In another class, filled with people that weren't as important as the clan heirs and the village jinchuuriki, a young academy student's journey begins and it all starts with a single call of his name.
"Hayashi Miharu, please come up to the front of...
❝ In a world where everyone tries to conform to the social status of normality, being different could be nothing but a curse.❞
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Miharu feels his world spinning as his head throbs from the impact of his opponent's foot slamming into his temple. His body moves without his permission, nearly sending him out of the ring as he struggled to regain his composure. No one cheered, no one clapped, their breaths were held in silence as he blew his bangs back from his eyes and lunged forward. His opponent, however, blocks the punch sent to his face and in one fluid motion, he's yanked forward and a knee meets his face, splitting skin. The boy is only half lucky that his nose wasn't broken. Eyes squinting, Miharu only hears his opponent rush forward before the world tilts a little bit too high and the wind is knocked out of him as he topples out of the ring, crashing into the academy fence.
Gripping at his stomach, which was sure to bruise, Miharu squinted as his Sensei gripped their clipboard tightly. "Winner, Yamanaka Asahi." A sudden sigh leaves him, only fueling to make his wounds become irritated. "Both of you, come back to the center to form the seal of confrontation." Limping, the boy fumbles to do as told, feeling as if he had multiple boulders over his shoulders weighing him down. Asahi only gives a strange look as they finish the spar with the confrontation seal and not wasting time, the black haired boy stumbled off, crashing to the floor against the academy and pulling out a book from his messenger bag. At the same time, two more people were called up to fight and Miharu only glances upwards to see if he knew any of the two. Nothing of memory popped up and with a shrug, the boy went back to his book.
Or, at least—he tried to go back to his book.
It was kind of hard when a clan kid was practically staring you down.
"Aren't you that bookish kid?" Asahi has found his way over, sitting down right next to Miharu while their two classmates fought. The boy says nothing, head angled towards the direction of his book. Somehow, this doesn't deter the other. "If you're just gonna read books all day, why are you even at the academy?" Some sort of accusation, a jab at his less than mediocre skills, and with a shrug, Miharu doesn't dare look up from his book. It's interesting, and much more engaging for his mind than whatever the hell Asahi was spouting about.
Unfortunately, the clan kid didn't seem to take his silence too lightly. "Hey, are you ignoring me? Right after I beat the snot out of you?" His nose twitches lightly before Miharu closes his book a smidge, fingers between the pages he had it open on so he didn't lose it. Glancing over, the black haired boy gave another shrug as their Sensei called out for the two classmates to do the seal of confrontation.
"Sorry." He pushed himself to his feet, "I just found this book to be more interesting than you." Asahi barely has time to retort when Miharu starts walking away, opening the book back up to continue reading. The boy hears his Sensei call out after him, asking where he was going, and all he did was kick a few pebbles in front of while answering. "Back inside, I wanna read the rest of this book without any distractions." The door to the academy slams shut soon after and a deafening silence fell over the academy student.
