sunshineverse | Academy Days: The Saga Begins!

Entry tags:

Academy Days: The Saga Begins!

Who: Adela Milani (

abileunaspada) & OPEN
When: January 3rd-31st
Where: Konohagakure's Ninja Academy
Notes: Adela is one of the chuunin recruited to be a teacher's assistant for Iruka at the academy! At times it's rough, and at others it's fun, but to be a future Hokage one has to know how to address the youth of Konoha! And, well, give them proper reprimand for nearly burning the buildings down on a weekly basis.

---------------------

Adela didn't think she'd have such a hard job in assisting Iruka with his academy classes, but man was she ever exhausted! Between running around, teaching kids combat and stealth skills, breaking up spars that were going too far, dousing fires, testing kids meticulously, and dragging the kids who played hooky back to the classroom for extra lectures and hidden evasion exercises? She was exhausted. Even thinking up that list was hard work!

If Adela wasn't running around and helping Iruka however she could, she was taking one of the few breaks she could with a sigh, a bottled water, and a tune to hum to herself. It wasn't like she was the only aid he had, but that didn't stop the work from being any more tiring. At least on missions out of village she occasionally had the chance to rest!

But, maybe she was being too negative. A smile tugged at the teen's lips as she watched the kids, growing up into the next generation of protectors for the village in a relative era of peace. The future that she'd be protecting with all her might, along with every other shinobi there. Yeah... Times like this, it felt worth it. It felt like her goal was even more important then.

Not that she'd tell the kids that, between teaching them, praising them for good work and scolding them for giving less than their very best in their efforts. There was simply no time, but they didn't need to know the hard work of adults yet either. They were still kids, and they were still allowed the time to be young and carefree so far as she could see.

Yeah. This was way better than her days in Kiri. This was Konoha's Ninja Academy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He hadn't heard that Adela had taken a teaching position, though Sasuke supposed that he'd been out of the village enough that he could have missed any number of major developments at any point. Adela did seem rather young to be formally teaching, but perhaps some kind of temporary placement? Whatever the case, she seemed happy enough to be here, though Sasuke couldn't envy her the position.

"They've been out on a mission for the entire month," he confirmed, handing the note to her. "I take it your signature will be good enough to acknowledge that someone from the clan came to talk about what she did?"

What she did, according to the slip, was claim to have 'accidentally' set a classmate's hair on fire because of 'uncontrolled Katon', despite being far too old to not be able to control her Katon. That the classmate's subsequent panic had spread the fire to several chairs and a table covered with newly-turned-in homework assignments was what had resulted in the urgent nature of the summons.

Adela just sighed heavily at the note, quickly penning down her signature with the note that she was, at the time, a teacher's aid. It took her a second to look it over after efore she handed it back, looking over him, "It's because, as far as I can tell, she was trying to compete with the Sarutobi girls again. She's impressive, but she has a wicked temper and doesn't know how to control her competitive streak. It wouldn't be so bad if she hadn't done this because she was provoked."

After a beat she ran her fingers through her hair, glancing towards the door where she knew the girl was waiting, "I'm starting to think about suggesting that she gets put on a team with the Sarutobi girls, to be honest. Although they're all fire attributes, they could use the benefit of teamwork. In the meantime, letting her know the importance of keeping her temper regardless of personal insult's the course I would suggest for home. That and reining in the impulse to show off. You think you can talk to her parents about it?"

The note about teacher's aid made him blink, realising that he knew next to nothing about how Academy teachers became Academy teachers (he'd very vaguely assumed they were possibly grown in greenhouses, or the human shinobi equivalent thereof, and watered with preternatural patience and raised to withstand loud voices). Still, he folded the note back into its neat square and tucked it away, to be deposited along with the other one in Fumiko's family mailbox.

And sealed, so the girl couldn't steal them before her parents could read them.

"You think she should be teamed with people who don't get along with her?" He raised an eyebrow at Adela in considerable surprise. "Exactly what kind of personal insults are we talking about here?"

