---

Students are usually expected to listen to their sensei, especially during what is essentially a farewell speech in which said sensei finally allows his students their first step into the world of shinobi. Had it been any other day, Kimura just might have, but on the day of her gradation the Inuzuka girl was seen focused on her notebook with not a single apparent notion that she was listening to a single steel grey word Toshiro-sensei was saying.

Her face nearly covered entirely by her little logbook, furious scribbling could be heard from behind the pages while her signature partner, Guremaru, released a lazy, chocolate brown yawn from his rightful place atop her head.

The reason for her frantic pace? The one who was called to stand, Tensai-kun, her friend who started sporting a new look since an unknown time before the Academy opened its doors that morning, his eyes covered by the locks of his hair which he usually kept out of the way.

At first, the conspiracist almost immediately jumped to the conclusion that someone had used the Transformation Jutsu to take his place, but her usual early morning tackle as a greeting shot that idea down when the disguise didn't break upon impact.

The speed of which he pulled away from her afterward however, which was noticeably quicker than usual, drew Kimura to the theory that he maybe he was rigged with an explosive seal by a foreign nin and he didn't want anyone getting hurt. A quick sniff with a chakra enhanced nose crossed that notion as well, along with the other speculation that a foreign nin was using practical effects for a disguise rather than a jutsu.

His crisp autumn maple voice cemented the thought that whatever was different wasn't because of any identity switcheroo, yet none of the other theories that began to crowd her head matched up either. Despite only a few hours passing between her seeing Tensai that morning and the current state of affairs, the pages of Kimura's notebook were covered with so many scribbles, flowcharts, and crossed connections that it started to look more like an investigation pin-board than a study notebook.

She thanked the kami for keeping everyone else relatively the same, aside from their usual ongoing problems that she had to check on like Ria-chan keeping up her facade as an "academy student" and Inokikue-kun's ever escalating attempts of shirking the duties of a shinobi in his strange, backwards manner. Had anyone else gained any notable changes, she might not have had enough of an attention span to give everyone the usual greetings she used as a surface level identity check.

The bothered girl's musings were cut short as the door to the classroom opened, drawing her eyes from the paper and ink to survey the two figures that entered.

The first to step forward carried herself with a great deal of confidence, the flak jacket she wore indicating she was at least chunin rank as chestnut brown eyes swept across Kimura's classmates with visible disappointment. Long brown locks spilled down the adult's back, divided by a staff longer than she was tall, and the signature Konoha ninja headband sat snuggly around her right forearm. The woman's scarlet tone echoed the emotions that seemed to play across her face as the ninja pinned Toshiro-sensei with a less-than-enthusiastic stare.

"Really? This is the gaggle of brats we're dealing with? Hatake-san, please tell me you're pulling my fucking tail and that this is just some first year class you took over for shits and giggles."

A hand was exasperatedly gestured to the direction of the class as the woman's pure red words were a direct insult to all the academy students as a collective waste of time. While she wasn't one to raise her voice in anger, Kimura's cheeks puffed with indignation at the blanket statement. Her friends and everyone else always tried their best to succeed in class, so to hear someone who hadn't even introduced herself just wave off their efforts within ten seconds of entering the room was more than a little frustrating to her.

"And with this fucking Uchiha as one of my fellow sensei to boot? Dear kami, I can only imagine how much of a dumbass mistake the last sucker must be thinking this job is. They didn't even try to show their face to this shit show!" The brunette then turned her attention away from the class to the woman who walked in with her, arms crossed and obviously unhappy with her current company.

Beneath the desk, Kimura crossed her fingers. She hoped that this person out of whoever was available wasn't assigned to be her new sensei. The Inuzuka could already imagine what sort of things she could unearth gathering info on a person with such a personality, and she didn't want anything to do with someone as unfriendly as another person she actively disliked.

---

Fortune had never favored Hatake Shunpei, but against all odds, he was going to become a shinobi of Konohagakure.

