Chapter 3
Reina woke up with the sun.
It was typical of her people to wake early and rest late, but she never really followed the sun as a time device. Her people did live in caves after all.
While they did venture out and train in the surrounding Forest, most of the young didn’t go out often. Trips outside were usually done after the clan’s birthright, so it had been weird to see the sun rising and falling everyday.
Reina found that she enjoyed laying by the window in the sunspots that entered her apartment. The natural energy that buzzed from the rays was comforting and calming. So when she woke up, she would immediately go to sit in the sun and meditate.
This was also the best time of day to practice her regulation of senjutsu. She didn’t necessarily have to worry about raging like her clan, but she thought I’d be useful to learn to teach later on- or to help with her more complicated kekkei Genkai techniques.
She hadn’t been able to crack open her family’s personal scroll yet, because she was focusing on the new outside world, but she knew that there were some especially complicated transformations that she could take on.
Sitting in the morning sun, Reina ran through her plans for the day.
She wanted to see a tour of the village, as well as the library. Reina didn’t know much about other countries native animals or plants, and she figured her education was not up to par as well. Her clan had only focused on becoming strong ninja, and while her abilities would make her an excellent heavy hitter and sensor- she didn’t have the vaguest idea of what plants and animals were poisonous.
Because she could heal faster than the normal ninja, and filter out poison through her natural energy- she probably wouldn’t die- but that still didn’t mean that she’d want to inadvertently poison herself in the field.
Reina’s generation was actually one of the first generations that actually taught the young Ryuuchi people to read and write, so she figured she had a lot to catch up on when it came to analytical skills. She had often been praised for being analytical- but- compared to what was normal for Konoha, she was probably just average. She had excellent instincts, but if someone where to test her on civilian knowledge, they would most doubtedly think she was stupid.
All of a sudden, she felt a massive spark of chakra next door, and a bunch of clamors that signified heavy footfalls. It sounded like a small landslide- accompanied by a triage of rude noises- and then the room seemed to level out into a loud but manageable decibel level.
Well, I guess the neighbors are up.
It was quite ironic that one of the loudest human beings she had heard was housed next to someone with the best hearing out of her clan. She was used to it, but it didn’t make it any less annoying.
I swear that kid is louder than my brother
Reina giggled at the thought of him. Mother had said that he had ‘come out the oven screaming’ and that ‘he could go into opera’. She never knew what that meant, but it was funny nonetheless.
As if on que, the loud sounds from next door seemed to travel out their door and stop at hers. For a second, it seemed to quiet down, but then there was a loud knock on the door.
“HEY NEWCOMER-SAN, WE HAVE TO GET GOING TO THE ACADEMY OR WE’LL BE LATE!”
For a moment, Reina didn’t react- was this loud person her classmate? It seemed odd to send someone who didn’t match up with konohagakure ideals (at least from what she had read) to be her liaison to the academy.
This boy will most likely stand out, and that is most definitely not what I want.
What was hokage-sama thinking?
Could it be that he would just overpower my presence, and I would be left in his shadow?
That could work.
Getting up out of her spot by the window, Reina quickly went over to the door and opened it with a loud creak.
For a second, she was speechless. But then she couldn’t help but laugh at how she’d thought he would remind her of her clan.
In front of her was the most confusing sight she had ever seen. The boy in front of her seemed to have cat-like whiskers on his face, and shockingly yellow hair. It didn’t help that he was also wearing a bright orange jumpsuit.
Reina had never seen anything like him. Looking down at her simple black tunic with black leggings, the only color she had to match with his was her brother's orange hair.
Was this place very diverse? All she was used to was the regulation outfits and orange/brown hair of her clan and village.
Thinking back on it, the woman she had met with, and gotten books from, had blue hair and a multitude of flowery tops. She had just thought it weird, but if this was the normal….
Either not realising it, or choosing to ignore her shocked expression the boy gave her a wide fool-hearty smile, and seemed to get even louder than when he had knocked on the door.
“I’m Naruto Uzumaki, and I’m going to be hokage someday! Believe it!”
In response, Reina nodded herself out of her shock and gave him a slight head bow.
“Reina”
Not angered by her short response the boy excitedly grabbed her arm and led her down the hallway like a limp puppet. If not for her increased agility, she would not have been able to keep up with the boy, but somehow she managed to glide at his side while he stomped his way to the school.
“So Reina, where are you from? What do you like? I like ramen, and being a ninja! Did you know that it uses something called catra? Also the hokage himself asked me to escort you, and I’M pretty important, so you must have some freaky powers, or be a spy, or an international assassin- WAIT- that wouldn’t make sense! We are going to the academy, you must be training to be a ninja! How old are you? Do you know who you want to be? I want to be THE hokage by the way!
Reina blinked, taken aback at the speed of his speech.
“Uh…”
Naruto seemed to make his own conclusion at her lackluster response, and continued to ramble on,
“OH! You must be shy! That’s ok, I know someone like that! Her name is Hinata, you might get along well! She gets flustered a lot, but you seem to be pretty calm. Or you can hang with me! I’m pretty awesome! Me and kiba like to skip and paint the village! You should join us sometime.”
