Breaking Into The Academy Gym

The brilliant sun began to set over the village of Konohagakure no Sato as the ringing of the Ninja Academy bell filled the air. The day was finally coming to an end for most of the students who attended the prestigious school, and it was a given that they would be heading home to eat some dinner and play before tucking themselves into their comfy beds. This was not the same, however, for fourteen-year-old Hyūga, Yuma, who exited the academy proper along with two other students.

"So what're you gonna do, eh, Yoichi?" Asked one of the boys with his hands slung up behind his head of brown hair. Yuma looked to his left to see his other friend, the one addressed as Yoichi, flipping a single coin into the air and catching it over and over again.

"I'm heading to the ramen shop for sure. They got that new flavor, you know." Yoichi nudged Yuma with his free arm. "You wanna join, Yu? I'll cover for ya."

"I'm good, thanks," Yuma replied as he shuffled through the bad slung over his shoulder. "I packed some extra snacks to keep me running while I'm at the gym." Yoichi sighed and shrugged his shoulders at Yuma's statement. The young Hyūga had always dedicated the majority of his time to studying and training. Day in and day out it was the same old thing for Yuma, but as the boys were nearing their academy graduation exams, Yuma wanted to make sure that he was in tip-top physical and mental shape. "Maybe next time, huh?"

"Alright," Yoichi said, catching the coin again before placing it into his pocket. "I won't let you get out of it again though." Yoichi would present his fist to Yuma, and in return, Yuma would connect his own fist to complete a fist bump. "Let's go, Tatsu." The other boy too offered Yuma a fist bump before hurrying off to join Yoichi. Yuma would watch as his two friends set off into the sea of people off in the distance before he himself made a sharp left, hanging close to the wall of the academy before entering back in through one of the side doors. This particular door, like all of the others, was meant to be locked after school hours, but Yuma had discovered that the locking mechanism of this door did not work properly in any capacity. He had used this as an opportunity to sneak back into the school following the end of the regular school days, where he would go to the gymnasium to use their advanced and well-maintained equipment. In comparison to the ones that Yuma's parents had at home, which were all handed down from their parents before them, the equipment back at the school was some of the best he had ever come across. To make matters better for Yuma the walls of the gymnasium were also adorned with hanging scrolls that detailed exactly how to do the majority of techniques that the school taught, all of which the young Hyūga would need if he ever wished to make it to graduation.

With that in mind, Yuma would enter through the unlocked door, making sure to close it silently behind him. This door in particular led directly into one of the school's storage closets, and it was here that Yuma would wait until the coast was clear to head to the gymnasium. From his having observed the way the staff went about their after-school activities, he knew that he had roughly thirty to forty-five minutes before everyone would be gone, and he would typically use this time to quickly get all of his homework done in the quaint little closet of his. When Yuma was sure that the coast was cleared, however, he would discard his school books and notebooks back into his schoolbag before poking his head out of the other closet door, which led into the inner hallway of the school, and would quickly and silently make his way down to the gymnasium.

"Hmph," He said to himself. "This is much too easy."

A sole minute or two passed before the Hyūga was greeted with the double doors, beyond which the gymnasium and all of its amazing equipment resided. Reaching into his pocket, Yuma would remove a slightly rusty and well-used paperclip. He would meticulously and easily pick the lock of the door, and in seconds it would creak open and he would make his way inside and flick on the light switch before setting his bag along the edge of the bleachers. The gymnasium was a large hall, perhaps fifty meters long, 25 meters wide, and easily ten meters in height. In the far left corner was the workout equipment, including barbells, ellipticals, and dumbbells, while along the right wall were practice dummies meant both for taijutsu and bukijutsu practice. The rest of the room was made into a makeshift track, which the students would run around first thing when they arrived at gym class, and in the center of the track was a makeshift sparring arena and also ropes tied to the ceiling for rope climbing exercises.

