First Day of School Oh Boy Oh Boy

Hanabi arrived at the academy. She'd been on the grounds before, many years ago. Her mother had often taken her along when going to pick up her brother, Hoshigoto. It was one of her fonder childhood memories. But this would be the first time she made it through the doors - herself a student. Of course she tried not to express her excitement, that she shouldn't do anything so childish as show emotion had been long ingrained in her. Still, there was a slight smile on her face and her eyes were bright. Nobody's perfect, and she'd always resented the rule anyway.

As she entered the classroom she began to feel a bit sheepish. Children, children everywhere. It wasn't that she disliked them, on the contrary, she enjoyed seeing them at the family clinic. However, she found having people half her age as peers rather embarrassing. She sat down towards the back to avoid attention. Heaven forbid she start walking towards the front and get mistaken as a teacher.

Once seated she opened the small bag hung from her shoulder and placed some items on the desk before her. Some blank scrolls and other note-taking apparatus, as well as a bit of basic reading material. Having left early, she wasn't surprised the teacher had yet to arrive, and had planned accordingly. She pulled her hair up into a bun to keep it out of her way and began reading.

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wc: 238

Ren was sitting at the back of the room, disguised as a student as he watched the new students file into the class room and take their seats. They were Remarkably well behaved for a bunch of kids... apart from that one pair of kids making out Ren thought as he shot a boy who had been knocked off of his seat and into another emo kid, 'I'm surprised they haven't been eaten alive by the village yet' Ren though as the teacher finally entered and began to go through the class introduction. Auditing all the old instructors was a good Idea Ren thought as the man droned on about basic introductory information, this one is definitely getting the boot Ren thought. As the man began to explain the basic theory of chakra Ren decided he'd had enough. "Excuse me sir? We already know all of this, it was on the entrance exam" Ren called out across the class room.

Ren had expected some sort of reaction from the man but what he got was certainly not it... "Now what do you know correcting me child!?" the man blew up in anger, clearly he had a control complex. Another child tried to chime in and calm him down "uhh Sir I don't think he meant any harm; he was just..." The boy trailed off as he realised the instructor had strode up to him and gone to slap him. A loud *crash* rung out throughout the room as the sound of wood breaking as the Instructor was thrown into the desk.

Ren had, as soon as he realised how far the man had been about to go, broken his transformation and body flickered in front of him before knocking him from his feet. "I don't know your name and I don't care to know" Ren said in a quiet rage, "Your fired effectively immediately, and if I catch you on school grounds ever again you'll lose more than your life." To his credit the man knew when he was beat, he scurried out of the room in a rush to get away from Ren. Turning to face the class Ren dusted himself down, "Now then I appologise for that students, I'm your current headmaster Ren Tsubasa, if any of you need any help in the future feel free to ask. Now since you all seem to be missing a tutor for this class I'll be taking you all for today." Ren said with a charming smile

Hanabi's head bobbed, startling her drooping eyelids awake again. This man wasn't quite the worst teacher she'd had, there were a few absolute lemons in her common medicine studies. However, she could trundle through those sessions by clinging to the new information, as poorly presented as it was. Here not only was the man putting her to sleep, but discussing things she'd studied over and over again prior to entering the academy.

Just as this crossed her mind a student a few seats down voiced what she was thinking. What followed made her first day rather more interesting, to say the least. She watched the ensuing chaos in shocked silence while some of the more boisterous students started to cause an uproar. They quickly quieted down, however, when the new presence took control. The - guy? - who just threw the teacher through a desk is...the headmaster!? What kind of school is this?

They seemed polite enough, but being so after such a display only made it more unnerving. Hanabi glanced around, seeing reactions ranging from terrified to in awe on her classmate's faces. "Um, Si-" She raised a hand, then paused, unsure of herself. "Headmaster? What will you be teaching instead?"

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Ren looked up, in surprise when he heard the mature voice. 'of course I almost forgot we had a late entry' Ren thought as he looked up to the back corner of the class where a young teenage girl was sitting. Ren racked his brain for a moment before her name came to mind. "Hanabi Yuka, correct?" Ren asked with a nod at the young woman before continuing. "to answer your question, I'm going to teach you all how to survive as ninja. Now unlike our recently fired teacher, I'll be teaching you all practical knowledge. So, lets start with something that will be invaluable to you all in the field..." Ren began as he pulled out a kunai from his belt. A few of the younger boy's eyes lit up in excitement, no doubt expecting to have some experience with the weapon; much to their surprise Ren instead drew the blade across his palm, cutting open the skin and letting a small amount of blood pool to the surface before he lifted it up and showed it to the class.

