Ninja Academy . . . Finally!
Ninja Academy . . . Finally!
The gates of the academy were full of families coming to drop off their children who could not contain their excitement.
Naruto was walking alone to the academy because Kushina was busy arranging the new house and Anko had gone out on a mission. He slowly looked around for Ino but saw her nowhere. He was like this for about five minutes before he entered the building.
When he asked about his room, he quickly headed off while hoping to find the blonde girl inside, as he felt a little uncomfortable because he didn't know anyone yet.
Naruto entered the room but saw no one inside. He could only attribute it to the fact that he was so excited that he arrived early. Without thinking twice, he decided to close his eyes and sleep a little while the others arrived, but he forgot that his Henge disappeared when he was resting.
The young ninja candidates started to arrive, but every time one came in, he would stare at a boy with ears and a foxtail who was sleeping in one of the seats. Their families had told them about Naruto and his peculiarity, but curiosity was in their eyes.
It was not uncommon for some clans to have different features than a normal person.
It was a blond girl with emerald eyes who wore a pink dress with purple that dared to approach the young fox because she found him familiar.
"Naruto-kun? Is that you?" asked young Ino as she watched the fox ears react to her voice.
"Ino-chan, did you talk to me?" - asked a sleepy Naruto, who because he was excited couldn't sleep much last night.
"Naruto-kun! You're the fox boy my dad talked about!" - said the young blonde with stars in her eyes. She had been extremely curious when she heard her father Inoichi say that there would be a boy with fox ears and a foxtail in her class. He explained to her that these peculiarities were the result of a sloppy Jutsu.
Ino was already interested in Naruto and now that she discovered he was the foxy boy, it gave her even more reason to be close to him.
"Aren't you afraid of them?" - asked the young Uzumaki with a worried face. She was the first friend her age could make in Konoha. If she left him, the other children might not want to join him either.
The Sandaime had told him that they knew what he looked like, but he was still afraid of being rejected by his new classmates.
"Afraid?" - Ino asked as he tilted his head a little - "No, I think they're cute."
Naruto's ears trembled slightly as his tail swung, making Ino even more curious - "Can I touch them?"
"Just a little..." - sighed the redheaded man as he saw that the girl wasn't lying. "They're sensitive, so be careful."
The young blonde wasted no time and jumped into Naruto's ears because she thought he might regret it.
"MofuMofu~ MofuMofu~" - the other children could only see with a drop of sweat running down their heads as they watched the young Yamanaka play with the ears of the now red Uzumaki.
"I-Ino-chan... That's enough, isn't it?" - Naruto couldn't stop feeling pleasure, but he knew that if he howled, he'd be dead in more than one sense.
"Awwwww~! Naru-kun! Just a little longer~ even if it's 2 more minutes~! Please~!"- Ino was getting addicted to the softness of Naruto's hairy ears.
Meanwhile, in a faraway place...
"Hmm~ I feel that someone is trying to steal my place" - thought a beautiful purple-haired woman as she chased her target - "I think I'll have to try harder... Foxy-kun~! I'll be back soon~!"
Back at the Ninja Academy...
Naruto felt a cold chill on his back and could only think that his problems would somehow double.
"I-Ino-chan... p-p-please stop... my ears are very sensitive!" - Naruto could only beg for mercy because he was about to howl and had no way of stopping him.
"Boo Boo~! But you'll have to let me do it some other time~" - said the blond girl with a face of dissatisfaction.
When the show was over, the children began to sit at their posts, though they looked at Naruto curiously from time to time.
The last ones to arrive were a boy and a girl.
The boy had black hair and eyes of the same color, he was wearing a black t-shirt with a white fan print with red on the back and some shorts that were also black, closely followed by a girl who was wearing a green one-piece dress, had green eyes, pink hair, with a red ribbon in the shape of rabbit ears. You could tell from a distance that the girl was following the black hair with heart-shaped eyes, although he didn't give it much thought.
Naruto could only watch the young man in black as a battle instinct and rage began to form - "Uchiha..."
And as if listening to him, the Uchiha boy turned to look at him.
And so two minutes of cold war passed...
The girl in green was fascinated for a few seconds with Naruto but she quickly woke up and began to scream at him.
"BAKA! HOW DARE YOU LOOK AT SASUKE-KUN LIKE THAT?!" - exclaimed the pink one as she glared at Naruto. He, on the other hand, could not understand how he had earned the hatred of the one he would now call Pink Banshee.
"HEY SAKURA! CALM YOUR FLAT SELF!"- replied the angry Ino, she didn't know why, but when she heard her 'friend' insult the redhead, she couldn't endure it - "It's not like you have the exclusive right to see Uchiha-san!"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY INOPIG?! - the pink one was upset by her friend's insult. Despite being the same age, the blonde was already starting to get curves, while she was still as flat as the letter "I".
The two, now 'ex-friends' began to insult each other while the other children could only watch in disbelief.
"Catfight!" - some thought as they enjoyed the popcorn that came out of the magic of the script.
The Uchiha approached Naruto, grabbed his shoulder and said with a look of understanding - "You have it hard, don't you?
Naruto looked back at him with a smile and replied - "I think we will be good friends, Uchiha"
"Sasuke" - said the black-haired boy to the redhead.
"My name is Naruto" - replied the young fox as he held out his hand - "Naruto Uzumaki"
Sasuke shook his hand again with a smile.
While the two girls were sparking, the two boys were beginning to create a new friendship... it was a rather unrealistic scene.
During his conversation with his new friend, Naruto discovered that the Pink Banshee was called Sakura Haruno and was an old friend of Ino, although he could not tell...
The two girls stopped their fight when they heard footsteps outside the door, looked at each other one last time and returned to their posts. Ino sat next to Naruto and Sakura near Sasuke. She could not sit next to him because while she was fighting with Ino, a young and lazy Shikamaru Nara took over that place, as he found it annoying to walk to his seat that was two rows away.
Sakura was about to start shouting at the Nara but fell silent because she heard the door open.
"Nice to meet you, youngsters, my name is Iruka Umino and I will be the instructor responsible for this class" - said Iruka as he watched his new students. He was a man with brown hair combed into a spiky ponytail, black eyes, and a scar over his nose.
The young boys started to introduce themselves one by one, some even said they liked it.
"My name is Shikamaru Nara" - said a young man with a pineapple hairdo and a discouraged tone, everyone could see his disinterested look.
"My name is Choji Akimichi and I like to eat delicious things!" - Said a boy with short, brown hair and red spiral marks on his cheeks, you could tell he was a bit overweight - "Who called me Fatty?!"
"My name is Kiba Inuzuka and I'm going to be the strongest Alpha in the history of my clan and he's Akamaru, my partner" - Said a brown-haired boy with red spiral marks on his cheeks, wearing a gray jacket, with a white puppy with brown ears - "Woof~!"
"...My name is Shino Aburame..." - Said a young man with messy brown hair, sunglasses, and a grey jacket.
"My name is Ino Yamanaka, I like flowers and..." - Here Ino stopped for a moment and looked at Naruto, who smiled at him as he noticed his look. She could not resist the massive damage from the attack and covered her face with her hands to hide her blushing.
Iruka could only put her hand on the bridge of her nose and say - "All right next..."
"M-My name is H-Hinata Hyuga... M-M-My-My pleasure" - said a blushing girl with beautiful blue hair, pearly white eyes who was wearing a brown sweater, a skirt of the same color and a pink scarf.
" S-So pretty," thought Naruto as he watched the shy Hyuga.
Hinata could feel Naruto's gaze, and when she saw his different colored eyes, she became even redder.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha and I want to be the strongest ninja in the world to uncover the person behind the massacre of my clan and bring him to justice," Sasuke said with a firm tone that showed his seriousness.[1]
"Remember Sasuke, revenge can be a good motivation to gain power, but if you focus on that alone, you will fall into deep darkness from which you will find it difficult to escape..." - Iruka commented, but before he could finish speaking he was interrupted by the pink.
" I AM NEXT! I AM NEXT!" - Sakura shouted animatedly, although from the looks of everyone one could guess what she was going to say - "My name is Sakura Haruno and I like Sasuke-kun!"
"I knew it." It was what they all thought, leaving Sasuke somewhat depressed.
"Thank you for your lively introduction," Iruka said, then looked at Naruto who was the last to introduce himself.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki" - said Naruto and then looked at Sasuke and continued - "And I want to be the strongest ninja in the world, so you have competition Sasuke"
Sasuke could only smile and say back - "I just hope you don't fall too far behind Dobe"
The young fox started laughing and said - "Don't worry... I won't let you down, Teme"
"Sasuke-kun/Naru-kun!" - The two girls said at the same time how their prospective partners were more pleased with their rivalry with each other than with their company.
"Two muscle-heads... what a drag," said Shikamaru before going back to sleep.
"Well boys, today is the first day so there will be no classes, you can use the time to get to know each other better" - after saying this, Iruka left the room.
When they saw their instructor leave, all the children approached Naruto because they were curious about his non-human features.
They asked him so many questions, that he could not answer them all, even if the others did not feel bad, he told them basic things like where he lived or how he trained.
The young Uzumaki quickly became friends with Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, Sasuke, and Hinata.
With Shikamaru, he quickly became acquainted. Naruto told him about the books he read at the Uzukage mansion, where most were about strategy, history, and basic knowledge.
With Choji, it was simple. Naruto became a fan of Ichiraku ramen and asked the Akimichi if he knew of any place of equal quality. Choji gave him the information of a few locals and they started to become friends.
With Kiba, it was quite easy. Having animal features, the Inuzuka was able to put himself in Naruto's shoes, especially when he heard what happened to him when he visited Ino. The two quickly became friends and even Akamaru would sit on his head while he played with his ears or started chasing his foxtail.
With Shino, it was a bit strange. The silence of the boy with glasses could not hide his love of insects and thanks to the natural aura Naruto possessed, insects were at ease with him. Naruto had studied everything in Uzushiogakure, including a little Entomology, so the two began to talk about it.
With Sasuke there was nothing to explain, his goals were the same, though his motives were different. Even though they both insulted each other with Teme and Dobe, you could tell the respect they had for each other by finding someone with a similar goal.
Finally with Hinata. That was difficult, mostly because Hinata was too shy. It took her 20 attempts to talk to her, although after she finished, she fainted. Naruto could only laugh as he watched the unconscious Hyuga.
"I'd better take it easy, but I don't know why I want to help her so much." - thought Naruto as he waited for Hinata to wake up.
Sakura joined the group, though everyone knew what her goal was and Ino was always with them, as she was by Naruto's side at almost every moment.
Naruto had to admit that Ino was quiet most of the time and only started to fight with Sakura when she insulted him. It was much better than having the pink Stalker Banshee.
He could only look with pity at Sasuke and wish him the best for his future because if it was like that at this moment, he could imagine how it will be in 4 years of being "together".
While Sasuke could only beg Kami to have at least one normal person interested in him. This made a man (?) with pale skin and snake eyes laugh maniacally in an unknown location.
"What the fuck?!" - Sasuke got a chill on his back.
"Well guys, I have to go, my mother hadn't let me train because I was just recovering from an injury and she finally gave me permission to go back to the routine" - said Naruto as he said goodbye to his new friends plus one.
"Wait for me, Naru-kun~! I'm coming with you~!" - said Ino and then said goodbye to the others, but not before glancing at the pink girl.
Hinata could only see her with some envy for how she could express herself so well.
She would not deny that she found Naruto handsome and in those few minutes, she realized that he was trying to get to know her sincerely and not because she was the Hyuga heiress.
After a few minutes, the others began to leave, leaving the pearl-eyed girl to wonder.
"I have to leave my shyness behind..." - Hinata thought as she watched her new friends leave - "I have to be stronger or I'll lose not only my place as the heiress but my friends as well..."
Naruto had inadvertently changed Hinata's destiny for the better and only had to give her what she had always needed attention and sincerity.
Naruto led Ino to the Yamanaka flower shop where he found a furious Inoichi who did not hesitate to come out and chase him, but before he could continue, a shadowy wife dragged him into the house.
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~
And it was then that the people of the village heard again the heart-rending cries of the elder Yamanaka, thinking that maybe it was a new idea that the Department of Investigation and Torture had thought of, but the neighbors of the flower shop knew the truth.
From that moment on, another legend was born in the Yamanaka neighborhood.
"The Inoichis have nine lives"
* * * * * *
[1] Let me make this clear, the events of the Massacre happened before the original work. I'll explain in the next chapter.
Chapter update... I can only take this one for today.