Chapter 3 - Father and Son, an unlikely cheerful duo

The bright blue sky that stood high above the village was nowhere to be seen, in its place, a desert of grey and black appeared. It rained down white dots in the street and covered it in a layer of snow.

Today is my first day in the academy, first comes the test, and then If I pass, my classes will start a few days later. Although I'm just four years old, my mother says that I'm quite powerful for someone my age, that if I wanted I could probably fight with an average adult commoner without much trouble.

And she is right, with my skills and abilities from my past life, not many would be able to face me so long as our power is at similar levels.

Standing at the door, I furrowed my brows as I looked at my mother who didn't stop checking me and asking me repeatedly if I had brought everything I needed with me.

"MOM! I ALREADY SAID! YES, I HAVE MY SCARF, MY PEN, AND EVERYTHING ELSE!"

Despite my enraged cries, she chuckled at me and shoved my face in her ample breasts, making me desperate for air!

"Silly Tetsuya, even if everything is okay, I'm still worried about you and won't be able to rest easy if I don't make sure..."

Hearing her words, my heart shook for a moment. I stopped struggling and hugged her back instead of trying to get away. I had forgotten what it was like to have a mother, and now that I think about it, I also lost my mother when I was four, she was a victim of the war.

"Hahaha! Look at my handsome Tetsuya! I bet all the girls in the class will fall for you!" My father smirked as he petted my hair, completely messing it up! Still, I had to agree with my father, I had taken a look at the situation at the academy, and my appearance seems to be up to the standard of what those girls seemed to like. I have long and smooth black hair, and my light amber eyes are actually very uncommon in the whole village, I can't really speak of my facial features, as that should be a personal taste for everyone, but I think people tend to like those with sharp and serious faces like mine.

Don't get me wrong... cough. I'm not mentioning this because I didn't have a girlfriend in my previous life, that's definitely not the case.

"Ahh... fine, fine. Can I go now?"

Seeing my insistence, the two smiled lovingly and gave me one last hug before letting me go.

After walking a few meters, I noticed that they were still looking at me, so I raised my hand to wave them goodbye without looking back.

On my way down to the Academy, I saw many kids around my age, some older, some much older... Apparently, four years was the standard age to get enrolled.

When I entered the place, I felt an alien feeling rushing up to my heart.

Seeing the chattering, the happy smiles, and the kids playing, I couldn't help but compare this to what I have read in history books. On Earth, technological advancements have made schools completely outdated, knowledge was transferred to your mind via the neural link, so I never had the opportunity to feel what was like to be in a place full of kids playing around and pretending to be studying...

As I had stopped at the entrance, many people had walked past me, but a pair of strange people stopped to greet me.

"GOOD MORNING, YOUNG MAN!" I turned back to look at them and gasped as I saw what seemed to be an adult in green spandex and a chibi version of the adult wearing the same clothes!

"GOOD MORNING, FRIEND!" The chibi version of the man repeated similar words, as both he and whom I assumed to be his father flashed a thumbs up and a big shining smile.

Looking at the two of them for a second, I couldn't help but exclaim loudly in my mind! 'Shit! This world has cloning technology!? What the hell?!'

"Eh... Good morning?" I answered in a questioning kind of way.

"My name is Might Guy! I hope we can become friends in the Academy!" The little guy full of energy reached out his hand for a handshake as he smiled full of vigor.

"YES! THAT'S IT! FRIENDSHIP IS THE TRUE POWER OF YOUTH!" Might Guy's adult version exclaimed as he raised his hand high up in the air with tears in his eyes.

Gosh, what a melodramatic person... he could probably become a successful actor in modern-day Earth... Still, I actually liked them, the village is a little bit depressing, so seeing such cheerful personalities was kind of rare.

"My name is Izumi Tetsuya, I'm glad to meet you, Guy."

After I shook Guy's hand he suddenly fell on his knees and started crying. "Uuuh, I didn't believe it, but you were right, papa!"

Guy's father laughed loudly attracting the gazes of everyone in the vicinity! "What did I tell you, son? I knew you would make a friend as soon as you came to participate in the entrance examination!"

Seeing the father and son duo crying and hugging each other happily, I felt... bad for some reason. Could it be that people don't like them?

Gulping I patted Guy's shoulder and said. "Guy, I know your father and you have a lot to talk about, but we should get inside, the examination is about to begin..."

"Ah!? Is that so?!" Guy then turned to his father and after smiling at him he said. "Papa! I'm going now!"

"Umu! Good luck, Guy! I believe in you!"

While I was getting moved by their awe-inspiring father-and-son relationship, some people didn't feel the same.

"Tsk, what a bunch of weirdos!"

"Is he a pedo? Should I call for help?"

"Yuck! I hope this kid doesn't get accepted in the entrance examination!"

