Chapter 4: Making Friends

It was at around the start of my second year, that the Uchiha Massacre took place. I honestly didn't care. I had barely any interaction with them, and that's counting my time in school with Sasuke being my bitch in Taijutsu practice. We had gotten along pretty well after our first few days in class, but it seems that went down the shitter. Although I didn't let it stay that way for long. Something that seems to have changed as well is the fact that the Uchiha doesn't have as many fan girls. Or at least they aren't as noisy and annoying to the rest of us. Probably has to do with the fact that Hinata and I are the top of damn near every practical subject. Whereas Sasuke has never been above third place. This seemed to irk him now more than ever, but my constant badgering that he just had to let others help him irked him more, so it balanced out.

I spent my second and third years at the Academy, trying to help my fellow future leaf ninja out of their funks earlier in life. I was able to help Rock Lee become a menace in Taijutsu early on, break Ino Yamanaka out of her fan-girl affliction – though this time it was me she was crushing on – and convince her to train seriously, often with me and Hinata being there to coach and motivate her. I had managed to get Tenten to learn more than just Shuriken, Ken, and Bukijutsu and steered her in the direction of using Genjutsu to augment her fighting capabilities. As well as having her be my Sealing Jutsu studies partner, and having her become Lee's sparring partner, which made for a formidable tag team later on. I had gotten Choji and Shikamaru to train seriously by beating them viciously in practice spars and telling them that the real world would not be as kind as me. It took me a few weeks, with some intervention from Iruka and their parents, for it to sink in that the life they chose was not one where you could just skate by and live easily and without worries. It was a brutal, bloody, and dangerous profession where lives are constantly on the line, and being lazy or reluctant to fight is more likely to just get your friends killed than anything else.

I had also, much to Hinata's joy, gotten Shino to open up and become a more active member of the group. Along with getting him to learn more than just clan techniques to deal with opponents who may have counters to techniques used frequently by the Aburame. I had also gotten Hinata to train in techniques outside of the Hyūga Clan style. Part of which included me teaching her the Old Man's Jutsu, which he had taught me after my first month in the Academy. I had also managed to weasel out the 'Shadow Clone Jutsu' from the Old Man after showing him my 'Sexy Jutsu' to knock him out – that I modeled it after my favorite Porn Star from my first life. Which then allowed me to use my clones to help all my friends train at once and allowed me to go through my own clans' techniques a lot faster than I was able to previously. I'm still about only 40% finished but given that I've been studying those scrolls since I was six; I am now ten years old and am about to start my fourth year at the Academy.

Note: Academy terms begin at around the middle of February, just in time for Spring.

Something that I forgot to mention was that a little into the second portion of my third year, Mizuki was 'apprehended' on suspicions of treason when a little birdy let it slip that he was having regular contact with Orochimaru, through a spy that was somewhere around the village. I certainly have nothing to do with that actual bit of truth coming to light via the rumor mill amongst ANBU and the T and I department. I remember Anko almost crushed me to death with her ample bosom - a good death, I recon - when it turned out to be true. It was this little escapade that got the Old Man to finally teach me his Bōjutsu, and teach me the first exercise for wind, fire, and lightning manipulation; as thanks for helping unearth a traitor in his ranks… and to stop me from asking constantly haha.

My main affinity was wind, but I wanted to be able to learn the 'Chidori' and make all of the variants the original Sasuke had created; and I also wanted to be able to do combination Jutsu with my clones, so I started trying to develop those natures early. I had also gotten Hinata to learn to use her lightning, and later fire affinities to help with her 'Gentle Fist' techniques and give her other ways to fight opponents other than straight up Taijutsu. This had the added effect of getting all of our friends interested in learning their chakra natures to train them. This, as you might imagine, opened up the door for Tenten, Ino, Kiba, and Choji to become much more versatile in their fighting styles.

It will still be quite some time before all of us have mastered our nature affinities, but it is a step in the right direction for all of us. I say all, because Hinata and I have both mastered the first step in manipulation for our respective natures. Although, I have made considerable progress with my lightning and fire affinities as well, with the use of my clones. I thought about going for broke and using hundreds of clones to master everything as fast as possible, but that would just ruin the experience. Not to mention, I get to spend time with friends and the Old Man if I don't. I want to enjoy my life in this world, not rush everything and burn myself out.

I also made a lot of progress with Kurama in the past few months. It was slow going for those first few years, but after enough smiles and pestering, he seemed to have finally decided to take me seriously. I was happy when he said He would tell me his name if I ever proved myself to him. I almost ran past the bars to hug him, but the seal kind of got in the way. After this I had pouted for being denied my 'giant fox plushy', which made him growl, though it had sounded suspiciously like he was trying to disguise a chuckle. I often go into the seal to just talk or listen to him rant and rave about his siblings, humanity, and the Uchiha. Sometimes, I'd just go in to meditate while he slept, because yes, the fox liked his cat- er, fox naps.

Now, something that I noticed was that Kurama was slowly starting to get larger and larger as the years went by. I also noticed that he seemed to mellow out as time went on as well. When I first started trying to get along with him, he would yell, and growl, and tell me that he would break out of the seal someday. He always tried to find ways to rile me up and get me to use his chakra - something that he gave up on almost immediately, because my life so far has been pretty good. The he started trying to get me to doubt my affections towards Hinata, the Old Man, Jiraiya, Anko, and my favorite cat and dog masked ANBU - both of whom I haven't seen much of recently now that I stop and think about it. But then that failed almost as quickly as his previous approach, and he changed his approach yet again. This went on constantly for the first year, then in the second through fourth years, he would occasionally try to do the same thing. Until, finally, a few months ago he just stopped and decided to just bitch and complain about anything and everything. And I will normally hang out in the seal for a few hours whenever I'm tired or feel like having a day off from the constant training and studying, just so that he sees that I'm there to listen to and speak with him should he want to.

I was walking toward the Academy for the first day of my fourth year, when I realized that the past few years had seemingly passed by in what seemed like the blink of an eye for me. And while I don't doubt my abilities thanks to the constant training, and lessons I get from Iruka and the Old Man, I am not at all excited about what the next few years will entail.