XXXXX- 12 YEARS BEFORE THE SECOND GREAT SHINOBI WAR- UCHIHA UZUME
She resisted the urge to look behind her again to catch a glimpse of him. Long black hair that reached his shoulders and a warm smile that made it look like he had no worries in the world. She already hated him. He was the reason she was here. The youngest of the Uchiha Clan head's four children, and the only one that would be expected to waste her time attending an academy to be taught by people unworthy to even clean her father's boots. She'd be the first Uchiha from the main family to enrol in this shinobi academy, and it was that bastard's fault.
She heard his laughter come from behind her. Loud, and easy as he entertained a group of civilians, asking about their lives and telling jokes. The joke hadn't even been funny, she thought to herself as the civilian born joined him in his loud laughter. She'd expected to be the first one here after arriving almost thirty minutes early- all so she could secure a seat at the back where she wouldn't be disturbed. Shockingly, she'd come in and found the classroom filled to the brim already. Most of them already knew each other, talking and trading information with ease. The opening ceremony, she suspected. She'd missed the event a day earlier, wanting to deny the reality for as long as she could.
"So what did you do next?" She heard him ask the Inuzuka from across the room, intruding into the conversation the dog boy had been having with the Nara girl next to him. She expected the Inuzuka to put him in his place- tell him to butt off and mind his business. Of course, her expectations weren't met. The Inuzuka turned back with a wide smile on his face and began projecting his voice to tell the story of him sneaking into the kennels and meeting his companion to the whole class.
"So Haimaru, Mom's nankeen was sleeping but his mate wasn't. And she was pissed to see me…" She tuned him out and began to go through her memories to find something to occupy her. She absently noted that she would have to come along with a scroll or something to read tomorrow. She thought of all the things she could have been doing with her time instead of this. She could be working on her great fireball jutsu. Father said she was coming along faster than any of her brothers had managed to. She could be the youngest to perfect the jutsu since Madara himself if things went well enough. At least, that was what she'd thought. Having to spend half her day here would be one hell of a time drain. Almost like the Universe was taking pity on her and deciding to be merciful, she heard a sudden ringing from the outside. A bell?
With that cue, a man body flickered into the room. The light green vest around his upper body marked him as a Chunin.
"Good morning" He said to the shocked class, only getting replied by the Senju boy who practically sang his reply. Bastard.
"Welcome to the Ninja Academy. I am Uraraka Kichizune, Chunin of Konohagakure. You will refer to me as Uraraka-sensei." He said.
XXXXX
She felt a hand on her shoulder and almost jolted if she didn't hear his voice immediately after.
"Want to go out for lunch with us, Uchiha-san? I have extra" he said, looking down on her with those black eyes of his. He looked like a puppy. Like the one the Inuzuka boy had on top his head right now.
"No. Stay away from me" She said, swiping his hand off her shoulder with a negligent flick of her own. Part of her delighted in the way his smile died. But it was a temporary feeling as by the time he looked back up, the smile was back and as bright as ever.
"Let's go guys" He said to the rest of the class as they followed him down. Not the whole class, it turned out as she looked up to see someone standing in front of her desk.
"What are you doing?" He asked her, staring down at her with eyes that she knew mirrored hers. No one in their generation had inherited the Uchiha looks as strongly as the both of them had.
"What does it look like? Sitting down to eat lunch, Cousin" She said, looking at him like he was stupid. Sometimes, Izuku was actually stupid.
"Why were you so rude to Senju-san? Your father sent us here to make friends and allies, not alienate the entire class in one day" She scowled at the reminder.
"We're not here to make friends with the Senju, though. Father couldn't care less about the Senju. He sent us here to befriend the other clans. Remind them that we were just as involved in Konoha's founding as the damn Senju"
"And do you think being rude to the Senju, the one they all see as their friend, would make that any easier?"
"Get out" She snapped finally, turning to her lunch and resolving to ignore him completely. She heard his footsteps as he made to leave the classroom, leaving her behind.
She hated it here, she decided finally. She hated the damn Senju, and the Inuzuka, and all of them and Uraraka-sensei and even stupid Izuku"
XXXXXX
"How was the academy?" He asked as she wasted no time in barrelling towards him like a rocket. She didn't bother noticing the rest of her classmates being picked up by parents or siblings, or even Senju being escorted away by a Servant. She didn't care about the rest of them. She had her brother here with her.
"Terrible, Tenjin. I hate it there" She said, wasting no time in beginning to make her case for never returning.
"Really? Why? It's just the first day." He said, sounding taken aback.
