"Congratulations Kouhei. You graduate!" Iruka smiles at me. My mouth opens in a silent cheer as I disperse my shadow clones. Iruka stands and hands me my official Konoha forehead protector.

"Would you please send in Naruto?" The blonde must have overheard because he shuffles in nervously.

"Hey, just like we practiced okay?" I smile. He nods confidently before I leave the room, silently praying that all goes well.

"Wishing your friend luck?" a sensei asks, noticing my distracted stare.

"Yeah…he's more like my brother". The sensei nods knowingly before departing. I remember the first day I ever met Naruto Uzumaki. We were both newly orphaned, our parents killed in the Kyuubi attack. The adults and children treated him like he was the newest and most deadly plague. They called me crazy for sitting with him at lunch, for sharing my meager amount of clothes, and for confiding my deepest secrets in him. I'll never forget his first words to me.

"I like your hair". I smile while running my fingers through my shaggy reddish hair.

"And I like your eyes", I said back. Since that moment, we'd been inseparable, bonding through pranks and mischief. It usually made people laugh a bit, seeing a couple of kids outrun a trained squad of elite ANBU, at other times it'd earn us a beating…the latter happening more often than not. The worst incident happened when both of us were nine. A group surrounded us, not villagers but trained jonin.

"Little demon bastard", the ringleader growled. "You've corrupted this kid with your foul touch, making him your 'friend'," he jabs a scarred finger at me. I'd been quiet up till that point.

"NO!" I yelled with more courage than I was feeling. "He isn't my friend". Naruto looks devastated. "HE'S MY BROTHER!" I declare proudly. The sentence hadn't been out of my mouth more than half a second before the man socked me in the side of the face.

"Fine. Then you die with him" he snarled. Naruto tries to pick me up but a ninja knees him in the stomach, causing him to retch. I stagger to my feet and wipe the stream of blood that gushes from my mouth.

"GET AWAY!" I roar. The man just sneered before taking a kunai from his pouch. The shinobi who kneed Naruto hold me in place.

"Now you get to see how a ninja kills". He whips his arm back and I wrench myself from the man's grasp, desperately throwing myself in front of the flying dagger. THUNK. Crimson blood seeps from a neck wound, just above my collar bone. I lay there, letting the blood slowly pool around me. The group disperses quickly, leaving me to die. A merciless few minutes pass before a single spikey haired ANBU lands next to me.

"HOLY SHIT!" he cries out. He takes a bandage out before whispering to me, "Be strong". His words puzzle me…then I see his hand on the handle of the knife. I nod for him to go. He jerks back as quickly as he can; dragging the bloody kunai with him I can't stop the scream that rips out of my throat. Naruto regains lucidity and staggers to me, weeping loudly.

"Hey, hey. Don't worry…about me' 'I whisper raggedly.

The ANBU puts me on his back, "We're heading to the hospital". I can feel him focus chakra in his legs before rocketing off at lightning speeds. We're at the hospital in less than five minutes.

"I NEED A DOCTOR!" he screams, startling the nurses. A doctor rushes forward and lays me onto a gurney.

"Did HE cause this" the doctor eyes Naruto warily.

"No…a group of jonin did", the ANBU spits. "Kami…the Hokage will hear about this" the doctor growls, barely keeping his anger in check. The last thing I hear before I pass out is Naruto's sobs.