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Chapter 27

Iruka spoke to the class as we stood outside in the Academy training ground, "Today we will be testing your ninjutsu. When I call your name, you will demonstrate the Clone Technique. Remember what we discussed in class and try your best. First up, Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke stepped forward and created a perfect clone nearby. The expression on his face smugly told everyone how far beneath him the exercise was; several fangirls swooned at the cool smirk.

Despite several girlish cries from the class, I could hear Naruto mutter next to me, "Not bad, not bad."

Sasuke apparently heard Naruto because he raised an eyebrow and confidently asked, "Do you think you can do better?"

"I know I can do better! Check this out!" Naruto brought his hands together in a single hand seal, "Shadow Clone Technique!" Within seconds, the field was filled with tangible clones of Naruto, enough to outnumber the entire class.

Iruka poked a Naruto clone in the back of the head with his finger. Ignoring the now disgruntled clone, Iruka spoke to himself, "Tangible clones? The Shadow Clone Technique? And so many. Impressive." And then he realized he was still teaching a class and yelled at the blond boy clad in orange and black, "There's no need to show off, Naruto! Dismiss your clones. Since you are so eager, how about you show us a proper Clone Technique!"

All of the clones groaned simultaneously before disappearing in a puff of smoke. "Stupid Clone Technique. I don't see why I gotta use the Clone Technique when I know the Shadow Clone Technique. Aren't shadow clones better?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Making so many shadow clones is a ridiculously wasteful use of chakra. The same number of illusionary clones would have taken a fraction of the chakra you just used," Iruka lectured Naruto in front of everybody.

Naruto frowned as he brought his hands together again. He ran through a series of hand seals and, with a large puff of smoke, produced an exact clone of himself. Iruka passed his hand through the clone, who shivered like a ghost passed through him, and seemed satisfied. "Good job, Naruto," he said with a nod. Sasuke tried his best to look like he didn't care.

Unfortunately for me, Iruka called on me to demonstrate the technique after only a few more names. I had been meaning to shore up my ninjutsu. The strange, chakraless state that I had entered in my fight with Hinata had been receiving most of my attention recently. It was a shame that there was only so much time after academy to study and practice.

I stepped forward and performed the standard series of hand seals. There was only a small amount of the telltale smoke that indicated wasted chakra as my clone appeared. However, my clone looked ghostly pale and had plenty of obvious inaccuracies. I knew it was a disappointing showing for someone who had trained with Ebisu for nearly two years.

"Needs work, Haru," announced Iruka. He knew I had worked with the special jounin and obviously expected more. I could only scratch my head and exhale slowly, having done the best I could do.

The Hokage Memorial had become a popular spot, judging from the number of students who ate lunch atop the mountain. It had an unparalleled view of the village, and the Academy was right at the base so it wasn't too far to travel for lunch, especially not for would-be-ninja.

I was happy to see that Ino and Sakura had quickly become friends. Sakura was firmly in the Sasuke fangirl camp, and would spend a significant portion of each lunch talking about how cool he was. From what I overheard, Ino seemed to agree with whatever Sakura said, although she seemed more supportive of Sakura than competitive. Maybe it was because they met under different circumstances? I didn't really pay much attention to them, not being interested in girly gossip.

I was also glad to see that Hinata decided to start eating lunch with everyone. Other than Sasuke, the entire Rookie Nine were present, along with several other academy students. Despite the many small side conversations, there was a feeling of closeness as we all listened to Naruto's daily stories.

After classes, I took some time to visit my favorite tea shop. The waitress greeted me cheerfully, "Welcome, Haru! How is my favorite customer doing today?"

"Hello, Hikari-san," I said with a smile before taking a random empty seat. I had been coming here for years and the woman didn't need to hear my order to bring me a mug of green tea. It used to be all I could afford. Now it was a kind of tradition for me.

I looked at the young woman as she placed the cup in front of me. Hikari had dark blue hair, almost black. She had a cheery personality and attractive body.

"Hikari-san, if I asked you on a date, what would you say?" I asked seriously.

She paused, wide-eyed in surprise. "Hahaha, I'm a little old for you, don't you think? I will admit you're a cutie though. But you're a decade too early to be trying to date me though. What's on your mind? Girl troubles? Does little Haru have a crush already?"

"No, nothing like that. By the way, can I have some mochi today? Strawberry, please."

She smiled and nodded, leaving to fetch my order. I sipped on my tea and wondered to myself when exactly my life had become an anime. "Probably at the beginning." It was hard for me to think of myself as being a first year Academy student, much less a six-year-old. I think part of the reason why I teased Ebisu and Kurenai so much was that I was jealous such a hot kunoichi owed Ebisu a favor. It would be years before I could possibly get a girlfriend who was anywhere near 'my own age'. And I definitely did not want to get involved with anyone in my class. That would be far too disturbing.

On a more contemporary topic, intentionally locking up my chakra had been interesting to experiment with. After years of subconsciously drawing on my chakra to move under hundreds of pounds of extra weight, simply lifting my arm without employing any chakra had been a challenge. Trying to perform taijutsu exercises eventually became a bit easier as I weaned my body off chakra and learned to use my physical energies instead. If I had to guess, I'd put my abilities in such a state on the level of extraordinarily fit human from 'the old world'. It was far, far lower than what an average ninja could do.

I wanted to see if I could use bursts of chakra to augment my speed and strength while still maintaining the defense against the Gentle Fist. Honestly, I had no idea if it would work. After all, I had gotten the original idea from fanfiction, which was partly why I hadn't attempted it before my fight with Hinata.

That was really the only useful theory I could think of from 'non-canon' sources. Shikamaru didn't have a sister, and neither did Naruto. A few times, I had surreptitiously dropped hints at lunch that only someone from 'the old world' would understand. But as far as I could tell, I was alone here.

Hikari arrived with a large piece of pink mochi. I handed her some ryo and was about to nibble on my snack when the woman said, "By the way, your friend was looking for you. Blond hair, blue eyes, he was about your age and wearing orange and had weird lines on his cheeks. He wanted me to tell you if you came by that he wanted to speak with you." She shrugged and then left me alone.

"Naruto? Naruto wants to talk to me in private?"

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