Sasori follows Takahashi-sensei, bored. He isn't feeling sociable at the moment, so he doesn't try to strike up any conversations with the other children. Instead, he reaches inwards and gives his chakra the mental equivalent of a poke. It flares to life, curious and eager to know what he has to share.

I still need to name you by the way. How does Ayatsuri sound?

Two happy bounces.

Do you even know what I'm actually saying?

Two bounces.

I thought this would be harder. The first kanji is misao, it means "manipulation". The second kanji doesn't serve much purpose except clarify the first… I think. Ri means "the" by itself anyways.

More bouncing.

You realize I'm calling you a manipulator right? Ayatsuri can also be another way to say "puppet".

Another affirmative.

I know, I know. I'm not very creative. I've put off figuring out how to teach you to communicate for too long. Despite your constant "yes" ing, I still don't think you quite understand.

An affirmative.

Yeah, you really don't get a thing.

He resists the urge to facepalm. Oddly enough, the ignorance of his own chakra is endearing.

You really are like a puppy, you know that?

Ayatsuri wobbles from side to side happily, giving the sensation of butterflies in his stomach. Which isn't unpleasant, but also makes him want to laugh. When it bounces, the feeling is more like what Sasori imagines corporeal happiness would feel like. But...bouncy.

His chakra is weird.

He is weird.

His life is weird.

Everything is weird.

I'm just going to call you Tsuri for short because Ayatsuri is a mouthful.

He doesn't need to wait for two bounces for him to know that his chakra will agree. It agrees to every decision he makes. The only time it doesn't is when he makes a mistake.

Takahashi-sensei stops at a classroom and opens the door with a soft smile directed at her students,

"Come in, I hope that you have fun while you're here."

Sasori gives her a questioning look when he files inside with the rest. Does she really think that they're here to have fun? Well, it is fun for Sasori. But it puppetry is still a deadly art that can leave the user dead or incapacitated if something backfires. It's more complex than pointing the sharp end of weapons at the enemy or aiming a jutsu in the proper direction. Even those two things can be difficult to do in the heat of battle.

"Since this is a mixed class, we will have people of all skill levels learning puppetry," Takahashi-sensei continues to smile serenely, "For some of you, this is your first year. For others, well, you've had more time to learn."

For him, he's been obsessing over it since the first day he woke up in a body that wasn't his own. Sasori knows that his stakes are higher in this. It's a point of pride and maybe his best chance at survival because he's competent at making things. And incompetent at other important aspects, like talking to people.

"How many of you know how to make a puppet?" Takahashi-sensei asks the class.

Sasori and a few more of the upper years raise their hands. He ignores the looks directed his way.

Takahashi-sensei claps her hands happily,

"Good! Now how many of you have actually made an entire puppet?"

He hasn't but with the amount of time he and his great-uncle spent on the subject, it shouldn't be difficult.

The other children notice his hand absent from those that are raised and snicker, dismissing him as another show-off.

Well.

If that doesn't irk him, Sasori is sure that he doesn't have a brain to feel emotions with.

Takahashi-sensei doesn't seem to mind and dismisses those that already know what they are supposed to be doing into the back room for supplies. As for those who have no idea, she takes them all into a corner and begins her explanation. Typical first day activities. Hopefully, she'll be more useful to him once she briefs the new people.

Sasori joins the group that's heading for the workshop.

Hey, what do you think about us making our first puppet? We should do it from scratch instead of taking parts from the scrap bins.

Tsuri agrees.

Do you think you can cut wood accurately?

His chakra is still for a few moments before bringing up an impression of Ebizō. At least, that is what Sasori assumes it wants to say.

What about Jii-sama?

Disapproval, but not Tsuri's.

Jii-sama would be disappointed?

Talking.

That's...new, Tsuri can now do impressions of actions.

He said something...oh! Yeah, he said it would take a lot of chakra and chakra control. But you should be more than up for the task...I think.

Tsuri does a twist that resembles its version of a shrug. Sasori simply tries to decide between different types of wood and which one he should use.

"Well, if it isn't the prodigy everyone is talking about," A voice from behind him drawls, "Personally, I just think you are a showoff."

Sasori decides that the pale one seems to be the most aesthetically pleasing, he takes an armful off the rack and looks for an empty work table. Who cares if it isn't the strongest wood out there? He has to start somewhere and there's always a con to every pro. Flexibility or durability? One can have both. But for strength and maneuverability, that is an entirely different matter. Stronger woods are usually dense, and dense wood is heavy. It doesn't take a genius to realize that no one can have all the good things in the world.

