A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
Why did everyone stop playing with me?
The television came to life and showed a six-year-old Naruto standing in the playground, hands clenched into a fist and a forced smile on her lips. Nejire paused and stared at the image of the child Naruto, squealing at the sight before her. Everyone just stared at her.
"What? No matter how many times I see it, I can't help but think how adorable Naru-chan looks!" Nejire declared. Naruto blinked and stared at the blue-haired girl with raised eyebrows. "I just want to pinch your cheeks."
"Please don't do that." Naruto pleaded, inching away from the excited woman. She inched closer to Todoroki and widened her bright blue eyes. "Protect me future boyfriend."
Todoroki flushed red and sat right in front of her, acting as a barrier.
It was a question that plagued Naruto's mind as another kid refused to play with her. It was only the tenth time that she went to the playground and all those nice kids she played with, were now making up some excuses about why couldn't they play with her. We have enough players. It was the same number of players from a couple of days ago, so how could they say that they have enough players? She knows that they are lying to her.
"That wasn't nice," Mirio commented. "You can never have too many players for a game!"
Naruto nodded. "That's why I know they were lying."
"You must have been lonely," Izuku commented.
The blond-haired girl chewed on her bottom lip and bobbed her head, not bothering to lie to them. "I was lonely but then I made two friends. Hinata-chan and the Bastard made it less lonely."
She just doesn't know why.
"Because they are assholes," Bakugou replied.
"Sorry." A boy said but Naruto doesn't hear the sincerity behind his words. Naruto just flashed him a smile, pretending to understand just how hard it would be to let them play with her. She could not even throw a tantrum because the mothers were watching them now. Their cold eyes daring her to make a scene against their kids.
"You should have made a scene!" Bakugou grumbled. "You are a kid!"
Naruto raised her eyebrows. "Easy for you to say! You try being a kid without any parents to protect you if anything goes wrong! For all I know, they might slap me! Or call me a monster! You think I have the fucking luxery of having a parent to protect me?"
Everyone winced and Naruto folded her arms against her chest, blowing a strand of her hair off of her face. Todoroki sighed and rubbed circles around the girl's back before narrowing his eyes at Bakugou for his unthoughtful comment to Naruto.
Bakugou just scowled.
She was going to show them that she was not a monster.
Naruto looked around for another playmate. Most of the other kids seemed to be avoiding her eyes, but there was one kid that didn't even seem to pay much notice to her. He was just focused on the sand pit, making some kind of building.
Naruto and Sasuke blinked as the television screen zoomed in on the sand pit, revealing a young Sasuke playing with the sand. The two preteens glanced at each other, eyes widening as they realized that the memory being played was the day that they met.
"The both of you know what the significance of that day, don't you?" Aizawa asked them.
Naruto and Sasuke nodded, not bothering to tell them about the significance. Instead they glanced at each other, worried for what the memory would show. Naruto doesn't recall that day as being sad, not unless you counted Mikoto's reaction but she wasn't certain of how her older self perceived that memory.
It had been one of her happier memories of her childhood alongside the day she met Hinata.
She didn't like playing in the sand, but if that kid would play with her then Naruto would learn to like it. She would do anything to have one solid friend, even if it meant doing things that she did not like to do. It would be like learning to like milk even though Naruto found it disgusting the first time.
"I did a lot of things I was not comfortable of doing just because I want to have friends." Naruto admitted, rubbing her chin. "But I did like playing with the sand."
"Didn't we make a competition over who can make the better sandcastle? A competition I won." Sasuke declared, curling his lips into a smirk. Mirio and Tamaki glanced at each other while everyone blinked at this sudden behaviour. Naruto scowled and folded her arms against her chest.
"You didn't win!" Naruto snapped. "You just decided to declare yourself the winner!"
"That was you!" Sasuke reminded her. "You didn't want to admit—"
Sakura sighed and rubbed the sides of her head while everyone else just stared at them.
