Day One at the Academy

Spoiler:

“Uh, Daike senpai, are you sure about this?” Inpei asked, nervously glancing at the door to the classroom. “I’m not exactly the most, uh, well I’m not exactly great at talking to people…let alone kids.”

“You’re a kid, Inpei,” Daike responded with a chuckle. It was the beginning of a school day – teachers and students alike were walking up and down the halls of the academy, peering at the young shinobi as they passed by. “But that’s the point – it wasn’t all that long ago that you were a student here, and look at you now! You’ve got a couple flashy jutsu you can show off, at least.”

“It’s just a bunch of fancy mud, really,” Inpei said, starting to edge away from the classroom. He was nervous most of the time as it was, always concerned with what others might think or how what he was saying might be received. Put him in front of a crowd, even just a bunch of academy students, and that was magnified by however many people there were. “Maybe I can find someone better, if you give me some time…”

“I don’t want to ask someone else, I’m asking you,” Daike responded, smiling patiently. He never lost his patience with Inpei, something that Inpei found hard to believe. He never needed to worry about what he was saying to his sensei, and that was a rare gift for Inpei. “I’d say imagine them in their underwear, but then we’d have to haul you in – and probably me too!”

“Don’t say stuff like that!” Inpei shouted, looking around at all the people in the hallway.

“Well, if you’re so worried about what I’ll say out here, we might as well go in there,” Daike said, sliding open the classroom door and gesturing inside. “After you.”

Inpei gulped and stepped inside. He looked up at the familiar seats, all filled with young academy students. They all stared back at him, and Inpei felt himself begin to step backwards – bumping into Daike who closed the door behind him, sealing them inside.

“Good morning, class!” Daike said with a warm smile. He stepped past Inpei and walked over to the podium in the center of the room. “Today I thought I’d introduce you to an old student of mine – Yasunobu Inpei, a genin of the Leaf village. He’s going to be telling you about what it’s like to be a shinobi.” Inpei flashed an awkward smile and gave a wave. A moment passed, and Daike cleared his throat. “That’s your cue, Inpei.”

“Right!” Inpei said, gulping again and putting his hands on his hips. “I’m Yasunobu Inpei…which you already know. And I’m…well, you know that too…uh, hi everyone!” Silence hung over the classroom as Inpei floundered to think of something.

“Uh, wanna see some jutsu?” A murmer of agreement and a wave of nods swept over the classroom. “Okay, uh, let’s do something fun – clone justsu!” Inpei flashed the ram sign, and the class gasped in amazement as four replicas of him appeared in front of them. They all grinned before each of the four struck a different pose and spoke all at once. “Pretty cool, huh?!”

Inpei flashed the dog sign and in a puff of smoke, himself and all the clones turned into a copy of Daike. Another flurry of approval from the students. “Alright, no homework for the rest of the year!” The students all laughed as the Daike clones beamed.

“Not on my watch!” Daike said, flourishing a kunai and throwing it at Inpei-Daike. The class gasped as the kunai sunk into Inpei’s chest. There was a murmur of disbelief as the clones disappeared and Inpei-Daike collapsed. After a moment, in another puff of smoke, the body was replaced with a straw dummy.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine!” Inpei said from the back of the classroom, and the students turned to see him standing on the ceiling. Another flurry of astonishment erupted from the students. “By the time you finish school, you’ll all be able to do stuff just like this.” He released the jutsu and landed, walking back up to the front of the classroom.

“Big deal,” said a kid from the back. Inpei almost tripped on the way back up.

“What was that, Rasho?” Daike asked, crossing his arms. “I didn’t hear what you said.”

The kid shrank back for a moment, but repeated. “I said, big deal. Any ninja can do that – it’s nothing.”

“That isn’t very nice of you,” Daike responded. “You’re being rude to our guest.”

“That’s okay,” Inpei responded, holding his arms out in a peacekeeping gesture. “How about I just show you guys some new stuff?”
--
The class made their way outside into the yard, Daike herding them together and keeping the horseplay to a minimum. After a moment, they were all gathered outside. Inpei stood in front of them, feeling a bit more confident than he had at first. He flashed through some now-familiar handsigns. As the class watched, a massive wall of earth erupted in front of Inpei. From behind it, Inpei climbed up the back of the wall to stand on top of it.

Without waiting for any other reactions, Inpei flashed through several more handsigns and jumped from the wall. The class gasped as he fell, but instead of landing he sunk entirely into the earth. Inpei still wasn’t entirely used to feeling things rather than seeing them – the vibrations from the class and their reactions to his jutsu reaching him underground. He made his way over to Rasho – the kid from the back of the class. Reaching up through the ground, Inpei grabbed his ankle. The kid jumped out of his skin, stumbling over himself as he moved away in shock. Chuckling, Inpei rose up out of the ground and offered a hand to the fallen child. “How about that? Pretty cool, huh?”

The kid looked up at him for a minute before grinning and taking his hand. “Okay, yeah, that was pretty cool.”

“Those jutsu took me a bit longer to learn than the others,” Inpei said, turning to address the class. “But like Rasho said, really anybody can learn jutsu like this. If you work at it, all of you guys can get where I am. And you will – all of you are the future of our village. You have to work hard and be proud of your effort. By doing that, you help protect everyone in the village – now, and in the future too!” The kids let the words sink in, and Inpei caught a glimpse of Daike smiling at him.

So THIS is why he wanted me to talk to them…I guess that’s why he’s the sensei.

[End]

WC: 1120

All 1120 will go toward Rank B of Earth Flow River.

+7 SP to Chakra, +4 SP to Vigor

Approved