Notes:

Last chapter marks the end of the first of many arcs to come. Welcome to the Academy arc.

Chapter 5:

Waking up the next morning, I was excited for my first day at the academy. Despite the obvious implications of joining the academy, I was still excited to be going to a school again, especially since the curriculum wouldn't be hard at first. I would have this time to meet new friends, and also I was cleared for sparring and further training by my parents, so I could get stronger.

Tou-san and kaa-san walked me to the academy for my big first day, Izumi was being carried by tou-san. She really liked being carried by tou-san, I think he's her favorite.

Arriving at the academy, kaa-san gave me a tight hug and kissed me on the forehead. "Don't make any trouble for your sensei, and make sure you make tons of friends!" she shouted loud enough for people around us to hear her. "D-don't be embarrassing, kaa-chan!" I replied, face turning red. She was doing this on purpose! I felt a sense of remorse since she reminded me of my mom from Earth.

I gave her a half-hearted scowl. "Now, now, kiddo, don't be mean to your kaa-chan." he scolded halfheartedly, a small smirk resting on his face. His expression became a smidge more serious, "Don't let the other kids push you around, okay?" he added. I could see his concern, I wasn't technically a civilian by blood, but I was more or less raised as a civilian kid. I could be seen as an easy target by bullies, especially clan kids. I wouldn't let that happen, of course.

I nodded to my parents, before facing Izumi. She was already a few months old by now, and she'd already become such a cute baby. She giggled at me, waving her hands in front of her. I grabbed her from tou-san's arms after asking for permission with a pointed glance.

"I'm going to be attending the academy now. I won't be home as much but remember that your nii-chan will always love you, even when he is away." I said to her gently in a somewhat baby-speak tone. "See you later," I finished with a grin before turning around to enter the academy, waving my family off.

I'd been speaking some English to Izumi, sometimes receiving confused and curious looks from my parents. I planned to tell them about my past life at some point, but for now I played it off as gibberish. Surprisingly, she seemed to start to understand some of what I said to her after a while. I'd been speaking English to her for months, after all. I decided to speak English more to her, cause why not? I frankly missed speaking English and it reminded me of my old life that I didn't think as much about anymore.

Walking into the academy, I navigated the halls to my designated class. The academy was a bit bigger than it looked in the anime, though that was to be expected. It looked vaguely familiar - I had seen it in the anime before. It made a complete school aesthetic, despite being basically a military prep school. It was hard to believe that in only 6 years, I would become a genin. A full-fledged shinobi.

Entering the classroom with nervousness pulling at my stomach, I looked at the children who would be my classmates for the next few years. Two of these guys would be my teammates. The class had a lot of civilians but I also saw what I thought to be a Nara girl, an Uchiha boy and a Hyuuga boy. They were more noticeable than the others.

Taking a deep breath, I sat at an empty table, since all of the other ones were already occupied by the other students. I'm pretty sure there were still a few people missing. I was probably somewhat late by some people's standards. I was here 10 minutes before class began, but it was the first day.

A few minutes passed, and the final students seemed to have arrived. Walking to my table to take a seat was a very familiar violet-haired girl. Though she was much younger than what I'd seen in the anime, there was no mistaking it. This was Mitarashi Anko.

"Hey, who're you?" she asked. She looked excited to be at the academy judging by the grin she was wearing. "... You should introduce yourself before asking for my name." I said after pausing, an amused tone in my voice. She sent me an angry look, "Ugh, fine! The name's Mitarashi Anko!" she huffed. "Nice to meet you, Anko-san. My name is Uchiha Daisuke."

She grumbled a little bit, she probably wasn't used to using her manners. "I look forward to getting to know you during the next few years." I added, seeing that she was upset with me.

She opened her mouth to respond, before getting cut off by a brown-haired boy running into the class panting.

"S-sorry for being late!" he yelled, looking at where the teacher would be, only to notice that he wasn't late. His yelling had made everyone snap their attention towards him, causing his face to burn up in embarrassment. Ducking his head down, he made his way to the only free spot in the class, the spot next to me.

Before I had the chance to introduce myself, the teacher came in, ordering everyone (who was already quiet) to quiet down.

