If you had expected me to struggle with the work expected of children, you'd be wrong.

It was true, kids here studied more advanced topics earlier on but that was nothing compared to the difficulty of work I had to do previously.

I completed the tests needed within a week after my conversation with Jinbei, one test after school for a couple of days and I had completed the Academy's first year!

I still had to go to classes for my attendance but Jinbei didn't require me to participate in lessons anymore, just sitting around while everyone else did the work was kind of awkward so I joined in at times.

When I completed the tests, he announced it to the class and most looked at me with wide eyes, some respected me, some made fun of me, but the vast majority shook it off after a a couple of minutes.

The only ones to bug me were members of the 'group' I had found myself in, in particular, Arashi was hounding me for help.

The boy seemed to struggle with the school and had found in me, an esteemed tutor that would give him a helping hand.

"Hey, hey Aoki… for question number four is this right? No? Then what's the answer?" he asked, whispering to me from the left of my seat.

Arashi used to sit with Yami but had moved since the Nara would just doze off or stare outside the windows listlessly during class; other than his love for games like Hunter, his closed-off nature was another aspect of him that differentiated him from Shikamaru, the only other Nara I knew of.

I would help Arashi out sometimes, it didn't hurt me to do so but it did get annoying at times.

"Aoki! Gimme the answer to number two!" Ryoma asked from my right.

I looked at Ryoma, and the answer to the question got caught in my throat as a wonderful plan formed in my mind. The boy was eagerly waiting for my reply, the time for the worksheet to be handed in was coming up swiftly as Jinbei had roused from his seat, starting to collect the papers of kids on the opposite side of the classroom.

"Aoki! Number 2, what is it!?" Ryoma whispered a little louder, I knew Jinbei sensei could hear us but for some reason, he didn't stop Ryoma or Arashi from "cheating".

"You want the answer to number two?" I asked, tilting my head.

Ryoma nodded furiously, flicking his eyes back to look at the approaching teacher.

"Why?" I asked, stifling the malicious grin that threatened to split my face.

"Aoki, please! If I don't get this I'll need to do the extra work at home!" Ryoma begged.

"Extra work huh… why?" It was too hard, the wisps of a grin started to form.

"Aoki?! Wha- ah no!" Ryoma was about to bite back but his rebuttal never came to pass as Jinbei's cruel hand swiped the piece of paper from Ryoma's desk, Arashi's worksheet was quickly taken as well but he just looked at the development with a grin; he had completed his work on time.

Ryoma's penchant for annoying others was not limited to me, this was a moment to savour for all of us victimised by him in the past.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Ryoma looked at me like I had forsaken him, but his despair only made the win more delicious.

"Kukuku…" I let out a small laugh, victory was finally mine.

-----

With a sigh, I set aside the last of the second-year books and sunk my body back into my bed.

Honestly, I hadn't expected studying to be as draining as it just was.

In my other body, studying was easy… what else did I have to do? Watch Netflix? Anime? Read a novel or two? There was nothing in my life that demanded any more attention than work so most of the time I would rush it and get it out of the way.

That had all changed, however.

I could train, I could use my Chakra, I could play with friends! I had a thousand more reasons to procrastinate than I did back then.

But with hard work, I had slain the dragon that is homework and had finished up the second-year curriculum just a week before the first year was set to finish. Now all I needed to do was inform Jinbei and I would have access to the third-year curriculum which includes Jutsu!

I could hardly contain my excitement as I lay wrapped in my sheets, excitement that I knew would just make my next decision hurt even more.

It sucked and it would slow my progress slightly, but after lots of contemplation, I realised that it was the correct choice.

I won't tell Jinbei about me finishing the curriculum yet… or at least not until we're halfway through the second year.

If Jinbei knew that I had completed the second-year curriculum already, I would be forced to skip my second year and move into the third; this came with a multitude of problems that I didn't want to deal with yet, problems I wasn't strong enough to deal with yet.

First off, the most obvious problem: I would waste one year of development and get thrown into ninja work earlier than I would've normally.

Haha. Hell no.

When the academy has taught me all I need to know and I feel like staying there any longer will only result in my stagnation; then, and only then will I take the graduation exam. Losing a year is too risky for my tastes, even though chances are that I would skip more than a year by the time I find myself ready, I didn't want to take that chance.

Hell, if I managed to get the Jutsu down quickly enough, I could graduate in the third year itself; but I would only do so if I were confident in my capabilities.

The second reason, one more delicate: I feared influencing canon. When I become a ninja of the Leaf I will find myself in a place where canon can zig or zag at a wave of my hand, no matter how insignificant I may seem in the grand scheme of things.

My existence has already changed the future of this world by a lot.

Hiruzen, Sasuke, Tomo, the twins and my friends at the academy are all changed because of me even if only minutely; these small changes can go on to have everlasting effects in the future.

The effect my presence has will increase by magnitudes once I graduate and I wanted more time before I had to navigate those treacherous waters.

I thought a lot about Canon these days, especially when I interacted with the two Uchiha's in my class. The boy, Yakumi, didn't interact with me any more than giving me the occasional glance and looking away when I met his gaze. His cousin, Byakko, on the other hand oftentimes played with us during school and casually chatted with me.

Looking at those two kids always messed with my head, it bugged me endlessly to know that they're essentially walking corpses.

But what could I do?

The machinations set in place to eliminate the Uchiha clan come from places so far above that I wouldn't be able to reach even if I could clone myself a thousand times; Obito, Madara, Danzo, the Akatsuki... these people are untouchable by me.

How could I change their plans?

Should I even try?

It felt like one of the few points in canon that was set in stone, something that no matter how much I tried to interfere, would happen anyway. Most days I was able to push these thoughts aside and ignore them but it was proving to be harder as time passed.

I shook my head and sat back up, I was getting lost again.

Do what I can, when I can.

The knowledge of the future is my only weapon. If the shattering of the Naruto timeline I once knew is something that must happen, I'll do my best to break it in a way that changes the landscape for the better.

For now, I can't even do a single Jutsu, until we're halfway through the next year all I can do is improve my body and continue my super-secret training.

I snatched a small towel from under my bed and unfurled its contents, exposing a variety of dried twigs, leaves and bark; it was time to get my flame on.