iii. the academy;

When shopping for the academy came around, Mebuki is secretly ecstatic to go on a shopping spree. For clothes, in particular.

In Sho's opinion, he doesn't think his caretaker is very inconspicuous in her excitement.

Then again, after spending the past four years learning her facial ticks and tells, he could accurately read that (despite her somber and serious expression) she is excited. Her hurried gait and bright, hungry eyes give her actual feelings away. Mebuki was no ninja, after all. He attributes this excitement to the fact that, while Sho values cleanliness and presentability, he isn't much of a fashionista. For the most part, Sho is happy to wear shorts and tank tops everyday, much to Mebuki's ire. Kizashi thought it hilarious, also much to Mebuki's ire. Which ultimately was unfortunate for Mebuki, as she seems to have made it her personal mission to use him as a life sized dress up doll

"How about this?" Mebuki asks, pulling out a pink dress from the rack.

It has frills. Frills.

"No." Is his blunt and short reply.

"It comes in green, too." And although she says this, she is already putting the dress away and moving to another rack.

Sho thinks that he and Mebuki are on completely different pages. Sho is not looking for something fashionable or cute to parade around the academy with. He has no desire to fit in with the 'it' crowd of six year olds. The thought of appealing to other six year olds or even attempting to garner their attention is laughable and somewhat sickening. He needs something practical; clothes he can comfortably be in for long lectures in class as well as when he is engaging in physical activity. Something that will scream I am only six years old but I'm also very serious about becoming a ninja. Wearing a cute and frilly dress might say the former, but he wants to be taken seriously. Something simple but efficient.

In the most humble way possible Sho could admit that he is, frankly, adorable in this form. While it definitely has it's advantages, he doesn't want to be taken too lightly. Sakura had an unfortunate disadvantage as a female; and though there are ways to twist it into something useable for his schemes, he has little patience for belittling. Especially not at the academy. Not at the place that would determine if he could succeed in this world or not.

"Oh, what about this?" Mebuki's speaks up, holding out a red button up dress.

"No." He says, again. Too bright, too noticable. Probably difficult to run in.

Mebuki sighs and continues searching. They spend, maybe, a half hour scouring through the racks and buckets before Sho settles on a practical, and affordable, outfit. At the store attendants heed they move to the back of the store where he can try it on.

"Isn't that is bit too..." Mebuki clearly hesitates as she stares at the clothes he has changed into.

Sho hums, and does a slow spin as he views his reflection in the mirror. "Practical?" The outfit is simple. Black leggings, black sandals, a brown turtleneck, and a large green cargo jacket.

The colours are muted and earthly in a way that will, hopefully, imply 'camoflauge' to his instructors. He is particularly fond of the jacket; it has many pockets and it goes well with his eyes. On the flip side, he is impartial to the shirt. It's merely a strategic choice; he had nearly gone for white but he knows how difficult white is to clean. Black had been his second choice of colour, but he had instead chose brown simply because, since he lives in the Country of Fire which is known for it's forestry, it is a better colour for mending into the background.

(Sho hopes his subtle hints of manipulation works to sway his instructors into his favour.)

And then the leggings. In his past life he can vaguely remember giving his daughter grief over wearing leggings without any other sort of garment for her legs. He had been in the opinion that it looked unbecoming, and she had fought him tooth and nail about it. It is only now, years later and reborn into a different body, that Sho can admit that he might have been wrong in this opinion. The stretchy material proves for easy movement, and the dark colour will mask any blood or sweat that he may get on them. (He hopes there will be no blood on them any time soon, though.) It's a pity that his daughter is long gone, she would have relished in his admittance to being wrong. Such an occurence doesn't happen all too often.

"Mature?" Sho adds when she is silent.

"I was going to say drab. Boring." Mebuki says in a dry tone. "You can only be a kid once, you know."

"Hm." Is all Sho says to that. He has already been a kid once. While, technically, he was going through childhood again, that didn't mean that he had to act childish. "I like it."

"That jacket is far too big for you." She says with a sigh, looking over her shoulder near wistfully. Knowing her, Mebuki was probably thinking about the pink dress she had picked out earlier.

But, Mebuki isn't wrong. The cargo jacket is very large on him. The bottom of the jacket goes down to his knees, and he has to roll up his sleeves since they go past his finger tips. But it is a strategic choice. An investment for the future.