Coughing to get our attention, he started talking. "Welcome to the Academy. My name is Hayashi Ton, and I will be your academy sensei. Refer to me as Hayashi-sensei. The academy is where you will train to become a shinobi of Konoha." he paused, scanning the room. "Let's start by introducing ourselves. When I point to you, please tell us your full name and something you'd like to share with us" he finished, picking up one of those big pointers to point at us with.

He started taking what was basically attendance with extra steps. Many of the civilian-born had very childish and simple thoughts to share like their favorite color or their hobbies. It seemed that even though there were naive students, no one screamed that they were going to become Hokage. Only Naruto and Obito were so hot-headed, I guess. Drowning out what I thought was boring, I listened to what the more interesting students had to say.

Hayashi-sensei pointed to an energetic looking girl with black hair in a ponytail. "I'm Nara Shimada! My goal is to become the strongest kunoichi ever!" she exclaimed in a very not-Nara way. I'd thought that the Nara were reserved, calm and collected, though I supposed that it depended on the person. She kinda reminded me of Naruto.

He pointed to the next student. He had black hair like my own and had his arms crossed, with a smirk on his face. He looked pretty cocky. "My name is Uchiha Shodo. There's nothing more I need to say." he announced, voice full of arrogance. He was like… one of those stereotypical noble family characters! I had to cover my mouth to not giggle a little bit at that thought.

The next student was a purple haired girl, unlike Anko she had her hair run down her shoulders. "My name is Uzuki Yugao, I'm training in kenjutsu." she said, calm and collected, holding a diplomatic smile on her face. I vaguely recognized the name, though I had no idea who she was.

The very obviously Hyuuga boy was next. He looked like most other Hyuuga with long hair, though his face was different than Neji's, for example. Bandages were wrapped around his forehead, no doubt hiding a Caged Bird Seal. "My name is Hyuuga Momoku. I am aiming to be the top rookie of this class." he said with little emotion and a firm gaze. His demeanor was completely different from the extremely arrogant Uchiha from before.

A civilian boy was chosen next, he looked vaguely familiar, with long and brown hair. "H-hello everyone, my name is Umino Iruka," he paused out of nervousness, supposedly thinking of what to say next. "I want to make Konoha a safer place." he said with a smidge less nervousness, before pausing and smiling, "I'm looking forward to attending the academy with you all!" This was Iruka, Naruto's father figure in the anime. I smiled thinking of the kind man he would become.

Anko was pointed to after that. She perked up from her previous boredom. "The name's Mitarashi Anko, you'd do well to remember it!" she exclaimed, adding nothing else. She gave me a pointed glare. She sat back down after pointing to herself with her thumb. Maybe she didn't have a specific dream? Moreover, why was she still mad at me? Pretty immature.

Hayashi-sensei pointed to me. I stood up, smiling. "My name is Uchiha Daisuke, I want to become strong enough to protect my loved ones." I said, nodding. I didn't have some crazy goal, I just had crazy hurdles to overcome. I heard a "huh?!" from where Uchiha Shodo was sitting. I was an illegitimate Uchiha, so he was probably surprised that I had the Uchiha name while looking more like a civilian than Uchiha.

Finally, the boy with short, brown hair and eye bags next to me was pointed to. "My name is Gekko Hayate," he started with a neutral look on his face. "I don't have any specific goals at the moment." Ah, I remember him now. He didn't look too familiar without his bandana, but he was a tokubetsu jounin who would die at a suna shinobi's hand during Orochimaru's invasion of Konoha.

"You will be seated in the arrangement that you have set for yourself for at least the first year," Hayashi-sensei explained. "If any of you become disruptive during class due to this seating, your seat will be exchanged with another student's seat. You will also be punished, of course." he threatened with the tone that adults use to talk to children about something serious. The not-so-serious one.

Having finished our introductions, our teacher started briefing us on what our schedule would be. Our schedule proved to be… probably very boring. Aside from the fact that our schedule didn't change much day to day, we had subjects that seemed very boring. Mathematics would be easy since I probably learned all or most of what they had to teach us this year. History class would be undoubtedly boring, even if useful. Even reading and writing classes seemed somewhat boring, considering that most of us would have already learned that, except probably any orphans.

Despite those boring lessons, we had some very interesting classes. Chakra theory, taijutsu, bukijutsu. Sensei even told us that we would move on to more complex classes as we got closer to graduation. Well, at least I would have classes to rest in.

