One week was over.

As I walked in the door, my ears were assaulted by the incessant noise of excited children. Tomorrow I will not be this early.

Shikamaru: "Yo."

Me: "Yo."

Shikamaru: "This is my buddy Choji. Choji, Kashime."

Choji: "Hey Kashime. Nice to meet you. You want a peanut?"

Me: "Hi. Thanks."

Shikamaru: "You wanna sit with us?"

Me: "Ok."

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Daikoku: "Okay everyone, settle down. My name is Daikoku Funeno and I will be your teacher for the foreseeable future. Ha, I see everyone found himself a seat so let's get started. I hope all of you read the timetable for your first year in the Academy. In your first year, you will have subjects such as reading and writing, geography, history, mathematics and biology. Now I see most of you are bored allready, but don't be mistaken. Every one of these subjects is taught to make you a better Shinobi. Additionally, you will learn how to fight, infiltrate, disguise, charm and yes, also, to kill. If you are still with us when it's time to become a Genin, you will be ready to fulfill every task that is given to you in your capacity as a Shinobi of Konohagakure. Any questions?"

Naruto: "Yeah! When will we learn a cool jutsu?! The old man said he can spit fire from his mouth! When are we gonna learn that?!"

Good that Shikamaru and Choji took a seat at the other end of the room from the blond menace.

Daikoku: "You will speak of Hokage-sama only with the respect he deserves, boy! He-hem... Now, in the next six years, everyone of you will learn the basic three, as they are called. The Transformation Jutsu, the Body Replacement Jutsu and Clone Jutsu respectively."

Some guy: "And when will we start learning those?"

Daikoku: "In time. First, you will have to learn about chakra. If you have a look at your timetables, you will notice there are three classes a week were I will teach you everything you need to know about chakra theory. But that will begin tomorrow, for now we will do some exercise!"

Oh jolly. My body still hurt from yesterday.

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Like every living being, the shinobi who runs out of chakra will die.

Willing the leaf to stick to your forehead was easy. Willing it to remain there was hard. When playing against Shikamaru, it was damn near impossible.

Naruto: "Hey! Don't you know school is over? Why are you still doing that?"

Me: "Please Naruto."

Naruto: "What!?"

Me: "Don't scream in my ear. You're loud."

Naruto: "Well, you're weird!"

Me: "Ok."

Naruto: "See! That's what I mean!"

Me: "Ok."

Naruto: "You...! I don't like you."

Me: "Ok."

Naruto: "Just you wait! When I'm Hokage you'll be sorry! Believe it!"

Me: "..."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

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Why is Funeno-sensei always matching me against Sasuke. Doesn't he realize getting beat up every single day is bad for your morale?

Sasuke: "You should give up now."

Me: "..."

Sasuke was still pretty talkative. I guess it takes a big brother to kill your whole family.

I was panting heavy. We had been at it for at least 10 minutes. Now he was rushing me again. I thought the Uchiha Taijutsu style was based on counter-attacking, but that seemingly didn't apply to the little princeling.

He likes to come in low. I stepped back and over a sweeping leg as his follow up connected with my high block. Predictable. Still, too fast, too powerful. Low again. He loves that.

Sasuke: "Come on. You know you can't keep up. Everyone knows it."

Me: "..."

Wait for him. There he comes. Won't be low this time. He thinks he's so smart mixing it up. Kick to the face, I step in, try to sweep his standing leg. He jumps and spins like a dancer. Knees me in the face. I hear a crack. While I tumble backwards I get kicked in the chest.

Daikoku: "Kashime is out of bounds. Winner: Sasuke Uchiha!"

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This world is not a safe place. Especially for an orphan. Is that what keeps me going? The fear for my life? No. I could die tomorrow and nothing would change. Not this world. And not me.

Who was I before I came here? I don't care. I think. But I don't know. Thinking like that is exhausting.

At least I have something to do. That keeps me occupied. And I won't loose sleep over answering questions that in the end don't matter that much to me.

Shikamaru: "Are you paying attention at all?"

Me: "Not really."

Shikamaru looked a little miffed. I am making it too easy for him.

