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Chapter 9: I, Your Father, am Very Perceptive

Hiruzen was not happy. After listening to Wu’s account, the only thing keeping him from charging over to the Academy and demanding answers was the slim possibility the youth was lying to him. However, while he had noticed Wu’s penchant for saying things people wanted to hear, Hiruzen didn’t consider the boy dishonest.

Doing his best to appear calm, belying the volcano brewing beneath the surface, Hiruzen patted Wu on the shoulder, thanking him before saying he had something to take care of. After that, he left the youth in the care of one of the servants, ordering them to prepare a hearty meal so that Wu could eat immediately following his training.

With Hiruzen rushing off shortly after their discussion, Wu took a moment to consider how his words and action might affect his circumstances. He preferred to think things through well in advance, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make the most of what had already transpired.

While swinging one of his practice staffs, an inordinately heavy lump of metallic black wood that weighed close to 500kgs, Wu replayed the day in his mind. Contrasting what he had said to Sakura, Wu was extremely confident in his memory. He couldn’t remember audio or his thoughts at every given moment, but anything he had ‘seen’ was hardcoded into his brain, allowing Wu to play memories back with remarkable fidelity.

Viewing Naruto’s situation with the newfound understanding that he was someone fairly important, at least in the heart of Hiruzen, Wu was curious to know what, exactly, made the boy special. Unfortunately, other than an inordinate amount of guts, Wu didn’t see anything that made Naruto stand out any more than their other classmates. The six lines on his cheeks that resembled whiskers were a little unusual, but they were fairly innocuous compared to the fang-like markings tattoed to the cheeks of the Inuzuka and the bugs crawling around inside of Shino.

With Hinata’s words serving as a sort of compass, Wu concluded that the most reasonable explanation was that Naruto was the illegitimate child of someone close to Hiruzen. If he were legitimately special, there would be people looking after and guiding him. At the very least, he wouldn’t be so obviously malnourished.

Convinced of his hypothesis, Wu immediately began thinking of ways he could ‘disprove’ it. Only fools assumed themselves to be correct without verifiable proof, and Wu considered himself reasonably intelligent. He had little interest in weaklings, but if Naruto was the son of someone close to Hiruzen, there was merit to befriending him…

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Though he hadn’t seen Hiruzen return the previous night, the absence of particular instructors and the tense atmosphere permeating the Academy made it clear something transformative had occurred. The absence of a certain loud-mouthed trainee suggested it had something to do with what Wu had divulged to Hiruzen the previous afternoon.

Feigning obliviousness, Wu’s gaze never met Naruto’s empty seat directly as he meandered to his own, casually greeting those he passed by name. This surprised those he had yet to speak with directly, but Wu didn’t tarry long enough for them to respond as he made his way over to join Kaia and Kiba at their shared desk.

Instead of greeting the duo directly, Wu inquired, “How’d it go yesterday? I trust Kotodama-san’s pups are healthy?”

Adopting an even broader smile than the one she had already been wearing, Kaia replied, “They’re great~! It’ll be a few more days until they open their eyes, but they’re strong and super healthy~!”

Nodding his head in approval, Wu replied, “That’s good to hear.” before casually extending his fist to Kiba. The latter evidently wasn’t a morning person, but he still returned a smirk before extending his hand to bump Wu’s fist, prompting Akamaru to bark softly…

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A few minutes after Wu had taken his seat, their homeroom teacher, Daikoku-sensei, entered the room with a grim expression on his face. The atmosphere in the room became palpable, but that changed quickly when he revealed, “The Academy is currently undergoing an audit. For the next few days, all classes will be self-study. If one of the auditors approaches you, be sure to answer their questions openly and honestly.”

Though some of the more astute students were curious about the reason for the audit, most were just happy to have free time. They might be stuck in the classroom, but sitting around and chatting with friends was much more interesting than listening to their Senseis drone on about things like history.

Following Daikoku’s departure, everyone began breaking off into their usual cliques. Wu didn’t belong to any of them just yet, so he planned to simply observe until Sakura approached, her arms filled with textbooks.

Suppressing a sigh, Wu adopted a faint smile as he said, “Good morning, Sakura. That’s quite the burden you’re carrying…”

Dropping the books onto Wu’s desk, much to the chagrin of Kiba and a clearly displeased Kaia, Sakura breamed as she said, “I was up late last night thinking about what you said. To show my gratitude for your advice, want to go over the course materials with me? It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but I’ve already studied up to the Fifth Year curriculum.”

After quickly considering the pros and cons, Wu’s smile broadened as he answered, “Sure. This is time allotted to self-study, after all. I was hoping to be able to chat with some of our classmates, but I suppose that can wait.”

Hearing Wu’s words, Sakura’s expression went from a smile to a slightly awkward look as she began picking up her books, saying, “I wasn’t trying to impose. If you want to chat with our classmates, I’ll return to my seat and leave you alone.”

Though Kaia was clearly pleased by Sakura’s words, Wu quickly took the wind out of her sails, shaking his head and saying, “It’s fine. I was the one espousing the importance of applying yourself. This is a good opportunity to compare what I know against someone who has, very clearly, done her homework.”

Regaining her smile, Sakura was evidently prepared to begin their study session while standing in the aisle between desks, but Wu interjected to suggest, “Here, take my seat. I don’t think Kiba will complain if I borrow his, so the three of us can study together.”

