*I'm going to put further chapters of this story on hold and go rewrite/edit the first couple of chapters because I believe their quality is lacking compared to these recent parts. I'm going to try and fix the context problems while I'm at it so if you can specify the problems, please do. To those that are still here, thanks for staying despite the horrible writing.
I am aware that some things in this chapter would never happen in canon but it's fanfiction so please shut up about it. Finally, thanks to Obsidian for beta-reading*
Naruto stepped out of his first block, fresh as a daisy, and started walking down the hall whilst a tired-looking Kimura followed behind. "Come on, Puny Pimp. It's only the first block." The glare he received could burn down nations and it amused him.
"That first block was 55 minutes of you breaking your hands from my grip then another 55 minutes of you kicking the hell out of my shins." Naruto waved him off. "You Uzumaki always heal quickly, you'll be fine."
Kimura shook his head, "Whatever, let's just get to our next class." Yeah, their next class. During their little sparring session, they'd told each other of their schedule and they had all their classes together. For Naruto, it meant fun. For Kimura, it meant eternal hell.
If they paid attention, they'd learn that they had the same blocks as everyone in their first class. They were the first class of the first years so they stayed together after all. As the flock of first-class students moved to their next block, Kimura began to ask the gods why they had forsaken him.
"I didn't hurt you that bad," Naruto said, once again receiving a glare. "You're the devil." A quick nod was given by the Namikaze as he attempted to pet the boy's head. "I know, I know. Just don't taunt me and I'll go easy on you."
*A few minutes later, Year one Hoho class*
Mr. Uchiha sat on a chair turned backward, while all his students sat on the floor in front of him. "You've already heard about the other hoopla from your previous teacher so I'm just gonna tell you the rules of my class." They didn't but oh well.
"No hurting your classmates, there's plenty of time to do that in Hakuda. No cheating or trying to sabotage someone else, I may only have one eye but it will still catch you. Respect the equipment, yourself, and others while in my room. Finally, try to have fun. Many of my lessons are just games that improve your movement, so this last rule isn't optional."
He got up from his chair and popped his back. "I assume you all are nice and stretched from Hakuda?" There was no spoken response, only whimpers. "Good, today I am going to have you go through the obstacle course behind me, and at the end, we are going to do a formation march around the campus.
We do this run daily and pick up the pace every week, so get used to it. There's an ungodly amount of running involved with being a shinigami, so stamina is very important. Let's get to it."
The students got up from the floor and followed their teacher to the course. They'd underestimated its size as it got bigger the closer they got. "There are 10 obstacles here. A low wall, stepping stones, a rumble, a tunnel, dodging panels, a low rope, a corridor, a balancing bridge, a window, and finally, a terrace. I'll give a little demonstration before you go."
The student closest to him was thrown a stopwatch. "Whenever I get on the starting line, tell me when to go and start that watch." The student did just that and they watched their teacher start running.
The low wall was taken care of with a quick vault and the stepping stones were done in a flash with one foot touching each stone. The rumble, which was a series of jumps and then ducks was once again fast and the tunnel didn't even last three seconds as he popped out the other side.
The dodging panels were just a series of walls close together and a few side steps were enough to get past them. Moving onto the rope, he climbed up and hopped over the bar to continue on his way.
Naruto glanced at the stopwatch as the man demolished the corridor, which was just a tunnel for crouch walking. The Uchiha was making fine time, he was just exiting the corridor at 15 seconds.
With three obstacles left, the man picked up his pace. The balancing bridge was completed in a second, the window jump was performed expertly, and the terrace, which was just hopping down a ledge, was done within the same time.
"19 seconds, sir." The Uchiha sighed in disappointment. "Damn, I used to do it in 14. I guess I'm getting slow." Naruto almost laughed, slow? He had to be running at least 30 mph, at least. Considering that the moves were smooth meant that he hadn't used any visible movement technique.
"Your turn, It's still the first day so please tell me your name before going through the course, and you, you're going to be the timer so please just tell them when to go and tell me their times." The boy with the stopwatch nodded and stepped into place beside the starting line while the Uchiha grabbed a clipboard from beside his chair.
"Whoever wants to go first, go ahead." He said, pulling out his pen. Naruto figured it would be best for the others to take it and then gauge what speed he should take it so going first wasn't the best idea.
The teen stopped himself, he wasn't trying to hide from Konoha anymore, what was the point of holding back? Walking up to the line, a quick stretch was done and he looked at his teacher. "Masao Nari."
Scrolling down the list, the Uchiha found it. "Alright, tell him to go." The student with the stopwatch followed the order and Naruto took off. He was nowhere near as fast as the teacher but his speed was pretty good for a first-year.
About 27 seconds later, he passed over the finish line. "27 seconds, not bad. Next." Naruto was a little hurt at the brush-off but shrugged it off. He guessed he'd seen more impressive speeds or he was just stoic like the other Uchihas.
It was probably the second option but it didn't matter. Walking back into the group, he received a few compliments and a glare from Kimura. "What did I do now?" The glare intensified. "What?"
Kimura sighed. "You went and set the bar high, so now the rest of us are going to feel slow." The older Uzumaki simply nodded. "Yeah, I guess I did. It gives you a goal though." Kimura tried to ignore him. "I can see why Korren gets along with you, you're both annoying."
Naruto chuckled a bit. "No, I don't think I'll ever be as annoying as that girl. She's on a different level." Kimura, although reluctantly, had to agree. "Yeah, sorry about that." The rest of the time was them watching the rest of their classmates run through the course.
