Rayana'Te

 - 16 - Teachers are human, too - 

- Minaru -

“Choji! Shikamaru! Good morning!” Ino shouted and sprinted ahead of the rest of the Yamanaka family to run over to the two boys. Minaru followed her at a more sedate pace together with Inoichi and Hanako.

Minaru smiled at the two boys and waved as soon as they reached them. “Good morning.”

Shikamaru yawned before grumbling out a “Mornin’.” That earned him a stern look from his mother while his father himself looked like he could fall asleep any minute. Minaru bit her lip to keep herself from smiling or worse - laughing loudly.

Right next to the Naras stood the Akimichis. Chouza and Kana each wore a bright smile while looking at the Yamanakas. Kana left her husband’s side and came over to greet Minaru. She pinched the girl’s cheek. “You’re still way too skinny, girl. You need to develop some curves.”, she said and poked at Minaru’s ribs.

Minaru laughed lightly batting at her probing hands with a bright smile. “I’m not an Akimichi, Kana-san. I don’t need as much energy to sustain my metabolism. And if I eat too much after spending the last 4 years in a prison I would simply lose it all.”

Kana raised a finger and looked at her with mock strictness in her expression. “Don’t you try logic on me, girly. That won’t work.”, she said and smiled at her.

Chouza came over to them and laughed deeply. “Yes, you should watch out, Mina-chan. Or she will have you fattened up in no time.”, he said and patted his own belly.

“The Ceremony should start every second. Come on, we don’t want to be late.” Yoshino interrupted them at this moment and shooed the group over towards the gates of the Academy. Minaru breathed in deeply and tried to rein in her feelings before Ino, Shikamaru or Choji could notice her melancholy. She had spent so many lonely hours here as Naruto in her last life. No way would she be able to live through that again. But she was lucky now. She had something very close to family now.

Shikamaru let out a loud sigh but he let himself be dragged across the schoolyard by Ino, Choji and Minaru right at their heels. “Don’t worry, Shika. As soon as this ceremony is over you can go back to your nap.”, Minaru said.

Shikamaru sighed again while he leaned his back on the tree. Minaru forced herself not to look at the swing attached to it and took her place at his side. He rested his chin on her shoulder and breathed out heavily through his nose. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Mina-chan. You never had to endure one of our Hokage’s speeches before.”, he grumbled and his eyes followed the Hokage up to the podium where he started to speak.

Minaru smiled slightly but kept her mouth shut. ‘If only you knew, Shika. I think I heard more speeches and lectures from him than any of you will ever hear.’ Yes, the Third Hokage loved to hold speeches for any kind of occasion. But he wasn’t very good at that. They were long and boring most of the time. At least half of the children in the schoolyard would either sleep or act up before the speech was over.

Minaru tuned Sarutobi’s voice out - good thing she knew this speech and had had to prepare some herself for Kakashi when he became Hokage in her last life, so she knew enough about the history of the Academy to last her another lifetime - and let her gaze wander over the students and their parents, looking for known faces.

Shino Aburame and his family were standing not far from them. The boy looked disinterested in everything going on around him but she knew from experience that Shino was almost as resourceful and perceptive as Shikamaru. She could hear a low buzz coming from the Kikaichu they had with them and a soft honey like scent was in the air around them.

Kiba and his elder sister, Hana, were standing on the Aburames’ other side with their mother Tsume. The Ninken that accompanied them shot interested looks at Minaru who in turn showed her fangs for a moment. She had noticed them just this morning after an early training session with Fang and Claw. The Cats had told her that because she had to learn her Kekkai Genkai early on, her body responded and already developed some catlike traits. Kuromaru grinned brightly and turned to face forward again, his tail wagging a little bit. Akamaru whined lowly and wagged his tail when Kiba reached up to pet him.

Minaru thought she could see Hinata’s hair in the front row next to her father but she wasn’t sure.

Whom she definitely saw was Sasuke. He, his elder brother and his father were standing in the front row as well. She blinked, stunned by what she saw for a moment. Right. The Uchiha Massacre hadn’t even happened yet.

But would it even happen this time around? She didn’t remember what the exact reasons for Itachi’s decision were just that it had to do with Danzo - who would have guessed, she thought. Would she be able to do something to keep Itachi from doing it? Maybe Sasuke wouldn’t end up as crazy as he had been if his family lived?

