The fish fluttered a few times before expiring. I sighed and glanced towards an hourglass of sand.

It had lasted marginally longer than last time. Marginally meaning that I'd gained a few seconds more than last time. The first ten times I'd tried this I'd ended up flash-frying the fish. Then I'd only slightly cooked the next fifty or so instead of char-grilling them. That was all I had to show for four days worth of training on this jutsu.

The issue remained that I didn't have a clear-cut idea of what I should be doing when I did this. I was tempted to switch to practising the water bullet jutsu Tenpora had demonstrated in class.

But, the Water bullet didn't have anywhere near as much potential as the mystical palm jutsu.

I knew it was possible to accelerate the natural healing processes of the body with his jutsu. I also knew that things like sea sickness could be healed or indeed the jutsu itself could be internalised.

The small cuts I made on the fish should have required very little chakra. Thankfully, I had an idea of what medical chakra felt like and how to attune it by increasing the amount of yin-aligned chakra I was sending into the fish. I had spent hours on that first day simply practising getting the chakra to mimic what I'd felt when the medic had healed me.

Then I had to go down to the fisherman's harbour and start catching fish in large numbers. That had actually been rather challenging. Catching a writhing fish was no easy feat.

One benefit of the jutsu was that even just slipping a smidgeon of my chakra into them while attuned to the Mystic Palm allowed me to knock the fish into a comatose state.

It made it easier to cut them and then try to heal them instead of having to deal with them flopping around.

Out of morbid curiosity, I tested how long the comatose effect would last. I discovered that a tiny needle of chakra into the fish's brain produced better results than simply pushing it into the fish. I'd gotten an hour with the organs not quite shutting down. The fish had awoken from this extremely groggy and barely able to circle the barrel I now kept in the back of the Okiya.

It made transporting them much easier. They barely needed air or water when they were comatose. Perfect for moving about without lots of utensils.

The Madam had been pleased at my desire to practise the jutsu so extensively and at first had suggested simply purchasing the fish alive in bulk. I'd decided against it. Swimming in the bay was just another training exercise now. I had to catch them by hand which required a certain level of dexterity along with hand-eye coordination after all.

"Heh!" the Madam had said. "As long as you don't end up shark food!"

I'd grinned and on the third trip down to the harbour, returned with a small shark comatose over my shoulder. The Madam had been very amused when it woke up, ate my stock of fish and wrecked the barrel I'd used to keep them in.

I enjoyed the shark fin soup that night with more than a little relish.

The geisha ladies had kindly gotten me a nicer barrel by the next morning. Which saw me here on the fourth morning.

I sighed, staring at the fish. One of the things that flooding my chakra into the fish had helped with was gaining a minor awareness of how things were inside the fish. It lacked any true contrast or accuracy but the beating of a heart and the collapsing of the lungs on the fish was a rather telltale giveaway that the fish had died.

If I ever got to the point that I could feel the blood flow, the lymph nodes or even the nerve firings, I'd consider declaring that I had a method of diagnosis. Or a diagnosis jutsu… Which wasn't something I recalled ever specifically being talked about in the manga or the anime. Another requirement for said jutsu would of course be keeping the patient alive and not rupturing anything from pulsing my chakra through them.

Still, baby steps.

I stood up and carried the now dead fish to a pot of likewise dead fish that were slightly cooked. I deposited the pot in the cooking area and set off.

Today wasn't an academy day. We had five full days at the academy and then half a day on the sixth day. The seventh however was entirely for us.

For the purposes of our group, I suggested we meet up on the roof of the academy at mid-morning to train together.

When I reached the roof I found I wasn't the first to do so. Rei waved at me happily while Kizan nodded from where he was talking to another girl.

I nodded back and then decided to simply get stuck into it. I used some chalk to mark off parts of the roof and began running suicides, or lap sprints as some called them. Every three or four rounds however I added in zigzags or complete reversals.

Rei wandered up. "What are you doing?"

"Training," I said between gasps of air. I then barreled around her. "Can't just train to run or move in one direction though." I then hopped over her on the way back before darting a new direction.

Rei hummed and after a moment of thought, she shrugged and joined in.

I led her in a crazy, heart-pounding sprint through imaginary situations. At first, the others merely watched on before they realised that they too should join in. Kizan helped by suddenly barking directions and moving about.

"Roll!" I suddenly added in loudly, causing those working with us to trip or roll at the sudden order. Rei faceplanted but gamely bounced off her face to continue running. "Withdraw!" I shouted. Sprinting back to the starting point.

When I reached it I straightened up. Only to curse at myself. I shouldn't simply stop, I needed to keep pushing. "Pair up with someone and spar! Fight like they're enemy shinobi!"

