After having breakfast and making herself a simple lunch of rice, grilled fish, and pickled vegetables—tossed together in a bento-box, Sano met with her uncle Jogan at the base of her apartment building. She dressed in what she had, as she’d forgotten about buying extra sets of clothes; A rookie mistake, to say the least.
“Sano, good morning.” Jogan greeted her with a nod before turning off, showing that it was time to leave.
‘Good morning. I went to the library.’ Sano jogged quickly to catch up, before slowing to walk by his side.
Jogan watched her sign with only a flick of the eyes. “Learn anything interesting?”
He had asked it as idle conversation, but Sano was actually interested in what she found. ‘Genjutsu, Fuinjutsu, and lots of things about chakra. I want to be very good at chakra control.’
“Hmm. Most people want to be good at chakra control, Sano. Before your injury, you were decent.” Jogan remarked, hands sliding into his pockets as he strolled down the road.
With a frown, Sano signed again. ‘I want to be very good. The best. I have a plan.’ She waited for Jogan to say something, but he just kept walking. ‘Chakra Sealing tags.’
That remark caused Jogan to nearly skip a step. He then turned his now sharp gaze toward her. “No.”
‘Yes.’ Was her quick response.
“No, Sano. Those things are for criminals. Do you know what it feels like to have your chakra suppressed? If you did, you wouldn’t be thinking that they’re a good idea. You’re not the first person to think about casting jutsu’s while suppressed, and you won’t be the last. No.” Jogan shut her down without mercy, tone firm and unyielding.
‘That’s why I’ll start small. I will build my way up to higher rates of sealing.’ She hurriedly explained, signing as fast as she could.
Jogan stopped in the middle of the street, then turned to face her fully. “No.”
‘Yes.’ Sano squared her shoulders and tilted her head to glare at her uncle. This was a good plan, she’d thought about it for a whole day! Surely, nothing could go wrong. ‘I’m going to do it. You cannot stop me forever.’
After a tense stare down, Jogan turned roughly and continued walking. The tails of his trench coat flapped from the sharp motion. “While your unusual drive is inspiring, you do not know what it feels like. You will change your mind.”
He didn’t bother looking back to watch her response, which was just low. She was a mute, that was like teasing the blind. ‘I won’t.’
When they reached the academy, a crowd was forming in the courtyard. Many eager aspiring shinobi stood by parents or relatives, chatting away their nerves or giving reassurances.
Colorful hair and eyes weren’t common in Konoha, but they weren’t rare. A wide ray of color stood out amongst the most basic black and browns. One girl had stark, blood red hair and violet eyes. She looked a little older than Sano, so she must have been an older student. There were two others with the same colored hair as that girl, but stood separately from her.
There were kids with blue, purple, white, and even silver hair around as well—very unnatural hair colors to have back on Earth. Weirdly, there was only one person who was blonde, which was actually a common hair color on Earth. It wasn’t like these details mattered, but she still would have guessed the opposite.
Several staff members or teachers stood about, collecting papers and enrollment forms, and Jogan quickly joined one of the many lines before them. When it was eventually their turn, Sano stopped staring at the other families and focused her attention on the stern looking man shinobi teacher, decked out in full ninja-attire. He even had a military vest on!
From what Sano now knew as a Storage Scroll, Jogan puffed out a separate, smaller scroll all together, then handed it over to the teacher. “Sano Aburame. I believe you should be aware of her circumstances.”
The man opened the scroll, scanning the contents with his eyes as he responded. “We are aware, Aburame-san.”
The teacher finished reading, nodded to himself, then waved over to a different staff member who had stood behind him. As the new man, really an older teen, approached, he idly handed over the scroll and turned to face Sano. “Sano-chan, please follow Roki-san for some individual testing.”
Sano looked up to Jogan, who gave her a nod of approval, then followed along after Roki. She peeked over her shoulder, and saw Jogan turn and leave. It seemed that she would be alone from here on out.
Roki eventually led her into an empty classroom. Unlike what she originally imagined, the room was more in the style of a very small university auditorium. Many wooden seats were situated behind singular long desks, which slowly raised in altitude along with the stairs. The further you got from the podium, situated in the front, the higher you went into the room. There were only five rows of seats and tables, but the layout was still mildly surprising. She had imagined some elementary school set-up, with singular desks and childish colors, drawings, and toys.
