You're sending me WHERE?!
"Dai sweetie, if you don't hurry up you're going to miss your boat!" called Emiko from downstairs.
"I'm going as fast as I can mom!" yelled Daisuke.
Daisuke did his last minute packing in one minute flat. He still couldn't figure out why his mother seemed to think sending him to a new school would help him get over losing Dark forever. Luckily Emiko was letting him take Wiz and Towa just in case. He could still hear the argument he had had with her when he first found out what she was planning!
Two days ago in the Niwa household…
"You're sending me where?!" said Daisuke in outrage.
"We're sending you to an academy in another country. I've just gotten a letter from the person in charge of the school and he agreed to let you attend!" said Emiko happily.
"WHY!!! Why are you doing this?!" said Daisuke in horror.
"Your father and I agreed that a change of scenery might be what you need, Dai-chan," said Emiko firmly. He could tell by her tone that this was no longer in his hands.
"What am I gonna tell Riku though?!"
"We've already told her and she agreed that you need to get out of the city. You haven't been acting yourself lately and we're worried about you," said his father.
"Don't look so glum Daisuke! Towa and Wiz are going with you!" said his grandfather.
"You don't understand me at all! Why didn't you at least give me a choice in all of this?!" said Daisuke upset.
"We knew your reaction would be against this," said Kosuke. At this, Daisuke ran up to his room and barricaded the door. (If he could pick the lock on his door, then so could Emiko and Daiki!)
"Kosuke-kun, do you think we're doing the right thing by sending him away?" said Emiko concerned.
"Don't worry Emiko. He'll get over it, you'll see," replied Kosuke.
"Hurry up Daisuke! The boat is about to leave in an hour!" yelled Daiki.
"I'M COMING ALREADY!!!" grumbled Daisuke
"I hope you have a safe trip sweetie!" said his mother cheerfully. (She obviously didn't notice the glare of doom Daisuke shot at her!)
"We'll see you soon, Daisuke," said Kosuke calmly.
"Towa and Wiz are waiting for you. You three had better get a move on it!" said Daiki.
"Fine…whatever. It's not like anything I say will change anything…" grumbled Daisuke coldly.
It took them forty-five minutes to catch the boat. Daisuke got on with a gloomy look written all over his face. He took a long look at his hometown and sighed, "Why do I have the feeling this won't turn out well?"
"Cheer up Dai! We're going to a new place with new things to see!" said Towa, trying to cheer him up.
"That's easy for you to say. You're not the one who has to explain why a bird can speak human and a rabbit that can transform into others!" griped Daisuke. His eyes drifted to the rapidly vanishing familiar shores. Only one thought crossed his mind.
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If only…if only Dark hadn't been sealed… I can still hear his voice, calling me… Goodbye, Dark.
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It took two days on the boat to reach the first stop on their way to the new school. When they reached the shore, there was someone waiting for him at the dock. He looked to be in his twenties; his hair was brownish and was held back with a rubber band. His bangs were held in check with a strange-looking headband with what Daisuke assumed was some sort of leaf. He seemed to be agitated for some reason. When Daisuke approached he said, "You wouldn't happen to be Daisuke Niwa by any chance?"
"I guess…" said Daisuke bored.
"My name is Iruka, and I'm going to be one of your new teachers. The Hokage seemed to think I was the best person to come greet the new student."
"I've never heard of anyone called a 'Hokage'," said Daisuke bluntly.
"Well, since you are an outsider… I guess you could say that the Hokage is the village leader," said Iruka.
WHAT! I don't believe this! They sent me to a (bleeping) village?!
"What exactly is the school called anyway?" asked Daisuke.
"You mean no one told you?" said Iruka surprised.
"My family kinda forced this on me without saying anything about where I was going."
"The academy is in Konoha, and we're one of the best Hidden Villages around," said Iruka.
Hidden…village? Mom and Dad are SOOOOO gonna pay for this one…
"So how far away is the village?" asked Daisuke, changing the subject.
