Iruka's announcent was eagerly awaited. But then his eyes moved, focusing on Arthur in the rear corner.
Iruka started to approach Arthur, and Arthur could feel the gazes of the other students. Everybody in the class had their heads turned in his direction.
"Arthur," Iruka said with a kind grin. "Glad you could make it back safely. We heard you went missing—quite a scare, wasn't it?"
Arthur gave a curt nod, his face unreadable. He played along because he didn't want to raise suspicions, even though his fake background was hardly news.
"No worries," laughed Iruka. "Important thing is you're back." Then he took a headband with the village symbol on it out of his pocket.
"The Hokage requested I personally present you with this," Iruka went on, holding the headband out to him. "Looks like you forgot to pick it up before you disappeared."
The headband was accepted by Arthur. It was much softer and lighter than he had anticipated. Several of his classmates looked at him with genuine confusion, and he didn't miss their looks. "Who is he again?" he heard a few whispers. and "I dunno; I never noticed him honestly."
Arthur chose to ignore them.
"Hey, wear it on your forehead like ," Naruto exclaid, gesturing to his own head.
So of the students burst out laughing, while others rely rolled their eyes at Naruto's typical antics. Iruka gave Naruto a playful slap on the head before Arthur could reply.
Iruka grinned and said, "Easy there, Naruto," in a tone that suggested frustration. "Let's move on, shall we?"
Arthur slipped the headband into the pocket of his robe. He was not required to wear it indoors by any rule.
Iruka cleared his throat and turned back to face the class. He gave an overview of what entailed their next step as Genin, and the other players felt bored listening to the sa line.
"For our first team, in team ten, we have Ino Yamanaka, Chōji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara!" he said after he finished.
The three were scarcely excited. Shikamaru muttered sothing about being paired with Ino as Chōji dug through his belongings and took out another bag of chips to eat.
"Next up," Iruka went on. "Team 9! Alice Yamanaka, Alex Hyūga, and Jasper Ōtsutsuki!"
The announcent was received with a mix of surprise and excitent by the three students he nad. They each gave each other confident smiles that clearly said, "We're no doubt the strongest team."
Iruka went on down the list. Team 8 went to Hinata, Kiba, and Shino Abura, exactly as Arthur rembered. Things seed to be flowing in the story's direction. And if that were true...
"For Team 7," Iruka said, heightening the tension, "we have Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha!"
Sakura let out a loud yelp, thrilled by the teams. But Naruto burst out in dissent.
"What?! Sasuke?" he whimpered, gesturing to the Uchiha. "I wanted to be on a team with William!"
"Naruto, these teams are based on your performance during the academy," Iruka said with a laugh and a shake of his head. "You had the lowest scores on the written exams, while Sasuke consistently ranked the highest."
With a pout on his face, Naruto crossed his arms. Unfazed, Sasuke asserted that Naruto shouldn't interfere with him since he was "dead last." Iruka ignored the quarreling pair and continued on.
He declared, "Next up, we have Team 6." In Naruto, such a team never existed: "William Uzumaki, Margaret Senju, and Jada Uchiha."
The three, much like Arthur, showed no signs of surprise. Instead, they wanted to know where Arthur would end up.
"Lastly," Iruka went on, "we have Team 5—Arthur and..."
None of them knew who Arthur's two teammates were when they heard them. Arthur saw a black-haired boy with a bowl cut and a small girl with brown pigtails, neither of whom appeared in the series.
Being assigned to a team filled with unknown characters felt almost fitting, considering he still believed his own character shouldn't even exist, given recent circumstances.
Iruka dismissed everyone for the rest of the morning after concluding his announcents. His instructions were to et back here later this afternoon so they could et their Jōnin instructors.
The pupils rushed out of the classroom after saying their final goodbyes. But Arthur waited for the room to clear, lingering behind. Once he was alone with Iruka, he cautiously went up to him.
"Iruka-sensei, there's sothing I need to tell you."
"What's wrong, Arthur?"
"Honestly," he said, "I don't think I'm cut out to be a ninja."
