AN: Just for clarification, every other chapter will be Naruto-centric and in his POV (kind of). Wren writes the odd numbered (Sasuke) chapters, and I (Gale) write the others. Enjoy!
It wasn't that he loved school, he just loved everyone he got to interact with.
Each year became better and better for Naruto, and he didn't even know when he began to look forward to going to school. Of course, it wasn't always that way. In Elementary School, Naruto was completely singled out and isolated, given no attention or company. What's worse, he couldn't even control the reason behind why that was.
If Elementary Schoolers were mean, then Middle Schoolers were cruel. Whereas it would just be a tease or push here and there in his younger years, Naruto's older years brought full on assault and vicious verbal attacks. Still, every morning during that time, he would wake up with a smile, hoping that today would be the day that he was acknowledged; today would be the day that he finally made a friend. This nearly hopeless optimism persisted day after day, driving the lonely boy up and out of bed, ready to march into school and try his very best.
One day in eighth grade, something finally went right. It was in the middle of Social Studies when it happened: Naruto, laughing loudly and drawing attention toward himself as always, finally made a friend.
"Wait, what did you just say?" a boy with wild brown hair asked, turning to face Naruto.
"What, the joke?" he replied, surprised that someone had finally spoken to him.
"Yeah, yeah! It sounded funny, what was it?"
"...Why did the chicken cross the road?"
Met with expectant silence, Naruto began to grin despite himself, already thinking about the punchline.
"Why?"
"To get to your house," Naruto stated. He paused for no more than a moment, then continued with, "Knock knock."
"Who's there?" the other boy supplied with an irrepressible grin himself.
"The chicken."
Immediately, the classmate Naruto was speaking to and a few others around him erupted into boyish laughter. Others were soon coming over, asking to hear what was so hilarious and gathering around the commotion. While some kids found it genuinely funny, most just wanted to fit in with those who were actually amused by it, forcing laughter as well. It was such a simple thing to do, such a mindless action, and yet it changed Naruto's life forever.
From that day on, Kiba Inuzuka became his best friend. They finished Middle School together, and entered High School side by side. While both of them outgrew their round, childish looks, Kiba's wild brown hair was never tamed, only slightly longer. Naruto simply looked like an older version of his child self.
It was thanks to Kiba that Naruto now loved school, and was loved in return. As soon as the unruly boy became his friend, others began to follow. First, Chouji Akimichi came along, actually daring to approach Naruto as Kiba had. Immediately, Chouji forgot why he had avoided Naruto in the first place. Mere days later came Shikamaru Nara, who was Chouji's best friend and naturally tagged along with him. The four boys formed their happy little group, skipping class together and telling bad jokes. Eventually, the group became well liked and by extension, so did Naruto. From the start of High School up until this final year, Naruto Uzumaki went from the outskirts of his peers to the dead center.
Walking easily with Kiba and Chouji, Naruto lead the other two into Professor Iruka Umino's room, all of them sharing the first period class. They sat near the back of the classroom, but not out of disinterest or dislike; no, this was Naruto's favorite class in fact, as well as his favorite teacher. Due to pre-existing circumstances, he was very close with the faculty of Senju High School, all of them sort of like a surrogate family for him.
As Naruto headed to the back at the ring of the bell, he glanced at a rather dark boy who seemed to be perpetually scowling.
Isn't his name Saucy or something weird like that?
Resisting the urge to laugh at such an awful name, Naruto caught up to Kiba and Chouji. When attendance came along, he learned that 'Saucy' was actually Sasuke Uchiha, which was a lot more boring and less flavorful.
Naruto blanched when he saw Sakura heading directly toward the gloomy boy as she rushed into class, eyes completely glued to him. With a frown, he glanced over to Kiba and Chouji, who were also glaring at Sasuke. Both boys were very aware of their friend's massive crush on Sakura, and therefore hated anyone she liked who wasn't Naruto. On top of that, Sasuke didn't even reciprocate any of Sakura's attention, which just pissed Naruto off.
And with that, the rest of first period World History with Professor Umino, Room 307, continued on smoothly.
To Naruto, the only good thing about math class was the teacher. The blond just couldn't grasp numbers at all, landing him in Algebra 2 for a second year in a row. It wasn't that he didn't try - in fact, he gave his all in everything he did - it was just that he couldn't comprehend it. Professor Mitarashi understood this and tried to guide Naruto the best she could, but both of them had just a little too many shortcomings to actually progress anywhere.
"Hey, Anko," Naruto greeted the teacher casually as he entered the room, taking a seat near the back corner. None of his friends would be in this class, as they had all already passed it.
At least I have Anatomy after this, Naruto thought, boredly tapping a pencil on his desk. Jiraiya should make the first day interesting.
And, sure enough, Professor Sannin greeted the third period class with a full screen picture of a beautiful, naked woman. Naruto thought he saw a girl with long, purple-tinted hair and pale eyes nearly pass out at the sight, but he wasn't entirely sure.
"All in the name of anatomical studies," Jiraiya told Naruto afterward, although the latter had heard this excuse many times before. His next class, Health, was only a few doors down, so Naruto decided to stay and catch up with Jiraiya a bit.
"Hey, perv!" he said, smiling widely and resting his hands in his pockets. "How's the old hag and freak?"
With an irritated look that was more out of habit than actual annoyance, Jiraiya leaned on his desk. "How are they, Naruto."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"Well, anyway, Tsunade's been pretty busy recently. She was invited to give the graduation speech at her old college and apparently terrified most of them," Professor Sannin chuckled, shaking his head. "She's continuing her medical studies, did you know that?"
Naruto perked up immediately. "No way! 'Thought the old lady was done with that, it always seemed like Orochimaru was the only one of you who actually continued on with med science."
Jiraiya grimaced slightly at this, remembering his own early days as a physician. When his sister landed the position of principal at the acclaimed Senju High School and offered him a job, he ditched his previous life immediately to join her and his brother. Naruto personally thought that three Sannin in one building was plenty.
The conversation stayed light and jovial as usual between them until just before Naruto had to leave.
Jiraiya, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder, said, "Listen, Naruto. Be careful this year, alright?"
"What? Why?" the student questioned, weirded out by Jiraiya's sudden shift. After an unsettling look from the man, he got his answer.
"There are some bad kids in this school."
Naruto didn't really think that was any concern to him, but nodded to humor Jiraiya nonetheless. School was always turbulent, that was just the way things worked; besides, it's not like he didn't get into the occasional fight now and again, anyway. The blond was pretty damn strong, being a sturdy boy to begin with. The idea of a 'bad kid' didn't phase him at all.
"Right. Well, see you later," he finally responded, turning and heading out of the room. He felt Jiraiya watch him all the way out, Naruto frowning slightly to himself.
What was that for? Is Jiraiya finally maturing or something?
Quickly laughing off the thought, Naruto entered Room 222 and took a cursory glance around. He saw Gaara, another friend of his, sitting in the back and went over to him with a smile. Gaara was quite an odd one, his other two siblings being quite quirky themselves. In fact, it seemed the entire Sabaku family was just one giant collection of strangeness. Temari, the eldest, was the most normal of them all, her only unusual interest being windsurfing. Kankuro, though... he really, really enjoyed puppets. He also seemed to be overly fond of heavy makeup, seeing as he wore thick purple eyeliner and lip liner almost daily. At first, that sort of alarmed everyone, but they all grew used to it and no longer saw it as strange at all.
As Naruto sat down next to Gaara, he looked up to the opposite side of the room and caught a pair of dark eyes. They were detached, unfamiliar eyes, and Naruto decided that he didn't like them. He vaguely held the notion that he didn't like their owner, either, even before he identified whose they were.
Watching Sasuke Uchiha as he turned away, Naruto couldn't help but wonder to himself if maybe this was the kind of person Jiraiya had warned him about.