None of the parents paid much notice of Naruto as she skipped towards the black-haired boy. What do I do to get his attention? He seemed to be really focus on his building even though it did not even look all that pretty. She could make a way better one if you asked her. She was very creative or so the Hokage would say whenever Naruto handed him, her latest artwork.
"Someone has a big head," Kiba commented.
Shino and Shikamaru nodded their heads in agreement while Shouto frowned, biting his tongue from telling them that Naruto could be a really good artist. As much as he loves Naruto, he couldn't deny that his girlfriend did have a big head when it came to her skills.
"Are we going to focus on a fact? Or see how Naruto became friends with Sasuke-kun!" Ino demanded. "It has been something that most of the girls have been wondering since Naruto entered the Academy. Everyone knows Naruto has a big head!"
"Shouldn't we focus on how cute they look?" Nejire asked them. "Just look at her! She looks like a little angel! I just wanna pinch her cheeks."
Naruto paled and inched closer to Todoroki. How did my future self end up being friends with an insane girl like her? Nejire seemed so girly and she disliked girls who were so feminine. How the hell did they become friends? There was no way she could be friends with someone like Nejire.
Girls like Nejire were popular and Naruto had terrible experiences with girls like Nejire.
"Can I play with you?" Naruto decided that the old tactic was the best way of going with things. The black-haired boy looked up from his sand building, eyebrows furrowed at the sight of her and she flashed him a hopeful smile.
"It was a good tactic instead of demanding someone to play with you," Aizawa agreed. He rubbed his chin, glanced at Naruto and Sasuke before snorting as if realizing something. Naruto raised her eyebrows at her future teacher, who stared at the two of them. "I just realized what kind of dynamic you two would have."
"What does that mean?" Naruto asked, looking at Todoroki and the other people from the future.
"Don't look at us, Whiskers!" Bakugou snapped. "The only person that might know what is up is your future self."
Aizawa eyed them. "If future Uzumaki was here, I would give her detention for informing anyone here."
"Naruto doesn't really care about detention," Kenji muttered. "Or following the rules."
Todoroki nodded. "Only when it suits her."
He didn't answer her immediately. The boy just stared at her, or rather he seemed to be paying a lot of attention to her hair. It did not surprise her. She might be six but Naruto knows that no one in their village had her hair colour. The colour of the sun. She does not remember who says it but Naruto thinks it must have been a kind, old lady.
"You like her!" Nejire sang. Sasuke flushed a light shade of red while Todoroki pressed his lips into a thin line, fingers rubbing against his pockets and Kenji eyed them. Naruto blinked, jerking her head at Nejire and opening her mouth to protest.
"The Bastard doesn't like me!" Naruto declared. "Tell them Sasuke!"
Sasuke pressed his lips into a thin line and forced himself to nod. A part of him did have a crush on Naruto, always had since that day in the park. But it was no good to have a crush on Naruto. Future Naruto was in love with someone else, in love with the boy sitting beside Naruto. Hell his friend already had a crush on the boy already.
"Why wouldn't he like you? You are his best friend." Tamaki commented, looking at them with raised eyebrows. Naruto opened her mouth to protest, only to blink when the teen looked away and stared at Nejire. The blue-haired girl curled her lips, looking very thoughtful over something.
Tamaki eyed Nejire and bit his tongue from telling her that if she was concerned about his feelings to Naruto then he was fine. He got over it in a space of a month and a part of him knew he had been projecting his feelings on someone else. Mirio glanced at the two of them and shook his head.
Her heart ached like it always did whenever she thought of that kind, old lady.
"Who the hell is the kind, old lady?" Ino asked Naruto.
Naruto frowned. "I don't know."
Naruto tilted her head and was about to walk the other way. No answer meant that the boy probably did not want to play with her, which was weird. Boys, usually, liked to play with her since Naruto liked playing with the mud and doing all the things that little boys do.
