Academy Arc: Renowned

The incoming academy students were instructed to stand in rows for the welcome assembly. Yuina stood behind a brunette with pigtails in an indigo-coloured dress. Kakashi was to her left. A girl with black hair and red eyes was to her right as she conversed with someone else.

Yuina felt a tap on her shoulder, but by the time she shifted her weight to look behind her, another boy had slapped the lanky boy behind her. She didn't want to know what that was about, so she looked frontwards once more.

An adult came and began the speech and had everyone shush and act properly for the Hokage, who arrived and stood before them. He gave a speech congratulating them and how he saw the Will of Fire in them. It was overall quite boring, but many of the students marveled at seeing the Hokage.

Yuina was eager to start classes until she realized there were two classes and she and Kakashi were separated.

She was upset. Classes hadn't begun, and she was already yearning to return to their old routine. If someone had asked her years ago, she never thought she would have been returning to school again. Aside from professional development, which was a lifetime career necessity, she believed she had enough formal education for a lifetime. It didn't matter whether it was for skills or socializing. At least there were 'academic' classes to look forward to.

The class sizes were also fairly large. It would be difficult to offer individual support. Perhaps there wasn't much of a need? Most, if not everyone, would be receiving most of their training support from their family.

That got her thinking. If they expanded how long students were in the academy, did that mean there was more content to cover, or was it merely an institution to house kids until the village deemed them old enough? It could be like an old boy's club. An exclusive way to have kids from various clans and backgrounds spend time together to bond, thereby planting the roots deeper to stabilize Konoha. It made sense to Yuina from a political standpoint.

Yuina sauntered into the class. Some people greeted each other, whereas others were quieter and took a seat. She walked up to the back and sat in the far corner where she could see out the window, see the doors, and had a full view of the classroom.

It didn't take long to overhear the gossip of how the Third Hokage's son was in their year. Yuina had an educated guess by the way a few kids were glancing at one dark-haired boy, but did it matter? Some might try to get closer to the kid because of his dad, but she couldn't imagine he would want friends who only wanted to use him.

Or maybe she was projecting.

Some people liked attention and would be happy to be in the spotlight regardless of how they got it.

A man trudged into the room and stood at the podium in front of the class.

"Quiet please and sit down." He gave everyone a moment, but there were a few lagging behind. "I'll give you plenty of time to chat later." Once everyone was seated, he continued. "I want to welcome you to the academy. You can call me Sato-sensei. I'll be your teacher for the coming years."

Yuina blinked. She was used to having various teachers, so it felt weird knowing she would only have one.

Sato talked in a soft, bright tone. "Let us start off with some basic rules. You are free to play and talk as much as you want before class, but when the clock strikes eight, I expect you to be in your seats. Don't be shy to ask questions, but you can't learn if you talk through lessons, nor should you cause problems for others to learn." There were low mutters from a few students. "You will respect me, your classmates, and any equipment we might use. And let's remember: you got in when others didn't so please do your best." He went on to explain cleaning up after themselves, taking turns, listening to each other and other things like that. It gave Yuina vibes that the academy has dealt with spoiled kids before who want to wreak havoc or show off. The reminders of basic courtesy were jarring. Hopefully, it was a one and done. If not, she didn't know how she was going to last the year, let alone five.

"Now let's start roll call. Since it's the first day, how about you say something about yourself when I call you." He looked down at the list of names provided to him. "Hyuga Nao."

Nao smoothly stood with a fantastic form. Yuina was envious of her long, straight, and silky dark hair. "I'm Nao." Her voice was soft yet unfalteringly even. "I like sunsets." She sat back down as elegantly as she stood.

"Yamanaka Miruku."

"Here!" He half waved from his hunched seated position. "I like puzzles."

"Kichiro."

"That's me!" His hand stretched high as he practically jumped out of his seat. "I'm going to be an awesome shinobi and adventurer." Yuina thought those goals of his would contradict each other, but who was she to ruin a child's vision of their future? He'd probably change ideas a dozen times even if trapped in the ninja profession.

Sarutobi Asuma was called next, but not before Sato had called him the Third's Honorable Son. He shrunk in his seat when eyes turned towards him. "Just call me Asuma." It was the only thing he said as he slid down to make himself look even smaller.

"Nakahara Hoshi." Yuina recognized him as the boy who tapped her before the opening ceremony.

