Chapter 10 - Class Introductions
Konohagakure - 32nd Year of Founding, Early Spring
Shinobi Academy
When he entered the classroom, he saw a few had already arrived before him. There were about fifteen or so children occupying the benches. Izuna felt their gaze immediately fall on him, but he was used to it, so he ignored them, as he made his way towards the end of the classroom, where the seat next to the window remained unoccupied, while Naori took the seat beside him.
Izuna was deep in thought as he gazed out the window, in the direction of the Hokage building, frowning. He had known the Third Hokage had learnt the Kinjutsu, 'Talk no jutsu' but he hadn't expected it to be so powerful first hand.
Its ability to influence children is too strong, one only needs to look at the case with Orochimaru to see how dangerous it can be if it falls into the wrong hands. If it weren't for Lord Third teaching Naruto this forbidden technique, who is to say what would have happened.
Izuna couldn't help but sigh, wondering if one day he too could learn this forbidden technique, if so he wasn't sure how he would even go about it, it's not like he can send a mission request or take a course at the academy.
"What's with that look?" Naori asked, pinching his waist.
"Hmm?" he replied, still gazing out the window.
"Don't ignore me." she said with a pout.
Lazily tearing his gaze from the window, he batted his eyes at her, as he put on his best puppy dog expression.
"A hundred apologies, please find it in your heart to forgive me, Lady Naori." Izuna replied in mock servility.
Which made her lips curl up in satisfaction. "I suppose I can forgive you this time, but you have to buy me dango on the way home."
Izuna gave a feigned look of shock, grasping his chest in mock pain, before raising a finger at her accusingly. "My mother warned me about girls like you, last time I took you for dango, you spent all my pocket money."
She stuck her tongue out playfully, amusement visible in her dark orbs. "Bleh, you should be honoured to spend your money on your little sister."
His brow quirked up in amusement. "Oh? Now you're my little sister, it was only yesterday when a certain someone got embarrassed when I called her that."
A tinge of red flashed across her cheeks, before she replied assuredly, "That was then, this is now."
"Hoh? So you won't mind when I call you little sister in front of uncle?" He asked with a smirk.
"So you are saying you don't mind buying dango tomorrow as well?" she asked with a frown.
"Tch, such a greedy girl, I am not made out of money." Izuna said scathingly, making a show of his empty pockets.
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the classroom door being flung open, and their teacher entered the room, causing Izuna's eyes to widen in recognition.
"Listen up brats, I will be your class teacher for this year." his harsh gaze scanned the rows of seats filled with students. "We will start with a self introduction, I am Satoshi Musashi, and I am a Tokubetsu Jōnin, I got these from a Suna Jōnin in the war." he said, gesturing to his scarred visage.
"I dislike whiny little snot-nosed brats, funny I know considering I got assigned as a teacher to the academy, but who am I to question the Hokage, after all he seems to think that some of you may actually be worth something, and as for what I like? Hmm… I guess it would be a dead enemy." he finished, with a hint of bloodlust, causing some of the students to turn pale or shiver in fear, much to the teacher's disgust.
"Well enough about me, you Hyuga brat, introduce yourself." he said pointing at a student sitting in the front row.
"My name is Hiroto Hyuga, and I enjoy tea ceremonies and I dislike loud people, and my dream is to make my clan proud."
Satoshi muttered, "Not bad… You Akimichi boy."
The chubby boy nervously stood up, "My name is Chihiro Akimichi, I like cooking and dislike it when people waste food, and my dream is to open the best restaurant in Konoha."
"Okay, okay, you kid in the green shirt." he said lazily pointing at a kid.
"My name is Hayato Takinawa, I like fighting, and I want to defeat everyone in the academy before becoming Hokage." he said enthusiastically.
"You didn't mention what you dislike, wait you know what, it doesn't matter. Next!" Satoshi said, looking tired already.