Iruka asked, clearly surprised, "What do you an? This is what you've been training for all these years."
"It's not that I haven't been trying; I don't think I have what it takes," Arthur said, shaking his head. "The danger, the responsibility—it's not what I envisioned for myself."
Iruka's eyes were clouded by disappointnt. He was aware of the sacrifice, the pressure, and the ongoing danger of being a ninja. Yet seeing a young Genin like Arthur turn back at the very beginning was disheartening.
"Are you sure?" he inquired softly. "This is a serious decision, and if soone's bullying you into saying this, I—"
"Yes, I'm sure," Arthur said resolutely. To return it, he took off the headband.
After a brief pause, Iruka grinned and said, "Look, Arthur. You've graduated from the academy. Whether you choose the path of a ninja or not, that achievent belongs to you. Keep the headband."
Arthur was left speechless. To think the program was this responsive to his actions, as if trying to warm his heart. With a curt nod, he thanked Iruka and left the classroom, keeping the headband.
The mont he was in the clear, he felt sick to his stomach. Playing this fabricated role, this elaborate charade, was more suffocating than he anticipated.
Arthur made his way to the Leaf Village hospital. There were a few like these scattered in the village, but this one was special.
He slipped through the side entrance that led to the back alley of the hospital. There, he cast a quick glance around, ensuring no one was watching. Hiding in a tight corner, he perford the smoke jutsu and dissolved into a swirling cloud of vapour.
Gliding in the air, he entered through a conveniently open window on the second floor. The room inside was thankfully empty—a storage closet with cleaning supplies.
With another silent command, he reford his physical body, stepping out of the smoke with a controlled sigh.
In the process of reforming himself, he used the transformation jutsu. Who he morphed was that of an average adult male nurse. His clothes also changed to a standard hospital uniform with a fake ID badge.
Now for the real challenge.
A quick ntal adjustnt, and he walked out with a smile. If his mory of the Naruto world served him well, this specific hospital housed a vast collection of dical scrolls and books. He just needed to find them without attracting undue attention.
He navigated the hospital hallways, passing between dical staff and patients on gurneys. His transford eyes scanned the surroundings, searching for any sign of a dedicated dical library.
Finally, he spotted it—a discreet sign above a door that read "Personnel Only." Perfect.
Arthur opened the door when the coast was clear, entering a room lined with towering shelves and leather-bound books.
He wandered down the rows, scanning the spines for any indication of dical ninjutsu. There were books on herbal redies and anatomical charts, but nothing specifically focused on what he truly needed.
Then, tucked away in a far corner, almost obscured by other volus, his eyes landed on a large, ornately bound book. Embossed in gold lettering on its worn leather cover were the words, "The Art of dical Ninjutsu."
Opening it, he verified that this was it.
dical ninjutsu is a specialized branch of ninja techniques focused on healing injuries and manipulating the body. While its primary use is healing, it can also be applied for other purposes, like creating poisonous gas or using chakra scalpels for internal attacks.
Arthur lifted the book and set it down on a nearby pedestal, cracking it open.
The first few pages were filled with calligraphy, detailing the history and philosophy of dical ninjutsu. As he turned the pages further, detailed illustrations depicted a man's anatomy and chakra pathways.
This was completely different from what he saw in the white room before coming here.
The text dove deeper into the intricate workings of the body, explaining how chakra could be used to manipulate and enhance natural healing processes. He was already ahead of the ga by knowing most of this information.
His gaze ca across sections describing techniques he vaguely recognized. He scanned descriptions of the "poison jutsu," the smaller variant of the technique utilized by Shizune, Tsunade's assistant. There was also the more common "poison extraction jutsu."
As he reached the "chakra dissection jutsu," he recognized it as the lesser version of the more powerful technique used by Kabuto once. It ca as no surprise that dical ninjutsu used for combat was not listed in the book.
However, two different techniques completely captivated his attention. They were called the "body activation jutsu" and the "cell activation jutsu." Unlike the less invasive-based techniques he had encountered earlier, these two held potential.