"I…uh…I…um…want to be a shinobi?" There were some snickers that went around that made his face glow red. "That's not all! I love kakigori, even if it gives me brain freezes, and I hate the bird that pecks my window in the morning unless I feed it."

Hoshi was going to continue listing things about himself until Sato cut him off. "Morino Ibiki."

Ibiki panicked in his seat before deciding to stand. "I like books."

"Kurama Goro."

Goro raised his hand and brought it down to stand. "I want at least 100 – no! 200 friends, so everyone please talk to me."

Yuina's eyes fluttered. She was for once thankful social media didn't exist. She could imagine this kid DM-ing every person he came across trying to talk to them. Did he actually want that many friends, or did he want to be well-liked and popular?

"Jun."

Jun's energy matched Hoshi's as he ranted about his excitedness of being there and how he would be number one. Number one in what exactly? Yuina wasn't sure.

"Yuhi Kurenai." Yuina recognized her as the girl who stood to her right that morning.

"I…" Her voice drawled. "I hate the colour red."

"Er, moving on. Morikawa Mayumi."

"Yes!" Mayumi's voice squeaked and her head turned away from Kurenai who sat in front of her. "I love seeing shows with my mom. The plays, the music, manzai. All of it." Her smile was bright as a fluorescent light.

Yuina couldn't blame her. The entertainment district was full of talent with plenty of potential for high paying clients. Plenty of skilled performers to be found. She had to admit she enjoyed it too. It was an activity she did with Sakumo, often without Kakashi. Kakashi enjoyed it, but to a much lesser degree. It was fine with her. Kakashi hogged Sakumo when they went on their frequent fishing trips. She liked fresh fish and spending time together, the three of them, but she got bored easily, which, in her opinion, dampened the mood.

"Aburame Susumu."

"I'm here." He didn't stand or raise his hand. He kept sitting as he had been. "I don't like rude comments made to my friends."

"Hatake Yuina."

Yuina was relieved she could finally get her turn done and out of the way. She stood and angled her frame to Sato before dipping her head in respect. "My name is Hatake Yuina. I look forward to being under your guidance." If wanting to be number one counted as stating something about yourself, her answer was sufficient, even if it would have been basic courtesy in any other scenario. It wasn't like anyone else had mentioned it, so it should have been free to claim. She sat back down and unwaveringly stared at Sato to continue.

Sato jolted. "Mihara Ume."

The list continued on and Yuina did what she could to remember as many names as possible.

When they finally finished roll call then moved right into their first lesson which was literacy followed by numeracy.

Yuina learned nothing.

She didn't blame the school. It was common to teach towards those who knew the least or what they wanted to ensure people knew, regardless of what they may or may not know. Besides, there were thousands of Kanji. It was only natural that the others would need more time. Even she had the occasional problem, even with her knowledge and cheats. Unfortunately, it was a common issue for those who used logographic languages.

Though she understood, Yuina was ecstatic when it was finally lunch.

Unfortunately, not even one day could go by before the bullying started. Sensei even said to get along, but he was no longer in sight, off to eat his own lunch.

Yuina wished she was surprised, but wasn't. She speculated that there were still internal tensions within the village. This was even likely to have been the first time many of them interacted with so many people from different backgrounds. Plus, those who acted first had a high chance of influencing the normalcy of class relations. She had heard too many stories in her last life of entire classes, turning on one or a few peers.

"She doesn't like red but looks at her eyes," said Ume. She pointed her finger at Kurenai. "Are you a demon?"

Some of her peers purposefully kept their distance to not get involved while some seemed displease but unwilling to say or do anything. A couple even ignored the situation and left the classroom.

Yuina made a split-second decision. She took the few steps down needed to step in front of Kurenai and directed the attention to herself. "This isn't appropriate."

Ume crossed her arms. Bad move. "What are you? Her grandmother?"

Yuina guessed it was meant to be a stab to her hair. Unfortunately for Ume, Yuina wasn't going to let a kid get under her skin if she could help it. Yuina may have had issues with her appearance, but that was between her and herself. Other's opinions didn't matter. Besides, it was almost funny. Once upon a time, she was old enough to be her mother. She didn't consider age to be an insult, and Yuina would be more than happy to live that long.

