To be lost on the road of life Chapter 4, a naruto fanfic

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Chapter Four

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—Six Years—

The first day at the Academy was interesting. In fact, it reminded Izuna of the classes he used to receive with his five brothers, in his other life. Going around the class and introducing yourself to the rest of the kids you are going to be stuck with for the year was something new.

Izuna thought that the change was refreshing; being outside the compound walls was a welcomed experience. Moreover, he was confident to say that Sasuke felt the same way, if his excited eyes were anything to go by.

Class itself was like going to an inter-clan gathering. For Izuna, It was almost touching to see the way so many people from a different clan could be in the same room without fighting each other.

Sure, there were plenty of nameless children. Civilian born, perhaps. Or just from less notable shinobi lines. Many dark haired kids in dark clothes hurrying to pick seats near their friends.

"Welcome to Konoha Academy"

The class began to settle down as a man came into the classroom. He has short straight brunette hair, narrow black eyes, and average height. He was wearing the standard Konoha Shinobi outfit complete with the forehead protector around his waist, sandals, and chunnin jacket.

The man smiled brightly at them as he stood in front of front of his little audience.

He greeted them. "My name is Shimura Ren, but you can just refer to me as Ren-sensei. I will be your instructor for the next three years. I hope you kids can make things easy for me by doing what I say and we will all get along just fine."

Just as he said that, the classroom door slid open, showing a panting blond kid. "Sorry… I'm late!" he apologized as he leaned against the wall to catch his breathe.

Izuna smiled as he saw that the whiskered prankster turned out to be in his class.

He always thought that his chakra was familiar, but he could not quite remember.

Ren crossed his arms and gave him an annoyed look. "Arriving late for your first day of class is not giving me a good impression of you," He told him. Then, he widened his eyes. "Oh, you're that kid." His demeanor changed from annoyed to disgust as he averted his eyes away from him, pointing at an empty seat. "Just go sit down."

Ignoring his obvious distaste towards him, Naruto put on a wide grin as he skipped up the steps and sat down beside the place where Izuna and Sasuke were sitting. "What's up! My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" he said happily to Sasuke as he reached out his hand.

Sasuke gave Naruto a bored look and decided to ignore him.

A tick mark flashed on Naruto's head as he gritted his teeth. "Hey, teme! Don't ignore me when I am introducing myself to you!"

"Hn," Sasuke replied without looking.

Izuna allowed an amused look as he saw their interaction.

It looked so familiar.

Almost nostalgic.

"Someday I will become the greatest Hokage ever and all of you will learn to respect me!"

"Like if a looser like you could become Hokage!" A random kid said

As Naruto chose another seat, some students decided to leave their places.

Izuna frowned as he saw that.

There was a buffer of empty chairs around him, two on either side. Some civilian kids were shooting poisonous glares at Naruto from the moment he walked into the room.

It looked like if Naruto was some kind of pariah.

He could not understand how people could be so mean with a poor kid.

Izuna was not okay with that.

Yes, he would admit that the kid was annoying —every Uzumaki is annoying by rule— but it was rather obvious the little orphan acted loud and made pranks on people because he wanted attention.

Someone to recognize his existence.

Izuna knew, because in his last life he faced the horrors of war.

He saw hundreds of orphans and he felt no shame to admit that he was responsible for some of them.

He buried his own father when he was ten years old.

He did what he had to do to protect his family.

However, he understand that the worst thing in the world is not being alone; it is being surrounded by people that make you feel alone.

"Anyways" Ren said before speaking at a normal tone. "During your first year here at the Academy, you will be learning basic arithmetic, reading comprehension, spelling, and grammar. You will do a little bit of this every year, but it will be the main focus on this year. Before one becomes a Shinobi, they need to know how to read, write, and solve problems."

Other thing that made Izuna felt somewhat uncomfortable were the occasional glances that some of his female classmates directed toward Sasuke and him.

It almost gave him shivers.

As their teacher kept talking, Izuna observed the classroom; he saw an Inuzuka, a Yamanaka, a Nara, a Huuyga, and even an Akimichi there. In addition, if the faint buzzing coming from the kid in the coat was any indication, there was an Aburame there too.

All that was missing is Hatake, Sarutobi and, of course senju.