I turned and found myself matching up against Kizan. I faked a jab which he flinched from only to get caught as I leaned back and planted a heel kick into his stomach. He went down and I stepped forward only to have to duck as Rei tried to blindside me.

"Wha—" I said only for Rei to bounce after me.

"There were uneven numbers!" she said as she sent jabs that were as weak as kitten swipes. I batted them away but had to back off as Kizan regained his feet.

I went back and forth before eventually making Rei trip over Kizan. I then held my foot over their backs and kept them on the ground. "You both good?" I said as I drew in air.

They nodded and I backed off to sit and watch the others.

Rei sat up and rubbed at her arms which were already bruising. I repressed the urge to apologise. She needed to toughen up and I needed to stop pulling my punches on her. She grimaced, "Hey Matsu? Did you get that healing jutsu you mentioned working yet?"

I snorted. "Only if you want me to leave you worse off than bruised."

"Burnt another one?" said Kizan with a faintly smug tone.

I grunted and recalled how it had gone. " Yeah, so far that's all I'm doing," I said. I held out my hand and channelled the chakra just right to get it glowing green with what I had so far worked out.

Rei leaned over me, her damp body making me shudder as her sweat dripped onto me. "I'm amazed you can control your chakra enough to make it green like that!" she said.

She prodded my arm as I stopped channelling the jutsu. "How long before you think you can heal people?"

I sighed. "Months? Years? I don't know. I think I need to have a proper formal mentor for this rather than mucking about like I am right now. There's a lot that you can do with the jutsu but there's also a lot of ways it can go wrong."

I would have to learn how to do this for various fish. Then I would have to set about catching rats as the next step towards humans. Pigs would have made another good stepping point but sadly in Kirigakure, such creatures were rare and expensive.

I would have to go from rats to humans after using fish of scale.

I bit my thumb and scowled. Across the rooftop, a number of civilian kids punched at each other lightly. My bad mood worsened. "They're doing it wrong," I said.

Kizan glanced up at what I was looking at. "Eh, they'll get there. This is just practice, remember?"

"It's not practising if they're not practising the right way!" I snapped at him. Rei shifted. She alone was drenched in sweat from working out.

I stood and she stumbled to the side, unable to use me as support. "Hey!" she said.

I waved her off and marched to the two boys fighting. "Oi! Stop mucking about and try and punch each other!"

The boys paused and I rolled my eyes at them. "You realise you'll need to get over that as shinobi yeah? Stop dicking about!"

One of the boys nodded and stepped up and decked the other boy across the face. I grunted as the other staggered back before screaming a battle cry and rejoining the fight properly. Rei watched on with a grimace while Kizan eyed me.

"Do they really need to beat on each other so harshly?" Rei said.

I nodded. "Yeah, they really do."

It had become blindingly obvious that we had a lot of work in front of us.

Yesterday, during the half day we had spent the entire half-day sparring in class. Towards the end, everyone in our class had been matched up against another kid. It hadn't passed my notice that each civilian kid had been paired against a clan kid. We'd had our backsides handed to us.

Extended physical training, which led to sparring that we were already behind on with technique. Two hammer blows that had seen a hierarchy established. It wasn't enough to just be good. The lesson had seemed obvious to me. You needed the fitness to run and climb and carry for hours along with practising forms before then backing it up with a proper fight.

I'd faced off against a particularly smug-looking Terumi girl who'd drawn me into a grapple that I'd been unable to escape from.

The Kaguya girl had watched on with a foul expression that only got worse when I lost. Apparently, she didn't like it when I lost and she liked it less when she wasn't the one handing me the loss. She'd ended up fighting against the scrappy-looking kid. Shoto, I learnt his name was. He was fast, but like the rest of us, nowhere in the same skill level to fight against a clan kid.

The instructors had then displayed a board that listed off points we earned from fighting each other. Each and every civilian had no points next to their name while the clan kids each had points next to theirs. We'd repeat this match-up again at the end of each week apparently.

I wasn't sure what to make of it. It was a good method to motivate kids with points being scored but the lowest would languish if they saw victory as unattainable. I marked it in my mind as something else to work on.

"Rei, have you spoken with any more kids to join us?" I said glancing at the two new kids that were sitting to the side and taking our study session in.

"Un!" Rei said with a chipper tone. "I did! I got some more interest and I tried talking with Shoto but he said he was too busy! I think I might have a few more coming our way though!"

I hummed. Kizan tilted his head. "Didn't he spit at you and call you a colourful marlin out of the reef?"

I glanced at Rei as she blushed. "He was just feeling bad after his loss is all," she said. She didn't bother answering the additional comment.

