A/N: I thought Tanya's time at the academy would fit into a single chapter. I do not know why I thought that. Anyway, let me know if you want to see one more right away or if we should go back to the present for now!

Tanya Hiden: A Young Woman's Academy Enrollment

October 12, 9 years BPI

"Tanya?" Iruka called for me and knocked on the door to my bedroom. "Are you awake?"

Pausing my morning exercises got up, opened the door, and put my arms behind my back while looking up to him.

"I am," I affirmed. A glance at the dinner table told me he had prepared two bowls of cereal. "And I would like to reiterate that, while I appreciate it, you don't need to always make breakfast for me. You are already busy as it is."

"Ah, c'mon, what kind of older brother doesn't take care of his sister? Besides, Making one or two is hardly an effort."

I waited until he turned around so he wouldn't see me roll my eyes. By the time I had climbed on my chair, he had already poured in the milk and sat down across from me. Limiting my sigh to a thought, I began to eat. The bowl contained no nuts, no fruits, no bran. It almost exclusively consisted of sickeningly sweet granola mixed with an almost hidden, pathetic amount of oatmeal, as if someone was trying to say: 'See? I put healthy stuff in there.' In other words, just the kind of cereal you would expect a twelve-year-old like my brother to make. I knew that we did not yet have full access to our inheritance, but we didn't have to count every ryō either. Some dried berries, preferably some slightly sourish ones, or sunflower seeds would not strain our budget.

"By the way," Iruka spoke again after we were done, "I'm not going on a mission today, but I'm going to meet up with my team for training. Before I go, do you want me to drop you off at the library, like usual?"

"Actually, I wanted to request that you take me with you."

Iruka blinked in surprise.

"You… want to come with me to the training field?"

"Yes, I wish to watch," I confirmed. While going to the library again was my best shot at meeting Mr. Hiro again, I doubted that he went there daily. After all, yesterday had been the first time I had seen him there. And while I, due to how different it was from mana, was not yet very good at differentiating chakra signatures, I certainly would have recognized his large amount.

"I promise that I will be quiet while doing so," I added.

"Hey, I'm definitely not saying no to spending more time with you! I'm sure the others will be okay with it!"

"Thank you, Brother."

We went outside and I climbed on his back. Not exactly my favorite mode of travel, but if I had to get carried, piggyback was probably one of the more dignified alternatives.

As always when he carried me, Iruka didn't bother taking the road, jumping over the rooftops instead. While not exactly flying, it was still a marvelous technique that gave the user great freedom of movement. I couldn't replicate the formula from just sensing his chakra movement yet - though the wall-walking Mr. Hiro had shown me yesterday did explain some aspects - but just seeing it made already clear what great utility this could offer. It was probably how the shinobi moved through the dense forest that surrounded the village, jumping from branch to branch. I could also feel that by now, my chakra reserves had surpassed my brother's. Was he slacking on his training?

Either way, while it was slightly embarrassing to admit, riding my brother back while he was soaring through the air like this was a feeling I found to be enjoyable. It was no flight of course, just big jumps, so the intervals were short, but the trained precision with which even a child was almost absent-mindedly utilizing this mode of transportation had a certain cathartic elegance to it.

I had yet to figure out whether sustained flight was something that could be done with chakra. Unlike mana, which on its own had been a mainly dormant form of energy, chakra had properties of its own even before applying a formula to it. Like the adhesive force it could create when concentrated in certain body parts. In other words, while also being a usable catalyst for magic, chakra was fundamentally different from mana. Body enhancement was no big deal - in fact, it was easier than with mana - but while I was still convinced that the spell formulas I knew from my second life could be converted into Ninjutsu, I needed to learn the fundamentals before I could begin doing so.

Eventually, we reached the gates of the village, and the training field five shortly after. Two other kids, both slightly older than Iruka, were already waiting at the fence. Judging by the descriptions I had been given, those had to be his teammates.

"No need to rush, Tekuno-sensei seems to be late," the girl called as soon as she saw him approach. It took a bit longer until she also noticed me.

