Notes:
Thank you all for reading so far, I wanted to address some stuff:
First of all, for those of you reading on AO3, you might have seen that I uploaded the first 3 chapters immediately, this is because I started writing this rather spontaneously and I didn't have an account when I uploaded on
Secondly, when it comes to an upload schedule… I'm a bit busy with school and I have a somewhat active social life so I don't always have time to write a chapter… I could probably write at least one chapter a week and it wouldn't be too bad for me, two is possible as well… I'd probably mostly write on weekends, though.
When it comes to honorifics and Japanese ways of saying names, one of you noticed I used "Might Guy" instead of "Maito Guy". I agree that it's a bit weird in that case, so I edited it shortly after that chapter on AO3 but not on . (future chapters will be consistent with AO3, but I don't like editing in ) I just didn't want to make it as weeby sounding as some others… I like honorifics but I have always had a bit of a pet peeve when it comes to using too much Japanese for no reason, like when people use "Kami" instead of "God"... I will probably still call the villages by the names Iwa, Kiri, Konoha, Suna, Ame, etc, but I will probably refer to the countries as their English name, f.x Hi No Kuni - Land of Fire.
Sorry if it seems inconsistent, it sounds weird in my head too but that's how I'll do this.
As always, feel free to comment if you have questions, concerns or criticisms about the story. I have a lot of plans for the future, so I hope you'll all enjoy future chapters.
Also, to those of you wondering, by the start of this chapter, ``Daisuke is around 4 years and 11 months old.
Chapter 4:
From the first time I'd trained with Gai, 5 months had passed. Gai dragged me off the playground to train almost every day for the entire 5 months, and I can say that It was both the most exhausting experience I'd ever had, old life included, but also incredibly rewarding. Each time I'd get used to whatever he threw at me, he just added more to our training. Sometimes I wondered whether he was trying to kill me, but seeing his excitement each time we went training made me think he was probably more of a training addict, something of a gym rat from Earth.
It took me two whole months to be able to run the whole 100 laps around the playground, though I'd always end up exhausted. As long as I wasn't collapsing, though, we'd simply move on to do more exercise. I started bringing leaves with me while training with Gai to stick on my body. Having to learn how to subconsciously manipulate my chakra was gonna be nothing but an asset when I'd have to get used to chakra manipulation in the midst of battle.
—-
"Gai, I have to go home now but thanks for training with me!" I informed Gai, grinning at him. He deflated for a second before I elaborated. "Tou-san said I have to come home earlier today because he had something to show me."
Gai looked at me with an expression of understanding, "No problem, Daisuke-kun! We can make up for the lost exercise by training two times, no three times harder tomorrow!" he said, watching my grin turn into a grimace. Three times harder…?
"Yeah, Gai, can't wait…" I forced myself to say with mock cheerfulness. Gai only started laughing before waving me off. He's gonna kill me one day, I muttered to myself, walking towards my home.
Walking through Konoha, I saw Tora the cat being chased by two scratched up genin. Chuckling to myself, I watched them chase around the cat before suddenly the cat noticed me chuckling. Tora immediately started facing my direction as I started panicking, waving my hands around.
"Get It, Aoba! It's running towards that kid!" the unfamiliar genin yelled to his clearly panicked friend, evidently named Aoba. I had little time to think about the fact that I vaguely remembered that name since the cat was still running towards me, claws ready to scratch me.
I was never scared of cats or anything of the sort, but my mind sort of blanked, flashing me cat videos I'd seen on Earth where cats started holding onto someone for dear life, scratching at them furiously. I did NOT want to be scratched. Can you imagine how much my scratches would sting everytime I went to take a bath? My only saving grace was that I didn't sweat as bad as a kid.
"S-Shit! Help me, shinobi-san!" I blurted out in a panic. From what I remembered, Tora was an especially evil cat, I had to get out of there, and fast. This same monster has caused problems for genin for generations!