"Around 50 miles from here," replied Iruka.
"Oh joy…" grumbled Daisuke.
"Shall we get going? It'll probably take a few days to reach the village with the road like it is," said Iruka.
"What's wrong with the roads?"
"It the almost time for the harvest from local farms to come in. People will be blocking the roads with traffic," said Iruka.
"Ugh… I hate that kind of block! Give me an electronic lock any day!" said Daisuke.
Sure enough, the road was packed with traders and merchants. After the first day of trying to navigate through the mess, Daisuke had already had enough of the trip!
"Sheesh… Too bad we can't go through the trees and avoid this mess. That would probably make it a lot easier to get around," grumbled Daisuke.
"How good are you at jumping from branch to branch?" asked Iruka.
"So long as the distance isn't too wide I can probably manage to go through the treetops," answered Daisuke.
"If you can jump from tree-to-tree then we'll try taking that route," said Iruka, almost relieved.
Daisuke awoke the next morning to find Iruka gone. It wasn't until he heard something above him that he looked up. In a branch almost directly above where Daisuke had been sleeping was Iruka.
"What're you…?"
"The sooner you get ready, the sooner we can go. And if you are able to run through the treetops, then we'll make better time. So hurry up!"
It took Daisuke less than two minutes to get ready. He jumped to a nearby branch and looked at Iruka in a half-awake daze.
"You can follow me. Try to keep up!" said Iruka as he started jumping from tree to tree!
What the hell…? I'm almost afraid to find out what this school is really like! Daisuke thought irritably as he followed Iruka's lead. By the time noon rolled around, he was exhausted. He hadn't done that much jumping in a while!
"I'm impressed. I didn't think someone who wasn't from one of the neighboring villages could keep up," commented Iruka; they had stopped for lunch and for Daisuke to catch his breath.
"I'm almost afraid to ask…"
"Ask away."
"What kind of school do you teach at?!" said Daisuke in surprise.
"I'm an instructor for the Konoha Ninja Academy," replied Iruka with a straight face.
Before Daisuke could comment, he heard what sounded like a chirp above. Towa was flapping like crazy just trying to keep up!
"Towa…don't tell me you were flying this entire time!" groaned Daisuke in dismay.
"Well you two left in such a hurry that I lost track of you!" retorted Towa.
"Interesting bird. What's its name?" asked Iruka calmly.
"Her name is Towa. Wait… why aren't you freaked out by the fact she can talk?!" asked Daisuke surprised.
"Why should I be? There're plenty of others in the village with animals that can talk. Like Kakashi's ninja dogs; I'm fairly sure that the pug can speak human too," said Iruka.
"Huh… no wonder my mom thought the academy was a good school. She must have known that I wouldn't have to keep my abilities secret!" murmured Daisuke.
"Why would you keep your talents a secret?"
"Where I come from, being able to jump from roof-to-roof isn't considered normal."
"You'll fit right in. All cadets can do that and throw kunai and shurinkens; and the jutsu they use varies from person to person."
"Jutsu? Kunai? Shurinkens? What're those?"
"You're kidding. You can jump like the other cadets, but you don't know the basics?!"
"Dai came from a long line of Phantom Thieves," explained Towa.
"I guess that would put you at the same level as Naruto…" mumbled Iruka.
"Who's Naruto?"
"One of the cadets at the academy. He likes to pull pranks and things, so watch out."
"Good to know. Hey Towa, you can ride in my bag if you want. Wiz can sit on my shoulder," said Daisuke. A long floppy eared rabbit poked its head out and said "Kyu…!"
"I take it you're ready to continue?"
"About as ready as I can be," said Daisuke. They packed up their things and went on. They didn't stop again until night fell.
"Uh-oh… I don't recognize this area," said Iruka in concern.
"Don't tell me we're lost!" groaned Daisuke.