Maybe it was idiocy, but she had forgotten that this was a ninja school, not some daycare.
“Take a seat, Sano-chan.” Roki said, as Sano inspected him.
Roki was a taller teen; lanky, and not well muscled. Not the first someone would assume to be a ninja, but that probably worked in his favor during the war. He had simple short brown hair and wore a friendly smile as he readied some papers.
Sano sat down in the front row and Roki soon followed her to stand in the aisle, clearing his throat before he started asking some questions. “To start, my name is Roki Yoshida—a new teacher here at the academy. I will be asking you some questions to get a baseline for your general aptitude, and to test how much you remember from before your time in the hospital. I can understand Konoba-Sign, and will understand what you’re saying.” He paused and made sure she was listening, then nodded in satisfaction.
“According to your previous scores here at the academy, you were a great student. You graduated to become a Genin at eight years old. If things go according to plan, then you will graduate even quicker with a second try!” He joked, earning an eye smile from Sano, before continuing. “Let us test your academic side before starting the more practical tests.”
Roki slid one of the many papers he held onto the desk before her, then fished around in his vest to grab a brush and a small, stoppered glass vial of ink. As Sano scanned the contents of the paper, Roki finished with, “If you don’t know any of the answers, that is fine. The questions start off easy and grow progressively more difficult.”
Sano smiled from beneath her mask as she discovered that the first test was about mathematics. While she wasn’t a mathematician, she’d done more difficult math than this! These questions were for children! While some of the later questions were suitable for those in middle-school and would be difficult for children under the age of ten, she could ace this test. It’s not like she needed to spend time on math when there were lessons about throwing fireballs and what-not.
Quickly and efficiently, even going so far as to show her work, Sano quickly filled out every single answer, confident about every single one of them correctly. Once finished, she slid the paper back to Roki, who had taken a step back to give her some mild amount of privacy. After all, nobody liked people hovering over their shoulders.
Sano watched with smug satisfaction as Roki read over her answers, eyebrows rising further and further as he made his way down the page. “Well then, I can safely say you don’t need to spend time on math.” He cleared his throat, then slid another paper onto the table.
This time, it was a history quiz. Unlike math, she probably wouldn’t ace this one. Jogan had taught her a lot, and she did her best to remember everything he said, but those small cram courses weren’t going to make up for years of schooling. The starting questions were fairly simple, even things she knew, but when she got a third of the way down, she struggled.
How the hell am I supposed to know this?! Sano thought, eyebrow twitching.
"During the First Shinobi World War, Konoha’s supply lines were nearly crippled due to a series of coordinated ambushes by an enemy village. Which village orchestrated these attacks, and what strategy did Konoha develop to counter them?"
She shook her head and slid the paper back towards Roki, who swiftly picked it up and read through it. After a few seconds, he spoke. “Good job! It seems like you remember or caught up on most of what you knew before. We can write off history classes as well.”
After he scribbled some notes onto some of his papers, he slid yet another paper her way. She reached for her writing brush, but Roki spoke again. “This one will be more general Shinobi knowledge. Do your best, Sano -chan.”
Sano read through the paper, brush in hand, and tilted her head as her eyes traveled over each question. It was a fairly wide array of questions, from the names of different ninja-tools to the five common types of chakra natures. There was even a question about what each hand sign did for jutsu! She could answer a few of these, but not all of them. They didn’t appear to scale in difficulty either.
She did her best, before doing as she had done before, sliding the paper back to Roki. He, of course, read through it again and made some more personal notes. “Not bad! But, I can see some of the stuff you’ve obviously forgotten. Last test, then we can go test some of the practicals!” Roki smiled and handed over the final paper. “This one will be free-form answers. There is no right or wrong. So, just answer honestly. Okay?”
Sano nodded her understanding, then got to work…
She stilled at the first question.
“Why do you want to be a shinobi?”
Sano blinked, then peeked over at Roki with her bright orange eyes. Seemingly waiting for it, he caught her eyes with a warm, reassuring smile and a nod of the head. She focused back on the paper, then thought deeply about the answer.
She hadn’t really given it a real thought, but now that it was asked…? Well, the real immediate jerk-response was ‘because I want to throw fireballs and cast magic,’ but that wouldn’t really be suitable as an answer. After another thirty seconds, hand held up to her chin like a wisdom-filled sage, she nodded to herself and wrote an answer.
“Why do you want to be a shinobi?”“Because being a Shinobi will make me the best I can be.”
The other questions were also more philosophical or nonsensical than they had any right to be, but she answered them all the same. She never lied, either.
“If you could master one jutsu instantly, what would it be and why?”“I don’t know if it has a name, but a Genjutsu that would allow others to hear my voice again.”
“How would you handle a teammate who refuses to listen to instructions?”“I would ask my sensei for help. If they weren’t present, and time was of the essence, then I would listen to their instructions. In that case, we would at least be on the same page.”
“If your team was given a mission and your leader made a decision you disagreed with, what would you do?”“I would bring up my disagreement. If we still disagreed, then I would follow their orders. When we eventually get back home, I would file a complaint or notify someone higher up about their actions. If it was serious. Scale matters here.”
“What qualities make someone a good leader? Do you see yourself as one?”“As I cannot speak, I do not think I have the qualifications to be a leader. A good leader is someone who will listen to input and make the decisions that are best for the team and the village.”
“If you and a teammate were both injured and had limited supplies, how would you decide who gets treatment first?”“I would assess the damage and use our supplies on whoever was in immediate danger.” “If you had to choose between completing a mission or saving a teammate, what would you do?”“I would save my teammate. One mission failure is nothing compared to their life. With their life, they will go on to complete many more missions for the village. A net positive of success.”
“If you were on a mission and found an injured enemy shinobi, what would you do?”“Disable them, give them aid if their life is in danger, then capture them.”
“What is your biggest weakness as a shinobi, and how are you working to improve it?”“I lost my memory and I cannot speak. I am here at the academy again to learn what I forgot, and I am very interested in Genjutsu and Fuinjutsu. They will let me speak again.”
She answered the final, strange question honestly, but it may have been the wrong answer.
“If you were sent on a long mission outside of Konoha, away from your family and friends, how would you cope with the isolation?”“I have forgotten all of my family and friends. It wouldn’t be much of a burden as long as I could self-study and improve myself while away.”
These questions took her longer than the history and math tests combined. Roki was waiting for her to finish this time, and swiped up the paper quickly. Strangely, he didn’t pause to read that test like the others.
“Now, for the practicals.”
—-----------
Sano had many thoughts about the practicals, but none of them involved her getting her shit ruthlessly pushed in by a lanky teen double her age in a spar. Even knowing ahead of time that she was going to fight didn’t help. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure if she’d ever gotten into fights on Earth, but from her skills, she’d say that was a definite fucking no.
Unlike Roki, who was taking it easy on her and still crushing her, Sano didn’t have any taijutsu base. Roki had something… She wasn’t completely sure, but he was doing some form of structured combat. Every punch was effortlessly blocked or deflected, every kick was dodged with ease, and every single one of his whiff-punishes were brutal and effective.
Although she was losing, she could tell that she was moving much faster, striking harder, and was more durable than when she was back on Earth. A punch to the nose with as much force as Roki was putting in was a surefire way to break it. Yet, she got a simple nosebleed for her troubles—one that miraculously stopped within seconds.
It hurt to spar, even when it was just her fists smashing against his arms as he blocked, but it wasn’t as bad as she had feared.
She ‘sparred’ (got her ass whooped by) Roki for three minutes before he called it off. Roki walked off to grab his papers to begin writing some more notes as he talked. “A rough showing. Though, you weren’t the best at taijutsu in the past either. How are you feeling?”
Sano shrugged as she breathed through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. ‘Sore, battered, but okay?’ She signed back.
“You’re pretty durable. That’s at least a point in your favor. Do you happen to know what changed?” Roki asked, not stopping in his writing as his eyes landed on her hands for a response.
She didn’t really know how durable Old-Sano was, but if she had to guess the reason for being more durable now… ‘No insects anymore?’
Roki tilted his head, looking thoughtful. His hand didn’t stop writing, even when he wasn’t looking at the paper. “Perhaps. I am unfamiliar with the intricacies of your clan’s jutsu and capabilities.”