"Raido, we won't make it in time! Catch that cat, kid!" Aoba screamed in my direction. Catch it? Catch Tora, the cat that takes most genin hours to catch? Nope, there's no way I can catch a cat that even shinobi couldn't catch.
Tora was running towards me at high speeds. I could almost make out a mean smile on its face. It looked more terrifying than a bijuu. Maybe you could compare it to a rabid bijuu? Snapping out of my own thoughts, I decided to run. This is not my problem, I decided.
As I turned around to run, ignoring the offended look Aoba sent me, I tripped in a panic. Falling over, I peered down to see the Tora who was about to pounce on me right under where I was about to land.
Tora, widened its eyes in fear. I couldn't move my arms fast enough to ensure I wouldn't fall on Tora. Giving a loud RAOU sound effect, I feel on Tora. Thankfully, due to my size and weight, Tora wasn't looking especially hurt, it probably just had the wind knocked out of it. Perhaps it deserved that.
After falling down on Tora, Raido and the other genin managed to take advantage of Tora's bad luck, quickly grabbing up the frankly terrifying cat and most likely saving me from a barrage of angry cat scratches.
Raido threw the now-tied up cat into Aoba's arms before walking to me with a grateful look on his face. "Thanks, kid. How did you manage to catch Tora by surprise?" he questioned me, patting me on one of my shoulders. He completely ignored the comically outraged Aoba behind him, scrambling to keep Tora still.
I looked up at him, still shaking from adrenaline (don't judge me, that was a near death experience), "You're w-welcome, Raido-san?" I asked cautiously, continuing after a nod from him "It wasn't anything special. I just tripped on it." I clarified. Raido seemed surprised that I'd managed to catch Tora by sheer accident.
"Well, regardless of if it were an accident or not, you've saved us quite a lot of trouble. What's your name, kid?" he said, shaking off his surprise. Now that I think about it, while I didn't know who Aoba was, Raido was a member of Minato's Hokage Guard in the future.
"My name is Uchiha Daisuke." I replied, looking up to him and smiling. He didn't have that scar yet. "An Uchiha, huh, you sure don't look like it…" he mused thoughtfully, mostly to himself. Between my curly hair and blue eyes, I'd say that was a normal reaction. "My dad is civilian-born." I added, watching the confusion clear off his face.
"Well-" Raido opened his mouth to continue, before being interrupted. "Will you stop chatting already, Raido?! Tora has been scratching me even though it's tied up, and I want to get this mission over with already!" Aoba screamed at Raido, looking more scratched up than before and most definitely extremely pissed off.
Raido, realizing he forgot about Aoba, looked back at his teammate and scratched his head in guilt before facing me. "Well, kid, I've got to go. If you ever need a favor, just ask me! My name's Namiashi Raido, and my teammate over there is Yamashiro Aoba. Cya around!" he said, hurriedly running towards the Hokage tower, waving back at me.
Well that was… interesting. Never thought I'd catch Tora at age 4. Or meet a future Hokage's guard. Well, I'd better get back home now, I'm gonna be late, I thought to myself, shaking my stiff legs before walking in the direction of my home. I wonder what tou-san is showing me?
—-
Getting home, I opened the door and put my shoes away. "I'm home!" I said loud enough for anyone to hear, walking down the hallway towards the living room, I sat down next to tou-san, who was reading a book. He glanced down at me before bookmarking his page and putting his book on the coffee table.
Tou-san turned to me. "Daisuke, the reason I called you today is to further your shinobi education." he paused. Shinobi education? As far as I knew, except for what I was already practicing, I couldn't train anything safely at the moment, except perhaps throwing kunai, though I doubted that I had the arm strength for that yet.
Continuing with a short sigh and closing his eyes, "It isn't training, like you may think, it's more like practice. You're gonna learn how to do hand seals." he finished, opening his eyes and gazing at me. Hand seals, huh. They always looked hard to do in the anime, so getting used to them early would probably enable me to do high speed seals later on.
"Hand seals?" I asked, wanting to know more about them. Tou-san smiled at my innocent question. "Hand seals are used by shinobi to guide and mould chakra for ninjutsu and genjutsu. You won't have to do many of them after enough practice, but every shinobi starts by using hand seals." he explained.
