Kazutaka was a thin sixty three year old man. He wore a black nagagi and hakama as well as a white haori strictly worn by the Sage. He had short and spiky grey hair which had once been black and his hairline had already receded. He also had a long white beard which went below his chin and had wrinkles all over his face.
“Good afternoon Lord Sage,” Natsumi replied bowing down. “Yes I met him just now on the ground floor and he seems to be quite the interesting fellow,” she further added with a smile.
“Long time no see Kazuo-chan,” Kazutaka greeted his grandson.
“–CHAAANN!? I’m now grown up grandpa I can’t believe you still address me like that.”
“Physically maybe but mentally you are still the same old Kazuo-chan. I have been waiting for you grandson, welcome to the Lightning village,” Kazutaka replied before facing the kunoichi, “Natsumi-chan thank you for bringing him here can you please escort him to the other students’ class.”
“Yes sir!” she replied and then took Kazuo to the students’ classroom in the first floor. When they arrived there Natsumi introduced Kazuo to the teacher, a tall and youthful man in his mid-twenties with short turquoise hair. He also had light blue eyes, wore reading glasses and had a flamboyant aura about him.
“Good afternoon Kazuo my name is Hideo Yamazaki and I am one of the teachers here,” he introduced himself in a deep alto voice.
“Yo what’s up man, so what do you teach? Oh and where are the other guys?” Kazuo fired questions at Hideo like an interviewer.
Hideo understood that he had his work cut out for him and then responded, “I mainly teach General Knowledge, Arithmetic and Introduction to Ninjutsu. The other students are out at the grounds for lunch.”
Kazuo nodded in acknowledgement.
Natsumi then bid them both farewell and when she left Kazuo went to sit towards back of the class. A few minutes passed and students were starting to return. The first was a reserved boy with brown skin and short black hair. He also wore dark shades and trousers with a white jacket that covered his face up to his nose.
Hideo introduced the two boys to each other and Kazuo learnt that the boy’s name was Takumi. After the introductions Takumi went to sit at the front and soon afterwards the class started to pile up. A laid back boy with short scruffy hair whose colour was the same as Hideo’s came and sat next to Kazuo. He introduced himself as Haru Yamazaki and confirmed that he was the teacher’s nephew. The two boys got along well as they would later discover that they shared a great many interests. When the whole class arrived Hideo requested Kazuo to introduce himself to everyone and then lesson commenced.
“Alright then class let’s get back to that question we had before lunch,” said Hideo fixing his glasses. “We have a situation here, Ninja A is on a tree and Ninja B is standing on the ground, give with a reason how B would take out A,” he then questioned his students whilst pointing at a diagram on the board.
Haru quickly raised his hand and when he was picked by Hideo he answered, “It is Mikoto-chan sir.”
Everyone in the room was shocked, one student even started laughing and Mikoto who had been named being the most astonished. She was the class’ blonde delight with fair skin, brown eyes and had the brains to match as well.
“Can you please elaborate Mr. Haru,” Hideo then asked.
“It is simple really…she will just stand there on the ground naked and while she distracts Ninja A, Ninja B will then sneak in behind the enemy ninja and take him out,” Haru answered with a chuckle and Kazuo joined in the laugh. Haru had a crush on Mikoto and all his advances were rejected since day one.
“Such perversion…it is absurd!” Hideo thought shocked to hear the response. “Anyone else cl–”
Before he could ask someone else to respond, a furious Mikoto had swept up to the back row as fast as lightning and she gave Haru an intense punch that landed square on his left jaw.
“Ite!” Haru cried out in pain and thought, “Sheesh…this girl packs quite a punch.”
“Hey no fighting in the classroom kids, you can take this out on the training room with supervision from a graduate ninja and not in my class…understood!” said Hideo raising his voice.
Mikoto then apologized and said, “Yes Yamazaki-sensei…understood,” before proceeding to go back to her seat.
“Well then, as I was saying who can answer that question class?” asked Hideo.
“A shuriken or a well-timed kunai with trajectory of approximately sixty degrees from the horizontal will do since this a long range fight setting,” answered Takumi without raising his hand.
“That’s correct Takumi any quick throwing weapon will do, but please raise your hand next time,” said Hideo.
The lecture continued for a further thirty minutes and then came General Knowledge which Takumi and Mikoto both excelled in and it was a competition for answering the questions. An hour later class was dismissed and school was over for the day, the time was around three thirty in the afternoon. Students who stayed in the school went to their dorms and those who didn’t went to their homes. Mikoto shared a dorm with her best friend Kohaku Matsumoto whilst Takumi shared a room with another student named Kenji Nakamura. Haru didn’t have anyone to share a dorm with at that time and Kazuo asked to share one with him.