"They don't like me. None of them. Senju has them all wrapped around his fingers"
"And that's why you want to leave?"
"Are you saying it's not a good reason?"
"I'll let you discuss that with father. Instead, how do you feel about going to get some dango and then kunai shopping. I think we can get you your own set since you'll need one at the academy"
Her bad mood wiped away instantly, like clouds chased away by the sun as her brother reached down to pick her up and then plop her on his shoulders.
She laughed as they began to cover the distance to the dango shop in a leisurely walk that made the wind blow across her hair.
XXXXXX
She almost slammed her head against the table at hearing that particular voice as they walked into the weapon's shop.
"That bow, Uncle" She heard him say right as they entered. They didn't turn around to look at them as she walked in with her brother but she could make out that cloak and hair anywhere. It was the Second hokage, and with him her hated nemesis. Senju Shorirama.
They were both looking at a highly ostentatious bow. Beautiful, but much too showy for her tastes. Of course it would be the kind of thing Senju would like. It was made of gleaming wood. Rarer than the wood on any of the hundreds of trees within the village, definitely. Like every other bow, it was a curved piece of wood with a string tied to either side. The wood was a deep black. If Hachiman was here, he'd identify the species of tree that gave the wood, and even its age and when the wood was harvested with just a single look.
"Made of Ebony, Young Senju-sama. It is a good choice" The store attendant said, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the obvious sales tactic. Surprisingly, Senju didn't appear to be fooled by that.
"It is beautiful, I agree. But perhaps something simpler would be a better choice for the time being. You are to be a shinobi, after all" The Hokage said, addressing his Grandnephew.
To Uzume's surprise, the undoubtedly spoiled brat actually listened to the Hokage's wisdom and they moved on to search for a different bow. She wondered what they were even looking at bows for. He wasn't going to be a samurai. He was going to be a shinobi. Shinobi don't use bows, she said to herself.
Everyone knew that. Even the weakest of her genin cousins could throw a kunai faster than the most skilled Samurai could shoot an arrow. They could probably throw it with more force than the arrow, she added.
"Let's go get your kunai" Her brother said to her, pulling on her hand to take her deeper into the shop.
The last thing she heard from the Senju duo was " I'm an adult now, yunno?" from the younger one as his Uncle began making other suggestions than a bow of all things.
XXXXX- NARA SHIKAHIME
"How troublesome" She whispered to herself as she entered the classroom to find the Senju boy sitting tight next to the only empty seat in the classroom. The fact that none of the civilians had claimed it made it clear that it was being reserved for someone else. The fact that she was the only one yet to take a seat made it clear that she was the one the seat was being reserved for. She almost turned back to head home. She could already tell that this would end up being a lot more trouble than it was worth. The Senju boy was much too popular for her to spend a day next to and have any hope of a quiet one.
"Take a seat, Nara-san" Uraraka-sensei said as he walked in from behind her. There was no way the man would let her just decide to turn around and go home. She, with great reluctance, took step after step, counting them to be seven just as her mother taught her until she was at her seat and had managed to ignore all the eyes on her. She sat down and waited for the man to begin.
"It's been a month since the first class. Just like I promised you then, today we will have the placement tests to divide you into your specific classes" The man said, and suddenly a piece of paper revealed itself on her table. Genjutsu, she surmised. Looking across the class showed the only one to have been unsurprised by the genjutsu to be the angry Uchiha princess. Indeed, instead of focusing on the test on her table, she was looking their way and muttering in irritation. Whatever the Senju had done to set her off today, Shikahime knew she wanted no part of.
She stared at the test sheet in front of her. Most of the questions were relatively easy to answer for someone like her who had grown up with Shinobi all her life and been trained to be one from before she could watch. In fact, the only ones having any true difficulty with the test were the civilians. Among the clan children, she could see only the Inuzuka having any real trouble with his answers and even then he still had half his sheet filled in the first ten minutes. As for her, she couldn't deny the temptation to fail the test.
Mother would be disappointed, but Father would understand. Being in the same class with so many hotshots was bound to be nothing but trouble. Two Uchiha, One Hyuga, the Senju Prince, and members from basically every clan that made up the village. If there was one class that would have all the attention and thus trouble thrust at it from the get-go, it would be that one. Father would do the same in her place. But Mother would look at her with those eyes. She was sent here to get close to her cousin. "To preserve family relations", mother had said. Code for make sure that the Senju don't forget who exactly her mother was and that the Nara were now tied to them by blood.
