Chapter 20

'Ok, Eiji... Just do it,' I thought to myself after several deep breaths.

I was currently inside my room with the curtains closed and the door locked. It was already well into the night, so there was't any chance of Naruto needing me for anything. It was the perfect setting to do something that would get the little guy and/or our friends worried. They would call it extreme or something along those lines.

They didn't understand.

'Ok, let's do it,' I nodded to myself, a senbon held firmly in my right hand before, with one last intake of air, I nodded, exhaled and buried the tip of the weapon in my left forearm.

Why? Some may wonder.

I breathed weakly as I slowly started losing the feeling of my limb.

There was a very simple reason for this.

A small, wan smile formed on my face as the effect settled, barely getting past my shoulder but otherwise rendering my arm useless for the next few minutes at least.

A very simple reason, indeed.

[New Skill Acquired: Poison Resistance Lvl 1]

'There it is,' I sighed as I simply sat there and waited for the effects to pass. 'At least I have something to… do in the meantime, I guess,' I added inwardly as I looked up… or to the side. Directions while Wall Climbing… or Sitting, in this case, were weird.

[Poison Resistance – Lvl 1

Reduces the effectiveness of poisons by 1%.]

'So, it reduces effectiveness instead of just damage, that's gonna come in handy if I have to deal with non-damaging poisons,' I nodded, pleased by what I was seeing. I was already familiar with the disappointingly low 1% increase of Resistance skills thanks to Physical Resistance, fortunately.

'Talking about that,' I thought pulling up said skill's screen next to the new one.

[Physical Resistance – Lvl 10

Reduces the damaged received by purely physical attacks by 10%.]

'Well, I'm not gonna be tanking anything anytime soon, but this is definitely nice,' I nodded once more…

'Now, if only this process wasn't so slo-'

[Intermediate Chakra Control Exercises has gone up a level.]

'… Thanks, Game,' I thought meekly.

[}-o-{]

I hummed to myself one night after a particularly eventful day at the academy, three screens pulled up in front of me.

[Clone Technique – Lvl 1

E-rank technique with which the user creates an illusionary clone of themselves that dispels after taking damage.

Hand Seals – 3

Consumption – 5 Chakra Points per clone.]

'About as good as I expected… about as bad too, but it's what it is,' I mused regarding what was quite obviously the weakest technique of the Academy Trio, as some students called them.

[Transformation Technique – Lvl 1

E-rank technique with which the user creates an illusion over themselves to hide their identity.

Hand Seals – 3

Consumption – 10 Chakra Points. 1 Chakra Point every 2 seconds.]

'Pretty good, but I don't know how good it'll actually be in battle,' I thought to myself. 'From what we learned, the 'transforming into a shuriken' bullshit that Naruto and Sasuke pulled against Zabuza isn't actually possible with this. Either Naruto's unique version actually exists or this is just another example of AU.'

'Still, it should be useful for scouting and infiltration, if nothing else,' I decided in the end. 'The Chakra Point usage over time is new though… and kinda weird…' I added as an afterthought before shrugging.

[Substitution Technique – Lvl 1

E-rank technique with which the user switches places with an object of similar size.

Hand Seals – 5

Range – 1 meter

Consumption – 20 Chakra Points]

'Man,' I almost whined. 'If there's one of these techniques that's a disappointment is this one. I wanted to see if I could use a Flying Thunder God rip off with this, but that object of similar size is ruining the dream for me. Not to mention that the range is crap and is like not to be much better even while leveled up…'

'I guess it's an E-rank for a reason… Shouldn't have gotten my hopes up,' I sighed to myself.

"You done over there, Eiji?" Sasuke asked, finally having enough of my introspective moment. I was actually surprised it took him that long. Maybe we were having an effect on the Uchiha. Crazier things have happened, I guess. I was proof of that much, if nothing else.

"Yeah, let's do this," I thought as I stood up and stretched.

What followed was us throwing every jutsu and technique we knew at each other for as long as we could. I was pleased to know that I was keeping up with the chakra powerhouse that was Sasuke. He still lasted more than I did, but I was close enough for me to be satisfied.

It was sad that Substitution didn't see much use. I would have to grind that later by myself and see if the range increased to something that I could actually use in a somewhat serious exercise.