"I'll grow into it." Sho says with a shrug, "Then I won't have to buy anything else as I get older."

"I should be impressed by your foresight but I can't help but admit that I'm disappointed." Mebuki sighs, rubbing at her nose. "Is there anything else you need to pick up?"

Sho thinks for a moment, before saying, "A bag. Kunai holster.. I'd like a couple more journals or notebooks to write in."

"Alright, get changed and I'll be right back."

Nodding, Sho did as he was told (as it was the obvious thing to do now that they had settled for an outfit.) When he emerged from the stall, he was surprised to see Mebuki standing there with paper bag in her arms.

"I bought your notebooks from the book store down the road." Mebuki says without prompt, "As for the bag and holster, will these do?"

His caretaker turns around and places the paper bag down, and then picks up a few objects from the bench. Sho blinks as she holds up a simple brown satchel bag and a dark green kunai holster. They are.. surprisingly practical and Sho-like than he had anticipated, especially since she has spent the day trying to convince him to purchase pink clothing.

Sho reaches out to look at the satchel, and gives a small nod as he inspects it. There are plenty of pockets, and while it will look a bit bulky for now, as he grows the bag will fit until he has the funds to invest in storage scrolls.

"I like it." He says after a moment, and when he looks up Mebuki is giving him a misty eyed look.

"Right. Good." She says, looking away in a way that makes Sho assume that she's trying to collect herself and not cry. He is silent, unsure how to respond other than to suggest that they buy their stuff. She speaks up before he can, though. It doesn't really sound like she is talking to him. "You're getting so old, going to school already.." Mebuki then gives herself a hard shake of the head, and she is back to her stern expression. "Let's buy these."

Soon enough they are leaving the store, a little bit more prepared for Sho's first day at the academy.

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When the first day of school comes around, Sho spends more time than necessary looking in the mirror. His 'parents' think that it's cute that he is nervous, but really he is practicing various facial expressions.

( He will be encountering many ninja from here on out, and he needs his little girl facade to work. )

Before they leave, Mebuki pulls Sho's long pink hair into a french braid. As he stares into the mirror the only thing he can think of is that his large forehead is practically being broadcasted now. Perhaps it's for the best, maybe it gives off an indifferent vibe to the feature. At least the annoying bangs are gone now, and the only flyaways are the pieces of hair above his ears that curl around his jaw.

"Nervous?" Mebuki says with a wry tilt to her lips.

"No." Sho responds back. What is there to be nervous about?

The woman merely hums, clearly unconvinced. Sho gives a little scowl at her through the mirror.

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The "Will of Fire" speech is good.

It's uplifting, it's inspirational. Sho can see the children around him staring at the ancient man on the stage with awe and reverence. His words are strong and filled with confidence, clearly a speech of a man who truly believes in what he is preaching. The village sees the man who is called the "God of Shinobi" and are humbled to be in his presence, excited that he is looking forward to their achievements. They look up at the man and they see hope for a bright future, they see a country founded by love and the bonds of unity.

Sho can see the students around him falling for the obvious ploy.

And, frankly, he is impressed.

The Hokage looks like someone who could be your grandfather, or your kindly neighbour. He is unassuming and has the sort of face that automatically gives you the assumption that he is kind. Even from where he is sitting, Sho can see the liver spots that coat his face and speak of his aging- but even those don't hinder his overall presence. His speech only adds to this, preaching unity through kindness and through the bonds of friendship. It is apparent that the Hokage is beloved, from the young students of the academy to the ninja and parents that are watching the speech. But despite all this, when Sho looks at the Hokage he sees a hardened man. A ninja who has survived. One who is willing to go to great lengths to save his village, even at the cost of manipulating the masses.

Someone as old and in such a high position speaks volumes of their strength; or how far they were willing to go to meet their goals. There were multiple ways to get to the top, after all. However from what Sho has heard it sounds as though the Hokage earned it through his strength and connections rather than will and guile.