Since this was the first day at the academy, we were dismissed early. Walking out, Hayate approached me. "Daisuke-san, wait up!" he started, speed walking towards me. "We were cut off earlier, so I'd like to introduce myself, since we'll be sat together for a while. My name is Gekko Hayate, but you can just call me Hayate."

"If I get to call you Hayate then you can just call me Daisuke. I'll see you tomorrow," I concluded, walking out of the academy doors. We waved at each other before I was met with a flash of green in my face.

"DAISUKE-KUN! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY!" he yelled, picking me up by my armpits. This probably looked very funny considering Gai was only about 15 centimeters taller than me. My face turned red as I noted some people were watching, and others were laughing.

"W-what is it, Gai?" I huffed in embarrassment. Gai grinned even wider as he set me down. "You don't remember?! Your parents allowed you to begin strength training and sparring from now on! We can finally cultivate the springtime of our Youth! Together!" he explained to me very quickly and excitedly. He must have REALLY been excited for this. Oh, shit.

"Can I at least eat lunch first?" I nearly whimpered. He told me that we would train three times as hard a while ago. The first time I'd ever trained in my first life, my limbs were very sore, since they were not used to exercise and soreness… I would need all of the energy I could get with all the exercise that Gai would surely throw me into, not to mention that having lunch would stall the inevitable pain.

"Of course, Daisuke-kun, let us get some lunch, we must be fast, though! We cannot waste our precious Youth!" he said, running off, dust trailing behind his every step. I scrambled to catch up with him.

—-

Gai, curse his soul, decided that we would do strength training before sparring. The schedule was that we would start running laps like normal, then move on to strength training, which was mostly calisthenics, especially pushups, situps and pullups and then sparring. Of course, this was extremely demanding on our cardiovascular systems. Gai was used to it, though.

"Is… is this how you train everyday..?" I asked with wonder while panting from exertion. My whole body felt like jelly. "Of course, Daisuke-kun!" he replied with a wide grin, flexing his biceps. We'd just finished the strength training, and I wasn't able to do some of the exercises like a pull-up. For any exercise I couldn't do, Gai had me to negatives or easier variations. The familiar yet almost-forgotten feeling of my limbs being exhausted as Gai led me to a more open area.

"It's time for sparring!" he declared, "Daisuke-kun, are you ready? Don't worry, I won't go all out against you!" he reassured me, though I didn't really feel reassured. I'd never fought before. All I had were kaa-san's taijutsu katas she'd taught me. I guessed that committing taijutsu-katas to memory would allow us to mov and react with minimal thought, but frankly I was a little scared. Gai may have been much younger, but he was the world's best taijutsu user in the future.

I was exhausted and my limbs were hard to move. It felt like I was controlling myself rather than moving. I tested the waters by stretching my arms and legs and was promptly realized that I was fucked. And that this would be VERY unpleasant.

I nodded hesitantly. Gai immediately sprang at me at a speed similar to the speeds we would run at. I had kaa-san's stance up and moved to dodge, only for Gai to touch down with his feet and change his direction to where I was dodging. I managed a shaky duck under a devastating roundhouse, I tried to aim a punch at Gai at his open side.

An Uchiha, even without the sharingan, had keen eyesight. Honestly I didn't know what I was doing before I registered his side as open. Gai, even with his leg in mid-air, redirected my punch to the side. He quickly regained footing, and punched me in my ribs while I was still open.

I know he said that he wasn't going to go all out, but damn, that hurt. The pain short through my chest as my breathing turned harsh. After a few seconds, the pain dulled to a bad ache. Gai was above me with his hand out. I was so tired, it even sucked to squirm in pain.

"Impressive, Daisuke-kun! How youthful!" he commented, dragging me up by my shaking hand. Between my muscle fatigue, adrenaline and general tiredness, I looked something like a shaking puppy.

"T-thanks." I responded, taking a deep breath. I needed to get used to fighting, and Gai wasn't necessarily going easy on me either. I exhaled before blinking my eyes, "Gai, how about another spar?" I asked, wobbly smile on my face. "Of course, Daisuke-kun! Don't think I'd let you off that easily!"

The rest of the sparring went similarly. Apparently I had some skill in perception and I was able to dodge pretty well, but my body was simply weaker and slower than Gai's. I was also very tired. Each movement felt like I had to really command my body to do it.

