Sayomi, who was sneaking glances at Asteru, simply flushed red and looked down at her desk, gripping her pencil like it was a kunai.
By 4 pm, the students began leaving. Laughter and chatter filled the hallways, but Asteru quietly slipped through the streets, heading for his apartment.
The small apartment welcomed him with silence. His bed lay to the left side of the room, its frame scratched from years of use. Just beside it stretched a narrow balcony, big enough for four or five people to stand side-by-side, the late sunlight spilling through.
The middle space of the room was left bare, giving it a strangely open feel. To the right, a wardrobe leaned against the wall, its hinges squeaky. Next to it sat a small clay pot with a money plant curling upward — the only real splash of green in the place.
Beyond the wardrobe, a narrow doorway opened into a tiny kitchen, about half the size of the main room. From there, a small storage space branched out — shelves filled with kunai, scrolls, and shuriken.
Asteru went into the storage room and placed his things inside and came back to the hall, after sighing deeply he dropped on the bed. 'Hmm... both in past and now, I'm all alone in a empty room...' Than he looked at the ceiling with wide eyes 'What a shit life this is...' but slowly sleep crawled to him, his eyes slid shut… and before he realized, night had passed.
The Next Morning he woke up with a jolt. For a second he thought he'd overslept for dinner, but sunlight burned through the balcony curtain.
"Tch… morning already, it felt like I only slept for a few hours." He got up from his bed yawning and went to the sink in the kitchen.
The clock that hanged above his bed ticked 6 am. So, he washed his face quickly, then rushed to the public bathhouse. A lady in her 40's at the counter gave him her usual smile, nodding him in.
"Good morning Asteru, you have Half hour's free, so don't waste it," she said warmly.
"Alright~ I'll wrap it real quick Lady Sume." He grinned to himself and quickly removed his dress and went inside with his towel wrapped around him.
He bathed properly, scrubbing till he felt fresh. As he left, the lady's brother, a man in his 30's, waved him over at the market stalls opening nearby.
"Here is today's share, eat well Boy. You look skinnier than every day I see you," he scolded lightly, passing vegetables wrapped in paper by ruffling his hair.
Asteru gave his small smile. "I'll try Takeo-san..."
He took the praper wrap and went to his home, after reaching he opened the cover to see the vegetables. "Let's see... I got two bundles of fresh spinach, Three eggs, A loaf of simple bread, Dried sardines..." He grinned as he reached for a pan. "I don't want to eat the same egg soup now, let's do the new recipes I learned back at home."
He first boiled the spinach in hot water for a few minutes than beated the eggs, after that he added boiled spinach which he chopped.
"now the next step is to cook this into a thick omelette..."
He looked around as he took the pan and started cooking the omelette, on the otherside he added toasted dried sardines which he sprinkled them after crushing on the omelette and let it cook on it.
"Now this is to be put in between the 2 long slices of bread and we get tada~ a quick protein-rich sandwich."
He started eating quickly, 'it would be better if I eat this sardines in hot rice but I'll adjust this here for now...' than he washed his dishes, after this he strapped his ninja tool pouch on and wore his sandals quickly and locked his door.
"I'm going now, bye." He said as he looked at the door for a second with a slight disappointed expression and left after taking a deep breath and a forced smile.
By 8 am, Asteru was already at the Academy grounds. The gates wouldn't open until 9, but he slipped into the training field behind by jumping the walls. "I don't understand why they even built these high walls when a nin can easily jump through them."
He went to set up a crude wooden log on the trading ground, and started tossing kunai and shuriken in a fluid style — not just straight throws, but spins, ricochets, and combinations. Each kunai seemed to whistle at an odd angle before striking the center. 'I need to master these two things first, than comes jutsu's... After all one can't survive if they run out of chakra can they? heh...'
He threw another two kunai by combining them but one splited taking a right curve angle and other went in a straight direction. 'oh yeah!! this is what I call a faint attack.' He grinned and punched the sky after finally started mastering a faint attack.
