Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Her Own Little World ❯ Academy Days ( Chapter 12 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Project 0506 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 08.12.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 445 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 08.12.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 445 | Status: Work In Progress
A/n: Hi, me again. I went back and read the volume with Hanabi in it (during the Hina-Neji fight) and found that Hiashi told Kurenai that Hanabi was SEVEN! And that would make her 11 or 12 in my story! So sorry for that error! *waves magic pencil and Hanabi gains 2 years* So Hanabi is officially 11, Hinata is 15 and Neji 16. (This is after Naruto's training and before the Second Sasuke retrieval.) Gomen! *bows* Please don't hate me!
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If if there was ever a moment in his life where Umino Iruka vehemently hated his life, this was it. Moments like these gave new meaning to "between a rock and a hard place". He would either face the wrath of Hyuuga Neji (whom he had personally taught a few years ago... and knew the incredible temper of), or infuriate Hyuuga Hiashi (who had quite a reputation for creatively and painfully making his displeasure known). If he had known three years ago that he would be caught in the middle of bickering Hyuugas, he would have quit teaching and gone into information gathering. As it was, there was now no escape.
Iruka sighed heavily. "Believe me Neji-san, if there was any way out of this, I would take it. I have been up half the night trying to find something that could make this whole situation at least bearable. But I have no choice. Hiashi-san has ordered me to have you work here."
Neji simply folded his arms and glared at the world in general. "Here's the deal, I'm not going to put you in the classroom. You'll sit here and mark tests and upgrade the performance sheets, no interaction with children at all. Alright?" The young Hyuuga seemed to relax, and nodded.
Iruka left, and Neji got to work grading papers. It wasn't hard work... but it was incredibly boring. And far too many of the students were incredibly STUPID! Maybe he was just overreacting, he was a chuunin... but even so, he couldn't remember a time when he had missed some of the simple questions here. He couldn't help but snicker at one in particular. The question required a diagram of the human body highlighting ten major pain points that could be targeted with taijutsu. The boy Konohamaru sketched a picture of a posed, mostly naked, very very well endowed woman. Apparently there was another up and coming Naruto.
"Um...Sempai?"
Neji's head shot up. "Yes?" Although the tone of voice was more of a 'go away'. Unfortunately the little girl didn't take the hint.
"Ah...it's... some of the boys from the older class. They're beating up some of the kids in our class..."
"...You're enrolled in a shinobi academy. Exactly what did you expect?" The 'GO AWAY' was practically jumping out at her. Either she was oblivious or incredibly brave. Her bottom lip started to quiver. Well scratch brave off the list.
"B-b-but w-we've o-only learned th-th-the b-basics a-and th-these g-guys are bigger a-and..."
Neji seriously considered slamming his head down on the desk, then thought about activating the Byakugan and cussing violently until she went running down the hall in fear, ears burning. But Hiashi-san would kill him (Absolutely NO traumatizing students, do I make myself clear Neji?) Besides, a certain, shy, dark haired girl had made him seriously prone to the power of the stutter. "Fine. I'm coming."
"Yay!"
When did I get to be such a damn pushover?
He followed the girl through the familiar halls and out onto the practice fields. Sure enough, three eleven year-olds were beating on a kid who looked no more than eight.
"This is what I've been reduced to?" He muttered. He pulled three kunai and deftly tossed them at the pile of academy students. Training with Tenten had its advantages: a split second later, three would-be bullies hung by their shirts from trees. "Anything else?"
There was no answer.
Neji turned around. Behind him stood a small crowd of eight year olds, all staring up with star-struck eyes.
"What?" he demanded.
At that, several of the girls sighed and giggled. "Can you teach me how to do that sempai!? Can you!?" One brown-haired boy actually came up to him and started tugging on his shirt! "Please?"
"... Don't you have a sensei?" Neji removed grubby little fingers from his person.
"He's on a mission, so we've got the rest of the afternoon. So whaddya say Sempai? Will ya teach us?"
"... no." The giggling girls giggled even louder, and he heard several whispers of 'he's soooooo cuuute!!'.