Shikamaru: "Look if you don't want to play right now that's fine. We can always just do something else."

Me: "I could laze around for a bit. Where's Choji?"

Shikamaru: "He's busy helping his Ma. Cooking. Next week there's a Clan Meet. My mom is gonna make me attend too."

Me: "I see."

Shikamaru: "You wanna come?"

Me: "Not really."

Shikamaru: "I thought you wouldn't."

Me: "I don't want to intrude."

Shikamaru: "You're a friend of the family. You won't."

Me: "Ok."

Shikamaru: "You'll come?"

Me: "... I guess."

Shikamaru: "Cool. It'll be a hell of a bore."

Me: "I know."

Shikamaru: "Hey, you're smiling."

Me: "No I'm not."

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Every day I ran the same route that lead me along a small creek which finally concluded at a pond next to a couple of small training grounds.

Most times I did some calisthenics for an hour. Time was flying by. Many days you could spot other Shinobis of varying skill levels and ages training alone or with others. I didn't speak to them much, but I observed.

I saw Rock Lee more than once. When I did my push-ups he would sometimes be running by, but we never talked. I guess he was shy and I was fine with that. That's not how I remembered him from the manga but I didn't really think about it. Guy was not his teacher yet. Maybe that's why.

I didn't feel like talking to him anyways. The extent of our interaction was him one day, seeing me sweating and sitting against a tree, raising both his thumbs up in an encouraging way. I raised my own thumb at him and he beamed back. Then he raised his voice in a "Let's go!", punched the air and ran on.

Good. Most days he looked glum like it had rained for weeks. It was annoying.

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Ino: "What are you doing here?"

Me: "I was invited."

Ino: "Really? I don't believe you."

Me: "Ok."

Ino: "Just 'ok'?

Me: "Yeah."

Ino: "Don't you have any backbone?"

Me: "You're just annoying is all."

Ino: "I am ... hey watch what you say!"

Me: "..."

Ino: "..."

Me: "Something else?"

Ino: "We weren't properly introduced yet."

Me: "Guess not."

Ino: "Well I'm Ino Yamanaka! I'm gonna form a Genin team with Choji and Shika when we're all out the academy so don't get any ideas. Even if they're both total dunderheads."

Me: "Hi."

Ino: "Are you not gonna tell me who you are?"

Me: "Don't you already know?"

Ino: "Hmpf. Of course I do. Anyways just remember the Yamanakas have been friends with the Akimichis and the Naras before Konoha was even formed."

Me: "I thought you didn't like them. You never talk to them in class."

Ino: "Of course I don't! Shikamaru is a lazy dumbass and Choji just eats all day. He's also a dumbass. And fat. I'm just saying so you don't get any ideas."

Me: "Ok. I won't."

Ino: "Well then good!"

Me: "Are we gonna go inside?"

Ino: "I'm gonna go inside. You can do whatever you want."

Me: "You're standing in the way."

Ino: "Are you calling me fat?"

Me: "What the fuck?"

Ino: "What? You can't say that!"

Me: "..."

Ino: "..."

Me: "..."

Me: "Let's just go inside."

Ino: "Fine! But you still can't say that. It's not allowed."

Me: "Sure. Whatever."

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The days flew by. Surprising how fast a child can learn all sorts of things in a relatively short amount of time. Especially reading and writing proved to be skills which were learned exceptionally quickly. It seemed to be a priority in the first and second year to as fast as possible teach the student the reading comprehension necessary, so that they could further their education on their own time in the massive Konoha Library, if they so wanted, even if an academy student only had limited access to everything that could be provided there. Most seemed to be content with not doing so though.

I was staring at the E-Rank techniques provided by the Library in the section designated for academy students.

Bunshin no Jutsu, Henge no Jutsu, Kakuremino no Jutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu, Nawanuke no Jutsu.

All of those we would be learning in the next few years anyways.

I turned and looked around for something else.

After some time I found what I was looking for.

An Introduction to Caligraphy, Kagugiri Uzumaki.

How most people don't make the connection between my blond classmate and his devastated clan is beyond me.