Rei, more than all of us, struggled when it came to fighting. She'd gone down the fastest when it came to sparring against a clan kid. It wasn't hard to see that the skill gap had more to do with her than the clan kid being good though.

I grunted. "Well, that's beside the point. As long as we're getting different people with different methods of fighting then we should be able to develop our skills more."

I rolled my head to look at Kizan. "Speaking of having access to more people. Have you spoken to your parents about keeping an ear out for any ninja information or skills to help you out?"

Kizan nodded. "They said they would but it would be tough cause usually those are either garbage that would require me to tell them, or they're solid and they're too expensive."

"Gotta shift through a mountain of garbage to find anything good?" I said more to myself. I nodded to a few other kids sitting nearby. "You guys find anything?"

I got shakes of the head in reply. I struggled to keep a positive expression as I turned away only for a new boy to burst onto the roof.

"Sorry, I'm late! I brought some kunai and shuriken I got from a merchant!" he said, raising up the weapons for all to see.

I grinned. "Nice work!" I said.

Kunai and Shuriken would help with allowing us to practise throwing drills.

Kizan scoffed. "Ten shuriken and kunai? That's not much you know? I could get us way more!"

I looked back at him, "Then how come you haven't?" I said mildly.

Kizan blushed furiously. The answer was obviously that he hadn't thought to. He must have been looking for something big and impressive. I had garnered a lot of praise from the kids when newcomers learnt inevitably that I had been the one to get the chakra scroll. Kizan was apparently trying to get something equal to that.

I pat the boy with the weapons on the shoulder and gestured for other kids to come to watch as we threw them at a wall on the rooftop we'd claimed. The kid trudged after me.

"Don't worry about it not being huge, it's something we didn't have before and that means we're all going to get a little better," I said to the kid who had given us the weapons. He perked up a little and gave me a hesitant smile. I grinned back ."Think you can get some more if I get you some money?"

He beamed at me. I smiled back. Small little things that build and build. When the training session wrapped up I reminded everyone what they should keep an eye out for.

"Rumours about methods of chakra control drills, training exercises that shinobi use to get faster, stronger, and more watchful. If you can find some safe traps those might help us out." I glanced around at the rooftop. "We also need to scope out another place to train… the mist is too thick around here and we need someplace more private."

Rei raised her hand, "Why? Here is someplace that we all can come to after classes?"

I hummed, keeping a frown off my face as a number of the other kids agreed with her. "I just think it's weird that we haven't seen the other classes yet. I think there's going to be an increase in the number of students soon and then spaces like this are going to be much harder to keep."

I waved around. "The class is only thirty-two students." I got clueless looks apart from the new kid who was watching me with a carefully neutral expression.

I waved my hand about. "Where are all the other students? Is there a different intake period otherwise there is nowhere near enough shinobi to defend the village. There should be at least eight or more other classes for our year alone! Each year needs at least two hundred to pass to make it worthwhile for new recruits."

The kids all considered that. As the information settled they slowly nodded.

I raised a finger. "Also where are the older kids? We're supposed to spend three years at the academy. Where are the other classes?"

I waved a hand around the roof. "I don't think this place is going to remain ours if older students want it." I tapped my foot, I knew too little to formulate any true idea but I had ideas. I eyed the boy who had come in with the kunai and shuriken. He'd smiled for a moment there.

He stared back at me and winked. I blinked in surprise before realising what that could mean.

The instructors knew the transformation jutsu. Damn it! Was this Tenpora?

He was so far the only one that had shown any favour towards me. He'd really sucked me into his little act about being disheartened by Kizan's words. I broke off staring at him and instead continued to give out little 'missions' to the civilian kids.

"We need a new training area that is private. We should continue to try and recruit the other civilian kids. We should continue to meet up as much as we can. We need to keep sniffing out any more resources we can." I worked my jaw and pointedly didn't look at the 'helpful kid'. "We need to practise recognising and defending against infiltrators. I doubt the instructors are going to remain so kind to us."

The kid that I assumed was Tenpora smirked for a moment and there was a tiny nod that he dropped into a guileless expression as the other kids spoke up.

I eventually dismissed everyone and departed for home. When the Madam checked in on me I reported my failure. I made sure to challenge her identity first much to her approval. When I told her about Tenpora infiltrating our training group she merely cackled.

"Foolish boy, don't cut off that avenue so quickly by outing him and proving yourself. Instead do the clever thing and keep him there. Did he not get you weapons to practise with?" I stared as she laughed in my face. She was right. He was a potential problem but also an opportunity.

The Madam smiled widely, "What else can you get from him?"

I considered that late into the night after thanking the Madam for her insight.

