❝ In a world where everyone tries to conform to the social status of normality, being different could be nothing but a curse.❞

Miharu feels his world spinning as his head throbs from the impact of his opponent's foot slamming into his temple. His body moves without his permission, nearly sending him out of the ring as he struggled to regain his composure. No one cheered, no one clapped, their breaths were held in silence as he blew his bangs back from his eyes and lunged forward. His opponent, however, blocks the punch sent to his face and in one fluid motion, he's yanked forward and a knee meets his face, splitting skin. The boy is only half lucky that his nose wasn't broken. Eyes squinting, Miharu only hears his opponent rush forward before the world tilts a little bit too high and the wind is knocked out of him as he topples out of the ring, crashing into the academy fence.

Gripping at his stomach, which was sure to bruise, Miharu squinted as his Sensei gripped their clipboard tightly. "Winner, Yamanaka Asahi." A sudden sigh leaves him, only fueling to make his wounds become irritated. "Both of you, come back to the center to form the seal of confrontation." Limping, the boy fumbles to do as told, feeling as if he had multiple boulders over his shoulders weighing him down. Asahi only gives a strange look as they finish the spar with the confrontation seal and not wasting time, the black haired boy stumbled off, crashing to the floor against the academy and pulling out a book from his messenger bag. At the same time, two more people were called up to fight and Miharu only glances upwards to see if he knew any of the two. Nothing of memory popped up and with a shrug, the boy went back to his book.

Or, at least—he tried to go back to his book.

It was kind of hard when a clan kid was practically staring you down.

"Aren't you that bookish kid?" Asahi has found his way over, sitting down right next to Miharu while their two classmates fought. The boy says nothing, head angled towards the direction of his book. Somehow, this doesn't deter the other. "If you're just gonna read books all day, why are you even at the academy?" Some sort of accusation, a jab at his less than mediocre skills, and with a shrug, Miharu doesn't dare look up from his book. It's interesting, and much more engaging for his mind than whatever the hell Asahi was spouting about.

Unfortunately, the clan kid didn't seem to take his silence too lightly. "Hey, are you ignoring me? Right after I beat the snot out of you?" His nose twitches lightly before Miharu closes his book a smidge, fingers between the pages he had it open on so he didn't lose it. Glancing over, the black haired boy gave another shrug as their Sensei called out for the two classmates to do the seal of confrontation.

"Sorry." He pushed himself to his feet, "I just found this book to be more interesting than you." Asahi barely has time to retort when Miharu starts walking away, opening the book back up to continue reading. The boy hears his Sensei call out after him, asking where he was going, and all he did was kick a few pebbles in front of while answering. "Back inside, I wanna read the rest of this book without any distractions." The door to the academy slams shut soon after and a deafening silence fell over the academy student.

He smiled to himself.

Now walking a bit more relaxed, Miharu carefully walked up the stairs, pausing just enough to hear one of the academy instructors yelling at their class. Head tilting at the sound, Miharu chalks it up to the class being difficult and slides open the door to his own classroom. "Huh? Miharu? You're here early." A surprised voice greets him as he takes his seat, still engrossed in the book without taking it away from his face. No wonder he's nearly tripped over his own two feet a few times.

"I wanted to read this book with no distractions, Mizuki-sensei." The silver haired chunin only gives a smile at the answer, going back to whatever he was doing as the boy flipped a page. Paragraphs upon paragraphs of letters that made up words jumped up at him and quietly, Miharu read as much as he could before tendrils of darkness swept at the corners of his vision. Getting kicked in the temple by a kid who probably trained more than he participated in class exams was beginning to take its toll and with a frown, he closes the book after marking the page, barely able to stop himself when his head thuds with the wooden desk.

The academy in Konoha trained and educated anyone who wished to become a Shinobi, and even had classes for people who only wanted a simple education. They taught the general core subjects that every citizen should know, passing out exams and giving students ample homework to see how far they were in the lesson, and then sometimes—they did a bit more, providing Taijutsu practice for self defense, weapon throwing and the simple academy Jutsu every ninja knew upon graduation. Most people who join the academy are from clans. Yamanaka, Uchiha, Nara, Hyūga, they all were pushed into becoming ninja like their other family members and those who weren't from clans at all could only hold onto a dream that provided no fruits for their labor, unless they put in the hours of work that kids like Yamanaka Asahi do everyday. 

The boy was like some sort of powerhouse, rushing through the ninja aspects of the academy like knife through butter. He wasn't very good at much, except for Taijutsu and very average weaponry, but being from a clan gave him an advantage—a step in the right direction, nothing that Miharu could compete against, constantly glued to a book or two or three, maybe even ten. Books were much easier to understand, and he got lost in the paragraphs of words like one could get lost on a path you've taken many times before. Not many people understood his love for books, or why he entered the academy when all he did was stick his nose into papers glued together with a bunch of letters all over it, but Miharu was content with how the world was going for him, even if people would rather think otherwise.