A hand waves in front of Sasori's face,

"You really must be pathetic if you're ignoring me. Come on, showing your true uselessness already?"

He sets his materials on the table and unfolds his scroll, unsealing his ideas on puppets.

What do you think about this one? Lots of sharp pointy stuff. Perfect for stabbing annoying people.

Tsuri agrees, as usual.

Alright, let's test my theory about making puppets with chakra.

"I'm growing tired of your inso—"

Chakra gathers at his hand, he allows it to seep into the wood, visualizing the desired shape. Tsuri follows his lead and starts shaving off fine curls. It starts out slow, but as it gains confidence, wood shavings start flying faster and faster until all that is left is a head piece. Sasori picks it up to examine it, using sandpaper to smooth any blemishes and errors.

Not bad for our first try, hm? We can even add hair later!

"I-impossible! W-what are you?"

The loud exclamation draws the attention of everyone else in the room and Sasori finally looks up.

"Oh, you know. Just another prodigy. Nothing special, really."

He smiles,

"Don't try to talk to me again, your voice is annoying."

Sasori returns to making his puppet parts while the room remains dead silent, slowly, the others go back to working on their projects.

That went well.

Tsuri wiggles with disapproval.

She wasn't nice to me, so why should I be nice to any of them?

More wiggling.

Fine, but you can't make me talk to any of them. I have work to do.

He spends the next hour making parts, remaking the legs five times because he couldn't get them right. Sasori discovers that hands are literally impossible with all of the small fiddly bits and everything he tries comes out a misshapen monstrosity.

It doesn't have to have hands. It can just have...knives? It can have knives! Hands are not in style anyways.

If Tsuri could raise an eyebrow, Sasori is sure it would have. He cuts off his own rambling to save himself the embarrassment. He carefully fits the joints, together grateful that he found the right sized screws because the puppet he made was much smaller than he expected, almost his own diminutive height.

Tada. Not bad for an hour work, no? I wonder where I can find the blades to attach to the limbs in place of hands and feet.

After fifteen minutes of searching, he couldn't find any sharp weapons in the entire workshop. Disappointed, he resigns to painting his new puppet with seals. Wracking his brain for ideas, he covers the entirety of the torso with explosive seals modified to only go off with the right chakra fluctuation, a trick he's proud of finally managing to perfect after many explosions and painful surprises later. The rest of the body is painted with storage and durability seals, the storage seals designed to launch its contents forcibly.

And then after all the ink dried, he goes over the entire puppet with paint, making sure not to disrupt any of the seals he'd already painted. Seals can be used and activated even obstructed as long as it isn't triggered by blood but with chakra. So essentially, if his idea works, no one will know that he put seals on the puppet until it starts blowing up in their face.

Forget the cake being a lie. The puppet is an illusion…? Can he make puppets that use genjutsu? Is it possible to create a seal that casts genjutsu, put it on a puppet and...use it?

More ideas to try, wonderful. He'll have to design the genjutsu seal in his own time. If Sasori has learned anything about fuinjutsu, it's that with it, anything is possible. Just look at Edo Tensei, bringing back the dead with a living sacrifice is completely within the realm of possibility.

He spends the remainder of his time meticulously painting the face of his first creation.

I think she should be named Kiku, what do you think, Tsuri?

His chakra happily concurs with the idea, like everything else he says because to Tsuri he's the one true savior of the world or something. Sasori shudders, he doesn't want anything to do with saving the world, it sounds like way too much effort for people he has no care for.

Sasori puts his paintbrush down, satisfied that his ability to paint people on canvases translated well to puppets. Kiku's face is forever stuck in childish bloom, mouth quirked in a half-smile and eyes happy. Just because she's an instrument of death and destruction doesn't mean she can't do it beautifully with a smile. Sasori plans on trying to follow her example, without the smiling because killing people isn't exactly something to be over the moon about.

Now all he needs to do is find some clothes for her and get some blades. Scratch that, many sharp pointy weapons that are good for shish-kebabing people are needed. Sasori is positively gleeful for five seconds before he realizes that painting over the seals might have been a bad idea.

Because he doesn't remember where he put them other than the general area. He eyes the torso apprehensively.

I'm not about to blow myself up like a certain blonde idiot.

He sighs, here goes his precious time, figuring out where he put everything.

I wonder if I should make her head explode as well. Kiku would literally be mind blown at my genius.

Sasori can feel Ayatsuri's childish disappointment in him.

Okay, okay, I won't destroy the first puppet we ever created, happy?

Phantom sensations of ecstatic lurching is his answer.

