Kojirō and Erika entered the barren classroom and made their way towards the back corner, where the desks next to the window were. These were the usual seats they sat in together ever since they got to know one another. Sitting down, Erika immediately retrieved the book she was reading outside a moment ago. The Hyūga, on the other hand, rested his head on the wooden desk and gazed outside of the glossy window and towards the courtyard which was now teeming with young shinobi wannabes. 

Their class consisted of a variety of ages from about six to nine-years-old, however they were by far the youngest. As a result, they were largely ignored by their fellow pupils either because they did not how to talk to the young prodigies or because they simply could not care less. The boy removed his eyes away from the other students and focused on the now slowly opening door. 

From the doorway emerged a short, stout man of around thirty years of age. His beard was unkempt and his hitae-ate¹*Forehead Protector was in the form of a bandana. The commonplace green flak jacket could barely contain his stomach as his arms uncomfortably carried a stack of textbooks. 

“More history today, eh, Tanaka-sensei?” Kojirō raised an eyebrow at his plump teacher. 

“Indeed, young Kojirō,” he said as he placed the books down and took out a handkerchief to wipe his brow. His voice was nasally, almost as if he had a cold exponentially. “I know how much you all love it so I brought a little extra.” Tanaka smiled genuinely. 

The boy clicked his teeth and smiled wryly. In truth, he did not hate the man but it did slightly irritate him that his sensei had deluded himself into thinking that people actually enjoyed learning about history. Kids their age had next to no interest in that and instead would much prefer to be sparring outside. Alas, the academy had failed to understand this and they rarely did anything physical until the third and fourth years. 

“And, after that there’ll be some mock matches between you all.” 

Kojirō raised his eyebrows at this and grinned excitedly. He never really had the chance to spar with anyone outside the Hyūga clan trainers and, even then, that happened rarely. They mainly only reviewed techniques, scarcely ever actually putting them into practice. There was only so much that image training could do. 

“They’ll be used to gauge your physical abilities for your final two years,” the fat man turned towards them and chuckled after happening upon the boy’s face. “Just give it your all and I’m sure you’ll do just fine.” 

“Hey, hey! Do you think if we do good, we’ll be able to become genin sooner? Because, our grades are better than most people’s in this class we just haven’t had the chance to prove our fighting capabilities properly.” Questioned the boy. 

“It’s certainly possible. If it’s you two though,” Tanaka looked at the two again and nodded his head,” I'd be more surprised if you didn’t graduate in the next year.” 

“Is that when we start learning jutsus too?” This time, Erika chimed in too. 

“Yes. Though they’re only the elementary E-rank ones, like the transformation jutsu and the clone jutsu. For more combat orientated ones, if you wish to learn them, you’ll have to wait until you’re at least a genin.” 

“I already know those two, as well as the other E-ranks.” Kojirō quickly replied with Erika also nodding her head in agreement.  

Their sensei sighed. He was unsurprised at this revelation, it was not so farfetched to believe that these two, who were considered prodigies, had already learned the basic jutsus of any shinobi’s repertoire. 

“Well, there’s not much I can do in regards to that. The Hokage has to be present in order for an academy student to advance into genin rank.” Tanaka walked up to the kids and placed his hands on their heads. “You’ll just have to prove yourself in the upcoming mock battles so you can take the exams.” 

“Okay sensei!” They said in unison as Kojirō gave a salute before quickly removing his hand in embarrassment. 

After that, they endured Tanaka’s irksome lecture, this time about some obscure village hero who had not even been present in the anime. Eventually, the physical exams rolled around and everyone was gathered around a tall man who stood at the centre of the courtyard along with their sensei. The man was gaunt-faced and his hitae-ate was wrapped around his left bicep. 

“First, we’ll be testing your speed and stamina on the track on the other side of the grounds. Then, you’ll do typical exercises such as sit-ups and press-ups followed by a test in shurikenjutsu with kunai. Lastly, you’ll be paired up randomly and asked to spar against each other.” 

After the class learned of this, they all began to buzz with excitement, anticipating their upcoming matches. 

“Yeah, yeah, exciting. I know.” The spindly man acted disinterested and bored, as if he would rather be anywhere else at the moment. 

“Now, head to the track and we’ll begin the first exercise.” Swiftly, Tanaka managed to diffuse the situation and shooed his students away. 

There were nine lanes and twenty-seven hopeful academy students. Kojirō was part of the second group whilst Erika was part of the third. The first race was largely uneventful with only a single boy, from the esteemed Uchiha clan, receiving a score that was slightly above average. Next it was Kojirō’s turn. 

Nonchalantly, he walked over to a lane and slightly bent his knees and leant forward in a poised manner. He carefully channelled chakra into his feet hoping to increase his speed and power. 

Suddenly, the umpire, the lanky chūnin, shouted ‘go’ and they all took off in a hurried manner. In the lead, unsurprisingly, was the Hyūga who had briskly dashed forward leaving everyone behind him in the dust, literally. The impact of his initial rush had kicked up the dirt and slowed down some surrounding children. 

Kojirō was the first to arrive back at the starting line, where he was met with inquisitive gazes from the two instructors. 

“So, the kid knows basic chakra control. Impressive.” The thin-faced man was seemingly impressed. Tanaka, instead looked on in shock. 

He knew the kid was gifted, but that kind of control at five-years-old was nearly unheard of.  

The boy brushed off their gazes and returned to where Erika was standing. She gave him a sidelong glance while contemplating whether to ask about it. 

“What was that?” The tanned girl looked up at him and raised her eyebrow.  

He looked towards her scratched the side of his head with a smile. 

“Just simple chakra control. Learned it from my older sister.” He blatantly lied. He had secretly been practicing controlling his chakra based off of what he had seen in the show. That was along with the training he had been doing since an early age, pretty much since he was able to walk. 

“I see. Teach me some time.” He nodded his head in reply.  

Next was Erika’s turn, in which she came third, behind some older students. That was surprising in of itself since she was so much smaller than the rest of her group. 

Following that was the basic exercises in which it was not a competition so no one really paid attention to the results. 

The shurikenjutsu test was simple, too. Just throw three kunai at a target that was nailed to a tree and try and hit the centre. Kojirō hit one in the centre whilst the other two hit the innermost ring. Out of Erika’s throws two had hit the bullseye whilst one had hit the outermost ring, nearly missing the target entirely. 

Need to work on my accuracy, huh? 

Finally, children were called randomly to draw a name out of a wooden box. When the boy who had won the first race was called over, he grinned maliciously as he read out the name on the square piece of paper. 

“Kojirō Hyūga.”