I listened closely to tou-san and made mental notes to myself. I didn't know you could omit seals through practice, I'd just assumed that everybody used all necessary seals for a jutsu. Though now that I thought about it, skilled shinobi like Kage would usually use only one or two hand seals each time they used a jutsu.
"There are twelve basic hand seals, you will learn to do all of them in at least 30 seconds before Kaa-chan and I let you into the academy, got it?" he demanded firmly. They were probably worried about me, but doing 12 seals in 30 seconds sounded more than doable. "Sure thing, tou-san! I'll do my best" I said excitedly. Tou-san eyed me before smiling and got up with a dad-grunt. "I'm coming back with a book that will show you pictures of the hand seals for when I can't help you with practice. I'll be right back, kiddo." he said as he was going to the next room.
Hand seals already? Things were becoming real, and fast. I was sure that the war hadn't started yet. I hadn't heard anything of the sort while training and the playground with Gai, but I couldn't rest. The war would start soon, judging by Gai's age. He was turning 9 soon, and considering Gai was about Kakashi's age, the war should kick off in the next 2 or 3 years. Luckily I would have some time before I would be forced to an early graduation, since Konoha's war effort wouldn't become desperate for a little while.
Coming back to the living room with a book in hand, tou-san laid it on my lap carefully, surveying my starry-eyed expression with a fond look in his eyes. There were 12 basic hand seals to learn:
Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Snake, Ox, Dog, Horse, Tiger, Boar, Ram and Hare.
"Okay Daisuke, watch closely while I show you each hand seal slowly." tou-san said, standing up in front of me. I nodded while watching his hands closely. He started going through each basic hand seal slowly. He made sure to patiently show me the specific finger placements for the less obvious hand seals.
Hand seals were done rapidly by most shinobi in the anime, but there were a lot of small errors that could occur with incorrect finger placement, hand seals had to be memorized through muscle memory to ensure you didn't curl the wrong finger, for example. Messing up a hand seal when you couldn't omit hand seals could result in death.
After tou-san finished showing off the hand seals, he motioned to me, wordlessly saying to try them. Making sure to not mould any chakra while doing a hand seal, I looked back at the book to make sure I remembered how the Monkey seal looked. It looked like you had to place your hands on top of each other.
I clumsily moved my sausage-fingered hands to form the hand seal. Hands lying on top of each other, making sure my pinkies and thumbs were pressed together, tou-san gave me a thumbs up of approval after he saw what I'd managed.
"Good job, kiddo. Keep going, I'll correct any mistakes along the way." tou-san said as the sides of my mouth twitched into a grin. Continuing clumsily forming hand seals, tou-san fixed any mistakes I made. There were a few intricacies to fix, like which thumb goes on the outside of the rat seal or which angle to point my fingers in the bird seal, but we spent a good hour practicing before kaa-san came home, smiling amusedly at me forming the Hare seal for the nth time.
"Welcome home, honey." said tou-san as kaa-san put away the groceries she'd picked up on the way home. "Daisuke-chan is already learning hand seals?" she asked tou-san, not upset but curious. Tou-san went over to kaa-san to give her a hug, "I thought he should be familiar with the basic hand seals before we send him to the academy." he replied to kaa-san, looking fondly at me as I practiced my hand seals, looking like I was trying to pose like a Power Ranger.
"Good idea, Kichiro." she set down her groceries, gesturing to tou-san to finish putting them away. "Are you making good progress, Daisuke-chan?" she asked evenly, giving me a kiss on the cheek. I beamed at her, "Kaa-chan, kaa-chan, look! I can already form the Monkey seal so fast!" I yelled excitedly, holding my hands to her. I clumsily formed a monkey seal right in her face.
