1st September, 56 AE
"There are so many kids here, Otou-san!" Karin excitedly looked around as parents and families came to drop off their children for the very first time.
Himari, who was carrying little Arashi in her arms, smiled at how cute her daughter looked, holding her brother's hand and tugging on her father's sleeve.
It was not long before people started coming over to greet them.
Uchiha Fugaku, his wife Mikoto, his son Itachi, and his youngest, who was going to attend the academy today, were the first ones to come forward and greet Kazuma and his family.
Karin curiously looked at the boy who was going to become her classmate, but Sasuke cutely tilted his head, staring at Enma's blindfold.
"Why are you wearing a blindfold?" he subconsciously asked, but when his father glanced at him, he apologetically lowered his head.
However, Enma answered his curiosity with a smile.
"My eyes have been sealed so that I can develop my sensory radar."
"And I will be helping Nii-san with reading and writing," Karin proudly informed them, hugging her brother's left arm.
At the words of the two young Uzumaki, the Uchiha were quite surprised, but neither Fugaku nor Mikoto pried into the details.
Itachi, who was eleven years old, stayed quiet, and his dark eyes were fixed on the eldest son of Lord Uzumaki.
Enma, sensing his eyes on him, raised his face in his direction, and for some reason, Itachi felt like the boy could see right through him even with the blindfold on.
Soon, the Nara family greeted them as well, and then the Yamanaka, Akimichi, Inuzuka, and Hyūga gathered around too.
"How far along are you?" Nara Yoshino curiously asked Himari when she looked at her bulging belly.
"The baby is due in a few days."
A round of congratulations followed, and Himari found it very cute when the little kids congratulated her as well.
"Naruto!" Kazuma suddenly called out to a blond boy, who was shyly standing away with his hands in his pockets, clearly saddened by seeing all the other children his age with their parents.
At first, the boy was startled, wondering who would shout his name here, but quickly recognised the voice and brightly smiled when he saw his favourite uncle, who visited him once every week and also took him out to various restaurants.
"Ojii-san!"
"How are you?"
"I am the best!" He drew his hand forward and gave a thumbs-up, which made Karin giggle.
"Let me introduce you. This is my son, Enma, and my daughter, Karin. They will be joining the class with you today." Kazuma ruffled the boy's hair, who curiously looked at the red-haired siblings.
"Uzumaki Karin." The little girl drew her left hand to him, and he was left stunned for a moment.
"Uzumaki Naruto." He shook her hand and then looked at Enma, who smiled his way and drew his hand forward as well.
"Pleased to meet you, Naruto."
"You too!"
Naruto suddenly tensed up when Himari planted her hand on his blond hair and ruffled it, and then to his shock, she even leaned in and planted a kiss on his head.
"You are a cute boy." She said, and giggled when her cousin started blushing so much that his face turned red.
Naruto was already familiar with the rest of the children, having met them in the playground occasionally, and he quite liked Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chōji, who did not mind talking to him. The fatty even shared his chips with him, and the boy hated being called fat.
At 8:45 am, the bell rang, and the parents urged their children to enter the premises and find their classroom.
Some were very excited, but a few were very reluctant and even scared.
However, in the end, they all braved up and went in.
Karin guided her brother by pulling his hand, keeping up with the rest as they searched for their classroom, and for some reason, they were all running around, making it a competition about who would find it first.
And in the end, it was Inuzuka Kiba who found it first, and he did not forget to boast about it for minutes to come.
This earned him the dislike of almost all the girls in the class.
Karin carefully looked around the classroom, unsure which desk to sit at, and in the end, she just gave up.
"Nii-san, you choose." She cutely said, and Enma smiled at her words and then led her up the stairs, choosing the last desk in the fifth row, which was right next to an open window, and where a pair of birds were tweeting on the tree next to it.
"You are the best." She giggled when she saw that she had a good look around the class from this desk and claimed the window seat.
Yamanaka Ino, and her friend, Haruno Sakura, wanted to invite her to sit with them but gave up the idea when they saw her merrily chatting with her brother.
It was the first day of the class, and their parents had strictly instructed them to sit in the very first row, so they could not go back and sit with the Uzumaki siblings.
The only other two people who chose to sit in the fifth row were Shikamaru and Chōji.
"Naruto!" Karin waved her hand to the blond boy, who was confused about where he should sit, and hearing her call, he immediately ran up and sat next to Enma.
"Are you excited about becoming a shinobi?" He tried to talk to the blindfolded boy, who nodded his head.
"A little. Let's just hope that the lessons are not boring."
Naruto laughed at his words and nodded his head.
"I can't wait to start learning how to fight with shuriken, kunai..."