Since Kaia had stayed behind when Kiba went off to join his group, there was currently an empty place at the table. Wu could have let Sakura take Kiba’s seat, but he got the impression members of the Inuzuka Clan were fairly territorial. Kiba might be annoyed with Wu borrowing his seat, but he was a lot closer to the Inuzuka duo than Sakura.

Following Wu’s suggestion, Sakura waited until he moved over before planting herself in his seat. She was vaguely aware of the fact it was still warm, but she did her best to ignore it as she cracked up a textbook titled The Aerodynamics of Flight, a comprehensive guide to dynamics of kunai, shuriken, and senbon in flight. Kaia’s eyes immediately glazed over when she saw the various graphs and equations, but Wu was able to follow the impromptu lesson with relative ease…

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Seeing Sakura happily geeking out next to Wu, the members of Ino’s group, including Ino herself, weren’t pleased. Sakura had conveyed Wu’s advice to them, but the only person who had taken them seriously was Ino. However, as much as they made sense, Ino wasn’t too enthused by the notion of training hard just for a chance to be with the boy she liked. After all, what was the purpose of beauty if you still had to work hard to get what you wanted?’

As the self-proclaimed ‘most beautiful girl’ in the Academy, Ino’s vanity was her greatest weakness. Her parents also pampered her quite a bit, so even though she knew some of her behaviors were problematic, she saw no reason to change. She was the ‘princess’ of the Yamanaka Clan, one of the founding clans of Konoha. People should be making concessions for her, not the other way around.

Breaking Ino from her reverie, Suzume, the closest thing Ino had to a right-hand woman, asked, “What do you think, Ino-chan? Should we oust Sakura from our group…?”

After a moment of confusion, Ino furrowed her brows and asked, “Why would we do that? She hasn’t done anything wrong, and Sarutobi-san apologized to us yesterday at lunch. If they want to bury their noses in books, I say we let them be. It’s not like their actions are harming us in any way.”

Though they were a little surprised by Ino’s response, her five followers quickly nodded their heads in agreement. Ino was their source of brand-name clothes and hand-me-down accessories, so, even if they didn’t always agree with her, they generally went with whatever she decided.

Seeing her ‘friends’ bob their heads without even trying to make a case for Sakura’s ousting, a strange feeling of discomfort welled in Ino’s chest. She was well aware of the ‘true nature’ of people within her group, as she had once stood up against them to protect Sakura. That was an incident from their first year, and while they had all changed since then, Ino knew most of the girls in her group hated or, at the very least, envied Sakura for her glossy, sakura-colored hair.

Shaking her head, Ino did her best to suppress her feeling of discomfort as she asserted, “You know, there is merit to what Wu said. I don’t know about training hard to become stronger, but mastering the skills required of a Kunoichi should give us an edge over other vixens trying to approach our Sasuke-kun. We might not be able to give him the challenge he needs to grow stronger, but he’ll eventually need to choose one or more wives to begin rebuilding his clan. That could totally be us.”

As they had all been made aware of Sasuke’s ‘unique’ circumstances by their parents, the girls of Ino’s group all had sparkling eyes. Monogamous relationships were the standard, but exceptions were made for those with rare or unique bloodlines. As far as most people were concerned, Sasuke was the last remaining member of the Uchiha Clan, holders of one of the ‘Three Great Dojutsu,’ the Sharingan. Konoha couldn’t afford to let such a treasure disappear, so it was anticipated that Sasuke would take at least five wives to jumpstart the Uchiha’s renewal…

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With the day passing without incident, Wu parted ways with Kaia and Kiba with the intent of returning home. Before he could reach the school’s exit, however, it was his turn to be stopped as Hinata was waiting for him with a serious and concerned expression on her face.

Waiting until Wu was within whispering range, Hinata muttered, “Sarutobi-san…do you know what happened to Naruto? I wanted to ask you during class, but…”

Shaking his head, Wu honestly replied, “I haven’t been made aware of the specifics. It shouldn’t be a bad thing, though. If I had to guess, Naruto is probably being relocated someplace safe. Once he gets settled in, he will doubtlessly return to the Academy. You have my word.”

Though he was usually very picky about giving his word to others, Wu was fairly certain that Hiruzen was taking action to help Naruto. He was even expecting to find the mustard-haired youth waiting for him back at the Sarutobi Estate, so he felt no qualms about making a promise with the young heiress.

Feeling more at ease, Hinata exhaled a quiet sigh and muttered, “That’s relieving to hear…” Then, with a faint smile on her face, she looked up at Wu and added, “Thank you, Sarutobi-san. Please let me know if you hear anything else, okay?”

Nodding his head in affirmation, Wu returned a smile of his own and replied, “No problem. We’re already friends, so it’s normal for us to share information like this. That being said, don’t hesitate to come to me if you hear any interesting rumors. I’m still settling into life within the village, so even idle gossip could prove useful.”

Blinking her large, pearl-like eyes, Hinata wasn’t sure how to respond to Wu’s words. However, as he had helped her approach Naruto and showed a ‘sincere’ interest in her crush’s well-being, Hinata didn’t think it was bad to be friends with him.

Adopting a marginally more sincere smile, Hinata narrowed her eyes and replied, “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind…” before following it up with a meek, ‘W-Wu-kun…”

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