Kaa-san gave me a wide grin, showing me her own Monkey seal. "Kaa-chan can do it, too!" she said. "Show me what else you remember!" she ordered halfheartedly, a mock stern expression covering her face. I gave her a serious nod before forming a Tiger seal from memory. It ended up looking like a Ram seal, as my left fingers were elevated too far. I gave her a proud smile as she began chuckling at my comically tangled fingers. It's not my fault that my motor skills were still underdeveloped, moving these chubby fingers was difficult!
I pouted at her as she patted my head. "Good work today, Daisuke-chan, but you'd better take a break for now. How about you make dinner with kaa-chan?" she suggested, smiling warmly at me. I nodded as she set me down at the counter. I was starting to get too big to just sit on stuff.
Watching kaa-chan cook stuff, I noticed how large her stomach had become. She's already almost 8 months pregnant. In one month or so, I was gonna have a baby sister! I couldn't wait to meet the new member of the family. Tou-san, kaa-san and I shared a comfortable silence, kaa-san humming while cooking the food.
We ate together as a family, enjoying each other's company. Kaa-san's cooking was top notch and I was in need of a lot of food as a growing boy who trained with Gai. While eating, I noticed kaa-san looked deep in thought.
It wasn't an expression that suited kaa-san. I frowned at her with a worried expression. "Kaa-chan? What's wrong?" I asked solemnly, mouth full of food.
"Daisuke-chan, as a shinobi, your life will be at risk," she began, dropping her fork to look at me. I quickly swallowed my food and paid attention. "One day, you will awaken your Sharingan." she finished. Having said this, both of my parents looked at me with remorse.
"The Sharingan is a big burden to bear, and it isn't something to celebrate. I'm scared of you being forced to awaken it one day, sweetheart." kaa-san added, tears escaping her eyes.
I'd known from watching Naruto that the Sharingan came from stressful circumstances, which could be during the heat of battle, through pain, or with the death of a loved one… I wasn't sure if I wanted to awaken the Sharingan, but kaa-san seemed convinced that it would happen as long as I became a shinobi.
That wasn't even considering the Mangekyo Sharingan. It went without saying that I hoped that I wouldn't ever be in a situation where that awakened…
"I know, kaa-chan, tou-chan. I understand the risks, but…" I said, picking my words. "I have a feeling that I need to become a shinobi. We don't know for sure if the village will be safe forever, and when that day comes, I want to be able to protect us." I said, giving my parents a firm and determined look.
Kaa-san nodded, still tearing up a little. Tou-san only stared at me meaningfully, reminding me of my promise to them. That I wouldn't die in the field, no matter what. We began eating again with an oppressive silence.
Finishing our food, kaa-san came to me and picked me up, hugging me tightly. I felt her tears against my head, but I didn't mind. I hugged her back. "I love you so much, kaa-chan." I muttered softly. "I love you too, sweetie."
"When the time comes where you will awaken your sharingan, promise me that you'll talk to me about it." she said, almost crushing me by hugging tightly. She set me down before tou-san patted my head, wishing me a good night. Kaa-san brought me to my room, kissing me on the forehead and tucking me in bed. "Good night, Daisuke-chan. I'm proud of you," she said with a small smile.
—-
I spent the next two weeks practicing my hand seals diligently every day, including when I went to train with Gai. I couldn't quite do all of them from memory perfectly well, but I'd memorized a few of them and I knew the basic shape of each seal. Things were progressing well.
Speaking of progress, Gai and I started making runs around the village. The village itself is much too big to make laps around, but we started running through less populated streets.
"Gai," I started, breathing evenly between my words, "my parents told me that they would let me start resistance training and sparring when I enter the academy." I mentioned, glancing at Gai. Gai has been wanting to start sparring with me for a while, and I recently asked when they would let me.
Gai grinned at me, patting me on the back and nearly making me lose my balance. "Wonderful, Daisuke-kun! Tou-san told me that now is the best time to strengthen the power of youth! I'll teach you everything I learned at the academy!" he promised, picking up speed out of excitement. I couldn't respond because I was too busy trying to control my breathing, but I nodded with a satisfied smile nonetheless.