Hearing him incessantly speak, Karin giggled a lot, and even though she wanted to tell the boy that these were all the things that they already knew and excelled at, she remembered her mother's words and kept quiet.
A while later, a commotion started at one of the front desks, where girls were gathered and chatting.
They started picking on Sakura because of her broad forehead. The girl was clearly hurt and was trying to hide her forehead with her bangs.
"Enough!" Ino suddenly stood up and shouted, and then angrily looked at all of them. "She is a hundred times more beautiful than any of you. So, get lost. We don't want to be friends with the uglies."
Her words stunned a lot of people, but the one who was surprised the most was Sakura.
A couple of girls, hurt by her words, started crying, and a few boys laughed at their behaviour and the rest groaned in annoyance.
At 9:30 am, the door of their classroom suddenly opened, and their instructor, wearing the Chūnin jacket and a bandana with his forehead protector, walked inside.
Everyone turned quiet, and the children immediately rushed to their seats.
"Good morning, class. My name is Funeno Daikoku, and I will be your Chief Instructor for the next three years." The man smiled at all of them, his eyes scanning their faces. "I am 27 years old, a Chūnin, and a proud shinobi of the Hidden Leaf..."
The man surely had a way of talking because his first address to them sent Naruto's blood boiling in excitement.
A lot of other children turned very excited as well, feeling pride in being part of Konoha, and some even swore to protect their home in the future.
"Now, I will take a roll call. Please raise your hand when your name is called out..."
"Aburame Shino..."
"Akimichi Chōji..."
...
...
...
"Haruno Sakura..."
"Hyūga Hinata..."
"Inuzuka Kiba..."
...
...
...
"Nakagami Shizuka..."
"Nara Shikamaru..."
...
...
...
"Uchiha Sasuke..."
"Uzumaki Enma..."
"Uzumaki Karin..."
"Uzumaki Naruto..."
"Yamanaka Ino..."
Once their roll call was taken, the instructor informed them what their first lesson was going to be.
"Our first lesson is about the history of our village..."
As soon as they heard that it was going to be a history lesson, they all lost their enthusiasm, but no one dared to groan or complain and leave a bad first impression on their instructor.
Enma and Karin curiously listened to the history that was being taught at the Academy, and it was not far from the truth.
There were, of course, certain things that were glossed over, some things that were not touched upon, certain names that were not mentioned.
The instructor curiously looked at Enma when he raised his hand.
"Yes, Uzumaki-san?"
"Sensei, who came up with the name of our village? The Village Hidden in the Leaves?"
Daikoku smiled at his question and nodded his head.
Everyone in the class seemed interested to know the answer as well.
"It was the First Hokage who came up with the name of our village, Uzumaki-san," he answered, and the pair of siblings could tell that the man truly thought it was the case.
"Thank you, Sensei. And please, you can call me Enma." He smiled, and Daikoku now had a very good impression of him.
After the first lesson, their sensei called everyone over and then one by one measured their heights and also confirmed their dates of birth.
Enma was the oldest of them, so, he was, of course, the tallest.
Karin was above average in the class, and Hyūga Hinata was the shortest as well as the youngest.
Later, the class was led to the training field behind the school, and they grew excited when they saw shuriken, kunai, and other basic ninja equipment used for the purpose of throwing. It turned out to be their first test.
The target dummies were already laid out, and Daikoku-sensei asked them to take their spots on their grids.
"We will now test your arm and wrist strengths and see how good you are with these weapons so that we can formulate a way to guide you in the future..." he said and then picked up a notepad. "Those of you who already have experience with them, please raise your hands."
Except for the civilians, whose parents were not shinobi, everyone raised their hands as the instructor was expecting, and Naruto raised his hand as well, grinning from ear to ear.
"Alright, Shino-san, you will start first. Three shuriken and one kunai. You are not required to shoot other weapons on the table, but you may if you wish to. Only the three shuriken and the single kunai throws will be marked."
The target was set ten metres away, and Shino expertly picked up the three shuriken in his hands and then threw them one by one. Finally, he picked up the kunai and threw it at the target, but it was way off the centre.
Shino did not throw another weapon and silently stepped back.
"7, 7, 8, and 5. Total: 27."
"Not bad, Shino-san." Daikoku smiled at him and gave him a C+ grade on the notepad. "Next, Akimichi Chōji."
"Yes!" The fatty put his pack of crisps aside and wiped his hand before picking up the shuriken and throwing them one by one.
He clearly had way more arm strength than Shino, but lacked finesse.
"5, 5, 6, and 5. Total: 21."
Daikoku graded him C- on his notepad, and then called out the next student's name, who was the cherry-blossom-haired Haruno Sakura.
Unlike the other children from the shinobi background, and just like Nakagami Shizuka, she did not belong to any clan.