"Now then, Your all going to learn how to heal basic wounds" Ren said as a drop of the blood from his palm fell to the ground. Ren slowly formed the requisite hand seals as he explained to the class how he was shaping his chakra as he did so. "Now once you've completed the hand seals, simply allow the chakra to gently pool in your palms and use it to knit closed the wound." Ren said, demonstrating the effect of the successful technique.

"Hanabi Yuka, correct?" The shinobi-in-training nodded in response. Does he know all the students in the school by name? Granted my application was probably more memorable, but still, that's impressive. Her attention was brought back to the teacher as he pulled out a weapon. Starting with taijutsu? No - he's...cutting himself? Ah, medical jutsu! Hanabi smiled. He couldn't have started the class with something better if Hanabi had asked for a personal lesson. If she got this right she could start using it that very evening, at the clinic.

Hand seals first, okay. Let's see, that's boar, ram - no, rat, and then snake. So, wrists down. Now we start the chakra. And then we bring our hands up as we shape it further. And close together for snake and start focusing the chakra - damn, I lost it. Hanabi closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She reminded herself that Yukas were born for this, and started again.

"Yes!" She cheered quietly, feeling the warmth budding in her palms. She focused on maintaining the chakra for several moments, struggling to keep it from fluctuating. She nodded to herself as her chakra flow became more stable, and let it go. "Okay, now to test it..." She pushed her right sleeve up and, with a flinch, bit down on her forearm. Her teal eyes followed a small trickle of blood down her wrist as the wound opened.

Right, one more time. She went through the steps of the jutsu a third time, moving through the seals a little faster. When her chakra had once again pooled in her hands she slowly moved her left hand over her right, which was held steady over the table. After a slight hesitation she touched her palm down to her skin. She waited, but nothing seemed to happen. Her flow began to flicker, and she struggled to bring it steady again. Don't panic. Just increase your chakra. Slowly, don't lose control of it. After a few moments she began to feel a gentle warmth spreading from her palm into her arm. The sting of the bite started to fade, and eventually diminished into nothing.

Hanabi dismissed the jutsu and looked at her arm, grinning to herself. There was still a visible red mark where the wound had been, but the cut had closed so completely not even a scratch was left. I did it! A real jutsu!

Feeling triumphant, she looked back up to see what was going on in the rest of the class.

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Ren stood at the front of the class room, still flexing his hand ever so slightly as the phantom pain of the cut faded, looking around Ren could see the students now attempting to copy him and perform the technique. One over excited student in the front row went to try and cut herself with a knife, before she had even practiced the technique, and Ren had to go over and heal her wound before gently explaining what she had done wrong and ruffling her hair with a warm hearted smile on his face. Looking around Ren found that most of the class had at leas the hang of the basic's of the technique, the older girl in the back corner of the class room had even completely healed a self inflicted cut. With a smile on his face Ren returned to the front of the class before he began talking again. "Now for those of you who find this technique of interest it's worth noting that the technique can be used to far greater effect than just minor cuts and bruises. With skill and practice, as well as some knowledge on bone structure, it is possible to mend even broken bones, although damage to vital organs is a different matter, for that you will need an experienced medical ninja on your team to save your life"  Ren said, with a subtle nod to the girl in the back corner, her family line was all doctors and medical ninja, Ren would be surprised if she didn't take the same path.

"Now I've taught you all basic medical ninjutsu but it seems pertinent that I give you all a taste of a few different fields of techniques, to see what peaks your interest." Ren said, performing a hand seal before in a puff of smoke another copy of Ren appeared. "Oh well hello there" Ren said with a smile as he nodded at his twin. Meanwhile, now showing his hands to the class Ren performed the technique again, this time more slowly so as to explain what he was doing.

Hanabi nodded to herself as the headmaster wrapped up the medical jutsu, her happiness transitioning to determination. It would take a lot of work, but she hoped to get there someday. She had just taken the first step, and the future shinobi didn't think it would be long until she took the second.

The young woman jumped. She hadn't expected a second Tsubasa to suddenly pop up. A sad smile crossed her face as she remembered Hoshigoto once practicing this technique in the yard. But she put the memory out of her head, now was the time to focus.

Ah, right, that's ram. I need to take care not to mix those two up again. Snake again, then tiger, an easy one. After reviewing the hand signs she went through them again, this time molding her chakra. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on her own likeness. Opening them again, she found she had successfully created a clone - sort of. It looked more like she'd made a balloon of herself and deflated it. She quickly dismissed the sad thing puddled on the floor, blushing. I guess this one doesn't come as naturally to me...

Only momentarily deterred, Hanabi repeated her attempt. This time her copy was standing, but looked as though it hadn't eaten in forty days. I think I have the technique more or less correct...I'll try increasing my chakra flow. Her sallow second attempt gone, she spent a few moments just building up energy. Then she executed the jutsu again, this time steadily pouring in more chakra as she went through the signs. Nervously opening her eyes, Hanabi instantly brightened. She could be looking in a mirror!

