NOVEL NEXT Chapter 06: Back at the Academy
Disclaimer:
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 06: Back at the Academy
"N-Naruto?! I was not expecting to see you here."
He recognized the young ninja in front of him. There were a lot of memories about him in his mind… "Greetings, Professor Iruka."
The young man looked at him with a complicated expression on his face. "I'm sorry for not being able to visit you while you were in the hospital…I just got my release yesterday and they told me that you had already left…."
Naruto noticed that the professor still had many bandages on several parts of his body.
The Hokage didn't want to give him many details about what happened. But from what he was able to figure out, the previous owner of this body was attacked by a former professor of this academy who betrayed the village and obtained some secret information.
Professor Iruka came to help him and they both fought the traitor, resulting in both of them ending up in the hospital.
Of course, he was the only one who knew that the boy known as Naruto ended up dying from those injuries…allowing his soul to inhabit its broken body.
"What happened to that professor?" he asked.
Iruka's face changed to a frown. "Mizuki, he…he was taken into custody but his injuries were too severe and he died…" He then looked at Naruto and his expression softened. "You don't have to worry about him anymore, Naruto…Oh, but don't tell anyone what I just told you. This matter related to Mizuki is still Class A information. Very classified."
"I understand." 'So the traitor is dead…one less thing to worry about, I suppose. I wonder what kind of secrets he was trying to steal…and who he was working for.' He still knew next to nothing about this world or its history. But it makes sense for a village such as this one to have many enemies.
"So, Naruto…what are you doing at the academy? The new year won't start for another month…and you have already graduated, remember?" He glanced at his watch. "Is it a bit early to ask for ramen?"
"I was actually wondering if I could access the library here."
Iruka became so shocked that he almost fell down on his butt. "What did you say? I must have misheard you…there is no way you asked for the library."
"I want to see the library…"
The professor now had a suspicious look on his face. "You are not going to throw paint at the books again, right? Because you have no idea how long that took to clean."
Naruto sighed. 'This is going to take some convincing.'
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"What is he doing here?!" The terrified librarian pointed at Naruto.
"Well…he wanted to read a few things…" Even Iruka had a hard time believing this much.
"The last time he was here…I had to rewrite over a hundred scrolls by hand!" the librarian complained.
"I know, I know…I was there. That will never happen again. Right, Naruto?" Iruka glanced at him.
"Of course not…I greatly apologize for my poor behavior in the past…" He hated having to apologize for something he didn't do, but if this is what it took…
The librarian gave Naruto a suspicious glance. "I will give you one last chance, just because Professor Iruka asked…but I will be keeping a close eye on you, and…" He pulled a sharp kunai before showing it to Naruto. "If you try anything funny, don't forget that I am a trained Genin."
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Iruka also decided to stay at the library to observe him. Despite what he said to the librarian, he didn't really have that much confidence in Naruto's ability to change his behavior.
Naruto tried to ignore the stares as he read and focused on his task. 'Eventually, they'll realize that I have no interest in performing any sort of prank…I hope.'
He was at least pleasantly surprised to find several books that went more in-depth in their explanations about chakra and its usage.
His first impression had been a correct one. Chakra is a combination of the yin and yang energies. Except that they call them Spiritual energy and Physical energy.
Once combined inside the dantian, or chakra core, this energy flows through the body using a chakra pathway system, also known as ki veins.
Ninjas then release this chakra from one of the 361 nodes to produce diverse effects.
All of their ninja techniques are based on this principle.
'It doesn't sound too difficult to learn but it will take some time to get used to this…'
He then found a scroll containing a technique to practice one's chakra control that consisted of using a leaf.
The leaf would be placed near a chakra node, and one would need to circulate the appropriate amount of energy through it in order to keep it stuck to the body. Too much and the leaf would burn. Too little and it would fall.
"Excuse me…Professor Iruka?" Naruto raised his hand to gain the young ninja's attention.
"Yes?" Iruka was still surprised by the fact that he had spent the last hour watching Naruto reading in silence…and he did it without anyone forcing him.
"Is there a place where I can go practice this?" Naruto showed him the scroll.
"The leaf exercise?...you always hated that one…" Iruka came out of his stupor. "I mean…you are free to use the academy training facilities all you want. Just make sure to leave before seven P.M."
"Great then…I'll take my leave for today." Naruto gave Iruka and the librarian a quick bow and left the room after placing the reading materials back in their places.
Iruka stood there, not very sure of what to think. "He wants to practice now?..." All he could think was that if this was a prank, it was the most elaborate that Naruto had ever done.