Now let's go badger Takahashi-sensei for sharp stabby toys we can equip Kiku with. And some hair. Kiku needs hair. She needs clothes too.

Picking up his first creating, Sasori cheerfully walks to the door of the workshop, leaving behind his table to go find his sensei. Hopefully, she's finished talking to the new people at this point. If she isn't, then he'd be disappointed in her inability to be concise. Sasori slides open the worn door to step back into the classroom, many pairs of curious eyes look up at the sudden sound.

"Takahashi-sensei, I need help."

She looks up from where she'd been speaking to a student over a scroll. Sasori can vaguely recognize the diagrams on it as ones he read when first introduced to puppetry. Of course, Haha-ue and Chichi-ue's notes are far superior to whatever standard material is given to beginners.

"Yes, Sasori-kun?" Takahashi-sensei responds with a small smile, but her eyes flit between his mostly completed puppet and the wood shavings covering his body, "What do you need?"

So she is competent. Observational skills are important, I should practice mine more.

"I need a lot of kunai, and shuriken, or senbon, maybe poison, sharp lethal weapons in general, hair, and clothes," Sasori rattles off the list he had in his head, mentally going over everything he needed.

Takahashi-sensei stands up,

"I'll be right back, okay, Suzume-chan? I just need to show Sasori-kun where we keep the live weapons."

Sasori blinks with surprise, Suzume was also interested in puppetry? So interested in it that she decided to specialize in it? He hadn't noticed her, caught up in his own thoughts at the time when he followed the rest of the students to this classroom. Even so, it isn't his concern, what she wants to do is her choice. He just needs to…

"Why does he always get special treatment, huh?" Suzume questions angrily, hands clenching and wrinkling her papers dangerously.

...keep a low profile so she stays out of his way.

Well.

Takahashi-sensei seems surprised,

"He doesn't, what is wrong with showing him the storeroom?"

Suzume seethes,

"All of you people keep looking at him like he's something special, like everything he does is perfect."

The puppetry instructor frowns for the first time,

"Suzume, do you know who Sasori-kun is? He is the grandson of Chiyo-baasama. Not only that, he has shown himself to be capable beyond his years."

"Yeah? So what? He's just a dumb kid."

The room falls silent enough to hear a pin drop, Takahashi-sensei's face turns stony and the other students stop conversing with one another to watch the drama unfold. Sasori stands awkwardly, wondering if he should just ask his grandma.

I asked for a nice, calm day.

Sasori laments to Tsuri unhappily, it flares up, wrapping itself around his chest in a semblance of a hug.

The effect is unfortunate shortness of breath because constricting his lungs is a terrible idea. Nobody notices his mini spit take and coughing session, far too engrossed with the scene before them. Sasori sometimes forgets that his chakra is capable of inflicting great amounts of damage and he is incapable of avoiding it because it's literally his life force. Thankfully, Tsuri isn't purposefully harmful to him, for some reason it is extremely loyal to him. Maybe because it is literally his life force.

What I get instead is this ridiculousness, does she realize we are the same age and calling me a dumb kid is so far off the mark her kunai might as well be in Kumo? Like, pot and kettle? It's not as if she knows that I'm not actually a child.

Tsuri does not attempt the failed hug again, settling for bouncing side to side in commiseration. At least, Sasori would like to believe so because it has been increasing in complexity in alarming rates. Suddenly, it isn't just one emotion or a couple of actions, now Tsuri is capable of grasping more difficult concepts and has a much wider array of ways to express itself.

"Bachi, jealousy is not a desirable trait for a shinobi, much less a young lady such as yourself. You will wait here while I leave for approximately two minutes and reconsider your actions," Takahashi-sensei speaks softly, "But first you will apologize to Sasori-kun."

Lip curled with disgust, Suzume turns her furious gaze to Sasori,

"Sorry."

It is obvious that she is anything but sorry, Sasori nods his head in acceptance all the same. The situation is far from over, he knows that it would be impossible to avoid further negative interactions with Suzume. He shares at least two classes with her, both of which take up the majority of his day. Needless to say, if the instructors don't offer to advance him to a different class, he's going to mutiny.

Sasori doesn't say a word as he follows behind Takahashi-sensei, the drone of voices picking up again as the order is restored.

"Here we are."

Sasori looks up gleefully at the rows and rows of different weapons sorted neatly by length.

"Be careful not to hurt yourself, the poisons are in that cabinet," Takahashi-sensei gives him a knowing look. Someone has been briefed about his Higanbana misadventure. He's not sure if he should trust the amount of confidence his instructors have in him. If anyone else his age were left unsupervised here, they might end up in the hospital. Which might be the point.

