After Iruka came in, a blue-haired man followed. He had a box in hand. He put the box on sensei’s desk and took something out. It was a book. He put a few of them on the closest desk and told the kid there to take one and pass the rest back. After everyone got their book, blue-haired shinobi got out and left us with Iruka.

Iruka opened his mouth to say something but a shout cut his word. “Yes! I am in time!” The new kid who was very orange with a patch of yellow on his head turned to very serious and a little pissed off Iruka and said, “Oops.” Iruka just pointed to class and Naruto sat on a desk close by.

‘Wait. I am in the same class as Naruto?’ I quickly looked around and sure enough, there were others from rookie nine. I leaned on the window and started listening a lecture about what Hokage wanted to say in the front yard. It was as it was on the tin, just talk about shinobi and their hardships. After the lesson was over, it was time for the lunch break.

Iruka showed us the cafeteria and told us to get in line. I put my hands in my pockets and started walking slowly behind running classmates. I got my food in a few minutes and sat on an empty table. A few minutes later another kid sat at the same table. I looked up, it was Sasuke. He nodded at me, I nodded back and continued eating my food.

After dinner, Iruka took us out to the backyard. There he said, “Anyone taught taijutsu, raise your hand.” Nearly half of the class raised their hands. Iruka nodded and started taking notes. He then said, “The ones that didn’t raise hands.” He pointed to other side. “Wait there.” I walked there slowly and picked myself a place at the back of the group. Iruka started pairing the kids that know taijutsu. When he was done with them, he turned to us and started calling people. After a few pairings, I heard my name. “Arata. You are with Naruto.” ‘What the hell? Sigh. I can’t believe I will be beaten on my very first day in the ninja academy. Well, such is life.’

Quest Alert!

Win the Spar.

You are paired with Naruto for a taijutsu spar. Win the spar and show everybody you know how to punch.

Success

o +50 Experience

o +10 Rep with Class 101.

Failure

o +10 Experience

o -10 Rep with Class 101.

‘50 Experience is halfway to level 1! I can’t lose this no matter what.’

Iruka called us to a dirt ring. Naruto and I stood two opposite edges and Iruka said, “You know the rules by now. No permanent injuries. Ready?” We nodded. “Start.”

Naruto started running towards me with a grin, his right hand in a fist. I positioned myself slightly to my right, and as soon as Naruto threw his punch towards me, I sidestepped and punched him at the side of his chin. He dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I quickly glanced at Iruka but it didn’t seem like he was going to stop the fight so I did the best thing I could, started pushing Naruto for a ring out. He resisted with all his power which was a lot for me. Giving up from pushing him all the way, I backed out until my feet touching the edge of the ring and started waiting.

Naruto must have understood my intention since he started to move to the side but I just moved along the edge. Naruto tried to get a better position for a few seconds but soon enough he started running at me again with a startling ‘hiyaa!’ He jumped when he was close, so I sidestepped and pushed him outside the ring as I planned.

“Arata won by ring out. Next…” I tuned Iruka out and made my way to our group.

Quest Alert!

Quest Completed: Win the Spar

· +50 Exp

· +10 Rep with class 101.

After the fights, Mizuki came and started showing us katas for Academy Style Taijutsu. As soon as I managed to do the first kata, a screen popped up.

You learned Academy Style Taijutsu.

Academy Style Taijutsu 1/80

Academy Style Taijutsu is the close-range fighting style every shinobi learn in Konoha.

· Increases Strength while fighting with this style by 2%

· Increases Endurance while fighting with this style by 2%

· Increases Dexterity while fighting with this style by 2%

· Increases Speed while fighting with this style by 2%

‘Bonuses can reach 160%. That’s staggering. I wonder how long it will take to reach level 80. It will take long considering I choose 20 for Talent but I might be pleasantly surprised.’

I continued practicing katas I know the rest of the day and after the day was over, came the time for exploration. I looked at others. They were grouping up to go places. I thought some more time to think about where to go then remembered something from a fanfiction I read about Naruto. ‘I should go training grounds to check if there is any natural dungeon there. I quickly made my way to the center of the village and found a map. It was detailing where the training grounds are.

I walked for a while and found the first training ground close to the academy. I got inside the fence covering the training field and waited. There was no pop-up. I took a step outside and got in again. It didn’t work. ‘Hmm. Was I wrong?’ I looked around to see if there is anything out of place and sure enough, I found a glowing leaf symbol on a boulder near the entrance.

I made my way to the boulder and touched the leaf. As soon as I did, a screen popped up.

Training Dungeon 1

o First Layer Level 1-5

o Second Layer Level 5-10

o Third Layer Level 10-15

o …

The list was going all the way to level 100. ‘It seems I won’t have any shortage of things to kill. That’s good. It’s too bad I don’t have any way to fight things that are waiting for me there.’ “Some other time then.” I turned back and started walking, intent on finding my way back to the orphanage.