Hiruzen stood as he stared at the kids and when he saw that all of the kids were present, he began his speech.
Kira, even though he acted like he was attentively listening, there was something else going on in his head.
'This damn old man. The will of fire my ass! Your will of fire killed so many people, indirectly helped Danzo control multiple talents and you also indirectly killed Sakumo Hatake.'
There were quite a few people who liked to defend Hiruzen, but in Kira's personal view, the old man was second only to Danzo when it came to the contribution of Konoha's internal problems.
After Hiruzen's grand speech, he began to ask the kids some questions and at the end, he looked pretty satisfied with the outcome.
Kira looked at his expression which left a bad taste in his mouth, but didn't show it.
'The will of fire.... while it does bring people together, it doesn't change the fact that it's a way of brainwashing young minds. Oh well, it is what it is.'
Luckily for him, he didn't have to see Hiruzen's face any longer as he was assigned to the special first year class. Each year had around 1000 students from the land of fire, but special attention was given to the kids who were from the hidden leaf shinobi families..
Their class would have a relatively less number of students, but this also meant that the teacher would be able to give more attention to each of them. Compared to the other kids who were grouped up in batches of 150 to 200, Kira felt like the choice of picking a ninja family to be born in was a good choice.
He walked into the class with multiple other students and noticed a few familiar faces.
'Rin, Obito and Kakashi... the legendary love triangle trio. There's also Guy, Kurenai, Asuma and Raido...' he took a note for himself as he found a seat at the back, right next to the window.
[A/N: Please keep in mind that this is an AU. Canonically, Guy couldn't pass the entrance exam and wasn't in the same class as Kakashi.]
He glanced at the screen in front of him and smiled slightly before getting his act together.
'Two character points, one for listening to the old man's speech and the other for getting enrolled into the academy's special class.' he thought as he took a look at his various F and E rank talents.
He could get another point for getting first place in the test that would be conducted a month later, but to do that, he'd have to beat kakashi, the obvious genius of his class.
Kira glanced at Kakashi who had taken a seat on the rear most bench, but on the opposite side.
'When it comes to raw talent, he's way better than Itachi without sharingan. Unfortunately, his father had to die and Kakashi's entire future was messed up. He took wrong paths multiple times... should I interfere?... even if I want to, I lack the strength and if I try to spread rumours, Danzo will come for my ass.'
He looked outside as he sighed. It really was painful to think about it. Everything was happening in front of his eyes, but he couldn't do a thing.
'For now, increasing my personal strength takes the top priority. There's only a few years till the war starts...'
Just as he was thinking, he noticed someone walk towards him. He turned around and to his surprise, it was Kurenai.
"Hi, I'm Kira Aburame!" he introduced himself before she could and immediately brought out his bugs, "And my bugs are really cool, aren't they?"
Kurenai was about to introduce herself too, but when she saw the bugs, she froze. It wasn't that she hated them, it was just too unexpected. Considering the fact that there were so many bugs, she couldn't help but run away.
'Bugs are so reliable.' Kira thought as he kept an eye on Kurenai, 'Anyone would have the same reaction when a bunch of bugs are stuffed in front of their face.'
First impressions mattered a lot, and seeing him scare off the adorable Kurenai made many boys in the class angry. Just as one of them was about to confront Kira, a tall man entered the classroom.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.
"Good morning everyone. Let me introduce myself first. I will be your teacher for the next three to six years, until you graduate. You can call me Sensei Benji."
After introducing himself, he looked at the students and pointed at the one on the back.
"You, introduce yourself. The one sitting next to you will go next." he said and Kakashi stood up before talking about himself.
He didn't say much. Just his name and that he wanted to become one of the greatest kenjutsu users. (sword arts, basically like taijutsu but with swords)
'Kenjutsu... following his father's footsteps.' Kira thought as he listened to the others' introductions and since he was also sitting on the back benches, his turn came soon.
"I'm Kira Aburame!" he said with a wide smile on his face and then went silent.
Benji waited for two seconds and then asked with a tinge of annoyance, "Anything else?"
"Uh... and my bugs are amazing!" Kira added as he brought out his bugs and made them fly around the class but didn't make them get too close to the students.
"Alright, sit down." Benji said as he noticed the visible discomfort in most of the students' eyes, but there were some who didn't seem to care.
Kira noticed it too and as he sat down, he couldn't help but smile. Only, this time, it wasn't fake. The bugs flew back into his body as his thoughts wandered.
'Only Guy and Kakashi huh? Though there are a few who seem to not care too much, but the fear or let's say apprehension is quite apparent.'