"I wonder how Todoroki-san and Naruto-chan got together," Hinata muttered, shaking her head at her friend's actions.
Izuku sighed. "It is a curiosity."
"They never told you?" Hinata asked.
Izuku shook his head. "But I can imagine what caused it. I only figure it out because—"
"Don't tell them," Bakugou grunted. "I want to forget about it."
Was that why they stopped playing with her? Their mother didn't like the fact she could not even act like a proper girl, despite having this annoying long hair. Naruto attempted to cut it once but something always stopped her.
"I can't imagine you with short hair," Sakura admitted, knitting her eyebrows. "Did future Naruto ever cut her hair?"
Todoroki shook his head. "She was close once but something stopped her."
"I am building a sand castle, help me build the tower!" Naruto smiled happily even though in the back of her mind, she felt annoyed at the orders being thrown at her. No one ordered her around. Not now and definitely not when she grew to be wrinkly and old like the Hokage, but Naruto wanted to play with the kid.
"Wow someone is bossy." Mirio commented, shaking his head. "You look similar to Tamaki but you act his complete opposite."
Naruto bobbed his head. "Tamaki acts like Hinata-chan."
"If you are annoyed with him bossing you around then why are the two of you friends? I ask because it makes no sense." Shino questioned as everyone nodded. Kurenai frowned and raised her eyebrows while Kakashi pressed his lips into a thin line, not willing to explain why those two were good friends.
"Because we were opposites," Naruto admitted. "It works with everything and compared to you guys, his mum didn't mind me playing with him. Beside he was fun to play with when we were kids."
She would swallow her pride if it meant that she could play with him.
"You shouldn't swallow your pride," Nejire frowned. "This is simple but then it escalates to something bigger and you will end up hating yourself."
Naruto blinked. "Shouldn't you be encouraging me to swallow my pride and all that shi—stuff."
Bakugou grunted. "Nice save."
"I can't be a good hero if I tell you something that will hurt you in the end," Nejire commented. "And I won't be a good friend if I tell you to do something that might hurt you in the end."
Naruto blinked at the knowledge.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto but you can call me Naruto!"
Never Naru-chan.
"Why not Naru-chan?" Nejire asked.
Naruto eyed her. "Because I hate what it means."
"Then why does your future self allows me to call you that?" Nejire asked.
Itsuka nodded. "That is a good question. Only Hadou-senpai is probably the only person that calls you that."
"Maybe it will be explained later?" Naruto suggested.
They nodded their heads and Nejire continued to read.
Naru-chan was just for the Hokage. Naru-chan was the special name given to her by the kind, old lady and no one had the right to call her by that name. Naruto was good. Naruto was still her name but it made her feel powerful, made her feel strong. Naru-chan was a weak, little girl that ran away from the orphanage and never looked back.
"You ran away from an orphanage?" Mirio paused and looked at her. "Why?"
Neji frowned. "Because the Matron was abusing her."
"She was very unyouthful to Naruto-san." Lee commented.
Itsuka and Nejire glanced at each other, eyes widening at those words. They swirled their heads at Todoroki and the boy clenched his hands into a fist, bobbing his head. He knew the story but seeing the memory really hurt him. It made sense when he considered why Naruto chose her hero name.
Naruto was a strong girl.
"Insanely strong," Itsuka declared, smiling at her.
Nejire bobbed her head. "And smart!"
"Talented too," Todoroki added.
Naruto flushed a light shade of red, blinking at the fact that there were people around her future self age that seemed ready to compliment her. Only Hinata-chan seemed ready to compliment her.
"Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto missed the slight reddening of his cheeks and focused all of her attention on helping Sasuke to build his sand castle. She never knew how many hours they spent making that castle or the amount of arguments they had of how she made the tower. Naruto only knew that she was happy to play with someone for so long and not have a parent ruin it.
"Life was so easy then," Sasuke muttered. "Our only problem were wondering what games to play."
