Naruto SI

Current Title: I, Ninja

Chapter 11 - Sparring

2016/11/02

I woke up slowly, blinking away the sleep in my eyes and feeling incredibly rested. Damn, it was great to be this kid.

Many people would be angry, or sad, or even just annoyed at waking up in the body of a prepubescent boy, but waking up in my new body was amazing. I'm not sure what it is, I suspect it has something to do with my healing factor, but waking up leaves me feeling a hell of a lot better than I probably should... As long as I get more than four hours of sleep, that is. A kid needs rest, you know? Waking up itself is generally pretty horrible, but just feeling completely rested is often enough to put a smile of your face in the morning.

Like the one that I was currently wearing as I peacefully worked my way into my clothes. I wasn't in a hurry, I gave myself ample time to prepare the night before, so I wouldn't have to rush in the mornings. Soon I would brush my teeth and then eat some quick breakfast, and be in my Academy seat with about a minute or so to spare.

Planning.

Unfortunately, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, or as I like to call it, everything that isn't me. Case in point, that cart that nearly broke my leg hurtling past me in the road, and those birds that decided that today was a good day to dive-bomb an orange and white child. I still got to the academy on time though. Take that, Murphy.

I dropped a few pages of writing exercises on Iruka's desk as I passed it and sat down, moments before he arrived. Class started with the usual roll call, before continuing into History, Maths, the Sciences of Killing People (not the actual subject name, unfortunately), and everything in between, revising the work done over the week. I'm already starting to get over the whole 'Ninja Academy' thing. Sure, it sounds great and fun on paper, but honestly? I'm going to have to spend the next three years here. If I don't find something to keep myself occupied then I will kill something... I might just do that anyway, considering the profession that I am training for.

I'll have to find a library or something. Mabye the Academy has some more advanced material for go-getters and the like. To be fair, I'm sure that the material is appropriately challenging for a nine year old, and hell, a lot of it is probably much more advanced than what I was doing in fourth grade, but it is, amusingly enough, child's play to me. I almost want to take naps in class. I don't, though. Instead, I spend my time slowly practicing my handwriting, alternating hands whenever one got tired, and wrote down everything that Iruka said. I used to do this when I had nothing to distract me back home as well, it's just a bit more difficult with brushes. And by a bit I mean, wow. That is so much more tedious than using a pen.

For a moment I debate trying some chakra control exercises while I practice, but then I discard it. For now my attention is taxed enough concentrating on Iruka and writing with a brush in an unfamiliar script. I may try it later, sometime in the next few years.

Slowly but surely, Iruka's lesson came to a halt, and everyone shuffled out to recess. I sat away from everyone, as usual, but then a thought struck me. Previously, I had wondered what I would change if I could do school over again with what I knew at the end of it. One of the things that I had thought of was making connections. Being popular and having people respect you changes a hell of a lot about your life in school, and it would change even more if you happened to be in a school for killing people where squads of ninjas are formed. It would be a great investment to make friends now, and have people look up to me, and a hell of a lot easier, than trying to get people to listen to me when push comes to shove.

I like being alone, but I realise the need for allies, if not friends.

That was what was on my mind as I walked over to the group comprised of a fat boy, a boy with tattoos on his cheeks and a third one who looked way too tired to be normal. I get the need to take naps, really, but attempting to sleep on every available surface... That's taking things to a whole new level.

"Hey," Is all I said as I plopped myself down next to them and, then in the short silence that followed, asked, "So... What do you guys do for fun?"

A slightly longer silence followed, and I could have hit myself. Nevermind my natural awkwardness in new conversations, Naruto had already hung out with these kids in the past. Things like that were still kind of iffy for me. Luckily enough being a child is a forgiving time, even to other children, so eventually Chouji opened up and said, "Well, I like chips. And beef, and chicken! Cooking is fun, too, but I don't get to do it often."

Not to be outdone, Kiba butted in, "I like playing Ninja and fighting!"

"Well, that's fun too, I guess..." Chouji didn't seem entirely convinced of his own statement, so I voiced my own opinion.

"Well yeah, it's fun, but it can get a bit tiresome sometimes. What about you, Shikamaru?"

The kid looked incredibly grumpy at being directly addressed, but responded anyway, "I prefer watching the clouds. And napping. Running around is really, uh..." He frowned for a moment as if trying to recall something on the tip of his tongue, "Troublesome."

We chatted for some time longer about the most inane of things, when the bell finally rang, "Sparring time!" Kiba announced with a grin on his face, "Try to keep up this time, Naruto!"

Oh. It seemed that Naruto had lost a fight to him a few weeks back when they were paired together. No matter. I'd see how well I did against my opponent and gauge the average level of strength and skill from the rest of the fights.

"We'll see, Kiba. We'll see." Then he was off, wanting to be the first one there I guess. "Time to go, then." I got up and waited for the other two before walking there together.

"Alright, the usual drill," Iruka's voice carried and everyone quieted down as they heard him speak. "Do your stretches and wait for your name to be called. No biting or scratching, no permanent damage. I'll give you five minutes to stretch."