Unbeknownst to him, Minato who had arrived early as well for his secret jutsu technique practice. But he saw Asteru across in middle of the ground so peeked from the window inside the Academy, eyes widening. 'This throwing style… I've never seen it before. He's not just tossing weapons — he's predicting where the kunai will go and he is also imagining how a enemy would move, Asteru is no joke... I need to catch up to him no matter what now, I think I made a perfect friend who can help him in practice's now hehe~.' Minato quietly admired, a small grin forming.
Asteru who just finished his kunai practice felt something so he looked around and landed his gaze towards the window where Minato just went inside before Asteru could see him. 'Strange... I swear I just felt chills on my back for a second there, do shinobi's always feel this kind of thing here or was it just me...' He put away his kunai inside his pouch and dusted his hands. 'It's best if I go inside the class, I don't want anyone to see me this early in the morning, it would ruin my practice time if they join in during my time period...' He jogged towards the small garden where there is a pipe watering the plants, so he washed his dirt hands there itself.
"hm... alright now, hup... let's go inside the class."
By the time he reached to the class, all students started to pour into the class. "good morning Minato, you are early today.." He said as he dropped into the seat as beside him sayomi also took her place.
"Morning~ I just woke up rather early today, but I guess I should wake up like this everyday from now on, since I got to peek at something complex for me." He looked at Asteru with an amused smirk clearly intrested in the kunai practice he peeked on earlier.
'ugh... why is he giving me that smirk face now, what is this guy even thinking with that look. He looks just like Naruto when he plans to do some mischeif, I thought this is Kushina's behaviour but guess even minato can do some mischeif with his friends.' Asteru gave him a flat face, "W-Why are you smirking at me like that..." He hugged himself slightly leaning back in his desk.
"oh, nothing really... just wanted to ask you something later... At evening?" He shrugged himself and looked to the front as class filled with members.
"fine than, tell me the thing later while going back home. I'll listen to whatever you want to say." He leaned forward to say it in low voice since the instructor has entered the class.
The class went on as usually boring and by the time before the second period Taijutsu is over the instructor named Takeda Haru was writing something on the blackboard(Sparring Session), "Student's from today, I'll start training you guys officially and I will start making you guys have sparring matches from today, as I informed in yesterday's class so... let's go to the grounds." Like that everyone gathered at the sparring grounds. The arena was the same dirt field where many generations had started their journey's here or many generations will start from here. Rows of students lined up, buzzing with excitement.
The instructor raised his hand. "Today's matches are simple taijutsu bouts. No ninjutsu, no weapons. Just body against body."
The students cheered.
"oh yeah!! I'm gonna beat everyone into a pulp" said tsume.
"Like that will ever happen...", said some other in the row.
"Hey, Who said that. Come and fight me scared cat." But no one came forward which caused her to lash out, but was easily cooled down by a chop on her head by Haru-sensei.
"don't shout and stand in line," as he scolded she went and stood in the semi-circle that others started to form.
Instructor Haru sighed softly, 'since we are on less time to finish the period I'll only conduct 3 matches to test the top score students in physical test that happened last week.' He opened the clipboard paper and read the first match names.
"First match will be Minato Namikaze vs Fugaku Uchiha!"
Both boys stepped into the circle. Fugaku's Uchiha pride radiated from his stance, low and sharp. Minato, calm as ever, loosened his shoulders.
"Begin!"
His classmates whispered:
"He looks serious already…"
"Minato doesn't stand a chance…"
"Bet Fugaku wipes the floor with him!"
Minato scratched his cheek sheepishly, then exhaled, dropping into a balanced stance.
"Let's do our best, Fugaku!,"
The match started.
Fugaku rushed first, a straight lunge aimed at Minato's chest. Minato sidestepped fluidly, feet light as if he'd practiced this motion a thousand times. Fugaku spun with a roundhouse, sharp and precise.
'He's fast,' Minato thought as he ducked under and countered with a quick palm strike to Fugaku's ribs. The blow landed, but Fugaku barely flinched, grabbing Minato's arm and pulling him forward. Minato rolled with it, breaking free mid-spin and regaining his stance smoothly.
