The first week of the Academy began without incident.
When she had first entered the classroom, she expected the lessons to immediately focus on combat.
She had imagined being taught how to use weapons.
Instead, the Academy started with something much more basic.
The first lesson was discipline.
The second was awareness.
The third was learning how not to make mistakes that could get them killed.
Shizuku considered the third lesson the most important.
Every morning began with physical training.
The students practiced their stance, movement, balance, and endurance.
At first, many of the children were disappointed.
They expected flashy techniques.
They expected to learn powerful jutsu immediately.
Instead, they spent hours repeating simple movements.
Obito struggled with the patience required.
“This is boring,” Obito complained while holding his stance.
Shizuku looked over at him.
“You have only been doing it for fifteen minutes.” “That’s why you’re weak.” Obito looked offended.
“I’m not.” “That’s what someone who is weak would say.” Shizuku turned away with a slight smile on her face.
Weapon training began soon after.
The instructor explained that a weapon was only as strong as the person using it.
A skilled shinobi with a simple tool could defeat someone with a better weapon.
A stronger blade could not fix a weak foundation.
Some students adapted quickly.
Kakashi Hatake was one of them.
His movements were precise.
He rarely wasted energy and made very few unnecessary movements.
Shizuku watched him carefully.
He was already far ahead of most students.
But she noticed something.
Kakashi focused entirely on perfection.
Every mistake bothered him.
Every failure was immediately corrected.
That kind of personality could create someone extremely strong.
But it could also become a weakness.
Someone who was a perfectionist could hesitate when a decision needed to be made.
Asuma Sarutobi was different.
He was talented.
But the moment Kurenai looked his way, his fighting style changed completely.
His movements became larger, his confidence increased, and it was obvious he was trying far too hard to impress her.
Riku Inuzuka was also very different from Kakashi.
He treated everything like a competition.
Especially against Obito.
“I’ll beat you next time!” Riku shouted after losing a training exercise.
Obito pointed at himself.
“Me, why?” “Because you’re an Uchiha!” Obito looked confused.
Shizuku ignored their argument.
But she took note of something.
Obito was making friends.
More than she expected.
Yachi Uchiha also became closer to Obito during the week.
Shizuku felt relieved.
Obito needed that connection.
He needed someone to love.
Someone whom he loved more than her.
Shizuku started thinking.
Yachi was from the Uchiha clan.
Her family had influence.
Her grandfather was the leader of the moderate faction.
It was reasonable to assume he would like his granddaughter to get close to someone who awakened two tomoe at such a young age.
Shizuku pushed the thought away.
She could only hope that it would happen.
As the week continued, the Academy lessons became more practical.
The students learned tracking.
How to follow someone without being noticed.
How to recognize signs of movement.
How to tell when someone was intentionally leaving a false trail.
During one exercise, the instructor created several fake paths.
Most students followed the obvious trail.
Shizuku saw through it.
Haruto noticed.
“Why aren’t you following everyone else?” “Because it is too obvious.” Haruto looked back at the trail.
Then at her.
“You figured that out immediately?” Shizuku shrugged.
“The instructor wanted us to notice it.” Haruto laughed.
“Hopefully, I get assigned to your squad, and you can protect me.” “It’s understandable; I would also want to be in my squad,” Shizuku responded.
Trap training was another lesson many students underestimated.
The instructor placed a simple trap in front of the class.
“A shinobi does not always win because they are stronger.” He looked at the students.
“Preparation decides battles before they begin.” Shizuku remembered those words.
They were true.
A weaker opponent with enough preparation could defeat someone much stronger.
That was the Batman way: give him prep time, and he was unbeatable unless he went up against an opponent like Dragon, since he had nothing to prepare against.
The class quickly discovered another painful truth.
Being a shinobi involved paperwork.
Mission reports.
Records.
Information summaries.
The reaction was immediate.
“This is worse than training,” Obito said while staring at his unfinished report.
Yachi laughed at him.
“You’re really bad at this.” Obito looked embarrassed.
“I’m better at fighting.” “You haven’t fought anyone yet.” “Exactly.
I have potential.” By Friday, the entire class knew what was coming.
Their first sparring evaluation.
The training field was filled with excitement.
Some students were confident.
Others were nervous.
Shizuku spent time studying everyone and pulling information about them and their clans that she could remember.
This class contained many talented people.
Kakashi.
Obito.
Asuma.
Kurenai.
The clan heirs.
The civilian students.
Every person here had the potential to become a jonin.
Their instructor stepped forward.
“Today you will participate in your first sparring evaluation.” The students immediately became louder.
The instructor raised his hand.
“This is not a tournament.
You are here to improve.” He pointed toward the wooden weapons.
“The rules are simple.
No dangerous techniques.
No serious injuries.
Stop immediately when instructed.” The students nodded.
“Your goal is to improve.
Not to destroy your opponent.” The first matches began.
Haruto fought against Riku.
Riku rushed forward without hesitation.
Haruto avoided direct attacks and focused on movement.
Instead of matching strength with strength, he used timing.
Eventually, Riku became impatient.
That created an opening.
Haruto won.
Riku immediately stood up.
“I almost had you!” Haruto smiled.
“I got lucky.” Shizuku noticed that although Haruto was not the strongest, he was very talented and understood people well.
Kaito Hyūga’s match was next.
His opponent attacked aggressively.
Kaito barely moved.
His defense was controlled.
The match ended quickly.
Asuma’s match was closer.
He took hits.
By the end, he barely managed to win.
But he smiled anyway.
A victory was still a victory.
Then Kakashi stepped forward.
His match lasted less than 20 seconds.
The class went silent.
He dismantled his opponent.
No hesitation.
When it ended, several students stared.
Even Shizuku was impressed.
Kakashi was strong.
Finally, Obito’s name was called.
He stepped forward confidently.
His opponent was larger and more experienced.
The first exchange went badly for his opponent.
Obito pushed him backward.
The class became quiet.
His opponent missed a punch, and Obito exploited that opening to deliver a knee to his solar plexus, dropping him instantly.
The class cheered.
Obito smiled proudly.
Shizuku watched him carefully.
He was miles ahead of his anime counterpart.
Not as strong as her, but with the Sharingan, it might be a difficult fight.
Then her name was called.
“Shizuku Uchiha.” The moment her name was called, the atmosphere around the arena changed.
The class had already sat through the other matches, but now they wanted to see what the top student actually had.
Shizuku stepped into the arena.
Across from her, her opponent’s grip tightened on their wooden weapon; she could tell the opponent was nervous.
That was good; nervous opponents rushed, and opponents who rushed make more mistakes than when they are calm.
“Begin,” the instructor said, raising his hand.
Her opponent charged immediately, as she expected.
The strike itself was fast, but everything leading up to it wasn’t; the obvious commitment behind the swing.
Shizuku waited until the last possible moment and stepped aside, letting the wooden blade cut through nothing but air.
Her opponent froze for half a second.
She was already behind them by then.
A light tap against the shoulder with her own weapon settled it.
“First opening.” The class went quiet.
Her opponent spun around, red-faced, and came at her again, smarter this time, with a lower stance and more attention on defense than on trying to force a hit.
Shizuku found herself almost respecting it.
At least they were capable of adjusting mid-fight.
The next exchange lasted longer.
A faint aimed at her left, then a change of direction meant to catch her off-balance.
When the real attack finally came, she didn’t retreat from it; she stepped straight into it, closing the distance her opponent had been counting on to save themselves.
Their eyes went wide a moment too late.
She redirected the weapon, pulled their balance out from under them, and stopped her blade against their chest before they’d fully registered what had happened.
“Second opening.” She stepped back and gave them room to reset.
Frustration had replaced the embarrassment on their face now.
They rushed her again, faster and messier than before.
This time she didn’t bother countering right away, just slipped past the first strike, then the second, then the third, letting each one pass close enough that she could feel the wind of them.
A few students on the sidelines started to notice what was actually happening in front of them.
She wasn’t defending anymore.
She was playing with her opponent.
The last attack came out of pure desperation, everything her opponent had left in one swing.
Shizuku exhaled and stepped into the gap in the opponent’s guard.
She caught the strike, twisted the momentum out from under it, and let the weapon slip from their hand.
Her blade found their shoulder.
The match was over.
The field stayed silent, not because she’d won.
It was silent because of how unfair the fight was.
The instructor stared at her for a moment.
“You could have ended that fight earlier.” Shizuku lowered her weapon.
“Yes.” “Then why didn’t you?” She looked toward her opponent.
“They improved after every mistake.” A few students looked surprised.
The instructor smiled slightly.
“So you were helping them improve.” “I suppose.” The instructor nodded.
Obito walked beside Yachi and Haruto, already talking about what he needed to practice.
Kakashi walked alone, but his eyes occasionally shifted toward Shizuku.
Shizuku followed behind them.
As they left the training field, Shizuku glanced toward Obito.
He was laughing with Yachi and Haruto.
A week ago, she never would have expected to see him like this.
After their parents died, Obito had changed.
The excitement he once carried everywhere had faded.
There were moments when he became quiet, when he thought nobody was watching.
But around others…
he acted like everything was fine.
Shizuku knew him well enough to notice the difference.
It was not a fake smile.
Not completely.
Obito really was happier when he was around people.
Having friends helped him.
It gave him something to focus on besides what he had lost.
But there was still something missing.
A small hesitation.
A moment where the smile disappeared when he thought nobody was looking.
He was trying.
Trying to move forward.
Trying to prove he was okay.
Shizuku understood that well.
She had spent years hiding her own thoughts and emotions behind a calm expression until she eventually stopped caring about the thing she was suppressing.
Seeing Obito do the same bothered her slightly.
Maybe it was because it hit close to home.