“My name is Asagami Kyoku, nine years old. Nice to meet you.” I said, finishing my introduction off with a bow.
As soon as I finished, whispers began breaking out in the class. At least they were all seen to be those born out of curiosity. I had had worse, back when I was still studying in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.
Overall, the atmosphere here was a whole lot better than what I expected. Blending in might not be as hard as I initially thought. Initially, I thought that my flame coloured hair might stand out too much, but truth be told, there were others that were far, far more outstanding here in terms of appearance.
A fat boy in the corner, stuffing his face full of chips. A disinterested looking blond talking to another boy with markings on his face, whose dog was perched rather adorably atop his head. Off to a side, there was a girl, with pupiless eyes that kept glancing at the afore-mentioned blond boy. There was also a pair of girls, who while were certainly attempting to pay attention to her, kept shifting their eyes over to a brooding boy near them.
This was a good class to join. There were enough of the eccentric bunch that I would not stand out too much. Not to mention, most of these children were connected to many of the powerful clans in Konohagakure. If I could somehow build a rapport with them, it would be extremely easy to retrieve some of the information that Orochimaru-sama would no doubt be interested in.
“Right, settle down everyone.” The instructor, a Chunin by the name of Iruka clapped his hands, annoyance plain across his face, most probably because not a lot of people were paying attention during my self-introduction. “Kyoku-chan, you can sit next to Sakura.” He pointed to a pink haired girl.
Haruno Sakura, a girl of eight years of age. She smiled awkwardly at me as I sat next to her. Perhaps she was not used to strangers? No. I immediately clarified as my training kicked in. A small look of annoyance here. Her eyes glancing towards the side from time to time. I turned around, looking in the direction she was in and noticed that she actually tensed up significantly as I did so. I looked in the direction of her gaze, towards the brooding boy that I had mentioned before.
Now I was confused. Open hostility over a boy? Perhaps they were childhood friends. I shrugged and sat down disinterestedly.
She was noticeably much more friendly after that. Though I did not really interact with her that much, seeing that I should probably pay attention to class if I wanted to have a chance at catching up.
My worries was for naught, and truth be told, class was rather boring.
No really, there had to be much more interesting subjects than taijutsu theory, weapon theory or even the history of the village. At least the ninjutsu class was interesting enough, that was one of the few practical sessions that were present in the curriculum. Apparently we were attempting the Henge no Jutsu, the transformation technique today.
We were called out in alphabetical order, and I was second. The first child, a boy by the name of Izuna, managed the Jutsu within two tries. I decided that I should emulate him, people would not think me strange if I did it within two tries now that someone else already had.
My ploy worked out perfectly, and Iruka-sensei smiled encouragingly at me when I managed the jutsu the second time around. It felt genuine, that was good.
The rest of the lesson passed by quickly, with only a few minor incidents, such as the boy with the dog, Kiba, making a ruckus by turning himself into a weird wolf-man hybrid, and Naruto, the blond boy taking almost five tries to get the technique right.
Then there was Uchiha Sasuke. When Shim- I mean, when father had passed me the documents detailing my classmates, there was one that had caught my eye. Uchiha Sasuke, sole survivor of the massacre of the most powerful clan in Konohagakure. He was considered by many to be a genius for his age, capable of feats that no other kid his age should be capable of.
He managed the jutsu in one try, and Iruka-sensei was not even surprised, almost as that sort of thing was expected.
He might become a valuable ally down the road, or he may become a terrifying obstacle. I would need to keep an eye on him.
Almost as soon as the last student had his turn, the lunch bell rang. The classroom quickly exploded into a flurry of activity as kids began reaching into their bags, bringing out containers of varied sizes and shapes before exiting the class by the doors and the windows.
“Stay safe kids!” I heard Iruka-sensei shout, “and I want to see you back here in exactly an hour!”
I suppressed a smirk when I detected a hint of exasperation in his voice, before taking my own packed lunch out of the room.
Lunch was a simple affair for me, the problem was where I should have it. It would be awkward for me to simply approach any of the students as of today. Perhaps I should make use of the fact that I was new and shy to simply observe the cliques that had been formed by the various groups. After all, it would be best to determine which particular group had the most value to me before I make my decision. But in order to do so, I would need a prime position to survey the entire school-grounds.
It took awhile, but I soon found such a spot. A grassy incline nearby, overshadowed by a tree. It would make a prime position to overlook the different groups of children on the school-grounds. Not to mention, it would probably be comfortable too.
I sat down on the slope, the grass acting like a comfortable cushion as I began unpacking my lunch. Of course, it was onigiri, being the most simple and filling food that could be produced on quick notice.