Much to their amazement, no one fell trying to go through the window. They'd expected at least a couple would. Mr. Uchiha wrote the last time on the board and looked up with a stoic impression. "Alright class, the average for you guys is roughly 32 seconds."
They all thought he was disappointed but were surprised when his face turned into a grin. "Good job, all of you. My first block had an average of 39 so you certainly showed why you're in the first-class students."
Putting down his clipboard, he clapped a bit. "You guys did good but there are a few things I want to fix." Walking over to the rope, the man pointed at it. "I saw many of you struggling with this so I'm going to explain the proper form. There's many of them out there but this is the one that the school wants you to learn."
He jumped up on the rope and hung on. "With your feet, squeeze the rope between them and with one hand, reach up and pull yourself up. You should alternate hands every time."
Dropping down, he led them to the rumble. "With this, many of you were going straight under with a crouch. It's much easier to go on your side and swing your upper body under it. And with the vault portions, many of you were pulling yourself up with both arms, it is a good way to get up but if you're trying to get speed then place your palm on the surface and kick your feet up like this."
He showed them the proper form before jumping down from the little incline. "It takes practice, like most things, but you'll get it eventually. Now, it's time to do our formation run. Muga, roll that cart over here." Muga was the stopwatch student and he was made into the helper.
The cart was soon rolled over and they all saw swords within. "You guys haven't been to Zanjutsu class yet so you don't have your zanpakuto for our run. Because of this, I'm going to give you guys these training swords just for the weight. The proper way to wear these is on a strap like this."
He demonstrated by putting one on with the handle of the sword going over his right shoulder. "I'm going to keep this one on for today but tomorrow I'll be running with my actual zanpakuto. Also, if the strap is causing you pain then you can wear it on your hip."
It was unspoken but it was apparent that he was speaking to the females. Having a strap over flesh mounts wasn't exactly comfortable. "When you get them situated, come stand in front of me so I can show you how to march."
The swords were grabbed and put into positions quite quickly before they made their way over there. They all grouped up in front of him, signaling him to start talking.
"If you guys didn't know, other than movement techniques, this class works on the proper way to walk, stand, and run in formation. First off, we have to form a proper formation. A formation is made of columns and rows.
Form three rows in front of me, that's three lines of six people." They did so and he nodded. " The spacing is simple to achieve, hold your left arm straight ahead of you like this until there are six inches between your fingers and the person in front of you. For side spacing, it's the same but just to your side."
They soon shuffled their way into a properly spaced formation.
"Second off, the stance is like this. Your feet together, touching at the heels and forming a 45-degree angle. Imagine a foot being able to fit between them and that's about what you need to do.
Keep your back straight and look forward at all times, if you need to see something to your side, look out your peripheral. As for your hands, ball them into fists and place your thumb on top between your knuckle and first joint. Once they're in this position, hold them on your hips right where your pocket seam is."
The students followed instructions and were soon in a pretty good formation. The Uchiha fixed anything that was messed up before going back up front again. "There's a ton of other commands and other stuff but you'll learn that later. Marching is simple, just imagine stiff walking with your arms swinging. The pace is simple to remember and I will recite it while on our march to give any help."
He once again demonstrated and they all tried to memorize it. "This is day one so I don't expect you to remember it all but the school requires I do this march daily, even on the first day. I think it's stupid but that doesn't matter. We're going to do a little practice up and down the room first then head outside."
*30 minutes of practicing later*
The class formed their formation outside on the path as their teacher stood in front of them. "Alright kids, here we go." Starting with their left foot, they were moving. With the chant of "Left, Left, left, right, left." in the background, their march went around the campus.
As they marched, Naruto took notice they were on a different track from the one he'd seen. The one they were walking on was circular and quite wide. It made him wonder why he never saw it when he looked from the roof.
Shrugging it off, he focused on marching properly. After a few minutes, he began to hear faint shouting. Looking into the distance, he saw another class doing a marching formation. He figured it was a higher year doing their marching as well so he ignored them.
Eventually, he gave up on focusing to walk and let his mind just wander. His thoughts ranged from how his feet hurt to weird things like when the last time he cut his toenails was. One thought popped up which stuck for a while. What his dinner was going to be?
Oddly enough, the school did not give them dinner but they had to go buy it themselves or go back home to eat. The school said that it gave the students some independence but Naruto just figured the kitchen staff didn't want to cook dinner for the students.
That brought another thought, what were they having for lunch? Some ramen sounded amazing to him and it made him wish their pace would pick up so he could get to lunch sooner. That didn't speed things up, instead, it made them go slower as he marched the agonizing 15 minutes around the campus.
Once they were led inside, Mr. Uchiha looked at the time. "You guys can just rest for the rest of class. Make sure you put your sword back in the cart and there's a water fountain over there." Naruto just sat against the wall to wait out the time.
The remaining 40 minutes went by slowly for Naruto and was complete bliss to the rest as the floor was cold. Much to the former blonde's ire, the students grouped around him again. Alas, he let them out of respect for Kimura's request.
Pushing the kid being a little pimp away, he knew the kid wouldn't mind some friends. In truth, he wouldn't mind any either. "How are you so fast?" A guy with long brown hair, green eyes, and a sharp diamond face asked. Naruto recognized him as Muga and shrugged at the question.
"Training, I guess. I was a shinobi before I died so it was probably that." In reality, he just had really good genetics and a being of pure chakra that would heal any torn muscle instantly for the maximum muscle growth stored in his stomach.