I went to bed that night and sleep came a little easier after my meditation. I might not have made much progress on the mystical palm jutsu but I had learnt some tricks such as a fish knock-out jutsu! I snorted to myself and smiled. I also was making steady progress on what I'd meant to learn.

Sometimes having a new perspective on a problem can make all the difference. I had that to look forward to at least.

It was immediately obvious that the dynamic had once more changed when I reached the Academy the next day. The mist genjutsu that had been ever oppressive since the first day wasn't as heavy for one. But also, the number of kids coming into the academy itself had exploded.

I had guessed that there was something going on and apparently I had been right. The first week had been a sort of 'orientation' week for the new blood. Older students smirked at me in a way that promised violence and petty bullying.

"Hey punk give me you—" One older boy approached me only for me to kick him in the face.

The kids that had been watching drew back at that while others guffawed. I stared at the downed boy. That… I'd done that without really thinking about it. A quick glance about made me realise that I needed to get out of there.

When I reached the building proper other kids were loitering and talking with each other and each room now housed a class full of kids along with several instructors. The halls themselves were loud which had me reeling after the near silence the building had been in before.

I approached the classroom and opened the door only to stare at some unfamiliar faces.

"Get out of here firstie!" shouted one kid that had a Kaguya symbol. He hurled a bone shard at me and I had to duck out of the way. I glanced up at the room sign.

I hadn't been taken in by a genjutsu had I? I'd been fluctuating my chakra constantly when I had noticed the reduced mist but I hadn't detected anything.

I clicked my tongue and considered the room. We were on the third floor of the academy and there had been older-looking kids in that room. If that meant anything then perhaps I needed to go down to the first floor?

I darted back down the hall, along the way I grabbed up Rei and Kizan along with a few others. The scrappy-looking kid, Shoto joined us and we quickly found our class. I noted that all of the clan kids were there but notably, they weren't unruffled. A few had cuts and scrapes. The Kaguya girl was sitting in the chair I'd claimed for myself for the last week and she jutted her chin at me in a challenge.

I stared at what was left.

The only free chairs left were in the front and middle of the class.

The killing field.

I grimaced as I claimed a seat with my back itching at how exposed I was. When Tenpora came in there were at least five seats left unclaimed. A few kids around our age had come in before racing out when they'd realised they had the wrong room.

So, it wasn't just our class that was left in a lurch? Tenpora smirked at two kids who notably didn't belong when the bell rang.

"Get out and start running the obstacle course before I beat you up and throw you out to run the course," he said flashing his teeth evilly but otherwise not moving. I frowned, something about that interaction was off, but what was it?

The kids bolted out through the window. I hummed. They'd been smart enough to take the fastest route at least.

I glanced around and assessed the kids that were with us before realising something.

I punched Rei in the head only for her to dodge without looking. She grinned and reformed into Instructor Mizuna who walked to the front. That had everyone straightening and reassessing the people around them. A few clan kids shot some punches at each other and some scuffles broke out but Instructor Geta wasn't revealed.

I eyed Instructor Tenpora only for the Terumi girl who had beaten me a few days to point at him. "You're Instructor Geta and Instructor Tenpora isn't here yet!"

'Tenpora' nodded and revealed she was right. "Correct! But it took you way too long to realise that! So that means you're all running the course once! The last five have to do it another time!"

I threw myself out the window while he was still talking. I was surprised he was only going to have the slowest do an extra lap, almost as much as I was that we only had to do one lap as punishment.

That seemed too easy.

It didn't take me long to realise the new angle. Ahead of us, older kids were running the course and they grinned at us and other kids from different classes piled out to complete it.

Where before it had been occasionally tough it now became a proper fight to stay on the obstacles. I needed to stick to the walls with chakra and run as fast as I could to avoid being beaten off by an obstacle I found myself on.

The older kids had no issue targeting us and seemed to relish it. It reminded me of a past life with hazing rituals. They were never fun when you were the one being hazed but when things were reversed you suddenly got to enjoy doing the stomping. It was a terribly clever method of making casual cruelty slip into people's mindsets.

It also meant that physical disciplining could and would be carried out by older students. The instructors just had to put us in the same area as the older students.

I quickly noticed that the clan rivalry was projected here as well. Often if you were near a Terumi kid then a Hozuki kid would prioritise tripping or punching their rival over going for you.

It was something I kept in mind for future encounters.

When I returned to class I had several new bruises and aches from where I'd been struck. I seriously wished I'd managed the mystical palm jutsu.

Instructor Geta, the bastard, merely grinned down his thick nose at us. "Alright, you little wastes of my time! You're going to learn about formations today so write this down! Occasionally we will run drills and you will be expected to know this! The standard Kiri platoon is at least seven men that will answer to a chunin!"

