Chapter 3.3- One Thousand Hands

XXXXX- KURAMA KIZURU- NINE YEARS BEFORE THE SECOND GREAT SHINOBI WORLD WAR

He watched his favourite classmate walk into the room with an easy smile on the face. He’d just finished with his assessment tests, and like exactly everyone expected, hr seemed to have had an easy time of it. Of course he did. None of the outs they’d asked Kizuru to do had been things Shori had had any difficulty with at all. After all, it had been him who’d helped Kizuru learn everything it would take to pass the exams. Especially the ninjutsu. For a family with a preternatural disposition for genjutsu, his family had an equally famous aversion to most forms of ninjutsu. The fact that the academy required to C-rank elemental jutsu of one’s own element as a precondition for graduation would probably have ruined him if not for Shori.

“How was it?” He heard Izuku ask. Of course he would be the first to ask. Kizuru noted how the kind boy’s cousin paid increased attention to the answer that Shori would give. At the beginning, he’d been very much against the friendship the boy was building with Shori, especially since his cousin was very publicly and openly doing her best to ensure that Shori lost the top spot at the academy. He’d thought the boy had been some form of trojan horse like Shori had told them about in that story. But three years together and he had to accept that the boy was mostly as genuine as he appeared to be. Even if Kizuru still thought he could see something sharp lurking behind the boy’s eyes when he thought no one was looking.

“That was the hardest test I’ve faced in the academy” he said with a hearty laugh, forcing Kizuru to crack a smile. Looking around showed him that most of the class shared the sentiment. Shori was famous for never finding any of their exams or tests difficult in the slightest. Even when, six months ago, Uraraka-sensei had given them an unpassable test to teach them about failure and the dangers of arrogance, Shori was the only one who didn’t have any difficulty with the questions. He’d even somehow managed to get a perfect score on mathematics problems that were so far out of the syllabus that even chunin would have had difficulty solving them.

“That’s not a lot to go off of” Toshiro said, making him smile and shrug again before he walked in and took his seat in between Kizuru and Izuku while Toshiro himself was called in to take his test.

“Your test sounds very different from mine” He said, turning to his friend.

“You mean they didn’t make you fight a chunin as well?” He asked with a laugh that rang hollow in the face of the class’ sudden silence. He’d fought a chunin. A middle tier ninja. Sure, Chunin weren’t necessarily the strongest of opponents since their strength could vary wildly. He could have fought a chunin from the Cryptoanalysis squad or something, but the fact that he’d fought one, taken shorter than everyone else had on their test, and still come out unscathed was a feat beyond feats.

If Kizuru wasn’t personally aware of his terrible lying skills, he’d have accused Shori of trying to pull their legs. He could see some of their classmates coming to that conclusion on their own, and he almost tsked in disappointment. Shori never smiled when he lied. He did it with a straight face. Sure, it was the perfect way to deliver something that one wanted to be taken seriously, but considering he’d not even been able to avoid cracking a smile when he had to break the news to Inukuro that he’d broken his puppy’s leg in their friendly spar, Kizuru had concluded that he’d smile no matter what. Only when he lied did he manage to avoid it. 
“What do you think our teams will be?” Izuku asked, making Kizuru slam back to attention. Team assignments. That was one thing that he’d been both thinking about and trying not to think about at the same time. After all, it could turn out very good or very bad for him. Uraraka-sensei hadn’t given them much information on the matter. In fact, all he knew could be summed up in three points.

One, their scores in the final exams and throughout the academy would be taken into account. He didn’t know precisely how they would be considered but it could range from putting the highest scoring students together or trying to balance it out by averaging a mix of the scores. He felt the latter would be less likely. Right from the beginning of their time in the academy, it had always been about putting the best of the best together. That was why he’d put so much effort into these exams. He’d studied his arse off, day after day and night after night. He’d punched posts until his fists bled and his aunt screamed at him for taking things too deeply. She never felt the pressure he did. The pressure to beat the best of the best that the strongest clans had to offer to make sure he ended up in the right team.

Two, their compatibility as people would matter. This was one of the places where he knew that he had the advantage over most of the others. He and Shori were friends. The best of friends, if he were being precise. The only one that could even vaguely be considered as close to Shori as he was was Izuku, and being on the same team with the both of them would be perfect. He’d take the Uchiha as a third over most others. Especially that Nara who thought that she could intrude on their friendship simply because of their familial relations.

Three, the balance of their abilities. Shori was good at everything. Everything that mattered, at least. But Kizuru was one of the few people in the class who could claim to be better than him at any particular ninja art. As the Kurama clan head, he was born for genjutsu. But he hadn’t stopped there. He’d trained with his aunt until he’d gotten so skilled that he was even better than their chunin sensei. His aunt called his genjutsu potential the highest she’d ever seen. Hopefully, that would mean that he’d be put on the same team with Shori to make up for any genjutsu deficiencies that might exist in the team. He was sure of it.

He became even more sure when on the very next day, the class rankings were posted. As expected, every one in class A had passed the final exams, but the rankings were beyond what most people could have foreseen. He walked to the board with a light feeling in his chest as he stared at his position on the list.

1. Senju Shorirama

2. Uchiha Uzume

3. Uchiha Izuku

4. Kurama Kizuru

No one would be insane enough to put Shori and angry Uchiha on the same team, so he was sure of it. The three of them. He, Izuku, and Shori would be on the same team. Perfection. Few things could ever be so glorious.

A/N; How’s it look?