Roki stepped forward, then gestured for her to sit down. “Now, we will test your chakra usage. You can feel your chakra, correct?”
Sano nodded and dropped down onto her butt to sit cross-legged.
Roki flipped through his papers. “It says you have Earth and Water release. Can you demonstrate any jutsu?”
‘No. I do not know any jutsu.’ Sano responded, shuffling to get more comfortable on the hard dirt.
“That’s okay. Can you cycle your chakra? Mold it? If so, please show me.” Roki asked, then tucked his stack of papers under an armpit to observe.
She wasn’t going to just say ‘no’ and be done with it. Trying was half the effort of succeeding.
Sano closed her eyes and placed the palms of her hands on her thighs. With modulated breaths, she focused on feeling her chakra again—finding it much easier than before, now that she knew what she was looking for. It flowed, circulated through the entirety of her body; from her hands to her fingers, back up and then down her torso to her legs and toes. She consciously followed it along and even tried to nudge it to make it move faster.
It must have worked, as Roki spoke. “Good, now moulding?”
She’d read about molding in the library the day before, but hadn’t tried it at all. Chakra moulding was the process of directing your physical and spiritual chakra to tenketsu points, normally the hands and feet, to use jutsu. Since chakra was a mix of the two energies, different ratios were used for different jutsu. Ninjutsu could go either way, while Genjutsu and Fuinjutsu used more spiritual than physical, and she wasn’t sure if there were taijutsu chakra techniques, but they’d be on the physical side for sure.
She wasn’t sure if she was mixing her chakra at all, but she managed to direct it to her hands briefly, before it escaped her will and wandered back off to cycle through her pathways.
“Better than expected if you’re relearning it.” Roki remarked.
That was more than she expected as well, but she wouldn’t say anything just yet. (Not that she could.)
—----------------
When it came to throwing kunai, shuriken, and senbon, she failed miserably. They didn’t even spend five minutes at the target range before Roki called it quits.
It took roughly an hour to do all of the tests and practicals. Currently, Roki was reading through his notes, making his decision on what class she would join.
“So! You need some work on your jutsu and chakra, but you should pick those up again with some more training. All students, good or bad, have taijutsu practice, which you’ll need… but for the actual academics, you’re set. I think your best bet is to go into the fourth year class and spend the math and history classes on free-study for your jutsu, chakra, and personal interests. Agreed?” Roki asked, a raised eyebrow high in the sky.
Sano wasn’t actually sure if she had the choice to disagree, but that sounded pretty good to her. Though, before she actually agreed with the man, she had some questions of her own. It was only fair, since he’d been asking them for the past hour. ‘I have a strong interest in Genjutsu and Fuinjutsu. Are there any classes or teachers that can teach me those here?”
Roki sank his shoulders and looked dejected, as she hadn’t immediately agreed. “The very basics, yes. Past the basics? I’m sorry, Sano.”
Sano sighed, but understood. It was a tall ask, and her uncle had said the same. ‘I agree.’
Roki immediately brightened. "Great! Let's head over to your class now. They should be starting soon. Most of the kids should have already registered and signed in." He waved at her to join him. “Follow along!”
Five minutes later, Roki slid open a door to a different, yet same in appearance, classroom and ushered her inside. Standing at the podium, which was in front of the large blank chalkboard, was another teacher. The man was much older than Roki, but had the same warm air about him and a caring smile as he noticed her entry. He had a long, braided, brown ponytail, which trailed down to his lower back, and the typical shinobi attire; a light green ninja vest, a leaf headband, a thigh holster, a long pair of dark blue pants, and a matching long sleeve shirt.
She must have been the last one to arrive, as it appeared as if they had just interrupted everybody. Fourteen pairs of curious eyes landed directly on her from her fellow classmates. They all looked unique, with different attires and personality showcasing therein.
She simply stood there while Roki met with the classroom teacher and had a lowered conversation. After a few seconds, the man nodded and gestured her over towards him. Once by his side, Roki gave her a final nod of acknowledgement and made his way out of the room.