"Stuff like how she wouldn't be able to keep up with the Sarutobi clan and that her fire jutsu paled in comparison. Things that would get her understandably mad, but it's easier to forgive a punch in the face than setting a classmate's hair on fire when she misses her target."

He stared, at first, and then managed to refrain from asking bluntly: So why was that information not included in the note meant for her parents?

"Was she not meant to retaliate to a comment like that?" He asked instead, something sharper in his voice despite curbing his first instinct. "Given the circumstances, I certainly don't see how putting them onto a team together would be an improvement."

"Simple. With some individual training relying on teamwork for their success, it might cause them to see that beating each other isn't necessarily the right way to go about things. And I'm not necessarily frowning upon her retaliating to a comment like that -- even if Iruka-sensei would say otherwise. The issue I have is the way that she retaliated, putting other students and even the building at risk."

She shook her head, sighing a bit as she let her shoulders slump, "Senpai, I get that she can't be expected to hold her emotions inside against any onslaught yet -- none of them can. They're still kids. But she has to understand that her jutsu are very powerful and shouldn't be used like that until she has better control and capacity to make sure that it doesn't spread. It wouldn't be as much of a problem if it wasn't fire jutsu, which has the potential to spread out of control very quickly. You understand what I'm getting at, don't you?"

Edited 2015-01-05 19:12 (UTC)

"Mm," he said, noncommittal, resisting the urge to glance back at what he was fairly certain were Fumiko's glaring eyes through the window in the door. "Or it sabotages all of them by putting them in a team that doesn't work together properly."

What had he done when Naruto had annoyed him enough in the Academy? If memory served, they'd had the sense to take their fights outdoors, at the very least, but then they'd had years of experience managing that much by the time they'd started classes and Hinata's calming presence besides. He'd also been more likely to punch Naruto than set him on fire, if Sasuke thought about it, which he was gathering was the preferred method to react to an insult.

Not that Mikoto had probably intended for him to give Fumiko a lecture on how to better channel her aggression. Adela's tone wavered somewhere between tired and exasperated, which meant that Iruka's was likely best left to the imagination, but then neither of them likely had much experience growing up in a clan. Or, he thought with a frown, at least not consistently. He'd have to ask the child exactly how this issue with the Sarutobi had arisen.

"I'll make a point to talk to her about what is appropriate inside the classroom," he said finally, tone perhaps more formal than he'd intended. "I'll pass your recommendations on to her parents as well."

"Thanks, Senpai," Finally a smile tugged at her lips, and she punched at Sasuke's arm lightly before standing up to stretch, "Fumiko-san's a good kid, really. And I don't blame her for getting mad, you can tell her so if she isn't snooping in on the conversation already. The only thing I want is to avoid fire starting when it's not from practice spars, okay? She needs to know how dangerous her jutsu are, and how to use them responsibly. That's the kind of growth we all want to see from her."

Her hand extended for Sasuke's, and her smile weakened a bit as she chuckled, "Sorry that I had to give you heck about this, Senpai. We really appreciate you coming in, and I can review things over with Iruka-Sensei when he gets back."

He didn't startle, not exactly, but he tensed far more for that punch than remotely necessary in a safe environment -- easy to pass off as fresh out of a mission if she asked, which with any luck she wouldn't, but worthy of a sharp mental reminder to himself that the village wasn't a mission. Not technically. Not anything more than passing.

"I'll let her parents know what you've said," he repeated, mostly to cover the unreasonable response to a friendly movement. "They're due back at the end of the month, if all goes well.

"How long have you been at the Academy?" The question was a natural followup, he figured, given how she'd been talking as if she knew Fumiko and her antagonists rather well, or at least well enough to make suggestions about potential future teams.

"Since the start of the month, and I've heard a ton of stories from the teachers around too. It's reminding me of what we were like when we were in academy, actually," She couldn't help herself, she chuckled a little and shook her head, "Sorta... Reminding me of what's important, you know?"

Not quite three weeks, then, and Fumiko had proved tight-lipped and stubborn the first time he'd had to fetch her from the classroom after meeting with Iruka. He really would have to spend time trying to pry what was going on with the kid out of her, especially if her parents' missions ended up getting extended and they didn't return before the next fiery 'accident'. If he could somehow pass the duty on to Mikoto ...

But Mikoto had her hands full, or at least said she did, and Sasuke wasn't going to contradict his mother when he'd been away from home more often than not for half a year.

The lift of a question brought his attention back to Adela, one eyebrow lifting again at the look on her face. It was a clear invitation for a question in return (the strangeness of measuring what a reaction should be instead of what it wanted to be still present): "And that is?"

"That we teach the next generation and give them enough peace to let them be kids while they can. I guess that's why I can't get too mad that they were fighting in the first place, it's not fair if they're forced to become adults too early."

Something in her softened and she crossed her arms over the chest, both her seeing and unseeing eyes glancing to the door where she knew Fumiko was, "I think... That's part of what I like the best about Konoha. I'm actually really glad I decided to stay here this month, helping out with Iruka-Sensei."

Edited 2015-01-05 20:10 (UTC)

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?"

"I might request to stay longer than that, I'm really enjoying myself here even if it is hard work. But yeah, tentatively I'm done at the end of the month and will be back on the active roster. It's not good to let myself idle too long, anyway."

If this wasn't some stepping stone to a future Academy career, Sasuke wasn't sure why it would have occurred to anyone to volunteer to handle children that could stick to walls and light things on fire. But there were people who enjoyed that, he supposed (rather dubiously).

"I thought perhaps you were thinking of becoming a teacher," he commented, glancing around at all the evidence of undersized ninja: scorch marks, kunai nicks, what was almost definitely rude graffiti on some of the desks. "I imagine it's not common for someone to enjoy it as you seem to."

"Not in the long run. I like it here, but... It's not my end goal. I'm aiming a lot higher. Still, getting to know the people of the village more intimately is part of that end goal, at least to me. It's not all politics and becoming the strongest I can possibly be."

She stretched her arms above her head absently, not quite realizing that Sasuke might not know exactly what she was talking about. She hadn't exactly told everyone about her aspirations, after all.

Getting to know the people of the village more intimately? If he hadn't known better, it would have sounded like almost sinister, the notion of somehow ingratiating oneself with a ninja village through its children. But whatever her background was, he doubted Adela was running some secret cutthroat political game.

Though --

"Higher," he repeated carefully, not quite making it a question.

... Oh.

Going a little pink, Adela realized that she hadn't told Sasuke about it, and through some miracle Obito hadn't told him either. A sigh passed through her lips before she stood tall, unapologetic for what she was about to say to him.

"I want to become Konoha's Hokage."

It was, all told, good that he'd been practicing keeping his expressions in check for the past two weeks and a half, because even with the growing habit of maintaining a neutral expression, Sasuke stared blankly at her for a moment. There was no hint of joking in her expression or body language, and he wouldn't have expected such a joke from Adela in any case: she meant it.

A month ago, he might have been startled to find that her goal extended to absolute authority over a village she'd been thrown into when on the run from her own kin; half a year ago, he might have been pleasantly surprised to see ambition in a Konoha-nin so young. But now, with the memory fresh of what Obito had taught him about keeping the village safe -- the level beneath the surface that Sasuke had only scratched upon, and by accident at that --

When he'd sorted through the image burned into mind (Sharingan or not) of his Hokage cutting open the neck of a child and looked at Adela again, at ease within the walls of a classroom and talking about childhood not three minutes ago, the reaction that wanted out was, bizarrely, laughter.

Compose yourself, his Hokage had said. Are you going to be able to behave so that no one can tell something is wrong?

"That's interesting," he said, biting down everything but the mild interest of a friend, and a little nonsensical from the effort that control took: "And you're hoping that your students will be old enough to vote for you when Hokage-sama steps down?"

