Chapter 14: The First Day of School
Today.
The weather was clear.
It wasn't snowing.
Although the wind was still chilly, the sun was out today.
It was just that he'd woken up a bit early and was still sleepy.
"Nagato, it's your first day of school. You have to listen to the teacher and study obediently, okay? Don't disappoint your Teacher Hikaru."
"I know, Mom!" Nagato, carrying a small school bag, yawned lazily and said to his smiling mother, "I will study hard."
Nagato Uzumaki.
After the Uzumaki clan arrived in the Land of Grass, he and his mother resumed using the Uzumaki clan's surname.
Looking at his mother, who smiled more often now and had become much more beautiful, a smile couldn't help but appear on Nagato's face as well.
If it had been two months ago, he would never have imagined that one day he would be living in this peaceful country, without having to endure hunger and cold, and his mother would no longer have to live so cautiously.
He had friends around every day and could also learn ninjutsu.
To be honest...
It still felt a little unbelievable now.
Everything was so wonderful.
Of course.
It would be better if Teacher Hikaru didn't climb over the wall when he came over. The flowers and plants he had specially cultivated were about to be trampled to death.
And those were plants that could survive in winter.
Seeing Konan also leaving her house next door, Nagato smiled and nodded.
He estimated that Teacher Hikaru probably hadn't woken up yet. Although Teacher Hikaru was an incredibly skilled person, his habit of loving to sleep in while urging others to be diligent was quite a headache.
He heard that the leader would be giving a speech on stage later. He didn't know if Teacher Hikaru would make it in time.
"Mom, I'm going to school!"
Nagato waved to his mother, then shouldered his school bag and set off for school with Konan.
Behind them, Nagato's mother—Mrs. Fusō—wearing an apron, watched the two little ones' backs as they went to school, waving quietly, a look of reassurance and happiness on her face.
Only after their figures had disappeared did she turn to look at the house next door. "Hikaru probably isn't up yet."
Walking on the road, Nagato was still yawning. He calmly observed the early morning of the Land of Grass with his small eyes.
Compared to the Land of Rain, which had become desolate due to the war, people in the Land of Grass were out and about even on a winter morning.
Most of them were probably going to work, and some of the children were going to school with him.
He liked the Land of Grass.
At least it was quiet here, and everyone looked energetic, with smiles appearing on their faces from time to time.
Unlike the Land of Rain... where everyone's doors were tightly shut, and it rained heavily every day.
He heard from Yahiko that even though the war was over now, the Land of Rain was still in chaos.
The war in the shinobi world had ended, but the turmoil within the Land of Rain had not.
It was still at war.
After arriving at the school.
He found his seat.
They had already found out where they would be sitting yesterday.
"Nagato, Konan, you're here too?" Yahiko, who had arrived early, saw Nagato and Konan come in and immediately waved with a cheerful grin. "I got here before you!"
"Yahiko!" x2
Nagato and Konan smiled and greeted him, then sat down in their seats.
In fact, the three of them not only had to attend school here but were also taught ninjutsu by Teacher Hikaru and Sister Kana in their spare time.
Furthermore, Yahiko heard that he would be learning Uncle Mujina's family's secret techniques in the future, and Nagato would also learn the Uzumaki clan's sealing jutsu when he had time.
The sealing jutsu of the Uzumaki clan was said to be extremely powerful, though he didn't know how powerful it was yet.
He had only heard it from Teacher Hikaru.
Now, he also wanted to become strong, to have the ability to protect the people he cared about.
As for Konan, she would also learn some secret techniques from Teacher Hikaru, related to origami.
Konan's origami skills had already become very beautiful.
He just didn't know how powerful origami could be.
Could it be that Teacher Hikaru is just humoring a little girl?
Just then.
Yahiko lowered his voice and leaned his head over conspiratorially. "Let me tell you something~," he said, his expression strange and his tone chilling. "This school is haunted!"
"?!" x2
Nagato and Konan were stunned.
Seeing that they were scared by his words, Yahiko nodded in satisfaction and continued, "I heard this from the uncles who built the school. They say that underneath this Land of Grass Hope Ninja Academy is actually a mass grave."
"Back when the Land of Grass was destroyed, many people died, and no one collected their bodies. Later, there was a good man, an old man. Because he had lost his own wife and son, he had grown to hate the war. He couldn't bear to see so many people's bodies exposed in the wilderness, so he personally collected all the bodies by himself."