I came home exhausted with bruises littering my body. I think Gai made sure to not hit my face, which was nice of him. Greeting my parents and my sister, I quickly ate dinner and ran to bed. I was pretty early but I had a feeling that I would need more sleep tonight.

—-

The next few weeks passed with this schedule. I would go to the academy, then Gai would wait for me after school to go train. I would go home to eat and maybe talk a little with my family before collapsing in bed.

During this time, I did notice that I didn't become as exhausted, though I didn't tell Gai. He would ramp up the training and I wanted to train a few months at this level.

At school I found myself becoming friends with Hayate. Apparently the Gekko family had their own style of swordsmanship and he wanted to become a kenjutsu user, which I thought was pretty cool. I remembered his fight with that suna jonin and noted that he still used a sword even then. Hayate was generally calm and composed, but he also had moments of outburst when something excited him.

I started noticing a marketable improvement to my taijutsu with Gai. I didn't necessarily become better at striking, but the fear of getting hit by a punch from Gai's Strong Fist style made me pretty good at avoiding his blows, until I tried to attack him in return or if he ramped up his speed, of course.

Taijutsu practice hadn't started at school yet, we were just given basic physical training and we were made to learn the academy taijutsu katas and style, I thought it was kind of boring since I was already picking up on Gai's strong fist and had a decent understanding of kaa-san's style.

Coming home from training one day, kaa-san and tou-san were waiting for me in the kitchen with Izumi. They both looked excited to show me something. Kaa-san ran up to me in greeting, hugging me tightly. "Welcome back home, sweetie! We have a surprise for youuu~!" she squeaked in a baby voice. A surprise…? "Ah, H-hi kaa-chan… A surprise? What is it?" I asked curiously. Tou-san gestured at me to follow him to the living room.

As we sat down, tou-san pulled out papers from his pocket. They didn't look special, except for their small size maybe. Is that…?

"After seeing your hard work, kiddo, we thought that you deserve a step-up to your training," I grimaced in between, thinking of all the training. "We bought Chakra Induction paper for you." he explained, holding it out. "We thought that we should start preparing you for genin-level chakra control and nature transformation." he continued, nodding with his eyes closed and arms crossed.

So, I was going to learn elemental ninjutsu. I thought it was a little strange that I was learning this before learning an academy jutsu, but kaa-san read my mind through my expression. "We aren't starting you on ninjutsu just yet, Daisuke-chan. But we want you to practice your affinity. Your physical energy is probably becoming stronger, and we think that you have enough chakra tree-walk. You're amazing at chakra control, after all!" she clarified. As far as I knew, apart from clan children, people didn't learn elemental ninjutsu until they were genin. "My little genius!" she whispered to herself, still very loudly.

I wasn't sure why I was so good at chakra control. According to what I'd read in the academy and what I'd heard from my parents, my progress seemed pretty fast, though I guess I was just working on the leaf exercise so it was hard to tell if I was actually any good. I had leaves under my clothes every day, sticking to my body, even during training. I assumed that my awareness of chakra was the reason why I was good at chakra control, since I didn't have chakra in my last life.

"Pour some chakra into this paper, Daisuke. Depending on what happens to the paper, that will determine your elemental affinity." he explained to me, handing me the Chakra Induction paper. I took it wordlessly. Since kaa-san's an Uchiha, I supposed that my affinity would be fire.

Channeling some chakra into the paper, the paper turned to dust and fell to the ground. Kaa-san looked surprised, I imagine that she expected my affinity to be fire, too. "Earth affinity, huh." tou-san commented to himself. "Looks like you take after me, kiddo." he said with a smile before turning to kaa-san's pouting face with a competitive smirk.

"I may have earth affinity, kaa-chan, but since I have your blood, I bet I could learn Fire Style in the future!" I reassured kaa-san. Her face lit up before she tackled me in a hug, again, "Oh, you're so sweet!" she said, hugging me tightly. "Help me…" I muttered at the giggling Izumi, who was resting on tou-san's shoulders.

—-

Since learning of my affinity, kaa-san and tou-san told me to bring a rock to school every day. They said that if I were ever bored I could try to practice earth manipulation on the rock. Under the desk. Even though my affinity was earth, I found it difficult to do anything with the stone. I kept infusing my chakra into it, but nothing was happening to it. I would probably have to ask tou-san for pointers.

