Lost in the Whirlwind (Naruto Fanfic)

Chapter 27

The Academy was truly a boring place to be in, and I could see why kids like Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji, and occasionally Ino, liked to skip school together. Clan kids that received special training would simply disregard the lessons in school, and prefer to just take the examinations to receive their grades.

It was a lousy behavior that only less strict clan kids would do, as seen from the way Sasuke Uptight Uchiha would attend almost every single class without fail.

While I do skip school most of the time to practice my chakra blades and body flicker technique, I would send a basic clone to go to the Academy. Sure, it used a lot of chakra, but it was also a practice to widen my chakra reserves.

My clone usually followed Naruto around whenever he was in school, just to make sure he didn't get into too serious of a trouble that could possibly get him expelled. Otherwise, my clone wouldn't stop him. Naruto was a troublemaker by heart, but that was what made Naruto who he was. And I wouldn't want to change him for the whole world.

Mizuki, the other homeroom teacher assigned to us this year in addition to Iruka, started appearing a lot more. He was unusually kind to Naruto, so my clone usually steered Naruto away from the suspicious teacher. Iruka was alright, in a sense, he wasn't mean to Naruto, but he didn't go out of his way to treat Naruto kindly as he did with other students either.

Shisui was rather impressed by my improvement with the body flicker technique. It seemed like his expectations for me was quite low. I was able to teleport short distances, genin level, really, but only because chakra control exercises helped a lot. I still needed a lot more practice if I wanted to teleport further.

"You're doing good." Shisui had said in approval.

"Am I?" I retorted, because if I was doing well, I shouldn't be this exhausted.

"Not really. I was a lot better than you when I was your age, but hey, us prodigies are different from you." Cockiness was Shisui's strong suit, but I knew he was saying that to motivate me into practicing even more.

So I did.

Usually, after school while I practiced the technique, Shisui and Naruto would hang out. It was kind of nostalgic to have all three of us together again. But that was until Sasuke, and very rarely Itachi the totally-whipped-for-his-brother tag along, would come drag all of us to the Uchiha training grounds for sparring. Naruto was very enthusiastic about that, so I left the sparring to the two preteens while Shisui watched on entertainingly.

Someday, I want to be able to spar with Shisui on equal grounds. It was still a long way, but I guess it could be one of my goals. That just went on to show how much I actually respect the bubbly Uchiha.

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My days went on as a routine. Practice, practice, spar with Naruto, practice, maybe visit the Nara compound to meet Shikamaru and Chouji, practice, go to the Uchiha compound, practice, hang out with Sakura and Ino, practice, spar with Hinata, practice.

So when, one night, I woke up in a hospital, I was obviously surprised.

My head throbbed harshly and there was a hint of a painful burn on my left arm. My eye traced the IV tube inserted in my arm and I reached out to yank it out. I didn't exactly hate hospitals, but I would rather not be in one.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

I whipped my head to my left- and immediately regretting it after another explosive headache- and was greeted with a certain Uchiha standing in the corner, his figure dimly lighted by the moonlight.