsu Jonin to practise her aim on him while he was running, forcing him to dodge kunai, shuriken and senbon at a moment's notice. For chakra control and also physical strength, Naruto had to do all other exercise while hanging from a tree. This included weight lifting as well as acrobatic exercises, as the hired help would continue to torment him, doing all in her power to frighten him, and she had a lot of frightening power. When he was done with his morning routine, he would sprint to the academy, all the while he would wear the new resistance seal Jiraiya had created for him. Once at the Academy, his day would truly begin.
Day 1, the obstacle course was no longer in use, as the expected their students to keep up their physical fitness. Instead a trap course was used, allowing the students to practise their trap detection and dodging reflexes. Jiraiya organised with Iruka that Naruto be left out of this course. Instead, he was enlisted to set up the actual course, creating a gauntlet that quickly became famous, and was soon used by older Genin and newly minted Chunin. There was even a rumour that the ANBU had hired Naruto to set up a course. Naruto; however strongly denied this.
Day 2 didn't change any from the previous year, with the top five still being Hinata/Sasuke, Kiba, Naruto and Choji.
Day 3 took the theory they used in the previous year, and turned it into practise. The teachers also taught them the 'travelling ten' tm. The last thing in the day was the final psychological tests to prepare them for their chosen life.
Day 4 the teachers continued to teach the students more about the basic three, as well as more in depth subterfuge. They also went through the basics of Genjutsu and how to release it.
Day 5 continued with the specialization classes, and the end of the week tests.
Sasuke was easily going to be rookie of the year, having mastered all that was set out for him to learn. While talk of prodigies and geniuses were now a thing of the past, he still strived to do his best, his only goals in life being to best his brother, a lofty aim by any standards, considering his brother was Hokage. This was due to the fact that whenever Sasuke tried to beat him, he would always poke him on the temple. His other goal was to just have fun with his friends.
Hinata had easily taken the top spot for Kunoichi of the year, only ever losing to Sakura in her studies and even then it was only by a small margin. She still could not work up the courage to admit her feelings, but in any other case, her courage was unwavering. Her goals in life where to admit her feelings help her clan and have fun with her friends.
Naruto had been worried. When it came to stealth, taijutsu, tactics etc. he was either the best, or near enough; however when it came to written tests, he was barely above average, and for the life of him, he still couldn't do the basic bunshin. Eventually he'd gone to Jiraiya, who had explained first to him, then the Iruka, that he simply had too much chakra. To that end, he had been given a high level kinjutsu, the Kage Bunshin as a replacement. He was easily able to use the technique, and with it his hopes of passing increased. Now he just had to get home and sleep. Tomorrow held the Academy Graduation Test, and all his hopes and dreams of being a ninja. He couldn't wait.
NB
Hello Everyone! Sorry for the filler and the long wait. I just couldn't get any motivation for this one. Hope you enjoy! :D
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You guys are the best! With so much encouragement, I just had to put something up. Don't worry a have an actual plan for next chapter! :D
Don't know how hard it was, but can anyone guess the Tokubetsu Jonin? Should be quite easy!
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I hope this chapter was alright, if not, please send in your thoughts (Just don't flame :P) All questions and suggestions are welcomed!
There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs. Unknown.