Speaking of infusing chakra, my parents got me started on tree-walking immediately after I'd come home every day from school. Usually tou-san wasn't home, but kaa-san was always there to supervise me. My chakra reserves were quite small due to my age, so kaa-san watched me carefully. She gave me pointers by watching my chakra on my feet with her sharingan.

After a few days of trying (it took me so long because I had to stop after only half an hour of trying each time), I managed to stick to the wood for the first time. Before that, I was undercharging or overcharging it, but I finally understood what I had to do. I had to compensate for the texture of the wood properly.

Kaa-san watched in wonder once I'd finally managed it. "I did it, kaa-chan!" I cheered in excitement, before falling off the tree due to my lapse in concentration. Kaa-san was there to pick me up, thankfully. "Very impressive, Daisuke-chan! I only learned to do this after I became a genin!" she said, praising me. She had a pleased look on her face.

Izumi was sitting on the grass watching with a jealous pout. She squeaked and yelled some gibberish, waving her arms in front of her. Ah, she was jealous of kaa-san holding me. Kaa-san put me down and ran over to Izumi, hoisting her up. "Awww, don't be jealous, Izumi-chan!" kaa-san cooed at her.

After that, kaa-san insisted that I save my energy and continue with tree walking tomorrow. I was exhausted, anyway, so I didn't mind being less tired for a change. Since we were done early, we decided to take Izumi to the park and enjoy ourselves as a family. Tou-san wouldn't be home from work for another few hours.

Izumi was still just a few months old, so I played with her to make sure she didn't hurt herself. She seemed to like the sandpit the most. "Is that a sand castle?" I asked Izumi sometime later with mock curiosity. She nodded at me proudly. She'd made a very sophisticated sand castle for someone her age - it was a pile of sand, sure, but it even had a window and a few spikes at the top.

"It's very nice, Izumi, good job." I told her, smiling. She baby squealed at me, clapping her hands. "Let's build kaa-san and tou-san next!" We'd managed to make what people from Earth would only call modern art, not even vaguely resembling our parents. Izumi decided to destroy it after we laughed at our creation for a while.

"Do you want to go on the swing with nii-chan?" I asked her this time in Japanese, pointing to the swings. I didn't expect her to understand that if I said it in English. She glanced over before cheering childishly. I naturally took that as a yes.

I made sure to stick Izumi to my lap with chakra as we started going up and down at the swing at a speed that would probably frighten a lot of other babies. Not Izumi, though. We'd been to the playground before and she made it abundantly clear that she wanted to go fast. This little adrenaline junkie, I sighed internally, not actually annoyed.

After another hour of playing, I took Izumi back to kaa-san. We'd gotten quite dirty in the sandpit earlier. "Did you have fun with your nii-chan, Izumi-chan?" Izumi was looking sleepy from all of the playing but still managed an affirmative giggle. "As always, thank you for playing with her," she told me, taking Izumi from my hands. "It must be boring for you sometimes."

"Not at all, kaa-chan! I still love playing in the park, especially with Izumi." I reassured her. It wasn't exactly the same as playing alone, but there was a different type of enjoyment and amusement that came from playing with a younger sibling. I was still a kid as well, despite going to the academy. Who said I wouldn't enjoy the playground?

Izumi fell asleep in kaa-san's arms as we made our way home, even when we stopped by the market to get some groceries for dinner. Tou-san made it home while we were making dinner, looking tired but also happy to see us. I told tou-san what had happened today as he gladly listened to me. He was proud of my progress in chakra control. I forgot to ask him for pointers on earth release.

It was days like these that made me feel that all of my training was worth it. At some point, I would become strong enough to protect my family. Izumi had finally stopped waking up to cry every night, though sometimes she did wake up in the middle of the night. I let tou-san and kaa-san go to bed early.

"Bedtime story?" I asked Izumi, tucking her into her cradle. She yawned drowsily, I took it as a yes. "This comes from where your brother comes from," I started in a low voice, "Wealth, fame, power. Gold Roger…"

By the time I'd gotten to the part about the Golden Age, she'd already fallen asleep. Kissing her on the forehead, I silently tiptoed to my bed and went to sleep.

—-

"... Next spar, Hyuuga Momoku vs Uchiha Daisuke." announced Hayashi-sensei. Today was the first day where we began sparring. The academy wanted us to start sparring as soon as we were technically able to spar so we could get used to combat early on.