Sho is certain that the vast majourity of kids don't know that they are signing up for, that they are being manipulated and indoctrinated into the ways of a ninja. The speech is good. It makes the village seem kinder than it really is. Do the adults realize what it is yet? That the God of Shinobi is sugarcoating the acts of ninja with his 'inspirational' speech, lighting the fires of undying loyalty to Konoha? To Sho, it doesn't matter that the village held The Will of Fire in revere. It didn't matter if the village was 'kind' or spoke of love as the driving force; the ninja in the village would still kill and do as any of the other villages will. They would still be seen as an enemy to the other villages.

He wonders how many children around him are going to die in the future due to the devotion that will be lit here today.

( Too many. )

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The first bit of true luck and kindness that this world offers to him is in the form of placing him in the class with all the clan kids.

The class and economical segregation is quite obvious with a little bit of perception. As Sho reads through the class lists he notices a small and interesting detail, one that he should have thought about year prior. The orphaned children or those born of civilians are placed into their own class. After a moments thought he understands with clarity what it means. They are the children that the school anticipates to drop out, or be put in the Genin Corps once they graduate. They expect these kids to do badly. Is it a cynical thought to believe that the ninja will most likely situate them with a teacher that is simply adequate, while the classes with the clan kid majourity is given the priviledge of a better suited teacher? It was a problem that was relevant in his old world, and he wouldn't be surprised if it was one in this world as well.

It is only day one and already the ninja believe they know who will be the successful and who will be the failures.

He had known that the education system would be riddled with bias and propaganda, however he hadn't anticipated that a village that preached about love would so obviously divide the clan kids with the clanless. As a person who had climbed the ranks from nothing in his past life, this presumptious behaviour aggravates him. As a person who will likely have to struggle through the academy due to his biological disadvantages, this strategy angers him. Right from the beginning the village intends on these clanless kids to become cannon fodder, should they persevere and pass. He completely believes that the second class will not get the attention and teaching that they require to reach their greatest potential.

From a logical, detached, point of view he understands; they are simply using their limited resources to amplify the strengths of the students that will most likely produce the highest chance of success. Sho understands the desire to achieve success. He understands that the village has suffered greatly in the past decade and needs to grow strong ninja to replace the ones that have died in the previous tragedies that have befallen the village. Sho values efficiency, however it is such a waste to hyper focus on the few when there could be plenty of children who could grow and become great with a bit of attention.

However, at the end of the day, this isn't an issue for Sho. He has been placed in the class with the clan kids. Why he was put there is a mystery to him, though it is likely that the other class had been full, or the clan class had too few students, or because he was technically of a clan, though a civilian one. Of course, there is a chance that he is simply misreading the situation. He doubts it, but there is a chance. Maybe in the past the mix of clan and clanless kids had proved to be unproductive for the village. Perhaps by splitting the classes they can use different teaching techniques that prove more effective for the clanless kids than the clan kid program.

For the time being all he can do is watch and see how the situation unfolds.

Sho moves away from the class listings so the next kid can see it, mind turning and analyzing.

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When Sho enters his new classroom, he situates himself in the back and watches.

He watches as the children filter into the classroom. He watches as the children converse. He watches as the cliques clump together. He watches as they settle into seats. He watches as the teacher, young but with a scar that proves he is battle worn, enters the room. He makes mental notes about each and everyone of them. When the time comes around to introduce themselves, he drags out a notebook and dedicates a page to writing down names and his own personal notes about them. Sho gives a short and concise introduction for 'Haruno Sakura' and before long they are talking about the curriculum for the year.

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After the school bell rings and brings the day to a close, Sho marches over to the library, slaps down his student ID card and says "I would like to take out a book pertaining to clans and the bylaws of the village."

The no-named ninja gives him a tired and skeptical look. "What does a kid like you want with the village bylaws? Go outside. Live a little. Enjoy the days of your youth."

Sho reigns in his irritation. The ninja sees a six year old, not Sho. Most six year olds have no interest in regulations and rules, among other things. So he reminds himself to stay calm and emphasizes, "Clans. Bylaws." He pauses, then adds; "Scrolls on chakra."

The ninja gives him a long look then an exaggerated sigh and mutters, "kids these days" before he goes up the stairs to the ninja-only section of the library. In a few moments he is back and is handing Sho an armful of books. With a tired and bored tone he points out which book is which, then has Sho sign the books out.

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The next few days go like this:

In the morning he trains, he does his exorcises and runs, showers then makes a smoothie.