The text explained that the first technique manipulates muscle damage and repair cycles to heal the user instantly, even after seemingly fatal blows. It can even trick skilled dical ninjas by making the user appear dead for a mont, as demonstrated in the second Naruto Shippuden movie.
Arthur had never heard nor seen nor heard of it before, despite reading about the series, but the description held interest.
The second technique was reserved for the most critical and delicate surgeries. It required an imnse amount of refined chakra control to activate all of a patient's cells simultaneously. This surge in activity triggered the body's natural healing response, allowing it to repair damaged tissues and bone structures even while the surgery was ongoing.
If he recalled correctly, Tsunade used this to boost Rock Lee's surgery by eight percent after the latter suffered a career-ending injury from Gaara. It was further improved after Tsunade witnessed Kabuto use a dical technique called "cellular activation jutsu."
Not to confuse the two, the cellular activation jutsu is a technique that requires exceptional reflexes and knowledge of the body's anatomical structure. By analyzing an opponent's movents and jutsu, the user can predict where they'll be attacked.
They then focus chakra on that area, essentially starting preemptive dical treatnt to minimize damage. It requires a lot of chakra, depending on the severity of the attack, and not everyone has the resilience or quick thinking needed to pull it off effectively.
Arthur, however, was different.
He devoured the details of everything useful in the book, absorbing the knowledge necessary to tip the scales in upcoming trials. Imrsing himself in the book, each sentence, each diagram was fully understood.
Hours passed until he finally tore himself away from the book.
The silence in the room was almost unsettling. Not a single character had entered during his entire study session.
He glanced at the window, surprised to see how late it was. Everyone must have already gathered their teams together and finished their Jōnins' tests. He slipped out of the hospital through a different exit and released the transformation jutsu, his features morphing back to their usual form.
Now wasn't the ti to contemplate things; he needed to get back to the apartnt before anyone noticed his absence.
As he approached the door to the players' apartnt, he knocked, only to be greeted by Margaret with her arms crossed, frad in the doorway.
"You're late again," she began. "What's your excuse this ti?"
Alex poked his head around Margaret, a playful grin on his face, saying, "He's only five minutes late."
Arthur forced a smile that had a double aning. Not one of them knew a thing about his recent actions. He stepped into the apartnt, content that suspicion of him was at an all-ti low.
As they settled around the couch, the inevitable question ca.
"So, Arthur," Alice began, leaning forward, "how'd your team eting go? Who were your teammates?"
The room fell silent after Arthur's confession.
"What do you an you're not joining a team?" Jasper asked.
Margaret chid in defensively, asking, "Yeah, Arthur, what's going on? Teams are how missions are assigned, how we train..." Her voice trailed off, considering things. "Honestly, if I knew I didn't have to join a team, I might have just gone solo too!"
"Look," he began, choosing his words carefully, "it's not that big of a deal. My plan is to be a support player for everyone. Iruka-sensei even let keep the Genin headband, so I'm still a Genin."
"Support player?" Alex repeated, leaning back. "Oh yeah! I forgot your character excels in support jutsus."
"So... He's like our cheerleader?" Alice teased.
Jasper couldn't help but laugh. Arthur joined in, knowing that his statent was believable.
"I figure I can still be of use when I'm not on the front lines," he said.
William, however, seed defiant. He grumbled, "But that's not fair! We all trained for this, and you just get to opt out?"
Arthur understood why he, of all people, felt this way. After all, William had witnessed him fighting Jasper. But revealing his true motives wasn't an option.
"It's not that I'm opting out," he gently countered. "I'm looking to help from the sidelines, develop new techniques, or—"
Jada placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder, interrupting him. Her voice was soothing as she reassured, "We all understand, Arthur. As long as you promise to stick with us, we can all grow stronger, even on separate teams."
Arthur gave her a sly smile and quipped, "Yeah, alright. I promise."
He already has his own plans and his own way of doing things. Promising himself to help the innocent players break free of this world was akin to him already sticking with them—albeit, on a different path.
For now, he'll continue to play along.
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