I found a little spot off to the side and observed the others while stretching myself. It's really surprising how limber young bodies are. The girls were obviously slightly more flexible than the boys, but everyone was going through some effort to loosen themselves up a bit for the upcoming matches. I really wasn't expecting much from a group of nine year olds fighting.

Soon enough, Iruka called out the first pair, "Juuto Ichiba and Chaizo Yu."

They were... Children. Yes, I could see technique there, but honestly, it looked exactly the same as any other children who practiced martial arts, and not even to such a great level, either. Ichiba launched a punch at Yu, breathing out sharply to punctuate the punch, throwing his weight into it and mostly keeping his form in place.

That was a decent punch from Ichiba, great form, but it was still just a nine year old throwing it. I was too now though, so I really had no room to judge.

The punch caught Yu just before he could block it and he stumbled slightly, but retaliated with a front kick. Ichiba dodged it with a centimetre to spare, but Yu tilted his body and turned his grounded foot, snapping his leg outwards in a roundhouse kick without setting it down. It was a pretty brilliant manoeuvre for a nine year old, many adults wouldn't be able to handle their balance like that... Without training, of course. Either way, the kick caught Ichiba off guard and he stumbled back a bit, grunting in pain.

The fight continued in that vein for a while longer, Ichiba winning out eventually and a few more match ups were called. Girls were paired with girls and boys with boys, before finally, my name was called.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Shinichi Ryokan."

I nodded at Iruka with a smile as I stepped past him into the ring and observed my opponent. An average sized boy, not fat or even chubby, but not exactly toned, either. As he got into position in front of me, I noted the familiarity and ease with which he sunk into his stance, and I notched his skill level at slightly above the previous best person that I had seen fighting, a girl whose family name was Daizuki. She had been much better than her opponent, ending the fight with a kick to the knee and a punch to the eye.

I settled my feet into a general stance, left foot a tiny bit more than shoulder width in front of my right one, hands open and raised to about chest height. As soon as we were both ready, Iruka announced it.

"Begin."

I nodded at Shinichi and observed him. He nodded back, then tensed, and I quickly stepped backwards and slapped his arm away as he tried to hit me with a jab to the face, but he just followed up with another jab and then a kick to the leg. I brushed the jab aside with my right arm, then stepped into his kick and punched at his ribs with my left hand while he was on one leg. He got his leg down in time and hopped back, my first grazing his ribs as he pulled away, but I didn't let the opportunity slip.

From what I saw earlier, the others liked to keep at least arms length away from each other at all times, probably a training mechanism to get them used to disengaging and using a jutsu. Instead, I went and did the opposite.

As he stepped forward so did I, getting back into his guard and driving my right first forward to his ribs again. This time he was prepared and managed to block it, so I stepped even closer and grabbed onto his other arm, turning, bringing my off hand back to grab it as well, and flung him onto the floor! His face was filled with an impossibly shocked surprise as his back hit the ground, and I looked at Iruka for the briefest of moments.

His face told me that the fight was still on.

Shinichi shook his head from where he was lying as I stepped closer, trying to get his head to stop spinning, most likely, but I had a fight to win. I balled my hand into a fist and said, "Sorry."

I drove it into his face.

He didn't try to get up again.

"Naruto wins!"

'Thanks, Iruka.' I thought, 'Master of the obvious, and all that.' Still, I was greatful for the small smile that he had on his face as he looked at me.

Shikamaru, Kiba and Chouji all congratulated me as I walked back to where they were sitting, and I watched the rest of the fights in silence.

Kiba won his, no surprise there, attacking with a viciousness that I could parallel to a wild animal, getting his opponent down as quickly as possible.

Chouji, on the other hand, was seemingly content to let his opponent approach him and waited a bit before clobbering him in the side. He didn't get back up.

Shikamaru... didn't even try. He let his opponent hit him with a weak jab to the ribs, then forfeited. Honestly, that kid. It wasn't the first time either, according to the exasperated frown on Iruka's face.

The last fight was between two girls named Hinata Hyuuga and Ino Yamanaka. Ino seemed to have very little actual skill, while Hinata was so timid that she didn't even throw a single punch or kick! The fight eventually went to Ino out of the simple fact that Hinata wouldn't attack. The sad part was that Hinata seemed extremely used to her stance and fighting style - everything was textbook perfect... She just didn't even try to attack.

"Hmmm..."

"Huh? You say something, Naruto?" Kiba picked up on my hum a second late.

"Oh, no, just thinking about something."

The Hyuuga clan was a big deal in Konoha, so it would make sense that she would be so skilled, especially in taijutsu, but why was she so timid?

I was going to find out... After I looked around for a library or something later. I didn't know too much about the Hyuuga clan anyway. Best to read up on it before approaching her - just in case.

Hey everyone. This took ages to get started on, but yeah, I was bored so here's this. I'm thinking about putting this over onto Space battles and Sufficient Velocity, but I'll edit the notice in on the latest chapter if I do decide to do so.