Last chapter marks the end of the first of many arcs to come. Welcome to the Academy arc.
***Chapter edited on May 11th 2024
—-Excitement was the first thing on my mind as I woke up the next day. Despite the obvious implications of joining literal murder school, I found myself excited by the prospect of once again being in a school setting. It had been years since I last went to school, after all. My time at the academy was going to be very important. Not only do I have the opportunity to make friends and possibly future allies, but my entry into the academy also marked the first day I would be allowed to do sparring and strength training. Tou-san and Kaa-san walked me to the academy for my big first day, and even Izumi came along for the ride, carried by Tou-san.
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, okay?" she said with a raised finger, "Oh, and don't be scared to make friends!" she shouted loud enough for people around to hear her. "D-don't be embarrassing, Kaa-chan!" I replied, face turning red. She smiled to herself pleased. Did both of my moms have to be so insistent on doing this kind of thing?!
I gave her a half-hearted scowl. "Now, now, kiddo, don't be mean to your Kaa-chan." he scolded, 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, though.
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 receiving permission in the form of a nod from him.
"I'm going to be attending the academy now. I won't be home as much as before, so don't give Kaa-chan too much trouble," I said to her gently in a somewhat baby-speak tone. "That's my job. See ya!" I finished with a grin before turning around to enter the academy, waving them off.
I started speaking in English to Izumi since she was born. I wasn't sure why I was doing it, perhaps it came from a sense of longing for Earth, or maybe when I said it in the spur of the moment back then, it just felt right. Sometimes I received confused and curious looks from my parents, silently wondering what I was saying. Their confusion made me guilty to some extent, but the prospect of confessing my origins worried me. Telling my family about my past life was something I knew I should do, but how or if I would do it was to be decided.
The result? Izumi was starting to understand English, too. She was learning Japanese as a normal kid would, but with my meddling, she would know a second, entirely foreign language. I didn't know if the concept of a separate language existed here in the Elemental Nations, but I knew the working excuse of 'gibberish' I had wouldn't hold up much longer.
Moving on. The academy was quite the large building. It was a fair bit larger than shown in canon, which made sense considering it was supposedly the only ninja academy in the entirety of the Land of Fire. The size shown in canon made it seem as if it were a small little kindergarten or something, but in reality the size matched a mid-sized elementary school, with a little under a dozen classrooms.
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 desk, 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, and everyone knows to be early on the first day of anything. 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 – she was Mitarashi Anko.
As she sat down and put her things in order, she glanced my way, "Yo, who're you?" she asked innocently, grinning cordially. Was this her idea of an introduction? "Um… Maybe you should tell me your name first?" I said after a short pause, an amused tone in my voice. She shook her head with annoyance, "Ugh, fine! The name's Mitarashi Anko!" she huffed. Now that's better. "Nice to meet you, Anko-san. My name is Uchiha Daisuke." I introduced myself.
She grumbled reluctantly. "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 my tardiness!" he yelled, looking at where the teacher would be, only to notice that he wasn't late, eliciting a sigh of relief. The shouting had 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, as light chuckling came from the rest of the seated students
Before I had the chance to introduce myself, the teacher came in, demanding everyone's silence. Coughing to get our attention, he began with the typical introductory spiel. "Welcome to Konohagakure's Ninja 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, state your full name and a fact about yourself." he finished, picking up a school pointing stick to point at us with.
It was the usual ritual of any new class, the self-introductions, a source of stress for all introverts alike. Many of the civilian-born had very childish and simple thoughts to share like their favorite color or their hobbies. It seemed that while many seemed naive or idealistic with their goals, no one screamed that they were going to become Hokage. Only Naruto and Obito were so hot-headed and self-confident, 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!" she exclaimed in a very not-Nara way. I thought that the Nara were supposed to be 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 straight, black hair with onyx black eyes, a cocky smirk resting on his face. "My name's Uchiha Shodo. There's nothing more I need to say." he announced, voice full of arrogance. The line belonged to stereotyped noble characters, and while he did fit the mark, it threw me off enough to where I had to cover my mouth to make sure I didn't giggle.
The next student was a purple haired girl, unlike Anko she had her hair run down her shoulders. "I am Uzuki Yugao, I enjoy learning about the art of 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, straight hair, though his face differed from Neji's, for example. Bandages were wrapped around his forehead, no doubt hiding a Caged Bird Seal. "Greetings. 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 admired the man he would become.