"Huh? Who's that? Wait, are you Tanya? Ohmygoshyou'readorable!"

"Yeah, she asked if she could watch today," Iruka answered while I did my best to show no reaction to Nuri's outburst, quietly glad that she refrained from patting my head or something like that. "I told you how much becoming a ninja means to her. Is that cool with you two?"

"Cool?" the depressed-looking boy asked. "Training will be bad enough, we can't also babysit during that!"

"No such action will be necessary," I chimed in. "I will merely sit quietly at the side and observe. I can assure you that there will be no disturbances from my side, so you will be able to train in peace."

Nemuru blinked a couple of times before leaning closer to Iruka.

"Are you sure she's your sister?"

"Of course, why wouldn't she?"

"Uhh… didn't you hear her just now? Besides, her hair is…"

"Alright, you can come in!" a new voice interrupted him, and a burly man appeared on the other side of the fence gate.

"Tekuno-sensei? I thought you were late, why didn't you say anything?"

"I was preparing some things for your training. You better be ready!" he stated with a grin.

After a quick explanation, Tekuno also was fine with me watching. No one voiced any further objections to my presence, although Nuri claimed she might get distracted looking for me. The Jōnin-sensei, however, assured her with a chuckle that she would neither have the time nor nerves to do so.

I was seated at the edge of the field where the forest began. This was, in fact, perfect for what I had in mind since I didn't actually care about watching. I simply needed to test some things and needed to be somewhere where I wouldn't break things doing so. I waited for a bit, acting as if I was watching while the trio began to struggle through some kind of obstacle course their sensei had prepared for them.

It didn't take long until everyone accepted that I was indeed just going to quietly sit on the sidelines and stopped paying attention to me. Yesterday, while attempting the wall-walking exercise Mr. Hiro had shown me, I noticed that the repulsive force when using too much chakra was quite strong (maybe I should buy a poster or something so I could cover the crack in my wall), so I wanted to try some things.

First, in order to have a reference, I did a standing long jump with just body enhancement. About four meters. Next, I concentrated a lot of chakra in my soles while doing it, and the results were immediate. My small body got catapulted forward, but I lost control and ended up tumbling over the ground. I quickly sat up when Tekuno looked in my direction. If he noticed that I was sitting at a different tree now he ignored it. Either way, while what I just did could be useful with a bit more body control, I was indeed still missing something. After all, there was no way Iruka was carefully calculating each jump. That was something I would need to figure out, but for now, it was time for the next test.

Once no eyes were on me again, I stood up. This time, I gathered the chakra in my fist and hit the tree as strong as I could. Some bark broke off while my hand remained unharmed. I could clearly feel how the repulsive force had acted, although the damage on the wood had been lower than I had expected. Harmful to an ordinary human, sure, but it wasn't like I was the only one to use body enhancement.

As the day went on I kept experimenting, but the results remained lackluster. I had no doubt that I was onto something, but it once again felt like I was missing a crucial piece of information. My lunch consisted of some store-bought convenience dish, and by the time the evening rolled around, a very exhausted-looking brother made his way towards me. The training course hadn't looked that demanding to me, but I hadn't paid too close attention, so maybe I had overlooked something.

"I take it you are done?"

"Yeah… phew… um, do you mind if we walk back?"

"I do not," I affirmed and stood up. Walking normally made the way obviously a bit longer and so, the sun was already setting by the time we reached the village. Iruka guided me to a little Ramen stand his Jōnin-sensei had recommended to him. A four-year-old eating an entire bowl of ramen might sound like much, but my body had a surprising demand for calories. Chakra probably had something to do with it.

Once we returned home I made my way to my bedroom for some final exercises before going to bed. It was a bit early, but my young body still required a lot of sleep. However, before I could do so, Iruka stopped me.

"T-Tanya…," he stammered, making me turn around. He was holding what seemed to be a letter. "I-it's a message from the Hokage! It says you're getting a special permit and will be allowed to enter the academy with the next school year!"