"Damn, how old are you?" Naruto couldn't figure out if he should lie or not but luckily, Kimura answered for him. "He's 15, I heard that he was a shinobi for three years before he died." The older Uzumaki had half a mind to slap the kid, saying it like that made him sound weak.
"I guess that just shows how dangerous being a shinobi is." Another person added. "Yeah, it is," Muga said, initiating an awkward silence. Breaking said silence was a blonde guy with black eyes and an oval face. "Hey guys, I was thinking that since we're all going to be in every class together for the next year, you want to go grab dinner tonight? On me."
There were many takers, of course, who wouldn't want free food? Naruto on the other hand disregarded his question. "How about we start with names, first? For some reason, none of our classes did any type of introduction thing." The blonde nodded. "Ah yeah, sorry. I'm Reito Kira, heir of the Kira clan. I found that a bit weird too."
Naruto offered his hand. "Masao Nari." In his head, he added on 'Heir to the Namikaze and Uzumaki clan.' but they didn't need to know that. Reito gave him a firm handshake before Naruto took his hand back.
"About your offer, I'll have to refuse. I got a part-time job to go to after school." It seemed he wasn't the only one as a few others started agreeing with him. "Ah, how about we go on Sunday? Any of you guys work on Sunday?"
There was a chorus that they worked on every day of the week and Naruto saw the Kira was starting to get saddened so decided to help him out. "I don't know about you guys but I get to choose my hours on the weekends, how about we all choose them in the afternoon and just go for lunch?"
They seemed to agree on that and started questioning Reito on the plans. The Namikaze barely caught the grateful look that Reito gave him before he started answering the questions. Soon enough, the bell rang and they all left, following Reito while talking about their plans.
Naruto thought he was left alone as he walked the path back to the main building for lunch until he felt something poke his side. The teen jumped at least a foot in the air and he looked over to see Kimura.
"God damn, you scared the fuck out of me. Since when were you so stealthy?" The redhead just looked at him. "You've known me for three hours, you don't exactly know everything about me." Naruto nodded with a shrug.
"You got me there. We gotta fix that, we can go hang out after I get off work." Kimura nodded. "Sure, where and when?" Naruto scratched his chin, "Well, we gotta be in the dorms by 8 and I don't get off until 7 so we could just hang out somewhere on the roof? Ryoga told me it was fairly popular." Kimura gave a thumbs-up as they kept walking.
Whenever Naruto looked at his watch, a thought came to mind and he turned to the younger boy. "You ever get told the classroom has to go to the cafeteria for the history lesson thing during lunch?" Kimura's face changed to one of thought. "No, he didn't mention it. I remember Korren saying something like it's different every day and they say it over the intercom."
As if the headmaster heard them, the intercom beeped. "Today's Freshmen history is held within room 108 in the main building." The Uzumaki gave a thumbs up to his younger friend and they continued on their way to lunch. It was a peaceful walk despite the hundreds of students flowing into the cafeteria. The sight made Naruto wonder what it would've been like if they all had lunch together.
The current lunch period was only the first class and apparently, the headmaster had forgotten to mention that the lunch period started with the first class and they were supposed to leave 15 minutes later to allow the second class to come and so on. It was 15 minutes of lunch and then a 45-minute free period.
In addition to that, those in the third and fourth class had to go to that history lesson first and then lunch. Naruto thought the whole schedule was quite fucky but whatever, as long as he got to eat, it didn't matter.
Entering the cafeteria, he managed to get his lunch relatively soon and sat down with the student council members, they were all first-class students as well. "Shrimp dumplings, I can't complain." The older Uzumaki said.
The others were in agreement and Esper nodded as he ate one. About five minutes after, Reito sat down at the table beside Naruto. "I regret deciding to organize a get-together." He said, tiredness already in his eyes.
"I was wondering which poor bastard would try it in your year," Raian said, poking a dumpling that was stuck onto the plate. To the others, it sounded like he was speaking from experience. Tsuna decided to explain. "Every year there's at least one person from each class that tries to make everyone their friend via money. No offense but it's usually clan heirs that have only gotten friends for diplomatic reasons."
Reito couldn't deny it, he was indeed an heir that didn't know how to get friends. "Trust me, getting friends via money doesn't attract friends. It attracts those that are greedy and those that only see you as free food." Raian said, poking his one remaining dumpling with his utensil, the damn thing wouldn't move.
"Moving off of the sad and moody things, you guys hear about which captain is meeting the first years today?" Esper questioned, wiping his face with a napkin. "I haven't heard anything about it yet. Hopefully, it won't be a stuck-up one." Kimura said, alerting them of his presence.
"Oh Kimura, didn't see you there," Esper said after jumping a bit. The little redhead merely sighed. He wasn't even that small. Actually, he was tall for his age. They just had a problem noticing him because his spiritual energy was so dense that it didn't flow from his body at a normal rate.
Everyone told him he'd make a great Onmitsukido member but he didn't want to be one of those secretive people. He wanted to join the fifth division, it wasn't a good idea considering his dense spiritual energy but he loved kido so there was nothing to stop him.
"Hey, you guys have zanjutsu next, right?" Tensa asked the freshmen, getting nods. "Just a tip, whenever he tells you to choose an Asauchi, let others go first then go up. I've seen people get into fist fights over them."
Esper seemed to have something to add as he put his finger in the air as he chewed his last dumpling. After finishing his food, he spoke. "Don't get disheartened whenever you don't get your sealed state in a couple of weeks. The Asauchi has to soak in your spiritual energy for a while to even begin to change.
