Today was a pretty boring lesson.
It was our fourth week of school. Thus far, we've been learning pretty simple stuff. How to read, how to write, maths, sciences, even a bit of acting was mixed into the curriculum. I didn't really get the necessity, but I stayed anyway. Neither Naruto nor I struggled. After all, I've been self-teaching since I was three, and Naruto learned from me. The class was easy, thus far, so I ended up a lot like the kid four chairs away, almost constantly sleeping.
I met him a while ago, when I first met Ino Yamanaka. He... kinda rescued me from her lecture. His name was Shikamaru Nara, and I quickly figured out that he was probably smarter than anybody in the entire academy. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he had an IQ that was double my own. Funny though, that he was easily the laziest person I've ever met.
Alongside Shikamaru, I also met a rather husky boy by the name of Choji Akimichi. He was pretty nice, though I felt as though he was a little sensitive compared to others. He also somehow managed to always have food. Like, I would see him eating chips, look away, look back, and he was suddenly eating a muffin. It was really sort of impressive.
Also these last few weeks, I kind of got used to Ino. She was still difficult to talk to. In fact, everybody except Naruto seemed to think I was basically mute. But now, I could at least be around her without freezing up. And though I didn't mention it, I noticed over the last few weeks that it was easier to interact with her through my Wisps. I also noticed that she seemed to brighten up when she was holding Ichi.
Mm... The other things of note from these last few weeks was when I met Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. Sakura was... Well, I don't think we will be getting along much. More importantly, Naruto seemed to have a major crush on her. Then there was Sasuke. He seems a bit distant. Like he's generally just very bored. I had a small conversation with him, and he seemed like the pretty decent sort. A bit cold, like he was looking down on me. I noticed, but I didn't pay much mind to it.
The rest of the time passed with naps, interspersed with punishment from Iruka-sensei for sleeping. Naruto occasionally joined me, but it was mostly just Shikamaru. Yeah... So I'm not the best student. What can I say? I like learning practical things.
Speaking of practical skills, I've kept up my extra-curricular training, as has Naruto. Honestly, I feel it safe to say that he could probably score near the top of the class in taijutsu. As for myself, I was shoring up my own taijutsu. Alongside that, I managed to create a fourth Little Wisp, who I named Yon. Again, he was nearly identical to his brothers, save for his number being on his face and cape.
It was pretty difficult to control them all, so I rarely manipulate more than three, but I kept Yon with me, just in case.
...
Today, Iruka-sensei had gathered all of the students in the courtyard. It was finally time for the class to begin learning chakra control. He opened the class with an introduction to what chakra is.
"Tell me, class. What is chakra?" He asked the open question, though only an idiot wouldn't realize it was rhetorical.
Still... There was Naruto. "It's an energy within our bodies, and let's us do all kinds of jutsu, right?"
"Haa... Yes, Naruto. That is technically right. But I was asking for a more in-depth description of WHAT chakra is." He shook his head slightly, "Chakra is a vital energy of the world. It is like the soul and life of every living thing. Every living being possesses at least a little, else they would not be alive."
"Chakra can be sensed, moulded, transformed, and even destroyed by masters. In this class, I will simply be teaching you to sense your internal chakra, and teach you to guide it through your body. In the next few years, you will learn the further steps necessary to use jutsu. Now, let us begin..."
He then began to guide the class through the basics of sensing chakra. He went from student to student, being sure they could begin to move their chakra, and when he reached both Naruto and I, surprise crossed his face as we both performed our usual training, swelling our chakra and compressing it down.
Currently, I had reached a limit on my compression. I could get it down to the size of an appleseed, but no further. I guess that was my hard limit for now. Naruto was just behind me, getting his own down to the size of his fingernail.
Iruka-sensei just watched us with wide eyes, before he finally asked. "I guess that means it was you two in the rumors. All the teachers were wondering about the introductory books going missing, and the librarian saying he gave them out. Glad to know you are at least trying when it comes to chakra training."
