Haku, wake up! It's time to go to the academy! Hurry, hurry!"
I groaned as I turned to look at the clock hanging on the wall in my room.
"Hanabi, we still have an hour before we leave the compound."
I pulled my blanket over my head and turned in the other direction to catch up on my disrupted sleep, ignoring Hanabi.
"I want to be there early! Ino had said that she will be showing us some really nice flowers before class today!"
In the end, Hanabi managed to pester me enough with her incessant bugging. I announced my surrender by making my way to the restroom to wash up and get ready for the day. Half an hour later, Hanabi, Hinata, Neji, and I were on our way to the academy after having a quick breakfast. Ko, who is Hinata's and Hanabi's caretaker, followed us as we made our way there. Hanabi's kidnapping had made Hiashi decide to appoint a caretaker to follow Hinata and Hanabi around whenever they are out of the compound until they reached genin. Ko was chosen for that role.
"I will see you after school, Hinata-sama, Hanabi-sama, Haku-sama, Neji-kun."
We returned Ko's greeting politely and we entered the gates of the academy and find our way into our classroom. Neji had to climb another flight of stairs as he is in a year above us and his classroom is situated in the upper level.
Hanabi, Hinata, and I were in the same class together with many of the main cast of canon. We slide the door to our classroom open and already there are a group of girls crowding around Ino, who is showing off the flowers her family had grown that she brought along to class.
I made my way to my seat at the back while Hanabi and Hinata went to look at the flowers. We had only just started the academy for about a week and already Hanabi and Hinata are making friends with most of the girls here. Hanabi mostly, Hinata is still really shy without Hanabi around her. For me, I am pretty quiet during class and prefer to do my own things at the back. I only pay attention when the teacher goes through class materials that I haven't learnt yet from the tutors Hiashi sent to teach me and the twins before we entered the academy. Hanabi spent most of her free time bugging me or Hinata before we entered the academy, and sometimes Neji, if Hinata and I decide to throw him to the wolves by sending Hanabi in his direction. Hinata is fine with spending time with her twin sister (I still cannot believe how different things are from canon sometimes) since their mother died during childbirth and they are all each other had before I arrived. Hiashi don't have much time for them. He is a busy man even if he is trying very hard to put aside time to spend with his daughters. Neji is a nice guy, probably largely attributable to the fact that his father is still alive, but he is from the branch house and hence he cannot freely enter the section of the compound where the main house stays. I am an exception as Hiashi himself adopted me into the clan. Hence, in a way, I am his adopted son of sorts, and I am given the same treatment as Hanabi and Hinata as though I am from the main house. The Hyugas are mostly fine with me since I did save their heiress. The rest of the main house are mainly indifferent to my presence while the branch house is friendly with me due to me being nice and polite with them. Apparently among the main house kids among our generation, only Hanabi and Hinata treats the branch house with any form of respect until I joined the clan and the group increased to three people. The other main house kids are pretty snobbish, and I am thankful that I don't have to deal with them frequently.
The three of us had chosen our seats at the back in the centre of the classroom. It is a long bench that can fit about six to seven people, depending on who are sharing the bench. In our case, it is six people, since we ended up sharing seats with Shikamaru, Choji, and Shino. Choji takes up quite a bit of space due to his size.
Choji is already here and munching on a bag of chips. I give a polite greeting as I sat down next to him and took out a book on chakra theory to read. There are still things that I don't understand about chakra. You cannot approach the concept behind chakra like you would do for subjects like physics and mathematics since unlike these subjects, there is no 'law' on how chakra works, merely observations and theories on why it reacted in certain ways. Chakra is unpredictable, and even if two people use the same jutsu, the results can be very different depending on how they use the chakra to do it even if they look the same physically. There's no one that is able to teach me how to use my Ice Release, and hence I can only help myself. The first thing to go about doing it is to understand how chakra works in the first place and hopefully, the knowledge I gain from these books is enough for me to try and grasp how to use my Ice Release properly instead of manifesting it in random ice spikes. There is an obvious improvement in my usage of the Ice Release ever since I started on these books, but it is still not enough at the moment.
"Hey, let me take a look at it too 'ttebayo!"
Have I ever mentioned that in this world, Naruto is a girl?
"Quiet down, Naruto. There's no need to yell. We can all hear you." Sakura said as she passed Naruto a flower.