"Alright!" Yuma said, clapping both of his cheeks between his hands. "Let's get started."

Yuma would do five minutes of stretching before running ten laps around the track. Feeling extra enthusiastic and rambunctious today, however, he decided to run ten more before going to focus on dumbbell lifting. After nearly six months of breaking into the school and training at the gymnasium, Yuma had reached a point where even the heaviest of their dumbbells did little to help him grow any stronger. Despite this, he would still make a point of doing ten sets of fifty reps per arm. He wanted to start achieving higher numbers of reps, but he found that adding any more would just mean that he would end up spending far too much time in the school and risk being caught even more. Once he finished with these the Hyūga boy would take a ten minute break, time of which he used to get himself a drink from the water bottle that he kept stored in his bag, and he would study the scrolls that hung on the walls that detailed the techniques that were necessary for any and all academy students to learn.

Just as Yuma was standing back up to prepare himself for the second round of his training, the sound of the gymnasium doors opening to his right would catch him off guard. There was certainly not anywhere he could hide, and even if he had the ability to do so, he was sure that if it was a teacher or facility member entering the room that it wouldn't have mattered anyway whether he was able to hide or not. Yuma knew that he had been caught, and he would just have to accept this and any disciplinary action that would be granted to him.

"Shit..." Was the only word he could muster as the door fully swung open, revealing the identity of the person whom the young Hyūga boy would have to answer to...

Yuma's heart began to beat faster and faster once he realized who had caught him red-handed. Of course it would have been none other than Nokino-Sensei, who had been known as one of the more strict teachers at the village's academy. That was the rumor that Yuma had heard, at least, as the woman had been the one to teach the remedial classes that housed the most rambunctious and outlandish students. The woman's reputation would precede her as she moved swiftly through the open hall, coming to a halt five meters right in front of Yuma. The boy thought of running, but it would surely be useless. The woman would be able to catch him without much effort, and she had already seen his face clearly so she would be able to point him out in a crowd the next day anyway.

The young Hyūga lowered his head as the teacher chewed him out, knowing that it was well deserved.

"My apologies, Nokino-Sensei." He said. "I just wanted to get in some extra training is all. My name is Hyūga, Yuma, and I'm a student in Kataru-Sensei's class."

Yuma's answer seemed to resonate with Nokino in some capacity as the woman sighed before taking her exit to the hallway for a moment before returning with a plastic bag filled with food. When asked if it was training that he wanted to do, Yuma would remain silent as he continued to stand in place almost defiantly. The boy always had a bit of a complex mentality. He had come from one of the strictest clans in the entire village; one that demanded perfection and conformity. Yuma wanted to defy this and build himself into his own person; an individual separate from his Hyūga lineage. Sometimes this would lead to him going against the grain as it were, and by breaking into the academy after hours, he was going against what had been shoved at him all his life. Being caught by Nokino was a small inconvenience, but Yuma felt that he was once again being dealt the same conformity bullshit that his parents spouted.

The boy was about to collect his things and tell Nokino to punish him in anyway that she saw fit when she proposed something that caught his ear. Intrigued, he would cross his arms over his chest as Nokino informed him that she would be happy to train him and that she had a private dojo at her home in which she offered private training to the students who were worthy of her praise. Yuma would simply nod as he contemplated it all, and he felt that by getting into Nokino's good graces that he would surely be able to make a name for himself throughout the academy. Next, and without warning, the blonde woman would offer Yuma some of her barbeque from Yakiniku-Q. He had always passed by the place on his way home from school, but when he would ask his parents if they could go there they would always deny him the chance.