Even Transformation was used, even if it was only to confuse the other for a split second. It didn't work for much more, since we were doing it while sight of each other.

As a Sparkling Shuriken flew right beside me, I heard a loud sigh come from where the house was.

"I really don't get these two,"Ino said out loud, obviously expecting us to hear. "They are both crazy."

"You just figured that out?"

"Shut up, Shika."

[}-o-{]

[Lightning Release: Sparkling Shuriken has gone up a level.]

I looked smugly at the target in front of me, which had smoke coming off of several of the places where my shuriken had hit. My right hand came up, one of the weapons lazily spinning on my middle finger. Maybe I was letting my pride get the better of me, or maybe it was just that the feeling of actually using jutsu just wasn't wearing off, but I was infinitely pleased with myself.

I was even prouder of the changes that happened to the jutsu's skill.

[Lightning Release: Sparkling Shuriken – Lvl 5

E-rank technique with which the user launches a weak lightning-infused shuriken at their target.

Hand Seals – 3

Consumption – 9 Chakra Points per shuriken.]

First of all, the Hand Seals had gone down by one. I would have to test that though. It could mean that one of the seals was completely ignored and that was all, or it could mean that the other hand seals dragged out to fill for the timeframe of the deleted seal. I was more inclined to the first option, but that may have been my own wishful thinking.

The most important part though, was that it meant that I could lower the number of hand seals used by jutsu, probably until they weren't even necessary. That was a game changer if I ever saw one. Especially with the likes of Substitution (even if it was… ugh… balanced) or even Genjutsu. One of the major disadvantages of illusions was that if the enemy saw you do hand seals and then something suddenly appeared out of nowhere, they knew something was up. But if shit happened without signs of any kind, that changed things.

Then I frowned… I would need to find a way to justify the lessening of hand seal numbers if a teacher didn't mention that soon. Maybe ask Yachi or Iruka-sensei about it, discreetly that is.

[}-o-{]

"So, who are you?" The girl in front of me asked, standing there and squirming, somewhere between confused and nervous.

"Eiji Satou, an innocent victim of the crazy devil from hell," I answered my tone dead and my expression flat. Her shoulders slumped and looked exasperatedly towards her teacher.

"Well, I'm Tenten Higurashi, nice to meet you," I paused for a second to regard the girl with brown hair pulled into Chinese-style buns and steel grey eyes. I had thought that the surname was a fanon thing. I could have been wrong… or maybe fanfics were accurate wells of knowledge? Now that was a scary thought.

"Satou… that's not a clan name, at least not from here," The very obvious Hyuga boy, even if I had not known he was already, pointed out.

"That's because I'm not from a clan," I admitted easily. "And who are you? Isn't it common courtesy to introduce yourself?" I asked 'innocently'.

"Neji Hyuga," He replied curtly while the girl rolled her eyes at him. "And clanless children don't usually reach very high as shinobi," He 'helpfully' added.

"Well, then I'm the exception. I'm top of my class, by a very wide margin at that," And it was a statement to the truth of my words that I didn't feel the slightest bit arrogant for saying that. Everyone in our group had much stronger words to describe my performance at the academy. And Sasuke and Naruto got downright aggressive whenever I pushed the humble card too far.

And when those two agreed on something you knew it was serious.

"How did you even get dragged here?" Tenten asked, probably to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. Clever girl.

"I was free running through the village, and… I do that for training," I interrupted myself at the girl's intrigued expression. "And I came across that pair…" I cringed as I waved my hand towards the green-clad duo. One of which was grinning and giving the other a thumbs up while the other almost swooned at the gesture.

They had been like that for a while now.

"Anyway, it's not the first time that I get dragged into training with them… I thought this time I would get to escape it though…"

"Yeah well," She pointedly looked away from her sensei and his mini-me. "refusing training with Guy-sensei is harder than it appears to be…"

"Ain't that the truth," I sighed.

I was very proud of how well I was ignoring Neji's stare.

"If you think you'll reach high with no background… you are deluding yourself," He said and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"If you think I care about what you have to say… you are deluding yourself," I shot back with a smirk.

"Well, let's start with the youthful training."

All three of us, regardless of our opinion in several topics, groaned at that exclamation.

[}-o-{]

I really couldn't believe the situation I was in.

And that was saying something, considering that I had somehow found my way into regular meetings with the Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara clan heads and an informal relationship with the Hokage. Not to mention that I had somehow become an honorary member of the Inuzuka clan without even knowing about it until Hana had mentioned it during my last visit at the vet.

But this… this was…

'I need to distract myself with something,' I thought almost panicking.

[Prodigy: Improves the rate at which your stats and skills increase by 15%.]

'Aw man, what a distraction,' I almost smiled at the screen. The Title had been the only reward I had gotten from getting first place after the Mid Term Exams. Not that I was complaining. Not at all.

'It didn't quite work though,' I grimaced as subtly as I could.

Now, most are probably wondering what the hell was going on… well…

"Welcome to my humble abode, Satou-san, Uzumaki-san," Hiashi fucking Hyuga said. The guy was almost smiling for crying out loud. What the hell was this nonsense?!

A tiny part of my mind felt the need to internally snort at the 'humble abode' part. The guy was signaling a veritable Japanese-styled mansion, and even that description was probably understating it.

"Thanks again for inviting us, Hyuga-sama," I bowed once more, feeling cold sweat running down my back. I was really nervous around this guy. Canon didn't paint a very good impression of him, and fanon certainly didn't help.

"No need to be so formal, Satou-san, call me Hiashi," He said before smiling. Actually smiling at that.

I blinked.

'What. The. Fuck?!' And I wasn't even exaggerating with my response to all this madness, if Hinata's expression was anything to go by. Even Hanabi, who the Hyuga in our little group had always said showed little emotion, had her eyes wide.

"That would be disrespectful, Hyuga-sama, and please call me Eiji," I replied with my right eye twitching the slightest bit.

"I will, if you give me the same courtesy, Eiji," He shot back easily and I had to suppress a sigh.

'Sure, why the hell not? I'm already calling half the Shinobi Council by first name, what's one more?'

"If you insist, Hiashi-sama," I answered eventually.

"I do," He nodded, apparently pleased with himself. "I hear I have you to thank for Hinata's excellent performance in the Medical Training course," He started, once we made it into a room where we all sat around a square table and waited for a… servant? To bring tea for the five of us. It was really awkward for me and my brother though, since we had never been in a place so… high society.

"She's more than good enough on her own," I countered quickly. "She just needs a bit more confidence," Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, as my shy friend got a side-eyed glance through narrowed eyes.

"Yes, a pity," He said, his voice losing some of the cheer it had previously. "Still, I've noticed that your whole group got remarkably good results," I tilted my head at that, not sure if he was going somewhere with this or if it was just small talk. I really doubted the second option though.

"A good deal of our time is spent studying and training," I nodded.

"Oh?" His eyebrows rose a bit. "It's rare to see the young be so dedicated. I'm happy to see it though, I've tried my best to instill that mindset in my own children."

"And you've succeeded, Hiashi-sama," I smiled at Hinata, who seemed to be trying her best to unlock an invisibility Bloodline Limit of some kind. "Hinata works harder than most of us," Which in reality wasn't much of a compliment, since Ino wasn't really fond of working out, Naruto couldn't be bothered to train anything other than trapping and fuinjutsu these days, Chouji was very laid back and Shika was… Shika. The Hyuga Clan Head didn't need to know any of that though.

"I'm aware, and I'm very proud of her," This seemed to be news to the girl in question though, if her blush and wide eyes were anything to go by.

"As well you should," I replied easily. When I looked to the side though, I had to pause and blink. There were Naruto and Hanabi, who had ended up sitting next to each other and… Hanabi was giggling at something that Naruto said.

'You using the Talk no Jutsu again, Naruto?' I wondered for a moment. When my eyes went back to the Clan Head, I found him and his elder child looking at the scene too, absolutely baffled. 'How does it feel, huh, Hiashi? Not so fun when you are the shocked one, is it?'

"Anyway," The man started, clearing his throat. "I was going to ask if you could look after Hanabi in the future too, but as it seems, she is taking the initiative this time," He explained as he continued staring at his youngest and my brother. 'So, that's what he wanted? What are we, private tutors? Free ones at that,' I thought amusedly.

"We would love to," I replied easily. There was no need to reject the girl's company. Even if her father had ulterior motives for the whole thing. It wasn't really her fault and, in a way, the man just wanted the best for his daughters… maybe. One could hope. "She seems like she'll fit in."

"She's been having trouble befriending children her age, so I'm glad to see her happy," The pair seemed to finally realize that they were the center of attention for everyone else. Naruto instantly started scratching the back of his head and Hanabi went beet red. I chuckled as I shook my head, Hinata seemed… happy, I don't know if I should be surprised or not by that. Hiashi, for his part, seemed like the happiest man on earth. At that very moment, I really wanted to know what was going on in his head. But alas, I was no Yamanaka.

A stray thought crossed my mind as I made small talk with Hiashi Hyuga though.

'If Danzo asks me to call him by first name if/when I meet him, I'm gonna lose my shit.'

[}-o-{]

I had known it was a possibility. I had even prepared for it. But still, the sight of Mizuki entering behind Iruka made me feel all kinds of things inside. I was worried that he would mess with Naruto's clearly improved performance to get what he wanted. I was angry at him, just because of what I thought he would do. But mostly, I was wary.

I didn't actually have a reason to, though, so I had to do my best to conceal my thoughts. At the slightest clue though, all bets were off. Nobody would mess with my friends.

I nodded along as Iruka explained that we were working on many practical things and thus we needed another chuunin to supervise our progress.

'For your sake, I hope you aren't bad, Mizuki,' I thought to myself, in the privacy of my room that night. 'You don't want to be another Kobu.'

That night I didn't have any problems sticking the poisoned senbon in my arm.

[}-o-{]

With a now familiar tingling sensation coursing through my palms, my hands twitched. The ninja wire that was wrapped around my fingers came alive as cackling electricity traveled through them. Soon, the usual scent of burnt wood reached my nose and I smirked as a screen appeared in front of me.

[New Skill Acquired: Lightning Release: Stunning Thread Lvl 1]

'E-rank and all, yeah, but still cool,' I decided, already coming up with uses for this specific jutsu. The Shuriken were nice, yes, but this could have a variety of uses, especially traps. I would have to run this by Naruto and see if he could give me extra ideas. His mind was scary but useful too.

[Lightning Release: Stunning Thread – Lvl 1

E-rank technique with which the user powers a thread of ninja wire with a weak lightning charge.

Hand Seals – 4

Consumption – 10 Chakra Points]

"Excellent work as usual, Eiji," Yachi-sensei praised with a wide grin.

I nodded at her, before moving to sit next to Sasuke. He had gotten the jutsu even quicker than me, which seemed to have the guy in a good mood… which was really difficult to notice for anyone that wasn't part of the group, usually. His expression was always the same, but his eyes showed everything to anyone that cared to look.

"Adding this to Ninjutsu training will be difficult," I commented as I took my seat and he hummed. 'At least he didn't grunt,' I thought to myself. "Maybe set up some threads before? We could add some logs and branches for Substitution too."

"Sounds good," He nodded. I was just glad he actually spoke. I grinned as I turned to look at the others.

Distractedly, I pulled my other Lightning based jutsu.

[Lightning Release: Sparkling Shuriken – Lvl 10

E-rank technique with which the user launches a weak lightning-infused shuriken at their target.

Projectiles have a 5% chance of doing lightning damage if they fly close enough.

Hand Seals – 2

Consumption – 8 Chakra Points per shuriken.]

It was a beauty, if I was completely honest. Not only had I managed to lower the Hand Seals and Chakra Consumption, but the levels had also added an effect. Effect that, I might add, was 'cool as hell'. Naruto's words, not mine.

As it turned out, the decreased hand seal problem hadn't been as difficult as it seemed. One chat with Yachi-sensei had cleared for me to 'try' using less, since she explained that with practice, the jutsu would come naturally to me without the need for certain hand seals. She had also explained how that would lead to no hand seals needed at all and a lecture that quite frankly was awesome and boring at the same time. Not sure how she managed that.

What I got out of that was that I was a step closer to being badas- I mean, to being powerful enough. Yeah, that.

…

I was spending entirely too much time with Naruto.

[}-o-{]

"Very impressive progress, Naruto," Hiruzen praised, making the blonde beam at him. My brother's progress in fuinjutsu was so good that I didn't even feel like the man was lying the smallest bit. "And you too, Eiji."

"I haven't even showed you anything," I replied, raising an amused eyebrow at the man. He responded in kind.

"I do have access to your results at the academy," I was forced to nod, acknowledging the point as I made my move on the board. "And I was also referring to your Shogi skills," The old man added with a chuckle and I rolled my eyes.

"I'll believe it when I actually win against someone."

"Hey! You win against me all the time," Naruto frowned.

"I meant against someone that knows how to play."

"Oi!"

"I do believe that your first victory is near," The Hokage commented, although he seemed far too amused by our byplay. I didn't know if to take his words seriously. But all in all, I could almost taste my win against Shikamaru already. It would happen soon. I knew it.

For now, though…

[Shogi has gone up a level.]

[}-o-{]

"… and then Sakura said that I should try letting my hair down instead of using a ponytail, that it would go better with the outfit we were seeing too," Ino relayed as we worked on my personal garden. She almost pulled the puppy dog eyes to get me to agree. Not that I really needed that much convincing, I just didn't like making her work on something that was mine only. But if she insisted…

"Well, I don't know what the outfit really looked like, and I'm not much of a fashionista," I commented with a shrug as I pulled out some weeds. "But I personally prefer girls with their hair down. That said, I think you make it work really well. I wouldn't change it."

"Thanks, Eiji. That's what I told her. I don't think I'm changing my hair cut anytime soon," She said before nodding and humming, apparently very happy with my words. "I do think I could get the bang to be bigger," She muses, mostly to herself, huffing the piece of hair up for emphasis. I took a moment to amuse myself with the thought that that's exactly how she was wearing her hair after the timeskip.

"We'll just have to see once you decide," I said noncommittally. "So, your outings with Sakura are going well?" I asked as carefully as I could manage. We had carefully avoiding the topic so far, and I was sure most of the others weren't even aware that it was happening at all. But the elephant in the room had to be addressed eventually.

"Yes," She answered eventually, slowly and more than a little unsure. "It's just like it was back when we were best friends. It's as if nothing happened."

"But something did," I finished for her. "And you don't know how to deal with the same situation after that."

"Yeah," She sighed, her head dropping down to look at her glove-clad hands.

"Has she asked to join the group again?" I continued with a soft tone, making sure that she knew she didn't need to answer.

"She did," Ino replied. "And I told her no, every time."

"And how did she react?" I prodded a bit.

"She… didn't seem to mind…"

"Hmmm," I hummed, as I continued working.

[Gardening has gone up a level.]

'Seriously not the time, Game,' I grumbled internally.

"Next time she asks," The blonde turned to me and I had a hard time reading anything but curiosity in it. "tell her she can come, but to not-"

"Make a scene with Sasuke, got it," She finished for me quickly and we shared a small smile. Although, the young Yamanaka seemed to be halfway between excitement and dread. "You sure the others won't have a problem with it?"

"They shouldn't have more problems with it than they did when I let you come," I shrugged and she playfully punched my shoulder. "I mean… they may be a bit wary, but it shouldn't take long for her if she behaves."

"Thanks, brother," She exclaimed hugging me.

"I would be a lot more appreciative of the hug if your hands weren't covered in dirt," I deadpanned and she stuck out her tongue at me.

Why were all my siblings so childish?

[}-o-{]

I stared.

Everyone else blinked.

I grinned.

Shikamaru grinned back.

I snorted.

"I knew it was coming and still…" Chouza shook his head with a wry smile.

I chuckled.

"Just do it already," Naruto and Ino rolled their eyes at me.

I laughed.

[Shogi has gone up a level.]

'Who cares about the fucking levels!' I shouted in my mind, still laughing and now holding my sides.

"My turn," And my laughter died a swift, merciless death.

"Shika."

"Yeah?"

"I hate your father."

"Yeah, well… I feel you, bro."

"Oh, another member of the family?" Noriko joked as Ino's cheeks turned pink.

