Chapter 7: The Academy

A year and a half later, Konoha

It had been an interesting time in Konoha over the past year plus. True to her word, Minato found and properly punished those responsible for hiring Aika to kill her son. How she was able to keep this all out of the civilian councils gaze you ask? By having those five men suffer some horrible 'accidents' all around the village. They weren't dead per se, but after what Anko and a few Anbu lead by Neko had done to them, they might as well be. Now they'll think twice before doing something as extreme as hiring a ninja from an enemy village.

Speaking of, Aika was kept in a cell for a time. Minato kept her promise to Naruto not to punish her too severely for what she did to him despite the numerous protests from some of the kunoichi in the village. The most vocal of the bunch were Anko, Neko and Kasumi. They believed that Aika should be killed for her actions, but Naruto was actually the one to calm them down claiming that she was very emotional by the time everyone showed up to confront her. That seemed to at least calm them down for now.

It was later revealed that Aika had a few traits of a fox as well once she began to sprout ears and a tail as well in her cell. Minato theorized that being on the seal with Naruto at the time must've been the reason for the changes to her. Naruto also explained to both his parents that the Kyuubi told him of the new connection Aika had with him and how she would listen to him. Seeing no other choice, Minato decided to put her on probation and have her join Anbu as Fox, after placing the same seal on her to hide her 'additions'.

Then there was the time for both Naruto and Aoki to enter the academy, and while one was excited, the other was a little apprehensive.

That being Naruto.

While it was true that he wanted to learn how to be a ninja, he was also a bit intimidated at that thought as well. He was already at a disadvantage being a male in an all-female academy, and he would surely be the talk of the town in time. Which he was very fast.

The moment he and Aoki walked into the academy on the first day after Kushina wished them both luck, all eyes turned straight to the blond boy entering the academy. Now at first since both Naruto and Aoki were walking hand in hand inside, everyone assumed that Naruto was just walking her in to comfort her, but that thought changed once he entered the same room with her and sat down at one of the empty spots. It did not take long for all the girls in the classroom along with the teacher and assistant teacher to stare at the boy as he sat there with his twin sister. Things were awkward for the blond as he went through the day with all eyes on him for the majority of the lessons. Iruka and Miyame, the teacher and assistant respectfully, couldn't really focus too well as they watched the boy intently throughout the lessons. It was only when the two decided to have a small, practical display of chakra control for the class was when things became strange.

All the girls in the class were taught and told how to release a small amount of chakra in their palms. This teaching method was brought in by Minato in order to show the future generation the importance of chakra control at an early age. Everyone in the class was in awe at Mizuki's display as she flared a small amount of chakra into her hand in the shape of small ball. Not necessarily the Hokage's prized jutsu, the Rasengan, but enough to demonstrate proper control of chakra. All the girls were tasked with releasing a small amount of their chakra after the demonstration. For some, it was very difficult as they had never used their chakra before while the clan heirs were able to get it down fairly quickly. Speaking of which, the clan heirs were all in this class this year.

The first to achieve the task was, of course, Satsuki Uchiha of the Uchiha clan. Being taught by her older sister, Izumi, in proper and simple control helped in this exercise.

Next was Hinata Hyuuga of the Hyuuga clan. Since her clan specialized in knowing the flow of chakra within the body, simply releasing a small amount took little effort from her. She was proud of herself at the moment, despite knowing that her older cousin, Neji, was still leagues ahead of her.

Next was Shika Nara of the Nara clan. As lazy as she was, no one could deny her intelligence was on par with her mother on the council even at such a young age. Forming chakra in her hands was child's play.

After her was Shika's friend Chouko Akamichi of the Akamichi clan. It merely took her a few attempts and a helpful hint from Shika to get it down.

Once Chouko finished, Ino Yamanaka of the Yamanaka clan was next to succeed. She then bragged about it to her friend Sakura Haruno.

Speaking of which, Sakura Haruno was the next to pull it off as she actually did have perfect chakra control. She was also the first one among the class not to be in a clan to successfully form chakra in her palm, earning several awed looks from the other non-clan girls in the room.

Next up was Shina Aburame of the Aburame clan. Not much was really said about her as she kept to herself most of the time and only spoke unless spoken to.

Up next was Kisa Inuzuka of the Inuzuka clan. It took her some time but soon enough she got it and instantly began to brag about how great she was much to everyone's ire. She even looked over to Naruto with a smug look on her face.

With them out of the way, it was time for Aoki to step up. She didn't like the way the Inuzuka had looked to her brother in that smug way and decided to show off just a bit. Her mom had been teaching her about chakra control for years now and it seemed that now it would pay off. With a deep breathe, Aoki let her chakra flare out in her palm, catching everyone's attention and surprise. The chakra formed into a much larger ball than even the teaching assistant, Miyame, was able to make and was almost entirely solid blue by the time she finished. Aoki took another breath and the ball dispersed back into her palm. She opened her eyes to the stunned girls and an amazed twin brother and couldn't help but smirk. She looked straight at Kisa and this time gave her a smug look.

After that display, most of the other girls in the room who had yet to form a small ball of chakra were discouraged from trying, but Naruto was not. If anything, he was even more determined to succeed and become a ninja.

Focusing on his palm and the chakra within himself, Naruto began to do the exact same thing as the other girls in the room. While everyone was still focused on what Aoki just did, not many took notice of Naruto and what he was doing. The boy began to focus as he knew only what his mom, his mother and what Kurama told him about chakra. He knew his was different than everyone else in the world, but that wasn't going to stop him from achieving his goals. Slowly but surely, he began to feel his chakra flow out and into his palm. It was strange for him. His palm felt heavy for some reason, and he could hear many loud gasps in the room. Opening his eyes, Naruto saw exactly why everyone was wide eyed and speechless.

The chakra in his palm was black and was almost the size of beach ball. It wasn't like his sister's, which started off wild and then calmed down. His was calm and stayed that way.

He stopped the flow and the ball vanished from sight. He looked around and saw that all eyes were on him once more, and all he could do at that point was smile sheepishly and scratch the back of his head.

This was going to be one hell of a time in the village now.

This story lives on once more.

Gonna be fun continuing this story and seeing where it goes.

Stay awesome, and as always...

PEACE!