April 6, 8 years BPI

The past half year had gone by in a fly. I didn't know what had prompted the Hokage to grant me special permission, but thinking back, the only possible explanation was that Mr. Hiro had put in a good word for me. That was the only variable, after all. It seemed that he was an even bigger figure than I had anticipated, maybe an advisor? Either way, I had to thank him on the next chance I got. A shame I hadn't encountered him since.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay by yourself?" Iruka inquired one more time.

"Yes, there is no need for you to worry, brother," I assured him as I stepped through the gates of the academy grounds.

"Okay, then… good luck! By the time you graduate, I'll be a Chūnin!"

"May I ask why you are saying it like that? You're aware I'll still be coming home every day after class, right?"

"Well, yeah, but… it's still a big day for you!"

"I guess it is, yes."

With the goodbyes over I entered the building. It wasn't big for a school, but considering that they only had one class per year, it made sense. More than one strange glance was cast in my direction, with multiple - predominately female - students asking me whether I was lost or if they could help me. However, I knew where I needed to go, so I politely declined.

I met with a woman with curly black hair and thin glasses who introduced herself as Suzume. Most of our talk consisted of standard orientation, and that she, despite my special permit, expected me to work diligently. It was a good sign that the academy put so much emphasis on diligence, so I wouldn't complain about it.

Things got a bit noisy when I entered the classroom. I had expected confusion, after all, I was notably younger than the rest. I had not expected one of the boys, after I calmly explained my presence, to accuse me of lying and lash out. The teacher wasn't there yet so I elected it the best course of action to avoid trouble and evaded when he tried to grab my shirt, which only seemed to anger him further. Concentrating chakra on my soles I jumped over his next attempt, twisted my body in the air, and stuck myself to the wall high up in a crouched position. I still couldn't do the more complex acrobatic maneuvers but after half a year of training, something like this was no issue, even without the ability to change course mid-air.

The boy was staring at me with wide eyes, slowly taking a few steps back. The few seconds of calm had apparently allowed him to cool down and realize how rashly he had acted, which he now regretted. In that case, there was no reason to make it a bigger deal than it needed to be. I let myself fall and sat back down at my table, quiet murmuring spread throughout the classroom while I did. Not a good start for him, he had immediately outed himself as a troublemaker. I pondered whether I should introduce myself to him to show I was willing to put it all behind me, but the teacher entered and called for order.

It was a young man, maybe eighteen or so, who introduced himself as Mizuki. The lesson consisted mainly of introductory stuff like a brief history of the village and shinobi as well as basic knowledge about chakra. I knew all of it already, but I still paid close attention in case I had missed something.

When the break rolled around I wanted to use the opportunity to finally sort out things with the boy - roll call revealed he was called Jaku - but he ran away. He was seemingly too embarrassed to confront me after his outburst, which was fine with me.

After the break, Suzume was next. She explained to us the five types of ninja techniques: Taijutsu, which was basically martial arts. Bukijutsu, or weapon fighting. Genjutsu, spells of the illusion category. Ninjutsu, the broadest category, included more or less every type of spell that was not a Genjutsu. And finally Kekkei Genkai, a category that included every technique that could not be learned, only inherited through blood.

The fact that Kekkei Genkai existed meant I had another disadvantage to overcome since the Umino family didn't have one. I would need to find a way to compensate for that.

April 8, 8 years BPI

Two days later, Jaku was still avoiding me, which was a bit odd. Personally, I didn't care. He didn't have a clan name, so there was little value in socializing with him. In other words, no reason to rush things from my side. But it didn't exactly speak well of his character to have so little resolve, especially considering the kind of profession he chose for himself.

Meanwhile, I was approached by a group of girls during the break. My hopes of a constructive conversation were unfortunately quickly shattered, as they primarily wanted to gush over how 'adorable' I was. Why would someone who - deliberately, I might add - had chosen to attend a place like this care about something like that?

"Are you from a clan?" one of them suddenly asked.

"Both my parents were shinobi, but they weren't part of a clan, no," I answered truthfully. Speaking of, judging by the names, there wasn't a single clan child in my class. Odd.