Except for you two, I say you'll have yours within three months." He pointed at Kimura and Naruto with his milk. "You two have very dense spiritual pressure and you emit quite a lot so your Asauchi will soak it all up quickly. Especially, you, Kimura. I expect you to have yours before him."
On that topic, Ryoga had something to add. "Yeah, when you three grab an Asauchi, don't be surprised when it sucks your spiritual energy, it has to find a suitable amount to pull from you without making you sick. For the love of all you consider holy, do not drop it when you feel it, or else you'll be doing one-handed pushups."
They all noticed the brunette shiver but decided not to question it. "Any tips for kido?" Kimura asked, he was going to get some tips for that class even if he had to beg. "Write quickly. You'd swear Ms. Uzumaki is a Shunpo master with how quickly she writes. I've witnessed that woman write a whole lecture in six seconds flat. You probably know that more than anyone though, Kimura." Raian said.
Tsuna had something to add. "I know this sounds like common sense but please ask questions. Not understanding a kido then working on it in the range is embarrassing." It appeared that all of their seniors were telling them how to avoid mistakes they made.
"That reminds me, why was Korren staying at the school when she isn't a part of the Student Council nor an outer rukongai resident?" Naruto questioned, he'd only remembered because he realized all the council members were there. Kimura decided to answer that question. "She wasn't staying here, just using the kido training grounds every day, with the permission of our aunt of course."
Naruto turned to him. Was his aunt the Kido teacher? "Which Uzumaki's are you related to? Closely, I mean." The redhead scratched his head. "Well, other than my parents and sister. I'm related to Aunt Junna, the kido teacher, and that's it for blood. I consider myself to be related to my godparents though."
Before the question left Naruto's mouth, the bell rang, and said mouth was filled with his now lukewarm dumplings. His dishes were put in their proper place and they were rushed out of the cafeteria. "Follow us guys," Raian said, waving the freshmen up the stairs. They followed their seniors up to the roof and were soon at the last stair.
Stepping onto the roof, Naruto looked around. A lot of people seemed to stay up there as it was filled with students. There were even some in bathing suits tanning in the sun. "The headmaster allows this?" naruto asked, getting a laugh from Tsuna. "Allows? No teacher ever comes up here so they have no idea any rules are being broken."
That didn't sound right to Naruto, why would they allow roof access to the students and then not keep an eye on them? Shaking his head, he followed his seniors who led them to one side of the roof that was covered by a wooden overhang. "This is where we usually hang out," Tsuna said, although Naruto was already distracted.
Quickly running to a table with a bunch of chairs, he grabbed a deck of cards. They were quickly shuffled and he sat them face down on the table.
"Blackjack, anyone?"
*fifteen minutes later*
Naruto entered the freshmen history class with a heavier money pouch than he'd started the day with. Who knew his seniors were such suckers when it came to blackjack? Also, why did Esper seem to enjoy losing his money?
Those were the thoughts in the Uzumaki's mind as he entered the classroom for his history lesson. He sat in the back and watched clicks form. Among them, he witnessed the formation of the nobles, the poorer rukongai students, and the muscleheads.
Upon realization no other clicks were forming, he turned to Reito beside him. "Hey, Kimura and I were gonna hang out on the roof tonight, you wanna join?" The noble nodded. "Yeah, what time?"
The Uzumaki scratched his head. "I'd like to take a shower after I get off work so maybe 7:10 or 15." Reito gave a nod. "Yeah, that'll be fine. The wooded part?" Two Uzumaki nods were given before the bell rang.
After the noise invaded their ears, a frail-looking woman walked into the room and up to the board. "Alright, today's lesson will be on the Gotei 13. To those who already know this, too bad."
She started writing on the board. "There are 13 divisions of shinigami, hence the name Gotei 13. Within a division, there is a captain, lieutenant, and then seated officers going down from 3 to 20. In these seated officers, only one can hold the title of senior seated officer and the rest are called junior seated officers.
Above all of these divisions is the captain commander, the captain of the first division. Above all the lieutenants is the lieutenant of the first division. Now, the first division is the head of Gotei 13 and the ones responsible for relaying Central 46 orders, dealing with Soul Society law, and monitoring the other divisions. The current Division 1 captain and captain commander of the Gotei 13 is Sakumo Hatake, and his lieutenant is Hizashi Hyuuga."
Naruto was a little shocked. Who would've thought Kakashi's dad was the captain commander and Neji's dad was the lieutenant. How small of a world it was. "The second division is responsible for dealing with stealth and assassination. The captain of the 2nd Division is also the leader of the Onmitsukido; one of Soul Society's two other military fractions except for the Gotei 13. The lesson on those branches will be tomorrow.
The current Captain is Minato Namikaze and his Lieutenant is Kotsuzui Konoishi." It made sense to the Namikaze heir, his father was one of the fastest shinobi to ever live and assassins needed speed. "The Third division is responsible for the act of sending out shinigami to gather information. They are also the ones that sort all outgoing and incoming information before sending them to the 12th Division for storage. Adding to this, they are in charge of the hell butterfly monitoring and message system.
The current captain is Pakura Kazuya and her Lieutenant is Yuriko Murai." The former Konoha shinobi yawned and put his head down. Her wordy explanation made him sleepy just how Iruka used to. He tried to listen to the rest but alas he wouldn't be able to as he snoozed a little bit.
*32 minutes later*
Naruto walked towards the Zanjutsu building while he ran over what he had heard. All he listened to was the captains and lieutenants that caught his interest. Such characters were Division 5 Captain Mito Uzumaki and Lieutenant Nawaki Senju, he knew Mito as the first Kyuubi jinchuuriki and Nawaki as Tsunade's little brother. Moving on, the captain of the sixth division, Karura, or Gaara's mom.