“Yo Haru do you like that girl Mikoto,” asked Kazuo as they walking to their dorm.
“Yeah I do Kazuo and she doesn’t like me back,” Haru replied.
“I think her friend, that Kohaku girl with the blue hair is hotter because she’s got a bigger ass. But if you really like Mikoto you shouldn’t be saying stuff that will almost get you killed…she seems like she’s a demon.”
They both laughed.
There was a short pause and Kazuo said, “What do you say we go and peep in the girls’ baths? Hey you may get to see the naked Mikoto you were talking about in class.”
“Wait what?” Haru quickly interrupted. “I want to but won’t we get caught? The punishments here can get crazy…what Mikoto did to me is nothing.”
“Nah we won’t get caught…not when I’m around,” Kazuo reassured as he unpacked his stuff.
Before Haru could say anything they heard a knock at the door. It was Natsumi and she had been asked to call Kazuo to the Sage’s office.
“Hey Kazuo your grandfather is calling for you,” she said with her usual pleasant smile.
Haru blushed and then asked Kazuo, “Bro you know Natsumi?”
“Yeah we met this morning,” Kazuo replied.
Natsumi straightaway added, “Yes he’s like a little brother to me.”
“Please don’t call me that.”
“What? Brother?”
“No…little.”
Natsumi thought, “The Sage was right this kid doesn’t like to be treated like a child while he acts like one,” and then she proceeded to say, “Well if you don’t want me addressing you as my little brother you can challenge me to a fight and if you win I’ll consider you as an equal.”
Kazuo was filled with joy when he heard this but Haru discouraged him saying, “Yo bro Natsumi is a graduate…don’t you see that kanji symbol on her chest you won’t win this.”
“Don’t worry Haru I got this,” Kazuo proudly replied his friend.
They strolled to the training room and the fight was over before it even began. Kazuo rushed in head first with raised fists and Natsumi dodged all his attacks. She then held both his arms and gave him a knee kick to the gut, Kazuo fell to the ground with a thud.
“Let’s go little bro…grandpa is calling you,” chuckled Natsumi giving Kazuo a hand.
Haru also laughed and added with an “I told you so” to his friend.
Natsumi and Kazuo left the training room and went to Kazutaka’s office.
“Kazuo-chan…so how did you find your first day?” the Sage asked.
“It was shit, but at least it is better than the Fire village,” Kazuo replied with a somewhat beaming face and then he asked his grandfather, “Yo ojiichan (grandpa) can you train me I want to beat Natsumi because she embarrassed me in front of my friend.”
Kazutaka and Natsumi laughed frantically, “Kazuo-chan the only way you can defeat Natsumi here is if you challenge her daily but nevertheless I am glad that you are happy here and already making friends…oh and I was calling you here to tell you that I will be personally responsible for your training,” said Kazutaka.
Kazuo was delighted to hear this and when Natsumi was dismissed his grandfather took him to the training room to practice martial arts.
“Before we begin I should explain the ninjutsu (ninja martial arts) that we teach here is mainly comprised of jujutsu (unarmed combat) and kenjutsu (swordmanship) and today I will be teaching you the former,” Kazutaka explained in a speech like manner.
They began their training and spent over two hours with just jujutsu. When Kazuo was now tired they stopped and Kazutaka told him they would resume the next day. Kazuo then went to take a bath and afterwards it was dinner time. He walked to the cafeteria together with Haru and they had their dinner with the other students. Kazuo was growing to enjoy his stay in the Lightning village and each day after class he had challenged Natsumi to a match, got his ass thoroughly whooped and went to train with his grandfather afterwards.
Meanwhile in the Fire village a week later trouble was looming because a group of about twenty shadow ninja cloaked in black shinobi shozoku (ninja gear) and armed to the teeth arrived midday and waited on the outskirts of the village. The shadow ninja were waiting for an opportune time to attack. The leader of the group had short white scruffy looking hair and wore a kasa made out of reeds and also a white porcelain mask that covered his whole face. He was also dressed in a black nagagi, hakama and haori which had the Kageyama family crest on the back.
“Kage-nin (Shadow ninja)…we shall strike after nightfall,” said the leader breaking the ominous silence.
“Hai Kage-sama (Yes Lord Shadow)!” they all replied in unison.
Nighttime came quickly in the Fire village and the shadow ninja were still waiting outside of the village. It was starting to become dark and there was a crescent moon in the sky.
“How the crescent moon shines ever so brightly like a well sharpened blade ready to attack. As we rise into the night let us show them despair,” the leader of the group announced. “Now, scatter!”
With those words they all left in a flash and raced towards the village.
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