After the academy, most kids went their own ways. That left me with Naruto. While we were waiting for the kids to file out, he was jumping in place, seemingly excited. ‘That’s bad for my face.’ I sighed and waved my hand towards Naruto. He looked at me expectedly. I gestured to the ring and said, “Let’s start. We don’t have much time until evening.”

Naruto nodded. “I will win this time. Believe it!” I just moved opposite of him.

I was about to start the match when someone talked. “Hey, Arata.” I turned to the voice. It was Sara, the adorable girl from before. She looked at me and Naruto in order then said, “What are you doing?”

“We are going to fight! This time I will win and become Hokage, believe it!”

“You won’t become Hokage just because you win against me Naruto.” I said while chuckling then turned to Sara and said, “We will train our taijutsu.”

Sara frowned. “To become a good ninja?” I nodded. She stepped inside the circle and resolutely said “I will train too.”

“Okay, but we shouldn’t fight like this. How about you step out of the circle and be the referee so Naruto and I start our taijutsu match. After we are done, one of us will fight you. What do you say?” I said to Sara smiling.

She looked at my face for a second, then to still giddy Naruto and nodded. She took a step outside and asked, “Ready?”

I nodded.

“More than ready! Believe it!”

“Start!”

As soon as Sara said ‘start’ Naruto took off like a bullet towards me. Like before the day, I jumped to the side and he sailed past me, outside the circle.

“Naruto lost by ring-out. Winner Arata.”

“No! There is no ring-out.”

Sara folded her arms and stared at Naruto. “There is. Now my turn.”

“There isn’t! Arata, tell her!”

I sighed. “Sara, he is right. We decided that there are no ring-out.” She pouted a little but nodded. I turned to Naruto. “Let’s continue.”

Naruto nodded, grinning, and started running towards me but not even close to how fast he moved before. He stepped into the ring and continued running towards me, fist cocked back. He threw a punch when he is close but I easily sidestepped his punch and kicked his side. He grunted and tried to sweep my feet under me but I jumped and kicked one of his legs. He threw a punch, again and again, I dodged. This time I didn’t punish Naruto though. “Naruto stop.”

Naruto stopped and looked at me questioningly. “What?”

I sighed. “You don’t know how to fight properly. We can’t continue like this.”

Naruto jumped where he stood. “I can still go. I am not tired.”

I shook my head. “Let’s do katas today and practice later.” I stepped down the ring. I looked at Sara, who doesn’t seem to have any problems either way then turned to Naruto, who seemed a little downcast. “Naruto.” I gestured called him beside me and did the first kata. He looked at me, I continued. “Stand before me and copy my moves.”

“But that’s boring!” Naruto whined.

“Do you want to beat me?” He nodded. “Then come here and do what I tell you.” Naruto came, his face sour. He then took a position that resembles the kata I am doing. I walked to him and corrected his kata. “If you do it like this, you can do it easier and your form will be sturdier too.”

Naruto looked at me oddly. “But Mizuki sensei told me to do like this.”

I shook my head. “Don’t listen to him.”

“Why?”

“I know better than him.”

“You don’t.” I just shrugged.

“How is my stance?”

I turned to Sara who was doing a good job. I corrected her by widening her left foot a little and nodded. “You are doing well.” I turned back to Naruto and saw him doing the kata the way I told him to.

Then I showed them the next kata then another. We continued like that until the evening. When we finished, Naruto was drenched with sweat and Sara could hardly stand. Katas gave me a great workout too if my gains are anything to go by.

You gained 1 Strength.

You gained 2 Endurance.

You gained 1 Dexterity.

Academy Style Taijutsu is Leveled by 4.

While walking back with Sara to the orphanage, I continued to do Leaf Sticking Exercise. Since Sara was too spent after the training, we were walking very slowly. So I managed to do three-cycle which netted:

Leaf Sticking Exercise is Leveled by 2.

We went inside the orphanage to see kids eating their dinner. So I dropped Sara at a nearby desk where she promptly fell asleep and got us some food. I started thinking while watching Sara doing her best to eat her food like a defunct robot.

‘Now the biggest question of all. What do I want to do, to change what happens? First of all, I would like to stop Uchiha Massacre but in order to do that, I must be much stronger and more resourceful. I must definitely have contact with Shisui or Itachi. And to that end, I must impress them somehow.’

“Arata.”

“Hm?” I turned to the voice. It was Hana.

Hana smiled at me and said, “I heard you stood back with Sara to work on your taijutsu.” I nodded. She sighed and continued. “Well done, well done. Not every kid is as hard-working as necessary when it comes to hard-to-do things.”

I nodded. “Thanks. I want to be a powerful shinobi and being shinobi isn’t an easy thing.” Hana smiled but it seemed like there was something else she wanted to tell me. I raised an eyebrow at Hana. “Hana, do you want to say something?”

Hana sighed. “I- have. It’s about your other friend.” I nodded to indicate she has my attention. She continued, “His name is Naruto and you shouldn’t be friends with him.”

I frowned. “Why?”

Hana sighed again. “He's dangerous. Can you do that for me?”

I felt my frown deepen. “He is a kid Hana. He is not dangerous. But I don’t think he is the one meaning to harm me.” I looked at Hana carefully. She seemed regretful. “That means someone else will harm me if I become friends with him.” Hana froze, open-mouthed, probably because I saw through her easily. Well, to tell the truth, it’s easier to see something when you already know it’s there.

Hana took a deep breath. So I raised my eyes to look at her. “If you continue to be friendly with him, people will harm you.” With that, she stood up and returned to the kitchen.

‘Ah, this complicates things.’