"When we reach three platoons you might warrant a Tokubetsu Jonin but those are only for serious engagements and missions of the utmost importance during the war!"

We then spent an hour learning about formations we might or might not ever get a chance to make it into. It would all depend on if we graduated.

Geta then turned us over to Mizuna who led us in chakra control drills. She once more laced genjutsu into the lesson. I remembered halfway through that I should be on the lookout for infiltrators and I was able to pick up on Instructor Geta having transformed himself into another kid. It turned out that while we'd been running Geta had fallen in as a kid and Tenpora had transformed into Geta.

Two-thirds of the class hadn't learnt of this by the end of the control lesson in a timely manner. Instead of having us run the course, Tenpora demanded that we stack our chairs and assume seated positions for as long as we could.

Rei, having barely made it into the room when we'd first poured out of it was once more the first to fall out. She had to do push-ups until she couldn't any more. I held on the longest and my reward was getting to sit down as my thighs screamed at me.

When lunchtime came along, the division of the class announced itself once more as the Terumi and Karatachi kids closed up on each other. The Hozuki and Yuki clan members did the same.

I stared at the door as I realised what would likely happen. I grabbed all of the training group I'd formed. "Rei, Kizan, get all the other civilian kids together and pull the chairs together."

They quickly got the others around and the stragglers frowned but quickly joined us without much prompting. I set my lunch on the table while watching the door.

I was almost, strangely, relieved when it opened and a group of older boys sauntered in. They glanced around and paused when they saw that the class was divided up into three groups.

"Eh? That's weird ain't it Goma?" said one boy to the thickest, meanest-looking boy.

'Goma' merely snorted and turned his attention to our group. "Oi Civies! Hand over your food."

My mind raced what was the best call here? Appeasement? No, that wouldn't—

Before I got a chance to come up with a plan Shoto stood up with a heated glared. He was the smallest boy and still mostly only in orbit of our group as the least offensive I supposed.

"Piss off!" he said from atop his chair.

"Oh!~ Gonna take that little Karatachi boyo!" said one of the Hozuki at the back of the room.

I wanted to groan. Of course, they were going to be needled by the clan kids in our class.

Goma Karatachi's face locked into a scowl and his hand shot out to grab Shoto up. Shoto looked tiny in his grasp. His arms swung around ineffectively.

I grit my teeth. The smart decision would be to keep my head down and not cause a scene. I had a moment of deja vu.

Fuck it.

I grabbed the back of my chair and leapt over the heads of my fellow civilians.

I soared through the air and Goma had all of a moment to gape at me before I slammed the chair into his head.

Shoto fell on his backside where he stayed. He gaped up at me in shock just as everyone else did. I glared at the older boys and tried to channel as much emotion into my being as I said, "Get the hell out of here."

Three was a moment where everyone stood, locked still. For half a moment I thought they'd back off.

Then the Hozuki boy laughed. "Heh! He went down like a chump!"

The older boys clenched their jaws and glared. Goma made to stand up. Shoto shot into his ankles and bit him making him scream. I grimaced. Being on the ground was not where the much smaller boy wanted to be. Goma knew this and fell on him. I kicked him on the way down to distract him only to have to spin out of a tackle from another boy. He continued on and barrelled into the kids behind me.

And that caused Rei to stop staring and stand up. "ATTACK!" she screamed at the top of her voice. The other kids were startled but a moment later the civilians all rose and threw themselves into the melee.

I found myself smiling as I dodged a punch from one boy only for him to find himself taken down by three other kids. They rode him to the ground and then stared. They weren't sure what to do I realised.

I started to shout, "Stomp him!" only for the kid to spin like some break dancer and send them all flying as their legs were taken out. I elbow dropped into him and pulsed my chakra through my body as I followed up with a punch.

"Put 'em down!" I shouted.

Soon the numbers began to show and the four boys that had entered were merely whimpering wrecks. Only then did we stop. I heaved in lungfuls of air as the other kids regained control of themselves instead of merely relying on primal instinct.

"W-what now?" Rei said as she hopped from foot to foot.

I sighed. "Toss em outside," I said.

Slow clapping from the back of the room made me glance up. The Hozuki boy —Kami I was starting to hate that brat— was clapping.

"Well done! That was a good show! I particularly like how you were like monkeys scrambling over each other there!"

He lolled his head to smile widely towards the Terumi and Karatachi in the class. "Seems all it takes to beat some Karatachi is to loosen some monkeys on them.

I drew in a breath. If I let this boy keep talking I'd be falling into another fight with the kids in my class looking to get revenge for their older brethren.