"Th-thank you, Nokino-Sensei." Yuma said as he took a seat next to her in the bleacher and took one of the to go boxes and two chopsticks in his hands. The box was warm, and the scent of sauce-covered meat met his nostrils provocatively. Yuma would waste no time in opening the box and taking a bite of the meat, which would fall off of the bone without much enticing. It was absolutely delicious, and while the young boy wanted to scarf it all down, he wanted to keep his composure more and present himself as someone worthy of training under Nokino. He would clear his throat after a few bites. "This is really good, Nokino-Sensei. Thank you for the meal." A few more moments would pass as the two of them continued eating, and Yuma decided to try and break the silence again. "So, Nokino-Sensei, why did you decide to become a teacher? You look really young, I mean, so wouldn't you rather take on missions and explore the world beyond the village?"

Yuma listened intently to Iburi, Nokino's answer to his question, all the while eating away at his portion of the takeout from Yakiniku-Q that the young woman had given to him. He couldn't help but be a bit confused when Nokino said that she had always wanted to be a teacher, but in this world it was almost always the ones' who had wanted such things from a young age to purse them later in their careers as ninja. Yuma looked down at the food before him in his hands, swirling the rice around with his chopsticks.

'I guess I shouldn't've have judged the book by its cover...'

Yuma's mind drifted to all of the rumors that he had heard about Nokino throughout his last three years at the ninja academy. Whispers amongst the student body painted her as the strictest of all of the teachers there, and that she was not afraid to personally have a student expelled for just having looked at her the wrong way or spoke ever so slightly out of tone. Sure it was true that Nokino was strict, but when Yuma looked at her he did not see all of that. Instead, he saw a young woman his senior who had found their calling in this unforgiving world, and someone who loved what they do. The later had to be true, otherwise she would not have offered to help in the delinquent Hyūga's training despite the fact that he had broken into the school after hours.

After a few more minutes of eating, it was Nokino who would first remove herself from her seat. She cleaned up her portion of the takeout before placing her sword down where she once sat and offered the young Hyūga boy to begin their impromptu training session. Yuma would oblige, not wanting to keep the woman waiting much longer than she already had. He quickly and excitedly threw away his trash before doing a few more stretches to make up for the time that he had lost before throwing some open palmed strikes at one of the training dummies for a little while. The open palmed strikes were a symbol of the Hyūga, and were known worldwide as the 'Gentle Fist'. It was a rather artistic fighting style, and one that was built upon precision and fluidness. This was something that Yuma had wanted to perfect for the longest time, but for now he knew that he would have to focus on the basics of all shinobi training.

'I promise to be just like you someday, Nokino Sensei...' Yuma thought to himself as the two of them trained together in hand to hand combat. 'I swear to work hard so that someday I will be able to find my purpose in this world, just as you have!'

An hour went by. Then another, and another. Before Yuma knew it the sun had drawn itself out of the sky above Konohgakure no Sato and gave way to a bright crescent moon. The room was almost completely dark, and was sure to have been pitch black by this point if it had not been for the brilliant moonlight and the candles that Nokino had lit earlier in the afternoon. Yuma knew not if Nokino herself was exhausted, but the young boy had found himself barely able to stand upon his own two feet by the time that they had decided to call it quits. Sweat dripped down his face profusely, and from within his school bag Yuma would remove a rag with which he cleaned off his face. It was at this time that Nokino advised him that, starting the next semester, he would be sorted into her classroom until his inevitable graduation. Yuma was a bit disheartened by this revelation, seeing as it had been known as the remedial class, but this was the punishment that his new sensei had decided upon, and it was one that would allow him to continue to roam free instead of being shipped off to the village prison for breaking and entering.

"Yes, Nokino Sensei," Yuma replied as he replaced the rag into his bag before slinging the bag itself over his shoulders. "And thank you for all of your help today. It really was and is appreciated." To accent just how thankful he was, Yuma would bow to Nokino and smile at her once he had straightened himself back out. "I promise to never break into the academy ever again, and that I will be a great shinobi like yourself someday." With that Nokino would lead Yuma back outside of the school, making sure to lock the doors behind her, and Yuma would head on home with a new and fresh perspecive about his future career as a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato...