[X] Days of Future Past
There is a tradition in the city of Nakanoyou, dating back to its days as the ninja village Hidden Leaf, that there are certain kanji which are lucky.
The most well-known of these is of course shoku; the city's shops and museums put shoku-decorated wrapping paper on all purchased souvenirs, regardless of whether the contents are edible. (Tourists are strongly discouraged from making jokes about this.)
Among schoolgirls, there is an old folk tale about the Nekobuta, a monster that supposedly terrorized even the ninja of Konohagakure.
Details vary from source to source, but the most popular version has it that the Nekobuta was once a young girl who wandered too far from her parents one day and was possessed by a dying cat demon. The demon at first intended to simply regain its strength and then move on, but it had a weakness for treasure that would prove its downfall. It began secretly marking objects and even people with the kanji for Good Field to claim them, until eventually it was found out and the girl was exorcised.
The tale is most likely derived from stories of the real-life kunoichi Yamanaka Ino, [REDACTED] and [REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED], who was known to leave Finger Carving Seals spelling out her first name on every available surface, including a desk now in the possession of the Ninja Academy Museum that is believed to have been hers; on at least one occasion [REDACTED]. The oldest buildings in Yamato Ward usually have an 'Ino' signature somewhere on them, to the point that finding three of them is one of the requirements for completing the Nakanoyou City Historical Society's annual Scavenger Hunt.
These days, there's a superstition that writing 'good field' on one's possessions will keep them from being lost or stolen, and that scratching it into the back of your locker will attract love letters.
[X] Shadow of a Man
Shikamaru doesn't have as much time as he used to; now that he's no longer 'just a little boy', his mom has really pulled out the stops trying to get him to train. You hide him as best you can when he's on the run (that's what friends are for), but she always finds him eventually.
The two of you are getting frighteningly good at shogi; one day you even beat Shika's dad outright. It's with a handicap, of course, but it feels awesome when you play him the next day and see that that handicap is down to three pieces from yesterday's four.
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It starts with an offhand comment while he doesn't even have his eyes open. That's how it always starts with Shikamaru.
"It'd help if you used some hard substance to form a second layer. As it is the only thing someone has to do to know your cheekbones aren't where they appear to be is touch your face."
It ends when your Mom has to separate you two after face-poking for science turns into face-poking to get this jerk to stop poking me in the face.
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You are now in your third year at the Academy. Having seen your new facility with Shikoku Fuuin, Dad has reluctantly granted you permission to start learning D- and E-rank jutsu not yet covered by the Academy.
[X] FUCK YEAH HENGE TIME!
[X] The Shunshin!
[X] Bunshin - instant distractions? Oh, my, yes.
[X] Kawarimi - aka, fuck that, you deal with him, Mr Log.
[X] Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique - genjutsu is where you show the most promise, after all.
Also, friend-time?
[X] Who?
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Short chapter tonight, because I've decided to fix my sleep schedule. Also, I'll level with you, the rest of the Academy is most likely to be one actual arc bookended by a bunch of short training updates and timeskips and fluff, and I doubt it'll last longer than another five days out-of-world. Is everyone cool with that?
So because Kishi prefers katakana to make everything look cooler and I'm a big ol' nerd, I get to rule that Ino's first name is formally written 良野. And now you know why she felt the need to add furigana to Jiraiya's Ino-tag.