Anko was next. She perked up instantly, seemingly snapping out of her boredom.. "The name's Mitarashi Anko! You'd do well to remember it!" she exclaimed proudly, pointing at herself with her thumb. She glared pointedly at me out of spite, I guess. I idly wondered what kind of dream she had. It wasn't made clear during Naruto, was it? She was a fair bit occupied with thoughts of Orochimaru during all of her screen time.
Hayashi-sensei pointed to me. I stood up, smiling. "Hello, I'm Uchiha Daisuke, my goal is to become strong enough to protect my loved ones." I said, nodding plainly. I didn't have some crazy goal – only some crazy hurdles to overcome. I heard a gasp of surprise from where Uchiha Shodo was sitting. Right. If another Uchiha was attending the same year as him, he would likely know about it beforehand. Since the family didn't live in the clan, he wouldn't know about me.
Finally, the boy with short, brown hair and eye bags next to me was pointed to. "My name is Gekko Hayate," he started evenly, "I don't have any particular goals at the moment, though I suppose graduating is a good start," he remarked to himself. Ah, I think I remember him now. He didn't look too familiar without the bandana I was used to seeing him in, but if I wasn't mistaken, he was the Chuunin exams proctor who was killed by Gaara's sensei right before the invasion.
Hayate was the last one, sitting down as Hayashi-sensei nodded in satisfaction. "An interesting batch this year," he commented to himself before dropping the attendance sheet on his desk. "Right. Let's get started on some ground rules. First off, this is a ninja academy, meaning that horseplay and disobedience will not be tolerated. You aren't at home right now. Secondly, you will not speak while I am speaking. Thirdly, you will street your peers with an adequate amount of respect," he looked over the classroom with an even gaze, "Have I made myself clear?" he asked.
"Hai!" We all chorused.
"Good. 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… seemingly very boring. Aside from the fact that our schedule didn't change much day to day, the choice of subjects, while practical, would surely rot my brain. 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 it was quite useful. Even reading and writing classes seemed somewhat boring, considering that most of us would have already learned those skills, barring orphans.
Despite the aforementioned 'boring' classes we would have to do, there were some classes that were of great interest. Chakra theory, taijutsu, and bukijutsu, among others. Sensei told us that we would move on to more complex classes as we got closer to graduation, which meant less boredom and more learning. Exciting stuff. As usual for a school's introductory day, we were sent off early.
As I left the building, Hayate approached me. "Daisuke-san, wait up!" he started, speed walking towards me. I faced him with a cordial smile. "I can call you that, right?" he asked sheepishly, to which I nodded with an amused grin. "I wanted to introduce myself from where we left off. I guess you already know my name… but seeing as we'll be sitting together for the foreseeable future, it would be good if we started off on friendly terms, so just call me Hayate, okay?"
"If we're dropping the honorifics, just call me Daisuke, kay? I've got somewhere to be, but we can talk later. See you tomorrow," I said with a polite wave, "Alright, have a good one, Daisuke!", he shot back politely. The moment I turned around to face forward I was met with a flash of green in my face.
"Daisuke-kun! I have been eagerly awaiting today!" he yelled, picking me up by my sides. It painted a very funny picture, considering Gai was only about 15 centimeters taller than me. My face turned red as I noticed 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! Yet another opportunity to cultivate your Springtime of Youth has presented itself now! For both of us!" he explained nearly manic excitement. He must have REALLY been excited for this. As expected of him.
"Can I at least eat lunch first?" I nearly whimpered. He told me that we would train three times as hard a while ago. I still remember the first time I actually did strength training in my first life. Since my body wasn't really used to being sore or exercised, the soreness lasted quite a while. I would need all of the energy I could get with all the exercise that Gai would surely throw me into, and considering that having lunch would stall for time, I was jumping at the chance to get some grub.
"Great idea, Daisuke-kun, it is important to nourish one's body. Do remember: we must move with haste! It would reflect poorly upon our pursuit of Youth if we even welcomed the idea of procrastinating!" he said, running off, dust trailing behind his every step. I scrambled to catch up with him.
Can this guy read my mind?
