Chapter 2.3- One Thousand Hands

XXXXX- HYUGA URAUME

She walked into the classroom, momentarily stopping in her tracks. There, right in the middle, two seats from the front, and two from the back sat her cousin. Senju Shorirama. It’s 6am she told herself as she watched him notice her and then erupt into a smile before waving at her. Ho could he have arrived this early? It didn’t even make sense. She’d decided to leave home at a ridiculously early hour so she could beat him to the academy for the first time, and now he was already here.

“How are you doing, Cousin? Good morning” He said to her, smile bright and hands spread out in a wave.

“Well met, Cousin. I do hope I have a good morning. I wish you the same.” She said in reply before walking in and taking her seat one away from him.

Last time she’d sat at his right hand side but since he’d gotten bored and made an explosive tag in class yesterday, Father had been very clear that she should keep a cautious distance. 
“So far away, Cousin” He said, calling attention to her choice of seat.

“No offence is intended, Cousin. I woke up feeling bilious and with a raging headache. I felt it would be better if I sat next to the window.” She said, lying with ease. Her cousin smiled at her, believing her words with no hesitation. It made her wonder, just like she had been doing for the weeks they’d spent in the academy, whether he was worth all the attention he received. Even before enrolling, she made sure to be constantly informed of the progress he made.

According to Kabuki, he was skilled with the gentle fist, but still quite a bit behind her when it came to expertise. He knew more kata than she did but when it came to sparring, he was apparently leagues behind her. That fact alone made her wonder if he’d turn out worth it. Father thought he could be Hokage one day, and quite frankly she could not see it. He was intelligent, to be certain. Physically skilled, as well. The only ones who could compare with his when it came to physical tests were the two Uchiha, herself, and the Inuzuka boy. The rest of the class were well behind them, with the Clan children closer than those of Civilian breeding.

Her cousin had returned to reading from his scroll so she settled to wait as their classmates began to trickle in. She noticed how, like yesterday, he went to the trouble of ensuring that no one sat at the seat to his left. Saving it for the Nara girl again? She’d asked Father why, and his best guess had been the blood relation that he shared with her. Her mother had been his Grandfather’s cousin, after all. That made them cousins, but not as close as she had with him. His mother was her aunt. That made her his closest relative close to his age.

When the class filled up, and even the Nara girl had entered, their sensei appeared in front of them with a body flicker. She subtly activated her byakugan to make sure there wasn’t another genjutsu ensnaring their perception. The fact that she’d fallen for the first genjutsu yesterday had grated at her more than she would have been willing to admit. With her doujutsu active, she noted the two other chunin behind the door.

“There are thirty-seven of you in this class now. We will be dividing you into classes of three. With each class having roughly 12 students a piece. If you hear your name you should please follow Jinpachi-sensei as he leads you to your new classroom” He said as one of the men behind the door walked in. His brown hair and brown eyes marked him to be what she’d heard her cousin impolitely refer to as an NPC. For some reason, he viewed having a regular appearance as the first sign that a person would not be destined for greatness. It was ridiculous, but had a strange logic to it.

Uraraka-Sensei went on to list out twelve civilian children who followed their new sensei out of the classroom with a mixture of confusion and excitement. They didn’t realise what was happening. When the next set of names were read out to follow the next teacher, she noted that this time they appeared more despondent. These ones were smart enough to realise that if they were being separated into classes the day after taking a test, then it had to be based on that test. The fact that not a single clan ninja had been called with their group should have made it obvious that they weren’t in the premier group.

“I’m sure you’ve figured it out now” He said as they remained 12 children in the classroom.

“We’ve been split up according to ability” The sole civilian in the classroom pointed out.

“Yes you have. This is class 1-A. You all performed the best in the assessment tests. But don’t let that get to your heads. Your place here is not set in stone. Every three months, you will take assessment tests along with the other classes. Only the top 12 will remain here. If you ever fall below that then you’d be reassigned to one of the other classes, depending on where you fall along the rankings.” He said, making the half of the class that had begun to whisper among themselves sit up suddenly.

“Just so you know where you fall in this class’ rankings and how close you were to being on one of the other classes, here are the rankings,

1. Uchiha Uzume

2. Senju Shorirama

3. Uchiha Izuku

4. Hyuga Uraume

5. Kurama Kizuru

6. Aburame Shiba

7. Nara Shikahime

8. Takehada Toshiro

9. Sarutobi Omoikane

10. Yamanaka Inoken

11. Akimichi Choni

12. Inuzuka Inukuro”

As each person heard their name, they proceeded to straighten up in their seats. She was unsurprised to have ranked below her cousin and the two Uchiha. They’d all made short work of the obstacle course in a way that she had not. The Gentle Fist did not require much in the way of flexibility and so her tutelage had lacked that. The Uchiha’s intercepting fist had a high flexibility focus, her studies had told her, and Kabuki had revealed that her Cousin spent a significant portion of his time stretching and had taken up dancing of all things. For the rest, the list fell just as she’d expected it to. The fact that the Inuzuka boy had performed better than her at the obstacle course and still somehow ranked last probably meant that he’d basically failed the written portion of the test. She could understand that. The test had been more difficult than she’d expected. It even covered some things that she’d yet to learn in her own studies.

Another surprising fact was the presence of the Civilian. He’d performed worse than everyone in the room at the physical tests. He’d even performed worse than some of the civilians that had been sent of the room to one of the lowest classes. The only way he’d manage to rank so highly would be if he’d gotten an essentially perfect score on the written test. That was impressive.

“Now that you know where you stand, our first lesson will be on Chakra natures” Her sensei said as he turned to the board and wrote down the day’s topic.

“First of all, what is Chakra?” He asked, and half the class rose their hands. Not her cousin, he never volunteered his knowledge like that.

“Nara-san” The sensei said, pointing at one of the few people without a hand raised. The girl looked like she’d been about to fall asleep. Uraume resisted the urge to sniff haughtily only by the tightest of margins as a result of the most precise application of will.

“Chakra is the combination of physical and spiritual energy” She said simply before returning her head to its position on her palm. Uraraka-sensei was pleased with the answer and moved on.

“Perfect. That is a textbook definition. Chakra can only be utilised in one of two ways. What are they?” He asked, turning to the class again. This time, Uraume was one of only four people with their hands up. This time, the Sensei pointed out someone with a raised hand. “Takehada-san, enlighten us”

“Shape transformation and nature transformation. Shape transformation works by using control of one’s chakra to force raw chakra to take a shape outside of one’s body. It is usually used in conjunction with nature transformation as there is no known jutsu that consists of pure shape manipulation. Nature transformation works by transforming raw chakra within one’s body into one of the five primary elements or a composite element made from a combination of any of those five elements as seen in Kekkei Genkai” He said, and she wondered where a civilian could have come across such information in such detail.

“Lovely answer, Takehada-san”

“He’s wrong”, her cousin cut in, making the class turn to him.

“Is he? Tell us why then, Senju-san” Their sensei said, turning to him with sharp eyes.

“There aren’t five chakra natures. There are seven” He said, sending Uraume reeling as she counted them off in her head- fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind- she mentally recited, running through them in order.

“Seven? Tell us more”

“Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Yin, and Yang” He said. Yin and yang? What were those?

“You are correct, Senju-san. But both Yin and Yang release are beyond the scope of the curriculum so we’ll be operating under the fiction that there are only five.” He said, confusing the class further.

A/N; Might be the only update for today.