The only others that caught his attention were the Seventh Division Captain, Izuna Uchiha, and Tenth Division Captain Kaiza. The Uchiha was brought to his attention, well, because he was an Uchiha and he knew Kaiza as Inari's father.
As he walked to his third block, he thought he truly realized how small the world was but boy, he was in for a surprise later on. "I wonder what my sealed state is going to look like," Kimura said, staring into the clouds and breaking Naruto from his thoughts.
He'd been like that since Esper said something about them getting their sealed states within a couple of months. "Well, what do you want it to be?" The older male asked. "A tanto or maybe something even smaller. I hate carrying bulky swords."
Naruto gave the Uzumaki a look. With the stealth skills of the boy and how he wanted a short sword, he could've sworn he was made for Onmitsukido. However, the boy loved Kido and a lot of excitement came to his voice when he mentioned it. To be honest, his Aunt probably showed him that it was fun to make him avoid the Onmitsukido.
Adding in the fact that she was a Kido teacher, she probably manipulated Kimura into her apprentice while she was at it. "I want a kido type zanpakuto." Naruto turned to him with an open mouth. "I never would have guessed."
Kimura kicked him in the shin and kept walking. "Smart ass, that's for first block." While Naruto cried in pain for his shin, Kimura entered the Zanjutsu building. The bell sent Naruto into a hurried limp as he cursed.
"I'll get you back for that you little bastard." He made it into the classroom just in time for the late bell and quickly stood beside his two friends. With Reito and Kimura at his sides, the one-armed teacher stood at the front with a table beside him covered with a cloth.
It was obvious that he was going to pull it off but the problem was the table was on the side he didn't have an arm. "Afternoon kids, today we're going to get you some Asauchi and find you a breathing style."
He reached to the cloth with the nub and pulled it away much to the students' amazement. Naruto caught a glimpse of the wire connected to the cloth but he'd keep that secret.
Looking at the swords was the real mind trick to the teen. It was the same sword he'd seen within his inner world. The black handle with red underwrap, golden rhombus guard, and black scabbard was the same.
What was an Asauchi doing in his inner world when he had yet to even receive one? Although he could not hear it, his spirit was explaining within his head. "I wonder what type of zanpakuto yours is, Masao," Reito said, leaning to look at him.
Naruto grinned a bit. "I have a feeling it's going to be a sound-based zanpakuto." Kimura nodded. "I agree, it would fit your loud mouth quite well." The younger Uzumaki was quickly put in a headlock while Naruto kept his grin.
"What's stopping me?" he whispered. The seireitei-born Uzumaki choked a bit. "My cuteness." The squeezing tightened until Naruto saw Mr. Ishihi staring at him. The chokehold was quickly released as Naruto backed away.
If anyone was watching their shenanigans, they'd think they were long friends and would never guess they'd met only hours earlier. "You three, I see you got some advice from your seniors. Come grab the remaining three Asauchi." Mr. Ishihi said, nodding toward the table.
They walked up and Naruto turned to Reito as he grabbed one. "Hey, I think I want that one." Reito was about to put it down until he saw the silly grin on his friend's face. "I think I want that one." He said, pointing at Kimura's.
"Enough with the jokes, boys. I have to test you morons and figure out what your breathing style should be. Then I have to tally them up and bring in those teachers." He seemed fed up with his job a little bit. "What even is a breathing style?"
The glare the man gave the student could've killed him but it quickly died down as he remember they were first years. With a sigh, he explained. "Breathing styles are exactly as they sound. You breathe in a certain pattern or style that matches up with an element. Breathing brings in extra oxygen and strengthens your body.
The ones you will be learning are Wind, Water, Thunder, Stone, or Flame, as they're the ones made by the gods, they don't like it if we teach you guys any other ones. The testing I mentioned requires you to meditate."
He plopped down into a meditative pose and they followed his example. "When you enter this state, your breathing will become shallow and follow a pattern. I match this pattern with a breathing style and then you learn that style. This will also help you put some time into feeding your Asauchi."
Naruto gave himself thanks since he'd stopped the moon breathing pattern since he entered the Seireitei. It kind of hurt to do it so he stopped. Ignoring the breathing, Naruto tried to enter a meditative state.
As he began to meditate, the teen realized he felt no energy being pulled from him into the sword, none at all. Looking at those around him, they seemed to notice it as if some were sweating. Confused, he decided to send some of his energy into the blank sword.
That proved to be the wrong decision as the sword began to suck out a ton of spiritual energy. If he didn't have tons of it, he'd probably be dead. He began to sweat and entered into a meditative state without even realizing it.
Mr. Ishihi watched the entire thing and chuckled to himself. Maybe he should have told them not to put chakra into the Asauchi but it would be fine. Walking up to the teen, he took a listen to his breathing.
It seemed unclear at first but then slowly fell into a pattern. 'Wind, figures with his violent spiritual pressure.' He moved to the next student and failed to notice Naruto's pattern change into a moon breathing pattern.
It would stay unnoticed as it quickly changed back to wind. Within Naruto's head, he was within a small field surrounded by Sakura trees with a nice wind gust blowing the blossoms across his lap. The sounds surrounding him suddenly intensified and changed into sharp screaming.
A waterfall formed in front of him as he saw he was screaming. Staring into the water, he watched a black-colored spirit jump out of the water into his face.