"Oh, I realized you will have to catch up, Daisuke-kun! I suppose that means that we can train five times more!" he yelled excitedly, pumping his arms in excitement. My smile disappeared in an instant, revealing a mock-glare. There's no way he would do that to an academy 1st year, right?
Looking at his even more mischievous face, I was proven wrong. He was going to work me to the bone and would enjoy it the whole way.
Running through Konoha was a way to get used to having to weave around obstructions at a higher speed. We had to make sure we didn't hit anybody. Gai also mentioned that we would include roof jumping when I was a bit older.
Gai never got tired from our runs, usually only getting a bit winded. I knew from the anime that Gai had crazy motivation and trained all the time, so it was never surprising to see Gai staying at the park as I'd go home earlier every time training was finished. He would eventually become a Jonin nearly capable of killing Madara, allegedly surpassing even Hashirama in taijutsu.
"... I've got to get home now, Gai. Kaa-chan's made my favorite food for dinner today! See ya!" I chirped, waving him off. "It was a pleasure to train today, Daisuke-kun! Have a good evening!" Gai returned. He immediately went back to exercising, still smiling, which was something I found funny. Grinning to myself on my way home, I remembered what kaa-san was making today.
She was making a beef stew, pretty much a Japanese curry. It was my favorite food she makes, though that isn't to say that anything else she cooks wasn't also great, her cooking was immaculate.
Humming Don't Stop Me Now, I stood in front of our door, noticing the lack of noise from the inside. Opening the door, I didn't smell any food. Weird, I thought she was making the stew today? "I'm home!" I yelled as I normally would, but no one responded.
Making my way to the kitchen, there evidently really wasn't anyone home. Opening the fridge to look for food, I found some rice balls in the fridge. I took them to the table and started eating them as I noticed a note left on the kitchen table. It was written in tou-san's handwriting.
"Your kaa-chan's in labor! After you finish your food, come to the hospital!" it said, underlining the word labor. She was in labor? Already? And I missed it? Shit! I stuffed the rice balls in my mouth, quickly running to get my shoes on. I absolutely couldn't miss the birth of my little sister! I'm an idiot, I should've thought to come home earlier in the weeks leading up to kaa-san's due date!
Running with Gai proved useful when I ran full speed to the hospital, paying no mind to my surroundings. The world felt like a blur both physically and mentally as tears blurred my vision. I wasn't sure if it was out of happiness or disappointment in myself, I just kept going to the hospital.
Arriving at the hospital, I stopped in front of the receptionist, gasping for air. The hospital was a little far from our apartment, so I was winded. "M-my kaa-chan! She's in labor! Her name is Uchiha Hazuki! Where is she?!" I said in a hurry. The receptionist had a flash of recognition in her eyes.
"Ah, Uchiha Daisuke-kun? Your parents told me to expect them. They're in room 142." she finished, sweat beading on her forehead. She pointed in the direction of the room and I gave a thankful nod.
Running down the hallway, my heart was beating fast. I felt my chest thumping hard. I was careful not to knock over anybody as I ran. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of room 142. Staring at the number with bated breath, I slowly opened the door.
As I opened the door, I saw kaa-san, sweat covering her face as she smiled down at a sleeping girl with brown hair. Tou-san noticed me first, calling me forwards with his hand. Smiling at me, he tapped kaa-san on the shoulder.
"Daisuke-chan, you're here! Daisuke, meet your little sister, Izumi-chan!" she said with a bright yet exhausted tone. I recognized that name but I pushed that feeling down. This was my sister. I missed her birth, but my sister is right there. Tears welling in my eyes, I held Izumi's small hand.
"M' sorry, kaa-chan." I said quietly, warm tears rolling down my cheeks. "I wasn't even here to see my own sister's birth…"
Kaa-san frowned at me before flicking my cheeks. "Don't stress yourself over something so stupid, Daisuke-chan!" she shot me a gentle smile. "You were training! And besides, you're here now, aren't you?" she said, holding my cheek in her hand.
"Your kaa-san's right, you know? How could you have known she would go into labor so soon after you left for training?" tou-san reassured me. He patted me on the back before wrapping me in a warm hug.