"Open your books on page 19"

…

Maybe he would never admit it, but a little part of him was more than a little concerned that there was no Senju to be found, especially since they were such a large clan.

They could not have disappeared for no reason, and the clan had still been going strong when he had died.

Izuna had dug around in the Uchiha library and found there had been a number of happenings since his death that could have caused it. Among them, three mayor shinobi wars had occurred. Had the Senju perished in one of those? Alternatively, was there a different reason for their disappearance?

Three shinobi wars… Izuna thought as he closed his eyes.

The irony was real.

Konoha had been founded to inspire peace, and yet there had been three shinobi wars in the span of less than a century.

One century filled with pain, suffering and emptiness.

The village system did not stopped wars like Madara thought; instead, it made them bigger and even more deadly and organized.

Madara's dream never felt so distant.

History was not all bad, however. The technological and industrial revolution had taken off. A number of changes had been made to living conditions, medicine, weaponry, and other technology.

So far, some of the most terrifying diseases of the past like smallpox had been eradicated by vaccines; saving millions of lives.

The village was powered by electricity, candles had been replaced with light bulbs, air conditioners made the summer heat that much more bearable, and a number of other improvements had occurred.

Leadership, too, had changed. After Hashirama and Tobirama times as Hokage, there had been two others.

A Sandaime and a Yondaime; even though, the Senju influence persisted.

Izuna would recognize that he was pleasantly surprised when he found out that the son of Sasuke Sarutobi was the Sandaime. He smiled at the memory of the infamous leader of the Sanada Ten Braves.

Considering this was their first year at the Academy, the teacher did not seem to expect much from his students. While each question they have been given was phrased to remind the students they were being trained to be shinobi, it was still the most boring thing Izuna has ever encountered in both his lives. He winded up relying on his knowledge from before more than he would have liked to get through the worksheets they have been given. The worksheets were standard, given out at the beginning of the year to judge exactly how much a student already knew.

It was basic, simple. It made Izuna wonder if the teachers were all messing with them.

It takes two kunai or three shuriken to kill a target. Your team have sixteen kunai and twenty-four shuriken.

How many targets can you kill?

Most of all the worksheets bored Izuna out of his mind. Therefore, when he finished his worksheet early he spared a glance at Sasuke to see him finishing his worksheet as well. Folding his arms on his desk, Izuna laid his head down on them and let himself drift off.

…

After a couple of hours of Ren going on about what they should expect for the year, it was lunchtime.

The kids dispersed from their sits and began to eat and mingle as Izuna and Sasuke decided to remain on their site and unpack their bento.

As they ate, Izuna saw Naruto as he tried to join in with several different groups of kids before walking away from being ignored.

"I feel bad for Naruto"

"Hmn"

"I think that you had no reason to ignore him"

"Makoto, he is annoying"

"Yes he is."

"So?"

"It is not his fail, he do not have a father or mother to teach him manners. Maybe we should try to be nice with him. He seems like a good kid."

"Hmn"

Izuna realized that Naruto did not have any lunch packed with him.

Maybe Naruto forgotten when he overslept this morning.

As he saw that, he tried to not give in until he heard his stomach rumble all the way to their place. Naruto put a hand on his stomach as he scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment as his classmates stared at him before returning to their business.

Suddenly, Naruto saw Izuna staring at him and made his way up to their place.

He eyed him suspiciously. "Why do you keep on looking at me?" he asked. "You look girlish."

Izuna almost cough up his lunch as Naruto said that.

Sasuke's mocking smirk did little to abate his expression that truly must have resembled that look of horror when they had witnessed that man with green spandex, big eyebrows and unbreakable sunset jutsu.

"Y-you t-think that I l-look girlish?"

He always thought that he had the average Uchiha appearance, black eyes, fair-skinned with spiky black hair, like Shisui.

Naruto nodded. "Well, yeah. You have very nice and long hair, like some of the girls in the village" If Naruto had stopped there, Izuna felt certain he could have retained his dignity. So much for that. "But your face is all pretty and cute too."

Just...kill me now. Izuna thought, his face red as Sasuke kept smirking, trying to ignore Naruto. I told you. Went unsaid.

"I'm a bOy!" he sputtered, tugging on his hair and wondering if he really looked that feminine. Kagami and Madara had called him girly in his previous life, but he always thought that it was some kind of joke.

