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“Mom! Dad!” I run grabbing my moms legs while she’s cooking, wafting through the air a nostalgic smell of bacon sizzling in the pan.
“I see you’re excited about today sweetie” she says gently patting my head. My father is sitting at the table with papers about what’s currently happening in the village hidden in the leaves.
“Yeah! You guys are coming to the entrance ceremony today right?” I ask my parents with a proud smile spread across my soft cheeks.
“Of course we wouldn’t miss it for the world” my dad says chuckling at my excitement that’s almost bursting out of me.
“Okay go sit at the table, breakfast is almost ready.” My mom tells me “Ninjas need to eat to keep up their strength.”
I go and sit at the table waiting for the breakfast to be ready so I can eat fast and head to my first day of school. I have to make my parents proud as I am the sole heir to my clan after they slowly died out. Even at age six I know how important it is for me to excel. Both of my parents are top ninjas and my dad is in the anbu black ops. My mom quit being a ninja when she found out she was pregnant but even so she helps me with training and teaches me basic techniques to prepare me for school.
My mom sets the plates of the perfect breakfast in front of my father and I. Before my parents could even pick up their forks I’m shoveling food into my mouth as fast as possible.
“Slow down sweetie or you’re gonna choke on your food.” My mom says quietly, chuckling.
I slow my eating pace and we enjoy breakfast as a family. I gaze upon my perfect family. I am a perfect mix of the both of them. I got my moms dark red hair almost the color of a wilted rose. The only difference is that my hair is short while my mom ties her hair in a ponytail thrown over her shoulder. I got my dads striking dark green eyes that shine like dark emeralds in the sun.
“Are you almost ready to go?” My father asks, waiting patiently near the door.
“Yes! Give me one more minute!” I say shouting through the closed door. I gather all I need in my backpack triple checking that I have everything throwing my bag over my shoulders. I glance over at my desk right before I head out to meet my parents at the doorway. I see the small dragon plushie my dad brought me when I was little telling me it was the protector of our clan to guide us and make sure we are safe.
It would be so lame to bring that on the first day of school.
I think with a small pout on my face. I look away for a second but then grab it and shove it in the secret pocket in my school bag.
I open my door and sprint down the hall to my parents and they walk me to school. All of a sudden all of the excitement I felt in the morning started to fade with a shadow of anxiety.
You can do this. You’ll make your parents proud and be the best in your class.
I think to myself. Time seems to speed up while I reassure myself it will be okay and before I realize I’m in front of the school. A pit slowly grows in my stomach seeing everyone with their parents.
I didn’t know the class was going to be this big.
I anxiously think to myself. I try to shake off the feeling but it doesn’t seem to fade away no matter how hard I try.
My father must see my anxiety on my face and he puts his hand on my head and ruffles my hair. I look up trying to fix my hair that my mom helped me with in the morning.
“You’re gonna do amazing, don't worry too much. No matter what your mom and I will always be proud of you.” He says with a soft smile on his face. My father has always been gentle and intune with other people's emotions.
It’s almost like my father read my mind and said exactly what I needed to hear.
My eyes start to water but I look away fast so I don’t cry on my first day of school. I stand up proud and enjoy the rest of the entrance ceremony.
I wave goodbye to my parents and hurry to my first class. The anxiety is completely gone and I’m overcome with excitement again.
We all shuffle into class and take our seats.
Everyone introduces themselves and we end up getting into small groups of four to talk and get to know the soon to be ninjas we will be fighting alongside.
“This is such a drag, I don’t think anyone really cares about who I am, but whatever, my name is Shikamaru.” He says almost mumbling with a bored expression on his face.
“Wow, that was a lackluster introduction.” The girl next to him says, she has the prettiest blue eyes and blonde hair, “Hi my name is Ino Yamanaka! It’s nice to meet you.” She says with a smile.
Its now my turn to introduce myself.
“I’m Kohana Seiryū, it's really nice to meet you guys.” I say with a soft smile plastered across my face.
“I’m Hinata Hyūga.” The last girl says almost in a whisper hiding her nerves behind a shy smile.
We all sit in an awkward silence for a minute until Ino breaks the silence and we talk about all the different things we enjoy. Shikamaru however was face down on the desk snoring loudly.
“Well everyone it looks like all of our introductions are done for todays groups!” Our our teacher Sensei Iruka says to the entire class. “I hope you got to know each other well and we will continue more introductions tomorrow! For now we will go over what we will learn this year!” He exclaims excitedly, class seems to fly by with all the excitement of the first day. Class ends and we each grab a paper that tells us what we planning on learning for the next couple of weeks and what to prepare before then.
I just about skip out of class to go home and see my parents and tell them all about my day and who I met.
I finally make it home and my mom is sitting at the table talking with my father who is helping clean the dishes after she made dinner.
“Mom! Dad! I’m back from school!” I say throwing my school bag in the corner of the room.
“Hi sweetie, how was your first day of school?” My mother asks, gesturing to me to sit next to her at the table.
I take a seat and tell my parents all about my school day telling them who I met and what I’m going to learn and show them the paper I got for the week's lessons. The excitement slowly dies down as we all talk and the day comes to an end.
I get into bed and sleep almost immediately from the exhaustion of the day's events. My last thought of the night before I knock out until the morning.
I’m so excited about this next school year.
I wake up to a knock on my door.
“Sweetie, it's time to get up, you don’t want to be late for your second day of school.” My mother says through the door.
I shoot up out of bed scared to be late and immediately start getting ready for school making sure I look the best I can for my classmates and for the second round of introductions today.
I wrestle with my hair trying to get it to look presentable but it ends up looking like a mess.
“Mom, can you help me with my hair?” I ask my mom with tears welling up my eyes due to frustration. She laughs and comes over to me and styles my hair perfectly.
I eat breakfast and gather my things and before I know it I’m heading out the door waving goodbye to my parents as I walk to school. I get to school a little earlier than I thought and wait for Iruka Sensei to get here to open up the classroom.
I glance over and see a boy with yellow hair sitting on a swing attached to a tree all by himself.
I’ve heard whispers about the boy within the village. Everyone says to stay away from him and he’s dangerous.
But when I look at him I just see a lonely kid my age.
Even so I wait by myself.
I’ll talk to him in class.
I think to myself.
Iruka Sensei shows up shortly after waiting and I head into the classroom taking my seat. Everyone else slowly shuffles in.
“Okay class we are doing a second round of introductions so let’s get you paired into groups of four again with all different people from last time.” We are instructed.
I end up in a group with the yellow haired boy.
“Hey guys I’m Naruto Uzamaki!” He says a bit too loudly for the morning. “I’m gonna be hokage one day, believe it!” He exclaims loudly yet again.
Everyone seems displeased with his energy and enthusiasm for the morning.
He’s totally different from how he was on the swing.
I quietly think to myself. There was a look in his eyes like he was trying to convince everyone and himself that he has something to prove.
“Well I’m Sakura, it’s nice to meet everyone.” A girl with pink hair says and smiles at us.
She’s so pretty.
“I’m Kiba Inuzuka!” The boy next to her exclaims.
“Hi I’m Kohana Seiryū. It’s nice to meet you!” I say with a big smile on my face.
We all talk about our goals and our favorite foods. To be honest Naruto did most of the talking.
He’s an interesting character.
After introductions we go back to our seats and start our lesson. After a little bit we finish the lesson and pack up our things.
“I know it seems a little to soon but we are going to have a test at the end of the week so make sure to study!” Iruka Sensei tells us.
A collective sigh rolls over the class.
I want to excel so I head out to a small clearing I’m the forest to start secretly practicing basic techniques before I go home.
I find a good spot in the forest when I hear someone else nearby training. I get closer but hide behind a tree so they don’t see me.
It’s a boy from my class with black hair and black eyes. I heard whispers in class about him but can’t recall his name. I decided to come out from behind the tree to introduce myself hoping to befriend as many people from the class as I can.
“Hi!” I say enthusiastically.
He jumps slightly turning around fast as I accidentally startle him.
“You’re from class.” He says.
“I am! My name is Kohana Seiryū! It’s nice to meet you, are you out here to get some extra training too?” I ask.
“Yes, my name is Sasuke Uchiha, I assume you’re out here for the same reason?” He says with a small smile on his face.
“Yeah I wanted to get some training in before I go home. I heard that you are apparently a genius?” I smile.
“I don’t know about that.” He says his smiling fading and a frown slowly taking its place.
“I must have misheard then.” I say trying to retract my statement so he isn’t upset. “I don't know if you would mind or not, but would you like to train together for a little bit. You seem much better at the basics than I am.” I chuckle.
“Yeah that sounds fun.” He says the smile coming back to his face. I observe him practice the basics and then try to emulate what he does. We talk a little bit about class and everyone in it.
“Sasuke?” A voice from behind me asking, “what are you doing out here and who’s this?” The voice sounds cold but it doesn’t feel intentional.
Sasuke and I both turn around simultaneously.
“Itachi! I didn’t know you’d be out here! Are you here to train too?” Sasuke says running up to the boy.
They look so much alike I assume they are family of some kind.
“I am here to train. So who is this?” He asks again, gesturing to me.
“Oh this is Kohana, she's one of my classmates. We ran into each other so we decided to train together for a little bit.” Sasuke tells the boy.
“That makes sense. It’s very nice to meet you Kohana. I'm Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke’s brother.” He says with a small almost guarded smile.
“It’s very nice to meet you.” Feeling a small blush creep onto my face.
“Brother, do you mind showing us some of your ninja techniques?” Sasuke says excitedly then turns to me. “He’s the true genius of the family! He’s a full fledged ninja even at thirteen!”
“I am here to train so I guess I can demonstrate a couple basic techniques.”
Itachi then takes the kunai knives Sasuke was using and going into the middle of where the targets were located on the trees and ground.
Sasuke and I both back up so we aren’t in his way.
He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes before jumping into the air and flipping upside down throwing all the knives at once.
We watch as each one hits the targets, bullseyes on each one even one behind a rock in a blind spot.
Sasuke runs up to his brother with admiration and tells him how amazing that was. I stand in silence for a second taking in what this boy only 7 years older than us did with such ease.
He’s the coolest ninja I’ve ever seen.
My face gets a little more red after seeing what he can do. My eyes sparkle in admiration for this ninja who’s so talented at such a young age.
Itachi tells Sasuke their parents want them home so we part ways. I decided to keep training after seeing what Itachi was able to do. Before I know it the sun's going down and I’m exhausted so I run home as fast as I can.
I get home just in time for dinner and tell my parents all about my day and the two boys I trained with.
“Itachi Uchiha? He’s a squad leader in the anbu black ops at just thirteen.” My dad tells me.
My jaw almost drops at this new information. Before I know it, it’s time to go to sleep.
I hope I can be just as good of a ninja at thirteen.
I fall asleep quickly dreaming about what’s to come in this next couple of weeks.