It was not that he was a bad student. Far from it. But despite his efforts, he was not a good student, either. He was, however, the last student--the last in theory, in training, and in general competence as a shinobi. This was no exaggeration, either; he had seen the results scroll (no doubt planted by his uncle and sensei, Hatake Toshirou, to guilt him into improving) yesterday with his own two eyes.

(It was working, by the way.)

The genin-to-be was worried he would be held back like Uchiha Ria, but it turned out that was not the case. He would be graduating quite literally surrounded by all his best friends... Sort of. One of them, Hyuga Mitsuko, was in her favorite corner seat in the back despite being invited to sit with the rest of them up front. It was a shame she had rejected their offer, but he understood. His mom always told him not to force people against their will. He knew she was up here in spirit.

Next to him was Inuzuka Kimura, writing in her journal with her trademark eagerness. Shunpei peered at what she was so fervently inscribing into her journal. It was in some strange, illegible code, but based on the scrambled array of diagrams, it seemed to have something to do with his household. A new trap formation maybe?

She flipped a page. This time she was writing about Tensai's hairstyle. Although he couldn’t really understand the content (but he could make a decent guess), her writing movements were soothing, and the sound of turning pages and charcoal on paper left the feeling of static running along his scalp. He only stopped watching once Uncle Toshirou manned the podium and drew everyone’s attention to the front for his big farewell speech--and the announcement of the class’s top ninja, whose identity came as no surprise to Shunpei.

After all, who knew Uchiha Tensai better than Shunpei himself?

He looked past Kimura (which wasn’t difficult at all, considering the height difference) to the other end of their table, where the prodigy himself sat. Tensai looked more distant than ever. Not once--not during the announcement, not during the chaos, not during the resulting silence--did he express any joy over this announcement. He just sat there, thinking the thoughts of one who had just been blinded and orphaned

Although Shunpei had been spared the finer details of the incident, his mother had filled him in on the broad strokes after returning from Uchiha compound one day in a terrible state. Apparently his mother had tried, and failed, to invoke her right as Aunt Narumi’s appointed guardian to take Tensai into their family. It seemed the will of the clan trumped even the will of the dead.

Shunpei couldn’t imagine the kind of pain he’d been going through, all alone in that clan compound (they wouldn’t even let him in when he’d tried), but seeing his best friend like this was troubling and frankly depressing. And the silence was deafening as Uncle Toshirou waited for Tensai to do or say something to kill time while waiting for the third sensei.

The young Hatake began rising in his seat as well, fully prepared to do something stupid and senseless (as usual) to take the attention off Tensai and the awkward silence, but fortunately he didn’t have to. In that moment, a convenient interruption occurred: the arrival of the last sensei, a dirty-looking man with a bearing not unlike that of a Hatake shinobi.

Now that all of them were accounted for, Uncle Toshirou introduced the three jonin. The dirty one was named, fittingly enough, Kagetsu Kitanai; the disapproving, well-muscled brunette was Sarutobi Matsuoka; and Tensai’s aunt was, in fact, Tensai’s aunt Shinatobe, eyeing the class like a crow would eye carrion.

Of course, with introductions out of the way, Uncle Toshirou began assigning teams, which was as exciting as it was nerve-wracking. Especially as it became very evident Shunpei's name was not showing up any time soon.

The first team to gather all its members--Sarutobi Matsuoka’s--was an eclectic bunch. As far as Shunpei could tell, their formation lacked an obvious specialty. He didn’t know anything about the sensei, but Enma, Inokikue, and Ria didn’t have any obvious commonalities in their three skill-sets, especially taking into account things like kekkei genkai and hiden.

In Shunpei’s mind, they were either going for a generalism or nepotism. Inokiku under a Sarutobi was as close to an InoShikaCho formation as you were going to get in a class without any Nara or Akimichi, and the Sarutobi clan were historically linked with the Senju. Why Ria had been placed there and not with her aunt was beyond him. Maybe it was supposed to use the Senju-Uchiha rivalry to create additional motivation, or maybe it was just rich folk looking out for other rich folk.