"Oi, how bout you shut the hell up? I didn't see you doing anything except mouthing off. If you want a fight so bad how about you and the Terumi stop dancing around each other and see who's actually stronger."

The Hozuki's eyes narrowed into slits before he sniffed pointedly. "We all know who that would be."

I hummed and made a show of looking at the Terumi who straightened up. "Don't think I do actually."

That caused both groups to straighten up and start eying each other off. I turned back to the other kids and jerked my head at the door. "Toss em," I said once more.

When they were gone I sat back in my mostly wrecked chair and ate the rest of my food.

And just like that, the class was divided into three factions. The Terumi, the Hozuki, and us, the civilians. With me apparently in charge. When I was done I leaned over and grabbed the vicious kid, Shoto around the shoulders. "We've got a training spot on a roof in market square. When class finishes meet up there."

He looked at me for a long moment before nodding deferentially. I felt like I'd just gained myself an attack dog.

When Tenpora marched back in there was a flicker of amusement as he noted the classes' division.

"Get those chairs back into proper formation!" there was a clang and scrapping. Then Tenpora made a show of noticing my rather beaten chair. "Breaking property Matsu!? Run a lap alone!"

I grimaced and launched myself out into the mist.

When I reached the first obstacle I spotted two of the boys I'd spent lunch beating on up on the balance beams. They spotted me as well and stopped where they were as evil leer overtook their faces. I scowled and threw myself into the fight trading blows, advancing and retreating across the thin span of wood while from a nearby span, the other boy tried to kick and punch me.

I fell into the mud a lot.

The Instructor who was watching over the obstacle course growled. "Get up brat! Take your licks and learn from it! You think the Leaf or the Bolts are going to go easy on you!?"

I sighed and charged back into the fight.

Eventually, the instructor must have thought I'd taken enough of a beating after the third knock from the beams as he called the other boys to finish up. I was just happy for the beating to end. I took a long moment to stagger through the rest of the course. Damn, I hated Kiri and how much this training made sense. It achieved so many goals at once.

As I entered back into the classroom at a crawl I noted the smug looks from the clan kids. Like I'd been put in my place. I sat and continued to learn about the history of Kirigakure and the wisdom of the first Mizukage in forging alliances with the clans.

When the class ended I stood with a repressed groan only for Tenpora to appear next to me. "Weak," he said as though announcing to the class at large. He grabbed me by the shoulder and we vanished in a shunshin.

We appeared back at the doctor's building. There were notably more kids coming and going from the building. Tenpora grunted and marched me past the line to the doctor.

As the medic healed me I focussed all of my attention on how the jutsu felt. When she was done the medic snapped her fingers in front of me. "Kami brat you look like you've found religion with how zoned out you were."

I wet my lips. "I was just really impressed with how easy you make fixing me seem."

She snorted. "Easy! Easy he says! This took years of training."

I coughed. "I just meant you seem really good at it."

She grinned, all of her teeth showing. "That's cause I had a lot of practice." She considered me. "You interested in being a medic?"

I nodded more than excited to get the chance to bend her ear. "Yeah! How do you do what you do? Is there chakra control drills you need to use?"

She snorted. "Lots of practice mostly. If you make it through you should work on control exercises like holding ten water droplets on different parts of your body while making them move in circles, lines, spinning, or even just trembling."

"Trembling?" I said with a frown.

"Yeah, sometimes to clean out poisons you need to keep your chakra in one place and only doing the smallest possible movement you can. Making your chakra tremble or vibrate works great for that."

I nodded. "Right, I'll practise that," I said.

A snort reminded me that Tenpora was there and listening. I swallowed. Had I mentioned in front of him yesterday while he'd been henged that I was already practising that jutsu? I'd need to pull Kizan and Rei aside and tell them not to mention it. Tenpora marched up and shunshined me back to the front of the academy.

"Alright get out of here Matsu! You keep this up I'm going to start charging you for ferrying you about!"

I bowed in thanks and scurried out of the academy. I was suddenly a lot happier that I'd told the other kids to find another training area away from the academy. The academy after all wasn't safe.

I considered that as I raced up the stairs to the top of the building I'd selected as a training area.

So far the academy had consistently pushed us in new ways with constant change occurring in short intervals. It was enough time for us to get comfortable before the rules or our situation changed.

"Announce yourself!" growled Rei cutely when I exited the stairwell.

I smiled at her, pleased she was challenging me. She grinned back and relaxed her stance. That made me roll my eyes as I gave the correct response to her challenge.

She really wasn't very good at this. Still, she had a lot of redeeming qualities. I doubted if anyone else in our group had ordered the attack that the other kids would have thrown themselves into following the order as wholeheartedly.

