8 Chapter 8: A Sight to Behold

"Alright everyone, I'm glad everyone had a great vacation but now it's time for the new year to start and I hope you all are ready for it." Haruki sensei had a good time listening to all the fun things that his students had got up to during the summer. Most of the clan kids simply complained about being forced to do training and some bragged about learning a cool jutsu with a promise to show it to their friends during break time. "This year we are going to start the chakra training and if you guys work hard for it, we might end up learning a new jutsu!" As he expected, the children immediately started to cheer at the thought of learning ninja magic. 

"Alright settle down, for now its history lesson!" que the exhausted sigh of a room full of children. The lesson went as it always went, clearly most of them had not done any reading during the summer including the clan kids. This was even more true for the civilian students but there were always expectations, the competitive and hard working students, both clannad and clanless, were well prepared including Atsuki which Haruki credited to Shin's persistence.

After the lesson Haruki went to enjoy his free time at the staff room. He looked out and saw the trees turning yellow. It was the start of September and the chill of autumn was herald by the cool breeze and the scuttling of the squirrels from one tree to the next, burying their sweet treasures before the cold of winter. As Haruki wanted the dancing autumn leaving, his mind somehow drifted to the dancing flames of a barbeque grill and the sizelling smell of Akchemichi meat and the enchanted smile of a dark blue harried woman as she elegantly stuffed her mouth with hot grilled meat. The oil glistening her pink lips, he gulped as they parted to facilitate another flurry of cooked meat.

"Thinking about your girlfriend?" a small voice seeped into his mind "Yah…" he distractedly agrees before snapping back to reality. "What?" he looked down to find a smirking boy a bored cat looking up. "Shin!? W-what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?" the flustered man inquired. "Meh, its just maths." the boy shrugged. "Shin you can't just skip a class!" The man scolded. "It's fine sensei, I just have a question. You can go back to thinking about your girlfriend after that." "I-I was not! A-and s-she's not my G-g-girlfriend!" the man kept stuttering while trying to reign in his wandering mind with a cough "Ahem, what do you want to ask Shin?"

"I want to know how to use one-handed seals." the boy asked his question which surprised Haruki to say the least. "Where did you learn about one-handed seals?" He inquired while scrutinizing the boy. "I didn't. Ninja's mostly hold one handed weapons but they cant use jutsus without both hands. It made me think, what if they Can use only one hand for seals? I asked my mother and she affirmed my hypothesis but said that she doesn't know how to use them so I asked you."

He studied the boy and found no indications of it being a lie. "That's true, some ninjas can use single hand seals but they are very rare and this is a very advanced technique and not taught in the academy" "What if I say pretty please?" The boy looked at the man with wide eyes and a sobbing expression, copied exactly by the cat on his shoulders. Haruki was impressed by his student and even more so the cat, how did it even make such a cute expression towards him when it usually only hissed at him.

"No can do Shin." Haruki however remained unmoved, "You should just focus on getting the hang of your studies. Besides, even most jonin are not able to accomplish this. You should just focus on your studies as I recall giving you a jutsu scroll at your insistence, any progress with that?" Haruki lectured. "Oh, I already know the 3 basic ninjutsu." "Really" Haruki raised his eyebrow is a disbelieving gaze. "Meow ^~^" affirmed the cat.

Shin immediately went through the seals and in a puff of smoke a red nosed man with a feathered green cap stood before Haruki. The teacher looked carefully before admitting his admiration "Well done Shin! I'm impressed, did you really learn all three of them?" He asked. "Yuip." Shin replied as he appeared through another puff of smoke, "It was hard getting started since we didn't have anyone to train us but it was easy after we had some help from my mother." The boy admitted. "Us? I'm guessing Atsuki can do this too then?" "Yuip!"

"Well I'm impressed indeed, many can't even learn these justus in 4 fours and you guys did it in 3 months." Haruki didn't doubt Shin's claims, he knew the boy well enough and the transformation he did see was flawless. "Thank you sensei, so can you help me with one-handed seals?" The boy pleaded with wide eyes, the cat on his shoulders mimicking his wide eyes surprising the man once more 'I didn't think it could make that face. It's usually only hisses at me whenever I try to pet it.' the man thought as the cat in question let out a small "Meow >_<"< p>

In the end it was useless, "*sigh* Shin it's not that I don't want to but that I can't. It requires a very high level of chakra control and a high understanding of Jutsu." Haruki felt a pang of sadness looking at Shin's dejected face and some simple old fashioned stab in the heart from the disdain that Pineapple looked at him with. "Well can I atleast get some scrolls about fuinjutsu?" The boy asked in a sad voice to which Haruki immediately agreed.

The two parted ways as Haruki sighed in relief, it only lasted for a moment though as his eyes soon gained a serious tone 'I should maybe consult with Lord Hokage about this, Shin is improving at an alarming rate.' Haruki pondered as he continued towards the staffroom. 'He was in the middle of the class when he joined and now he's at the top and learned 3 jutsu in just 3 months, the same is true with Atsuki too.' The man smiled as he entered the classroom and greeted his fellow colleagues 'Heh, I might have 2 geniuses on my hand.'

"Hey Kouki sensei." he called the man sitting next to him, "Want to make another bet?" Haruki smirked. "Bet? Ahaha Haruki sensei, are you sure? Remember what happened last time?" the man in question gave a hearty laugh which immediately soured Haruki's face. "You want it or not?" He snapped. "Alright alright, who says no to free money, what's the bet?" The man agreed, causing Haruki to grin wildly.

............…

"Alright everyone, that's the end of the class. Yukia, good job on getting the highest score, everyone else, do better next time alright?" with these words, Haruki sensei left the class and the room gradually started to resemble a fish market as children jibed and taunted all the while laughing in good fun. Among these voices, one carried a certain pull as the rest started to hush down in anticipation.