He goes to school and plays a passive role. Sho sits in the back corner, arriving early every morning so he can claim the seat before anyone else. He watches the other children. It doesn't take too long to get a gist of their names, clans, intelligence levels, personalities, etc, and he burns the page in the note book with his notes on them. He eats lunch, gets bored by the school material, practices stretches during PE, and soon enough it's time to go home.

Goes home, eats supper, studies, then sleeps.

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Sho waits a week before he starts to involve himself with the six-year olds. He has studied their behaviour and their habits, and is ready to make some connections.

His first target is Aburame Shino.

The boy is quiet and unsocial. He doesn't appear to have many friends, and yet is not afraid to answer questions when asked by their teacher Iruka. (In fact he seems very enthusiastic to answer questions, and answers things that really doesn't need answering to.) Shino is the heir to the Aburame family, and after a little bit of research he finds out that the clan is one of the Noble Clans of Konoha. Despite this, most children tend to avoid him due to his clan's involvement with bugs, which Sho thinks is a silly thing to ostracize a child for. The boy's personality probably adds to it.

All in all it's not too surprising why he chooses Shino. Quiet. Heir of a Noble Clan. Avoided, but not disliked.

He shows up to school a little later that day, and isn't surprised to see that his spot in the back has been taken. It's all according to his plan. Shino sits in the middle row closest to the wall and on the side with the door. It's a suitable place to sit; the children in the back are often assumed to be troublemakers, whereas the students in the front are the teachers pets or the students who showed up to class late. The middle seat would allow him anonymity, he wouldn't stand out as much or have any preconceived opinions which would make it easer to pave his own path in his teachers minds.

Shino is already at his seat when Sho arrives, which is a good thing to see. He makes a show of squinting up the classroom and inspecting his old spot before heaving a sigh. After a moment he walks up to Shino's desk and puffs his chest out.

"Hey, can I sit here?" He asks, pointing at the middle seat beside Shino.

It takes a moment for the boy to realize that he is being spoken to, and gives a nod. "Of course. Why?" He takes a moment to push up his sunglasses, "Because the seat is open."

Sho stares for a moment and then nods in response. "Okay." He says as he sits down, as there really isn't much else to say to that.

For someone so stoic, he considers this kid pretty dramatic.

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His second target is Yamanaka Ino.

Honestly, he doesn't know much about her clan other than the fact that it owns a flower shop in the market district and is in the clan counsel. Which isn't saying much, since most ninja clans are in the clan counsel.

However, she is his target because in less than a week she has managed to boss her way into being the queen bee of the class of six year olds. Despite her dominant personality and manhandling, Ino is surprisingly well liked (or at least, tolerated) by both the girls and boys in the class. Ordinarily Sho wouldn't hold such a position in high regard, especially not for a six year old. But from his limited observation he has learned that she has close connections with the other clan kids and is extraordinarily good at collecting information. Particularly for a girl her age. Most of it is gossip, of course, but it is certainly a skill that will be useful for Sho. Especially if he wants to create his own information network sometime in the future.

In addition, she is quite clearly a White Knight.

And Sho would never give up the opportunity to obtain someone who would go out of their way to protect him. It would be simply foolhardy to do so.

His first meeting with Ino isn't planned, and is a couple days after he introduces himself to Shino. But it is a welcomed and appreciated surprise that he takes advantage of.

Sho is eating his lunch underneath the large tree in the courtyard, quietly watching the other kids run around and minding his own goddamn business when he is approached. He doesn't know her name, only that she is a civilian born given by her lack of symbol on her clothing.

"Ehhh.." The girl says to the other girl at her side, tittering. "Would you look at that. She's alone, again. Ha! What a loser."

He should have expected some playground trash talk when the prospect of school came around, but this is just pathetic. His daughter could have insulted him better, would have shred him a new one. Did they actually expect him to be bothered by this? Did they honestly think that their cheap attempt at a powerplay would work against him? He had heard much worse in his lifetime. And after X's bark and bite manouevre, nothing else would affect him the same way. (He was certain of it.)

Sho chose to be alone, for a reason.

Staring at the girls for a long moment, he simply took another bit out of his onigiri and ignored them. They didn't deserve his attention or ire.