"I am Bunji Akihiro, I don't have many dislikes or likes, but my dream is to become Hokage."
"Hey, I said I'm going to be Hokage first!" Hayato screamed.
"Stop fighting, the person who will become Hokage is me, Haru Sarutobi." said a loud boy, with monkey ears.
"Hey that's no fair, you Sarutobi already have a Hokage, I Daiki Shimura will become the next Hokage."
"Do you want to take this outside or are you afraid?"
"Afraid of you monkey? Pfft, to beat you, I'll only need thirty seconds."
The argument between the group of children arguing over who's going to be Hokage continued for quite some time, until one of them turned to the front of the classroom, to see the expressionless face upon the teacher's face, and in unison they cowed into their seats fearing retribution.
"As I was saying, I dislike whiny little snot nose brats, but I am a kind person, so I won't punish you this time, although as for next time, I might not be so kind." he said, causing some children to gulp in fear.
He then gestured with his hand to continue and a grey haired boy wearing a navy high collared shirt stood up, "My name is Naka Uchiha, and I like my clan, I dislike people who act like they're better than me and I will be the strongest Uchiha."
Izuna meanwhile was confused, did he know this person? The kid kept glaring at him all through his introduction.
The rest of the class finished introducing themselves, but he only half-heartedly paid attention, as he spied a particularly fascinating cloud on the horizon.
The class itself was composed of the supposed top thirty students who either scored the highest on the entrance exam, or were deemed the most promising candidates outside of the other nine hundred and thirty-one children in their year.
The composition consisted of 1 Senju, 3 Uchiha, 2 Hyuga, 2 Akimichi, 2 Sarutobi, 2 Nara, 2 Yamanaka, alongside 1 from the Aburame, Kurama, Shimura, Mitokado and Hatake clans alongside seven civilian background children inside the class.
Having a Tokubetsu Jōnin as a teacher had surprised him, although when he considered the fact that Konoha had been at "Peace" for the past fourteen years, they most likely had a surplus of manpower, and with war on the horizon, Izuna assumed the Hokage was trying to find and cultivate any talents early, rather than letting them languish under mediocrity.
Throughout his studies he had briefly encountered the Musashi clan, he knew it wasn't overly large, but it was similar to the Hatake clan in the fact it originated from a Samurai clan from the Land of Iron, who became Shinobi a few generations ago.
Satoshi Musashi himself, seemed intense, which was promising, his body spoke of the many battles he must have encountered in his life as a Shinobi, and his killing intent, while muted, clearly showed what sort of life he lived.
And to be honest, while his classmates are probably dreading having an old grouchy git as a teacher, he was much more glad that he didn't get some naive chunin, who probably got promoted doing a couple hundred D rank missions.
∞
After the bell rang out, signifying the end to their first day at the academy, Naori excitedly dragged a reluctant Izuna by the hand to a nearby popular dango shop.
The shop itself was a two-story building with green roofs jutting out, and a large entrance way draped in blue and white banners with dango imagery, leading to a sitting area with some wooden tables and chairs alongside a counter to order with an assortment of sweets behind the glass.
Izuna glanced around and saw that there were already a few adults sitting down eating their dango, alongside a small line from the counter, leading outside the shop of children who rushed from the academy.
Naori stood at the back of the line and grabbed his sleeve looking up at him with her puppy dog eyes, making him reluctantly hand her his wallet, gently placing it in her hands, hoping she wouldn't be too cruel.
But much to his distress, after ordering she returned carrying a large amount of dango between her fingers, and casually threw his wallet back to him, almost causing him to burst into tears, when he noticed his usually plump wallet was almost entirely emptied.
Izuna pocketed his wallet with a sigh, causing Naori to give him a cheeky smile as she handed him a few sticks of the dango, before looping her arm around his as they exited the store, and continuing to cling to him playfully the entire journey home.