"Not quite. If I want them to approve of me, it should be because they know I'm right for the job, not because I pressured them into it as kids. I'm kind of keeping it quiet for that reason, even if Hokage-Sama seems to disagree with me not wanting to tell everyone."

Another sigh and she shook her head, looking to them, "It's a lot of leadership, to be looked up to like that... It's a lofty responsibility that can't afford mistakes or anything less than absolute loyalty to the village I call home. And, above all else, valuing its people."

A beat, and she looked out the window to the empty play area, where the children would often wait for their parents to come home, "It's not just the children I want to talk to, but I think it is worth it the most to protect and prepare them for the world ahead -- give them fulfilling goals so that the village can thrive and they can be healthy. We're lucky to be in a time of peace where we can afford to take our time with it, too -- I want to make that peace last as long as possible."

It had been a throwaway question, noise to fill the space while Sasuke regained control of what his breath wanted to do, but she answered with the utmost seriousness -- as if she'd really thought it through, knew that this was what she wanted to do. And a month ago, Sasuke wouldn't have questioned it; might even have thought the rationale reasonable enough, even if he had doubts about what actions she'd take if faced with her kin across a battlefield. The question then would have been loyalty, and now ...

Lofty wasn't the word he would have used to describe the responsibilities of being Hokage, not anymore. Preparing them for the world ahead wouldn't always mean protecting them, and the cost of protecting them wouldn't always be one that was easy to pay, and as for peace -- there was the faint edge of losing control at the edge of his breath again, and Sasuke yanked it back, glanced over at the tuft of dark hair still visible in the glass. Remembered what he was here for, and what normalcy was supposed to look like.

What price the peace, he thought, and carefully didn't say. There was the ever-growing web of information his team had been wading into these past weeks, strands of connection that stuck and clung to a conclusion he didn't want to draw, and there was here and now, someone he'd agreed to be a friend to, naive or not.

If the question then had been loyalty, the question now was what loyalty meant. But that wasn't a question he wished on Adela.

"It's a remarkable goal," he said, once the pause had dragged too long and he wasn't sure how to respond anymore. But if Obito knew, and Obito supported (or at least didn't actively discourage) the notion -- whatever Sasuke might think privately of his sensei's decisions about Adela, he didn't believe they were outright wrong. "I'm glad that Hokage-sama knows. He'll be able to advise you."

"Mm. He was the first one who encouraged it, and he's been helping me prepare for it in various ways. I don't think it'd be enough to guarantee anything, but I still appreciate his help with it."

Encouraged -- was that an impressive tactic to encourage devotion to Konoha, or was it a real bid for a Hokage would-be entirely unrelated to any of the previous patterns of succession?

"And the Academy is part of the preparation?" It sounded like Obito. It sounded like the Obito that Sasuke had known up until two weeks ago.

"It might've been his idea, but I'm all for it if I'm honest about it -- even if it's just for a little while, the reminder's important," Adela nodded absently, not meeting Sasuke's eye as she talked about it. There was something off about his tone, but she didn't say anything about it. For some reason, it felt like... Well, she couldn't put her finger on it. But it felt like Sasuke had mixed feelings about it, and... She wasn't sure she wanted to face that yet.

"... For Konoha, I need to be stronger now. Reminding myself of who I'm trying to protect seems like a good way to start."

It was a good move, probably, or as good as any to start. It was what they were taught, early on, protection of the village and the people that made it what it was; even the failed mentor program through which he'd met Adela in the first place had been an effort to drive that message home.

He wondered, abruptly, exactly how Kiri built loyalty. If at all -- perhaps that was why they'd run into such a large group of missing-nin last time. And it would explain Adela herself. But it would be doing her a disservice to address that to her directly, which left Sasuke floundering for a way to end the conversation or change the topic in any way that wasn't awkward.

"It's a good idea," he said, hesitating, and then latching onto the second-last thing she'd said: "Have you had time to train while you've been here? I expect you've been working on your bloodline jutsu."

Academy Days: The Saga Begins!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)