My sister was already born, it didn't matter to me anymore that I missed her birth. All that mattered now was that I would be the best older brother ever.
"Hello, Izumi." I whispered softly to my sleeping sister, gently holding her small hand. "Welcome to the family."
—-
After I calmed down, I acknowledged the fact that my sister was Uchiha Izumi, a girl who would be killed by Itachi if I let events play out the same as before. Though I appreciated that Itachi would go on to put Izumi under an 80 years' genjutsu where she lived a full life in canon, I wouldn't let it happen here.
I definitely needed to prevent the Uchiha Massacre above all else. No one, not even Itachi, deserved that disaster. And Danzo sure as hell didn't deserve all of those eyes he got as a reward for his "noble" act of tricking a 13 year old into killing everyone he loved but one.
Izumi was a normal baby, apparently unlike me. While I was and still am childish, Izumi was a genuine baby. This meant that she cried. A lot. Especially during the night.
It was a normal night, and I was sleeping peacefully as usual. It'd been a few weeks since Izumi was born, when suddenly I was awoken by a crying Izumi. Opening eyes proved a monumental task as they felt glued together, I groaned before managing to roll out of bed.
Kaa-san and tou-san had already woken up, eyebags massive as they stumbled to my and Izumi's shared room like zombies. "Ah, I'm sorry Daisuke-chan, you don't have to wake up for us," she stated, looking guilty. "You were such a quiet baby, I thought other parents were exaggerating about how hard the first few months would be…" she huffed to herself, carefully lifting Izumi out of the cradle and humming a lullaby.
Though she looked happy to take care of Izumi, seeing her eyebags and hearing her exhausted tone made me feel bad. I wanted to shoulder some of the responsibility of taking care of Izumi. "Say, kaa-chan, what if we take turns putting Izumi to sleep at night? You and tou-chan just look so tired, I want to help." I whispered to kaa-san in an attempt to keep Izumi from crying again. She was already calming down. I watched her eyes widen for just a second.
Tou-san sent me a grateful look, but kaa-san shook her head. "I couldn't possibly allow you to miss sleep because of me, sweetie." she said, looking kind of hesitant at my offer. "I miss sleep anyway, since Izumi and I share a room. What's the problem of relieving your burden just a little bit?" I explained patiently. Kaa-san sent me a warm smile, and looked to be in thought while rocking Izumi back and forth.
"Why not, Hazuki? If he slept in a different room, then the choice is obvious, but it is as he says: he wakes up anyway." tou-san spoke to kaa-san in a soothing voice, hugging her from behind. Kaa-san made a complicated expression before finally speaking. "Oh, fine! If you want to help us so much, I'm glad to accept your help. But if you start getting affected by sleep deprivation, I'm moving you to our room!" she finally relented.
On queue, Izumi fell back asleep and kaa-san gently lowered her back into her cradle.
"Good night, kaa-chan, tou-chan, Izumi." I murmured, voice full of tiredness from the previous day's fatigue. I saw my parents smile, looking at me and my sister, before turning away and going back to their room to sleep.
—-
The next few days passed like normal, I trained with Gai, I practiced hand seals, and I enjoyed my family's company - especially the newest addition, Izumi.
Izumi had brown hair like tou-san, but had kaa-san's black eyes and straight hair. She would eventually grow up into a kind Uchiha who never fell to the curse of hatred. The same Izumi who would try to help Itachi open up more. The Izumi who wanted nothing more than to live a happy life with Itachi. Izumi will not die this time, I vowed to myself.
In the night, I opened my bleary eyes to the sound of crying. Right. It was my turn to put Izumi back to sleep today. I tiptoed to the crying Izumi, climbing into the fairly large cradle, which was just big enough for me to fit inside without stepping on Izumi.
Tiredness worn off a bit, I laid Izumi on my lap gently, trying to hush her asleep. Humming to her and rocking her back and forth wasn't working, much to my frustration. How did kaa-san do it so easily?
