Saints and Suffering: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 23- A little learning

Yama stuck around for a little while and made sure that Tsubaki was able to replicate her previous feat. When she had successfully increased the flame of the candle three times in a row, he left her to her practice with the following instructions.

  "The next step in your training will come when you can enlarge the candle flame to the size of a fist. Until then, just continue what you are doing.

  I know its boring, but practice is the only way to get good at this.

  If you're bored, there are a few ways to make things a bit more interesting."

Tsubaki waved him away and didn't look up from her candle.

  "I'll be fine, practicing right now."

Yama chuckled, scratched the back of his head and walked back to Classroom 3.

He had impeccable timing. As soon as he stepped into the classroom, Akimichi Domaru, who had been levitating a leaf for the last hour and a half, had finally run out concentration.

His thoughts faltered, and the leaf blew away, and slowly fell to the ground. As Domaru leaned over to grab it, he saw Yama, who was watching him from the threshold of the door.

Domaru said nothing, but Yama walked over and started talking to the young Akimichi.

  "You're putting too much power into it. You've got large reserves, but they're hurting you right now.

  You don't have fine enough control to accurately split off the power you need without excess."

Domaru frowned and sarcastically rebutted.

  "Thanks Sensei. Anything else I should be enlightened about?"

Yama didn't seem to mind the insolent fellow though. He smiled at the kid and reached over to ruffle his hair.

Domaru swatted his Yama's hand away, but not before the man got in a few good rubs.

  "The hell, ero-sensei? You got a thing for boys as well as girls?"

Yama laughed.

  "Ero-sensei? Can't say that I'm particularly fond of that nickname. It reminds me of what I used to call my sensei, but he was an actual pervert.

  Always peeping on outdoor baths and dressing rooms, and he would even make me stand watch for him, can you believe that?"

Domaru smirked.

  "That explains a lot, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Yama looked off into the distance. His eyes glazed over for a split second, and a flash of wist crossed his face.

He turned back to Domaru.

  "Hopefully that is the case. He was a very good teacher, and if I could be even a fraction as good as him, even someone like you could become Hokage."

  "Hey, what do you mean someone like me? I'm the second best in the class."

  "Then why are you in remedial lessons?"

  "Because, you're an unfair jerk! And if your sensei is so good, why isn't he teaching us?"

Domaru regretted it as soon as he said it. Yama was old, and it was pretty rare to reach his age, much less to be even older. About the only Shinobi around that could be Yama's sensei would be a figure like Onoki, a living fossil.

Domaru winced and opened his mouth to apologize.

He didn't like Yama-sensei very much, but he wasn't trying to hurt the man. Yama-sensei was well within his rights to assign him chakra control exercises, which were quite frankly more useful than any chakra theory lectures he was supposed to give.