"Kagen!"
I bolted upright in my desk, lethargy flashing away as I looked around in a panic. I slumped back in my chair as I realized where I'd fallen asleep. "Yes, Akira-sensei?"
"Is my voice boring to you?" the blonde chunin asked sweetly, her eyes practically glowing with malice.
"No, Akira-sensei." I said quickly.
"Oh? Then perhaps you would like to enlighten me as to why you fell asleep during my class?"
My eyes darted quickly to the corner of the room; my cousin was still fast asleep, his head resting on his textbook.
The Akimichi girl next to him had slid her brown lunch bag in front of his face to shield him from the teacher's sight. I seriously doubted that was enough to stop a chunin from seeing a sleeping student, but for some reason, I was being hung out to dry.
"The fault lies with me, not your beautiful voice, Akira-sensei. I didn't go to sleep last night."
Sensei tilted her head curiously. "Sleep is important, Kagen. Sleep before my class or next time I'll make you run a lap around all of Konoha." Sensei turned around and went back to lecturing, we were on to basic algebra now.
I did not see why we had to learn Algebra anyways, we were training to become shinobi. Basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division should have been enough. It's not like that we would do algebra during a battle to death.
Looking out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ido was still asleep. The Akimichi girl had propped her book up in front of him and was acting like they were reading from the same page. It seemed that Ido found himself a loyal friend.
Maybe that was why Sensei only got on me? She was encouraging their teamwork just like Shukaku-sama was encouraging me to get better at infiltrating the library?
After our lesson, sensei took us outside for weapon training. The Uchiha and Hyuga all scored nearly perfect with the rest of the clan kids, myself included, scoring hits over fifty percent of the time. The civilian kids all hit the target less than half the time. They had a long way to catch up with us.
I was performing as expected of a clan kid, but I wasn't content. I needed to get better. Hitting fifty percent of my throws against a target sensei swung back and forth with chakra strings wasn't going to cut it in combat.
Oh, did I mention the chakra strings? Until today, I'd assumed sensei was using some subtle wind jutsu to swing the targets to give us practice hitting slowly moving targets. It turns out, she was using chakra strings. I'm still far from an expert, but I was able to make a chakra string myself last night. It wasn't very sturdy and glowed bright with the brilliance of wasted chakra, but it was progress.
Sensei's strings were far more efficient. They were so controlled that they were almost transparent. I could only make out their outlines, and I'd only see them because I'd been looking for them. I felt kind of stupid for not picking that up before. My classmates with cheat eyes probably noticed the first time sensei did it.
Sensei's strings weren't very strong, just enough to move the targets, but I saw potential there. It was clear chakra strings weren't her focus, so they could likely be far better. I didn't intend to make chakra strings my sole focus either, but I wanted to get good with them. If I could master them, they'd be a fantastic tool for me. I had some fantastic ideas about using them.
"Alright, brats. We're done for the day. Git!" Sensei said as she walked away, holding an arm out behind herself to shoo us.
Everyone dispersed, breaking off into their friend groups to chat and gossip. A group of girls from another class filled mostly with civilians started running towards us, and a male Hyuga started running like his life depended on it.
It was all I could do not to laugh at the look of pure panic on the usually stoic Hyuga's face as he fled a small army of fangirls.
I really needed to refresh myself on my classmate's names. I'd written them down after we'd introduced ourselves, but I'd forgotten almost all of them.
"Kagen?"
I turned around and saw Misa Hyuga standing behind me, her face an expressionless mask.
I bowed politely and said, "Misa-san. I assume you have your answer?"
"I would be amenable to teaching you taijutsu in exchange for help studying. I am not permitted to teach you the Gentle Fist style, and I will no longer teach you if you do not take our arrangement seriously."
I couldn't hide the wide smile on my grin. "Thank you, Misa-san! You won't regret this. When should we start?"
"Are you free this evening?"
"Yes." I'd planned to raid the Nara library, but if I could get some basic taijutsu forms to practice, that would definitely be better.
"Then we can begin this evening if you have no objection."
"I don't. Do you want to start with studying or taijutsu?"
"My parents have reserved a small training ground in the Hyuga compound for our purposes. Come with me." She spun around and began walking away without another word.