Opening his eyes, he was back within the Zanjutsu room and Kimura was kicking his leg. "Damn bro, how tired were you? You slept through the history lesson and now you've been in that meditative state for 45 minutes."
The former blonde reached up to wipe his sweat away and stood. Whenever he stood, a little blood came from his mouth in a cough. He held out his hand to look at it and just when his friends saw it, more came up.
Not wanting to cause a scene, he swallowed the blood back down and placed his hand in his pocket. "Not a word." He said weakly as Mr. Ishihi stood beside the table with a grin. "Well, this year has 4 Waters, 5 Stone, two thunder, three flame, and four wind. You guys are the only class I've had today that had more than one wind breather."
The excitement of the man-made them worry. "To those of you with wind breathing, I will be your teacher for it. Wind breathing is the reason I have one arm. I'll tell you guys tomorrow who has what. You can go sit back down for more Jinzen training."
Naruto sat down and held his head back as the blood he spat up was swallowed back down. 'The fuck did that Asauchi do to me?'
*Within Naruto's inner world*
Kyuubi stood, his orange fur black from dried blood and his nails elongated as he snarled at the faceless man that stood in front of him. To the side of the Kitsune was the spirit, a sword in his hand and black blood covering it.
The faceless man across from them was an Asauchi spirit, since Naruto already had a spirit and then tried to form another, the spirits would fight for the right to be Naruto's spirit. The only problem was it hurt the host every strike they took.
The blood Naruto coughed up was from the cursed speech the spirit was using along with the internal injuries that Kyuubi had suffered. "It won't die." The Kyuubi said, spitting blood towards the figure.
"He can gain any ability, we're lucky that he only took a bit of Naruto's spiritual energy." The spirit said with his telepathy. "Can we cut off his flow of spiritual energy?" The spirit shook his head.
"The only way for that to happen is if Naruto runs out of spiritual energy and we both know what that means. The only way to kill this thing is for us to remove Naruto's energy by absorbing it with a surge of power and then destroying the head. That will result in us needing to merge even more than we are now."
By merge, he referred to what they had to do whenever Naruto died. Kyuubi wanted to stay with Naruto instead of entering his reincarnation process so he got the spirit to keep him there. The spirit had a way to do it but it requires them to merge their energies with Naruto's soul. It had its side effects of course.
Naruto's zanpakuto spirit was no longer just the spirit but the spirit with Kyuubi's influence. Hence the reason Naruto's energy was so aggressive. In addition to that, the powers changed in a way that not even the spirit understood. It took the tiny affinity of wind from Kyuubi and formed that as an ability.
It mixed with the spirit's sound in a weird way. The waves created by the sound were made into the wind and that wind became an attack itself. In conclusion, the reaction was something they didn't understand and the effects of doing it again were unpredictable.
"What would be the effects upon Naruto?" Kyuubi questioned. "I'm going to be honest, I have no clue. We might reform again and kill Naruto but there's only one way to find out." The Kyuubi shivered at the words of the spirit. Them reforming was hell, and he'd been to hell.
Their energies were pulled apart and mixed while they felt every part of it for a week straight. "We have to flush out the energy with as much spiritual pressure as we can. You ready to release all of that?"
The bijuu smirked. "I haven't been able to let loose in years old man." The fairy reached down and put his hand on Kyuubi's head before closing his eyes. A bright orange light covered them and a blast wave shot the Asauchi back a few feet until it planted its feet.
With a powerful and piercing voice, they spoke together. "Wallow in despair." Despite it being but a whisper, a sound wave formed and followed the blast wave. It picked the Asauchi spirit off the ground and knocked the energy it had taken from Naruto out. While in the air, a torrent of wind hit its stomach and launched it back first into the dirt.
"STAY!" The spirit ordered with cursed speech, forcing the Asauchi to stay on the ground as they appeared on each side of it in their separate forms again. Kyuubi bit the being's throat while the sword of the spirit went into the brain.
A bijuudama formed within Kyuubi's mouth, disintegrating the neck and the singular stab of the spirit's sword caved in the skull.
The Asauchi withered away into a cloud of dust, leaving the two to collapse to the ground. Kyuubi panted and spoke when he got a little breath back. "It's nice fighting beside you again, -." The spirit gave a weak chuckle.
"Ay, I haven't had that much fun in years."
*Back with Naruto*
The Uzumaki boy continued to spit up and swallow blood as he sat down with his zanpakuto. His two friends sat beside him, concerned. "We should tell Mr. Ishihi," Rotei said, trying to walk away as Naruto's sword blocked his way.
"The blood just stopped. It'll be fine." They could tell that everything was not fine as the teen's tone was hoarse and voice was quiet. The bell rang and the two looked to Naruto who reached up for help standing.
They pulled him up which made him almost fall. Finally deciding to own up to his mistake, Mr. Ishihi walked over to him. "Keep him upright and hydrated." The man leaned down to Naruto's eye level. "Never try to force chakra into an Asauchi, they devour it all and damage your organs in the process. You're lucky that you have Kido next and it's mostly a writing class."
Reito looked at the teacher. "Do we take him to the infirmary? You said his organs are damaged?" The man shook his head. "Ask your aunt to heal him, he shouldn't miss the first class. Go before you're late."
The two nobles pretty much carried Naruto to the kido building and dropped him into a chair. Whenever Kimura sat the teen down, he grinned. "Come on, bloody, it's only the fourth block." Naruto would've glared at the boy if he had the strength. Soon, Ms. Uzumaki saw her nephew and the pale Naruto and ran over. "What happened?" The younger Uzumaki sighed.