This was the first match that was notable so far, the others having been clumsy slugfests with generic civilian students.

It had been a few months since the academy started, in fact I was almost 6 years old. My birthday was on the next day, actually. It was on the 17th of March. My mom had instructed me to invite anyone who I considered my friend, and it looked like the only ones I wanted to invite were Hayate, Gai and perhaps Dai.

My training up to this point had gone very well, but I still hadn't built a very strong offense in taijutsu. In terms of ninjutsu, I had only made progress with some nature manipulation with the help of tou-san. My chakra control was good enough where I had little problem tree walking, but kaa-san still thinks it's too early to try water walking, so I continued using tree walking as a good exercise to improve my chakra reserves.

I gulped as I heard Hayashi-sensei announce my sparring partner. Though I would be confident against any civilian, I was not so confident against clan kids. They'd trained their whole lives for this. The same is true for me, but I still felt worried. Branch family or not, getting hit by the famed Gentle Fist sounded awful. I sighed nervously.

Hayate elbowed my side to get my attention, "Come on, don't make that expression. Show him who's boss." Hayate demanded of me, trying to encourage me, he pushed me to the sparring area and I stumbled pathetically before scrambling to get back up. "Hey!" I yelled at Hayate, annoyed. The only silver linings I could find in this match were that I'd gotten quite good at avoiding hits and that perhaps Hyuuga Momoku's Gentle Fist was amateurish or something.

"No more stalling, Daisuke-kun! Get in there!" Hayashi-sensei said in a stern voice. Nodding quickly, I went to the other side of the sparring area. Momoku seemed pretty patient and didn't let even a bit of impatience show on his expression. Very much unlike some of my annoyed classmates who were yelling at me to enter. How mature, or stoic, I guess.

Getting into our stances, I shuddered at his obvious Hyuuga stance. I shifted into my own stance, which was something of a mix of Gai's Strong Fist and kaa-san's taijutsu style, though it was leaning more towards kaa-san's style.

Gai's style was more about dealing heavy external damage and required a lot of strength, which I didn't have, I often targeted areas that didn't require a lot of force to damage to compensate for that. Kaa-san's style was more about adaptability. Her style could adapt depending on the situation, but had a special emphasis on redirection, dodging and counter attacking, which was no doubt influenced by her use of the sharingan.

Momoku's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion at the sight of my unfamiliar stance. I took a deep breath before hearing Hayashi-sensei count down. "3… 2… 1… GO!" he said, waving his hand down. I was used to Gai, who would always charge at me as soon as sparring began, so it surprised me for a second when I saw him cautiously approach me instead.

Fuck it, I thought. I needed to learn to take initiative at some point. Rushing at Momoku with a punch that would surely make Gai proud, I saw veins form around his eyes. The byakugan. He aimed to strike at my wrist so I dug in with my legs, stopping my momentum. I sidestepped off to the side as quickly as I could. Gai's training also involved developing explosive speed. Gai was very adamant about the importance of fast-twitch muscle fiber development. Shifting my weight, I aimed another punch at his body. Momoku was momentarily surprised at my speed but he otherwise seemed prepared for the strike.

He dodged the body blow by stepping in, brushing my right arm away with his left and striking a tenketsu in the inside of my left arm. Sharp pain shot through my arm to my elbow. It felt like something hot stabbed into my arm. Hissing in pain, backed off, holding my left arm. Okay, not doing that again.

Despite Momoku's stoicism, it was easy to spot the pleased look in his eyes. Offense wouldn't work. Thankfully Momoku decided to take the opportunity to go on the offense against me this time. He attacked me, aiming at my weakened left side. My left arm wasn't technically completely immobile. He'd only struck one tenketsu, but the idea of bending the arm put me off.

Momoku was fast but not faster than Gai. He did have similar devastating destructive power due to his Gentle Fist, though. All I had to do was not get hit by them, right? I couldn't parry blows with a disabled left arm, but I was quick on my feet and used to much faster. Dodging a few of his strikes, I had some close calls since I wasn't very familiar with the style.

He got frustrated after a little, striking especially hard and favoring his right too much. A weakness about the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist for an academy student was that their legs were open. They weren't too fast yet, they had a lack of experience using their legs and they couldn't use any techniques to guard their legs. I swayed out of the way of his blow and swept at his left leg with my right leg.

