"Naruto WAKE UP!"
"Huh…waa..?" The blond haired boy looked up from his nap to see his angry sensei glowering at him and pointing to something written on the board.
"Will you please recite the following phrase for the class, as you have appeared to have missed the group recital."
It was two days before the genin selection and the classes of this year were undergoing last minute preparations and review of their general knowledge in shinobi law.
"No thanks, I'm alright." Naruto said closing his eyes and placing his head back on the desk with intent to continue his nap.
"Okay Naruto," his sensei, Iruka said snapping his fingers above the boys head, "Unless you'd like to be writing that phrase out for me 200 times after class I would suggest you stand up the front and recite it for all of us here, now."
Naruto slowly opened his eyes to find Iruka standing in front of his desk, arms folded, pointedly staring at him and motioning to the front of the classroom.
Sighing Naruto heaved himself up from his desk and dazedly plodded to the front of the room, where which he seemed content on staring at the board.
"Well Naruto," Iruka asked "Would you care to begin?"
Naruto turned and stared at Iruka.
"I can't read it." He blankly stated.
Iruka's eyebrow raised and his eyes flicked toward the relatively easy phrase written on the board while the rest of the class snickered at the dead-last's ignorance.
"Will you read as much out to us as you can then?" Iruka queried.
Naruto nodded and turned around for a moment to gaze at the board before turning back and taking a deep breath.
"Hmmm…" he sighed and stared at Iruka again. His sensei unfolded his arms and looked quizzically at the boy.
"Can you even read Naruto?" in which his response was a slight cock of the boys head, then a shake of no.
Some snorts of laughter were heard around the room and a pink haired girl spoke up.
"Naruto's even stupider then we thought! He can't even READ!" more snickers and some outright laughter.
"I'm guessing that he can't even write!" She exclaimed "Can you even spell your own name?" this earning another round of snickers and even more laughter as all attention was again directed to the boy at the front.
He stared blandly back then lowered his gaze to the floor before speaking.
"Your right, I can't write my name Sakura," he said quietly "I can't read, and I only know one Kanji." His shoulders slumped at his admittance while the class again rippled with laughter and some exclamations of "Baka!" and "Dumbass!"
"And what is this one Oh So Mighty kanji that the Great Naruto knows?" The Pink haired girl asked mockingly.
Naruto bit his lip in contemplation while staring at the floor before turning around to the board and wiping it relatively clean with the eraser.
He picked up the chalk and placed it to the board before pausing.
"You know, it's kind of ironic how I learned about it, because the meaning of it is the same as the way I was taught it." He said before drawing with wide arcs on the board the one most hated words he knew and the only thing he had known his whole life.
Finishing, he placed the chalk back and turned to a now silent class. Reaching up, he pulled his shirt over his head and regarded the dark fabric in his hands for a moment before again looking up at his silent classmates' inquisitive stares. He closed his eyes and, once again, turned his back to the class. Gasps were heard around the room and Iruka's curious frown turned to a stunned gape at the sight before him.
Naruto's entire back, from the top of his neck to the lower back, was a mess of large grizzly scars, which formed into one unmistakable and dominating figure; a kanji. The kanji for Pain.
Naruto then turned around and pulled his shirt back on in the stunned silence. He then turned and left the room, sliding the door shut behind him.
The room was left silent, all stunned occupants staring at the board and the symbol written on it.