“Oh, someone’s in our spot.” A bored voice drawled out behind me. Alarmed, I looked backwards in time to see two kids approaching my position.
The bored looking one with his black hair tied back was Shikamaru Nara, if I recall properly, and his fat companion should be none other than Chouji Akimichi. The two were spectacularly ordinary, as according to my observations on them, but they were both heirs of two of the major clans within Konoha. Still, there was something about them I could not place, especially that Shikamaru kid.
It would be a bad idea to antagonise them.
“Sorry.” I bowed my head, doing my best to look apologetic, “I could mov-”
“Nah, too troublesome.” Shikamaru interrupted, lying down on the grass a little bit away from me.
“You’re Kyoku, right?” Chouji asked as he took another chip from the packet he held as he sat down beside his friend. “Nice to meet you.”
I blinked. This was not what I was expecting. Or were kids in Konohagakure always this forthright?
“Yes,” I replied, nodding at him. “A pleasure to meet you.”
“Mmmmh,” He said, stuffing his mouth with more of those little tidbits, before holding out the packet. “Chips for your onigiri?”
“He thinks they’d taste nice.” Shikamaru clarified helpfully from his position on the grass.
Sure. What do I even have to lose? I held my lunchbox out, and Chouji eagerly took one once he deposited a handful of chips into it.
Mmmmh, seaweed. I smacked my lips as I sampled one. It was the right amount of salt within too, though it would probably be for the best if I don’t take too much. Too much junk food was not exactly the most nutritious diet for a growing child.
Still, why did they even come here? I wondered as I looked at the two boys beside me, who were chatting amicably. Were they merely curious? Or did they have another motive in mind?
I sighed, inwardly, of course.
Apparently children were harder to understand than I thought.
After the break was a taijutsu lesson. It was, to say the least, a walk in the park for me. Under my instructors back in Otogakure, I was trained in basic taijutsu techniques. It would not be an understatement to say that I was probably more than a match for half of the children in the school. Still, it was probably for the best that I do not stand out too much here. It would be suspicious, after all, for a child to be so proficient in combat. Sure, I could always say that father taught me during his long-term mission, but it would probably for the best if I showed a few mistakes during the training period.
As such, it would be best to fight with a number of handicaps. A fight would be much more believable if there was a struggle to claim victory. No usage of the legs, for one. And I’d probably refrain from using chakra to reinforce my limbs.
My first opponent was to be one of the loud-mouthed boys in my class, Inuzuka Kiba, the one from a dog-tamer family. His partner, a little puppy by the name of Akamaru, was not allowed to participate.
“Why’d I have to fight the new girl?” He complained as he got into the white round ring drawn with charcoal that served as our arena. That comment drew a bit of commotion from the surrounding crowd. I even heard a few girls yell, “Beat him up!”
I, for one, stayed relatively unconcerned by the comment. He had the bluster down, that was for certain, but I would be lying if I didn't really take him seriously at the moment.
“Start!” Iruka-sensei shouted.
Kiba drew his fist back and I moved, preparing myself to block. It was a widely telegraphed move, easily dodgeable. But I wanted to gauge his strength, so it was in my interest to take the move head-on.
I flinched slightly as the attack landed far harder than I thought it would. No, that was an understatement, the attack literally drove me to my knees. In hindsight, not using chakra to reinforce my limbs was probably a huge mistake.
Kiba, emboldened by his initial strike, began to rain a flurry of blows upon me. I, on the other hand, had learned from my mistake, and quickly reinforced my arms with chakra, using them to deflect and block his punches and kicks rather than take them head on like I initially had. It took me awhile, but eventually an opening presented itself for me after I swatted aside a rather lopsided punch from him. Twisting myself at the waist to add more force to the blow, I drove my elbow directly into his chest, knocking him flat on his back and landing him just out of the ring.
“And set!” Iruka-sensei announced as he penned down more notes on his clipboard. “Please do the the seal of reconciliation, the both of you.”
Kiba was very disgruntled about his loss, and grumbled quite a lot, but in the end, pressed his two fingers into mine, completing the seal.
“Good fight,” I said, hoping that it would be enough to soothe his wounded ego.
“Yeah.” He grunted, “but I’ll get you next time!”
“Kiba-kun, your attacks have a lot of power,” Iruka-sensei interjected, clearly keen to offer his two cents of advice. “but you were swinging too wildly. You need to work more on your precision and technique.” He turned to me as he flipped the paper on the clipboard back. “Kyoku-chan, you have a good grasp on the basics, Shiratama’s work, right?” He smiled.
“Yes.” I replied dutifully.
“It was a good effort, but you need to work more on your legs instead of focusing purely on your arms. And you also need to work more on your strength.” He set the clipboard aside and chuckled. “But it was still a good effort nonetheless!”