I remembered back to my time on Earth. A popular lullaby in English popped into my head. Looking warmly down at Izumi's crying face, I smiled at her.
"Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
When the blazing sun is gone
When there's nothing he shines upon
Then you show your little light
Twinkle, twinkle, through the night"
By the time I'd finished, Izumi stopped crying, giving me a curious look before giggling. I was glad that worked, though I might have to ask kaa-san how to properly hush a baby.
"I swear I'll protect you no matter what happens. Good night little sister." I said in English. Izumi giggled at me again, showing me her toothless smile. I hummed to her more songs from Earth until she fell asleep again.
Climbing back into bed, my tired eyes forced themselves shut. I would need to get stronger. Tou-san told me he'd let me into the academy if I could do each hand seal consecutively in 30 seconds, I only need to practice for a few more months and maybe I could join the academy. Albeit a bit earlier than average.
The Uchiha Massacre isn't a matter that a random genin or chuunin could solve, I needed to become strong enough for people to acknowledge me, and I needed to gain allies. The academy would provide a headstart to that, I decided.
—-
A few months passed since then and I'd proven myself to my parents that I wanted to enter the academy early. I practiced my hand seals until my fingers became stiff, and as promised, tou-san allowed me to enter the academy.
I'd been allowed to enter due to my parents' insistence as a 5 and a half year old. I would be a bit younger than my peers, but that didn't matter in the long run. I felt a pit of nervousness in my stomach while waiting for Lord Third's speech with my family.
"I just can't believe it! My little boy is entering the academy already!" kaa-san exclaimed with a proud look on her face. Izumi, who was being carried by tou-san, made that cute baby screech sound.
"He's a little bit young, but we did promise him this as his reward for hard work." tou-san noted. He smiled at me, patting my head. I was somewhat excited to enter the academy. It was the school that taught all future generations of shinobi, after all!
I looked around and saw a whole lot of civilian kids, but also many clan children. I saw plenty of Uchiha, Yamanaka, Inuzuka, Hyuuga, Nara, Akimichi and Aburame waiting. Not to mention the less easily-distinguishable Sarutobi.
Seeing so many clan children intimidated me a little, until I realized that technically I was also a clan kid. I might not have been imparted with as much formal training, but I'd nearly mastered kaa-san's taijutsu katas and hand seals, and I'd improved my physical conditioning a lot with the help of Gai, not to mention my above-average chakra control (for my age).
I may have felt nervous or intimidated, but I didn't feel inadequate. Not in the slightest. Those who were precious to me had thoroughly prepared me.
The Third Hokage came in front of the crowd, getting ready to make his speech.
"Welcome, good citizens of Konoha…." the Hokage went on and on about the Will of Fire and how proud he was of our bravery, and what it meant to a shinobi. Propaganda existed everywhere, both on Earth and here, so I didn't especially hate to see it.
Admittedly it felt a little bit wrong that this propaganda was used to conscript a bunch of child soldiers, but I didn't care at the time. Honestly, I didn't feel much loyalty to Konoha as a whole. I felt loyalty towards my parents, my sister, my friend, Gai and his father. If we just so happened to be under Konoha, it served me well to "serve Konoha". A safe Konoha was a safe world for Izumi.
Bored out of my mind, I looked to see if I recognized any children from the anime. I wasn't sure if it was because of the size of the crowd or because of everyone's young age, but I didn't recognize anybody at first glance. I huffed in annoyance, kaa-san noticed it and sent me an amused look. I signed up for this… At least many of the other children looked similarly bored at the time, except the Hyuuga, of course.
Hiruzen eventually stopped talking after almost an hour. We were assigned classrooms and told to meet at our assigned classrooms tomorrow to be introduced to our academy sensei and the rest of our class.
It was finally time to begin my career as a shinobi.
—-
Hopefully this chapter wasn't too long for you guys! If you have any comments, concerns or criticisms, please let me know! I didn't mention this before, but I don't have a beta reader at the moment, so some stuff may come out a bit choppy.
