บท 25: First Day

The morning sun filtered through the windows of Uzushio Academy, casting a warm glow over the classroom filled with many young, eager faces. Among them was Shiran, a 5-year-old with an unusually calm demeanor for his age, his lavender eyes observing the room with a laid-back look that belied his actual curiosity about how this first day was going to go.

As the children chattered excitedly, a boy with spiky hair and a scowl on his face stomped in. This was Benimaru, who would be known by his classmates later on for his fiery temper and competitive spirit. He scanned the room, his gaze landing on Shiran, who sat relaxed, almost looking bored.

This made Benimaru's scowl deepen a little bit more. He's always had a dislike for people who like to look like they're better than everyone else. "I'll take him down a peg before the day even starts," Benimaru thought to himself before calling him out in front of the whole class.

"Hey, you! You're sitting in my spot!" Benimaru yelled at Shiran.

----

I looked up, completely unfazed, wondering who was yelling this early in the day. I mean, I get it; it's the first day and all, but come on.

Looking up, I found a young boy with striking orange hair and pale green eyes looking at me as if I had kicked his dog and thrown it in the river to drown.

"You're talking to me?" I asked the question while letting a little smirk come to my mouth. I may have a step up in terms of mental maturity to everyone in this room, but let me tell you, I am a petty person if you want to start going there; I will go all the way.

"Yeah, and I'm telling you to get out of my seat!" The kid with the orange hair yelled back at me.

I bent my head all around the table and underneath it for exaggerated effect, aiming to get this kid going a little bit more. "Is your name written somewhere on this desk? I didn't see it."

The kid seemed to bristle at the response; perhaps he was not used to being challenged and stepped up to like that.

"No, but I want to sit at the back! Now move!"

I just smiled slightly and shook my head in a teasing manner.

"There's no rule about assigned seats on the first day. Why don't you sit next to me instead?" I suggested to try and diffuse the situation a little bit. After all, I just wanted to ruffle his feathers a little bit; I didn't want to get involved in a brawl on my first day here.

His frown seemed to deepen further and further with each exchange we had.

"I don't want to sit next to someone as annoyingly calm as you!"

I tried to offer some wisdom to the young boy standing at the front of the room glaring at me. "Maybe you'll find that being calm is a strength, not something to be annoyed by."

He huffed, crossing his arms.

"Strength is in power and action, not sitting around like you're at a tea party!" He shouted back at me, trying to rile me up but failing to do so.

As he uttered that sentence, my eyes showed a spark of mischief for just a second.

'Fuck it, if I have a fight on the first day of the academy, I'm sure no one will blame me for it.' I thought as I looked down at him from the highest point in the room.

"Well, if you're so powerful, why don't you make me move?" I jabbed at him with a slight smirk on my face. 'Man, I forgot how much I enjoyed being petty to bothersome individuals.'

Benimaru paused, taken aback by the challenge. The other children had, at this point, stopped talking and were watching the exchange between the two young boys, sensing the tension in the air.

"Fine, I will!" The boy shouted while running up the stairs to get to the back of the class.

Just as he was about to reach me, the teacher showed up and flickered in between the two of us, defusing the situation before the kid could reach me to try and make me move.

"Alright, boys, I think that's enough." 'It's not even five minutes into the day, and I already have a fight starting up in the classroom.' The man thought to himself.

"I'll tell you how things are going to work in the academy here; if you have any disagreements during your free periods or lunch, you will go to the training ground and work it out by yourselves, with supervision of course. If you have any disagreements during class, you will wait until you have time to go out to our training ground to sort out your problems. This goes for everyone in this room, understand?" The man said with a tone of authority.

"Yes, sir!" the class responded in unison to the declaration.

"Good, now please settle down and find a seat to sit in," Our teacher said with a pointed look at the boy with bright orange hair.

As he finished what he was saying, I saw two familiar figures pop into the room at the same time.

"Miki, Shin, up here!" I yelled down towards the door, capturing their attention.

They both smiled and made their way up to where I was sitting in the back of the class. Taking a seat on either side of me, they both sat down in unison.

"I'm so glad we are in the same class, Shiran. I didn't see you at all during the entrance exam a couple of days ago." Shin said with a questioning gaze fixed on me, looking for an answer.

I let a lopsided awkward smile cross my face while responding. "Ah hah, well let's just say that being the clan head's firstborn son has its advantages."

Miki looked confused as the implications of what I had said didn't really cross her mind, while Shin also let a helpless smile cross his face.

"I see, so your dad put in a good word to the academy then, I guess it makes sense." He responded as I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand.

"Yeah, it's just how things go sometimes. As of right now, I would like to spend as much time out of those inner workings as I can though." I answered honestly as I don't really want to have to deal with the old geezers, I mean elders, of the clan quite yet.

"Alright kids, it looks like we're all here now. Welcome to the academy, here we will get you ready to enter the world of shinobi as prepared as possible. My name is Takahiro Yamamoto, but you will call me Takahiro-sensei, ok?"

"Yes, Takahiro-sensei," the class responded with a bit of excitement lingering at the thought of being in the academy.

"The plan is for you guys to be here for around 5-6 years so that we can prepare you enough for the outside world. In that time, we will teach you chakra control, the academy taijutsu style, the three basic ninjutsu, elemental jutsus, and nature transformation exercises. More things may be included and some things may be excluded. This all depends on what Lord Uzukage says. Now let's get to introductions. All the way in the back of the room, you can start us off," he points to a student with straight black hair and red eyes that seemed to have a rectangle pupil sitting in the corner of the room.

"My name is Yuta Chinoike. I come from the Chinoike clan, and my dream is to help as many people as I can." The boy who identified himself as Yuta smiled shyly before sitting back down in the corner of the room.

"And what about you?" He went straight to the blue-haired girl with yellow eyes sitting beside Yuta and told her to go next.

The girl stood up and started speaking.

"My name is Kiyoko Saoto, and I come from the Saoto clan. I hate fake people and people who don't stay true to themselves. I also don't like Carrot Top for causing a ruckus during the first five minutes of the school day." She looked towards the boy with orange hair as the class laughed softly, with Miki almost falling out of her chair from the unexpected shot at the orange-haired boy.

Honestly, the switch between the styles of both of them contrasted so heavily. Yuta seemed soft-spoken and shy, not saying more than needed, while Kiyoko seemed outspoken, very upfront, and not afraid to say what she thinks, reminiscent of most of the Uzumaki clan I've met if I'm being frank.

The introductions went on as Miki, Shin, and I introduced ourselves, me getting an especially fierce glare from Carrot Top.

"My name is Benimaru Kugo. I'm from the Kugo clan, the best clan in the village, my dream is to become Uzukage and be the most powerful ninja in the village!" The boy, now identified as Benimaru, said excitedly.

"Alright, now that introductions are over, we can begin class," Takahiro-sensei said as he turned toward the blackboard.

(A/N: Little bit of an intro chapter to the characters that will be sticking around. It might be a little long but there'll be more expansion on the new characters and old as we move through the academy)