It was after that, I started to notice Iruka-sensei started to treat us a bit more favorably. Like he saw us as actual students, finally.
The rest of the class went pretty normally. He checked on the skill level of the kids that came from clans, and they were unsurprisingly familiar with manipulating their own chakra. What was surprising though, was that I was actually better than they were. A few could compress it, and probably did so simply because they saw us do it, but none of them could swell their chakra, nor could they compress it as tightly as I could. That got a few of them looking me over.
...
A few days passed, and Sasuke Uchiha has been missing from class.
I first noticed it when I came to class, and there wasn't a horde of girls around one of the desks. The room was unusually quiet, and people were actually in their seats. I took my own seat, and got Shikamaru's attention as I simply asked. "Where's Sasuke?"
"Dunno. Heard something happened in the Uchiha compound, but my dad wouldn't tell me anything."
That was... concerning. If something happened to them... I hope Sasuke is okay. I took another look around the room, and the day progressed with a rather depressing aura.
It was another week before Sasuke was back in class, and I could sense the difference. He felt... angry. It was announced yesterday, that Itachi Uchiha was responsible for the slaughter of his entire clan, and Sasuke was the sole survivor of the incident. Honestly, I couldn't fault him for his anger. But there came an odd incident, after school. Sasuke approached me after class, and spoke with a cool malice.
"Fight me, Yuuto."
"...Why?"
"You are the most talented in class at chakra manipulation. I refuse to accept that."
Haa... That's not a reason, but screw it. I simply nodded my head, and together with nearly half the class trailing behind, we went to the courtyard behind the school.
It happened the moment I turned around. A gout of flame, the size of my body, came sailing toward my body. I narrowly managed to sidestep, and Sasuke closed the distance to throw a punch.
I made my move when he least expected. As his punch came sailing in, I deflected it with an open-palmed catch. At the same time, I connected a chakra thread to his knuckle. I jumped backwards, and I released the latch on my satchel. My four puppets released and fell to the ground, and I quickly connected my threads to three.
In an instant, Sasuke sent a second Fireball Jutsu toward me, and I sent San to intercept it. It struck him hard, and singed his wooden frame a bit. At the same time, I had Ichi and Ni fly forth, and Ichi went to bodyslam Sasuke, while Ni circled behind him. My style of fighting must have surprised him, because he struck Ichi, just for him to continue his attack. Dolls don't feel pain, after all.
The end finally came, when Ni released a spring-loaded steel net from behind Sasuke, and it wrapped around the stunned boy's body.
The fight finished in less than three minutes, and I could see the anger in Sasuke's eyes. As I returned my puppets to their satchel, I approached him to release him from the net.
"Anger only hurts others, you know..."
"What did you just say? The fuck do you know about what I'm feeling?!" He responded violently, shouting at me with a voice that seethed with his wrath and sadness.
...Did he really? On a reflex, I slapped him across the face.
"My entire life I have been ignored, overlooked, mistreated, starved, beaten, and the moment someone actually noticed me, everyone else shuns me for making friends with him. So you lost your fucking family. I wasn't telling you to not be angry, I was telling you that it shouldn't be directed at those who don't deserve it."
The entire courtyard went silent, as this was the most they have heard me speak, ever, and the contents of my little speech was... Well, a few of them, notably the ones from prominent families, paled. Sasuke had gone silent, and shock was clear on his face as he looked me in the eye.
It took me a minute, but when Naruto grabbed my shoulder, I realized just what exactly I had said. So I immediately left the courtyard, sprinting away to a decent hiding spot in the woods.
Why... Why did I just explode like that? I shouldn't have... He is going through his own grief, I shouldn't have blown up on him, just because he made me angry.
But another part of me was feeling better... It felt good to have let out all the stuff that has been bothering me. And... I'm ashamed to admit this, but it felt kind of good, knowing someone else was now in a situation just as bad. I hate myself for feeling that, and I beat my own palm against my head, trying to bash those thoughts out of my head.
It was there, hidden in the hollow of a tree, that I decided to sleep for now.