Minaru was lucky to be in the same class as Ino and the others. This way she didn’t have to bother with Mizuki-’sensei’ so early on. And she already knew that she would get along great with their teacher this year, she thought with a smile.

“All right, class. I’ll be your teacher this year. I would like to start with a small introduction from everybody. That way we can get to know each other better. My name is Iruka Umino and I’m 19 years old. I like teaching, reading and spending time with friends. I dislike mobbing and cheating.” He pointed at Shikamaru once he had finished his introduction. “You go first then we will continue on toward the left of the row.”

Shikamaru sighed heavily but blinked his eyes open. “Troublesome.”, he mumbled before speaking louder. “Shikamaru Nara. I like napping, my family and solving riddles. I hate people that wake me up and troublesome people.”, he said before closing his eyes again and resting his chin on his arms.

Choji who was sitting beside him raised his hand immediately. “Hi. I’m Choji Akimichi, I love my Kaa-san’s cooking and spending time with my family. I hate bullies and diets.” His words were met with laughter from the other children. Choji blushed and tried to hide behind his arms but Minaru put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

She fixed her gaze at one of the children whom she remembered to be one of the meanest bullies in her last life. “I’m Minaru Kojama. I like to learn new things and my friends. I dislike prejudice and people who abuse their power.” That shut most of the kids up effectilvely. She suppressed a chuckle. Kids were so easy to distract.

The next child took over from her and she leaned back in her seat, Shikamaru reached over to take her hand into his while Choji leaned his shoulder on hers to keep the direct contact. Ino, sitting one row in front of them with two civilian girls, turned for a moment to smile at her before returning her attention to Iruka-sensei.

They were in the same class as Shino and Hinata this year but Minaru guessed it would be like the last time and a lot of students would drop out after the second year at the very last so they would only have one class again. The Academy had been literally flooded by students from both civilian and ninja families in their year. Plus the heirs for several of the great Clans. Which was why the classes were split to make things easier for their teachers.

Once the bell rang to mark the first playtime in the schoolyard the children hurried out of the room. Minaru hesitated for a moment before telling Choji and Shikamaru to go on ahead while she reached into her bag and pulled out a folder with some forms Inoichi-san had gotten for her before the Academy-year had started.

“You okay, Mina?” Shikamaru asked, his head tilted in confusion while he looked her over, she could feel anxiety well up in him.

Minaru smiled at him and nodded. “Yeah. I just want to talk to Iruka-sensei for a moment.”, she answered and pressed her papers to her chest. “You go on ahead, I’ll come find you outside in a minute.”

Shikamaru looked at her for another moment before sighing. “Okay. Don’t take too long. You know I don’t sleep well when you’re not there.”, he said.

Minaru chuckled. “I’ll hurry.”, she said and shooed him out of the room with her hands.

Then she approached Iruka-sensei, taking her time to go down the stairs to mentally prepare herself before actually meeting him for the first time in this life. Naruto had loved Iruka a great deal and he was the closest thing to a father figure she had had in her life as Naruto. The young man looked up from the book he had been studying when he noticed her approach and smiled brightly. “Hello there. Why aren’t you outside with the other kids?”

“I wanted to ask you something. And give these to you.” She tapped her fingers on the folder in her arms

Iruka raised one eyebrow. “Ask me something?”

“Yes. I know two boys who have to stay in the hospital for the time being but I think they would appreciate a chance to study. If just to pass the time. Is there a way I could get your classes written down so I can go through what we learn here with them?”

“Huh. Sure, I can get you something written down. But wouldn’t it be better if they learn with a private tutor or something like that?”

Minaru shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think they would be more comfortable with me because we experienced something… similar these last years.”, she said.

Iruka looked at her and asked. “Something similar. And it influences how you three can trust people?” Minaru nodded. Then Iruka waved at her to give him the folder with her papers. He scanned the first form before his eyes lifted to look at her again. “You’re the girl that Hokage-sama told me about.”, he simply said.

Minaru tilted her head, looking up at the man. Her curiosity won over the constant feeling that she had to be careful around the adults. “Depends on what he said.”

He smiled warmly at her. “Well he certainly said that you are very smart and don’t trust easily because you spent some years in captivity.”, he said. “He also said you can’t use chakra and will most likely have to switch some lessons to the more theoretic ones because of that.” 