I joined in with the training and felt like things were progressing nicely. Despite all the changes that were sure to come our way.

We just had to deal with the changes that came our way. I expected it was going to be very rough on us.

I was proven right when I got another two trips to the doctor over the course of the next two days. Someone —I suspected the Hozuki bastard, as I'd come to think of him— had spread around how our civilians had formed our own group. From the comments I got as some of the older kids were trying to stomp me into the ground, I suspected this was unusual.

I learnt in those two days a lot more through insights and questions with the doctor.

I also learned that going into or out of the academy was dangerous. Getting things wrong in class and being sent for a simple obstacle course run could be dangerous or a walk in the park depending on if any of the other classes were running it at the time. Sometimes we had classes running the course at the same time.

The only benefit there was that the instructors stepped in from any beatings that started to go too far.

I continued to hear mutterings about how strange it was that our group had formed up. It took me three days to discover that every other class in our year only had two groups in them that were split into divisions based on the clan kids they had in their class. If you had a class with lots of Kaguya you typically saw the kids grouping up with everyone else lest the Kaguya get violent with them at a raindrop's notice.

The Karatachi, the Terumi, and the Yuki were considered good to be subservient to by the other civilians. The Hozuki? They were mercurial. You needed to be able to read the mood and undercurrent very, very well with them. Sometimes they seemed to just want to entertain themselves and sometimes they stepped in to help.

It made our class, our group, and me in particular, stand out. Fucking perfect.

And in Kiri that meant I was targeted.

On the third day, I failed to detect Geta when he shunshinned above me fast enough for his liking right at the end of class. He made me run the course by myself and sure enough, I ran into Goma Karatachi and cronies waiting for me. I wish I could say I was surprised.

I glanced back to find Geta had stopped the class to stand at the windows watching me. He made a 'get on with it' gesture and I bolted up the wall before backflipping to kick Goma in the testicles. I felt like I deserved a prize for improving the gene pool for that. Goma spewed up his lunch and his friends pursued me.

When I proved too fast for some to catch me, others started throwing rocks that I dodged around. When I reached the balance beams I tilted to the side and ran at ninety degrees which caused them to gawp at me. I still took a few rocks for my troubles but I made it back to class, limping and bloody.

Geta stared at me before snorting.

I smiled for half a second, allowing myself to show a fraction of what I felt.

I knew it was a mistake even as I did it.

He punched me between the eyes and I rocked back from the hit. "You're a smart ass Matsu, you'll learn that's not a good thing soon enough."

I hissed in as I felt like he'd just broken my nose from that. I held it for a moment and growled as it ached.

He snorted. "Heh, that's a better look for you," he said as he walked off.

I was starting to hate Goma but I already hated Geta. But not in equal measure. Goma I could understand. Geta, I despised.

A grown man playing games because it amused him.

With no Tenpora around that afternoon, I had to sit out the training with the other kids on the roof we'd claimed.

I had a throbbing nose and a mean streak that made me want to savage even Rei when she tentatively offered me a wet towel.

Instead of being worried, for some strange reason, the kids saw my broken nose like it was some badge of honour. I merely waved them off and tried to work on my sensory skills but the throbbing in my face was all I could feel.

Shoto marched up to me. "You look like shit like that. Want me to set it straight?"

I stared at him and had all of a moment to understand what he meant as he reached out with his hands.

"Hey! Wait a—" I felt white hot pain stab straight into my mind and I would have thrown up if I had anything in my stomach.

Shoto stepped back from me and eyed his work, like a carpenter judging a cut of wood. He looked annoyed, I really hoped he wasn't about to try again. He had a shit bedside manner.

"Fuck! I think I made you look better. Handsome bastard!" he said before marching off with an affected look of disgust.

I blinked back tears. "What?"

Rei bounced up and stared at me. "Ohhhh! He was right, you do look, sort of handsome now?"

I put the towel on my face. "What the fuck are you talking about?" I snarled as my face throbbed.

Rei rocked back and forth. "You were super pretty before, you have red eyes and hair and such a nice face. But now? Now you look kinda…" She made a flapping gesture that I had no idea what it meant.

Kizan grinned. "Like you're not just some sissy! The nose makes people pay more attention to your eyes. They're as red as rubies but sometimes they get hidden in shadow when you brood."

I rolled my eyes at them. "Right, fuck you guys! I'm too sore for this. I'm heading home. Rei I'll give you the towel back later alright?" I said. The others watched me trudge off. I sighed and tried to feel like this wasn't too much of a setback.

When I got home I thankfully didn't run straight into the Madam. She'd blow her top off at me, the academy and then me again for being ten sorts of a fool for getting my face beaten up."