I nodded, but inwardly, I was dismayed. Not because of the compliments, but because of the murmuring that arose from the watching crowd.
“Wow.”“She actually beat him.”“I didn’t think she was that good.”“Looks like we have another one to watch out for.”
Apparently, I had taken out one of this class’ best taijutsu users.
Shit. So much for not drawing attention to myself.
Thankfully, school ended without much hassle. Initially, I was afraid that I would be the centre of attention thanks to the little display I had made during the taijutsu lesson, but kids being kids, quickly forgot about it.
I would be lying if I said that that was not a relief.
I stood outside the compound, looking for all intents and purposes to be a kid waiting for her parents. The reality could not be further from the truth. I was here, in fact, to note down the parents who were taking their kids home.
As expected, most of the kids here had parents who were nobody of note. Though there were a few exceptions. The pale-eyed girl, Hinata, I remembered her name, was escorted off by a group of robed figures almost as soon as she left the school compound. The sigil they wore was that of the Hyuga clan, one of the most powerful clans in Konohagakure. It would be wise, on my side, to establish a relationship with her as soon as possible. Then there were Shikamaru, and Chouji, who I had correctly deduced to be the Nara and Akimichi heirs respectively. I mean, why else would the Clan Leaders themselves, Jounin Commander Shikaku and Akimichi Head Chouza be here to pick them up?
Thank the sun that I memorized the bingo book before coming here.
Still, there was one kid that I found myself rather interested in. Uzumaki Naruto, was sitting alone on the swing, for all intents and purposes looking like a kicked puppy that had been told off for standing in the way. However, that was not what stood out to me. It was the fact that almost all the parents and kids here were deliberately steering clear of the child.
I gathered enough from my first day here that Naruto was a prankster of the highest order, but even then, that should not warrant this kind of treatment from the rest of them.
Curious…
“How was school?” Father asked nonchalantly, as though he was interested in what happened on my first day. Of course, it was for the sake of keeping up appearances, after all, we might never know if someone was listening in without us knowing.
“It was cool.” I replied, sounding as disinterested as I could. “The kids there were weird though.”
“Weird how?”
“Loud,” I said, for all intents and purposes, sounding like a selfish brat. “Boisterous and very self-assured. Though there was this one kid… Uzumaki Naruto…” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his grip suddenly tighten on his mug. “The rest of the kids, particularly the adults, seem to be giving him a wide berth. Did he have some kind of disease?”
“Yeah, something like that.” Father said, "By the way, do the dishes, would you?" I raised an eyebrow at the sudden request but did not question it. Of course, I did notice him making a beeline to my room as soon as I began my task.
It was perhaps why I was not surprised to see three items on my desk later that night. One was a history book of Konoha, the one that I had to study diligently alongside the Bingo Book before I began my infiltration, one was a rough sketch of a fox and the final bit seemed to be some official announcement.
I widened my eyes as the implication sank in. It was common knowledge that only a few years ago, before I even stepped foot into this world, Konoha was under attack by one of the nine mythical tailed beasts: The Kyuubi, the Nine-tailed Fox. The attack had drastically weakened Konoha, who lost plenty of Shinobi in that attack, including the Fourth Hokage himself, a hero among heroes. With his sacrifice, however, the Kyuubi was sealed away, but its location was never disclosed.
I did not even suspect Naruto to be its Jinchuuriki. Why? That was the first question that came to my mind, why seal it into him, a child that was most definitely a baby at the time of the attack? It made no sense. Gingerly, I picked up the document, and my eyes widened as my suspicions that Naruto was the vessel for the Kyuubi was all but confirmed by the slip of paper. It was an announcement that told of how the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto, and how it was to be kept a secret that he was a vessel for which the infringement of this policy would be either death or lifelong imprisonment.
Now it made sense. Why the other villagers tend to avoid the boy. I mean, could anyone blame them? The child was literally housing the very monster that had turned their lives outside down so many years ago, not to mention that if the monster ever got free, it could very well do so again.
Still… It would be counterproductive, wouldn’t it? Ostracizing the Jinchuuriki would very likely cause them to turn upon those that antagonised them in the first place. Would it not be much more logical to make the Jinchuuriki feel more appreciated? So that the chances of them turning on their village would be less likely?
I pinched the bridge of my nose as I let out an insufferable sigh.
Nevertheless, this was a valuable piece of information to have. Perhaps, in time, I should attempt to befriend Naruto. He was the vessel for one of the strongest beings in this world after all.
Surely it couldn’t hurt to have an ally like that?