"Oooohh!," the kids chorused.
Than he ducked low from another punch, pivoting around Fugaku, and tapped his back with a quick palm strike.
"Too slow," Minato said cheerfully.
Fugaku growled, turning sharply with a kick — but Minato bent back like a willow in the wind, the kick passing inches from his nose. In the same motion, Minato rolled forward, sweeping Fugaku's legs.
Thud! Fugaku landed hard on his back.
"Winner — Minato Namikaze!" The instructor said as he scribble something in the clipboard of his.
Fugaku scowled but gave a curt nod.
"Hn. You're not bad. But next time, I won't lose."
Minato smiled warmly.
"I'll look forward to it!"
In the crowd, Asteru smirked. 'Minato's already showing signs… this guy's gonna be trouble for any opponent and a whole lot difficult for me to defeat if he is my opponent because this yellow pikachu invested all his plus points on his physical speed even as a child tch...'
The class erupted in cheers, though some Uchiha kids muttered at the loss. Fugaku scowled but extended a hand to Minato, who smiled and helped him up.
After the instructor finsihed his scribbling he called out the second match, "Tsume Inuzuka vs Himari Hyūga"
The next match brought a different energy. Tsume Inuzuka charged into the circle, full of wild excitement as she cracked her knuckles loudly, grinning ear to ear.
"Heh! Don't think I'll go easy just 'cause you're quiet, Hyūga!"
The Hyūga branch girl Himari stood quietly, her posture calm. Unlike Haishi, her confidence wasn't loud — she bowed respectfully before sliding into the Gentle Fist stance within the circle, activating her Byakugan with a faint vein-pulse around her eyes.
"I will not underestimate you either, Tsume-san."
"Ooooh! Byakugan already!? Scary!"
"She's a branch member, right? They train earlier than us."
The instructor barked, "Begin!"
Tsume charged in immediately, fists swinging wild but strong. Himari sidestepped with smooth precision, her palms cutting through the air. Thrust! Thrust! Each strike aiming for Tsume's chakra points.
Tsume grinned wider even as she barely dodged.
"Tch—so that's how it is, huh? You hit like a mosquito, but fine—I'll break through!"
She lunged low, tackling Himari with raw force. The two rolled across the dirt, kicking up dust. The kids cheered, some even laughing.
Asteru, arms crossed, muttered,
'Tsume's stubborn as always… Himari's form is cleaner, but she won't last if she lets Tsume drag her into a brawl. But the gentle fist is taken from a Chinese martial arts called Baguazhang, which is mixture of Wing chun and Tai chi... only those who know tai chi can counter it and those who know the free-style fighting can go through their attacks as for tsume she have a reckless free-style so... she'll lose without a doubt.'
As Asteru was busy in thinking Himari finally twisted, using her small frame to roll on top. She struck twice — precise chakra palm taps to Tsume's shoulder and chest. Tsume froze for a second, her arm numbed.
"Oi! I can't move my hand—what kinda trick is this!?"
Finally, Himari's palm tapped Tsume's chest, knocking her backward onto the dirt.
The instructor raised his arm.
"Match over! Winner, Himari Hyūga."
Tsume groaned, lying on the dirt.
"Cheater move… tch, I'll get you next time!"
Himari looked at her with slight widened eye in surprise. 'She is not gonna make a ruckness, then she is not completely an idiot like other's say, guess I should respect her for knowing her loss.' than she offered a polite bow.
"Thank you for the match."
Asteru chuckled softly, shaking his head.
'These two… polar opposites, yet I can already tell they'll fight like this forever and they might end up being a very good friends in the future...'
The crowd buzzed with the display of himari's match.
The instructor's voice cut over the murmurs of the class, "ALRIGHT, SHUT UP ALL OF YOU."
The instructor sighed softly. "This is the third and final match for today's class- Haishi Hyūga vs Asteru!"
The class immediately grew louder — whispers spreading fast.
"Haishi's the Hyūga prodigy."
"But Asteru's… weird. Did you see his practice session 2 days ago, he did some crazy dances?"
