The first year at the academy was... boring. Very boring. Math was a ridiculous part of the "shinobi toolkit" as Iruka-sensei would say. Whatever. I don't need math to be a bad ass. I hope.
I slept, read or drew through all those lessons anyway. History? I know more history than the teachers. Cannon was very full of important historical events. I could practically teach that section myself. I would also give an unbiased view. There is a lot of "Konoha is the best" propaganda being thrown at us.
Geography. Now that was interesting, and completely glossed over. We covered it for one day. That is it. We were handed maps of the Elemental Nations and told to study. We weren't even tested over it. I suppose they thought if we graduated from the Academy our respective jonin senseis would show us around. How hilarious.
Reading and writing were too easy. I know how to write already and I learned how to read before that. I slept through all those lessons. I didn't see a reason to stay awake for them.
They tested us on all of our subjects. Repeatedly. I didn't care. I just put down whatever I thought was good enough. I guessed on math, I made up history, and had sloppy handwriting. It was good to slack off in school while knowing I could beat any of these kids at any subject. I already did my time at school, I don't see the point in doing it again.
Slowly but surly I became known as the weird kid in the back. I deserve that title, I didn't try to make friends. I ate lunches by myself. I only answered questions when forced to. I would rather read or draw than talk with kids. Kinda obvious that would happen eventually. Kids are blunt. They say it how they see it, and I was the weird kid in the back of the classroom from their point of view.
Things didn't get interesting until the second year. That is when we started taijutsu and conditioning. Otherwise known as PE class. Running, sit ups, running, push ups, and running again. I swear the senseis were cardio freaks. That's okay though, shinobi need to be able to run for days on end. It is a small thing to sacrifice to my goal of ultimate badassery!
There is one thing I learned, and I learned it quickly. I am terrible at taijutsu. How did I figure this out? When Naruto of all people put my ass on the ground. Every. Damn. Day. He was my designated taijutsu partner.
That kid has way too much energy. He just goes and goes and goes all day long. Even if my form is better, even if my strength is greater, even if the senseis purposefully sabotage him, he just keeps going.
The only times I won a spar were if the senseis were grading on form or skill, not on who actually won. That's right, whenever we sparred he won because I couldn't make him stay down.
It was super frustrating, but also explainable. He has the demon fox to provide energy for him. I don't. In a real fight to the death I would walk away the victor. In a staged fight with only our fists and no kunai or shuriken? He wins. Every time.
I didn't always fight Naruto though. Every Friday we would draw names for an opponent. Surprisingly I actually wasn't the worst at taijutsu. I easily placed above all the girls thanks to being a boy. That and the girls were more obsessed with looking pretty for "Sasuke-kun!"
Even in a real life twist of an anime, the dreaded fan girls still exist. They are after Sasuke big time. Poor kid, those girls are scary.
I also placed in the middle of the boys. Delightful mediocrity, not good, not bad, just average. I can live with that for now. Once I get a jonin sensei, then I will start striving for improvement.
All in all it was a good second year. Gotta say that running all the time does wonders for physical health. It certainly made helping out around the bakery easier.
The third year was the best. They finally started us on the basic three. The henge, bushin, and kawarmi. I soaked it up like a sponge. By the end of the year, my henge of the Hokage was... bad.
It was really bad. In my defense I only saw the guy once! And that was at a village announcement. Henge of my parents? Easy. Henge of Iruka or Mizuki? Easy. Henge of a guy I've seen once? Ridiculously hard.
My bushin was above average. Turns out that my chakra naturally wants to take my shape, and my older mind makes multitasking easier. Little known fact about the basic bushin: you need to tell it what to do. Unlike the kage bushin, the basic bushin does not have a mind of it's own. That might be why so many shinobi use elemental clones.
The kawarmi came the easiest to me. No idea why, I just had a knack for it. Which really pissed off some fellow students, considering that everyone else had to struggle with it. That made me proud, especially knowing that it will save my life down the road.
Fourth year. That was total hell. It was the mother of all reviews. All we did was go over old material, work on taijutsu, work on throwing, and work on the basic three. Review, review, review.
Until the last day. Graduation day. The day the story really takes off. The day before it all went wrong.
...
"Alvarcus! Step forward." With a huge sigh and a lot of forced effort I approach Iruka-sensei. "Henge into a person of your choice."
Person of my choice, yeah right. All this time you had us change to the Hokage. That is who I am changing into.
POOF!
I am the Hokage now. Maybe I should act the part? "Iruka-kun! How wonderful you have trained these new shinobi! You are an outstanding member of society! In fact you deserve a raise!"
"Very funny Alvarcus. One thing to know about the henge, without prior knowledge the voice will not change. Nice try, but last time I checked the Hokage does not sound 12 years old. I am fairly sure he is pushing seventy." He says as he scribbles down on his clipboard
I let my henge fade.
"Aw damn. That thought never even occurred to me." Besides, how could I mimic a voice I've barely heard?
"Show me a replacement next." He orders.
I kawarmi with a chair on the other side of the classroom.
"Well done. Bushin next."
After molding the appropriate amount of chakra I created a bushin on the chair in the middle of the room that I used for my kawarmi. Yes! Extra credit for spawning it so far away! Clone-me looks at me, shruggs, gets off the chair and lays down for a nap.
"Alvarcus."
"Yes Mizuki-sensei?"
"Why is your clone napping?"
"I believe he is tired."
"Tired. Really?"
"Well I wanted to show I could make him do stuff, and the first thing I thought of was that I really wanted to sleep. So I made him lie down for a nap." I'm not lying, I am rather tired. I was up all night practicing for today. I refuse to fail now.
"Really?" Mizuki-sensei sounded exasperated. Iruka-sensei just chuckles to himself.
"Pass. Here is your headband, now go back to you classmates." Iruka-sensei smiles proudly at me. Mizuki just seems indifferent. Whatever. Not like I have to make him happy if tonight happens like I think it will. He will be branded a criminal and Naruto will get to graduate.
"Hey everyone look! Even Alvarcus passed! This test is going to be so easy I'll have no problem! Believe it!" Ah, good old Naruto, making fun of me because he is insecure. His verbal tick is really annoying. Sometimes I feel bad for Sasuke and Sakura, they'll have to put up with him for years.
"Naruto! Be quiet and get in here! You're next!" Iruka to the rescue! No need for me to belittle Naruto now. He will do that to himself when he fails.
Walking back up to my chair in the back of the classroom, Hinata of all people talks to me. Well, we have sat next to each other for four years. It isn't that strange. Okay, it is pretty strange. We have to be the quietest kids ever. She's is cripplingly shy, and I just don't want to talk to 12 years old kids.
"W-well done Alvarcus. Did you have any p-problems?"
"Nah. It was rather easy. Congrats yourself. Today is a big day."
Before we could talk more Iruka comes back in. Wow, Naruto failed very quickly.
"Alright everyone! That's it for today. Meet back here for your last day at the Academy. You will get your gennin team assignments then. You are all shinobi now! Make your village proud!" Good guy that Iruka. I'm glad he is proud of us. I just hope my parents will be the same.
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