The next few days passed by like a simple breeze. Since they did not turn me away, I joined the two boys at their spot during lunchtime each day. They were a nice bunch, truth be told. Shikamaru Nara was quiet, preferring not to speak more than necessary, often portraying himself as a lazy kid with a ‘can’t be bothered’ attitude. Chouji, on the other hand, was apparently looked down on by the other members of the class, with the only other person that could tolerate his presence among the other kids being the aforementioned Nara.
Apart from that, I was ‘encouraged’ by Iruka-sensei to attend the ‘optional’ kunoichi classes after classes, and by ‘encouraged’, what I actually meant was ‘forcibly volunteered’. The curriculum in that class was rather mundane at first glance. We were taught ikebana, the art of flower arrangement, we were taught how to sew and cook and how to act like a female from every single social circle.
It took me two days before I realized that what they were teaching us was how to infiltrate by taking advantage of our gender. Ikebana might seem simple, but codes and deadly weapons could be easily hidden within the bouquet of flowers that we were handling. Even with the appropriate, no one will really realise the presence of the deadly poisonous Nightshade in an otherwise innocuous looking pot of flowers. Embroidery and sewing taught me how to hide codes and hidden messages in something as simple as a handkerchief. Learning about different countries and their culture would eventually teach us how to blend into the crowd, how to act like a local.
Though, I was slightly disconcerted that I was the only one taking the lessons seriously. The other girls in the lesson seemed to be only interested in using the lesson as an opportunity to socialize with one another and establish their connections.
A fact that I found that I was not exempted from.
It was the fourth lesson, I was busy gathering flowers in the greenhouse for an intended flower arrangement when I found a flower slipped into my hair.
“I think yellow looks good on her, don’t you?” Said a purple haired kid, Ami, the group of girl following her about laughing in agreement. She was pretty much the boss of one of the biggest cliques in the school, with the majority of the girls following her about and agreeing with whatever she said.
I frowned at her, paying close attention to her body language and expressions. No signs of hostility, but a healthy dose of condescension. A standard bullying attempt then.
I suppressed the desire to strike her down with a well-aimed punch to her jawline. Doing so would place me in the centre of attention, and I wouldn’t want that. What she was doing here was clearly a power-play. She was the kind of person that needed to constantly reinforce her position by finding someone weaker than her to be the focus of her party’s ire. It was a standard bullying tactic. I should know, having done my fair share of it back in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns. Still that didn’t mean that I liked being on the receiving end of it.
And no, yellow flowers did not suit me. It would blend in too well in the yellow streaks in my hair. Green or blue would suit me a lot more, brings out the color of my eyes.
Still, it would probably be best to merely just ignore them, I decided amidst the mocking laughter that I was surrounded by. Opposing the largest girl group in the academy would definitely be a huge folly.
Someone else, apparently had a different idea.
“Yeah, just as much as purple would suit you, right, Ami?” Someone else called out.
The laughter died down immediately. I lifted my head from my task, curious as to who was it that would come to aid and my eyes widened slightly in surprise. Who else but Ino Yamanaka, heiress of the Yamanaka clan, her pale hair tied up in the traditional ponytail get-up of her clan. Next to her was the pink-haired girl that sat next to me during class, Sakura Haruno.
Ami made to say something rather discourteous, but Ino’s glare stopped whatever she had to say. These two clearly had a history. She then walked past her and grabbed my free hand. I suppressed the flicker of annoyance that bloomed at the gesture, but otherwise said nothing as she led me and Sakura out of the throng of girls.
“Are you okay, Kyoku-chan?” I blinked, why was she using honorifics? Were we that close to warrant its usage? Still, there was no need to dwell on that, so I nodded
She grimaced, and I studied her, slightly confused as to why she would have such a reaction.
Then it struck me.
“Thank you for your help.” I said quickly, bowing my head. It had been most discourteous of me not to thank her for the favor that she had done to me.
“Ah,” She replied, slightly flustered. Now I was even more confused. Did I do the wrong thing?
“Um, I’m Ino, by the way.” She said, after she composed herself. “And this is Sakura!”
“Hi,” the other girl smiled.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I beamed, or at least, I hoped I did. Facial emotions were sometimes really hard to portray.
“Likewise,” Ino smiled. “By the way, do you need help?” She asked as she took a look at the flowers I had gathered. “It looks like you are still missing some of the flowers Suzume-sensei asked us to gather. Want to join me and Sakura as we look for it?”
Something about her made me want to say no. Except there was no reason to. She was the daughter of Inoichi Yamanaka, a head shinobi of the Konoha Intelligence Division. Getting to know her would help me, and by extension, Orochimaru-sama. Duty compelled me to accept.
“Sure...”
At least, I hope it was duty.