"Did they teach you?"

"They had no chance, they died during the Ninetails' attack."

The girls' eyes grew wide and they dropped the topic. A shame, really, it had seemed like we were finally about to talk about something relevant - why else would they bring up whether my parents had taught me - but no matter my attempts, they were adamant about changing the subject.

April 10, 8 years BPI

A week filled with theory, history, and the like followed. The ability to read and write was expected, which made me wonder what the literacy rate in this world was. Despite varying degrees of advancement in technology, the society was still feudal, after all. I also had been able to have some more light conversations with my classmates, mainly with the female ones, though nothing of value came of it still. Topics were mostly my age and loads of questions related to it.

The lessons didn't cover anything I didn't already know. Maybe that was the reason why there were no clan children in my class? Would they join later? Either way, we finally had a practical lesson. Outside the building, Mizuki gave a quick demonstration of how to mold chakra before sticking a leaf to his forehead. He explained the workings behind this trick and told us we would from now on do this exercise daily. A good portion of the first year's schedule would be reserved for such exercises. Months were planned for this. Had there been a misunderstanding? Had I been put into some sort of catch-up class due to my young age?

I looked at my classmates' attempts at molding chakra, most of which looked more like they were constipated rather than feeling their energies. This was not even close to the academy standards Mr. Hiro had hinted at. This had to be a mistake.

"Mizuki-sensei?" I asked and stepped forth.

"Hm? Oh, you're… whatever, what is it?"

I pushed my hair to the side and proceeded to stick the leaf to my forehead, tilting my head down a little to show it was properly stuck.

"Would it be possible for me to receive more advanced lessons ahead of schedule?"

He raised an eyebrow before squatting down, grabbing the leaf at the stem.

"Hold it," he ordered and yanked. The stem tore, but the rest of the leaf remained glued to my skin.

"Huh," he commented. "And just because of that, you think you…"

He paused and leaned a bit to the side, looking around the corner of the academy building.

"Ever learned Taijutsu, twerp?"

"I am not familiar with the style that is taught at the academy, but I do have learned a bit," I answered truthfully. Close-quarter combat had been a fixed part of the curriculum at both the Cadet School and the Officer Cadet School back in the Empire, even for mages, and due to body enhancement spells, I had been quite good at it. I didn't know if it would suffice for shinobi standards, but there was only one way to find out. I should avoid the name of the fighting style though, if I said something too foreign-sounding it might raise some suspicions.

"Oh? Well then, let's see about that. Everyone! Continue the exercise, I'll be back in a minute!"

Mizuki led me around the academy building onto a courtyard, one that sported significantly less green than the area around the tree where my classmates were. Rings were drawn onto the ground, and what seemed to be another class was conducting sparring matches in pairs of two.

"Wait here," he ordered me and walked over to this class's teacher, a notably older man with a wide frame and a short goatee. The two talked for a bit, with Mizuki pointing in my direction and the other man looking at me with wide eyes.

"Are you sure about this, Mizuki?" I could finally hear the other one say. "I get that you're still new as a teacher and don't want to look too lax, but this is a bit…"

"It has nothing to do with that," Mizuki responded with a stern face. "There are certain standards to be upheld."

"Hm… well, it's your class, but… hah, fine. Let's see… Hana!"

From the crowd of kids not currently in the ring emerged a girl with brown hair in a bob cut and long, triangular shapes painted on her cheeks.

"Yes, Daikoku-sensei?"

"Come here. And you guys, clear the ring for a moment."

The girl approached, and Mizuki also signed for me to come over. Upon seeing me, Hana squealed for just a second before holding her hand in front of her mouth and looking back at her teacher.

"To put it simply: Hana, this is Tanya. You two will have a quick spar."

Confused, Hana looked at me, back at her teacher, and back at me again.

"Are you in trouble?" she whispered in my direction. "Is he angry with you?"

"No, I asked for this," I answered, unsure how she had jumped to that conclusion. Well, I hadn't asked for exactly this, but I could only assume that this was about my request for advanced lessons.

