Chapter 188: A Year of Progress

Like it had many times before, summer came and went with little issue for Konoha, our village remaining within its peaceful 'Silver Age' where we continued to make progress growing our strength, but not by the leaps and bounds that we had once managed to maintain back when we had the Senju's, some Uzumaki's, the Uchiha's and many more; the village of today looked different in many ways, both good and bad.

For me, it was only getting better, though knowing that a significant portion of our fighting strength was still missing was never a good feeling - especially not when we now knew what had truly happened to the Uchiha Clan, and how avoidable it could have been.

But again, I was more focused on the future instead of the past, and with summer making its exit ever so gradually, I once more returned to the Academy and began to sharpen my students for their final year, going over all the preparation that I could to get them even more ready for the life of a Genin than they already were.

The obstacle course outside was being used almost every day, we took excursions into the small forests within Konoha's walls to practice tracking and hone their observational skills, continued to spar and experiment with many different weapons and styles...

Each day that I was at the Academy, there was rarely a dull moment that would occupy my time for long, the changes I had helped bring about to the Academy earning me praise and responsibility in equal measure, with some of that being accompanied by an increase in pay as well... which was more than nice, especially with all of the girls back home slowly growing bigger with every passing day as well.

Heading out early in the morning before the sun had come up, I would spend a few minutes with whichever of the four girls were awake, playing with them a little and enjoying their company before putting them back to bed, where they promptly fell back asleep and waited for someone else to come check on them in a few hours.

Kurenai and I would eat at home and make our way to the Academy as quickly as we could, allowing us to prepare for the day ahead or take that time to unwind in our empty classrooms, indulging just a bit as we quietly embraced before our students arrived.

When they did, Kurenai continued to teach them about the intricacies of Genjutsu and tell them about the rich history of our village as well as the history of the other villages too, ensuring they could go about their lives understanding just a bit about why the world was the way it was, even if none of us could truly answer that question...

Then the girls came to my classroom and asked me about anything at all, asking me to help hone out their skills some more, ask me about various theories that they had or how to do something more efficiently, plead for me to help them understand what was going on in their peers heads - usually the boys - and many other things, ensuring that our period was spent together in a unique way each day.

Ami, Hinata, Ino, Sakura, Tenten, Aki, Ika, Fuki, Kasumi, Midori... all ten of my girls were growing more by the day, maturing beneath the various exercises I put them through and learning how to put aside their differences to work together, placing any slights or jibes sent their way on the back burner and focusing on the task at hand... though they were still rather feisty and competitive, which I had no issue with.

If anything, I had to admit that it was both amusing to witness and rather healthy for them in general to be as feisty as they were, with Sakura and Ino being the two constantly at one another's throats about any little thing...

Which made it funny to watch whenever we were reunited with the boys and someone tried to calm them down, earning themselves the fury of two girls instead of one as they both told whomever was unlucky enough to try and calm them down to piss off lest they get hit, even if that person was Sasuke, the reason they usually fought...

And even though I had less contact with the boys than I did with the girls - obviously - it was impressive to see how far they had come as well, how they had changed over these years and become new, better people, trying their best to become better at whatever it was that they did.

Naruto still played his tricks, but now he focused on improving himself and proving to everyone that he was able to one day become Hokage, which only made some of the others smirk at him before they announced their own bids for the position - something that Hiruzen would always watch on with interest and feigned anger as he asked if they wanted him dead.

Sasuke came out of his shell as well, no longer as reclusive and lonely as before and willing to open up to others, though he was still the same arrogant 'Prince' that Sakura and Ino believed him to be, and I doubt that will ever change... but seeing him with Naruto, and watching as he actually accepted his peers instead of pushing them away, it was amazing to see.

Watching all of my students gradually grow and mature over time was a beautiful sight to see, and as the days began to pass, I only got to witness that more and more as we continued to train until the year came to a close once more.

In the blink of an eye, graduation was upon us, and that... that was something that I think we were all looking forwards to.