Thank Kami that Shisui was not there or he would be laughing his ass off.

"I aM nOt giRly!" Izuna told him trying to regain some of his composure.

"You're funny," Naruto said as he sat with Izuna.

His stomach growled again.

"And you are hungry." Izuna gave him his bento, still trying to calm himself. "You can have the rest of my lunch"

Naruto shook his head. "No, that's yours! I will be fine until I get home. It's my fault I forgot to pack my lunch anyways. My stupid alarm didn't go off."

"I know it is mine. I get to decide what I want to do with it and I am deciding to share my lunch with you."

Izuna waved the food under his nose for extra measure. He smelled the delicious aroma from the tomato onigiris that his mother prepared, and gulped. "Are you sure?"

He sighed. "I wouldn't be offering it to you if I was not."

He gave him a huge grin as he snatched the bento from his hands and began to dig in. "Mmmph! Mmmph! Thank you so much! Mmmph!" he told him with his mouth full.

"No problem" Izuna said, a little smile on his face.

"So, what is your name?" he asked after coming up for air after eating for two minutes straight. Izuna stared at his now empty bento.

Wow, the kid was hungry.

"My name is Uchiha Makoto," He told him. "This is my best friend, Uchiha Sasuke. And, I already know that your name is Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "How do you know my name?"

"You just announced it to the class when you were talking to Sasuke, Naruto-Kun," He explained.

Of course Naruto was not the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Oh, yeah. Well, he thinks he's so cool and better than everyone!" Naruto complained. "What's so special about him?"

Izuna shrugged. "Well, how about you ask him?"

Naruto marched three steps towards Sasuke and said duck-haired kid glanced up in mid bite. "Why do you act like you are some big shot, huh?" Naruto asked, leaning down to get in his face.

Sasuke responded by eating another bite of his tomato sandwich.

"You don't ignore someone when they are talking to you!" Naruto exclaimed, getting flustered.

Izuna sweat dropped.

This was getting troublesome.

"Go away, moron," Sasuke finally said in a monotone voice.

"What?! Who are you calling a moron?!"

"Hey! Leave them alone!" A blond haired Yamanaka shouted as she ran over and slapped Naruto over the head.

"Owww! What was that for?"

"Let them eat in peace!" A pink haired girl said.

"Yeah!"

Ren-Sensei loudly clapped his hands together. "Okay, enough!" He yelled. "Naruto, go back to your seat and stop railing up the class!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Naruto said as he crossed his arms.

When all the kids returned to their seats, Izuna saw that Naruto was still sitting at his right.

"Naruto! Go back to your seat" The teacher said.

"I'm sitting here from now on."

"I think you should sit in your original seat, Naruto-Kun," Izuna suggested as he saw the angry face of the teacher.

Naruto shook his head rapidly. "No way! No way! At least you are nice with me and do not try to ignore me"

"But, maybe if you get to know your classmates you can see why they acts the way they do, even Sasuke. He is a very nice person when you get to know him," He told him.

"Hmn" Sasuke said.

"Pshhh. I don't care for him."

Izuna arched an eyebrow. "If you don't care for him, why does he bother you so much?" He asked. "He has barely spoken to you and he is already getting underneath your skin."

Naruto gave him an irritated look. "Because people like him get on my nerves."

"Well, if you want him to notice you," He began. "You need to hang around him and talk to him. He will warm up to you over time."

"I guess you're right," Naruto admitted. He looked up at him and a hurt expression flashed over his face before it quickly went away. "Why do you want to get rid of me so badly?"

"I don't!" He quickly said, waving his hands in front his face. "I'm just trying to help you make friends!"

Naruto's ears perked up at the word "friend"

"Do you really think he would want to be my friend?" he asked.

Something inside of Izuna broke as he saw in his eyes how lonely he was and how desperate he was for attention.

So he nodded. "I do, but just give it time. He is a reserved person and will slowly need to get to know you. Maybe some of our other classmates are like Sasuke. They need time."

"Alright! I understand," Naruto told him as he jumped out of his sit. "Thanks for helping me, Makoto-Chan!" He ran back down to his previous sit just as Ren announced that lunchtime was over.

…

"You are too nice for your own good, Makoto"

"Hmn"

…