Island of Storms [Sakura]

Chapter 50 | Paper

Iruka looked around the halls of the Academy as he made his way toward the office room. The building was almost three times as large as the one he taught at in Konoha, with there being four floors and over thirty classrooms. Another building was still in the middle of construction just to the north.

Sakura and those around her had decided to create an all-encompassing teaching facility. There would be two in total in the village, for the size it was at that moment, anyway. The one he was in would be the only one on Arashijima, catering to all shinobi classes and other general studies. The building was divided down the middle, separating the Academy wing from the other studies.

Iruka entered the office to be greeted by Kurenai and the Akimichi father and son. The small group discussed the coming day before splitting off into their classrooms. Iruka passed the first two rooms on the way to his own, taking in the faces of the adults in the class Choza was beginning. Kurenai would be helping the young adults learn the basics, and Iruka himself would be teaching those of the usual Academy age.

Entering his class, the children in the tiered desks grew quieter, some of them going back to the seats they had decided on. He smiled as he saw a few familiar personalities, though he was sure that they would grow to be their own special character when they were older.

"Good morning," he smiled. "If you could take your seats, we'll start today's lesson."

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Kurenai stopped what she had been saying as the door to the classroom opened, looking over to her nephew and his teammate attempting to sneak in. She had to give them some credit, as only a couple of her students had noticed them enter before her doing anything, though they looked similar to frightened deer at seeing that she had caught them.

"Er, Teacher Shino—" Kosai started.

"You will be in here for the paper test, I know," she stated, raising a brow. "But why are you late?"

"We were in the wrong classroom..." Inari muttered, causing a handful of the students to laugh. Kurenai gave a sigh and the two boys sat down on the stairs nearest the door as there were no vacant seats for them.

The hours passed quickly to their surprise, Kosai finding that those in the class were probably more interested than he had been in the Academy. He had to remember that they were his age though and was sure that Iruka was dealing with children just like he had been.

The basics came and left, everyone but a few claiming they were able to bring chakra to the tip of their finger. Kosai guessed that since the students were older, they would be able to tap into their reserves with less effort and so they would be taking the paper test early into lessons.

Soon enough, Choji entered the room with an envelope and handed it off to Kurenai before leaving again. The envelope was passed down the rows until each student had a single piece, Inari and Kosai taking one as well before the envelope was returned to the instructor.

"Now, I'll be coming around to each of you. Until I reach you, please leave your paper on the desk and do not touch it," Kurenai instructed as she picked up an ice-cube tray with what looked to the students to be colored stickers. "Once you take the test, I'll give you a sticker that corresponds with the release you have. Please put them on your ninjutsu lessons folder so you can refer back to them should you forget."

For the next half hour, papers crumbled, burned, dampened, tore, and wrinkled. Only a select number of students received more than one sticker. The two boys felt themselves begin to grow nervous as Kurenai reached the end of the students. Of course there was no reason to be. They had both used faulty papers before, that was all. There was nothing to be nervous about.