Leaning downwards and towards the left under his buckling leg, I managed to land a clean punch on his face. Hayate cheered kinda loudly. Such a dork. Momoku didn't fall to the ground though.

He recovered much quicker than I'd ever expected he would from that kind of blow. I guess my offense really was lacking. He took advantage of my opening to almost strike a tenketsu in my chest. He stopped right before, though. Thank god. I gave him an appreciative, yet wobbly smile in return. Sportsmanship was not dead!

"I give up, sensei." I said, turning to Hayashi-sensei. We exchanged the seal of conciliation. Momoku gave me a slight smile, "It was a nice duel, Uchiha-san." He said very formally, though there was an undertone of respect. Well, it was good to know that there was a clan kid who wasn't an arrogant little shit.

Over the boo's from my classmates, I went back to Hayate to sit down. Sensei said that unless the injury was too serious, we would go to the nurse's office after the matches. My arm still ached quite a bit, but it was more like a dull ache.

"Daisuke, I didn't know you were so fast." Hayate commented. He looked at me expectantly for an answer, "I train everyday with a friend of mine. He's really strong and really fast, so speed is something I've had to work on to avoid getting beaten up," I replied before pausing to think. Maybe Hayate could join us. "Do you wanna join us for training and sparring?"

"Sure, I don't see why not." Hayate responded. He tried sounding nonchalant, but I could see his childish and poorly-hidden excitement in the prospect of getting stronger. "Can I bring my bokken?" he asked. Well, he was a kenjutsu specialist… "Probably, but remember we aren't only sparring. The training reaallly sucks, so I'm not sure if you can handle it…" I answered, amusement and mock concern ever present in my tone. He punched me in the shoulder, "Of course I can handle some stupid training, what do you think I am?!" he shouted at me angrily.

I interrupted our banter. "By the way, Hayate. My birthday is tomorrow. We are cutting training early to celebrate after the academy, you should join us." I wanted Hayate to come as well. We weren't amazing friends yet but he was the only one who I made more than small talk with in the academy. Thinking for a moment, Hayate answered, "Well, I'll have to ask my mother today… If she lets me come, then expect me there." he answered to my relief. "Then we'll start you off on our training regimen tomorrow, we can go to my house after that." I informed him. He nodded, before going back to watching the matches and commenting here and there.

The matches went on, nothing too noteworthy. Hayate was pretty average in taijutsu among the civilian-born, though I imagine he would be better at kenjutsu. Uchiha Shodo was undeniably very fast and strong and had great technique, but he was also way too reckless in his attacks. Not that it mattered - he fought the Nara girl, who probably wasn't trained as intensely physically and lost pretty badly. She was very bitter about it, too. Fair enough though, Shodo spewing an impressive amount of shit talk for a 6 year old.

Anko and Yugao sparred together, and honestly they were both quite good. Anko had the edge over Yugao, though. Yugao's taijutsu was generic, following the academy's kata. Anko's taijutsu, on the other hand, didn't really have a style yet, but she naturally fought with counters and grabs. Very slippery. She would become someone even Orochimaru considered worth his time to train, much to her own (future) detriment, unfortunately. Iruka was… sadly painfully average.

Speaking of Anko, she was still mad at me for basically nothing. Even though we sat together. It'd been months. I didn't even remember why exactly she was mad. Man, she was stubborn, it was just a bad first impression… It didn't really matter. I couldn't really blame a 6 year old for their immaturity, though.

What mattered was that tomorrow was my birthday, and kaa-san was making a cake for me. I still had a huge sweet tooth that carried over from my first life. With my birthday party, I could almost forget about the impending 3rd Great Shinobi War.

—-

Notes:

Hello everyone, it's been a week or so since the last update. I hope you guys like the fairly long chapter. I have a break at the moment, so I want to try to push out Chapter 6 and 7 before the break ends, maybe I'll even get to Chapter 8, but don't be too optimistic.

Also, please let me know if the fights make sense to you, or if you have any tips or complaints please leave a comment. Do you think Daisuke is progressing too quickly? I'm trying to balance him out, yet I still want him to be a pretty strong character by a certain point… At the moment he is still academy student level, though his chakra control is low-mid genin level.

Also, not sure if I mentioned this but I don't have a beta reader, so any grammar mistakes or something should be expected. I still reread the text to edit before uploading, though.