Even though her family was a shinobi family, and her parents and grandparents on both sides were shinobi, none of them had reached the Jōnin rank. Her father was only a Genin, and her mother was a retired Chūnin, who could never become an elite shinobi. Even Shizuka had a better background than her since both of her parents were Jōnin, and her grandfather was a war hero.
She was very nervous when she picked up the shuriken, and then took a deep breath before taking an elaborate form to throw them. It was something that only impressed Naruto.
Sakura then threw the weapons at the target, and she was just relieved that she had managed to hit it.
"6, 6, 5, 3. Total: 20."
She was borderline D, but Daikoku gave her a grace mark and graded her C-.
Hinata's turn was next, and she was more relaxed with holding the shuriken, which showed that she was quite good with them.
"7, 8, 8, 6. Total: 29." Daikoku smiled as he graded her performance B. "You are impressive, Hinata-san."
"Thank you, Sensei." She blushed and cutely bowed to him.
"Next, Inuzuka Kiba."
"Now let me show you all how it's really done." The boy gave a feral grin and then picked up the shuriken.
He was clearly very quick, and possessed good arm and wrist strengths. However, his result was poorer than Hinata's.
"7, 6, 6, 6. Total: 25." Daikoku smiled as he gave the boy a C+ grade. "Not bad, Kiba-san, but you should tone down that overconfidence of yours."
The children laughed and giggled at the sensei's remark, and Kiba blushed and lowered his head, not saying anything.
"Next, Nakagami Shizuka..."
At the call, the girl with beautiful green eyes and raven hair, which was tied in a ponytail, took her position. She already had the shuriken in her hand, and she threw them at the target in quick succession, displaying a lot of finesse.
"8, 8, 8, and 6. Total: 30. Not bad, Shizuka-san." Daikoku complimented the girl and gave her a B grade.
"Next, Nara Shikamaru..."
The boy sighed before he picked up the three shuriken, and then uninterestedly threw them at the target. They all hit the mark, and then he picked up the kunai and threw it as well.
"7, 7, 8, 6. Total: 28. Not bad, Shikamaru-san." Daikoku graded the boy B-. "Next, Uchiha Sasuke."
The whole class turned to look at the boy, and even their sensei keenly looked at him.
Daikoku nodded his head when he watched the boy take the correct arm position to throw his shuriken, and then beamed a smile at the result. And he nodded again when Sasuke threw the kunai better than everyone else.
"9, 10, 9, and 9. Total: 37." He graded the performance A+. "Itachi was also excellent with his first performance, Sasuke-kun. I can see that you are very talented as well."
At the praise, the Uchiha happily smiled and stepped back.
Everyone in the class was surprised at his performance, and the civilians grew even more nervous than they already were.
How were they going to beat someone like that in their exams?
"Next, Uzumaki Enma."
And suddenly, their interest was elsewhere.
"Enma-san, will it be alright?" Daikoku asked when he looked at the blindfold.
"It's fine, Sensei." He smiled and collected the shuriken from the table. "Karin?"
"Distance 10 m, height 130 cm..." she then walked over to her brother and checked his position before cutely grabbing his head and moving it slightly into the correct position. "Shoot in the line of your nose."
At her words, he quickly shot out the three shuriken in succession, and the mouths of all the children dropped open in shock.
Even Sasuke was staring with wide eyes as all the shuriken landed very close to the bullseye. And then the kunai embedded itself right into the eye.
Daikoku stared at the result, and his heart skipped a beat when he realised how deep the shuriken and kunai were embedded into the target.
"9, 9, 9, and 10. Total: 37. That was excellent, Enma-san." He managed to smile as he graded the performance A+. "Next, Uzumaki Karin."
The Uzumaki princess grinned as she picked up the three shuriken, and then took a deep breath before she threw them all at the target. And finally, she quickly picked up the kunai and threw it as well.
"9, 9, 9, and 9. Total: 36. An excellent performance, Karin-san." Daikoku graded her performance A+ as well. "Next, Uzumaki Naruto."
After watching the performances of the rest of the classmates, especially that of Sasuke, Enma, and Karin, the boy was sweating, and his arm was already trembling.
In his nervousness, he ended up harming his hand with the first throw, and the civilian girls started crying when they saw the blood leak out of his hand.
Naruto, however, bore through the pain and managed to hit the other two shuriken at the target, and even the kunai.
"0, 5, 6, and 6. Total: 17." Daikoku nodded his head and graded the boy D before walking over and checking his hand.
Naruto kept his head lowered as the instructor wiped the hand clean and then applied a medicine that stung a little.
"Alright. For the rest of you, I will start by teaching you how to hold the shuriken and kunai. Those who have already been graded, you are free to leave. Stay within the academy and report right back here at noon."
"Yes!"