I walked past one of the girls who were just now starting to see clients. She'd proven popular with rich men and rumour had it that one merchant was buying her time out regularly. I could see why with her pale white skin and a willowy frame. She was a 'traditional' Kiri beauty in every sense. At least for the civilians. I had no idea what the shinobi thought of her.

I honestly hoped they didn't think of her. That would involve them knowing about her full stop.

Still, the Madam expected a buy-out offer within the month from her rich gentleman.

"Matsu?" said the girl, Shimi, her voice full of concern.

I looked down. "Hey Shimi, got into a scrap at the end of class." Her hand reached out and lifted my chin. The towel was pulled away and I grimaced. Shimi ran a hand down my still sore nose gently.

"Oh, Matsu… You have so much hardship to endure. More than most of us it seems some days."

I offered the Geisha a tired smile. I knew what some of the girls had to endure. Not all of them had rich gentleman callers like Shimi did who were nice and gentle. I'd be worth a lot to the Madam and the girls when I could heal a bruise let alone a cut.

She patted my cheek. "Matsu, I think I should share something with you. A secret of mine, yes?" she said carefully.

She glanced left and right before gesturing for me to follow her. I followed and found myself walking back outside and through the markets. Then we walked down to the harbour where Shimi led me up towards some cliffs. Then she glanced around in a terrible I'm doing something suspicious manner.

Then she winked at me, hiked up her skirt, and climbed over the edge of the cliff. I raised a brow at her and followed, walking down the cliff as a shinobi would.

Shimi pouted at me and I grinned. She led me slowly to an opening high up in the cliff. "I found this place years ago when I was a young girl," she said as we entered the cave. I was surprised to find myself in a grotto with water that had salt crystals all over it.

"If you come here during high tide there is usually water at your ankles. It is how I first found it. I was swimming and got chased by what I thought was a shark. Instead of being dashed into the cliff face, I was swept into this cave." She took my hand and placed it into the pool.

"It's warm?" I said. I gave the room another look over. "How is this area warm? Is there a vent or heated chamber?" This didn't make any sense to me.

Shimi shrugged. "I'm not sure. No idea honestly. But here. Take your clothes off and lay in the pool. Trust me! It will help!"

I shot her a look but did as she asked, stripping to my underwear and lying in the pool. I was surprised to find I floated. I blinked as the water lapped at my body and I felt a heat building up.

"It's really warm?" It also felt familiar. It tickled a memory I'd had of my past life. A time I got to spend relaxing and just thinking.

"The salt, it evaporates and forms up with your body heat. See how you float? Apparently, that is caused by how much salt there is in the water." She slipped out of her dress. She should have been beautiful or erotic without her clothes. Instead, I pitied her. I was startled to find that she had a number of bruises over her thin frame.

It was like seeing a painting that someone had torn a hole in a famous artwork.

She smiled. "I find it helps me heal when… well when things are rough," she said lamely.

She lay down next to me in the pool of water and I let my head flop backwards. I wanted to stand and say that I'd help her. That I'd protect her. Instead, I kept my mouth shut and put my head back in the water.

I shut my eyes and let the salt from my tears fall in the water.

I couldn't save her. Some days it was hard enough to make sure I stayed afloat.

I did what I could though and reached out to take her hand in mine. Our fingers laced and we joined together as we floated. With my eyes shut I became lulled into feeling the warmth that was within me. I could barely hear anything or smell anything but the salt. My body was swaddled in the heat of the pool.

All I felt was Shimi's hand in mine and the warmth… I also felt my chakra.

In fact, I felt my chakra better than I ever had before.

I frowned as I spun my chakra through my coils and felt how it shifted at my command. I mapped out my network and felt where small, minute threads broke off from tiny chakra nodes that I'd never noticed in the past. I tickled and trembled my chakra at the nodes as I discovered them and felt myself open up a little more with each.

When Shimi finally stood up I had discovered a handful of nodes. I sat up and a world of awareness washed over me. My chakra felt, more in so many ways. I felt like I had more ways to manipulate it, and my control felt better than ever from one session of training. I also felt like I had more to use. I could feel parts of myself filling up that apparently had been empty before.

I sat in the water and stared at my hands. I'd opened three nodes in each hand and now I felt…

I felt stronger.

I looked up at Shimi as she donned her dress. "Shimi, is it alright if I love you a little?" I said with a hesitant smile. "This place will really help me I think."

She stopped putting on her clothes and instead stepped back to me. She leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. "It's always alright to love Matsu, and I'm glad that my present to you will help."

I walked back to the Okiya with Shimi with a smile on my lips and in my heart.

A.N. Thanks to all my pat-reons for your support!