"Kagen!"
"Ah!" I bolted up from the improvised notebook pillow on my desk, looking up at my teacher with a bright, innocent smile. "…I mean, yes, Akira-sensei? What can I do for you?" The woman was glaring down at me, her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned over my desk and bore down on me with her presence.
"I seem to recall telling you sleep is important, Kagen."
"Yes you did, Akira-sensei. That is why I was sleeping right now. Because sleep is important." I said too quickly for my common sense to stop me.
I'd stayed up all night reading tree walking and water walking books. I wasn't all there mentally right now. If my reason was intact, I probably wouldn't have so brazenly signed my death warrant.
Sensei smiled serenely at me as she leaned down close, the murderous feel in the air at odds with the bright smile on her face. "You're right, Kagen. Sleep is important. If you have trouble getting to sleep at night, I'll make sure you have no issues after today. What do you say to your kindhearted sensei?"
"Um… I'm sorry?" I tried.
Sensei laid a hand on my desk; the wood cracked under her palm. "Nope. Try again."
"Thank…you?" I said, leaning as far away from her as I could.
Sensei shook her head.
I then replied with, "It would not happen again sensei."
"That's much better!" Sensei proclaimed, clapping her hands together happily. "Now class? Let's all go outside. We're all going to run fifty laps around the school grounds for conditioning. If anyone finishes faster than Kagen, then Kagen has to go around an additional time."
I winced and smiled weakly at the death glares my classmates were shooting me. They didn't want to run any more than I did, and they all seemed to blame me for their misfortune.
"I'm sorry, students. Was I not clear? GET MOVING!" Sensei roared.
Everyone exploded out of their seats and scrambled for the door. Someone tripped me as I tried to get to the front. There were too many bodies for me to see who had done it, but they'd accomplished their goal of making me start slower.
An Uchiha kid beat me in the first lap. Then a Hyuga. Then an Inuzuka. After that, I realized the students were working together, alternating who would sprint ahead and beat me while giving each other time to rest. I had no idea how these kiddos become so smart but if I had to guess, it might be my fellow clanmate Ido's idea. He might not have been happy with me interrupting his lazy time in the classroom.
When all was said and done, I ended up
having to run one-hundred laps. Some of the jerks in my class ran extra laps after they were done just to make me run more. By the end of it, I was sticky with sweat and felt like my lungs were going to burst.
"Sooo…" Sensei drawled with a cruel smile on her face as I collapsed in front of the school. The rest of my classmates had already gone home. "Are you going to sleep tonight, Kagen?"
It was far too difficult to turn my head to look up at her. I took several deep breaths to get my wind back before speaking. "If I get a friend to obscure my sleeping like Ido does, can I sleep in class? I'm so far ahead that paying attention is pointless. I know everything you're teaching. It would be more beneficial for me to study on my own during the night and sleep during class times."
Sensei's face fell into her palm. "Kagen, you are a ginormous pain in my ass, you know that?" She sat down on the ground in front of me and picked me up by my shoulders so I was sitting across from her.
"Kagen, Ido gets to sleep during class because he knows everything, trains on his own, and takes care of himself." She stressed the last part. I wanted to argue that I also did all of the mentioned things but I didn't want to end up running more laps.
"You have yet to get a single question wrong, train more than most chunin do and do not take care of yourself. Kid, you're young. Your body is still developing. I get that you want to get further ahead, but if you keep pushing yourself like this you're going to really screw yourself up. I don't care how efficient you think it'd be otherwise, you will sleep during the night. When you show up for class, feel free to bring outside books and completely tune me out to study on your own if you want, but if you come into my class so tired you can't keep your eyes open, we'll do this again. And again. As many times as it takes to sink in."
Well now I felt like I'd kicked a puppy. I thought she was just irritated I wasn't paying attention to her, not that she had justifiable concerns for my continued physical development. The worst part was, I couldn't really argue with her. She was right. If I made sleepless nights a common thing, I'd have physical problems later in life.
I sighed, mentally revamping my entire schedule to work in seven hours of sleep during the night. That would still give me enough time to work on my chakra control techniques and work with Aiko at the Nara library.
"Okay, Akira-sensei."
Sensei smirked and patted me on the head. "Good. Now go home. I don't get paid overtime to watch you after school." She hopped to her feet and strode away from the school, pulling her flask out of her jacket and taking a swig as she went. Was drinking while teaching kids even legal?
I groaned as my muscles screamed at me. I forced myself to my feet and began slowly walking home. I really needed to do more conditioning training. The list of things I wanted to work on just kept getting longer.
I limped to the front of the school and was surprised to find someone there waiting for me.