"Well, um, sorry for making this awkward," Hana apologized as we entered the ring. "It's just… no, I need to stop thinking like that! You wouldn't be here if you couldn't do it! Being a ninja has nothing to do with age!"

True, that's kinda the issue, even if it's currently working in my favor.

"Ahem. Anyway, I'm Hana Inuzuka, second year."

"Tanya Umino, first year. A pleasure to meet you."

Inuzuka, I recalled from what I had read. They are a major shinobi clan known to fight together with their dogs. She doesn't seem to have one yet though. Or it's just somewhere else during class.

"Just to make this clear," Mizuki said as he stepped next to us, "this is supposed to be a… well… test for Tanya. So don't you hold back on her!"

Hana raised an eyebrow to his statement, but went in position, as did I.

"Do you know the traditional greeting?"

I raised an eyebrow. Hadn't we introduced each other already?

"Yeah, guess you wouldn't. Here, hold your fingers like this."

She held her right hand up, stretching her middle and index finger out. I copied.

"Yes, like that. That is the 'Seal of Confrontation'. It's a sign of respect to show that we acknowledge each other as equals. Then, when the spar is over, we make the 'Seal of Reconciliation'. It's basically the same, but we interlock our fingers with each other to show that despite facing each other as opponents, we are still comrades."

I gave her a confirming nod and we readied ourselves.

"Huh, I don't recognize that stance," she mused. "What style are you using?"

"I don't think it has a name," I lied as I tried to estimate my opponent. I could feel her chakra surpassing Iruka's, although I still had more.

But that was about the only advantage I held. Hana was easily twice my height, and while her jacket hid her frame, it was no hard guess that she had muscle mass to boot. She was a clan child, so she obviously had started training long before entering the academy, probably as soon as she could walk. And on top of that, she was an Inuzuka. Her clan was known for their Taijutsu skills, and Mizuki had just told her to not hold back.

Yes, this was much more like I had expected it. I knew there had been a misunderstanding! Finally, the academy felt like a place where I could get on the path of acquiring the strength necessary to overcome Being X's minions! Finally, I could make progress!

I couldn't stop myself from smiling in anticipation. Still, I couldn't allow my thoughts to distract me. It was clear that Mizuki wanted to be one hundred percent sure I was ready before allowing me to advance, so I needed to perform. With her monologue about acknowledging each other as equals, Hana had all but stated that she had no intentions of considering our age differences, so I couldn't allow myself to pull any punches here. Her physical superiority very likely also extended to her stamina, so if I wanted to have any chance, I needed to go all-out from the start.

"Go!"

Daikoku gave the signal and I instantly enhanced my muscles to the maximum, focused chakra in my soles to gain a burst of speed, ducked in anticipation of Hana's attack - the one factor where my size gave me an edge - and then concentrated as much chakra as I could in my right hand.

Izumi watched as the two girls faced each other. The whole situation was kind of bizarre to her. Who was this adorable little girl? She couldn't be older than maybe three or four years old. Why would the teachers make her fight a second-year? Was she a student? But even if, what was the point of this? Clearly, she wasn't the only one who was confused, pretty much everyone around her was murmuring.

Then, the girl began to sport a grin so wide that it almost looked like it sliced her face in half. A shudder ran down Izumi's back. As adorable as the little girl was, this grin was eerie and also reminded her of something, though she couldn't clearly pin it.

Then, their teacher gave them the go. A moment later, it was over. Izumi couldn't even tell what had happened, it was so fast that she would have needed to use her Sharingan to properly see it. All she knew was that suddenly, the girl stood before Hana, ducking under her outstretched arm, the tiny fist buried deep in her torso, far deeper than should have been possible considering where her ribcage should be.

For a few seconds, the yard fell completely quiet. Even the teachers seemed to be holding their breaths. The two girls stumbled apart from each other and Hana began to gasp for air. The golden-haired girl stood and just stared in confusion as the older girl fell to her knees, still trying - and failing - to take a functioning breath. A spasm shook Hana's body, then, she began coughing up blood and collapsed.