She chanced a look at the little prince from the corner of her eyes to find him with an easy smile on his face, doodling in the corner of his paper. Whenever a civilian tossed a look at him, he would grant them an encouraging smile. Almost saying to them, 'you can do it'. One would never have guessed at his Hyuga heritage with just how much emotion he managed to show with those brown eyes of him. Said eyes met hers, and she instinctively broke the look and returned to her paper. Mother being cross at her would be even more troublesome. The woman was just the sort to show up at the academy and demand they let Shikahime retake the test. No, troublesome classmates were much preferable at the end of the day. She wouldn't be sleeping in the same building as them.
She knocked the questions down one after another, only writing enough to show that she understood what she was being asked. She'd leave overachievement for the Uchiha Princess who seemed keen on answering every question with as much detail as possible. Instead, she followed her cousin's approach. She wrote down the answers quickly, and after drying the ink with a quick flex of her chakra, she flipped it around and tried to zone out into her thoughts like she'd always been able to.
From memory, she began to recite the tale of the First Shadow to herself, her many times ancestor, Nara Shikamaru.
XXXX
"Alright, that's time up" from Uraraka-sensei jolted her from her thoughts. She allowed him collect her test sheet even as she noted several civilian children begin to rush to fill in undoubtedly wrong answers on the empty spots on their sheet. The man was unflinching as he grabbed each and every sheet in order as he walked through the class. Whatever tears, or begging he received went ignored in his flat expression. Dull black eyes simply staring down those who dared resist. When he got to her, he tossed her a smile as he turned her sheet over before giving her Cousin a long flat look as he caught a glimpse of the back of his test sheet.
Shikahime looked over to see what the Chunin was looking at and almost tripped on her chair as she suddenly stood up. The rest of the classroom turned to her, before their eyes turned to the Senju boy.
"Is this supposed to be funny?" Uraraka-sensei demanded and her cousin just shrugged with a smile.
She almost cursed herself as she got a better look at the sheet as her sensei thrust it at her cousin. He hadn't been doodling on the back of his sheet like she'd thought. No, the troublesome piece of work had drown a full blown explosive seal on the back of his test sheet. She'd seen enough of such seals in the clan armouries to be able to tell them apart from any other. The Uchiha Princess looked similarly astounded as she got a look at the seal while the rest of the class were left to wallow in confusion.
"Detention. Trust me, your guardians will be hearing of this" He said, making her cousin's smile die out a little bit.
"Nara-san, return to your seat. The seal is inactive. It's a dud" Her sensei said to her, turning to pin her with a reassuring look. Not a look that she'd have expected after the anger that had been on his face nary a second ago, but she took the assurance for what it was and returned to her seat. If she moved it along the floor a little bit to gain some distance from her clearly insane relative, then no one could judge her.
"We'll be heading outside for the physical tests now." Uraraka-sensei said, prompting a whoop from the Inuzuka boy in front. Inukuro, she remembered from the introductions.
The Academy's training grounds were a wide open field most of the time. Today was different. Someone had gone to the trouble of setting up a complex obstacle course. She could already make out a climbing wall, swinging logs that had to be avoided, a tightrope that had to be run across and some swinging rings that one had to jump across, along with a dozen other tasks on the course. Troublesome. She silently judged it to be. If the first test had been easy, then this one would be anything but. "So how would you get past that tightrope?" She heard one of the civilian boys, Takehada Toshiro, ask their resident Senju prince as they stared at the course.
"The safest way is to turn around and climb across it with one's hands and knees. It would be faster to just run across it, however" her cousin said, unknowingly echoing her inner thoughts on the matter. She'd probably be able to run across it with ease. It went without saying that each of the clan children had begun training to become shinobi long before being enrolled at the academy. In fact, she was willing to bet that the reason most of them were here was the boy behind her. The grandson of Hashirama, the first Hokage, and the grandnephew of Tobirama the second. In line to take over as clan head after his Granduncle.
"So who wants to go first?" Their sensei asked, only for no one to step forward after a second. In the next second, both the Senju and Uchiha children had stepped forwards.
"Senju Shorirama. You will go first" he said, making the angry Uchiha Princess stare daggers into the man. If the rumours were to be believed, then their Sensei would have fallen dead a dozen times over. Shikahime figured that if the Uchiha could indeed kill by staring with those eyes of theirs then this one hadn't learned that technique yet.
XXXXX- HYUGA URAUME
She walked into the classroom, momentarily stopping in her tracks. There, right in the middle, two seats from the front, and two from the back sat her cousin. Senju Shorirama. It's 6am she told herself as she watched him notice her and then erupt into a smile before waving at her. Ho could he have arrived this early? It didn't even make sense. She'd decided to leave home at a ridiculously early hour so she could beat him to the academy for the first time, and now he was already here.
"How are you doing, Cousin? Good morning" He said to her, smile bright and hands spread out in a wave.
"Well met, Cousin. I do hope I have a good morning. I wish you the same." She said in reply before walking in and taking her seat one away from him.
Last time she'd sat at his right hand side but since he'd gotten bored and made an explosive tag in class yesterday, Father had been very clear that she should keep a cautious distance.
"So far away, Cousin" He said, calling attention to her choice of seat.
"No offence is intended, Cousin. I woke up feeling bilious and with a raging headache. I felt it would be better if I sat next to the window." She said, lying with ease. Her cousin smiled at her, believing her words with no hesitation. It made her wonder, just like she had been doing for the weeks they'd spent in the academy, whether he was worth all the attention he received. Even before enrolling, she made sure to be constantly informed of the progress he made.
According to Kabuki, he was skilled with the gentle fist, but still quite a bit behind her when it came to expertise. He knew more kata than she did but when it came to sparring, he was apparently leagues behind her. That fact alone made her wonder if he'd turn out worth it. Father thought he could be Hokage one day, and quite frankly she could not see it. He was intelligent, to be certain. Physically skilled, as well. The only ones who could compare with his when it came to physical tests were the two Uchiha, herself, and the Inuzuka boy. The rest of the class were well behind them, with the Clan children closer than those of Civilian breeding.
Her cousin had returned to reading from his scroll so she settled to wait as their classmates began to trickle in. She noticed how, like yesterday, he went to the trouble of ensuring that no one sat at the seat to his left. Saving it for the Nara girl again? She'd asked Father why, and his best guess had been the blood relation that he shared with her. Her mother had been his Grandfather's cousin, after all. That made them cousins, but not as close as she had with him. His mother was her aunt. That made her his closest relative close to his age.
When the class filled up, and even the Nara girl had entered, their sensei appeared in front of them with a body flicker. She subtly activated her byakugan to make sure there wasn't another genjutsu ensnaring their perception. The fact that she'd fallen for the first genjutsu yesterday had grated at her more than she would have been willing to admit. With her doujutsu active, she noted the two other chunin behind the door.
"There are thirty-seven of you in this class now. We will be dividing you into classes of three. With each class having roughly 12 students a piece. If you hear your name you should please follow Jinpachi-sensei as he leads you to your new classroom" He said as one of the men behind the door walked in. His brown hair and brown eyes marked him to be what she'd heard her cousin impolitely refer to as an NPC. For some reason, he viewed having a regular appearance as the first sign that a person would not be destined for greatness. It was ridiculous, but had a strange logic to it.
Uraraka-Sensei went on to list out twelve civilian children who followed their new sensei out of the classroom with a mixture of confusion and excitement. They didn't realise what was happening. When the next set of names were read out to follow the next teacher, she noted that this time they appeared more despondent. These ones were smart enough to realise that if they were being separated into classes the day after taking a test, then it had to be based on that test. The fact that not a single clan ninja had been called with their group should have made it obvious that they weren't in the premier group.
"I'm sure you've figured it out now" He said as they remained 12 children in the classroom.
"We've been split up according to ability" The sole civilian in the classroom pointed out.
"Yes you have. This is class 1-A. You all performed the best in the assessment tests. But don't let that get to your heads. Your place here is not set in stone. Every three months, you will take assessment tests along with the other classes. Only the top 12 will remain here. If you ever fall below that then you'd be reassigned to one of the other classes, depending on where you fall along the rankings." He said, making the half of the class that had begun to whisper among themselves sit up suddenly.
"Just so you know where you fall in this class' rankings and how close you were to being on one of the other classes, here are the rankings,
Uchiha Uzume Senju Shorirama Uchiha Izuku Hyuga Uraume Kurama Kizuru Aburame Shiba Nara Shikahime Takehada Toshiro Sarutobi Omoikane Yamanaka Inoken Akimichi Choni Inuzuka Inukuro"
As each person heard their name, they proceeded to straighten up in their seats. She was unsurprised to have ranked below her cousin and the two Uchiha. They'd all made short work of the obstacle course in a way that she had not. The Gentle Fist did not require much in the way of flexibility and so her tutelage had lacked that. The Uchiha's intercepting fist had a high flexibility focus, her studies had told her, and Kabuki had revealed that her Cousin spent a significant portion of his time stretching and had taken up dancing of all things. For the rest, the list fell just as she'd expected it to. The fact that the Inuzuka boy had performed better than her at the obstacle course and still somehow ranked last probably meant that he'd basically failed the written portion of the test. She could understand that. The test had been more difficult than she'd expected. It even covered some things that she'd yet to learn in her own studies.
