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It was May. A month had passed since the future Rookie 9 entered their final year at the academy.

Naruto and his friends were near the academy grounds enjoying their lunch break. Hinata and Sakura were reading a book while Shikamaru was laying on the ground looking at the sky. Ino was calmly eating her lunch while Kiba, Naruto and Choji fought for the food in front of theirs. And lastly Shino was off to the side under the shade of a tree observing the small insects flying about.

"Hey, hey. I came up with this really cool technique that I'm sure is gonna work against Iruka sensei. It's gonna be awesome." Naruto's excitement to use his new technique on his academy teacher was blatantly visible on his face.

"I'm pretty sure whatever juvenile technique you're gonna use is just gonna get you in trouble." Shikamaru said with a sigh, never taking his eyes off the clouds.

"Yeah! Aren't you tired of getting detention, Naruto?" Ino asked with exasperation.

"No way. Even if I do get detention, I'll find a way to skip it." The blonde boy said with his arms crossed. "And besides, the classes are getting boring. Wish I could graduate soon and go on some awesome missions. Like rescuing a princess or stopping an evil warlord." Naruto was eager to begin his journey as a Genin but he still had a year to go.

"Yeah. I kinda wish I put in a request for early graduation too…" "Arf Arf!"

Kiba and Akamaru agreed with that sentiment.

"I wonder how Daichi's doing? I bet he's going to all kinds of cool places." Choji said as he took the last piece of meat while Naruto and Kiba were distracted.

"Hey I was gonna eat that." Kiba and Naruto said at the same time.

The young Akimichi smirked victoriously as he looked at the two. "Never take your eyes off the prize."

Naruto sat down grumbling.

"Have any of you guys seen Daichi these days?" Ino asked the group.

"No. We looked for him in the usual places after the academy but we didn't find him." Kiba said.

"I bet he's on some super secret dangerous mission protecting someone important." Naruto imagined those as the kind of missions he would do when he became a Genin.

"Not exactly Naruto." Daichi said, standing behind the kid.

"Ghaa!" Naruto almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice behind him. "Where'd you come from?"

"Oh I just came to visit my pals." The young Genin said with a smile.

"Daichi! We thought you might be on a mission." Ino smiled at him. She had a small blush on her face as she looked at him.

"I'm just starting out. So I get assigned simple missions for the moment."

Daichi sat down with his friends and placed a small bag of snacks in the middle of the group. They all took some and began asking Daichi questions about his Genin life.

Daichi answered their questions and Naruto was disappointed to learn that they would have to do simple D Rank missions when they became Genin.

"Um Daichi, do you have any more books on Medicine? I'm almost done with the one you gave me." Sakura said.

Daichi was only mildly surprised. 'That book had more information than what's taught at the academy but it still only contained the basic information. Even so… I thought it would take her at least 3 months to finish. For her to complete it already is just… Well… Her strength at the moment does lay in storing information…'

Daichi nodded. "Yeah. I'll give you the titles of some reference books. They'll probably be in the Academy Library. So you can check them out whenever you want."

"I can't believe you're asking for more books to study."

"Yeah. There's no way I'd do that."

Naruto and Kiba said in unison.

"Well maybe if you two knuckleheads did study then you would have better grades." Ino told them and defended her friend.

"That reminds me, I remember giving you a book on chakra control. Have you read it?" Daichi asked Naruto.

The blonde boy just sheepishly chucked and rubbed his head. Daichi sweatdropped as he already knew what the answer to that question was.

"Well, you see I tried it and just couldn't get the hang of it. So I kinda stopped after a few days." Naruto replied with an embarrassed smile.

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Daichi sighed. 'This kid… I thought he would be motivated enough but it seems he isn't in the mindset he was in the Wave mission. Sasuke was there to motivate him but here he doesn't have that and the sheer drive to learn the technique…'

Daichi decided to set a metaphorical fire under Naruto. "That's a shame. Sasuke looked like he completely mastered the technique."

Hearing that Naruto jumped to his feet. "Say what!"

"How do you know that Daichi?" Choji asked him.

"You've been sparring with him, haven't you?" Shikamaru said.

Daichi nodded. "Yeah. He's about mastered the Tree Walking technique."

"What? How come you don't spar with us?" "Yeah?" Kiba and Naruto were slightly hurt that their friend wouldn't fight them. They still remembered the words Sasuke said during the match at the academy.

Daichi recognized the sad tone in their voice. "Guys, it's nothing personal. I was training in the forest near his clan grounds and we accidentally met. We just sparred to kill some time."

Naruto was now determined. "There's no way I'm gonna let Sasuke get ahead of me that easily. I'm gonna master the Tree walking as fast as I can."

"Me too. I'm gonna train and I'll learn it before you do." Kiba also became eager.

"You should learn it. It helps with chakra movement throughout the body and will also help with the clone jutsu. There are also ways you can increase the chakra control training intensity…" Daichi spoke and he had the attention of almost everyone. He saw the most excitement in Naruto's eyes.