By Shunpei's reckoning, Inokikue certainly seemed pleased with his state of affairs (despite being on the only team with another guy), but Ria was less so. Was she that displeased about not being assigned to an Uchiha, or had something happened between her and Inokiku? She was kind of glowering at him and muttering strange things.

The second team to assemble the brunt of its members was Kimura and Fukushu’s team, the one lead by Tensai’s aunt. Though it had not been completed, there was no doubt the remaining member was Tensai himself. He had gone from clan outcast to clan treasure in something like two weeks. Shunpei would eat his bonsai if the Uchiha clan would let anyone else teach “their” prodigy, especially now that he was blind.

Now if it weren’t for Fukushu being assigned to that sensei, there would have been a real solid chance Shunpei could have been with his closest friends. They could have totally been a thing, like InoShikaCho, except they would be TenShuKimu and they would be 100x cooler. But maybe in another life. Unfortunately, it would be all TenFuKimu all the way down.

Shunpei’s prediction was proven correct when he was assigned to Kagetsu Kitanai.

“Oof,” Shunpei winced. Seeing something coming didn’t mean it made the secondhand cringe any less painful. They really did just put Fukushu and Tensai on the same team--underneath Tensai’s aunt, even! If he could switch with the poor guy, Shunpei would have, but even he knew full well the Hokage doesn’t take complaints from kids like him. At least Tensai had Kimura to keep him sane.

The second-to-last student took the long, inconvenient way around the table, which conveniently let him pass by Tensai.

“Reckon that means you’re on her team, huh?” Shunpei took Tensai by the hand and gently pulled him out of the seat. To everyone else (except maybe the jonin, those-in-the-know, and the exceptionally perceptive students) it was just some brotherly, if awkwardly executed, gesture. Considering they were normally inseparable, this wasn't nearly as weird as it ought to have been.

Tensai only made two faces in response: one of confusion, and one of realization. Given the circumstances, Shunpei didn't expect Tensai to be super talkative, but Shunpei could talk enough for the both of them.

Once Tensai was upright, Shunpei threw his arm over his shoulder and grinned. “Ya know, I think this gettin' split thing just means they couldn’t handle all of us at once,” he half-whispered, leading him down the steps, “But hey, at least ya got Kimura. That's a plus.”

After hitting level ground, Shunpei pulled his arm back and faced Tensai head on. “Looks like this is where we part,” he said, scratching the back of his head.

“Guess I'll see ya 'round,” Shunpei said. He had almost reached out for a fist bump back then--a bad move to execute with a secretly blind kid who could hit better than you, for sure. Instead, he gave Tensai a single, powerful pat on the shoulder, as if it were the head of a majestic lion or the neck of a horse, “If ya ever need a hand, ya know where to go.”

With that final exchange, Shunpei and Tensai parted ways and headed to their respective teams.

The team led by Kagetsu Kitanai wasn’t nearly as much of a powder keg as Uchiha Shinatobe’s. As far as Shunpei knew, there shouldn’t be any Fukushu-Tensai-level conflicts. After all, his teammates were Yakushi Tsume and...

“Ah! Would ya look at that: we’re on the same team,” Shunpei greeted Mitsuko, “Ain’t that great, Honey Bun?”

Why she had insisted on being addressed in such a way was beyond him, but he wasn’t so impolite as to deny such a request. Perhaps she would grow out of it now that they were debuting as proper shinobi.

“Ah! Right! Where’re my manners?” Shunpei exclaimed, the tips of his ears taking on an embarrassed pink tint. He turned to properly face his team.

Now that he was up close, Shunpei was able to get a better read on the man. His sensei didn’t seem nearly imposing as his height and build might have suggested--and what a build he had! There was no doubt this guy knew his stuff when it came to taijutsu, which made sense considering the team composition. Were they planning on developing Shunpei's taijutsu skills as well, or was there something else?

Still, the most significant thing about the man was not in his form. It was in his eyes. Shunpei decided that they were like his mom’s: bright and world-weary. Compared to the other senseis’ eyes, the difference was like the sun and the moon.