And that Sakura actually belonged to a clan? The Haruno is apparently an offshoot of the Senju clan. The Senju clan had dwindled ever since the Second Shinobi World War as they were always the first in Konoha to go out into the front lines to defend the village and hence they died off fast. The Senju clan had no specialisation, but rather, their clansmen all have unique skills of their own in the different branches of shinobi arts, making them very problematic to deal with as opponents. Currently, the known Senjus in Konoha are Tsunade and her son (I still have no idea who he is), and Tsunade is the head of the hospital here and married to Kato Dan (another character that somehow remained alive instead of being dead). Sometime before the Senju clan declined, a branch of the clan, the Harunos, became large enough to become a small clan on their own although they never left the Senjus. However, the only remaining members of the Haruno clan now are the current Hokage, his wife, and their only child Sakura.
The other mind-boggling thing I learnt is that when Hiruzen retired as Hokage, he also somehow managed to get Danzo, Koharu, and Homura to retire with him. Kizashi then appointed Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Fugaku, and Kato Dan as his advisors, totally changing the political scene of Konoha. I don't think the Uchiha massacre will happen now that Fugaku is part of the few who had a large say in Konoha's politics, but I will never know for sure until a few years later. The fact that Danzo is now not involved in Konoha's politics means that it should be safer here in Konoha. I think. I don't know enough about the Danzo here to make any assumptions.
The one sure thing I know about him, however, is that he has a grandson who is in the same class as me. He went by the name of Shimura Sai. The Sai who was a part of Team 7 during Shippuden.
I'm surprised I didn't go crazy when I learnt about all of these during my first day in the academy. I think my worldview had been shattered to the point that nothing will faze me anymore. Every single time I learnt something new that deviates from canon, I will just force myself to simply accept the new facts and move on. I would go crazy otherwise.
This is definitely a different world of Naruto that I had read about in my previous life. The differences are too big. Konoha is really strong at this stage. Excluding the Hokage, with Minato, Fugaku, Tsunade, Hiruzen, Dan still here in Konoha, Konoha has a pretty strong line up of S rank shinobis, more than any other villages. I don't know where Jiraiya is, but I assume he is off gallivanting somewhere given his canon personality. If we also consider those who will become S rank in the future like Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui (I haven't seen him, but I am assuming he's alive in this world and that he is on par with Itachi), Obito (since he is on our side now), Kakashi (probably S rank in the future since he did become the Sixth Hokage in canon), Naruto, and Sasuke, Konoha has a really promising future.
Choji offered me some chips which I took with gratitude. Shikamaru entered the classroom right at this exact moment, dragged himself to sit beside Choji and immediately lay his head on the table to continue sleeping. Shino entered the classroom a few moments later and sat beside Shikamaru at the end of the bench as he held out a finger to observe a bug resting there that caught his interest.
Hanabi sat down beside me about 15 minutes later, with Hinata on her other side at the other end of the bench. Our homeroom teacher that will be taking us for our first year in the academy, Chiba-sensei, entered the class and we all get ourselves ready for another day of lesson.
I decided to pay attention to my book on chakra theory instead the moment the lesson of the day involves mathematics. I don't see how mathematics makes one a good shinobi unless you are involved with war plans, and even then, it is not a very useful skill to have due to how little we need to use it. Shikamaru is still sleeping although Choji and Shino are paying rapt attention. The same goes for Hinata and Hanabi.
It's going to be another long day.
"Yahoo! Self-study time!"
Akamaru gave a yip at Kiba's words. It is the afternoon now and the girls are having Kunoichi lessons, which means it is self-study period for the guys of the class. It's the first Kunoichi lesson since the start of the academy and many of the boys are ecstatic in having a break from all the boring lessons.
"Self-study does not equate to playtime, mutt-kun."
"Gah!" Kiba pointed a frustrated finger at Sai. "Stop it with your nicknames already! They are stupid! You don't go around making friends by giving them stupid nicknames like that!"
I ignored the duo as I continued with reading my book. Kiba and Sai are desk mates, so I can only imagine what Kiba had to go through the entire morning with Sai trying to give nicknames to everyone in the class if Kiba's complaint is anything to go by.
"Haku, why are you not at the Kunoichi lesson?"
Choji's innocent question got the attention of everyone else in the class and I sighed. Despite how I try to make myself look like a boy, people still think that I am a girl, especially if they met me for the first time. My androgynous appearance is too delicate for me to look like a proper male at first glance. I haven't gotten around to inform my classmates of my gender either. There wasn't a proper time to correct their misunderstanding, I might as well start now.
"I am a boy, Choji."
There was a muted silence in the classroom before the boys erupted.
"No way! You are even prettier than most of the girls!"
Gee, thanks for the compliment, Kiba.
Even Shikamaru had deigned this issue to be worthy enough for him to raise his head from the table where he was resting. Sasuke and Shino, who are the more aloof members of the class, are also watching me with looks of disbelief.
