Konohagakure
It was the beginning of fall, and the leaves throughout the Land of Fire had begun their slow transformation. Reds, yellows, and vast seas of orange painted the skyline, stretching as far as the eye could see. In Konoha, the sun creaked into view from around the looming Hokage Rock—where three distinct faces were carved in earnest: Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and Hiruzen Sarutobi.
A strong breeze filtered into the village, rustling the trees as their leaves danced, spun, and tangled through the air. One leaf—a red one, to be precise—broke away from the rest and drifted downward along the faces of the Hokage Rock. It spun and sputtered around the First Hokage's eyes, dipped beneath the Second's nose, then breezed lazily past the Third's goatee.
Suddenly, the leaf spiked downward and it cut sharply past the window where the Hokage's Office lay.
There, Hiruzen Sarutobi–the Sandaime Hokage–reclined in his office with a tobacco pipe laid along his under lip. Smoke bellowed out from within its bowl, filling the room with a thick, hazy gray that clung to the walls and ceiling alike.
With another measured exhale, Hiruzen brushed off the remaining papers skewed across his desk and instead cast his gaze towards the quiet village-scape below. But by then, the red leaf was already gone.
It continued to twirl through the air, as the winter breeze carried it for far longer than seemed reasonable. Before it could finally come to rest, however, it spun once more—this time it glided past the Hokage Mansion and the Administration Building that sat beside it; then it glazed by a window belonging to the Ninja Academy, the third greatest structure that nestled underneath the shadow of the Hokage Rock.
In the Ninja Academy, the first day of the Fall Semester was due to begin.
Chūnin Takegi Yugotake arrived early for the first day of the semester. It was not his first time teaching, but it was his first time teaching a class with such recognizable names.
Natsuko Sarutobi.
Taro Hyuga.
Sen Aburame.
Jun Shimura.
Nana Inuzuka.
The rest of the class was unnoteworthy–civilian-born. Takegi Yugotake did not think any less of the civilian children; he himself had been one. He was merely a man that believed in the statistics, and the statistics had proved time and time again.. that playing Ninja was a genetics game.
The Clan children were simply too dominant. Their genes and flesh were flush with chakra and vitality the likes of which civilians could not fathom. Takegi knew, after all, what the battlefield entailed. What war truly looked like.
He had served in the Second Shinobi World War. But that was years ago by now.
These days, Takegi Yugotake enjoyed a simpler life. He had become a teacher to remain in Konoha year-round. That was not the reason he gave his old friends, obviously, but it was reason enough for him. It kept him alive—and that was all that mattered.
This marked Takegi's fifth year teaching at the Ninja Academy. Evidently, the higher-ups believed he was doing an adequate job. If they had not, they would not have allocated him so many Clan children this year.
That alone demonstrated their sincerity.
After reading through his student's general information, Takegi Yugotake left his office on the second floor and made his way through the halls of the Ninja Academy. He arrived at classroom 2A–his homeroom for the coming year.
As Takegi Yugotake slid the classroom door open, the whispers beyond rapidly hushed.
Thirty students sat neat and orderly in Classroom 2A. They were divided into six rows with each row home to five students.
Takegi Yugotake strode to the center of attention. He stood behind a wooden podium that towered front-and-center before the classroom. Then, Takegi scanned the room.
His eyes moved from row to row, student to student. Some civilian kids looked at him with hope and wonder whilst others could not meet his eyes at all. On the other end of the spectrum, some Clan kids looked at him with disdain whilst others seemed to ignore his presence entirely.
"Hgnmm. Hgmm." Takegi cleared his throat. "Hello and welcome to your third year at Konohagakure's Ninja Academy."
Takegi bowed.
Immediately, some of the civilian kids flustered. Conversely, Taro Hyuga raised his brow in surprise whilst Jun Shimura flashed a worn-out look of vindictive mockery.
Takegi Yugotake paid it no mind–truthfully. He was a mere Chūnin, and he knew: once these kids grew up–they would wield power unlike anything Takegi himself was capable of. To guide them now was a blessing Takegi Yugotake would not ignorantly refuse.
After assessing the classroom, Takegi took role.
"Sen Aburame." Takegi looked at the boy. He sat on the far-left side of the fourth row in a gray sweatshirt with the hood lobbed up; a green scarf tucked underneath his chin while a pair of goggles perched upon his nose and hid his eyes.
