Chapter 24 - New Year, New Me (Kinda)

Konoha, Year 56, Start of the New School Year.

Mikumo rushed outside after slightly oversleeping. Though, she still had time to eat her breakfast.

"Okay, bye mom! I'll see you later!"

"Bye honey!"

After Mikumo exited her house, she saw Kakashi standing outside leaning against the wall waiting for her.

"Kakashi?"

"Jeez, took you long enough. Were you planning to skip today or what?"

Mikumo cupped her cheeks happily and smiled.

"Aww, did my little Kakashi want to walk to school with me? Don't worry, your big sister will protect you, here, come take my hand."

"Ugh, never mind, I'm never doing this again."

"Ahaha, I'm just kidding~. Let's go!"

Mikumo and Kakashi rushed towards the academy, with their skills, they made it just in time. Mikumo led Kakashi to Class 2A, where he will be joining her.

Upon entering the class, Mikumo saw the pack of familiar faces and smiled.

"Ah, Mikumo-chan! Over here! We saved you a seat!"

Mikumo traced the voice over to Shizune, who was sitting at the same desk as Kurenai.

Mikumo nodded happily and then dragged Kakashi by the arm over to the table.

"Wait-"

"Kurenai-chan, Shizune-chan, do you guys mind if my little brother joined us as well? He's joining this class starting this year!"

The rest of the class looked over, drawn by Mikumo's statement, and stared curiously at Kakashi.

Kurenai and Shizune also moved their gaze next to Mikumo toward Kakashi and tilted their head curiously.

"Little brother? I didn't know you had a brother. Sure, No problem."

Kurenai said and then scooted over towards Shizune to make room for the pair. As Mikumo sat down and dragged Kakashi with her, she clarified.

"Ahaha, he's not my blood brother or anything, but we've known each other for a while now. He's the son of my teacher."

The class lit up in excitement upon hearing that.

"The son of your teacher? That means he's the son of the White Fang, right!? Wow, cool!"

The girl squad came over to crowd around Kakashi, but he simply closed his eyes and ignored them.

Mikumo chuckled and put her arms around Kakashi's neck.

"He's a little shy, don't worry, you can ask questions later. Can't promise you that he'll answer though!"

"Let me go."

Kakashi said with a cold-blooded tinge, but Mikumo knew that it was just to intimidate the other kids.

"Hehe, see, that's how he is. Leave him be, for now, he'll open up eventually."

"Aw okay, if you say so, Mikumo-chan."

The girl squad dispersed back to their seats and Mikumo let go of Kakashi to brood in silence.

At this time, Asuma who was sitting at another desk to Mikumo's left, directly next to Kakashi spoke up.

"Mikumo, so he's the son of the White Fang? Are you sure? Hmm...he doesn't seem that impressive to me."

Kakashi leered to the left toward Asuma and simply scoffed. Mikumo almost laughed at the familiar scene.

"Asuma, picking a fight already? Didn't you learn your lesson from last year? I'll tell you what, if you want to fight to challenge my brother, you gotta go through me first!"

"Heh! Just what I was planning already. Don't think you can keep your victory streak forever, Mikumo, I've been practicing a lot over the break!"

Mikumo smiled smugly and then stood up.

"Wanna bet on it? If I win this time, you will have to call me big sister Mikumo for the rest of the year! How about it?"

Asuma stood up and nodded his head confidently.

"Deal! And If I win, you will call me boss!"

The rest of the kids shook their heads and sighed. Obito laughed loudly from the back of the room.

"Hahaha, Asuma, if you just want to call Mikumo big sister again, then just say so, no need to do it in such a roundabout way! Everyone in the entire academy already knows about it already anyway."

Asuma gritted his teeth and turned back to scowl at Obito.

"Shut up, last place! This time will be different!"

"What!? I'll show you who's last place! Don't think you're the only one who's been practicing! I'll beat you the same way Mikumo did last year!"

"Obito, please, calm down!"

"Oh, sorry Rin, it's just a friendly challenge, hehe."

Asuma couldn't help but get stress marks on his forehead when dealing with Obito.

"Whatever, lover boy, just wait your turn."

Mikumo chuckled at her classmate's antics.

'Ah, I love this class.'

Mikumo turned to look at Kakashi to see his reaction to seeing Obito and Rin, but he showed no reaction at all. He simply just had his eyes closed with a bored expression.

Mikumo poked him in the side and whispered.

"Pst, hey, aren't you going to say hi to your friends back there?"

Kakashi turned over with a raised eyebrow and whispered back.

"I don't know anyone in this class, what are you talking about?"

"Huh?"

Kakashi sighed and shook his head.

"I spend all of my time babysitting you, how would I know anyone else?"

"Ah, oh."

Mikumo scratched her cheek shyly and didn't say more.

'Oh, I guess that's true. This must be another one of my butterfly effects. So that's why Obito likes to pick a fight with Asuma all the time, he's his new rival since he never met Kakashi. Oh well, what's done is done, I'm planning on changing a lot more stuff anyway.'

While Mikumo was contemplating her impact on the timeline, the class Chunin instructor Tooru Onizuka entered the room.

"Hey there, class! Looks like we're together again!"

"Onizuka-sensei! Woo!"

The boys cheered seeing a familiar face. Mikumo was also very happy, as Tooru helped her a lot over the past year in obtaining the learning method for various Water Style Jutsu.

"Hehe, I'm happy to see you guys too. I see you've already met our newest friend, Kakashi Hatake-kun! He skipped straight to this class due to his performance in the entrance exams, since this is technically his first year, make sure you guys make him feel welcome, alright?"

"Sensei, we don't you to tell us that, we wouldn't dare mess with Mikumo-chan's brother."

Tooru raised an eyebrow and saw Mikumo sitting next to Kakashi. Mikumo gave him a V-sign with her fingers and he simply chuckled.

"Is that so? Alright, good! Okay, class, it's the first day back, I'm sure you guys have a lot of energy. So let's go to the training ground, it's time for me to see if you guys improved at all between the school year!"

The boys in the class erupted into cheer.

"Yes!!! This is why you're the best instructor here, Onizuka-sensei!"

"Hehe, alright, let's go!"

The students followed Tooru to the training ground and gathered around him near the sparring area.