“Kitanai-sensei!” Shunpei bowed deeply. “I’m Hatake Shunpei. Hope we can all work well together!”

---

Matsuoka Sarutobi was in a bad mood.

This wasn’t a massive revelation in the slightest, as the woman infamously nicknamed the “Gorilla Princess” was usually in an unfriendly and hostile state of mind. In this case, however, it was much more than the front it usually was, to the point that she was contemplating the idea of dropping her assignment entirely and willingly taking the unavoidable demotion that would come with it.

She wasn’t thrilled in the slightest about her fellow sensei. Shinatobe Uchiha was someone with a similar temperament as herself, and though some might have said that would’ve made them capable of creating a bond on some level, Matsuoka didn’t think it was possible with this woman in particular.

The Uchiha have always held a stick up their asses, and she wasn’t going to go through the trouble of pulling it out to make the bitch any less annoying to deal with. The fact that her jab apparently didn’t even deign a response was somewhat disappointing as well.

On top of that, nearly every student in the classroom lacked what was necessary to be taught under her. When she asked Toshiro Hatake-san if the room she walked into was the wrong class, she had a slight hope that it was. None of them had any sense of presence, and while that was fine and dandy for a ninja, it was a likely signal that she was going to have to teach whichever kids she was assigned from the ground up.

The only bright spot in the class was a spunky redhead who immediately stood up for her classmates and attempted a retaliation. A flimsy wooden kunai thrown in her direction that she caught with a single hand, but it was enough to alleviate a bit of the cloud that brewed within her. Matsuoka wasn’t quite sure who that girl was, but she liked her. Hopefully, the kid would be one of the students assigned to her.

A wide, shit-eating grin spread across her face, but before she could ‘helpfully’ remind the student of the consequences of insubordination, the door to the classroom creaked open. When she turned to see who exactly was the poor bastard that would take up the mantle as the third sensei, her smile dropped.

A million thoughts rushed through her head at that moment, fists clenched and unclenched with a dry mouth and sweaty palms, eyes widened as various emotions racked her core. All of that within a single second, but the woman quickly regained control of herself and turned back to the class, nonchalant with a slightly disgusted expression on the surface even as a mini-version of herself began to cheer and rain confetti within her mind.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Eventually, Hatake-san called the class to order, and began to rattle off the names of students under their respective sensei. To the Sarutobi’s dismay, the redhead who was apparently named Tsume Yakushi wasn’t placed under her tutelage, but instead was sent to learn with the scruffy pansy that happened to walk into the classroom. She’ll make sure to catch the man with a few choice words after all these introductions were over. Only to rag on him for getting the student she wanted, of course.

For the moment, however, she got saddled with what was possibly the least enviable team available. A Yamanaka, who Matsuoka noticed had been failing at stealthily leering at herself and the other female sensei ever since they walked in through the doors, a Uchiha, who wasn’t doing herself any favors by mouthing off like a pre-school child in front of her potential sensei, and a Senju, who the woman couldn’t tell what was up with him, but she was certain that the fact that she didn’t see anything on the surface meant he was probably useless.

Before the black-haired member of her possible future team could embarrass the brunette any further, a heavy hand fell atop the young girl’s head, harder than rock as the fingers dug into her scalp and turned the Uchiha away from the blonde she was harassing to face the narrowed eyes of her sensei. “Hey, brat. Why don’t you close your mouth for a while and shut the fuck up, okay? Good girl.”

Intentionally making her voice as condescending as possible, Matsuoka let go of the girl’s head and pat her like one would a dog that didn’t understand simple instructions before turning her attention to the three students in front of her as a whole. “Training Ground 13. Fifteen minutes. Don’t be late, maggots.”

“Hatake-san, if that’s it, I’m out of here.” Not waiting for a response, the soured mood that tinged her voice was apparent in the Sarutobi’s expression as she flashed through the hand signs for Body Flicker, holding the second-to-last sign for a moment to convey her disappointment to the former teacher of her three brats before disappearing in a puff of smoke.