11 Academy Arc 3

The first week of the academy were, for the lack of a better word, boring, as it focused entirely on theory. Iruka had spent the past five days going through some general knowledge of the world, such as some basic information about the elemental nations, and some sanitized, PG rated, explanation about the purpose of shinobi and shinobi villages. We were shown the respective symbols of the various hidden villages and warned to steer clear of anyone bearing their sigil without the presence of any other adults.

We have yet to even begin any form of physical training, as the teacher obviously wanted to facilitate the entire process by getting us familiar with the concept of a shinobi and the reasons for their existence. The entire spiel sounded vaguely propaganda-ish as it painted Konoha in a very good light while at the same time vilifying other shinobi villages, as though every other foreign ninja were responsible for all that was bad in the world while Konoha existed to protect the innocents from them.

It sounded like some bovine excrement to me, but I just listened silently to the lecture since I was looking forward to receiving some INT points for staying attentive in class.

Even though Iruka had briefly touched on some of the less pleasant duties of a shinobi, he repeatedly emphasized that what they did and what we might do in the future was all for some abstract conception of a greater good.

I saw the lecture for what it was, subtle, mental conditioning to instil the younger generation with loyalty to the village and a semblance of justification for the evils we would commit for the sake of our village.

I understood where the village was coming from, get them while they're young right? But I saw through the charade naturally and I was confident every other veteran shinobi who have performed some nasty acts in the name of Konoha saw through it too.

There was a reason why missing-nins existed after all, not because they were not willing to commit evil for their village, but because they could not stand the hypocrisy and self-important righteousness of their leaders.

While I had no issue with that, since I knew what I was getting into when I picked this universe to reincarnate into, it wasn't my place to shatter the rose-tinted glasses the other students had on shinobi life.

But I was excited for today, as Iruka had announce the previous week we were going to be going through some exercises for him to evaluate our general fitness and skill level and thus know which students, such as the civilian-born ones, needed more attention and guidance.

We were ushered into the academy training ground, significantly larger than the one at the student dormitory I was living in, and saw a blue-haired chunin wearing a bandana that doubled as a forehead protector waiting for us on the fields. I recognized him as Mizuki, the traitor who would eventually reveal Naruto's status as a Jinchuuriki to him and then try to kill him.

Keeping my face impassive, Iruka stood before us and spoke, "Today we will be testing your general competencies. How? Your first activity will be running around the track twice – which adds up to a distance of 1 kilometre, and you will be timed. Next, will be a shurikenjutsu test, you simply have to try and hit the target with some shuriken. Following that you will be split into pairs and engage in a mock duel for us to identify your areas of improvement."

"Of course, you don't have to worry about performing well, we know you have only just started the academy and some of you might have never exercised or ever picked up a shuriken before. You just need to try your best and that will be enough. However, you should know that if we see that you aren't putting in your best efforts," He paused to look at some of the lazy boys he have since identified, "you will participate in some, how you say, rehabilitative supplementary classes after school."

The class groaned at that, "Hey, it's for your own good. Ah, Mizuki! Why don't you introduce yourself?"

At that, the blue haired chunin who was standing silently behind Iruka stepped up. "Sure. Hello everyone, you can call me Mizuki-sensei. Like your Iruka-sensei, I am also a chunin of Konoha. I have just returned from active duty and will soon be starting as an instructor here. For today I will be temporarily helping Iruka-sensei out as an assistant but after some time I will be joining full-time."

With the introduction done, Iruka turned to Mizuki, "As we discussed earlier, help me time the class while I keep watch over them when they're running."

As the two chunin instructors discussed the logistics, the class broke out in subdued whispers amongst themselves.

"Ne ne, Shinji-kun, you'll definitely do well since you train so much!" Kaori nudged me excitedly.

"I'll do okay I guess." I replied dispassionately.

"I'M DEFINITELY GOING TO BE THE FASTEST, DATTEBAYO!" Our conversation was interrupted by a boisterous scream that had me recoiling, from Naruto who had appeared next to us without my notice.

Kaori looked affronted on my behalf, "No way, Shinji-kun is definitely going to be faster than you."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

Naruto stuck out his tongue blew a raspberry that only incensed Kaori even further while I just looked away, embarrassed. Their exchange had drawn the attention from the rest of the class and I refused to be apart of the childish debate.

"Too loud… hahhh this is so troublesome. I just want to sleep." Shikamaru lazily yawned out while his childhood friend, Choji patted his back comfortingly.

"I know, I know. I hate running too. I'm not built for running."

Shikamaru idly glanced at his friend, "Your self-awareness is troublesome too."

The chubby Akimichi just smiled in response.

"Alright, listen up everyone." Iruka clapped to get our attention. "You will be running in batches of six, so there should be seven groups of you. One, two, three, four, five, six, you guys will be group 1, and one, two, three, four, five, six, you will be group 2…"

As Iruka was splitting up the class, I received a quest notification. Finally! It was the first quest created since I joined the academy, as most of my time was mainly taken up by classes which yielded no EXP and my free time was spent training up my current repertoire of skills. As such, my EXP bar had been stagnating since the first day of school.

[Quest Alert!]

Prove yourself:

Participate in the proficiency test!