Minaru blinked a few times. “Well, he’s not wrong. But I would like to visit the classes where you teach the standard jutsus nonetheless.”, she said.

Iruka shot her a questioning look. “Why that?”

She smiled. “Like I told a good friend. Just because we can’t use chakra doesn’t mean we won’t be attacked with normal Jutsus when we make Genin. So we need to learn as much as we can about them to be able to counteract.” She pointed at the papers. “These are applications for Jutsu, infiltration and disguising classes.”

Iruka’s mouth shifted into a half smile. “An interesting choice.”, he said and looked down at her.

Minaru smiled back, closing her eyes into something that she knew resembled Kakashi’s eyesmile. “I like to be prepared.”

-Iruka-

“Come on, Mina! Lee’s already waiting for us outside!”

“I'm coming!”

Iruka studied the girl as she hurried outside with the two boys who almost never left her side. The Yamanaka girl, Ino, was with them a lot of time too, but the other three children almost seemed glued together at the hip.

After his first encounter with her he had taken to observing the girl at every opportunity. She was almost painfully smart but she wasn’t very social and she liked to stay quiet most of the time. He guessed that was partly because of her intelligence. There were quite a few adults in Konoha who couldn’t keep up with her once she started. And children were easily scared of someone like her.

But on the other side she was also incredibly dedicated to her few friends and she hadn’t lied when she told the class she liked to learn new things. Sometimes he was reminded of stories about the second Hokage when he looked at her. Like right now. She was sitting outside under the tree in the schoolyard, Shikamaru Nara had placed his head in her lap and she was absently feeding him Sushi from the Bentobox they had brought with them. Without once looking up from the book in her free hand. He had noticed that these two did things like that quite often.

She seemed to be reading the text out loud because both Choji Akimichi and the boy Lee - of whom Iruka had learned that he was in his second year at the moment - were sitting next to her, listening intently. Whenever one of the boys interrupted her she took a moment to think before speaking again and then returning to the book.

Rock Lee was one of the few children who seemed to be able to not only tolerate Minaru. Looking at them now Iruka saw friendship like he hadn’t seen it in a long time. The children understood each other without words. And that was very rare for their age.

Mizuki waved to him in this moment, indicating that his own break was over and he had to watch the children now. Good, that gave him an opportunity to eavesdrop. He wandered outside, his hands buried in his pockets and nodded at his colleague, who then went inside the building. Then Iruka forced himself to look casual while circling the playgrounds. When he came close to the tree he saw a boy approach the children there.

Bright yellow blonde hair and three scars on every cheek. His orange jumpsuit made it almost impossible to overlook - or mistake - him. Naruto Uzumaki, the host of the Demon Fox. While Iruka still thought about chasing the other boy away Minaru had already noticed him. She looked up from her book and fixed her gaze at the boy.

Naruto visibly flinched back and gulped.

“Can I help you?” Minaru asked.

“Um… I… What are you reading?” Naruto said. Curious, his voice was nothing like Iruka remembered it from his last meeting with the boy. Or more like he had been chasing him because he had managed to glue Hokage-samas robes to his office chair. But now he sounded…  a little bit curious and wary but mostly hopeful.

Minaru lifted the book a little. “It’s a collection of legends from the wind country. Some revolve around the founding of Sunagakure.”, she said.

Naruto looked at her with a blank face. “What’s Sunagakure?”

Iruka could practically see Minaru blinking in shock even though she had her back to him. “The… ninja village of the wind Country?”, she answered.

Naruto's eyes brightened. “I didn’t know there were other villages. That’s awesome!”, he exclaimed, throwing up his arms.

A scoff came from Shikamaru. “What the heck is your teacher teaching you? We covered that fact 2 weeks ago.”, he said.

And he was right. The curriculum said that was one of the first things the children should learn. It was strange that Mizuki hadn’t covered it yet.

Minaru placed a hand on Shikamaru’s shoulder and he sniffed loudly before closing his eyes again. Then she looked at Naruto. “Do you want to join us? If you don’t understand something you can just ask.”, she said.

It was at this moment that Iruka saw the loneliness in Naruto’s eyes for the first time. And then it made way to bright hope, only to be replaced by doubt. “Really?”, he asked.

Minaru shrugged. “I don’t see a reason why you shouldn’t listen.”, she said and resumed her tale while Naruto sank to the ground next to Lee. He leaned forward, intently listening to Minaru.