"Alright, class, now that you're all back, today, we will be going over...."

Miharu rolls his head over on his desk as his silver haired Sensei droned on. He flicked through the pages of the book he had collected from the academy library, something about chakra that had interested him, and the medium sized book was almost over with. The boy read it whenever he could, staying up late at night, finding quiet places to read while the streets were busy, and so far—he had managed to get through most of the material. Chakra was something that everyone was born with, however the amount of chakra you have was determined by your genetics. Civilians had minimum reserves, enough so that chakra control for them was very, if not extraordinarily, a walk in the park. They could stick to trees, walk on water, perform Genjutsu, and whatever else chakra control was needed for far better than most ninja while clan kids, on the other hand, had a significantly harder time.

He didn't know if being in a clan somehow boosted your reserves but according to the book, it was the precise reason why most clan children were trained before the academy. Not necessarily because of their lack of control (as most children were trained because they were to become ninja regardless) but having a firm grip on your chakra before entering the academy was a very good advantage. It almost made Miharu feel uncomfortable that they were not as well trained as everyone else. Even most of the civilian kids that shared his class were entering with slightly higher than below average grades, either because their parents were Shinobi (hence why they entered the academy) or because they were friends with clan kids and doubled as the kid's training partner.

"You're reading that book again," Asahi's voice snaps the thread of thoughts being connected together and Miharu only glances up, head against his arm. "Seriously, what's so good about this? Ever since you came here, all you've done is read." Born to one of the clans of Konoha, Yamanaka Asahi came to the academy proclaiming that he'd be the best of the best and no one should forget it. He challenged other kids, showing off his Taijutsu strength and bragging repeatedly on how he was going to graduate as early as possible and yet—for all of that, somehow, Miharu is the one that this weird, bragging blond kid wouldn't leave alone. Not even the civilians who absolutely sucked at everything and would likely leave the academy soon were pestered as much as him.

Sighing, Miharu buried his face into his arms. If the boy was going to be a thorn in his side, then perhaps the least he could do is entertain him enough so that Asahi realized how boring he was, got disinterested, and walked away. "This is a book on chakra, what it is, how it functions, it's only volume one and it explains almost everything you need to know about chakra itself. From control to how it's used to cast Jutsu." Technically, the academy began to teach you about chakra after a few months of enrollment while slowly integrating other basic ninja classes, such as Taijutsu and Bukijutsu, but chakra control only really started after a year of the basic exercises. There was, of course, exceptions to the rule such as when people entered the academy too late or, like the past—a war broke out and the village needed as much ninja on the scene as possible.

"While we'll be learning chakra control in about, a few weeks, and we've already covered the mere basics of what chakra is, the book was interesting to read."

Asahi only blinks at him, brows raised until they disappear under his bangs, mouth agape.

"How do you talk so fancy like that?"

The boy blinks, slowly looking over. Asahi looks astonished, perhaps even too excited to even move a muscle, and with another blink—Miharu sighs and mumbles into his arm. "I've been reading books since I learned how to write my name properly. Picking up vocabulary from them isn't really hard. Kids like us are like wet sponges, we absorb whatever we learn and regurgitate it out into the real world. Just like you trained yourself to be good at Taijutsu, I trained myself to speak more 'fancy'." It had been a difficult journey to say the least. Miharu remembers mispronouncing words, using words without knowing what they meant in order to sound like he knew what he was doing, and then the utter embarrassment when kids older than him, and adults around him, laughed quietly and either patiently explained what was wrong or pushed him away and mocked his speaking habits.

Asahi, on the other hand, only looks intrigued. His eyes are practically sparkling. Miharu hopes the boy doesn't go thinking he's some sort of prodigy. The black haired academy student was barely on the academy rankings as is in a class full of at least forty students. "So is that why you read so much? To get like, super smart?" Scooting close, the Yamanaka is grinning wildly, staring at Miharu, staring at the book explaining chakra.

"If you want to put it like that, sure."

The boy does a whole switch in mere seconds. "That's cool and all." He waved a hand, trying to show off how strong he was by hitting the air in a series of fast punches. "But you know, smarty pants, speaking all fancy won't get you nowhere. You gotta know how to be a ninja. If all ninjas did was speak fancy like you did, they wouldn't even need the academy!" Miharu blinks at the words, slowly sitting up as he took a glance towards Mizuki speaking, writing something on the board. His brows furrowed for a moment before he shook his head, glancing back down at the book he had been diligently reading.