The man placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her to face the room alongside him. “Class, this is Sano Aburame. She’ll be joining us from here on out. Sano is unable to speak normally due to a war injury. Because of this injury, she uses the standard Konoha Sign language. She carries with her a keyring with pre-written phrases for those of you who do not know Konoha Sign. While technically a Genin, Sano here has amnesia. That is why she is back in class with us. She may not know some of the things you take for common knowledge, and I will not tolerate abusing her lack thereof for pranks.” He paused, eyes scanning the room with impressive weight. “Am I understood?”
A chorus of ‘Yes, Tanaka-sensei!’ rang out in unison, and right after Sano bowed in greeting, the teacher leaned over and whispered to her. “My name is Gaku Tanaka. You may refer to me as Tanaka-sensei.” Then, with a light push, he sent her forward to take a seat.
She sat in the front row as it was the closest and took a seat next to a slightly pudgy boy with a round face and spiky brown hair. He looked friendly enough, and even gave her a nod and a toothy smile.
The class started with some theory and explanation about the numerous hand seals used for jutsu. Hand seals, while not strictly necessary, vastly improved the ease at which a ninja could channel, mould, and transform their chakra. Each hand seal had its purpose, and when weaved together, created a mental and physical framework for chakra to follow.
While the twelve basic hand seals existed, and Sano had memorized each one, she didn’t actually know their specific purposes until now. Tanaka-sensei even went further into his explanation, detailing that there are many more uncommon or unique hand seals; such as the Clone Seal—which looked like two finger guns crossed over each other.
Really crafty ninja could even create their own seals, but that interesting bit of information was only briefly mentioned in their lesson, and not delved into with any depth, sadly.
“Okay, class. Let us all try Bunshin-no-Jutsu, the Clone Jutsu. Rakaki, you’re up first!” Tanaka-sensei spoke loudly as he finished writing the required seals onto the board.
Startled, a young boy left his seat and made his way down to the front of the class, nervousness fully on display. Tanaka gave him a reassuring smile and gestured for him to give it a go.
With a shaky breath, the boy named Rakaki weaved through the required hand signs, Ram - Snake -Tiger, and restlessly shouted. “Bunshin-no-jutsu!”
By his side, a vast plume of chakra smoke plumed into existence. The whole class leaned forward, waiting with bated breath as the smoke cleared, revealing… a wobbly, drowned color version of Rakaki.
Rakaki slumped his shoulders and drooped his head as the clone poofed out of existence, creating a uniquely pleasing sound.
Even though Rakaki looked demotivated, Tanaka-sensei praised him for a great first attempt and gave him some tips on how to improve.
Following Rakaki, several kids went up when their name was called and did their best. The most successful was a brown haired, bored looking girl named Riba Nara. While her clone wasn’t perfect, as it stood a few inches shorter than her, it was nearly indistinguishable.
“Sano Aburame. Give it a go.” Tanaka-sensei called out her name, causing her to blink owlishly. Excited, Sano made her way to the front of the classroom, but before she started, she signed a question to her teacher. ‘I can’t say the jutsu.’
From their lesson, saying the name of the jutsu helped with the casting. There were only so many jutsus, and some even used the exact same hand signs. Audibly calling out the jutsu helped with channeling your chakra to its purpose.
Instead of responding verbally, Tanaka signed back. ‘It’s not required. Mentally call it out.’ He finished by giving her a wink, earning a hidden smile from her from beneath her mask.
With a fast weave of Ram - Snake - Tiger… Sano mentally called out ‘Bunshin-no-Jutsu!’
Startlingly, Sano felt her chakra rip away from herself and coalesce into an imitation. The stark feeling of not feeling your chakra to suddenly feeling it being taken and used was shocking—Like being suddenly dipped into a warm bath.
Sano stared into the chakra smoke by her side, hands still stuck in the Tiger sign. When her clone was revealed, she cringed. It was a blob, vaguely in her shape, but had the right clothes and colors. It was obviously very poorly formed, and it placed her on the mental leaderboards towards the bottom of the class.
Tanaka-sensei’s praise went in one ear and out the other as she slumped. She had thought that maybe she’d be some hidden genius, but that apparently wasn’t the case. After listening to his tips of visualization, Sano made her way back to her seat.
The boy next to her, Joji Akimichi, gave her a smile as she sat down. He’d done a little better than she did, so they were both near the bottom.
Partners in misery.