"So what, we're not worth your time?" One sulky looking kid glared at him. He recognized the boy, Tanto something... one of Tenten's distant cousins. He merely glanced the boy over idly, and turned and walked away.
He felt it coming almost immediately, six kunai all aimed at his head. It was easy to dodge them, he didn't have to use any chakra. Silently Neji apologized to all of his academy senseis for being so damn angsty as a child. No doubt he was exactly like this persistent little pest at eight. He landed and turned to neatly catch the kick. A single flick of the wrist turned the boy upside down. Pure fury shone in the dark eyes staring up at him. The boy twisted to try to land a second kick, but was surprised when Neji simply let go, nearly dropping him on his head. At the last moment he was able to twist and land on his side. He quickly rolled and leapt to his feet, but by then Neji was already behind him.
"You've got decent aim, but your tactics need work. Don't aim at just one place, fan your attack out. That way when your opponent dodges some of your kunai, he gets caught by others. Here, let me show you." He unpinned one of the students from the tree, who by now, were completely terrified. He put the boy he took down in front of a target. "Don't move and you won't get killed."
Neji let a handful of kunai fly, carefully aiming far enough away to give a margin of error. Tsunade would have his head if he impaled an academy student. The kunai landed in a perfect circle around the kid. "See? Any way he dodged would have been a mistake. My teammate, Tanto Tenten* would have been able to get a closer outline" Neji sighed. "So you won't have a sensei for the rest of the day?" Several heads shook. "Fine...set up the targets. Then line up."
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"Tenten-san, Lee-san, this is a surprise!"
Tenten smiled. "Hi Iruka-san. We're looking for Neji, we heard he's here..."
"And he's not very happy about it."
"I'm going to help him out, you know...protect the students from him..."
"My dearest teammate... does not have the patience to deal with people, especially not younger people."
"Teachers' lounge. I have him marking papers. Apparently we had the same idea: Hyuuga Neji should not be left unsupervised with young children."
"...But Iruka-sensei, he's not there. That's where we checked first." Iruka's head shot up, worry in his eyes.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course!"
"Positive!"
Iruka knew from the beginning that this was not going to be a good day. This only helped it along. "What is he up to?"
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None of the chuunin could believe their eyes.
They had searched the entire school for the missing Hyuuga until Inuzuka Hana-san had told them that she had seen him out 'taking care of three delinquent students' of hers. Naturally, that concerned them even more, and they raced out to the training fields.
Now they stared in open shock at Hyuuga Neji and the second year academy class.
"N...Neji? What are you... how...why?"
Neji raised a calm eyebrow at his expressive teammate. "I used my Byakugan to see their chakra flow and determined what area they are best suited for, then put them in groups for taijutsu, ranged weaponry and chakra molding techniques. I have three older... volunteers... in charge of the groups. I simply supervise."
There was a Neji-clone at each group fixing positioning, adjusting grips, handing out more work, making children repeat techniques until perfect. The real Neji glared at the other two members of his cell. "You plan to step in any time soon?"
"Um... okay."
Iruka watched the three chuunin instruct the students in their respective specialties and shook his head. You did it. Gai, who would have ever thought you could pull it off? Hyuuga Neji... never thought I'd see this day... maybe the world is ending?
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"Ah Neji, how did your day at the academy go?"
Neji froze, hearing Hiashi's voice. The murmurs around him faded, as branch and main house members alike waited to hear his response. His chopsticks wavered above his bowl. Neji calmly put them down and managed his most polite smirk. Everyone around the large table was staring at him...some more discretely than others. Hinata hid her shock while Hanabi pretended to be fascinated with the pattern on her bowl. "Very well Hiashi-san."
"Is that so?"
"Yes sir." Neji, maintaining his calm exterior, took a bite of his food and swallowed before continuing. "In fact, it went so well that Iruka-san is allowing my entire cell to assist in the lesson once a week. It took quite a bit of convincing to allow Gai-sensei to agree, but I was finally able to convince him. That reminds me, Hanabi-san, I will no longer be able to train you on Thursday afternoons. Perhaps some other time?"