"Mr. Ishihi said that he damaged his internal organs because he forced spiritual energy into his Asauchi. He didn't even warn us." The woman shook her head and placed her palm over Naruto's abdomen.
The palm began to glow green and she held it there for a good minute before pulling it away. "I swear that man is going to get fired at this rate." She moved her palm over his throat and turned to the class that was staring.
"Don't cause a scene. This is what happens whenever your Asauchi takes too much spiritual energy. Mr. Ishihi should've warned you all about this." Their gazes turned away as she pulled her palm back to look at her nephew.
"He's healing at a good rate but I just sped it up. He'll be fine with a little rest." She turned towards Naruto. "Just try and pay attention if you can." Naruto gave a bloody smile and a thumbs up. "Don't open your mouth." She advised before going to the front of the class.
"Well then, this is the final class of your first day of the shin-o academy, how'd you guys like it?" The responses were mixed between groans, whimpers, and quite a few curses. Taking a glance at Naruto, she saw him give a weak thumbs up again. Laughing to herself, she continued with her speech.
"The academy classes have no mercy for a reason, they're so you can grow to your full potential." The redhead clapped her hands together. "Today's lesson will be the basics of kido, what it is and what the categories are. If any of you are already knowledgeable about this, please try to help any student that doesn't understand."
She turned and started writing a little family tree on the board. "Kido, in its simplest form, are spells. You can think of it as the trunk of a tree. They are usually formed with incantations along with the gathering of Spiritual power. These spells are split into three branches; Bakudo, Hado, and Kaido. Going in order, Bakudo are binding spells, Hado are destruction spells, and Kaido are healing spells."
She stepped to the side to allow them to see the three-branched tree. On each branch, she drew little sticks
"Every branch has spells that go from 99, being the weakest, to 1, the strongest spell. Would you guys like an example of one?" The overall reaction was of course, yes and she turned to her nephew. "Kimura, would you mind?" The nephew sighed and walked up to be the test dummy.
Ms. Uzumaki placed him into a position where everyone could see. "I'm going to show you guys a Bakudo." She pointed her middle and index finger at the boy. "Bakudo number 1, Sai!" His arms locked behind his back and stiffened up. "That was Sai, a very easy binding spell that locks the target in place. Unfortunately, it does not have an incantation so to show you one, we must head to the range."
The class quickly got out t their seats and followed their teacher while Reito had to help Naruto. The two passed their friend that was still stuck in a Bakudo and Naruto placed his hand on the shoulder of his younger friend.
"Sorry, we'll be back." The boy reached up and hit the hand away. "It looks like you're about to fall again." The Namikaze gave a nod and wrapped his hand around the back of the boy's neck.
"Help me out there before your crazy Aunt does something cool." With the limping teen between the two nobles, they exited into the kido field to see an upper class practicing. Naruto was slightly disappointed as he guessed what she was going to do. Grouping around their teacher, they watched the students perform various Hado.
The student closest to them gave a wave. "Hi, Ms. Uzumaki." The woman waved back. "Hello. Would you mind showing my class a hado with full incantation?" The student gave a thumbs up and put an open palm up to the targets.
A red ball of spiritual power formed at the base of his palm as he shouted "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"
The ball grew larger and didn't launch until the student spoke again. "Hadō #31. Shakkahō!" It shot out into a beam of red energy and incinerated the target along with a little bit of the wall.
"Koku, I told you not to use a full-power Shakkaho!" The teacher shouted, rushing over. The woman grabbed the student by the ear and pulled him away. "That's your fourth-year Kido teacher, Mrs. Okame. She's a little strict about hado spells. Let's get back to class and I can further my explanation of this class."
Once back inside the classroom, Ms. Uzumaki added a new section to the tree. "One part that I must teach you guys about is forbidden kido. Forbidden kido are kido that are deemed illegal by Central 46 and the captains. They usually include manipulation of space and time, or they require the sacrifice of the user. You'll probably never even learn one but you have to learn this."
The woman capped her marker and walked beside a box on her desk. Reaching in, she pulled out a little ball the size of a marble. "This is a Reishukaku, a spiritual core. This creates a barrier around the user once they put their spiritual power into it but we're using it for its training purposes. To maintain this barrier, one much put a constant influx of their spiritual power into it and that will improve your overall control."
She began to throw each student the marble-sized device except for Naruto and kept one for a demonstration. "Place it between your thumb and pointer finger like this, guide the spiritual energy from your vents into it, and try your best to keep it a constant stream. Another plus of this device is if you don't put in a constant stream, it will yank your spiritual energy from you which will make your reserves grow."
She looked at Naruto. "That's why I didn't give you one. You're already low on spiritual energy so doing this exercise would just cause harm. I'll give you one tomorrow. For the rest of you, please try to keep it with you and practice when you can."
Naruto sighed and placed his head on the desk. He wanted to protest and do the training but he was too drained to even speak. 'I need to figure out how to do the seals on my energy here.' He thought and that's what he tried to figure out for the rest of class.
*Unknown location*
A white-haired man dressed in a shinigami shihakushō with a white haori knelt before a throne. On the white overcoat was a symbol unlike any of the Gotei 13, instead of a number was a winter daphne symbol.
Upon the throne sat a humanoid creature with slicked-back dark hair, oval eyes, and very thin eyebrows. The eyes of the creature were weird, they looked as if there were four black irises within them. "Why did you request a meeting with me?" The being asked.