"Didn't you hear me?" Ume quickly grew frustrated when she couldn't get the response she wanted. "Or can you not hear either?"

"Just stop it. This isn't the power play you think it is. It's needlessly brutish and is an exhibition of your abysmal behaviour."

"What?" Ume's brain fried, trying to understand what was said to her. She grew more frustrated until she decided to throw a punch.

Yuina didn't want it to come to this. She didn't want to get into a fight, nor did she want to fight a child, bullying or not. She reminded herself these children were being trained to be super soldiers, but it still felt wrong. It took long enough to adjust to the idea of fighting Kakashi, but Kakashi was someone she actually cared for. Age really was the only reason not to fight Ume.

She watched Ume's fist get closer to closer. Yuina had the high ground but Kurenai was still behind her, and Ume might fall down the stairs if somehow the punch missed both of them.

Yuina grabbed Ume's wrist, twisted her arm, and pressed her against the wall as lightly as she could without compromising her position.

Ume was slower than Yuina would have expected, but chalked it up to being constrained in a classroom and likeliness that Ume probably hadn't intended to turn name calling into a brawl.

"What happened?" Ume panicked. "Hey let go of me!"

"Can we peacefully co-exist now?"

Ume struggled against Yuina's grip. "Okay. Okay already. Let me go!"

Ume rubbed her wrist then glared at Yuina. Feeling all the eyes on her, Ume cautiously glances around at everyone watching before jogging out of the room.

Yuina wished Ume had given an apology to clear the air, but she couldn't exactly force anything on that front.

"You have lunch too right now, right? What's taking so long?"

Yuina's head popped up at the familiar voice. Kakashi. He stood at the back entrance at the top of the stairs.

"Nothing. I'm coming right now." Yuina picked up her bento and met Kakashi at the door, hoping to find some place more secluded, hoping to avoid any more drama that may start up on the first day.

Jun leaned over to ask the person seated next to him, both intended to stay in the classroom to eat. "What was her name again? Yuna?"

"Yuina," said Hoshi.

"Whatever. That was so cool!"

Hoshi was disappointed more now than ever that his friend Hitoshi had slapped him this morning when he could have asked an important question. "She has silver hair. Do you think she's related to the White Fang somehow?" His dad had scolded him enough times about approaching anyone with grey hair, thinking it was the same as silver. It wasn't until he saw two kids with silver hair that he took notice of the subtle differences. Silver was more like mixing grey with white. It was lighter and had a different sheen to it.

"The White Fang? Who's that?"

Hoshi gaped at Jun for his question and began a tirade on everything he knew about the legendary shinobi.

Meanwhile, Yuina only made it partway down the hall before another headache came.

"Oh, come on. You should eat with us instead."

"I want to eat with Yuina."

The kid's eyes moved from Kakashi to Yuina, who stood beside him. She gave a slight wave as if to say she was the person named Yuina.

"You have the same hair."

"We're twins," answered Kakashi flatly. He just wanted to eat in peace with his sister.

"Twins?! Does that mean your face looks like that?" The boy pointed at Yuina's face as he tried to imagine what Kakashi looked like under the mask.

"We're fraternal, not identical." It was impossible for twins of the opposite sex to be identical twins.

"What's fraternal?"

Could he not infer that fraternal was the opposite of identical? Yuina was growing less patient. Kakashi picked up on the language easy enough, but there likely wasn't a reason for the kid in front of them to know certain terminology. Twins weren't exactly common even if there were some wild superstitions about them—anything from being cursed to being lovers in their past life. A disturbing thought that she thankfully knew to be false. But how was she meant to explain it? "We came from different eggs."

The boy laughed hysterically. "Humans don't lay eggs."

Nope.

Yuina refused to have that conversation.

"Don't—" Kakashi began his defense but Yuina placed a hand over his and shook her head.

"Let's go eat." Yuina nodded to the boy who had been rude. "It was nice meeting you." She dragged Kakashi who easily fell in line with her steps as she walked away without asking his name. If luck had it, she wouldn't have to speak with him again.

Lunch went by fast. Yuina was saddened to go back to class. Experiencing it made it worse. The second half of the day was as boring as the first half. She constantly had to remind herself that it was an intro course. They were all introductory courses.

An intro course would never be as difficult as her the courses needed for her master's degree, even if they were ninja-in-training.