Hanabi was barely able to suffocate her snickering at the dumbstruck faces, particularly her father's. "That would be fine Neji-san."
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*Tanto seems like the perfect last name for Tenten... at least, that's what I think...
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If if there was ever a moment in his life where Umino Iruka vehemently hated his life, this was it. Moments like these gave new meaning to "between a rock and a hard place". He would either face the wrath of Hyuuga Neji (whom he had personally taught a few years ago... and knew the incredible temper of), or infuriate Hyuuga Hiashi (who had quite a reputation for creatively and painfully making his displeasure known). If he had known three years ago that he would be caught in the middle of bickering Hyuugas, he would have quit teaching and gone into information gathering. As it was, there was now no escape.
Iruka sighed heavily. "Believe me Neji-san, if there was any way out of this, I would take it. I have been up half the night trying to find something that could make this whole situation at least bearable. But I have no choice. Hiashi-san has ordered me to have you work here."
Neji simply folded his arms and glared at the world in general. "Here's the deal, I'm not going to put you in the classroom. You'll sit here and mark tests and upgrade the performance sheets, no interaction with children at all. Alright?" The young Hyuuga seemed to relax, and nodded.
Iruka left, and Neji got to work grading papers. It wasn't hard work... but it was incredibly boring. And far too many of the students were incredibly STUPID! Maybe he was just overreacting, he was a chuunin... but even so, he couldn't remember a time when he had missed some of the simple questions here. He couldn't help but snicker at one in particular. The question required a diagram of the human body highlighting ten major pain points that could be targeted with taijutsu. The boy Konohamaru sketched a picture of a posed, mostly naked, very very well endowed woman. Apparently there was another up and coming Naruto.
"Um...Sempai?"
Neji's head shot up. "Yes?" Although the tone of voice was more of a 'go away'. Unfortunately the little girl didn't take the hint.
"Ah...it's... some of the boys from the older class. They're beating up some of the kids in our class..."
"...You're enrolled in a shinobi academy. Exactly what did you expect?" The 'GO AWAY' was practically jumping out at her. Either she was oblivious or incredibly brave. Her bottom lip started to quiver. Well scratch brave off the list.
"B-b-but w-we've o-only learned th-th-the b-basics a-and th-these g-guys are bigger a-and..."
Neji seriously considered slamming his head down on the desk, then thought about activating the Byakugan and cussing violently until she went running down the hall in fear, ears burning. But Hiashi-san would kill him (Absolutely NO traumatizing students, do I make myself clear Neji?) Besides, a certain, shy, dark haired girl had made him seriously prone to the power of the stutter. "Fine. I'm coming."
"Yay!"
When did I get to be such a damn pushover?
He followed the girl through the familiar halls and out onto the practice fields. Sure enough, three eleven year-olds were beating on a kid who looked no more than eight.
"This is what I've been reduced to?" He muttered. He pulled three kunai and deftly tossed them at the pile of academy students. Training with Tenten had its advantages: a split second later, three would-be bullies hung by their shirts from trees. "Anything else?"
There was no answer.
Neji turned around. Behind him stood a small crowd of eight year olds, all staring up with star-struck eyes.
"What?" he demanded.
At that, several of the girls sighed and giggled. "Can you teach me how to do that sempai!? Can you!?" One brown-haired boy actually came up to him and started tugging on his shirt! "Please?"
"... Don't you have a sensei?" Neji removed grubby little fingers from his person.
"He's on a mission, so we've got the rest of the afternoon. So whaddya say Sempai? Will ya teach us?"
"... no." The giggling girls giggled even louder, and he heard several whispers of 'he's soooooo cuuute!!'.
"So what, we're not worth your time?" One sulky looking kid glared at him. He recognized the boy, Tanto something... one of Tenten's distant cousins. He merely glanced the boy over idly, and turned and walked away.
