My training persisted, consuming every drop of free time I managed to get my hands on. Although I was glad, since with my monthly check from whoever was my sponsor, I no longer had to steal to feed Pako.
So every morning, I would go to school and then train with Shiruma-sensei. Occasionally I was just assigned tasks to do while he was away. Then after training was concluded at sunset, or until Shiruma-sensei told me stop, I would eat dinner, buy some chicken for Pako, feed her, and then go home and pass out.
I was busier as a child than I was as an adult.
I sighed as I slumped against my desk tiredly. Gaara watched me silently while Kankuro and Temari glanced back at me. I felt Kankuro's eyes linger there for a moment longer before he asked me quietly, "tired?"
I simply nodded back in return. My left arm was sore from being compelled to actually use it, but whenever I threw kunai or shuriken, or even do chakra control exercises, it felt easier. Like I had more control. Even so, my handwriting was still crap; I longed to write with my dominant right hand again.
Nakomi-sensei suddenly went from teaching us about hiragana, to standing up and writing something on the board: 'fuinjutsu.'
"As you may know, we are currently learning about hiragana and kanji, two different ways to write. Hopefully you have been paying attention, because this lesson might be beneficial to you in your career." He tapped on the word on the board. "Fuinjutsu is as the name suggests, the art of sealing." He explained.
"Can someone tell me what seals are used for?" He asked the class, turning to face us again.
I watched as Kankuro quickly raised his hand, and Nakomi-sensei motioned towards him. "Yes, Kankuro?"
"Explosions!"
"Yes, explosive tags are seals, anything else?" No one else raised their hands and I slowly raised mine.
"Silence?" I suggested quietly.
"Yes, silence! Can anyone think of anything else?" He asked, looking around the room. I had a few ideas, but kept my mouth shut.
"Well, fuinjutsu can be anything your heart desires. You can set traps, you can seal items, you summon animals even, the possibilities are limitless!" He proclaimed. "Although, it is very difficult to become a fuinjutsu master, and they are very rare to come by." He explained.
He paused for a moment, the room was silent for him to continue speaking. "So that the village can hopefully produce other fuinjutsu masters, you're able to take part in a remedial class that will be teaching you the basics."
"Although, this class is not for everyone and you will be taken out if you can't keep up," He pulled out a sheet of paper as he spoke, "If you are interested in learning fuinjutsu, just sign here and you will be enrolled into the class on the second half of physical training," he concluded.
I got up along with a few other kids, one of my bullies, Yuno, and some kids I didn't know the names of. I wrote my name of the piece of paper as neatly as I could, with pen. I was anxious about someone erasing my name off the roster.
After that interaction, I returned to my seat and decided to actually pay attention to the lesson on hiragana.
Soon enough we were outside running laps, and he handed us one kunai each. "I have been told that I should be teaching you all to throw kunai in a different manner," Nakomi-sensei delivered a glance in my direction.
"Starting today, you will only be throwing precise kunai," he sent me another look.
"Now, lets begin throwing kunai, and by the time we finish, those of you that have decided to try out fuinjutsu will be leaving," he explained.
I threw my one kunai, and had to stop myself from grinning. Ever since I had switched arms, my aim was improving tremendously, I almost got a bullseye! I tried several more times, but I never quite could hit that mark.
Just as I was retrieving my kunai for the seventh time, I spot a woman in a light brown shirt, a long orange skirt, and a dark brown haori step up to Nakomi-sensei. She was tan with long, reddish brown hair and blue eyes.
"Alright, stop everyone! Will those who signed up for fuinjutsu please follow Rik-" Nakomi-sensei paused as he corrected himself, "Ito-sensei to class."
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We all sat in a small classroom. A piece of thick parchment, an ink pot, and a quill was set in front of each of us. With Ito-sensei standing in front of us all.
"Now, you are all here to learn fuinjutsu, yes? Well this class is not one to be taken lightly," she began. Her voice was gentle and soft, but her tone was otherwise. She paced the front of the room. "It will be very hard, and some of you are not cut out for it. If you are cut from the course, you will be able to try again next year as you improve a bit more over time."