"Crazy dance… what kind of clan is that from?"
Asteru stepped into the ring calmly, ruffling his hair. His purple irises caught the sunlight, making the kids in the crowd murmur even louder.
Haishi slid into the circle with cold and confidence in his eyes.
Asteru just smirked, rolling his shoulders.
"This'll be fun." Asteru says calmly after looking at haishi's stance.
"I don't think so Asteru, BECAUSE— I can finally beat you into a pulp for always annoying and making me completely unfocused on my discipline." He smirked before the match which is unlike him.
"Asteru-kun... u-um... best of luck" Sayomi said softly making her voice a whisper in the cheering crowd.
Haishi bowed properly, activating his Byakugan. Veins pulsed around his temples as he slid into the Gentle Fist stance, feet gliding in a smooth circle.
Asteru just stood there… relaxed. His posture was loose, almost lazy, like he didn't even know how to "stand" properly. His friends called it sloppy, but others whispered it was dangerous.
The instructor's hand sliced the air. "Begin!"
Haishi moved first — a smooth sidestep, his palm cutting for Asteru's chest.
Thrust!
But Asteru tilted his head casually — the strike missed by a hair. His body just flowed like he is a fish in water and knew that palm was coming directly at his face. 'w-what's happening. why do I feel like he is moving slow like a turtle... is it him playing tricks... No... it's not him but it's ME!! But I feel like he is moving slow than that means my eyes can follow his moments because my brain is working faster, it's receiving the information faster... which is enabling me to move my body faster...'
"Tch…" Haishi narrowed his eyes. He attacked again, circling like a storm. His palms flashed, aiming at chakra points — neck, ribs, shoulder.
But Asteru's body bent and twisted in odd ways, slipping through the gaps. His movements weren't trained — they were reactive, instinctive. A knee came up, a shoulder turned, an arm flicked out.
The kids watching and shouting which is more like cheering loudly to let everyone hear them.
"Whoa! He's dodging a Hyūga!"
"It's like he can read the attacks without eyes!"
Haishi finally caught him with a grazing palm to the ribs but the very second he felt his palm to his ribs Asteru was three steps away from him after breaking through Haishi's grip.
Asteru grinned.
"Heh… not bad, Byakugan boy. But…"
He suddenly rushed forward without thinking— his body dropped low, then snapped up in a wild elbow strike. Haishi blocked — but the impact shook his guard.
"W-what—?! That wasn't a right angle…"
Before Haishi could reset, Asteru body naturally bent down with force and he used it to spin into a sweeping kick — not clean like taijutsu, but a reckless kick with enough force. It clipped Haishi's leg, sending him stumbling.
Asteru pounced, pressing in close. His movements weren't beautiful like Gentle Fist, but his timing and unnatural taijutsu made them unpredictable.
Haishi tried to circle, but Asteru rushed without pattern — left, right, than suddenly stopped, 'now what should I do... right let's do this.' then a sudden burst towards him. Haishi's Byakugan saw the movements, but his body couldn't predict the rhythm.
Finally, Asteru darted inside and tapped Haishi's chest with an open palm — copying the Tai chi style but sloppier.
Thud! Haishi hit the dirt, sliding back, breath knocked out of him.
The instructor raised a hand.
"Match… winner — Asteru."
Gasps and cheers erupted.
"HE BEAT A HYŪGA?!"
"No way—"
Haishi sat up, panting, frustration in his usually calm face.
"Your movements… they don't follow logic, what kind of taijutsu was that?"
Asteru just scratched his head and smiled.
"umm... I never used taijutsu here except for the last palm push. All this time I just used brute strength and—" He pressed his thumb finger to his head with a smirk, "Brain's too..."
Than Asteru gave his hand towards Haishi to help him get up, seeing his intentions haishi took his hand and got up and wiping the dirt from his back, 'brain's you say... fine than next time I'll beat you with thinking.'
Minato who stood within the crowd, saw this match with a knowing look like he predicted who would have won this match before it even started. 'just as I expected, he really is something else isn't he...'