The academy student jotted down her notes on the experience while practicing maintaining the clone, and then dismissed it.

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Once again Ren strode throughout the room, checking on the students and making sure that they were all handling the techniques without any trouble. It was hit and miss of course, some of the students struggled with maintaining a clone for more than a few seconds whilst others struggled to control their chakra well enough to create a copy of themselves. The usual results from lack of chakra control were simply malformed clones, either over weight with distorted features or underfed with features more like a skeleton or ghoul, one girl however managed to create a clone so oversized it exploded in a puff of smoke, covering the entire right side of the classroom. Ren coughed as the smoke got in his lungs before walking over and opening a window, the breeze from outside blowing into the room and dispersing the smoke.

Once the smoke was dealt with Ren strode over to the girl, who was quivering there in fear over her mistake. Kneeling down so that he was at her height Ren spoke, a smile on his face. "It's okay little one, everyone has things that there good at and things that they need to practice at, even if this is one of the things that you need to practice at" with a ruffle of the girl's hair Ren showed her the hand seals again and, with a hand on her shoulder so he could channel some chakra into the girl and give her a hand. After a minutes practice the girl produced a perfect copy of herself and gave Ren a golden beam of a smile. "There we go, see practice makes perfect" He said before standing up and looking around again, it seemed like everyone had managed to perform the technique. "Good, now that thats over and done with theres one more thing I want to teach you all today, and that is something you have all already seen me perform." Ren said as he put his hands together and returned to the shape of the child he had been at the start of the class. "This, is the transformation technique; for those of you who managed to perform the medical technique with ease you will no doubt find this far easier to perform than those of you who struggled with it. The technique relies on strict control of your chakra as you carefully emit it from your entire body at once in order to first change your shape and then maintain that change." Ren said with a smile.

Something he's already done? Oh, that's right - he was pretending to be a student when the class started. So it's all about chakra control? Okay...Well, first I'll need someone to transform into. She thought, deciding it would be easier to transform if she could see what she was changing into. She settled on using the headmaster himself. Facing her from the front of the class, it was the only person Hanabi had a full, clear view of. She put her hands together and began studying his form. His height and build, the shape of his face. The style of his hair, the way his clothes fell. Then the personal things, his posture and stance, and the types of expressions he made.

At length the blue eyed girl felt she had taken in enough, at least for the purposes of the exercise. She closed her eyes, picturing Tsubasa in her mind as she gathered her chakra. Recreating him as much as possible from memory. Then she opened them, combining her mental image with the one before her, and visualizing it was herself standing inside them. Seeing where the differences between the two of them were, how she would have to change to achieve her goal. Throughout all of this she had been channeling her chakra, preparing it. Now she focused it outward, trying to release it equally from her whole body. Change!

Success! She hoped - not actually being able to see herself. But she could feel her chakra running across the surface of her body. And that the hair hanging in front of her eyes and the hands clasped before her had changed. It felt...right. She slowly parted her hands, testing how movement would affect the jutsu and focusing on maintaining it.

"There's one more thing I want to teach you all today," She spoke slowly, louder than a whisper so it would come out clearly, but as quiet as possible beyond that so as not to disturb the other students. As the words came out, her voice began to subtly change. Then she closed her eyes, remembering as best she could how Tsubasa had spoken. She prepared further changes and finished, "and that is something you have all already seen me perform." Still not a match, but it was definitely closer.

Suddenly, in a small puff of smoke, her transformation disappeared and she was herself again. She blinked, confused, until she felt the exhaustion setting in. In all the excitement over learning her first techniques as a kunoichi, she hadn't even noticed how much her chakra had been draining. She chuckled to herself, thinking that she had a long way to go improving herself before she'd be able to use many techniques effectively in a combat setting. But, she thought with determination, she'd get there.

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Ren stood at the front of the class, Beaming in surprise as the entire class managed to get the hang of the transformation technique relatively quickly, of course for the most part they all struggled, and all but one of them was able to actually create a believable copy of Ren, however considering that it took many students years to be able to reach the point where they could even sustain a flawed copy for more than a few moments Ren was impressed. "Excellent job all of you" Ren said, "I did not expect you all to be so talented, as to be able to begin performing those techniques on your first day. I have no doubt that by the end of the year you will all have passed." Glancing at the clock on the wall Ren continued "however I'm afraid thats all the time we have for this class today, I expect you all to practice hard tonight and come back tomorrow bright eyed and ready for more." Ren said smiling as the students began to file out of the class. Once Hanabi reached the door Ren would speak up, having come to a decision. "Oh, Hanabi if I could a word?" Ren would say, looking the woman up and down as he evaluated her.