"Although, people are typically able to pick out future masters of this art at a young age," she explained.
"Now, to begin we will be going over the basics of fuinjutsu. The primary things, things you should not do. You will be writing each rule I state, am I clear?" She asked sternly.
No one said a word.
"Good, now let's begin..."
Overall my handwriting was terrible. It was horrible, I could barely read it, was I going to get kicked out? This seemed like something that would be interesting to do, but maybe I won't be doing it?
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I handed in my paper. The bell rang and kids filed out of the room. I hung around for a moment, glancing over to Ito-sensei and biting my lip, deciding whether or not to tell her about Shiruma-sensei's training.
I decided against it and quickly left class, meeting up with Shiruma-sensei at training ground two, feeling tense all the while.
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"Alright kid, today you will not be throwing kunai endlessly," Shiruma-sensei declared. "Today we will be doing chakra exercises! From what Aoba tells me, you're pretty good at control, right?" He asked.
"Yeah, I have been practicing with marbles..." I responded quietly. Does Nakomi-sensei tell Shiruma-sensei everything? What does he know about me? Does he think I can tell the future?
"Oh, I hated those! How far are you?"
"Well, right now I've finished the first one, but I'm just working on mastering it," I explained.
"Alright, alright, a perfectionist, you'd be good at fuinjutsu!" He laughed. I froze, how did he know? He couldn't have known? Is it just a hunch? How does he know?
"Either way, you are good at chakra control, and I'm gonna let you keep on working on that, but, how much chakra do you have? Do you know?" He asked, tilting his head at me, rummaging through his pocket and pulling out a piece of paper.
I shook my head no.
"Well, lets find out," he said, handing me the paper. It had a few seals scribbled on it. "This special piece of paper was made by one of our fuinjutsu masters. What it does, is you meditate with it, and it reveals how much chakra you have. The different colors it turns into will judge. The least is white, which means you are about the same level as an infant, no chakra at all, and the maximum is black, about the amount of chakra of a demon," he laughed.
"Right now you should be in about the lower to mid-range."
After a bit of meditation, I stared at the paper in my hands with disappointment. It was light gray. Sensei let out a low whistle. "You have the chakra reserves of a toddler, amazing control, but your reserves are currently that of a toddler, a toddler? How do you even run quietly with reserves like that?" He seemed honestly incredulous.
"I don't know, is there something wrong with me?" I asked, staring up at him.
"Yes!" Came his immediate response. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or feel depressed.
"What are we going to do about it?" I prodded.
"Good question, but, you will be learning ninjutsu! I will also be forcing you to have left hand dominant seals!"
So that's what we did, cycle through the seals. And it was, to say the least, boring.
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I groaned by the end of training, plopping down in the sand as I stared up into the fading sky. Shiruma-sensei walked off to do whatever he did, probably gossip about me with Nakomi-sensei. I had reason to believe that now.
It'd been such a long time since I've just been able to lay in the sand and stare at the stars. Watching all of the twinkling lights glow in the night sky. They were always so beautiful. In my past life there were very few moments that I got to see the stars.
A memory, one of my happy memories lit up in my mind.
"Paige! Come on out, it's starting!" My grandmother called to me, waving me outside onto the back porch. I rushed outside, still in my night gown as I sat on a blanket next to my nana. She was a thinner woman with snow white hair, and sparkling brown eyes.
I looked up to the sky, staring in awe as stars glided across the sky like miniature rockets. "Make a wish! Maybe it will come true..!" She chuckled. I didn't really remember what I wished for, a lot of wishes I made were stupid. A pony probably.
"Do you know what I wished for, Paige?" She asked, turning towards me.
"What did you wish for, Grandma??" I questioned curiously.
"I wished that you would grow up to be happy," she replied quietly, with a small smile on her face. I remember I was confused at that time, I would always be happy! Although, Grandma should have remembered one thing.
If you shared your wish, it wouldn't come true. But what could I say, I never really grew up in the first place.