Hello! Sorry this update took so long, this thing called school is sucking away at my life :/

Anyways! I have decided that I will update this story once a week on Tuesdays! With the exception of today since it's Wednesday, but hey, at least you get to wait one day less for the next update!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.

And now, on to the chapter of…!

Chapter 11: Student and Teacher Relationships

A young boy sat alone on a wooden rope swing that hung from a tree. Specks of sun shined on him from in between the spaces of the leaves above him. He was blond, blue-eyed, and had whisker marks on his cheeks.

By the way, this boy is not Naruto.

SIKE! Anyways…

His head was down, and his eyes were cast on the ground of grass and dirt below him.

"Naruto!"

The boy looked up from the ground to see a man with a brown ponytail, and a scar across his cheek bones and the bridge of his nose

"Iruka-sensei?"

"What are you doing here?" his teacher kindly asked. "Shouldn't you be out playing with the other kids?"

A pause. An awkward pause. A sad pause.

"…No one wants to play with me."

Iruka was stuck. Now what he should say?

He knew all about the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox inside of Naruto, and so did everyone else, which is why they avoided him. They treated him like a curse. But he didn't want to treat Naruto that way. It was hard not to go with the crowd, but he knew that Naruto was hurt inside, and that wasn't right. He decided that he would be the one to willingly involve himself with the one that was unwanted and cast aside.

But still, the whole thing was confusing and worrying to Iruka. What could he do? What could he say?

"Hey Naruto, why don't we go for some ramen?"

The boy's face lit up as he nodded his head and grinned.

"Okay!"

"So Naruto, have you been practicing your ninjutsu?" Iruka asked, with the crinkly eye smile that only anime characters can do.

Naruto pouted and squinted his eyes at his teacher.

"Iruka-sensei, you teach us the boring stuff. You gotta show us the cool stuff!"

Iruka laughed and said, "You have to know the basics first, before you move on to the next level, Naruto! Practice is important!"

As the student and teacher pair walked towards the ramen shop up ahead, they heard the voices of another particular student and teacher pair.

"No! I'm your sensei! Let me pay for you!"

"The Hokage didn't help me out with money for no reason, y'know! I'm gonna have to learn to take care of myself! So I'll pay for my food on my own."

"Save your money for later then! I want to be courteous, so just LET ME PAY FOR YOU!"

"Nuh-UH!"

Iruka and Naruto stopped a few yards away from the entrance and gave each other the raised eyebrow look. They turned their attention back to the ramen shop, and saw the legs and feet of the two people who disputed. One was obviously shorter than the other. However, Iruka and Naruto couldn't tell who they were because of the curtains that draped halfway down the entrance of the shop. They tried to guess the identity of the two people without going in and possibly interrupting their boiling argument.

"STOP BEING SO IMMATURE!" one of the voices roared. It was a male's voice, and it probably belonged to the taller of the two people.

"Immature? I'm ten years old! I have a right to be immature!" the other voice snapped back. It was a young girl's voice, and it had to have belonged to the shorter of the two.

"How do you expect to be a competent ninja if YOU'RE SO IMMATURE?"

"…Compe-What is…?…Don't use big words on me! And how do you expect to be a good sensei if you're yelling at me in a ramen shop? Your social skills suck!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Make me!"

"Oh, I will."

"EEEEP! Put me down, right now! NOW! Before I kick your-MMMPH!"

"Sorry 'bout this, sir. Um…my hands are full, but can you reach into my pocket and pull out the money? Thanks. Your ramen is the best as always!"

An older boy, who appeared to be Mr. Sucky Social Skills, popped out from behind the ramen shop's curtains. He was wearing the usual chuunin/jounin uniform. Iruka had never seen him before. Odd, because he would usually know all of the chuunin or jounin in the village.

Mr. Sucky Social Skills took notice of Iruka.

"Oh! Hello, Iruka!"

"Um…hello. I don't believe we've met before."

"Oh! Actually, we have," he said, matter-of-factly. "I know you, you just don't know me," he added.

"Ah…I see…?"

"Well, it was nice seeing you again! But, I gotta go. I got some…business to take care of."

He looked down at Ms. Immature who was struggling to get out of his grip. He had one arm wrapped around her torso, and the other arm wrapped around her head in an awkward headlock, with the hand clamped onto her mouth.

"Catcha later!"

And with that, they were gone in a poof of smoke.

…So what the hey just happened?

Iruka scratched the back of his neck with his hand while leaning his head to one side.

That was…strange.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to one side as well. He stared at the smoke dissolving into the air.

Who is she?

He didn't know that girl. According to her immaturity rights, she was the same age as him. It occurred to him he had never seen her in the village before, so he wondered if she was originally from Konoha. But if she was new around here…then maybe…

"Hey, Naruto?"

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head around a few times.

"Yeah, sensei?"

Iruka winked and said, "Just let me know whenever you want to pay for your own ramen. Then we can avoid…issues."

They both laughed as they walked inside to have their lunch.

People are silly, aren't they?

And there you have it! It's a short chapter this time, but I figured after the 2000 something words from the chapters before, I'd cut it down for the next few chapters so it's not long and boring haha!

Hope you liked it! Review if you'd like, and stay tuned for the next chapter on next Tuesday!

Ciao, ya'll.