"So, about that match?" Shikaku asked, the Nara SmirkTM firmly in place. I simply glared as a response before my shoulders slumped.

"Way to kill the moment, Shikaku," I said, internally raging. This certainly wasn't how I expected my first win to go.

"I see it as payback for taking so long to call us by our names, brat."

"Why did I ever show respect for the likes of you?"

"Now, that's the real question," Chouza snorted before smacking his lazy teammate on the back. "No reason to do so at all, I tell you."

[}-o-{]

"You two are my best students of the year," Yachi-sensei started enthusiastically. She always seemed more like an older student than an actual teacher, which may have contributed to her being the most well liked teacher in the Academy. "And thus, I went to the higher ups and asked for permission to give the both of you an extra jutsu. A D-rank."

Yachi-sensei had had my attention since the very beginning. But the rank of the jutsu certainly got Sasuke's.

"Thank you, Yachi-sensei. We really appreciate it," I said instantly as I bowed, the Uchiha quickly following my example although he didn't say anything. Really, what did it take for these kids to show some respect and appreciation? I was starting to think that I was the weird one.

It wasn't a nice feeling.

Regardless of my inner thoughts though, Sasuke and I eventually found ourselves pulled out from the rest who were practicing both the jutsus that they had learned from their respective affinities. There, Yachi-sensei proceeded to teach us a new technique that… quite honestly, was a bit of a letdown.

Don't get me wrong, the Flashing Shuriken was awesome, it was just that… it was a stronger Sparkling Shuriken. It was also used with a fuuma shuriken instead of a normal one, but still. I had gone into it expecting something more… novel, if you get what I mean. Nevertheless, we got into it pretty quickly, especially when Yachi-sensei demonstrated the jutsu by splitting a rock in two.

One point in favor for the jutsu though, was that it had allowed the both of us to actively practice with our fuuma shuriken while in Shurikenjutsu class. I had been a bit bummed that the skill had stopped increasing due to not having moving targets to practice on. Now though, it was progressing nicely.

A few weeks after that chat with Yachi-sensei, I was found staring at a new screen.

[Lightning Release: Flashing Shuriken – Lvl 1

D-rank technique with which the user launches a lightning-infused fuuma shuriken at their target. The weapon also has increased cutting power according to level.

Hand Seals – 5

Consumption – 20 Chakra Points per shuriken.]

[}-o-{]

[Skill Maxed: Intermediate Chakra Control Exercises.]

[Chakra Control has gone up a level.]

[Chakra Control: C.]

'Perfect,' I thought to myself as I walked down the wall where I had been practicing. Silently, I pulled up a few screens to check numbers and the like.

Reaching the improvised Shurikenjutsu targets that we had set up in our backyard, I stood next to Sasuke. We traded a small smirk before we both went through the hand seals for Sparkling Shuriken and we both shot the cackling weapons towards our respective 'victims'.

"Show offs," I heard Naruto cough behind us, clearly not even trying to be discreet. We both ignored him.

Like before, I brought up screens and…

'Almost confirmed, Chakra Control reduces Chakra Point usage according to how advanced it is compared to the Jutsu Rank… around 10% for each full stage, if I had to guess… Good, very good. Not sure what the +/- stages do, if anything at all, but so far so good,' I grinned before going back to the house and picking up my fuuma shuriken. Chakra Control training would be replaced with Ninjutsu now. Especially considering that I had just lowered the Consumption of all of them.

[}-o-{]

"We couldn't do it, guys," Naruto said, lying depressingly on the desk he was sitting at.

"You still going on about that?" Ino asked, rolling her eyes at her fellow blonde.

"It was our last chance!"

"We tried, and that's what matters," Shino said with a sage nod as he pushed his shades up.

"I saw you sulking after the results came out, Shino," Shikamaru brutally attacked the Aburame's pride. The guy actually flinched at that.

"Wow, that was just cruel, Shika."

"Stop calling me that, Eiji," He grumbled.

"Want to act like a grown up now that we are out of the academy?" I smirked at him as I fingered my headband.