A test of responsibility and skill.

A tall order for someone who hasn't even finished their first day yet.

"Of course, Takahashi-sensei."

Challenge accepted.

He comes out fifteen minutes later, smirking like a cat that murdered the poor canary and left its remains on his owner's pillow while they slept, dragging behind him four long blades. A few heads turn to gawk at him, but Sasori quickly hurries back to his worktable.

Which is...kind of graffitied. With adorable...hate messages.

Sasori sighs before plastering on a Harue-sensei tested and approved grin,

"Aww, you guys shouldn't have! I'm literally tempted to hug you all to death."

A few faces turn pale.

"No really, any volunteers?"

Unsurprisingly, there were no volunteers.

"Killjoys, though I'm a bit busy, so maybe next time."

With that, Sasori begins the task of attaching two feet blades to Kiku's limbs. He uses an excessive amount of glue bind the wood and metal together after inserting the blades into the new indentations Sasori created. He ties them together with wire for extra measure.

Not the prettiest or the most polished, but not bad for a first try.

His answer is an excited affirmation.

Now I just need hair...and clothes. Kiku's balder than a rock.

Sasori draws a new storage seal on the extra space he purposefully left in his scroll, allowing it to dry before sealing Kiku away. His first puppetry session had ended and he has another class to get to.

Fuinjutsu should be interesting.

As it turns out, fuinjutsu isn't interesting at all. Upon discovering his proficiency at seals, the instructor just gave him a bunch of scrolls to read. While Sasori is disappointed, he understands that his newest sensei has other students to teach. That and the scrolls are very fascinating, detailing more complicated scripts. Instead of teaching techniques, it speaks more to what each individual sigil means as well as their uses.

Meaning, if Sasori memorizes all this convoluted theoretical postulation, he should be able to make up his own seals and not have to rely on throwing together pieces of different seals that Harue-sensei taught him. Those usually don't end well, exhibit A being the pink seal.

Making his own seals is very high on his to-do list for preventing an unfortunate demise.

Maybe he should defect to Uzu after this and prevent it from being destroyed or something. But that would take effort and while he is fond of the depiction of Uzushio in literature, he's not sure if he actually wants to live there. Dealing with a clan full of people like Naruto or Kushina will drive him insane faster than an infinite amount of sugar.

Sasori has a war to fight, he doesn't need another one.

And very unfortunately, Suzume is also in this class. But this sensei definitely won't be doing much other than supplying him new scrolls to read so Sasori leaves before she can confront him again after inquiring when he should return. He locates a men's bathroom and shuts himself in a stall. There is no way Suzume will follow him in here.

So his time passes peacefully, undisturbed by unwanted circumstances. Sasori doesn't return to the classroom before going to his last class of the day, he'll give the scrolls back once he's finished with them.

"Sasori! Over here!" Katsuo waves his hand wildly from his seat next to Katsuro.

"How were your classes?" Inquires Katsuro after Sasori sat down next to Katsuo.

Sasori shrugs,

"It was boring. I made a puppet, read some scrolls, camped out in a bathroom to avoid more drama."

Katsuo latches onto the last bit excitedly,

"Drama, what drama?"

Sasori sighs and rests his head on the desk in front of him,

"People don't like geniuses. Suzume made a big deal of things. Other classmates were annoying. My poor worktable got harassed."

"That sounds awful," Katsuro frowns.

"No, not really. Just irritating." Sasori replies, voice slightly muffled.

Katsuo claps him on the shoulder,

"Yeah, well, you won't have to deal with them for much longer once people realize how awesome you are!"

"Thanks, but I think they're upset precisely because I am passably proficient at most subjects," Sasori says, sitting back upright because the instructor for the class walked in.

Katsuo gives an impressive sneer for a six-year-old,

"Tch, you're supposed to be my rival, did they expect you to be weak?"

His brother facepalms out of embarrassment,

"Katsuo, please stop. I thought you forgot about the whole 'rival' business."

"Not a chance!" Katsuo laughs at his twin's suffering.

Sasori tunes both of them out and focuses on the instructions his new sensei is writing on the board. Hase-sensei then proceeded to give a lengthy speech because all of them were beginners since medical ninjutsu is a new class that the Kazekage added this year. Despite its usefulness, medical ninjutsu is still regarded as a weaker skill.

To be completely honest, Sasori isn't interested in healing people. He's highly unlikely to become a medic. Taking this class served only to supplement what he already knows and to give him something to use in the case of an emergency. Dying of blood loss from a kunai stab wound is not on his list of things to try.

