Capítulo 5: Chapter 20
For my last training session with Ebisu, we left the training grounds and walked into the commercial district of Konoha.
As we walked, Ebisu handed me a scroll. "You're still not ready for this, but one day you will be. This scroll contains the hand seals and theory for the Shadow Clone Jutsu. But I forbid you from attempting it until you master the three basic academy jutsu. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Ebisu-sensei. Thank you," I said, pausing momentarily to accept the scroll with a bow.
"Now, now, I'm not your sensei anymore. After all, you start the academy tomorrow and I get to meet my new student. But I'm sure that if you work hard, you will learn things at the academy that I'd never be able to teach you by myself. Now, are you ready for your final lesson?"
"Yes, Ebisu-sensei."
"No matter what, I want you to remember this, even if you forget everything else I've ever taught you," Ebisu said seriously.
"Ebisu-sensei?"
"You're so serious, Haru. You've got to learn how to make friends. I know you've worked hard your whole life by yourself, but you will never be a truly great ninja until you learn how to trust your comrades. And remember this, Haru, a ninja's life is not measured by how many people he defeats, but rather, by the people he protects."
"Yes, Ebisu-sensei."
"Just so you don't forget, I've brought you here. I heard from this gentleman that you like ramen. Isn't that right, Teuchi-san?" he said as we entered through a familiar curtain.
"Oy, Haru-chan. It's been a while! Let me guess, large miso with extra pork, right?" yelled Teuchi from behind the counter.
I sat down on the stool next to my teacher. "Thank you...Ebisu-sensei. For everything."
I was feeling particularly cheerful on the first day of the Academy. The April weather was perfect. Ebisu had pitched in some ryo as a birthday present, meaning I was sporting a shiny new Black Coat. I thought it was perfect. Everything from the length, the spacious hood, and ridiculous zipper was exactly how I had remembered it. And in the future, now that the design had been set, it would be very cheap to repair or replace. Gotta love a ninja market that catered to people who wore the same clothes every day. The fact that the only shoes in the whole village were open-toed sandals only slightly detracted from the look.
"Ebisu-sensei can be a pretty good guy sometimes." I started to miss the pervert a little as I approached the Academy gates. He'd even taken care of my paperwork for me. "Maybe I shouldn't have teased him about Kurenai so much." It was probably wrong of me to ask them when I'd be getting a baby brother. Or baby sister. Or if Ebisu needed a best man. Or if I should knock out Kurenai so Ebisu could carry her again. That had been an excellent week, both for my enjoyment and genjutsu theory.
But honestly, Ebisu-sensei had taught me so many little things about how to be a better ninja that I don't know how I could ever have managed trying to enter the academy without him. I would forever be grateful for his instruction.
I watched the strangely familiar faces of the other students as they arrived in the Academy courtyard. All I could think about was how young they all looked. "Have I really been here six years?" I felt so old, like I should have been among the proud parents sending their kids off to become ninja.
I approached a table where multiple chunin were handing out orientation packets. The line moved quickly and soon I was standing in front of a haggard ninja who asked for my name and year without bothering to look up.
"Haru, first year."
The ninja scanned a clipboard and checked off my name, presumably. He gave me a strange look as he handed me my packet, double-checking his list and letting the issue go with a wordless shrug. "I guess my clothes are weird even by ninja standards."
I took a moment to examine my schedule. It was book-learning in the morning and physical activity in the afternoon. Afterward, girls would stay for kunoichi classes. Simple enough. I studied the extremely simple map of the academy to find my classroom.
Inside the spacious Academy classroom, I wasn't surprised by what I saw, although everyone was wearing different clothes than I had associated with each person. Ino was already getting chummy with the largest group of girls in the class. I could see Kiba talking to Shikamaru and Chouji. I found a seat in the back next to the laid-back Shino.
"Hello. My name is Haru." I figured I might as well say something.
Shino Aburame turned his head to look at the source of the quiet voice that had spoken to him. He paused, looking at me through his sunglasses, before he said quietly, "Shino. Nice to meet you."
Both of us turned forward in our coats to wait for something to break the awkward silence.
It wasn't long before most of the seats had been filled and I watched two chunin-vested ninja walk into the classroom. Brown-haired Iruka and white-haired Mizuki stood together at the front of the class.
Iruka announced over the din of children's voices, "Attention, please. Everyone have a seat. We will start with roll call and introductions. When I call your name, stand and say a few things about yourself." Iruka glanced at his clipboard. "Aburame Shino."
Everyone in the room watched the boy stand up and speak quietly, "Aburame Shino. I like winter melon the most. I dislike smelly foods." He sat down and Iruka called the next name in the alphabetical list.
I took notes on the names I didn't know from my memories, using my chakra to sear words onto the back of the orientation packet we received. The only thing I brought with me was something to eat for lunch. I was making a mental list of supplies I would need tomorrow when Iruka called, "Haru?"
I stood up. Suddenly, I wasn't so sure about my ridiculous choice in clothing anymore as everyone was looking at me. "My name is Haru. My favorite thing to eat is tuna sushi. Please take care of me," I said, my voice reverberating out from under my hood. I sat down and Iruka called on Sakura next.
"Since when is classroom full of children more intimidating than being personally grilled by the Hokage?" I thought back to what Ebisu told me about making friends. It suddenly felt a way more insurmountable challenge.
Iruka had gotten down to Sasuke's name before I wondered where Naruto was sitting. In fact, I hadn't seen the blond boy anywhere. "Pleasant Sasuke is something I will probably never get used to."
The littlest Uchiha had almost finished his introduction, "My least favorite foods are Natto and," before being interrupted by an orange-clad boy barging into the classroom door.
"Haha, sorry I'm late!" Naruto said loudly, scratching the back of his head. "This is the right room, isn't it? Woah, there's a lotta people for sure." It would have been perfectly standard Naruto if not for the fact that the boy was wearing a black and orange jacket, his 'Shippuden' outfit. There was no shred of blue on any of this clothing.
"Sit down," groaned Iruka as he pointed toward the rows of seats. "Anyways, Uzumaki Naruto?" Iruka called out.
"Huh? What do you want?" asked the clueless Naruto as he walked up the steps to find an empty seat. "Woah, Haru! You're here?" he said as he pointed to me as soon as he noticed me, ignoring the fact that he was shouting right in front of Shino.
"Naruto. Introduce yourself to the class," I informed him quietly.
"Eh?" Naruto turned around to see Iruka frowning and staring at him from the front of the room. I knew this would be the beginning of a beautiful relationship between the two. It took Naruto a second realize what was expected of him before launching into his introduction.
"Yosh! Before you stands the disciple of the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku! Handsome, magnificent, it is I who shall lead Konoha into a new age of prosperity! Bask in the presence of the next candidate for Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto!" He finished his introduction on the back of an over-sized, red toad, striking a particularly regal pose.
"Please, sit down, Uzumaki-kun," Iruka managed to growl through his clenched teeth.
Naruto simultaneously dismissed his summon and flipped over Shino and me to land directly in the corner chair next to me. "How was that, Haru? Pretty cool, eh? I was practicing with the old man all night. Wait, you haven't met the old man yet. He's kinda weird but he's got some good ideas sometimes."
At this point I held up a finger to my lips. "Naruto, don't interrupt everyone else. We'll talk later," I said quietly.
Naruto slumped over in his seat to watch the other students. By the time everyone had finished their introductions, Naruto was already snoring, his head buried in his arms on the desk.
At lunch, Naruto regaled me with his adventures with 'the old man'. I drank from a juice box as he described the massive fish he caught in the Land of Water, and recounted all the bandits he defeated who had tried to steal it. He helped himself to most of the meat in my bento as he told me that the fish was huge enough to feed an entire village, bandits and all.
By the end of the story, a number of kids had gathered around to listen. Kiba yelled out, "That can't be true. There ain't no fish that big." Personally, I knew Naruto was probably capable of catching such a fish, although he probably would have done it completely on accident with himself as the bait.
"What did you say? There really was a huge fish! It nearly ate me alive!" Naruto retorted, case in point.
I interrupted the squabble, "Inuzuka Kiba, correct?"
"Yeah, what's it to you?" Kiba spat back. Tiny Akamaru was growling at Naruto in defense of his partner.
"I'm sure you and Naruto will get along great together," I teased.
"What? Me and this idiot?" both boys said simultaneously as they pointed to each other.
As all the students headed to the sparring grounds, I reminded Naruto to bring his own lunch tomorrow.
"I got it. I got it," he mumbled. I quickly forgot about it as I contemplated being able to test my skills against someone my own age after what felt like ages.
Mizuki explained how taijutsu classes would work to the throng of children. Anyone who felt relatively experienced in taijutsu would step to the side and get their skills tested by 'Umino-sensei.' The rest of the class would get a rundown of the basics with Mizuki. Around a dozen of us split from the main group, myself included, and gathered around Iruka. It was just boys, although I could see that Sasuke had already started to get noticed, judging by the stares coming from some of the girls in Mizuki's group.
I was disappointed that we wouldn't really be doing much actual sparring until next year. I knew that Naruto felt the exact same way simply because he asked, "Why aren't we gonna fight each other?"
"Naruto! Taijutsu is a dangerous activity with a high potential for injuries. We need to be sure of your abilities before we can even consider allowing students to fight one another."
"Aw, I ain't gonna get hurt, Umino-sensei," Naruto said confidently. The rest of us stayed silent, although seeing Iruka's eye twitch made me chortle a bit inside my coat.
I think Iruka noticed because he pointed at me. "You, in the coat, come here." I stepped out of the crowd and walked next to the chunin. "Everyone will be doing this eventually so pay attention," he announced. He spoke directly to me, "Right now I will be testing your defenses. You are only to dodge or block. Under no circumstances are you to attack me." Iruka smiled in a fatherly way. "Don't worry. Just try your best, okay, Haru?"
I nodded and took a low fighting stance. I beckoned him to begin by curling my fingers.
Iruka approached slowly, testing my defenses with a series of hand strikes. It was painfully obvious he was holding back, but it was still difficult. He added a couple leg sweeps, which I dodged, and a third leg sweep which took me by surprise. I was on the floor after only a minute.
"A little slow, but surprising power. Nice job, Haru."
I rose and accepted the praise with a bow before returning to the small flock of students. Iruka then proceeded to school the rest of the students in turn. A minute was about average, although Naruto on his back after only thirty seconds when Iruka intercepted a punch Naruto had thrown reflexively. He used the moment as an opportunity to make sure we all knew the proper way to take a fall and protect our bodies, lecturing for the rest of the day.
After our first taijutsu lesson, I was about to leave the academy with Naruto and Kiba when I felt a strong hand yank on the back of my coat. I heard Iruka's stern voice behind me, "Where do you think you're going, Haru?"
I turned around and hazarded a guess, "Ramen Ichiraku?"
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
"No?" I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Girls have kunoichi classes after taijutsu."
"So?" I still had no idea what Iruka was getting at.
"So get your butt over there. It's going to be starting in a few minutes."
"What? I think there's been a mistake. I'm not a girl."
Iruka checked his clipboard. "That's not what it says here. Are you saying that administration made a mistake?"
"That can't be right! Ebisu-sensei submitted the paperwork himself. Ebisu-sensei..."
I wanted to take back every nice thing I ever said about the pervert-sensei. Ebisu would pay for this. He would pay dearly. And soon.
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