Glancing around, I took in the rest of the group. Everyone was wearing much the same clothes they had on the series, except Naruto that is. Even with the changes I had made though, I was amused to see the blonde wearing exactly the same clothes but with a different color scheme. The blue had been replaced with burnt orange and the orange turned into black. Granted, he had only got rid of so much orange from his outfit because he was wearing a bright orange shirt underneath the jacket, which he was wearing open and would only close when he needed stealth.

I was just happy not to have my eyes burnt off by the bright colors.

Me, for my part... I'll admit, my clothes were a bit on the edgy side. In my defense though, we were ninja, and as such, we were encouraged to use dark colors. That was my story and I was sticking to it.

Back on topic. I had decided to use a long black coat that reached mid-thigh. It was full of pockets on the inside, which would come handy not only to actually store things but also to pull out things from my inventory if I really needed to. I didn't need to have to explain how I got things out of nowhere, thank you very much. It also got rid of the need to use pouches for shuriken, senbon and kunai, which was a nice plus. Not that I had any problem with those.

Besides that, I also wore black cargo pants and black boots. Because no one could make me use sandals. Almost two years in and I still don't know why that's a thing. Everything had dark red accents to it. Ino had insisted on those and I had admitted that it did need some color. Also, Under the coat, that usually staid open much like Naruto's jacket, I wore a red shirt. The forehead protector had been… weird to wear on my, well, forehead, so I had followed Shika's idea and tied it on my right arm and called it a day.

Besides aesthetic changes and all that, I was also taking in the most obvious of changes that I had brought on. Naruto hadn't had any problems graduating. He would, Iruka told us, have passed even without all the extra points he gained through the Fuinjutsu and Trapping courses. He still couldn't do a Clone Technique to save his life, but he had mastered the Leaf Concentration exercise, which was enough to tell Iruka-sensei that the problem wasn't something that Naruto could correct in just a year.

All that had earned the blond an entire week of ramen once a day… only once though.

Mizuki had tried though. The guy had tried to teach Naruto slightly wrong in everything he did. And it also had taken us an entire month to notice, since it he was subtly pushing further and further. Once we did though… Kobu got a companion in our group's shit list. Not that we had gotten a go at Mizuki either, since he had 'mysteriously disappeared' after I had subtly told the Hokage what we found out.

I had grinned through the read from my Mystery Benefactor that night. Truly, Konoha's justice system was glorious when it worked.

"Now, as you well know, the ten of you have been selected to be part of Genin Teams," All the students present preened at that. I, however, had to pause and think how they would deal with this. I had honestly expected Sakura to be dropped out of this group. Even after joining our group and very reluctantly training with us, she was still a clear level beneath the rest.

If I hadn't seen the Mizuki problem be solved in a completely different manner, I would have feared the plot imposing over my own actions.

"First, Team Seven under the guidance of Kakashi Hatake," Everyone focused intensely on the teacher, which helped me hide just how much I wanted to hear this. "Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki."

I almost frowned as Naruto and Sasuke traded small smirks while Sakura pumped her fist. 'What's going on?' I thought to myself even as I congratulated the three of them.

"Second, Team Eight under the guidance of Kurenai Yuhi. Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka."

"Bad luck, Shino, Hinata."

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean, Naruto?!"

I leaned back, barely disguising my shocked state. It couldn't be…

"And last, but not least, Team Ten under the guidance of Azuma Sarutobi. Chouji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka," I gulped, even as Chouji and Ino pulled Shikamaru into a group hug.

What the hell had happened? Why was every Team the same? Had I been deluding myself? It couldn't be. What was the point? If my existence and actions weren't changing anything then… what was I even doing there?

'No,' I shook myself mentally. 'Something else is going on here…' I took a deep breath in. 'There must have been reasons for the groups, reasons that I didn't manage to change in their entirety… that must be it…'

I was interrupted from my internal crisis by Iruka's voice.

"And Eiji Satou has been given the privilege of one on one training from Tokubetsu Jounin, Anko Mitarashi."

I blinked... or I would have, but I was otherwise occupied looking at someone fly through the closed window with a gigantic banner that read: 'The most awesome teacher, Anko Mitarashi.'

"Now, where's the brat?"

"Eiji," Naruto breathed out. "Your sensei is awesome."

What was my response to this?...

"Troublesome…"

"Now you get it."

"Shut up, Shika."