Yukia got up from her seat at the front and walked to the back, standing a black haired boy who silently played with a back furry cat while another boy wearing a green shirt and a spiky, almost black, dark purple haired boy constantly talked about various things that the girl had no interest in. "Hey Shin, I hear you only got 70 points in the test?" She spoke with a sad(fake) experasion. "The was so easy, I got a full 100." she smirked at him while holding up her test, "If you ask me, maybe I'll consider coaching you out of my goodwill since we're classmates. Everyone knows history is your weak subject." her words laden with mockery as the classmates around them looked on with interest.

Shin simply looked up at the girl and spoke "No, I am fine." He rose up and Pineapple jumped to his shoulder, "Though if you ever want coaching in any other subject, you can ask me and maybe I'll consider. Everyone knows how hard you try to catch up to me but always seem to fail, again and again and again." Shin drew closer to her as he spoke until he was inches away. "Consider it my goodwill as a fellow classmate." Shin walked down and left with a grinning Atsuki following behind.

............…

"Come on dad! We're going to be late!" a small boy dragged his father as the man heaved and pulled his fat belly, trying to run as fast as he could but only succeeding in reaching a normal man's walking speed. "Relax will you!" The man wiped his sweat with an embroidered handkerchief, "The event doesn't start for 2 more hours!" He tried and failed to reason with the boy. "But the seats would be taken! We have to hurry!" The boy just ran into the crowd as the fat man followed behind.

Shin observed the festive sights, people from all over the continent had arrived in Konoha, he saw many exotic peoples wearing their traditional clothes. He observed the endless stream of people and saw countless [Spy] hidden amongst the crowds. The village had opened its gates today to many important individuals from the surrounding nations for the Chunin exams finals and everyone had been quick to take this opportunity to sneek a peak at the strongest of the ninja villages.

Looking at the shear number of the [Spy] titles, Shin worried how Konoha had not fallen yet, Shin had counted at least a dozen hidden as merchants or nobles, not to mention the dozen other ninja that didn't have that title but simply belonged to different villages. Shin looked around and immediately realized why Konoha was so confident,

[Chunin of Konoha]

[Chunin of Konoha]

[Chunin of Konoha]

[Chunin of Konoha(Anbu)]

[Chunin of Konoha]

[Chunin of Konoha(Anbu)]

'So many' Shin thought, 'It's like they are hidden in the shadow of every tree in Konoha. I know it's not like that but it sure feels like that. I wonder how many of the foreign spies will get caught.' Shin saw a gust of wind carry a few leaves from the side of the road and fly them through the air and towards the huge stadium that was the center of activity.

[Jonin of Konoha]

Shin looked all around him and contemplated 'Ninja huh.' "Shin!" The boy was woken from his stupor as he looked back. Atsuki walked towards him, holding 4 sticks of barbeque in each hand. "Let's go! All the seats are going to be taken!" He handed over 4 sticks to Shin and dragged the boy into the stadium with a huge smile. Shin had never seen him smile so widely before, 'He's actually acting his age.' Shin thought before biting into the Barbeque and running to catch up to Atsuki, "Wait up!"

The duo finally made it to the sitting area and were luckily able to find a place in the middle before the whole place became packed with excitement. It was not everyday that ordinary people got to see Ninja in action without having to worry about their lives and not to mention the Genins are especially instructed to make a show out of it and use as many flashy moves as they want. Shin would be lying if he said that he was not looking forward to the show after all, it would be the first time that he saw real ninjas fight.

The show soon began and the first fight was between an Uchiha and a Ninja from Kumo. As soon as the fight started, both of them casted their first jutsu; the Uchiha spewed a giant ball of fire that instantly drew the awes of the crowd but the Kumo ninja started to have lightening dance around him and easily dodged the attack and with a short sword he started a flurry of attacks that the Uchiha dodged with great finesse. The fight lingered for a while before the Kumo ninja finally drew back and cast a justsu that sent lightning hurling towards the Uchiha who instead of dodging simply sprang forward. The crowd was left confused as the lightning attack seemed to miss the Uchiha by a large margin and the Uchiha simply knocked the Kumo ninja down, leaving many confused.

"Shin, what happened?" Atsuki asked him with a confused look. "I bet he got caught in a genjutsu, the Uchiha are rather famed for that, you know." "I know, but when did he cast it? I didn't even see any hand signs." Atsuki remained confused. "Who knows." Shin shrugged, "I did hear that Uchiha can cast powerful genjutsu with just a glance." "No way!" Atsuki shuddered at the revelation, indeed it was a frightening thought and exactly what made the Uchiha such fearsome opponents since you can't even look at them properly without spelling your defeat. 'Not that I'll have to worry about that much after a couple of years anyway.' Shin remained unfazed and continued to look forward to the next fight.

The next fight was between a Hyuga and a sand ninja, the Hyuga was Level 32 and the sand ninja was Level 33 so Shin thought it was going to be a cose battle but still wagered on the Hyuga like everyone else. To say he was surprised would be an understatement, the fight was over within a minute. The Hyuga was a weapons expert and used them to keep the sand Ninja moving and unable to cast any jutsu but the sand ninja was skilled and disappeared into the ground nonetheless and that was exactly what sealed his fate.

The Hyuga suddenly attacked the ground, drawing the sand ninja out and simply stepped closer, what followed next was the most deadly and elegant show of Hyuga taijutsu that Shin had ever seen. The sand Ninja was an empty piece of stone and the Hyuga was a sculpture, his every movement of wrist, every stroke, every breath was practiced and structured. "This is not taijutsu…" Shin unknowingly muttered garning a confused look from Atsuki, "...This is art." his eyes fixed upon the solitary figure standing in the arena.