∞
Konohagakure - 32nd Year of Founding, Mid-Spring
Shinobi Academy
A few weeks later
"Monkey boy, I am going to make you admit, I am better suited to being Hokage." Daiki announced, with his arms crossed in a haughty manner.
"Hahaha, you Hokage? Even Bunji's got a better chance than you."
"Hey! What do you mean by that." yelled a civilian boy from the sidelines.
"You don't only look like a monkey, you've got the brains of one." Daiki replied, cracking his knuckles.
"I'm going to enjoy shutting you up Shimura." Haru replied with a feral grin plastered across his face.
Meanwhile, from the sideline, Izuna lamented, this was the fifth battle to determine who will be Hokage, this week.
They made the seal of conciliation, then the spar started when Haru launching himself at Daiki, who was unable to move out of the way, before he got tackled to the ground, and a wrestling match ensued, as the rolled around in the dirt, trying to gain the upper hand, while also trying to land a decisive blow, culminating in Daiki kneeing Haru in the stomach before receiving a vicious headbutt to the face by the monkey boy.
They began to separated, as dazed, they unsteadily rose to their feet and fell into their rudimentary taijutsu forms, as a back and forth ensued, as they traded jabs, punches and kicks for the next few minutes, each of them unable to gain the upper hand, until a lull appeared when they separated.
"Hahaha, are you feeling it yet?" Haru asked between his hysteric giggles.
"Feeling what?" Daiki replied with a confused expression.
"The might of the Sarutobi clan!" he yelled without decorum as he threw a punch at Daiki's exposed stomach.
Daiki dropped to the ground with a groan clutching his stomach, while Haru turned his back, and began to show off for the crowd in a smug manner, before turning around to end the spar with the sign of reconciliation… only that didn't happen.
Instead, he received a sucker punch straight in the face and crumpled to the ground and got put in a choke hold, until he was forced to concede.
Satoshi watched the spar with a disinterested expression, before lazily gazing at his clipboard.
"Next spar Naka Uchiha vs Izuna Uchiha."
Naka walked towards the sparring ring like a man possessed, while Izuna sighed before also entering the ring.
Upon entering the ring, Izuna internally sighed, as expressively, he turned his gaze towards the crowd where the loud squeal of enthusiasm originated from, and what he beheld was the true curse of the Uchiha clan, fangirls.
Izuna turned his gaze towards his opponent, yet another clansman, who's apparent life goal is to beat him up and prove their superiority, although on second thoughts, perhaps that's not as bad as the terrifying fan girls.
It had really become a problem, when news of his test scores were announced a few days into the academy year, and the initial group of girls who he would notice stealing glances at him, or blushing when he passed, had drastically increased.
Walking through the corridors tended to feel like he was on some top secret mission, as he was met with murderous or envious glares of a good majority of the boys within the academy, while being bombarded with attention by a bunch of girls.
It sounds great on paper, right? Sadly, reality is far worse.
It was only when he heard his opponent yell at him, while giving a murderous glare, that he realised he had been ignoring him.
"Oh, sorry, did you say something?" Izuna asked sheepishly, scratching his head.
But sadly, this caused the grey haired boy to grow even angrier, as he could have sworn he saw a vein appear on his forehead, when he made the sign of confrontation.
"You're going down!" Naka said, glaring at him from across the ring.
"Okay?" Izuna said, giving him a confused look.
Naka instead of responding, rushed forward without hesitation and threw a haymaker, which Izuna effortlessly avoided by twisting his body, while using the momentum to deliver a roundhouse kick connecting with Naka's over extended back, sending him sprawling into the dirt.
Satoshi made a disappointed clicking noise with his tongue, before he said in a droll voice.
"Naka, is unable to continue, Izuna is the winner."
Izuna looked at his teacher in confusion, before returning his gaze to the boy, who was limping out of the ring, still wincing, as he clutched his stomach.
Wait, is that it? After all the posturing the past few weeks, and you're telling me all it took was one kick? I was expecting an exciting fight… how disappointing.