Reina didn’t know how to react to the names of people she had never heard of, but she just let Naruto drag her to the Academy. She figured he would wear himself out on the way there, or just figure out that she wouldn’t respond.
She was wrong.
“I like salty ramen, and spicy ramen, and ramen with extra meat! Sometimes even dessert ramen!…..”
As they neared an archway, Naruto became aware of their closeness, and dropped her arm. But he continued to talk to her about an unbelievable amount of ramen varieties.
Reina didn’t even know what ramen was….
as Naruto entered what she assumed was the classroom door, it slid open with a loud bang, and she heard a shout.
“You're late, Naruto!”
An older teen addressed them, wearing a ninja headband and what seemed to be a scar over his nose.
Naruto brushed his hand over his neck and let out a laugh,
“Hahaha Sorry Iruka-sensei. I had to pick up the newcomer! This is Reina-chan!”
At this, Reina felt all eyes travel to her general vicinity. It was weird they hadn’t seen her already, because as it stood, she was significantly taller than Naruto- but she figured none of these students had the best sensing abilities- according to what she had read, they wouldn’t graduate for another 3 years.
Taking inspiration from her book “konohagure’s guide to manners” she just kept her greeting short and simple, trying to radiate calm, despite her wanting to stare openly at all the different faces.
“Hello, please call me Reina.”
The class broke out into whispers, and Iruka seemed to try and quiet them down. Without any luck the murmurs grew louder, until one of the braver girls with pretty pale blonde hair raised her hand to be called on.
“Yes Ino?”
The girl seemed happy to ask a question and looked at the newcomer with excitement.
“Where are you from?”
Reina stiffened her back, and she noticed that her sensei had grown stiff as well. He either didn’t like outsiders, or knew her story.
It was likely both.
Looking calmly back at the girl, Reina readied herself with her practiced answers.
“The border of fire country”
“Why are you here?”
This question was asked by the girl sitting next to the blonde. She had equally beautiful light-pink hair, and was wearing a pink dress. It was one of the girliest things she had ever seen.
These people were fascinating.
“To train to be a ninja”
The rest of the group didn’t seem to be too angry about her short replies, and continued to ask her questions, she gave each one a short and simple answer.
During what felt like an interrogation, she let her senses flow out and take a read of the room for relative chakra levels. With this burst of energy, iruka narrowed his eyes at her- feeling her chakra increase.
Was this girl going to attack? He thought.
Looking closer at the girl, he noted that she looked rather plain next to Naruto. She didn’t look intimidating, if you didn’t look into her eyes. While she was quiet, her features weren’t suspiciously blank like most prodigy’s he’d met, they were just. . . Calm. He would have thought her bored with the questions, but the little glimmer in her eye showed that she was anything but.
Her eyes seemed to scan the room, taking all of the new sights and sounds in great interest.
That’s when Iruka remembered what she could do. Her ability to use senjutsu to sense chakra must be on overdrive with all the talent that was in the room.
He almost pacepalmed at his initial thoughts on her increased chakra presence. She wasn’t going to attack, she was just using her abilities to take in all the new people and things. While the energy felt hostile, it was obvious through how she held herself that she didn’t mean anything by it.
With a presence like that, it would be imperative to mask her chakra. He would have to note to the hokage later about getting her started on that right away.
—-
Reina decided that she liked the Naruto boy.
As time went on, people had asked her more and more questions about herself, and it was starting to get on her nerves. She didn’t think the boy realized this, but because he was so loud and in need of an ear- he had yelled out.
“Hey what about me! Shouldn’t you be asking your future hokage questions!”
The class shut up and just stared at him. Some people even laughed! She was forgotten in an instant. If things had gone on longer- and if she had to sidestep more questions about her family… I’d be bothersome.
Reina didn’t like it when things got on her nerves. It made her think that she would turn out like the rest of her clan. She had never had problems with anger before. . . But, she knew she was still young.
Well, young was a relative term.
To her people, she wasn’t considered young. Once someone was coherent enough to make decent arguments and make decisions(whether they were good or not didn’t matter to her clan), they were sent to the cave to learn their birthright. If they were not ready?
Well, let’s just say that Snake sensei had to eat somehow.
In retrospect, that’s probably why her peers slightly annoyed her. They were too young to recognize cues that she had for some time now. The Ryuuchi had to learn to grow up fast because of their nature, if you couldn’t protect yourself you became food.
But she was not in the caves. She was in a relatively safe town that didn’t have brawl tournaments, but things like theater, music, and literature to pass the time instead.
Taking that thought, she looked around the room to re-examine the class. Apparently, from her “how to become an exemplary konoha shinobi” book, ninja in this community didn’t really become independent until the age of 12 or 13. It would make sense that no one would understand her, they had 3 more years to develop to the point that she was at now!
The gap in her knowledge had been filled, Ah yes! I understand! She thought.
Pleased with this, the anger passed and she was back to her relative state of calm, impassivity.
She had so much to learn about this new place!