He is handed more scrolls to read along with the rest of the class, the kind that is suited for children who are not actually adults. Sasori resists the urge to complain and finishes them quickly before requesting for more...thought-provoking materials.

Hase-sensei quizzes him on the basics of healing chakra before deeming his understanding of the subject to be acceptable and giving him more scrolls to read. Sasori's days seem to be filled with nothing but reading. He sighs, typical of people who don't know what to do with him. Sasori isn't the only person who speeds through the reading, the twins finish before him. For a clan that boasts impressive poison immunities, a lot of focus is put on the human body. Which isn't surprising since most of the Dokuhana are poison specialists.

Sasori opens up the first scroll to find an anatomy chart, much to his delight and consternation, he has another boatload of complicated information to memorize. It's a wonder his brain hasn't exploded yet. Suzume is thankfully not in this class as well, or Sasori is sure that there would have been even more drama as quite a few students have a decent grasp on healing. And since she seems to get upset at people outperforming her…

Well, Sasori can give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she is good at healing.

Probably not.

Most of the class comes from shinobi families, thus having been instilled with a respect for being capable of tending to their own injuries.

The second scroll is far more interesting than anything Sasori has been given all day, he's not sure if Hase-sensei actually meant to give it to him. It's a jutsu scroll, and since nobody is at the stage where they can reliably perform surgeries, Sasori definitely wasn't supposed to have this scroll. He abandons the anatomy charts.

Chakra scalpels are far more useful than knowing where the external iliac artery is located, there is no need for precision if they're used as a weapon.

I wonder if I can adapt it to my own needs.

Tsuri bobbles ignorantly, not really concerned about its host's deliberations.

Wait.

Tsuri freezes, giving off an air of curiosity.

Chakra threads. But like, sharp because they're actually just stretchy versions of chakra scalpels. Like those whip swords from India that no one should ever learn how to use because you're more liable to kill yourself with it accidentally as well as the other person.

His chakra bounces happily.

I'm not sure if death is something to be happy about.

It continues bouncing.

"Shinkuri." Sasori turns around at Asano-sensei's voice.

Seeing the man beckoning for him to come closer impatiently, Sasori gestures for the group to move forward,

"Go ahead without me, I'll see you three tomorrow."

"Okay, later," Katsuo continues moving with a shrug, dragging his brother with him.

Katsuro waves at him,

"Yup! Remember to drop by during the weekend, we'll introduce you to Okaa-sama!"

Komushi hesitates for a bit before waving goodbye as well, hurrying to catch up with the two that had already gone on ahead.

Sasori turns back to Asano-sensei, following after his instructor when the man starts walking,

"After assessing your capabilities, all of your instructors have agreed to move you up Class F-1. This will be your new classroom starting tomorrow."

He stares at the door in front of him, F is the letter assigned to the second to last year of the Academy. To think that he managed to impress the instructors enough to be moved so far ahead. Sasori had expected to be happy about the inevitable advancement, but right now all he can think of is that he won't know anyone in the class, even though he didn't really have time to get to know his previous class since it was the first day.

It would seem that he won't be able to keep his promise of meeting up with the twins and Komushi tomorrow after all.

"Thank you, sensei."

Asano-sensei snorts,

"Don't thank me, this is not a privilege."

Indeed it isn't.

But what does that matter when Sasori is one step closer to his goals?

I wonder how I'm going to explain this one to Grandma, no doubt she will be displeased.

Yay! New chapter. I have some of the pairings AU drabbles done, but I'm going to wait and post them all together.

So I'm back in school now, taking multiple AP classes and all Honors...which basically means I'm drowning in school work right now. As such, updates will become much slower as I get used to the flow of things. It might pick up again in the future, but no promises.

Also, since it will be much easier for me to use my school-issued computer, I will be using that for the most part. It has fanfiction blocked except for AO3, so I will be posting more often on AO3. I don't have IoM on there, but I'm debating on whether or not to post it on AO3 as well. Until further notice, IoM will probably be on a hiatus for a bit as well as CoM.

On the bright side, I do have some new fic ideas that I will try to post on AO3 as soon as possible.

For the people who may be freaking out at this point:

I am not abandoning this or CoM.

Or the rewrite of Mother!

I'm just trying to streamline everything and get used to school.

Anyway, thanks for sticking around and reading all that. If you have any questions or concerns, PMing me will probably get you a response a week later since I won't be able to check fanfiction very often. I would suggest sending me a message on discord because I have that on my phone and can give you a reply faster.

Thanks again,

Mizu