"Really." I drawled.
"I think I have thought of a suitable nickname for you." Sai said with a creepy fake smile on his face. "Your nickname can be girly-kun."
I'm going to castrate him when the instructors finally start on the sparring sessions, and then we will see who is the girl here. Sorry Ino, but your future husband is going to be a eunuch.
In the academy, there will be a few hours everyday where the instructors put us through physical conditioning and learning the katas of the basic academy taijutsu style. I still think that the taijutsu style I came up with is better than the one taught in the academy, but learning another taijutsu style won't do me any harm.
"You know what? You actually came up with a suitable nickname this time." Kiba said as he pat Sai on the back in an approving manner. "I can't think of a better nickname myself."
I am going to add Kiba into that list alongside Sai.
"I'm sorry for mistaking you as a girl, Haku." Choji apologised timidly as he offered me some chips. "Uh… chips?"
"Thanks, Choji." I said as I helped myself to more of those chips. I can see why Choji is addicted to it, the chips he eats taste really nice.
"You can't really blame us for mistaking you for a girl." Shikamaru interjected. I think he is trying to help his friend by explaining the reasons for the misunderstanding. "You are always with Hanabi and Hinata, and even you have to admit you can easily pass off as a girl if we put you in a kimono."
Yeah, yeah. Tell me something that I don't already know.
"Why are you always with them anyway?" Sasuke asked from where he is sitting. "You are not a Hyuga, and Hyugas tend to keep to themselves."
I don't think you have a right to say that considering the clan which you belong to, Sasuke. The Uchihas are a more exclusive group than most of the clans in Konoha.
Despite my thoughts, I have to answer Sasuke's question since he asked politely.
"I am adopted into the Hyuga clan, Sasuke. I may not be a Hyuga in blood, but I am treated as one."
My answer earned some raised eyebrows from the clan kids. I only found out much later after my adoption, but adopting someone into a clan is big business, it is not something that is done lightly given how clans tend to push away outsiders. Usually the practice of adopting someone outside the clan is done only when the clan finds out that one of the clan members had an illegitimate kid somewhere outside the clan and the clan will then adopt the kid into the clan to protect their bloodline from being 'leaked out'. I am obviously not a Hyuga, hence the looks that the clan kids are now giving me.
"Can we ask why? Or is that a personal question?" Shikamaru asked as he finally sat upright.
"Let's just say that I helped the Hyuga clan once and that they felt indebted to me." I answered after some thought. It's not the full truth, but it should be enough to satisfy the clan kids for now. I don't think they are paying much attention about the political scene in Konoha or the latest happenings since they are only still kids. They won't be interested in it, no kids will at this age. Shikamaru would probably piece the information himself if he bothered to ask his father about my situation. It's not like the reason behind my adoption into the Hyuga clan is a huge secret among the shinobis of Konoha.
"What's so great about him? He's just a lucky bastard that managed to get himself adopted into a clan." One of the boys, probably civilian-born or someone who is not part of a clan, taunted. "How did you manage to get yourself in anyway? Beg like a dog?"
I ignored the kid as I continued reading my book on chakra theory and making notes with my pencil. I don't even know who this guy is. I didn't bother knowing the names of most of my classmates unless they are part of the main cast or if they stood out. According to Neji, many of the students would have dropped out of the academy by their second or third year. The shinobi profession is not for everyone, many civilian-born didn't make the cut. It's kind of unfair how clan kids have a huge advantage over those who are not part of a clan, but it's the reality here and the harsh truth of life in Konoha. If they cannot accept it, suck it up and move on. I know for a fact that Namikaze Minato is not a part of any clan until he married Kushina in this world, and he managed to earn an S rank title for himself by his own merit. Instead of wasting time insulting me, this kid can use this free time to improve himself instead.
Sadly, the other non-clan kids joined in, and I heard them referring to the instigator by the name 'Tai'. I think they are all orphans by how they act around each other and they obviously know each other before joining the academy. I just kept quiet and remained unbothered as I continued to read my book.
"Hey, cut it out." Kiba defended me on my behalf. "What did Haku do to you anyway?"
"It's not nice to insult someone you barely know." Shikamaru added. "It's just not polite."
"You clan kids don't know how lucky you are to be born into a clan, dog-breath." Tai growled. "We orphans have nothing but each other, we need to do so much more just to be even accepted into the academy unlike you guys, who got accepted simply because you are from a clan." I saw Tai pointing a finger at me from the corner of my eye as I continued to read my book. "Why, I bet that the sissy over there had a whore for a Mum and-"
Shikamaru gave a sigh as Tai ranted on and on about the unfairness between clan kids and non-clan kids. Yes, he knows that he is lucky to be born into a clan, but there are also responsibilities to be a part of a clan, responsibilities that he wishes that he doesn't need to bear. It's times like these that he secretly wishes that his family isn't part of a clan, although he loves his family and clan all the same. It's just that the responsibilities are so troublesome.
Like Tai and his rant. How troublesome. Will Tai stop if he just let it continue, or will it end faster if he cuts in?
How very troublesome. He should just continue to pretend to be asleep.
"Why, I bet that the sissy over there had a whore for a Mum and-"
That's taking it a bit too far. No matter what, insulting someone's parents should only be reserved to your enemies. That's what Dad had told him during their discussion on taunting tactics.
SNAP
Shikamaru turned around at the sound and saw the broken pencil in Haku's hand. He was using it to make notes on the book that he was reading on chakra theory just a second ago and now it is broken into two pieces. Haku's head is tilted downwards and his bangs are covering his eyes, but it doesn't take a genius to know that Haku is furious at Tai's insult.
The fact that Haku can easily break a pencil with a single hand is pretty scary too. At the very least, Shikamaru himself isn't able to do it yet.
"Oh? Did I hit the nail on the head? So your Mum was really a whore. Did she whore herself to the Hyu-"
Faster than what anyone can see, Haku was suddenly in front of Tai and punched him in the gut, causing Tai to bend forward from the impact. Haku grabbed Tai's wrist and twist his arm in an obviously uncomfortable angle before the sound of snapping bones was heard and Tai screamed in pain. Haku got behind Tai, kicked Tai on the back of his knees to force him to kneel on the floor and Haku stood behind him, restraining Tai by holding Tai's arm broken arm with one hand and his feet pressed onto Tai's back. His previous uncaring expression is now one of rage.
Fast. Haku is way too fast. He's too fast to be an academy student.
"DON'T." Haku said in a low tone and Shikamaru swore that the temperature in the classroom dropped a few degrees even if he doesn't know how. "You dare insult my mother. You have no right to."
The other orphans had jumped up on their feet by now and eyed Haku warily. Some of them even had their weapons out. The other clan kids are also wary, but they are undecided on who to help.
Haku slowly turned his head to face the other orphans who is slowly surrounding him from all sides. Shikamaru don't like the expression on Haku's face. It scares him. It's like Haku views them as nothing but insects to be squished at his pleasure. To be snuffed out at his whim.
It's like they are all mere inconveniences.
"Oh? You guys all want a piece of me? Look at yourselves, you don't even know how to hold a kunai properly."
"Let Tai go." One of them growled out as he held his kunai in front of him defensively.
"Make me."
With that, the orphans charged in to stab Haku. Shikamaru can see Shino's insects buzzing out of his sleeves in an attempt to defuse the situation, Sasuke had jumped onto the table with ninja wires in his hands, Kiba and Akamaru looked as if they are about to charge in at any moment, Sai had a paintbrush and a scroll at the ready. Choji looks absolutely terrified, but Shikamaru knows that he will help when push comes to shove. He knows that his best friend will not stand by and watch someone get bullied. There are other clan kids as well in the classroom, and they all looked ready to assist Haku even if they don't know how to help him without accidentally attacking him in all that mess.
As it turns out, Haku doesn't even need help.
In just a few short seconds, Haku had the entire group of aggressors whimpering in pain on the floor with senbons sticking out of their bodies. Shikamaru didn't even manage to catch a glimpse of how he had done it. Haku was a blur as he moved about the mass of people and took them out. From their looks, the other bystanders probably didn't manage to catch what had exactly happened too.
Haku placed a foot on Tai's broken arm and Tai gave another scream from the pain as Haku continued to increase the pressure of his foot.
"You wanted to know how I got myself adopted into the Hyuga clan?" Haku spoke in a cold voice as he twirled a senbon in his hand lazily. "I wasn't originally from Konoha, you see. I killed three jonins from Kumo to get myself in here. It was easy. Do you know that it is a bad idea to bisect your enemy? It's too messy. Their blood and guts sprayed everywhere and it gets into your hair and clothes. I find piercing and stabbing their heart to be a lot easier, it is a lot neater that way. Konoha was unwilling to let me go after that, I proved myself to be too valuable an asset for them to let me go. They gave me a 'choice' to choose whether to stay or go, but I know that the choice offered to me was just an illusion. Konoha will keep me here one way or another even if I wanted to leave, my opinions be damned. The Hyuga clan offered to take me in since I happened to do them a favour by killing the Kumo jonins, but I know it is also because Konoha needs someone to keep an eye on me as well. I am a dangerous person, Tai, that's your name, right? I can easily kill people without feeling any remorse, killing people is easy to me, I have been told that I have a natural talent for it by Hiashi-sama himself."
