The older boys from the orphanage said that the quality of education used to be an order of magnitude or two better, but with the gradual removal of the Senju clan from the shinobi academy, they had to rely on their own strength to grasp the knowledge they needed to survive.
In fact, that's why the orphans had to rely only on the mentor they received - the chunin at the academy preferred to devote most of their attention to promising students rather than "kunai grease, destined to remain eternal genin until the first enemy shinobi," as one of them put it.
The orphan with the already beginning to form a figure didn't even want to think about sucking up to the clan boys in search of crumbs of knowledge, realizing perfectly well what the boys who had just started to notice the opposite sex might demand as payment. It was too close to another line of work of kunoichi, essentially similar to the inhabitants of the red light street.
The retired kunoichi at the orphanage did a very good job of explaining to all of their students who decided to enter the academy what it meant for future girls. Suffice it to say that after the impromptu lecture, nightmares plagued Hoshi, who had a very vivid imagination, for several more months.
Sighing, Hoshi folded her hands on the desk and rested her head on them, covering her eyes slightly. She'd been too nervous last night and had fallen asleep very late, so after the initial excitement that had been quickly eroded by the long wait, fatigue had taken its toll and she'd wanted to sleep. Despite the noise and noise of so many children in the large room, the girl dozed off almost immediately.
- Quiet!
Hoshi jumped up from the loud shout of the chunin, straightened up and blinked, paying attention to the people in uniform green vests of jonin, brought to the classroom by the teacher of the academy.
- Now that you've calmed down, it's time to announce the team mentors," the teacher announced after the silence had settled and all the newly minted genin were ready to listen, "team number one is mentor Aburetsu Shindo, team number....
Looking at the mentors, Hoshi habitually began to ignore the monotonous voice of the chunin, knowing full well that her team would be the last to be announced, and therefore would not be missed, in preference to studying the elite of Konoha's armed forces. Except that, almost immediately, the little kunoichi's gaze was drawn to a familiar lock of burgundy-red hair.
Hoshi felt her lips stretch into a smile as she saw Ryo Nara's masked face behind most of the jonin, towering over even the tallest of them by half a head. The favorite of all the orphanage children and their main benefactor smiled with his eyes alone, and only through a tremendous effort of will did Hoshi stay in place - if Ryo had come along with his mentors, that meant he would have a team!
However, she wasn't the only one who gave a wave of delight at seeing her idol - all the orphans who were close to this particular representative of the Nara clan had a similar reaction. Despite the very small chance of being under the genius, Hoshi was determined to go over to say hello and thank Ryo for all the good he had done for her.
Not the least of which was the card (signed by the benefactor) that all the orphans had received with their hitai-te - the opportunity to exchange it for a standard set of genin weapons and equipment at a weapons shop had come in handy for orphans with no extra money. They would not have been able to replace the lousy set they'd been given at the academy in their last year.
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