Chapter Four

Legends in the Making…Kinda

Four months had passed since Naruto had decided to become a ninja. A decision that the Sandaime Hokage had supported in full. It had taken a lot of effort, and a small portion of his blackmail material, but he had managed to get Uzumaki Naruto on the roster for enrolling students. In the mean time, he had been helping Naruto touch up on his reading and writing, skills that he was sorely lacking, knowing barley enough to get by. A problem the Sarutobi elder had been working to remedy; he had managed to complete the boys lacking alphabet, but had so far failed to teach him more than a few basic kanji. As his time was limited, he had encouraged the boy to study kanji by his own motivation, but that's a story for another time, for today was the first day for new applicants at the Konoha Ninja Academy.

Of course, he was nervous, but he reassured himself that so were the other students. This hope was killed off from the moment he stepped into his designated classroom. Either most of the students had known one another before enrolment, or Konoha children were just abnormally adept at socializing. He wasn't sure which.

Feeling self-conscious, Naruto slipped by unnoticed, and made his way to an available desk, about halfway towards the back.

'Everyone seems kinda busy at the moment…if I try and force my way into their conversations they'll just hold it against me…wait a minute, I know her…' He glanced at the unmistakable mop of pink hair that had just entered the classroom.

'I remember seeing her playing in the park a couple of times, she was always hanging around with…' He was interrupted from his musings when the pink-haired girl caught sight of a blonde girl around her own age. Naruto shivered slightly, as he felt the tension in the air grow thick with their silent confrontation, and then it passed. The pink haired girl 'hmph'd' and looked away, before making her way over to a dark haired boy sitting in the corner. The boy had a small gathering of girls around him, all asking him various personal questions. The boy, for his part, was doing his best to politely decline their offers and invitations, while resisting the urge to run away screaming in terror.

'ookaay…I think…he has something…and all those girls seem to want it…I wish I had whatever it was…then again, if I had it the girls would probably just take it from me…' Glancing around the room, he picked up on the subtle sound of someone snoring, looking towards it's source, he saw a rather lanky looking boy, with dark hair tied up in a funny looking pony-tail. He was fast asleep, facedown on the desk. A slight trickle of drool trailed down from the snoozing boy's mouth.

'And HE wants to be a ninja? What's he going to do? Drool on the secret documents in case the enemy gets hold of them?' He sniggered to himself. He started to go over the other students in the room, when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He started sweating profusely, he could feel it, a presence of immeasurable evil…

"Arf"

"WAAAAAAAAH!!" He leapt a good four-foot off the ground, before landing roughly on his feet, which promptly gave way beneath him, leaving him sprawling on his butt.

"Ahahahahaha! Hey, Akamaru, get a load of this loser" Naruto looked up to see a boy, with red marks on his face, and a white dog perched on his head. He could feel his skin crawl as he laid eyes on the pup.

"B-bah! I was startled, that's all, stupid dogs, go back to your kennel!" He yelled, trying to ward off the humiliation his display had brought him.

'Great, now everyone probably thinks I'm a coward. Stupid dogs' He'd never received much love from those of the canine genus, most dogs would snap and bark at him the moment he got near them, some even going so far as to attack him, leaving him with a mild fear of dogs, and an uncanny ability to tell when one came near him.

"Oh yeah? Akamaru-"

"Rrrr-arf" The dog barked somewhat threateningly at the blonde trying to pick himself up before him. Naruto stiffened as he heard the bark, but continued to rise, none-the-less.

'Trying to make a fool out of me…' Once he was standing, he locked eyes with the boy, opting to ignore the pup all together. Sensing a fight about to start, the other students moved out of the way…

Shwee-Thump Umino Iruka was slightly pissed at the sight greeting him as he walked into his classroom. He'd already been anxious upon discovering the demon brat had been assigned to his class, but he'd been reassured by the Hokage that the boy was nothing to fear. Now, he sees the very boy engaged in a staring contest with the Inuzuka boy. The slight twitching of their knuckles was more than enough to tell him that, if he didn't interfere, that they would be quick to come to blows, and he really didn't want to know just what the demon-brat was capable of, so interfere he did. He reached into the pouch on his hip and drew out his current weapon of choice; with a flick of his wrists he launched two projectiles at the wayward students.

Thunk!

The growing tension quickly dissipated as the boys were struck in the head by chalk. All heads instantly snapped towards the newcomer, many taking note of his flak jacket, and forehead protector.

"If you two want to fight, save it for sparring, this is my class, and my rules! Understand?" Those present could've sworn as he shouted that last part, the Chuunin's head had more than tripled in size, yet when they looked again, it was perfectly normal. The two warring children nodded dumbly, put off by the strange and slightly intimidating shinobi.

"Now that has been taken care of, if you would all take a seat, we can begin the introductions." There was a brief scrabbling of feat as those not already seated dashed towards the nearest chair.

"Good, now then, my name is Umino Iruka. You shall call me Iruka-sensei. And it is my job to instill into each and every one of you, the knowledge, skill, and ability needed for any accomplished ninja. Now then, any questions?"

As Iruka answered the forthcoming barrage of questions, Naruto could have sworn he felt someone's gaze on the back of his head. He glanced behind him, but apart from a muffled 'eep' couldn't see anything to indicate who was watching him.

'I'm one step closer to my dream…' He thought 'Maybe this won't be so bad after all…'

"You! Naruto, was it? What did I just say?" His new sensei demanded, looking at him menacingly. His eyes snapped forward and he tried not to sweat.

'Think quick, think quick, universal answer, universal answer…'

"Being a ninja's hard work". He said, absent-mindedly scratching his whisker-marks in an attempt to hide his uncertainty. Iruka raised an eyebrow but seemed to buy it.

"Not quite how I put it, but fair enough"

'Phew' He let out a sigh and relaxed his posture slightly and listening as the shinobi explained the various duties they would be expected to perform upon graduation.

'That reminds me, I'm almost out of food…'

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