Naruto bobbed her head. "And whether or not he was cool or not!"
It was only when the sun set down that Sasuke's mother appeared.
The television screen changed to reveal the sunset and showed a fair-skinned woman with long, straight black hair with bangs that seemed to frame her cheeks and had black eyes. Naruto felt her throat tightened at the memory while Sasuke clenched his hands into a fist, throat burning at the sight of his mother.
Todoroki took a deep breath and went over to Naruto, hugging the girl while Izuku went towards Sasuke. The teen took a deep breath and rubbed the teen's back while Sakura frowned at her two teammates. She could understand why Sasuke was upset but what was Naruto's reason.
Even now when Naruto looks back, she thinks just how pretty Mikoto Uchiha was. In the eyes of the six-year-old, Sasuke's mother looked like a princess. But not a very happy princess. Princesses were always happy in the stories that Naruto read, but his mother looked like a woman that was always in pain.
"She does seem sad when she looked at Naruto but why?" Nejire asked, knitting her eyebrows.
Kenji sighed. "Because she was best friends with Kushina…Naruto's mother and a teammate to Naruto's father."
"What!" Both Naruto and Sasuke yelled. "Mikoto-obaachan was so closely linked to my/her parents."
Kenji nodded, eyeing Teuchi and the man looked away. No one except Aizawa noticed it and the red-haired man looked away, focusing on Naruto. The blond-haired girl frowned, leaning her body forward and narrowed her eyes at the man that was her relative.
"Can you tell me who my father is?" Naruto demanded.
Kenji grunted. "You are going to find out eventually, Naruto. I'm not going to tell you but if you figure it out then I will confirm it for you."
"Then tell me one fact about my Dad!" She folded her arms against her chest. "Please!"
"He was a pansy."
She stared at the black-haired woman and waits for the adult to pull her son away from her. It wouldn't hurt me if she did it. It happened so many times that Naruto thinks she got used to it. Just a temporary playmate was better than nothing.
"Naruto really had it rough," Choji muttered. "I feel bad for not playing with you more."
"You can't change the past." Aizawa informed him. "The only thing you can do is be a better friend to her."
Shikamaru eyed him while Choji nodded. Asuma frowned and Kakashi pressed his lips into a thin line, wishing that he could think like that man. Iruka just frowned, looking at the screen with a frown. He could recall how Naruto had seemed so attached to the woman but with the events unfolding before him, it was beginning to click to him.
"Sasuke-kun, won't you introduce me to your new friend?" His mother asked softly, causing her young son to flush a light shade of red. Naruto blinked and feels her heart fluttered at the mention of friend. She flashed a smile, not the weird one that she gave to the other adults, but the smile that Naruto always reserved for the Hokage.
"You look so cute when you smiled like that!" Nejire squealed, dropping the book and running over to hug Naruto. The blond-haired girl inched away and Todoroki sighed, moving himself to sit between them. He stiffened when the girl hugged him and did not notice how Tamaki pressed his lips into a thin line.
"Hadou-senpai, let go of me."
Nejire pouted and let go of the boy. Todoroki slumped his shoulders and returned back to his seat as Nejire returned back to her seat.
"You show that smile more often now," Itsuka commented, changing the topic.
The woman falters and Naruto thinks till this day that Mikoto Uchiha stared at her with both longing and sadness. It never made much sense until she left Konoha.
"How did I find out?" Naruto asked the future trio.
Bakugou grunted. "We don't know but maybe the book will tell us."
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, believe it!"
Mikoto smiled but it was not a happy smile. It was not even the weird smiles that Naruto gave to people, but a smile that makes Naruto want to cry. She asks herself if it was possible for someone to make a smile that makes it seems like they were silently crying.
"It is very possible," Todoroki answered, thinking of his own mother. "If you are the daughter of her best-friend and teammate then you must have been reminder that they were gone."
Naruto frowned. "Oh…then why did she take care of me at times?"
