Chapter 101: First Class

Sitting down behind my desk, I took in another deep breath as I examined the smooth wooden surface; it was odd, seeing this and knowing that this was my new job.

I had thought that my life would always be in the field; I'd make my fortune off of missions before eventually finding myself a good partner to settle down with.

I'd likely continue taking missions as we started pooling our Ryo together to move into a larger house, fix it up to our needs, and then I'd eventually give birth to a kid.

After that, I'd find myself either at home all the time or still taking missions, depending on how much we needed.

Even if I did need to take a job that kept me in the village, I'd take a position as a Healer over at the Hospital, where I'd be spending my days healing my comrades as they came back from their various missions.

Never in my life did I really think that I'd be taking a position where I'd be sitting behind a desk, needing to write out reports about two and a half dozen kids once, then need to write a report on another ten of those kids...

However, I don't think I would change anything in my life at this point.

Actually...

I would; I would have gotten Anko tied down faster than I had, and I would have sunken my claws into Kurenai faster than I had too.

There wasn't much I could do to get to Cameia faster, but...

I'm sure it would have worked out.

I would have gotten us all together faster so that I could have been truly happier faster; so that we all could have been happier faster.

Sadly, the only one out of all of us that I could have seen having a happy ending would have been Kurenai; Anko and I were too devoted to our work to actively search out a partner who wasn't just a way to find a release.

Kurenai was different...

Sighing, I stared at the desk for another moment before hearing someone knock on the door, making me let out a warm "Come in!"

Sliding the door open was Sakura, the young pinknette at the forefront of my students.

Entering, she was quickly followed by Ino, who always seemed to be near her.

"Good to see you all again! Sit anywhere; doesn't really matter."

The girls all filtered in, filling in the seats in the small classroom.

They were staring at me expectantly, so I stood up, preparing to speak.

"What were you taught in this class last year, just out of curiosity?"

Sakura raised her hand, and she spoke when I nodded to her.

"Via-Sensei taught us to arrange flowers, how to differentiate the meanings of flowers, and how to identify the various plants out in the world."

Pursing my lips, I nodded; it was more of an Herbology Class than a Kunoichi Class at that point...

"Were you all interested in that? Or was it just... a way to fill up time?"

Midori was the only girl to nod; the rest shook their heads.

"Ami; tell me why you weren't interested."

The purple haired girl stood up, saying "I want to learn to be a Shinobi, not a florist. I don't understand why we would need to learn about those things!"

"Do the rest of you agree?"

Again, everyone else nodded, while Midori seemed rather downcast about that.

Smiling at the green haired girl, I gently said "I'll teach you individually on flower arrangement, Midori."

Watching as the shy girl in glasses smiled widely, I felt my own smile grow to match hers.

Turning to the rest of the class, I said "Well, I honestly agree with you; it's not a needed skill anymore, and if I had to guess, you all would prefer to do what the boys are doing right now, no?"

Everyone nodded a third time, and I added "That's fine. However, I will just let you know in advance that that means you will have hours of straight physical activity... You are aware of that, right?"

Standing up, Ami said "I'd rather that Kokoro-Sensei! I came to the academy with the hope of joining the Anbu; they work much harder than just two or three hours of activity!"

Staring at the girl in surprise, I then said "Alright... Now I'm curious. We're going to go around, and I want you to tell me what you want to do in the future. Ami, you already went, so we'll go to the person sitting beside you..."

Seeing the colder of the two twins, Ika, I asked "Ika, what do you want to do?"

The light brown haired girl stood up and spoke, her voice slightly raspy as she said "Become a Jonin..."

Her twin, Aki, stood up next, her warm smile growing when she glanced at her sister, chuckling as she said "Be stronger than her so I can protect my baby sister~"

The others sniggered at that, while Ika just gave her twin a hard stare.

Aki was unfazed, simply grinning at Ika, before the two sat back down at the same time.

Tenten stood up next, and she tapped her fingers together, her cheeks slightly red as she said "I... I want to be like Lady Tsunade..."

She quickly sat back down, while Sakura stood up, her voice confident as she said "I just want to be a Shinobi; I want to protect the people closest to me!"

Ino rolled her eyes as she stared at her friend, standing up and saying "I'll be taking over as Head of the Yamanaka Clan, but I also want to dabble in running my own Flower Arrangement Store."

Hinata stood up next, muttering "I... I'll be taking over the Hyuga Clan..."

There was reluctance in her tone, making me sigh internally, watching as the girl sat back down.

Midori went next, her voice quiet as she almost whispered "I-I want... to... be like my mother..."

Giving the shy girl another smile, I then turned to the last two; Fumi and Kasumi.

The orange haired girl, Kasumi, gave a quick "I want to protect my friends and loved ones.", while Fumi lazily stood up and said "I want to learn how to seal, as well as how to heal."

Now that everyone had shared, I smiled at each of them, chuckling as I said "You all gave better answers than I did when I joined; I had told my Sensei that I knew of nothing else to do with my life!"

They all laughed as well, before falling silent as I continued.

"Well, times are different; fifteen, twenty years ago? That's when I attended the Academy. We had a lot happening in the world then, but now? You all should have a rather calm transition into your roles as Shinobi, and I hope to make that an even smoother transition. So, what we'll be doing in this class going forwards is similar enough to the boys; this year, anyways."

Leaning against the board, I said "We'll be going through basic physical exercise during this time; I'll get some weights made for the class, and I'll be pushing you a little bit."

They all nodded, before Ino and Sakura raised their hands, slight worry in their eyes.

Gesturing at them, I watched as they exchanged glances before Sakura spoke up.

"Um... Kokoro-Sensei, will this training make us... muscular? Like... meathead muscular? Like Rock Lee?"

Letting out a laugh, I shook my head.

"No, nowhere even close; you'd all be surprised by the training that kid does. If what your worried about is your appearance, this would be a good way to keep yourself healthy. Girls grow muscles different than the boys, and with chakra you can... 'lock' your appearance slightly. That help?"

Sakura still seemed a little worried, while Ino nodded, relief written clearly on her pale face.

"Alright, let's just... relax for today. We still have a bit, so ask me questions, sleep, do whatever..."