I jogged a few steps to catch up with her then began walking at her side. "Um… Is it okay for me to go to the Hyuga compound?" From what I remembered of my last life, the Hyuga were the strictest assholes on the planet. I could see them inviting Shikaku and his children to their compound, but a random Nara with absentee parents? That was harder to wrap my head around.
Since reincarnating, the Nara's daycare matron had practically hammered it into our heads to be respectful and not intrude on other clans. The exceptions to this were the Akimichi and Yamanakas.
The Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara were all closely allied and there were many strong friendships binding the clans together. This was the first time I'd ever heard of a Nara kid being invited to the Hyuga compound.
"My parents received Hiashi-sama's approval." Misa said simply, as if that explained everything.
I swallowed my nerves and followed her through the streets. We passed the stalls and buildings and passed into a grove covered in trees.
Misa navigated through the trees with ease, as if she'd walked them a hundred times. It wasn't long before we came to a guard post staffed by two Hyugas.
Their pale eyes narrowed when they saw me at Misaki's side. I tried to make myself small, but that just seemed to make them more suspicious of me.
"Misa Hyuga returning from the Academy with Kagen Nara. We are to train together on field twelve." Misa reported clinically.
The suspicious eyes of the Hyuga softened to indifference at Misa's words. "Proceed." the one in a chunin jacket said.
Misa walked right through the arch in the wall surrounding the Hyuga compound. I shuffled after her nervously.
The Hyuga possessed the Byakugan, one of the cheating eye kekkei genkai that Konoha boasted.
The Byakugan could do a lot related to sight. It lets the user see all around themselves in a 360 degree radius with a single blindspot as well as see through walls.
They could also see the chakra in the world around them. If their Byakugan was on, every single person in the compound would see me and know I was here. I was very clearly not a Hyuga, wearing a tan jacket common in the Nara compound that made me stick out like a sore thumb among the white silken robes the Hyuga wore.
I stared straight ahead and tried not to let my nerves show as Misa led me towards the training field her parents had reserved for us.
The few Hyuga we passed on our way shot strange looks my way, but none of them approached us or attempted to stop us.
Either they knew an outsider was supposed to be here today or they figured Misa's presence at my side meant I wasn't an intruder.
Before too long, we reached our destination. When Misa had told the guard, 'training field twelve', I'd pictured a training ground like the ones Konoho's ninja used, large and with varied terrain.
In hindsight, the fact that there were at least twelve of these fields fenced into the perimeter of the Hyuga compound while simultaneously sharing space with housing should have clued me in to the fact they would be small.
The training ground was one-hundred meters squared by my estimate, fenced in with bold white lines along the edge. The ground appeared to be softened dirt mixed in with sand, but that might have just been the color due to lack of nutrients in the soil. There were two people waiting at the training ground for us.
"Mother, Father, this is Kagen Nara." Misa greeted the two adults before holding a hand out to introduce me.
I bowed as I was introduced. "It is a pleasure to meet you both." I felt their assessing eyes on me as I righted myself. Misa's parents looked much like most Hyugas. Long dark hair, fair features, white robes – it seemed the Hyuga weren't ones for variety.
"My daughter tells me you have the top marks in your class." her father said, his voice even, not giving away his feelings of me or the situation.
I nodded. "That is correct, Hyuga-san. I lead the class in academics, but I am lower in the practical standings."
"So we have been told. Why did you seek out my daughter specifically to improve yourself?" Misa's mother asked, her voice as even as her husband's.
"Misa is one of the best in the class when it comes to taijutsu, but is lower in the standings in academics. Her position is the reverse of mine. I thought it would be mutually beneficial for us to help each other." I said, standing tall and being sure to look the woman in the eye.
I was surprised when the corner of Misa's mother's mouth pulled up into a small smile. Hyugas rarely showed emotion. "'Misa'? So familiar."
I felt a pit open in my gut as I realized I'd potentially offended them by not being respectful towards their daughter. "I–"
"I am Mio Hyuga. This is my husband, Kiyoshi." Mio introduced herself, interrupting me. "I expect my daughter to be in the top ten for academics by the end of this year. Please take care of her, Kagen." Mio said, a warm, playful smile on her face as she tugged her husband away from the training ground.
Kiyoshi said nothing, his glare was that of a panther, promising great violence and pain if I tread wrong. I had no intention of testing the man.
"Shall we begin?" Misa said, walking into the space her parents left.
I bowed. "I'm in your care."