Tageki Yugotake stared at the boy, yet was met with silence. He could not see behind the boy's goggles, but it seemed as though Sen was looking at him.
Tageki resigned himself. "Clan kids." He thought, but quickly moved on.
He went down the list and each student responded in kind–even the Shimura brat.
Then.
"Mori Fūma." Tageki Yugotake recited. Similarly, he looked at the girl that coincidentally sat just beside Sen Aburame.
She had straight, black hair that was severed at her chin and had black eyes to match. She stared forward at the front of the class, and yet her eyes appeared glazed over. It was as though she saw something that only she could see.
At first, Tageki tried searching for what it was the girl might have been staring at, but he soon realized that there was nothing to be found: the green chalkboard was empty, the classroom was clean, and for as far as Tageki was aware–he himself did not appear outlandish.
So he repeated himself. "Maybe the girl is lost in thought?" He wondered.
"Mori Fūma." Tageki Yugotake repeated, this time louder. Sterner.
Luckily, a girl in the row before hers nudged her foot and redirected her attention.
"Here.." Mori Fūma said absentmindedly. Again, odd, but Tageki had more students to address before this one.
"Natsuko Sarutobi." Tageki said.
Like Mori Fūma and Sen Aburame, Natsuko Sarutobi also sat in the same fourth row. The girl sat just beside Mori Fūma and she too bore an expression of utter bewilderment and un-acknowledgment.
In other words, Natsuko Sarutobi appeared to have her head lost in the clouds.
In fact, as Tageki Yugotake re-evaluated his class, he realized–the entire fourth row appeared seriously lost in contemplation. All five students:
Sen Aburame.
Mori Fūma.
Natsuko Sarutobi.
Okuda Tomomori.
And Ando Kaze.
All five students in the same row. All five blissfully lost in dream-land.
Tageki Yugotake prepared himself to address the slackers, but then.
"Holy Shit!" Okuda Tomomori's eyes finally gained clarity. At the same time, he swore aloud.
The boy sat next to Natsuko Sarutobi, in the fourth position, if Sen Aburame sat in the first.
Okuda had pink hair frayed at the top and buzzed on the sides, alongside plump, rosy cheeks and a missing tooth. Just after he swore, his eyes focused and he surveyed the classroom.
He looked at the walls first. Then, to the girl next to him, Natsuko Sarutobi. Lastly, he looked at Tageki himself.
Tageki Yugotake thought the problem-child was recognizing authority, but in reality, Okuda's eyes were glued to Tageki's forehead.
"Jesus-Fucking-Christ this cannot be happening!" Okuda Tomomori's words rang like thunder throughout the 2A classroom. All the children present, whether they be civilian-born or Clan-born, looked at Okuda with unmatched horror.
A student had never dared before to be so crass in front of a teacher, and like marionettes in the hands of a Puppet Master, all eyes in the room mechanically shifted from Okuda Tomomori to Tageki Yugotake.
The children no longer cared about anything but the drama.
All the while, Tageki's brain short-circuited. For a second, he convinced himself, "Surely Okuda did not say what I think he just said." Tageki told himself, and yet the silence that now haunted 2A was suffocating. The looks of the children, meanwhile, pressured Tageki into acting fast.
"Something has to be done!" Tageki thought.
So Tageki Yugotake slammed his fist on the podium.
"OKUDA TOMOMORI!!" Their teacher roared. "How DARE you show such insolence and disrespect to not only myself, your guiding Sensei, but to the ENTIRETY of the Ninja Academy and to the LEGACY that NIDAIME HOKAGE TOBIRAMA-SAMA left behind!! After school today, I want you here RECITING THE WILL OF FIRE ONE-THOUSAND TIMES!!! Do not even think of…." Tageki Yugotake continued even after that, and the remaining students in the classroom–Taro Hyuga and Jun Shimura–they too were enthralled with their Sensei's passionate performance.
Away from the unfocused eye, meanwhile, the other four students belonging to the fourth row–their vision had regained clarity as well; and all four of them stared not at their Sensei, but at Okuda.
Then, the four other children realized each other. They were all looking at Okuda. Why?
"Jesus-Fucking-Christ…" The words echoed inside the four children's minds.
Simultaneously, they all regurgitated the same thought.
"Wait! He also knows Jesus?!!"