Academy was what he expected. A fast-paced school where those who couldn't keep the pace where left behind. The clan kids were the best, the followed by the others. Though another thing was that there weren't many civilians.
It does make sense why, though it's a bit sad, since those from clans, especially the Uchiha were very aloof in their ivory tower. To interact with those under them? Why should they?
When they weren't liked.
Ren could understand why, since they kept a polite and slightly anarchic way of speaking, a distance from those who they saw as former enemies. They still had old grandmas who were alive during the formation of the village.
Enmity was not easily forgotten. Didn't help that most Uchihas went in the police and not on active duty outside the village. A real shinobi fights in the dark and doesn't help grandmas and merchants with the protection from thieves or resolving the civilian duties.
Ironic that most missions, or well, official missions were protecting people in general, then going on offensive if it was mandatory or there was no other way to resolve a conflict.
Such was the life in Konoha. Dangling his pen and observing the class and the silence it was engulfed.
Izuna Uchiha, their sensei was a slave-driver when it came to teaching. Ideas and plans should have a real application.
Responses should have facts and logic and you would need to explain that logic. Ren could easily do that, but what about others?
Not much, or well, they adapted after one got kicked out of the academy for poor behaviour, and it was an Uchiha even.
Then no one dared to be rambunctious.
The sensei asked a question, "What's the leaf doctrine of teams? And why we picked this format, where there are different variations in the other great villages?"
The leaf method of teams. Three juniors and one of a higher rank in both skill and seniority. It was the first, the original made by Tobirama and the others got inspired.
Ren raised his hand. Izuna looked miffed somewhat, though nodded.
Miffed because Ren responded a lot and frequent, he couldn't let the others take the first in the class since that meant lower chance of being put with jounin sensei, "First and foremost it was the original blueprint. Three genin with a jounin or a chunin, or three chunin with a jounin. It's the easiest way to have an autonomous force that can inflict severe damages, or with a measured response to any problems encountered during missions."
His teacher pierced him with those onyx eyes and put a hand over his chin, "True, if we simplify the reasons. Yes, we kept this organization of teams because it's simple, efficient and with enough room to maneuver the composition for specific targets or tasks. Though during the war it was intercepted by the Iwa's strategy of putting squads of ten. A reason for why we lost so much shinobi during our first offensives," his eyes lost their shine and were looking through Ren.
That Uchiha girl raised her hand, and said, "If we got intercepted by Iwa and we lost so many people, my father included, then why the village kept the same standard? We could have changed it sooner…"
Izuna? Asuma? Mizuma? Ren didn't remember her name, so it meant that she wasn't important, he guessed.
Ren thought for a second about what she said, and then responded, "It was not because the teams failed strategically, it was because the composition was not adequate in their fight against the ten people squad. Since from the material we know they were around genin or chunin level. Just one jounin would have been enough, I think."
The teacher furrowed his brows, responded to the girl, "Izumi, I fought with your father, a good man, and would have been a great father, for that I am sure. That squad failed because we lacked information," side-eying Ren, "information is necessary. Ren keep that in mind, because knowledge before the point of contact leads to difference between death and survival."
Izumi had tears in her eyes. Darting from his teacher and to him while taking deep breaths and sitting back on the chair.
The his teacher continued, "That's why my classes are not some nonsense like learning theoretically on how to hold a kunai. For those we have physical classes, in my class we study what it means to be a shinobi. To teach you, that it means a lot more than having chakra and learning ninjutsu. It means," he stopped and looked at the clock.
"Well, we will discuss that topic next lesson, it's time for a break kids. Go," doing a lazy hand a disappearing from the class.
The class buzzed with words, with excitement and with flared chakra that made his senses go astray.
The colours, the changing hues of them while the kids spoke and clamored of stuff that he was two times or more older to care about them.
He put his head on the table and preyed for the break to end faster and that the chill and silent classroom to return.
Even home was better for Ren since there only Sakura screamed or cried from time to time, and rarely broke by his parents fighting of money. Of them, of Ren joining the academy.
Well, when he put things like this together maybe the academy doesn't sound that bad. Rolling internally his eyes and feeling the purple chakra. Shallow at first with electric pulses like a supernova.
That Uchiha girl, probably with a lighting affinity. Rare in their clan, looking up at that lavender hair and those big and round eyes.
"You want something?"
Izumi. Yes, he remembered her name, Izuma was it, quirked an eyebrow and said, "You said that you learned stuff from books. There's no such material in these things," waving around the classroom book," It's useless stuff like Hashirama did this, Tobirama that."
Tapping her cheek with a finger and then pointing at him, "So you are lying! I know that, you thought of it. For if you remembered them from books your eyes would move, since you would read that information from memory."
Lying? True, he lies always lies. In a way his life is formed on a thing called perception and how to use it to hide stuff deeper than what's on the surface. Kakashi said or will say in the future to look underneath of the underneath.
Or something close to that. But eyes moving if you read an information and that got stored in the head? That's an assumption made on how people store and use the information kept in the head.
A little internal smile grew, "Let's say I am lying, or not. What makes you think my eyes would move if I would image the book read in the head and to read it. Maybe it's a small book so I don't need to read it, or it's stored in a different ways."
Showing his pen, "Maybe it's a pen with multiple lines, and each line signifies a form of information. Because I did read them in the library, my family are merchants, we have books."
He couldn't help himself but smiling, "Maybe you just don't read and accuse me of lying to mask your laziness."
Her lips were trembling. Pinching her cheek and smiling again, "Laziness? I have read these books a hundreder times. While you only skimmed them, since you didn't know that Konoha put a jounin every time in their squads during the third war," huffing and crossing her arms.
" You didn't look once at that pen, even if it was in your imagination you would have looked at it once, for familiarity. Even if the book is small, you will still move with the rows, from up to down. The information you said was thought from stuff you have read, maybe. But that makes your opinion."
Ren didn't like the smile he had on his face, or that he found an argument with a kid enjoyable. So he wasn't able to contain his slight energetic tone, "If it was my opinion and not something from a book that I read, if I say the title all of your argument would fall down. Everything is an opinion, someone wrote that book and put their interpretation so it means it's an opinion."
Speaking faster and faster, "But if I imagined a coded language where each element signifies a page of a book, then I could theoretically read it entirely with just a glance, as for pen, maybe it's pen back home, I wouldn't want to break my favourite one, no?"
"Aha. All of that to say you didn't read the information from a book. Since if you wanted to end the argument, or well, you do want to end the argument, would be to say the title," she stopped mid talk, "You could have simply lied, maybe I would have spotted, or not."
She was flummoxed.
Ren was laughing internally though his joy was cut mid-track since Izuna appeared back in the class.