He sighed.
"But because he was alone and old, he could only dig a simple pit and bury them on the spot. After burying the last person, he even dug a pit for himself and buried himself in it."
"And Teacher Hikaru didn't know about this, so he chose to build the academy here, disturbing the slumber of the dead spirits, so..."
His tone gradually became sinister.
He spoke with such conviction that it was utterly believable, leaving Nagato and Konan listening in a daze.
Even a little girl like Konan started trembling.
A little scared.
A mass grave under the school?
Is it true?
Just then.
"Ding-ling-ling~"
The bell rang.
The three little ones stopped talking about it, but the thought of this place being a mass grave still frightened them a little.
However.
The teacher had already walked in.
Red hair.
A middle-aged man.
Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan knew who he was.
Uncle Eisuke.
He was a ninja of the Uzumaki clan.
"Good morning, children!"
Eisuke Uzumaki walked to the podium, placed the textbook issued by the Land of Grass on the desk, and looked at the obediently seated children before him.
His heart was filled with emotion.
Eisuke Uzumaki.
One of the three remaining Jonin of the Uzumaki clan.
He recalled the situation just over a month ago.
They were just refugees from the Land of Whirlpools, fleeing across the shinobi world, hunted by ninja from various countries, ostracized by everyone, living a wandering life of hunger and cold.
But now...
After being accepted by the leader, they no longer had to wander, nor did they have to worry about cold and hunger.
Now, he had even become a teacher in the newly built school.
Therefore, they were extremely grateful to the leader.
Compared to their own kin—Konoha—who had once directly ignored them, the current Land of Grass was the true home of their Uzumaki clan.
Speaking of which...
The former Land of Whirlpools was too small and didn't have any ninja academy. They had all relied on family inheritance to teach the new generation of ninja.
Therefore, being a teacher for the first time, he was actually a little nervous.
But...
Remembering the Third Elder's words from a few days ago, Eisuke Uzumaki felt a headache coming on.
[Eisuke~, the leader has given us an order to have lots and lots of children!]
Eisuke Uzumaki gave a fake cough, a smile on his face, and continued, "My name is Eisuke Uzumaki, and I will be your homeroom teacher. As for where I live, I believe you all already know. If you encounter any problems, you can come and ask me. You can even come to my house to play during the holidays!"
After writing his name on the blackboard.
"Now, let's start with self-introductions, from the first person in the first row."
At his words.
The first student in the front row stood up nervously.
"I... my name is Yushin. Actually, that wasn't my original name. My old name... was Daishi. But my dad said that to commemorate the reconstruction of the Land of Grass and its leap into development, he changed my name."
Although he stumbled through it, he finished his introduction.
One after another.
Until it was Konan's turn.
"My name is Konan. Teacher Hikaru... the leader, brought me back from the Land of Rain. If it weren't for Leader Hikaru, I might have starved to death in the Land of Rain." Konan stood up and said with a sweet smile, "I hope to repay Teacher Hikaru. War is terrible, and I hope the Land of Grass will never have war."
"Nagato Uzumaki. Teacher Hikaru also brought me back. Hmm~, I'm the same as Konan. I hope to be able to protect my mother and repay my teacher."
"Yahiko! Also from the Land of Rain! I will become a great ninja!"
As the self-introductions finished one by one.
Eisuke Uzumaki also had a smile on his face. He glanced at the three little ones from the Land of Grass and thought again of the Uzumaki clan.
The leader is truly a remarkable person.
He then picked up the textbook. "It's still early. According to the schedule, it's time for morning reading. Let me tell you~," he winked, "this textbook was personally written by the leader you all admire most, so everyone must study it diligently." He opened the textbook. "Now, I'll read a sentence, and you repeat after me."
"Repay resentment with virtue; then with what do you repay virtue? Repay resentment with uprightness, and repay virtue with virtue..."
At his words.
The children obediently repeated after the teacher, sentence by sentence.
"Repay resentment with virtue; then with what do you repay virtue? Repay resentment with uprightness, and repay virtue with virtue..."
The sound of reading aloud instantly filled the newly built school.
However.
At this moment.
Beneath the academy.
A certain old man with tubes stuck in his back looked up, his face twitching, at the sand and stones trickling down. After a moment of silence, a deep and ancient voice echoed from the cave.
"Damn it!!!"
Will it ever end?
(End of a Chapter)