He felt it coming almost immediately, six kunai all aimed at his head. It was easy to dodge them, he didn't have to use any chakra. Silently Neji apologized to all of his academy senseis for being so damn angsty as a child. No doubt he was exactly like this persistent little pest at eight. He landed and turned to neatly catch the kick. A single flick of the wrist turned the boy upside down. Pure fury shone in the dark eyes staring up at him. The boy twisted to try to land a second kick, but was surprised when Neji simply let go, nearly dropping him on his head. At the last moment he was able to twist and land on his side. He quickly rolled and leapt to his feet, but by then Neji was already behind him.
"You've got decent aim, but your tactics need work. Don't aim at just one place, fan your attack out. That way when your opponent dodges some of your kunai, he gets caught by others. Here, let me show you." He unpinned one of the students from the tree, who by now, were completely terrified. He put the boy he took down in front of a target. "Don't move and you won't get killed."
Neji let a handful of kunai fly, carefully aiming far enough away to give a margin of error. Tsunade would have his head if he impaled an academy student. The kunai landed in a perfect circle around the kid. "See? Any way he dodged would have been a mistake. My teammate, Tanto Tenten* would have been able to get a closer outline" Neji sighed. "So you won't have a sensei for the rest of the day?" Several heads shook. "Fine...set up the targets. Then line up."
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"Tenten-san, Lee-san, this is a surprise!"
Tenten smiled. "Hi Iruka-san. We're looking for Neji, we heard he's here..."
"And he's not very happy about it."
"I'm going to help him out, you know...protect the students from him..."
"My dearest teammate... does not have the patience to deal with people, especially not younger people."
"Teachers' lounge. I have him marking papers. Apparently we had the same idea: Hyuuga Neji should not be left unsupervised with young children."
"...But Iruka-sensei, he's not there. That's where we checked first." Iruka's head shot up, worry in his eyes.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course!"
"Positive!"
Iruka knew from the beginning that this was not going to be a good day. This only helped it along. "What is he up to?"
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None of the chuunin could believe their eyes.
They had searched the entire school for the missing Hyuuga until Inuzuka Hana-san had told them that she had seen him out 'taking care of three delinquent students' of hers. Naturally, that concerned them even more, and they raced out to the training fields.
Now they stared in open shock at Hyuuga Neji and the second year academy class.
"N...Neji? What are you... how...why?"
Neji raised a calm eyebrow at his expressive teammate. "I used my Byakugan to see their chakra flow and determined what area they are best suited for, then put them in groups for taijutsu, ranged weaponry and chakra molding techniques. I have three older... volunteers... in charge of the groups. I simply supervise."
There was a Neji-clone at each group fixing positioning, adjusting grips, handing out more work, making children repeat techniques until perfect. The real Neji glared at the other two members of his cell. "You plan to step in any time soon?"
"Um... okay."
Iruka watched the three chuunin instruct the students in their respective specialties and shook his head. You did it. Gai, who would have ever thought you could pull it off? Hyuuga Neji... never thought I'd see this day... maybe the world is ending?
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"Ah Neji, how did your day at the academy go?"
Neji froze, hearing Hiashi's voice. The murmurs around him faded, as branch and main house members alike waited to hear his response. His chopsticks wavered above his bowl. Neji calmly put them down and managed his most polite smirk. Everyone around the large table was staring at him...some more discretely than others. Hinata hid her shock while Hanabi pretended to be fascinated with the pattern on her bowl. "Very well Hiashi-san."
"Is that so?"
"Yes sir." Neji, maintaining his calm exterior, took a bite of his food and swallowed before continuing. "In fact, it went so well that Iruka-san is allowing my entire cell to assist in the lesson once a week. It took quite a bit of convincing to allow Gai-sensei to agree, but I was finally able to convince him. That reminds me, Hanabi-san, I will no longer be able to train you on Thursday afternoons. Perhaps some other time?"
Hanabi was barely able to suffocate her snickering at the dumbstruck faces, particularly her father's. "That would be fine Neji-san."
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*Tanto seems like the perfect last name for Tenten... at least, that's what I think...