-Finish the run in under 10 minutes

-(Bonus) Finish the run in under 8 minutes

-(Bonus) Finish the run in under 6 minutes

-Achieve 50% accuracy for the shurikenjutsu test

-(Bonus) Achieve 80% accuracy

-(Bonus) Achieve 100% accuracy

-Defeat your opponent in the spar

-(Bonus) Win without taking damage

-(Bonus) Knock out your opponent

Rewards:

+150 EXP

+100 EXP for each bonus objective cleared

+5 to CHA if all bonus objectives cleared

REP increased with 'Rookie 9'

REP increased with Umino Iruka

REP increased with Mizuki

REP significantly increased with Kaori

Failure:

REP decreased with everyone in Konoha

Accept? (Y/N)

I choked at the quest failure punishment but other than that, the other objectives seemed reasonable. The running time limit was reasonable for a group of 8 year old children, albeit shinobi-in-training children. Whereas the shurikenjutsu test might have phased me weeks ago, but now that my corresponding [Shurikenjutsu] skill level was at level 5 which boosted my accuracy by 50%, I was confident I could handle the test without issue.

The only challenge I felt apprehension towards was defeating my opponent in the spar; my concern being the likelihood that I might be paired with Sasuke, who was apparently stronger than me, according to the [Observe] status.

After I accepted the quest, I found myself grouped together with Kiba, Naruto and three other low-profile students. It appeared that the groups were organized based on gender as all the girls were in their own groups and similarly for the boys.

"Right, everyone, start stretching first. Do it properly or you will hurt yourself. Mizuki could you show them how?"

Soon the students started their runs group by group. Mine was the second group, and we got ready to begin as the first group was finishing up.

Taking our places at the starting line, Naruto turned to me grinning, "Get ready 'cos I'm about to leave you in the dust!" His bluntness lacked any genuine hostility, and only contained friendly competitiveness.

I smiled in response, "You're welcome to try."

Naruto seemed happy I returned his challenge with a jab of my own, but Kiba cut him off, "Hah! Neither of you are going to hold a candle to me! We Inuzuka are known for our speed!" I noticed that he did not have Akamaru with him yet, perhaps the pup had not been born yet?

I chuckled to myself deprecatingly. Great, two loudmouths in the same group, this will be fun.

The two noisiest academy students were bickering when Iruka interrupted, "Group 2! Get ready! On my mark!" They stopped their dispute and we readied ourselves.

"Don't fall behind too much or they might just kick you out of the academy." Kiba taunted towards Naruto

But before the blonde could shoot back with his own, Iruka shouted, "Get set, and… go!"

All of us immediately shot forwards, except Naruto who had been taken aback but desperately sprinted to catch up to us.

Running was not an issue for me, I had been doing so for the past month ever since I found the book on basic body conditioning and received the quest to level it up. 1 kilometre was peanuts for me as I ran way more than that long-distance to train myself. Besides, I was sure in my class, only Naruto would be able to keep up with me for a long distance run, because my Gamer's body let me fully recover my exhaustion with just a 30 minute rest. And while I never did time myself, 10 minutes shouldn't be a problem.

Next to me Kiba similarly ran without an issue, but I could feel him distinctly aware that I was keeping pace with him and he was intending to speed up. Behind us, the three other boys and Naruto struggled to catch up but the two of us in the lead were slowly picking up the pace.

While I wasn't interested in competing with the Inuzuka, I was aiming to complete the bonus objectives. With a deep intake of air, I charged forward, intending to go as fast as I could reasonably sustain for the entirety of the run.

Kiba was shocked at my sudden increase in speed but narrowed his eyes and pushed himself to keep up. I could hear from afar Kaori cheering for me, screaming, "Ganbatte Shinji-kun! You can do it!". Poor girl was slowly undergoing her transformation into a full-fletched fangirl huh?

Four hundred meters in, I could feel my legs aching as my short, 8 year old legs kept a constant momentum. My lungs were beginning to burn as well, begging for more oxygen. But I was comfortably in the lead, with Kiba just two arm's length behind and Naruto trailing behind him.

As I neared the end of the run, I decided to push myself for a last burst of energy and sprinted past the finish line. Mizuki who was holding a stop watch, gave me my timing as I went past him, "6 minutes 18 seconds. Good job. Don't sit down even if you're tired. Jog on the spot to maintain your heartrate."

Heeding his advice, I slowed my sprint down to a brisk stroll, taking a moment to pant for air, and looked back to see Kiba sprint past the finish line before collapsing on the ground, out of breath.

"6 minutes 42 seconds. Well done. Don't lay down. Stay standing and walk around or you might get puke." Mizuki chided before turning back to the other runners.

"I, can't. My, legs, are, jelly." Kiba wheezed on the ground, his chest sinking and rising in an exaggerated motion.

Chuckling, I walked over to him and put my hand out. "Come on, get up. Or else the others are going to trip on you."

Kiba wearily turned to me, "It's, fine, I, can't, stand, any, more."

I shook my head amusedly, "Yare yare, don't puke on me." I said as I reached down to pull him up and lifted his arm around my shoulders, walking him off the running track.

"Th-thanks. You, are, crazy fast, you know that?"

I nodded, "I like running. I run a lot." Although my high DEX stat sure helped very much as well.

"Oh yeah? I run lots too, we should, run together some time." Kiba asked, as I sat him down with the other students from the first group that ran before us.

"Sure, sure, I usually run at the public training ground near the stadium." I turned back towards the track. Naruto had just finished, looking only slightly winded. His issue wasn't stamina, but his speed and short legs were holding him back.