"As written in the scroll, Tree walking increases chakra control but this is a simple exercise. After you learn tree walking, you can also increase your focus and chakra control by sticking leaves to the tip of your toes and the soles of your feet. It's the same concept of sticking the leaf on the forehead. That way you'll learn to control just how much chakra is needed… Naruto, your problem with clone jutsu is that you're not moving your chakra through the body correctly. And Sakura, if you want to learn medical ninjutsu then chakra control is of utmost importance." Daichi finished his explanation.

Naruto and the gang save for Shikamaru and Shino nodded their heads. Those two already knew the specifics of chakra control training.

As they were talking, Daichi sensed someone watching him. He discreetly looked around the place and a few seconds later saw who it was.

'Mizuki! He's not as subtle as he thinks. He's observing us... What's his intentions? Is he keeping an eye on Naruto or me? He had contact with Orochimaru but to that snake this guy is just a weak pawn. Not even worth it…'

Mizuki was on the first floor of the academy looking at the group through one of the windows. He didn't notice that he caught Daichi's attention.

Mizuki's fists clenched as he saw the group of eight students and one new Genin laughing and enjoying themselves. He had his eyes on two people in particular. 'That damn fox brat. I can't believe he made friends… And that's Daichi Hekima. The student who took early graduation and one who's called a Genius.'

The man's eyes narrowed as he looked at the Genin. He didn't realize it but he was jealous of Daichi's great talent. And that jealousy along with the boy's friendship with Naruto made Mizuki hate the boy.

Daichi's senses picked up on the minute killing intent Mizuki emitted. He kept calm and talked to others with a smile like nothing happened. A few seconds later the bell rang throughout the academy signaling the end of students' lunch break.

At this moment Daichi saw Mizuki walking away. His smile vanished and his eyes slightly narrowed as he looked at the disappearing form of the man.

"Next class is Mizuki sensei's. We better hurry. See you next time Daichi." Choji said and the rest said their farewell as well.

Shikamaru was the last to get up and leave. He noticed the way Daichi looked at the certain academy instructor. He didn't leave and waited for the rest of his friends to get ahead.

"Is there something wrong with Mizuki sensei?" Shikamaru stood near Daichi and asked in a low voice.

Daichi was quiet for a few seconds. He was contemplating on how to answer that question. A few moments later he spoke. "I'm not sure. It's just… I have a bad feeling about that guy. It's not based on any evidence or anything like that. It's just an illogical gut feeling…"

Shikamaru looked at his friend and slowly nodded. He walked away thinking about what Daichi said. 'Mizuki sensei has been teaching at the academy for a few years. But he wasn't assigned to our class till this year. So I doubt Daichi had any lengthy interaction with him, if any at all. But for him to still say that… This is so troublesome.'

Daichi left the academy with his mind on the silver haired academy instructor. 'I hope nothing bad happens.'

Naruto and the others were walking to their class.

"You know, I'm kinda surprised you didn't ask Daichi for a spar?" Sakura said.

"It's not that I don't want to. It's just that Daichi is the strongest. I do want to challenge him but I'll only do it after beating Sasuke. And when I fight Daichi, I'm gonna beat him too." Naruto as he clenched his fists.

Sakura snorted at that notion. "Yeah. Good luck with that."

"Hey. I'm serious."

They soon entered the class and waited for their teacher. A few moments later the door opened.

"Good Afternoon, Mizuki sensei."

The class greeted him. The man had a kind smile and greeted all the students. When his eyes reached Naruto, the smile on his face cracked for only a split second but he successfully kept the facade of a kind loving teacher.

No one saw the hate in the teacher's eyes except for one person.

Shikamaru didn't believe Daichi at first and thought he was just being paranoid or something. But he decided to trust his friend and his own instinct and paid close attention to his teacher from the moment the man set foot in the room.

It was only because he paid such scrutinizing attention that he saw such a split second micro expression. The young Nara frowned as he looked at his academy instructor. 'Daichi is definitely on to something. This guy is not what he seems.'

—-

"597… 598… 599… 600."

Daichi completed the 600 rep handstand and landed on his feet. 'I got another 2 points in strength. One in stamina. Doing it with weights is the best way to improve stats. I need to increase the stats as much as I can and get them to 300. I need the perks more than ever.'

Daichi wiped the sweat with a towel and sat down. He soon began meditating along with the several clones near him.

Some time later he sensed the arrival of his Jonin teacher.

"So what's it this time?" Daichi asked the man.

"My alarm clock stopped working so I got up late. I'll fix it after our mission."

"Mmmhm!"

Daichi released the shadow clones and stood. "So what's the mission today?"

"Let's go find out."

With that the 2 man team headed for the tower. Soon they reached the mission desk. They saw the Hokage assigning missions to various teams.

"Aah! Team Kakashi. Welcome."

"Lord Hokage." The two ninja greeted their leader.

"If you're interested I have a C Rank mission for you." The old leader said.

Daichi straightened and nodded.

"Well, since my student is so eager I guess we'll take it." Kakashi said with a smile.

The kage gave a scroll to Kakashi and gave them a mission overview. "It's a document Delivery mission to Tonika Village."

At that moment a new quest popped up.

[Quest Created - Delivery Mission to Tonika Village.]