It took Iruka a minute to recognize the tale. It was one of the first legends about how the Sage of the Six Paths had founded Sunagakure - long before it would become known as the Ninja village it was today - to honour a promise he made to a Tribe of Cat Summons that lived in the desert. And Iruka had to admit he was impressed. Minaru’s voice was incredible when she was telling a story, almost hallucinating you with how clear it sounded. And she didn’t get angry when one of the boys interrupted her to clarify something.

She finished her story and closed the book with a resounding thump, when two girls approached them. “Hey, monster! You playing human again?” They turned to address the children at the tree. “You should better get away from him before he eats you!”, one of them said and the other snickered.

Naruto flinched and looked at the ground, curling in on himself. Minaru on the other hand lifted her gaze and concentrated it on the two girls. Iruka would have really liked to see her in this moment because of the girls’ reactions. 

They stumbled back a few feet, hesitation in their eyes. “Is there a reason you call another child such names?”, she asked with a chilling voice. Never since he had met her had Iruka heard her voice sound like this.

“My… my mother said that’s what he is.”, one of the girls answered.

Minaru snorted loudly. “Your mother… Maybe you should try to think for yourself once in a while.”, she said and got up from the ground, patting the grass and dust off her skirt. “Come on, guys. It’s getting way too prejudiced in this area. We will be seeing each other, Naruto-kun.”

Naruto slowly recovered from his shock. “Oh. Um. Yeah. Bye.”, he said and waved.

“Don’t let them get to you, Naruto-kun!”, Lee said with a big thumbs-up at the boy. Then he patted Shikamaru’s and Choji's shoulders, hugged Minaru for a second before he sprinted over to rejoin his class while the trio around Minaru escorted Naruto into the building.

“Minaru, would you mind staying here for a second?” She looked up and nodded.

“No, I don’t mind. Shikamaru, would you wait outside for me?”, she asked.

The Nara boy yawned loudly before nodding. “Sure. Wake me up when you want to leave.” With that he left the classroom and closed the door behind him.

Minaru turned to look at Iruka with curiosity in her eyes. “What can I do for you, Sensei?”

He smiled slightly. “I should have known you would be able to tell that I want to ask you something.”, he said and shook his head. Minaru returned his smile. “I saw you talking to Naruto a lot in the last weeks.”

She tilted her head and shot him a questioning look. “Yes?”

“Why do you do that?”, he asked.

Her eyebrows raised, she looked at him like he had grown a second head and maybe he had for her. “Why should I not?”, she asked.

He smiled sadly. “I guess the rumors haven’t reached you yet. Let’s hope they don’t for a long time.”

She scoffed. “You mean the rumors that he is some kind of demon who attacked the village seven years ago and killed a lot of people?” Now it was his turn to look at her disbelievingly. Looks like she had heard about it. “What? I don’t give anything about rumors like that. If I was anything like the rumors about me said I would have sold off Konoha at the first opportunity. So, no. I don’t believe in this Bullshit.”, she said with her hands in her hips. He startled for a moment because he had never heard her curse before.

He laughed lightly and looked at her. “You’re quite something you know that?”

She blinked. “Huh?”

“You don’t give a damn about what others tell you but always form your own opinion. I think that’s quite remarkable for someone so young. Even I sometimes see the Demon when I look at him. Even though I technically know that he isn’t the one responsible.”, he said and looked out of the window. Naruto sat there on the swing, looking at the other children leaving.

Minaru followed his gaze and smiled slightly. “I will tell you something now. And don’t ask me where I learned that or tell anybody else because Ibiki-san would kill me if he ever learned about it.” Iruka turned to look at her. He had heard that she spent a lot of time with Inoichi, but he hadn’t known that she was also on friendly terms with their Head Interrogator. “Have you ever heard of Jinchuriki?”, she asked. He gulped and nodded once. “Then you know they are people who hold the spirits of those beings who were considered to be too dangerous to be let roaming freely. Like the fox.”

He turned to look at her but she was already turning away and heading towards the door. “If that was all, Shika is waiting for me and he gets cranky when I let him wait too long.”

Iruka nodded mutely. He waited til he saw the duo leave the now empty Schoolyard. Then he mumbled, eyes still fixed on the gates: “Thank you for your insight. Didn’t think I’d ever get lectured by one of my students.”