"Don't panic yet. I probably lost the trail because it's so dark out. We'll pick it up in the morning."
"I sure hope so…"
Unfortunately, Iruka had taken a wrong turn by mistake! He was fully prepared to backtrack until they were back on the right path.
"We don't need to backtrack. Besides…I've had this uneasy feeling all morning. I think we should continue on," said Daisuke.
"That might be a bad idea. If we keep going in this direction, who knows where we'll end up?"
"Now I know why they had Towa come with me…" said Daisuke under his breath; "Towa, think you can help us?"
"Sure thing Daisuke! What's the problem?" asked Towa.
"We took a wrong turn by mistake… and I don't think backtracking is a good idea."
"I'll see if I can locate the main road," said Towa as she took flight. She returned less than a moment later.
"There are some strange men following the tree line. It looks like they're heading in this direction!" said Towa nervously.
"Did they have anything like my headband on them? It would have a different symbol, but the main shape is the same," asked Iruka.
"I did see a lot of glint from the sun. Why?"
"This is bad… if they're following our trail then we might get caught up in a fight!" said Iruka anxious.
"What's the matter?"
"If the people heading this direction are wearing a headband, then there's a good chance that they're from another village. Let's hope that they aren't in the mood for a fight or go another direction."
"We could always have With turn into you and have him go and send them in another direction," suggested Daisuke.
"No… If we're going to mislead them it won't be with your rabbit thing. I'll use the Kage Buushin no Jutsu to send them into another direction," said Iruka.
"That's odd…those men just went bolting in another direction! I wonder why?" said Towa suddenly.
"In any event, we need to get back on the right path. Is the road nearby, Towa-san?" asked Iruka.
"Call me Towa-chan! San makes me sound too old."
"Well you were made almost 100 years ago," said Daisuke.
"Daisuke, you should know better than to comment on a girl's age!" scolded Towa annoyed.
"Let's get going. Where's the road, Towa-chan?"
"About 2 meters west of here. And it looks like there's not much traffic for a while," replied Towa.
It took the rest of the day to reach the village. They encountered little difficulty in entering; Iruka led them to the Hokage Tower. Daisuke was mildly surprised to meet the village leader, Sarutobi.
"So you are the boy that is transferring here… I am the Third Hokage of this village, Sarutobi. I'm sure you'll fit right in," said the Hokage kindly.
"Hokage-sama, I think this boy is a good candidate for the academy. He was able to keep up with me while we took a short-cut in the tree line," said Iruka.
"Iruka, why don't you show him where he'll be staying?" suggested the Hokage.
"Sure thing. Just give me the address!"
"It looks like you'll be living next to Naruto," said Iruka with a laugh.
"I sure hope he's not too evil…" joked Daisuke.
"Nah…he's just a practical joker who likes skipping class a little too often."
As they approached the apartment, Daisuke dodged what appeared to be an orange blur running past him.
"NARUTO! GET BACK HERE!!!!" roared two Jonin who were in pursuit.
"You'll never catch me old timers!" said the blur.
"Naruto! What did you do this time?!" said Iruka.
"ACK! Iruka-sensei! When did you get back?" said Naruto in mock-horror.
"I just got back. Now what did you do?"
"You said he's a prankster right? That explains the blue and hot pink buildings I noticed back there," said Daisuke.
"Pretty good work if I say so myself," said Naruto proudly, "By the way, who are you? I don't recognize you…"
"This is the new transfer student, Niwa Daisuke. The Hokage asked me to pick him up a few days ago."
"Nice to meet ya! I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzamaki, the next Hokage!"
"Not with your grades you aren't!" retorted Iruka. Daisuke chuckled a bit at the look on Naruto's face.
"Hey Naruto, has anyone ever told you that you resemble a grinning fox?"
"You're the first."
"Naruto, why don't you show him around? His apartment is right next to yours," said Iruka.
"Sure thing Iruka-sensei!"