—-
Gai, curse his soul, decided that we would do strength training before sparring. At first, the schedule involved running laps as usual, then we were to move on to strength training, which was decidedly calisthenics. Things like pushups, situps, squats. As a starter, there wasn't much more I could do as a start, and we didn't have anything like gym equipment, so it was a decent start. Gai helped me refresh my calisthenics form, and considering that I had already done a fair bit of it in my past life, he didn't have much to correct. After all that, we moved onto the fated sparring matches. The entire schedule was, as expected, very demanding on a person's cardiovascular system. We moved through the laps and strength training with realtively low rest, emphasizing endurance and strength rather than hypertrophy. Gai barely broke a sweat.
"Is… is this how you train everyday..?" I asked with wonder in between breaths. My whole body felt like a mass of jelly. "Of course, Daisuke-kun!" he replied with a wide grin, flexing his biceps. We had just finished the day's 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 feeling of general weakness and the slow onset of soreness really drove home that I was a small kid who was only new to exercising
While my endurance was probably better than my endurance in my past life due to my lower size and weight, I was still a fair bit weaker than myself in my past life. I knew the fact would change was I trained and grew, especially when chakra was added into the mix.
"I hope you are excited as I am!" he declared, "Daisuke-kun, let us spar! Do not worry, my dear friend, I shall hold back accordingly!" he said in an attempt to reassure me, though it hardly did the job. I had never fought anybody before, after all. All I knew were Kaa-san's taijutsu katas, as well as some fading memories from times I had fought with classmates in the past. The purpose of learning taijutsu katas and committing them to muscle memory was to allow us to react and act with less delay in a fight, and while I trusted in Kaa-san's teachings, frankly I was a little scared of fighting the brute. Gai may be pretty young now, but he would become the world's best taijutsu master.
The exhaustion in my limbs made them hard to move. It felt like I was controlling myself rather than moving seamlessly. I tested the waters by stretching my arms and legs and promptly realized that I was hardly in a condition to spar properly. This would be VERY unpleasant.
I nodded hesitantly at the beaming boy, deciding that I wasn't in real danger. Gai immediately sprang at me at a speed similar to the speeds we would run at. I readied myself with Kaa-san's taijutsu stance and moved to dodge, only for Gai to touch down with his feet and change his direction to follow my retreat. I managed a shaky duck under a devastating roundhouse, leaping from the crouching position to aim a punch at Gai's open side.
An Uchiha, even without the sharingan, had keen eyesight. I knew that in theory, at least, with all of Kaa-san's bragging. The counter attack into Gai's open side was the result of my subconscious mind begging me to strike at an opening, like acting upon an intrusive thought. The action surprised even me. Gai, even with his leg in mid-air and seemingly stuck, grinned as he redirected my punch to the side with a free arm. He quickly regained footing, and punched me in my ribs while I was still open.
The wind was knocked right out of me as pain wracked my chest.
I know he said that he wasn't going to go all out, but damn, what the fuck. The pain that shot through my chest turned my breathing harsh. After a few seconds, the pain dulled to a bad ache. I hoped it wouldn't bruise. Gai was ready and already above me with his hand out. I went to grab his hand and hissed as the movement aggravated the spot I had been struck at.
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, a wobbly smile on my face. "Of course, Daisuke-kun, but do not think I would let you off so easily!" he announced, getting back into his stance. "It is time for round two!" he declared dramatically.
Oh, God.
The rest of the sparring went more-or-less the same. 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 was. I was also very tired. Not that I would win if I wasn't exhausted, but the exhaustion definitely did interfere with my reaction speed and dexterity. It was something that I would have to get used to, I guess.
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 off to bed like some sort of rat. It was pretty early, but I had a feeling that I would need more sleep tonight.
Especially since Gai made it abundantly clear we were doing the same tomorrow.
—-
The next few weeks passed with this schedule. I started the day with the academy, where I honed my skills and learned new things, then after classes ended, Gai and I went to train. By the time I got home, I was too tired to do anything other than chat a bit with my family, eat, and then collapse in bed. As time went on, I noticed that my body was slowly acclimating to the regimen. Things were really looking up in that regard: I felt a lot better during the day. One thing's for sure, I wouldn't tell Gai about the acclimation – he would just ramp up the intensity of the training.
Don't judge me, he is a demon.
At school I found myself becoming quick friends with Hayate. He seemed more reserved in canon, but he was actually a pretty funny kid with a dry sense of humor. Hayate was generally calm and composed, but he also had moments of outburst when something excited him. Anyway, he was gearing up to become a kenjutsu specialist, a tradition that the Gekko family had been honing for almost as long as the village's formation. I remembered his fight with that Sunagakure Jounin, where Hayate was established as a solid Tokubetsu Jounin, only to be killed.
That wouldn't happen this time.
I started noticing a marketable improvement to my taijutsu with Gai. I didn't necessarily become much better at striking, but the fear of getting hit by a punch from Gai's Strong Fist style did wonders for my defense. Parrying, blocking and dodging his attacks usually panned out well for me until I tried to counterattack him, which typically ended up with me getting swiftly counter-counterattacked by Gai. The guy was kind of brutal with it, but it was for the best to fight against an unforgiving opponent.
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. Typical stuff to prepare the civilian-born children to actually fight, rather than just get destroyed by clan kids. I found it to be kind of boring since I was already picking up on Gai's strong fist and had a decent understanding of Kaa-san's style, but practice was practice. Maybe it will do me well some day.
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-hello, 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 some plain looking papers from his pocket. As unassuming as they were, their size was quite unusual.
"You've been working hard, kiddo, so we thought you deserved a step-up to your training," I grimaced in between, having been reminded of the torture Gai kept putting me through. "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 early on." he continued, nodding with his eyes closed and arms crossed.
I was going to learn elemental ninjutsu. I thought it was a little strange that I was learning this before learning an academy jutsu. As far as I knew, apart from clan children, people didn't learn elemental ninjutsu until they hit Genin rank. Kaa-san seemingly read my mind. "We know you're still too young to learn ninjutsu, Daisuke-chan. But we want you to practice your affinity." she clarified, addressing my concerns. She perked up, seemingly remembering something, "Oh yeah! Your Tou-chan and I also thought it would be a good idea to teach you to walk up trees! It's suuuper hard for kids your age, but I know how good you are with chakra control!" she praised before pumping her fists with anticipation, "My little genius!" she whispered to herself loudly.
Not to toot my own horn, but yeah, I was pretty great at chakra control. I couldn't walk on walls or anything of the sort quite yet, but the leaves I stuck to myself under my shirt everyday were practically my version of boy scout badges. Even during the grueling training I did with Kai, I kept up my chakra control. It was the only exercise I knew, after all. I wasn't especially draining chakra-wise, but for a while it really sapped my mental energy away, before I ended up getting used to it out of necessity (that being Gai). I wasn't too sure on why chakra control came so naturally to me. I was a fair bit above my age group according to academy texts about the subject. My most prevailing theory was that it was because I had been aware of my chakra for so long.
"Pour some chakra into this paper, Daisuke. Your elemental affinity will be determined by what becomes of the paper." he explained to me, handing me the iconic sheet of paper. I snatched it with a little bit too much excitement, shaking his head dismissively. Heh.
My main assumption was that my affinity would be fire. The Uchiha blood in my veins were going to be the dominant gene, so I couldn't really hope for much else. It was entirely possible to get another affinity, but it was quite rare for it to not be related to your parents' affinity. I would have honestly liked to have Water Release as my primary affinity, but it was quite the pipe dream. Chakra natures worked fairly linearly: if I was likely to inherit a Fire Release affinity, then Water Release, which was strong against Fire, would be nearly impossible to manifest.
It wouldn't matter very much, anyway, since all elements were powerful in their own right.
Channeling some chakra into the paper, the paper turned to dust and fell to the ground. Kaa-san dramatically gasped as if she were betrayed, leveling me with a sad gaze. I bet that she expected my affinity to be Fire Release, too. "Earth affinity, huh." Tou-san commented to himself, a smile tugging at his lips. "Looks like you take after me, kiddo." he said proudly before turning to Kaa-san's pouting face with a competitive smirk. She glared at us good-naturedly, as if we now stood on opposing sides.
"I stand alone," she declared, cracking her voice mid-sentence on purpose.
"That's right, Kaa-chan. Now it's time for us to make the decisions 'round here, right?" I bragged, eyeing Tou-chan, eliciting an overly serious nod from him. "Things will have to change around here," he agreed easily. She pointed at us accusingly, barely containing a smile, "You guys are so mean!" she yelped incredulously before lifting Izumi with her free arm. "There! Surely Izumi-chan here will be a Fire Release user like her beautiful Kaa-chan!" she said hopefully, holding up the confused girl like Simba.
I regarded Tou-san calmly before shrugging. "The power balance is restored. Fall back." I said neutrally. Kaa-san handed Izumi to Tou-san calmly before her face lit up and she tackled me in a hug, again, "Oh, you're so cute~!" 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 had me bring a rock to school every day. They said that if I was ever bored I could try to practice Earth Release Manipulation on the rock. Under the desk. What, so just infuse the rock with chakra and experiment with it? Supposedly it was a good start to getting a feel for casting Ninjutsu. 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, as promised, started teaching me to tree-walk after I got home from training with Gai. 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 she watched me carefully. She gave me pointers by watching my chakra on my feet with her sharingan. The training itself was quite difficult considering I was typically fairly spent by that time, but my chakra reserves were always full, so I could still do chakra exercises.
Having full reserves hardly helped me, though. A five year old wasn't supposed to be tree-walking due to their smaller reserves, which meant that for the first few days, it only took half an hour to drain me of most of my reserves. It was frustrating, but I could tell I was making slow progress. The bark on the trees exploded less and less until one day, nearly a week after I started, I infused my feet with chakra, ran up the tree and successfully took my first three steps. I had finally managed to stick to the tree. The secret was to account for the texture of the wood. I realized the fact on the second day, but it took me the next three days to find the sweet spot between overcharging and undercharging the wood.
Kaa-san was watching in wonder as I finally managed to do it. I would've gotten bored of watching me try and fail for almost a week, but she stood around the whole time. It was about time I actually showed her some results. "Did you see that!?" I cheered in excitement, before falling off the tree due to my lapse in concentration. I widened my eyes in horror as I prepared for the inevitable (and embarrassing) face plant into the dirt, but thankfully Kaa-san was there to grab me. She shook me around, seemingly more excited than I was "You're so awesome!" she congratulated me, a pleased look on her face. "K-Kaa-chan-! I'm gonna throw up!" I pleaded, dizzy from chakra exhaustion and her shaking. "Oh! Sorry, sweetheart. I'm just so proud!" she apologized sheepishly, setting me down.
Izumi was sitting on the grass watching with a jealous pout. She squeaked and yelled some gibberish, waving her arms in front of her. Oh, she was jealous of the attention I was getting. Kaa-san 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 almost out of chakra, 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, so he would have to miss it. Sucker.
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. A cultured girl, truly. Time passed and I went to check up on what she was doing after I made a hole absentmindedly. "Is that a sand castle?" I asked Izumi with mock curiosity. She nodded at me proudly. She made a pretty sophisticated sand castle for someone her age - it mostly just was a pile of sand, sure, but it had a little hole, probably a window or door, and a few spikes at the top.
"Nicely done," I nodded at her, overly formal. She cheered herself on with a squeal, clapping her hands. "Now, how about mom and dad?" She looked back and forth between me and her 'castle' with a blank look, before brutishly grabbing a handful of sand and throwing it on the ground. I chuckled at her, deciding to help by adding appendages and features with sand. The resulting creations did not even vaguely resemble our parents. I wasn't sure if she was comprehending what was going on, after a short moment of admiring our creations, she crawled over to them and destroyed them. Tears nearly escaped my eyes. How tragic.
"Wanna go to the swings now?" I asked, pointing to the swings. She took a second, trying to reproduce the 'sss' sound, ultimately failing and just spitting everywhere, before cheering childishly. I naturally took that as a yes. Once again, my sister showed culture beyond her years. The sandpit and the swings naturally stood above all other attractions at any playground, after all.
I made sure to stick Izumi to my lap with chakra. See? Real life adaptations, people. I wanted to make sure we could go up and down fast. No need for boring stuff. The speed I swung us at might have frightened other babies around Izumi's age. Not my sister, though. It wasn't the first time we had been to the playground together and she made it abundantly clear that she wanted to go fast, the adrenaline junkie.
After another hour of playing, I took Izumi back to Kaa-san. The two of us were covered in sand from the sandpit earlier, and Kaa-san impulsively brushed the sand off us. "Did you have fun with Nii-chan, Izumi-chan?" Izumi blinked sleepily from all of the playing but still managed an affirmative giggle. "Thank you for playing with her," she told me, taking Izumi from my hands. "It must be boring for you sometimes."
"Not at all! I'm still a kid, too, you know." 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? "You're right. Sometimes I forget." she admitted with a blush.
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 as we were making dinner, weariness weighing on his expression and pleased to see us nonetheless. Sometimes I think he works too much. 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 be strong enough not to worry about them. Izumi had finally stopped waking up to cry every night, though sometimes she still woke up in the middle of the night. She accomplished the feat of shouting just loud enough to wake me up specifically. Kaa-san and Tou-san went to sleep early.
"Bedtime story?" I asked Izumi, tucking her into her cradle. She yawned drowsily, so I shurgged and took it as a yes. There was no way she would get out of hearing this one… "This comes from where your brother comes from," I started in a low voice, "Wealth, fame, power. Gold Roger had it all…"
By the time I got to the part about the Golden Age of Piracy, she had already fallen asleep. Kissing her on the forehead, I silently tiptoed to my bed and went to sleep.
—-
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, on the 17th of March. Kaa-san 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 maybe Gai's father if he wanted to come along.
My training up to this point had been going fairly 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 thought it was too early to try water walking, so I continued using tree walking as a good exercise to improve my chakra reserves and core strength.
Sparring with Gai was fun enough, but it was very challenging. I was itching to fight an opponent closer to my level.
"... 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.
I gulped as I heard Hayashi-sensei announce my sparring partner. Though I would be confident against most civilian-born students, I was not so confident against clan kids. They had been trained their whole lives to become shinobi. The same is true for me, true, but I was still worried about my odds. Branch family or not, the Gentle Fist was kind of terrifying. I sighed nervously.
Hayate elbowed my side to get my attention, "Come on, don't make that expression. Get out there." 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 in front of everyone. "Hey!" I shouted at Hayate, cheeks heating up. The only silver linings I could find in this match were that I was getting better and better at avoiding hits and the fact that Hyuuga Momoku was still young, and surely not a true master of his clan's style.
"No more stalling, Daisuke-kun," 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 the stance he took. Gentle Fist right off the bat? I knew I was technically an Uchiha, but… I clenched my fists tightly as I shifted into my own stance, which slowly leaning into a mix of Gai's Strong Fist and Kaa-san's taijutsu style she had taught me, with the emphasis being on Kaa-san's defensiveness.
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 an abundance of force to inflict proper 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. It suited my own natural defense style well.
Momoku's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion at the sight of my unfamiliar stance. I took a deep breath before hearing Hayashi-sensei countdown. "3… 2… 1… Go!" he boomed, declaring the start of the match with a wave of his hand. 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.
I was worried about taking initiative, to be honest, as it often didn't end well for me against was more of an instinct to avoid getting myself battered as much, because Gai (seemingly) did not pull his punches. Well, maybe he did, but damn did they hurt. I then looked at the quietly approaching Momoku. I had no delusions about him being anything less than strong (for our age group), but a thought passed through my mind in that moment.
There was no way he was stronger than Gai.
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. It was the Byakugan. He aimed to strike at my wrist, so he could end my assault early on. I dug in with my legs, stopping my momentum, before I sidestepped off to the side as quickly as I could. Explosive speed and strength was a staple in Gai's style as well as his training. He was very adamant about the importance of fast-twitch muscle fiber development. I could see why. Shifting my weight, I aimed another punch at Momoku's body. He was momentarily surprised at my sudden 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 and into my elbow. It felt like a hot needle stabbed into my arm. Hissing in pain, backed off, holding my left arm. Okay, not doing that again. I was right to be cautious of the style.
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 jabbed with his right, aiming for my weakened left side. My left arm wasn't technically completely immobile, though. Sure, a tenketsu was disabled, but I had long gotten used to moving a sluggish appendage.
Momoku was fast but not faster than Gai. He did have similar devastating destructive power due to his Gentle Fist, but all I had to do was not get hit by them, right? I couldn't parry blows with an impaired left arm, but I was quick on my feet and used to much faster. My weakened left side proved to be more of a strength as I could see that was where the bulk of his focus went to. Sidestepping and weaving around him, i narrowly avoided an onslaught of Gentle Fist blows.