Asahi continued to speak as if the boy knew how being a ninja worked. He pointed to himself repeatedly, nodding his head whenever he said something. "But I don't need the academy." Those words, however, stopped the Yamanaka in his tracks. "And neither do you, or anyone else. Everything we'll learn in this classroom are already in plenty of books. All we need to do is learn how to read, write, and then we can continue from there." Opening up the book once more, Miharu pointed to the page he was on before class begun.

In every single human, there is a substance called chakra. Most people have an average amount akin to that of a small pond while others had large ponds or huge lakes instead. To tap into your chakra, one must be relaxed enough to pull it to the surface, as it is nothing but a flowing river that you must be able to control, trickling only what you need from the rocks barring most of the water. A very unique thing about chakra, however, is that with age, your coils expand to allow you to hold onto as much chakra as you need. Both the network and your coils work in sync, expanding as you age and grow stronger, and providing you with enough chakra to perform complex Jutsu that a child version of you would have never been able to accomplish.

He doesn't exactly like the way Asahi is practically glued to his side but tolerating it for now, Miharu cleared his throat. "We can learn about chakra, control, Jutsu, and many more things from the academy textbooks and the library if you have your academy card. Someone must have written these words down, taught people what it meant, and then—made an academy. Where do you think Mizuki-sensei learned everything? Or your parents?" Miharu flips the page, landing on a section detailing the connection between reserves and control, as well as chakra networks and the coils that chakra flowed through. "I'd say that everything we're learning now can probably be found in a book or two, but the academy just condenses things into subjects and teaches us those subjects. You know, I guess it's kinda like they're gently pulling information out from the books, like you pull chakra from your reserves." Eyes flickering back over to a still talking Mizuki-sensei, the black haired boy glanced to the Yamanaka, finding that Asahi was staring at the book in his hands with absolute wonder.

"You can really do all that with just this? A bunch of paper and some words?"

Miharu nods, carefully reading through the section. "Obviously. The academy gives us basic rundowns of stuff so that we can look up the rest ourselves. It'd be hard to figure out what certain things are without having heard them before but you're from a clan, you know what Taijutsu is, and likewise...everyone has some sort of idea about what all the other Jutsu types are, at least—those with Ninja parents." A flaw in his thinking, though nothing too drastic as Asahi nods, a bright smile on his face.

"I'd say if you live in a ninja village, you'd know what Jutsu is, at least, some what. Most civilians must have had someone in their family be a ninja, or try to. The academy doesn't only offer ninja classes." The boy was right, as much as Miharu didn't want to admit, and staring down at the book, he doesn't even flinch when Asahi speaks again, much louder. "I still think people need the academy though. You can't learn from reading in a book. My mom told me that, y'know? For all her book smarts, she couldn't really use them to learn like the academy taught her."

"Now who's speaking fancy?"

The Yamanaka nearly fell off his seat while giggling. "I think I misjudged you," he laughs, turning slightly, extending his hand, "you're a super big nerd and I don't get why you stick your nose in a book every two seconds but you aren't.....bad to be around, I guess, even if I beat you in Taijutsu. Your nose isn't broken is it?" Miharu blinks at the hand, tilting his head to the side as he sunk slightly where he sat. One moment, Asahi was treating him like he had the plague, and the next—the other was trying to form some sort of friendship out of the blue just because Miharu had fancy words and explained a crucial part of why he loved books so much.

Averting his gaze, the boy shrugs gently, eyes skimming the paragraphs in front of him. Since when did reading feel so abnormal to him? Was it because there was someone beside him, eager to hear more about his thought process and try to understand how he functioned? You aren't bad to be around. What a weird thing to say. "My nose is fine, my head hurts though. You kicked me in the temple, right here." Miharu taps the side of his head with a finger, "and that made everything go all spinny and wonky."

"Huh?! Oh, I'm sorry—!! I didn't think it would hurt that bad, I mean it hurt when I had it done to me but I didn't think it could—oh man, I'm so, so sorry, you're okay right?! Do you have a headache? My dad says that getting hit like that causes super bad headaches, we should head to the hospital, what if you're bleeding in your brain?! Or, or—"

Asahi rambles, as in—he rambles—nonstop, and whilst he wildly flailed his arms, attempting to get the attention of their Sensei, Miharu felt as if his head was being squeezed, skull crushing and brain turning into mush. His ears are ringing—or did whatever word anyone said just translated into ringing instead?—and the world began to tilt again, spinning as the black haired boy slammed the book shut and suddenly stood up to his feet, a horrid feeling of his intestines being twisted into a knot making his entire body shudder. "Miharu?" And with a final call of his name, that was all it took for the academy student to double over and cough up his breakfast and any snacks he had eaten.

"Miharu!"

The world tilts to the side one more time before everything comes crashing down and faintly, Miharu wonders what the loud thud that rang in his ears was before everything went dark.

Do you know that moment when everything feels far away? When you think you're drowning and no matter how desperately you swim, you can never reach the surface? How about when it feels like you're suffocating, and you can't get a single breath of air in your lungs? Muffled voices barely penetrate his thoughts, everything moves in such slow motion that he would have mistaken whatever was going on as a dream, but soon enough—he can hear birds chirping, and voices flooding into his ears. The lights burn when he cracks his eyes open and an involuntary groan leaves him as he shuts them. "Miharu!" Unfortunately, or perhaps it was fortunate, his movement catches the attention of whoever is in the room with him and hands slam into the bed, bunching up the blankets. "Miharu!"

Said boy only groans again, squinting once he opens his eyes once more. "....quiet...." is all he manages to say, watching blearily as Asahi lowered his voice, leaning in close with wide green eyes.

"Miharu!"

Good grief. His head feels like it's splitting open, a hand pressing against his forehead where his nails gently scratch against bandages. Had he been hit? Did he suffer some sort of skull injury? Why was he in a room that smelled like bleach and rotting chemicals? "I thought you were gonna die—oh man, you gave me a huge scare! You should be thankful you were sent to the infirmary before being hoisted to the hospital, I'm so sorry, I didn't know my kick would be that bad!" Asahi dumps information on him as if he was going to disappear if he didn't do it as quickly as possible. The black haired boy could only blink, trying to process the words. Asahi's kick shouldn't have been that bad but was he just suppressing the pain until later? It wasn't the first time he did something so stupid (and heavily warned against) but still...

Before he can answer the frantic Yamanaka, his hospital door slides open and an older looking Asahi walks into the room holding a clipboard. The man gave him a kind smile, one that Miharu didn't feel inclined to return. He was tired, irritated over the IV in him, and now the bill for the hospital fee would probably eat up all of his allowance. "Looks like you're finally awake." Younger Asahi is practically beaming with relief. "Asahi, help your friend to sit up so I can check everything and make sure he doesn't have a concussion." And just like that, the ten year old's face immediately falls.

"Concussion? I gave him a concussion?!"

"No, he's making sure I don't have one."

Asahi still doesn't look convinced when he helps him sit up, and Miharu only scrunches up his face as his vitals are taken. The Yamanaka's father nods in satisfaction, instructing him to breathe in and out one last time before scribbling something down. "Well, the good news is that you don't have a concussion, any sign of skull fractures or brain injury, or any too traumatic than your standard run of the mill migraine. Thankfully, you'll be cleared to go by the next morning." A pause, Miharu does not like the look on the man's face. "The bad news...? Well, the bill for all the check ups and an overnight stay...." He didn't need to say the full sentence, the pitiful glance he gave was enough for Miharu to flop back down onto the bed, ignoring the sharp pain from his head hitting on the pillow a bit too hard.

Great, just wonderful—absolutely lovely. Asahi's father only gives him another pitying gaze before looking towards his son. "Visiting hours end soon, you hear? I don't want to see you in here past your bedtime." The boy looks ready to protest but with one final look, he slumps in resignation, watching the hospital door slide shut. A few seconds of silence pass as Miharu stares up at the white ceiling, burning his eyes from staring right at the lights.

"I brought your book."

And then, the lights are immediately blocked by a familiar book he had been reading. Reaching up to take it, Miharu gently sat up, watching incredulously as Asahi dragged over the chair  by the side of his bed and propped his elbows up on the mattress, a giant smile on his face. "Tell me more about this book you're reading!" He demands, only getting an even bigger look of disbelief from Miharu.

"....why? You learned what chakra is already."

"But that was the basics! It's like you said, these things have like, way more advanced uh, stuff in it right? I wanna know about it all!"

Weird. It's the only thing Miharu can use to describe the boy in front of him. Yet, despite the weirdness, he sits up more properly and opens up the book on the page he hadn't even been reading before falling unconscious. Asahi looks like he's seen Christmas come early as he leans close, eventually climbing up on the bed to read along with him. Feeling the boy practically glue himself to him again, Miharu can't help but find a strange sensation of relaxation as he pointed to the section they were reading.

Hello, one and all, here it is—! My first ever Oc Naruto story. I realized that I had gone a BIT too fast with my Naruto AU storyline and wanted to push that creative energy into something else before I ended up hitting a road block and thus, this was created.

I have been working on Hayashi Miharu for quite a while now and finally being able to share him with you all is going to be very exciting :) I have decided that each chapter I write will be 4,000-5,000 words with 6,000+ as a maximum. With my free time until I go to school again, I wish to write this story as carefully as possible and make sure that everything is planned beforehand so please be patient with me if I suddenly stop updating. One thing I might do is split this story into parts where chunin exams happen in a second book as compared to everything being shoved into a single book but we'll see how everything goes.

Tell me what you think of this story (and Miharu) so far! I'd love to hear your feedback!