Haku slowly leaned down to face Tai, their face inches away from each other, and Tai is now sweating profusely in fear.
"Killing you will be easy too."
The hand which Haku use to hold his senbon was raised high up in the air, and at that moment Shikamaru knew that he has to do something before things gets bloody.
Shadow Possession Jutsu!
"Shikamaru, your Shadow Possession won't hold for any longer than just a few short seconds."
Shikamaru gritted his teeth as he tried to hold Haku in place. Haku is right, he is somehow able to resist his technique even if he managed to prevent Haku from moving. For now.
With a burst of chakra, Haku broke free from the Shadow Possession and Shikamaru fell backwards onto the floor from the backlash. Kiba, Sai and Sasuke all moved to restrain Haku as Shino's bugs flew out in swarms to assist. Even Choji had enlarged his hand as well and is ready to fight.
Sasuke's punch connected, but the joy was short-lived as 'Haku' dissolved into a pile of water.
A water clone? But that's a high-level technique!
"Don't bother, you guys will never reach me with that speed."
Everyone turned around to the back of the class as Haku stood there with an uncaring look on his face, as if he wasn't trying to kill a classmate moments before. How did he even get there undetected?! He was at the front of the class a second ago!
"Haku!"
Hanabi barged into the classroom from outside and ran towards Haku, and Shikamaru saw Haku's expression going back to normal in a split second. It's like Haku turned off a switch from murderer mode to normal mode.
It's unnerving how Haku can switch personalities at a whim.
"Hanabi, what are you doing here? You are supposed to be in Kunoichi class."
"I felt your chakra flare up!" Hanabi said as she fussed over Haku and checked him over, possibly trying to find injuries. Upon finding none, she looked up at Haku. "What happened?!"
"That's what I like to know too."
Chiba-sensei entered the classroom and he took in the sights of the boys with senbons sticking out of their body and moaning on the floor in pain.
"Nothing happened, sensei." Haku answered smoothly as he returned to his seat to continue reading his book as if he did not just try to murder someone. "Just taking out the trash and educating them on the importance of knowing their place. They needed a lesson on how to control their mouths."
Chiba-sensei's lips curled.
"Detention, Yuki. I will listen to what you have to say later."
Haku gave a hum of acknowledgement and returned to reading his book, but Hanabi snatched the book away from him, causing Haku to look at her with a hint of annoyance on his face. Chiba-sensei had ushered the injured students out of the room and towards the sickbay, leaving the rest of them alone with Haku. Shikamaru thinks that it is a bad decision on Chiba-sensei's part to leave a bunch of kids together with someone who won't hesitate to kill them off at the drop of a hat, but at least Haku looks subdued and normal as long as Hanabi is around with him.
"What. Happened." Hanabi said as she put the book somewhere inaccessible to Haku behind her and glared at Haku. "Otou-sama will not be pleased at this."
"They insulted my mother, so I told them how I killed those Kumo jonins. Remember the three that we met on the way to Konoha? I was deciding on whether I should give a live demonstration too."
"Oh." Hanabi visibly winced. "That wasn't nice of them. You were planning to bisect them like what you did back then to that Kumo jonin?"
"On second thoughts, that's too messy, and I will have to clean out their blood from my hair and clothes. So, no. I should do something else. Maybe impaling them like what I did to that Kumo kunoichi? Will that be less of a hassle?"
Shikamaru stared with wide eyes at the conversation between Hanabi and Haku. The hell? Haku really killed Kumo jonins? And by the name of the sage, Hanabi, stop encouraging Haku!
"This revelation… is most disturbing." Shino whispered to himself, but it was heard by the group of clan kids who jumped in to attempt to restrain Haku as they continue to watch the interaction between Haku and Hanabi. "Why? It doesn't even seem like he was bothered at the thought of killing our classmates, even if we are supposed to be comrades in the future despite our individual differences."
"I didn't even see him move or create a clone." Sasuke added. "The only person I know who is close to our age and able to do something like that so flawlessly is nii-san."
"I'm more curious as to why he was facing three Kumo jonins." Sai butt in. "And girly-kun did say he wasn't originally from Konoha. Where did he come from then?"
Sai has a point. Shikamaru will have to ask his father later to see if he knows anything more about their enigmatic and dangerous classmate.
How troublesome.