Another surprising fact was the presence of the Civilian. He'd performed worse than everyone in the room at the physical tests. He'd even performed worse than some of the civilians that had been sent of the room to one of the lowest classes. The only way he'd manage to rank so highly would be if he'd gotten an essentially perfect score on the written test. That was impressive.
"Now that you know where you stand, our first lesson will be on Chakra natures" Her sensei said as he turned to the board and wrote down the day's topic.
"First of all, what is Chakra?" He asked, and half the class rose their hands. Not her cousin, he never volunteered his knowledge like that.
"Nara-san" The sensei said, pointing at one of the few people without a hand raised. The girl looked like she'd been about to fall asleep. Uraume resisted the urge to sniff haughtily only by the tightest of margins as a result of the most precise application of will.
"Chakra is the combination of physical and spiritual energy" She said simply before returning her head to its position on her palm. Uraraka-sensei was pleased with the answer and moved on.
"Perfect. That is a textbook definition. Chakra can only be utilised in one of two ways. What are they?" He asked, turning to the class again. This time, Uraume was one of only four people with their hands up. This time, the Sensei pointed out someone with a raised hand. "Takehada-san, enlighten us"
"Shape transformation and nature transformation. Shape transformation works by using control of one's chakra to force raw chakra to take a shape outside of one's body. It is usually used in conjunction with nature transformation as there is no known jutsu that consists of pure shape manipulation. Nature transformation works by transforming raw chakra within one's body into one of the five primary elements or a composite element made from a combination of any of those five elements as seen in Kekkei Genkai" He said, and she wondered where a civilian could have come across such information in such detail.
"Lovely answer, Takehada-san"
"He's wrong", her cousin cut in, making the class turn to him.
"Is he? Tell us why then, Senju-san" Their sensei said, turning to him with sharp eyes.
"There aren't five chakra natures. There are seven" He said, sending Uraume reeling as she counted them off in her head- fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind- she mentally recited, running through them in order.
"Seven? Tell us more"
"Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Yin, and Yang" He said. Yin and yang? What were those?
"You are correct, Senju-san. But both Yin and Yang release are beyond the scope of the curriculum so we'll be operating under the fiction that there are only five." He said, confusing the class further.
XXXXXX- UCHIHA IZUKU
He funnelled his chakra into the slip of paper as he'd been taught to by his Uncle. The chakra paper, expectedly, crinkled at the edges before bursting into flames. He'd only paid it half his attention. Like he was sure about his cousin, he'd taken this test before. Most of his attention, therefore, was on the other members of the classroom. Sarutobi Omoikane and his cousin both had their slips erupt in flames in showy manners, to the shock of absolutely no one. The Nara girl having an earth affinity was interesting. Izuku could only imagine how dangerous the clan's shadow manipulation would be with the ability to use earth release to create or extend shadows at her whim. Only if she learned elemental ninjutsu, however. The clan was famous for their laziness in that respect.
Senju Shorirama's slip was perhaps the one that had the most attention directed at it. Would he favour water release like his Granduncle? Maybe even water and earth like his Grandfather? Lightning like his father? The one that was said to have been so skilled that it had taken the Raikage himself to kill him. Or even fire? Fire would not be unprecedented. This was the land of fire at the end of the day, and while the Senju clan tended to have diverse affinities, fire was still the most popular in their ranks. The Senju seemed to know that his slip was what everyone waited for, and he took an agonising amount of time in funnelling his chakra into the paper.
It was almost like he was trying to punish them for paying so much attention. Izuku found that unlikely, on its own. If there was one thing Shorirama liked and excelled with, it was being the centre of attention. Maybe this was his attempt to give them a show and hold on to the attention by dragging things out as much as he could. Finally, chakra went into the slip of paper and it began by splitting in half before soaking through and then dissolving into dirt.
Wind, water, and earth? Three affinities? That was nearly unheard of. Even having two like Izuku did was noteworthy, but three was just something else. The entire class was staring at him and he just smiled at them all.
"Now that everyone's affinities are known, we will begin covering the theory around elemental training" Uraraka-sensei's words drew all the attention to him.
A/N; Chappy done and dusted.
The next three chapters are up on the place of pa –trons- same username as up here so feel free to check it out if you want to support my journey, but don't stress if you can't. Everything will come up here in its own time.