Those hurtful whispers got louder and louder till everyone could hear it clearly, I could feel the despise and mocking in both their voices and eyes and this irked me a lot! How could they treat those two like that for free!? What's wrong with these people?! Just as I turned back and was ready to teach them a lesson, Guy's father flashed behind me and patted my shoulder.

The hairs on my back stood up at that moment, was that pure physical prowess? What the... How can he be so fast!?

He smiled brightly as he shook his head. I was confused at that moment, but his next actions cleared my doubts.

Looking at the crowd, he showed a thumbs up and smiled as he said loudly. "Yeah! Thanks for your support!"

"Tsk, this Duy is so stupid, let's go, I have more important things to do."

"Yeah, me too."

At that moment, I felt my eyes getting warm. How could I not recognize the naturality in Duy's actions? How much time has it been since it started? I couldn't tell, but the harassment against Duy ran so deep it couldn't even bother him anymore.

A man can strengthen his body to face his enemies but to strengthen one's mind to face one's inner demons, that's something only the wisest of men can do.

Bidding our farewell, both of us went inside. Due to a stroke of luck, I and Guy were going to be tested by the same Chuunin shinobi.

The test was divided into three parts, the written exam, taijutsu exam, and ninjutsu exam. The first part wasn't that troublesome, so long as you had some general level knowledge you could pass it easily, the last two though were basically to screen out kids from purely civilian families.

Taijutsu wasn't easy to self learn, and without guidance, I imagine that Ninjutsu is also difficult to learn because not a single kid should be able to notice the importance of Chakra control without someone experienced guiding them, so when they try learning Ninjutsu, they would meet many unnecessary troubles.

The written exams went without trouble for me, with my knowledge I could probably advance the Ninja civilization by a few hundred years, but I wouldn't do that, of course. Knowledge is a blessing as much as it is a weapon, and those weapons are better off in my favor than against me.

But when I looked at Guy, I could see that he was having troubles, the sweat falling down his face would probably be enough to make a pool with it...

I could only sigh at his predicament, the examination room had four shinobi all around, if one of us tried to cheat, we would be caught easily.

"Hey, you!"

Hm!? I turned to look at one of the examiners, but another kid was looking at him as well.

"Get up! Cheating is not allowed!"

"B-but!" The kid stood up and tried to argue, but the man just ignored him and brought him out of the classroom where the examination was taking place.

I sighed at that and looked once more at Guy. In the end, I can only wish you good luck.

----------------

In an office full of documents, a man in white robes wearing a large white and red hat was looking at a crystal ball. Beside him were men of the notorious Anbu, an elite division of Shinobi responsible for doing many shady and dangerous tasks for the village.

Waiting patiently, none of the men spoke a single word as the Hokage watched through his crystal ball the ongoing examination. After a quick inspection, he turned to look at them. "Any interesting examinees?"

A man with white hair and his face covered by a mask approached and kneeled down as he spoke. "Reporting to the Honorable Hokage. Based on our analysis, there are only a few people of interest."

The man took out a scroll from his pocket and opened it in front of the Hokage so that he could see it. "Starting from the first in the list. Hatake Kakashi... my son. Even though he is only taking his entrance examination, his standards are already at the Genin level. Then, Sarutobi Asuma, with Honorable Hokage's training, is also much stronger than most students joining in this time.

"Notable individuals that aren't from any powerful clan or from civilian descent are, Yuhi Kurenai, Nohara Rin, Fujimura Ebisu, Shiranui Genma, Mitarashi Anko, Morino Ibiki, Gekko Hayate, and lastly, Izumi Tetsuya."

A/N: (Ebisu's surname isn't canon, only adding because it was never mentioned if he even has a surname)

Hearing this, the Hokage was surprised for a moment and asked with a curious voice. "No one from the great clans? Not even the Uchiha or the Hyuga?"

Hatake Sakumo shook his head. "There are only two Shinobis from the Uchiha clan joining in the test this time, they are Uchiha Obito, and Uchiha Kyoko, the boy is a lost cause, and the girl is only half Uchiha, so it's not certain if she can even completely awaken her bloodline limit. The only Hyuga participating is from the branch clan and his parents are civilians, he is called Hyuga Takehiko."

The Hokage sighed as he smoked his pipe. Standing up he went towards the window and looked outside at the gloomy weather. After thinking for a moment, he turned back and said. "If they pass, I want everyone on the list to be in Class 1, also, make sure to accompany their progress in the shadows, I will personally select the leader of their Genin team once they graduate."

"At your orders!" The men answered at the same time and flashed out of the office, leaving Hiruzen Sarutobi alone to think about the future.

Smoking his pipe, he leaned his hat down slightly and said in a low voice. "Danzo... I won't allow this batch to fall into your hands like last time... Only Minato and Kushina are left from the previous one... It's time to have new blood in my faction." Sighing, he sat down on the chair and started rummaging through the documents.