He was gradually growing frustrated, striking especially hard and favoring his right a bit too much. I had an idea. Lower level Hyuuga seemingly had a glaring weakness: their lack of experience when using their legs. The style focused on striking with ones hands, but without proper experience, speed, and reaction time, maybe Momoku's legs would be a weak point. I swayed out of the way of the next blow and swept at his legs with my right leg.
Jackpot. He tried to step away as soon as he saw the move, but he couldn't quite avoid it. His legs buckled as his face lowered. My right, already primed for a follow up, struck cleanly at his cheek, sending him skidding backwards. Hayate cheered amidst the stunned silence. What a dork.
Momoku did not fall over, recovering much quicker than I expected he would from that kind of blow. Gai was right about my offense. Almost immediately, he stepped in. I tried to leap back, but his arm jabbed faster than I could get away. I braced for impending pain, but it didn't come. The boy had stopped his blow right before it connected. Thank god. I gave him an appreciative, yet wobbly smile in return. Chivalry was not, in fact, dead!
"I give up, Sensei." I said, turning to Hayashi-sensei. We exchanged the seal of conciliation, where Momoku nodded respectfully, "It was a magnificent duel, Uchiha-san." He said formally. 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, I would have to wait to go to the nurse's office after the matches. My arm still ached quite a bit, but it was more like a dull ache. Training today was going to suck.
"You were pretty fast there, Daisuke," Hayate commented. He looked at me expectantly for an answer, "I guess so," I drawled, "I train with a friend pretty often, and speed is a big part of our training, to be honest." I replied before pausing to think. Maybe Hayate could join us. "Maybe you could join in sometime," I suggested.
"Sure, I don't see why not." Hayate responded with a shrug. He was trying to sound nonchalant, but I could see his poorly-hidden anticipation for the prospect of getting stronger. "Can I bring my bokken?" he asked. "Probably, but remember we aren't only sparring. The training's reaaally hard, so I'm not sure if you can handle it…" I answered, amusement and false concern ever present in my tone. He punched me in the shoulder, "Of course I can handle some stupid training," he defended, a hand over his chest.
I interrupted our banter. "By the way, Hayate. My birthday is tomorrow. We are cutting training early to celebrate after the academy. Come 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. I glanced at him to see him glaring at me, "Your birthday's tomorrow… and you tell me now?" he bit out. I looked away sheepishly, "Uh… I forgot?" I attempted to justify myself. A vein appeared on his forehead, "About what? Your birthday?!" he demanded, before sighing, "Fine, I'll come. Don't blame me for an uninspired gift…" he muttered. I slapped his shoulder, "No worries! Tomorrow we train, and then we'll go to my house, okay?." I informed him. He nodded, before going back to watching the matches and commenting here and there.
The matches went on, and nothing noteworthy really happened. 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 very reckless with 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 spewed quite the 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, was something I had never seen before. It wasn't conventional from what I could tell, her style focusing on grabs and counter attacks. 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 still didn't talk to me, even though we sat together. It had been months. Was she mad at me, or something? Maybe I left a bit of a bad first impression because I was beeing a brat, but come on, surely it didn't matter.
What mattered, in fact, 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, which meant I was beyond excited. With my birthday party, I could almost forget about the impending 3rd Great Shinobi War. Judging by my rough estimate of time I had set, it would break out before long.
Despite its inevitability, I still held on to hope that maybe it wouldn't break out.
—-
End 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.
On a side note, some of you may notice the One Piece reference. I thought it would be funny, there's no other reason for it.
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.
**** Post-edit notes: Hi Hi! What's good! For any new readers, you are reading a much better chapter! For any old readers who decided to check out the changes made, I'll give you a brief summary: lines and internal monologue are a bit less awkward, especially lines in dialogue between two characters. Hazuki's lines were changed to be a bit more fitting to her character, and Hayate's were as well. A few new lines were added just to add a bit more humor (probably not too funny). Plot, once again, is unchanged, but I made Anko and Daisuke's brief dialogue and subsequent monologues about her hopefully less cringe. I found myself cringing at the old ones quite a bit. Hope you guys enjoy.