"Ohhh, she's ignoring us." The other girl stated in a stage whisper, "She thinks she's better than us, doesn't she?"

Sho does his best to ebb his growing irritation. He wonders how old they are, and what grade they are in. ( What's their addresses, their parents names? What sort of skeletons do their families have hiding in the closet? For curiosities sake, of course. ) Their vocabulary is better than those in his year, and they are quite taller than he is. How wretched that they would pick on someone so much younger than them. They simply see a little girl eating alone. This sort of picking on the weak mentality annoys him.

"It's probably because of that forehead of hers!" The first girl says, "It's the size of the moon!"

"Ha! Forehead girl."

Sho's eye twitches. That doesn't even make sense! Why would they blame his cold behaviour on his forehead?! There is no logical purpose whatsoever other than to annoy him and with this body Sho had no reservations beating up, blackmai-

"Hey!" A young, familiar, voice yells from nearby. "Leave her alone!"

One of the girls 'tchs' and the two saunter off.

Ino runs up to Sho in a huff and exclaims, "Ya! Run away!" She then turns around to him and asks, "Are you okay? You're the third one this lunch break!"

Sho holds back a sigh. What a busybody. He gives her his practiced nervous smile and says, "Yeah, I'm fine. They were just saying mean words."

The blonde haired girls shakes her fist, "Girls like that make me mad!" But she gets over her apparent anger relatively quickly as she drops to a crouch in front of him. "Hey, you're in my class right? So-Sa-Sako-"

"Sakura." He states plainly, though he contemplates merely answering as 'Sho'. Clearly she wouldn't have known the difference.

"Oh, yeah! You're the one who sits next to the bug guy!" Ino makes a show of shuddering, and Sho forces himself to laugh lightly.

"Shino. He's nice."

The girl gives him a look that says she thinks differently, but says, "If you saaay so."

He doesn't want to pass up the chance of securing her friendship (and therefore useful talents), so he lifts one of his onigiri towards her and says, "Want one? For my knight on a white horse."

Ino grins, "Sure!"

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Sho's and Ino's friendship revolves around Ino talking and Sho listening.

Once the girl realizes that he isn't a talkative person Ino takes it upon herself to fill up the conversation and generally likes the attention and spotlight he gives her. They eat together at lunch and sometimes train together after school... but she typically wants to go to the market to buy sweets or talk about boys, so he leaves relatively quickly and tends to evade her requests to hang out after school. She thinks him shy and timid, someone to protect from bullies. He doesn't bother try to dissuade this line of thought and simply lets it be. It's simpler to allow people to have their own assumptions than to go out of his way to prove them wrong.

Their only bump in the road is when Ino, a week later, jealously asks him why he sits with Shino in class. He tells her that she's too talkative and he wants to focus on his work.

She starts calling him a bookworm after this, but he doesn't care.

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His first meetings with Naruto and Sasuke are both unexpected and out of the blue, for better or for worse.

okay so, wow, this story has had a lot of response? even after eight months? thank you all, and i'm sorry for this (very) late post! about 3k of this chapter has been sitting in my docs for months now because i felt bad that nothing much happens in the chapter and i wanted to turn it into something... interesting. but today i decided to post it anyway since it's necessary and it's been way too long. so! chapter introducing shino and ino!

next chapter we will get sasuke and naruto interactions, plus more!

honestly this kid stuff is killing me and my muse so i'm probably only going to do next chapter or two for the academy before i get to The Good Stuff that i've got planned. will you guys like it? honestly, i'm not sure! but we'll see. there will be a intermission after the next chapter, with mebuki, kizashi, shino or ino, and... a person of your choice? so let me know what character you want to see from the eyes of!

thank you so much for all the reviews/favourites/follows/etc!

edit: since there are a few messages asking for me to clarify the listing of 'homosexual acts' as a 'sin' in the prologue; i intended for it to sound homophobic. the "God" (X) is under the assumption that sho is a christian and therefore has it listed it as a "sin" (since the stereotype of said religion that they would be against it.) like i said in my notes, there are various things said by both characters in the prologue chapter that i disagree with. sho and x are both extremists in their beliefs, and i wanted to make that clear. looking back on it i understand that it can be taken as quite insensitive, but i'm going to keep it there since I believe that it says something for both characters (: