I decided to walk back to my empty house. As I was walking home, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and get something to eat, so while on my commute home I stopped by the steakhouse nearby.

When I walked in, he smiled at me and waved. "Hey there Yuu! Youʻre here later than usual but I mean I guess youʻll still want the same thing right?" asked the chef.

I nodded "Yes, please! Thank you, mister!" I smiled at him; he was one of the few people that could make me do that. I sat down at my usual table for some reason there weren't that many people who were at the restaurant tonight. I shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

The owner finished cooking the food in 15 minutes, and he brought it out to me "Here ya go! One steak plate!"

I looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you!"

He smiled back. "You're welcome kid." He said as he patted me on the head which made me feel like I had my parents back again. This is why I loved this place so much; it was indeed a home away from home. I finished my plate and was about to pay when the owner shook his head.

"Nah, kid, no need, this one is on the house." him saying that made me even happier, I walked over and hugged him and he hugged back, "Okay now you gotta go back home before it gets too late." He smiled as I let go of him and waved goodbye to him as I walked out of the restaurant.

I began my commute home, realizing how empty the streets were, I started to get concerned and began to think that maybe something terrible had happened, but yet again I decided to shrug it off, 'it's not a big deal, just so long as it doesn't affect me.' I thought, and a smile showed up on my face as I returned home and jumped into my comfy bed. Quickly dozing off I then realized that I had to go to the academy tomorrow. I was so close to graduating, and this made me so happy; finally, I can become a shinobi just like my parents.

I woke up in the morning, got dressed in my usual t-shirt, shorts and slippers, and I walked out to go to school. I had always enjoyed the class, there I wasn't alone, and I had surprisingly made some pretty quality friends that that would usually hang with me after school. I know that by saying that pretty much contradicts what I had said previously, but it's the truth, I actually have friends, and we actually do stuff together, I might not always enjoy the things we do but it's better than not doing stuff. When I got to school that day and completely forgot about the graduation exam. I hadn't studied at all and what we had to do was a clone jutsu. It was straightforward, and I could do it, just I didn't like to do it, so when going to class and seeing everyone practicing I sighed, "Dammit I forgot..." I thought out loud.

Someone laughed. "HAHAHA DUMB ASS! YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE TEST!" I turned and looked at the back of the class. My best friend, Tikyu, was the one laughed. Smirking, I walked up behind him while he was dying with laughter and punched him the back. "OW! That hurt!" He looked at me and punched me in the arm, and we both started to laugh, but then stopped when Sensei walked in. We stood and bowed for the teacher then we began the tests.

I completely tuned out everything until I was called up. "Oh umm, Yuudai Shimizu, please come up and show us your clone jutsu." I smiled. Tikyu pushed me and gave me a thumbs up. I did the same back to him and went to the front of the class. When I got to the front of the course, I looked up at everyone and felt an immense amount of fear swell up inside of me. I began to think of what if I mess up and oh god I wonder what theyʻre thinking right now. I had a tendency to over think things causing me to mess up more than often. I took a deep breath in to get my chakra up and also to calm myself down, I was never very good at doing jutsus or pretty much anything in front of people. This is why when it came to doing training I preferred to do it somewhere where nobody could see me or only with a handful of people, not the whole entire class.

Not even having to weave a hand sign thanks my large chakra supply, a clone just popped up right beside me, everyone looked in awe except for Tikyu who just smiled and clapped. Sensei looked at me in surprise but then smiled at me. "Congratulations, Yuudai, you are going to be a fine shinobi," said sensei as he handed me my Konohagakure headband. Taking the headband out of my senseiʻs hand and looking at it gave me a tremendous feeling of confidence and happiness. This was one of the first times that I did not mess up on something even though I could do it well. Smiling and tying it around my neck loosely, I walked back to my seat by Tikyu more towards the back of the class.

Tikyu looked at me and said "See, you are a prodigy Yuu. " I laughed.

"Maybe..."