The Academy seemed to suit Adela, Sasuke thought, with the distant sort of satisfaction he felt when people he knew wound up in places that matched them. His mouth twisted just briefly, something wry in the amusement: if childhood and the uncomplicated way clan friction translated to the disagreements of children was what Adela valued about Konoha's shinobi training, what she'd told him on their last mission was probably true. Whoever had raised her likely hadn't wanted her in Kiri's training program.

But Konoha hadn't become one of the biggest villages through play, and even Fumiko might one day need to weigh the village that the Academy taught and the reality of what shinobi meant, and Sasuke wasn't sure -- wasn't sure if he was grateful for the delay of childhood and now. Wasn't sure he wanted to know how much he'd missed before this month alone, growing up in unquestioning security.

Kiri might have been easier, in some ways.

"They'll need to grow up sooner rather than later," was all he said out loud, turning in tandem just in time to see the top of Fumiko's head vanish from the window. (He'd need to talk to her about spying, too, apparently.) What Adela said last caught his notice, Sasuke tilting his head to look at her with the first real curiosity he'd shown since walking into the classroom. "Are you only here for a month?"