Winter grew intense as what had begun as mild cold slowed foot traffic to a crawl in the busy markets of Konoha. New year celebrations had just recently concluded, and it was time to head back to the academy after the short holidays.
Ina Tanehiko walked the streets of Konoha, her hands padded in gloves as she retired from her shift with the merchant group. It had been slightly over a year since her husband died, but the loneliness didn't get easier. " Haaa." Letting out a deep sigh, her thoughts wandered to her son. An overwhelming burning sensation lit up her chest. She loved her son more than anything in the world, but she was always worried about him. Although he no longer came back as bruised, she could still make out the stiff movements in his eating at the table, and how sometimes he had this deep thought state that she wondered what an 11-year-old could be thinking about. What made her happy was that he had a friend, Naruto Uzumaki, and honestly, she worried about the boy; she didn't hate him.
In fact, she had never known him but kept her distance anyway because of how everyone condemned him. She felt embarrassed as an adult. Naruto was sweet and goofy, even more goofy than her son, and she was glad they knew each other. When she had first met Naruto, he was malnourished and had this gloom about him, but recently that seemed to vanish completely as they continued to be friends. A startling fact she observed was that Kudo always had the same rank, 4th , always constant, and it had been like that for over 2 years since that night. Deep down, she knew he was holding back, a star forced to dim itself, and her heart hurt for that. Her family was not like the clans in Konoha, where talent was celebrated; it brought misfortune, and her son seems to have learned that lesson earlier than most. Stopping on the way, she bought some dumplings and headed home.
The next day, 5th January 995AH.Kudo walked into class, and it was slightly bustling; everyone was fresh off holidays and spending time with family, even Sasuke had a slightly warmer atmosphere around him.
A couple of minutes later, "Alright, everyone, settle down-Especially you, Naruto! Settle down. Although your 6th year has not officially begun, we have finished the examination for your 5th year, and congratulations to all for moving into the final year."
"Yeah!" "Yes!" The kids celebrated.
Tapping the podium, Iruka continued, "This marks the start of your 6th year content, which is not much except for specialized knowledge in the life of a shinobi. As a Genin, you will have access to the most confidential information, but that does not mean that your information is worthless. Even having a general idea of something is better than having no idea at all. Given that we are not at war, the information you will be aware of will pertain to your mission. This year, we will learn about intelligence transmission to your teammates and other teams. In a mission, especially one involving other shinobi, which is at least a C-rank mission. You must relay information quickly and accurately; you need to know team formations, and using short phrases, you can avoid giving hints to the enemy. We will also work on polishing out the fundamentals better. The faster you execute not only ninjutsu but taijutsu and genjutsu, the higher the likelihood of taking the enemy down and completing your missions.
As a shinobi, you must be able to resist torture; however, we will restrain ourselves to basic torture." At the mention of torture, the breathing in the class ground to a halt, a laudable gasp plaquing the air. Even if basic torture, torture was still torture, but they were shinobi.'What is lord third thinking?' Iruka wondered as he finished addressing the students. Torture was a speciality of the intelligence division under the Yamanaka clan, especially the torture and interrogation unit.
"However, don't worry, it might seem scary, but it won't be painful. We will mostly use genjustsu to create sensations of torture, but you won't really be tortured. You are students, so we won't harm you; we just want to harden your wills. This is the kind of experiences that define the kind of shinobi you are, for your family and village." Iruka said a solemn atmosphere enveloping the class, " Now, looking at your curriculum, there isn't much left to teach both theory-wise and new practical skills. Your 6th year is mostly to polish your skills in high-pressure scenarios and work on developing more solid team fundamentals. Especially you, Naruto." His gaze was stern.
"Iruka- Sensei~ That's not fair, I pay attention, you know. I am going to be the Hokage, as an awesome shinobi I always listen to my subordinates, that is the mark of a great shinobi, you know." Naruto smirked, flashing his teeth, while the rest of the class grumbled, 'Here we go again.' Shikamaru thought of closing his eyes. It was gonna take a couple of minutes for the lecture to get back on track, as always.
Just as Iruka was about to scold Naruto…"Shut up, Naruto!" Ino barked, ruffling her hair. "Yeah, can you stop being annoying?" Sakura also chimed."Why? Sakura-Chan, I didn't do anything wrong." Naruto said, deflated as he sank into his chair.
"For your practical skills and knowledge application, this means more sparring and team missions on the school grounds and training grounds. Most of you have decent chakra control, but it can always be better, so go and learn about tree climbing and water walking when alone, since those take a long time to learn. Let's begin with a recap of some theory." Iruka immediately began the lesson.
Kudo, in his seat, zoned out a bit. He had already learnt tree walking and water walking between his 4th to 6th years; he just needed to polish them so he could do them faster. Reflecting, he had a lot of skills but little mastery of them, along with a lot of water and lighting jutsus that needed practice, including his taijutsu, where he wanted to incorporate chakra into his blows. He didn't know that the senju taijutsu style existed or the strong fist style; he knew that his taijutsu couldn't be lacking. His training as a sensor shinobi was coming along slowly. From 5 meters, his range had now expanded to a 15-meter radius around him.