"My liege, one of my Asauchi has been killed. I believe it fought against a Legend-class sword spirit." The being leaned forward on his throne and crossed its fingers. It had been hundreds of years since it had even thought of a Legend-class spirit.
Legend-class spirits were sword spirits forged within the human world without the need of an Asauchi. They were the purest zanpakuto in a sense as they didn't need an Asauchi to form. The only problem was the weapon had to kill 999 people without breaking to even get close to becoming a Legend class.
The true rarity was the thousandth kill of the sword had to be the user or someone that user acknowledged. Add in the fact that the spirit for the sword was taken from a legend spread among humans such as a legendary military leader, which made it even more rare and powerful. The knowledge of the legendary beings was priceless themselves but the powers created from them were even more so.
"Do you have any other information?" It questioned. "No, my liege. I shall launch an investigation with your permission." The man glanced up and looked at the interested face of his liege.
"Denied. If someone with a Legend-class sword spirit managed to bring such spirit to this world and override an Asauchi then they will show themselves with time. I want you to keep an eye on any rising star as they are most likely that user. Once you find them, confirm it is them and make contact. I would like to speak with them. Dismissed."
The man held in his surprise and bowed before he left the throne room. Whenever he was gone, the being stood from his throne and walked over to an amber crystal implanted into the wall. They placed their hand on it and their eyes rolled back.
After a few seconds, their eyes rolled back and they took a step back. "Interesting. I shall await your arrival, Naruto Uzumaki."
*With Naruto*
The teenage Namikaze watched as Ms. Uzumaki placed down her marble and looked at the door. "Alright class, that's enough for today. I have a surprise for you." The woman went to open the door and two people entered.
The first person was a woman with long, bright red hair and large, black pupilless eyes. Said red hair was put into dual buns with various pins holding it up. Her outfit was the normal shinigami attire with a captain's coat.
The male that followed her had spiky short brown hair and hazel eyes. His outfit was also the normal shinigami attire but sitting upon his arm was the lieutenant badge. "These two are Captain Uzumaki and Lieutenant Senju of the fifth division. They decided to visit today and take a look at the freshmen."
Naruto looked at Nawaki and could've sworn there was a mirror. No wonder he reminded Tsunade of him, they were carbon copies, or at least before he changed his facial structure. "I sense a few promising students within here." The elder woman said.
Her glance was pointed mostly at Naruto and Kimura which Nawaki picked up on. "Grandmother, don't put their spirits down too much. I sense at least a little potential from all of them within here."
The former Uzumaki clan head shook her head and started scanning the room. Whenever she got to Naruto, their gazes locked. Naruto looked away and she continued to look around after staring for a second. "I wanted to give some advice to each of you regarding kido. If you feel your spell is underpowered, and you will at some point, do not try to push more energy into it.
Even a little energy will go a long way if you speak a clear and loud incantation. That is all." The woman turned to leave and left her grandson sighing. "Although her tone may sound indifferent, that advice is very good. Never try to force more energy into a kido unless you want it to blow up in your hand."
Giving that little piece of information, he wished them a good day and followed his grandmother out. "What a character," Naruto said to himself. It seemed that Kimura's wishes of a stuck-up captain not appearing were destroyed.
His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the bell. As the kids walked out, Ms. Uzumaki tried to speak. "Remember, do not lose your Reishukaku. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Naruto managed to get himself out of his seat and walking when his two friends took up his flanks in case he fell.
"To the dorms, my friends!" Naruto said, pointing forward like an idiot. "Moron," Kimura whispered under his breath only for Naruto's hand to wrap around his neck again. "It would be a shame if this moron accidentally made your windpipe the size of a pen tip."
The younger boy just glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "You threaten the people you call friends a lot," Kimura mentioned, almost reading the thoughts of Reito. Naruto gave them a grin. "It's my charm."
*The human world, Amegakure*
Deidara sat in front of a gravestone, her body being soaked by the rain that poured down. The gravestone in front of her read Masao Nari but she knew the body buried there was Naruto Uzumaki, her little genius. She reached up to play with the necklace he bought her in Iwa as someone appeared behind her and threw a jacket over her.
"You'll grow sick if you do this every day." The Uchiha said, tightening his own raincoat. "I don't know why you're here. Didn't you try to kill him?" Sasuke crouched down in front of the grave. "It is something I regret but yes, I did."
The former blonde stood up and turned to the Uchiha. "What was Naruto like, before he left the village?" The ravenette looked at the grave and began to chuckle a bit. "A complete idiot. He would pull pranks on everyone, skip class, and devour 14 bowls of ramen in one sitting."
His eyes started to tear up. "But he was one of the most passionate people you'd ever met. Once he had a goal, he grew a passion for it, and never gave up on it. Whenever we were in the academy, he would constantly say he was going to become the greatest Hokage."
The Uchiha looked down and his bitter-sweet smile just became bitter. "After the wave mission, I noticed that his dobe brain changed. He became calculating and everything he did seemed to be planned."
Sasuke reached into his coat and pulled out a pair of chopsticks. "I figured you'd need these in the afterlife. Eat lots of ramen, my only friend." The chopsticks were placed on top of the grave and they both stepped back.
They watched as the rain covered the chopsticks and colored them darker. "Sasuke, Deidara, it's been done." Sasori said, appearing behind them. The tone of the man told them what had been done, Konoha had declared war and they'd be fighting soon. The two teens looked at each other and gave small nods as they followed the redhead.
Just before they entered, Deidara turned to Sasuke. "Let's avenge him, yeah?" The Uchiha gave a solemn nod as they entered the building. "Yeah."