"Because you were the last piece of your parents," Aizawa commented quietly, looking at her. "Even if it hurts her at times, she never wanted to forget them. She did something she thinks your parents would have wanted her to do. Her love for your parents was greater than any pain she felt."
The blonde blinked and felt her throat tightened. Nejire paused, ready to comfort Naruto but Todoroki gestured for her to continue reading, silently telling her that he would do it.
She only learns when she is older that it was possible.
"What a pretty name for a very pretty girl."
Naruto blinked and smiled widely at those words. Most of the adults never called her that word and the adults that were nice, would describe her as cute but never pretty. She never even consider herself to be all that pretty, not with the mess that was her hair. But if a very pretty woman like Sasuke's mother called her pretty, then she must be pretty.
"You aren't pretty," Naruto frowned and hunched her shoulders as Todoroki looked at her. "You are beautiful."
Naruto blinked and blinked, flushing a bright shade of red at the confidence in the words spoken by her future self's boyfriend. Bakugou groaned while Itsuka giggled, lips twitching at the embarrassment of her friend. Hinata smiled, chuckling at what happened.
"Naruto is really pretty," Nejire commented, bobbing her head. "It must be so hard for Todoroki-san whenever her fans come up to her to confess their feelings!"
"What!" Ino and Sakura demanded. "Are you sure you are talking about Naruto? We understand in middle school but she has fans! She can't be that pretty!"
Nejire frowned and looked at the two girls. "Yes, I'm talking about Naruto! She is pretty."
"She doesn't dress like a girl!" Ino demanded. "She acts like a guy!"
"So what?" Nejire narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Beauty doesn't come from your appearance! Physical appearance can be a win or a miss because of genetics and even then Naruto got a luck in the drawer! I don't know what beauty means to you but beauty is having pride on how you look! Behaviour like yours are reasons Naruto struggled so much with—"
"Hadou-senpai stop!" Itsuka pleaded. The blue-haired girl opened her mouth to protest and Itsuka shook her head before swirling her heads at the teens. "Look I get it! You are preteens that have been told your whole life that beauty is acting feminine! But instead of breaking Naruto down, constantly talking down about her appearance…build her up! I can think of a thousand things not beautiful about the both of you!"
Naruto blinked and felt her throat tightened at their comment while Ino and Sakura flinched at their comments.
It would be only years later when someone else would say that Naruto was pretty.
"Was it you?" Nejire asked Todoroki, clapping her hands together. Todoroki flushed a light shade of red and slowly nodded at the question. He hadn't realized he was the first person until Naruto informed him when they had been alone.
Naruto blinked and stared at the mismatch boy, knitting her eyebrows together. She knew they were together but had she been shallow enough to be with him because of how he complimented her. She hoped not. Todoroki seemed like a good guy but it was confusing at what happened between them.
"Can we just continue the story?" Neji demanded.
Nejire bobbed her head.
"Uzumaki."
Naruto stopped in her tracks at the sound of her last name being called out by a familiar voice. She only knew of one classmate who would use her last name without any honourfics. Her lips twitched downwards as the memory of last night and the information spilled by her clones replayed in her mind. She forced herself to smile widely and clicked her feet together before twisting her whole body to look at her classmate.
"You are furious," Hinata said, shaking her head.
Sasuke grunted. "I feel sorry for him."
"Why? IcyHot knows how to make Whiskers to calm down." Bakugou grunted. "He stopped her from blowing a gasket during—"
"Wow, you really want to spoil what she did Kacchan?" Izuku asked.
Bakugou paused and shook his head.
"Asshole."
Naruto knitted her eyebrows. "You still like me after I call you that twice to your face."
"I didn't really care after a second time," Todoroki admitted. "I just wanted to prove it to you."
Todoroki raised his eyebrow and tilted his head in confusion. If it had been anyone else, Naruto would probably think it was cute how confused he look, but she wanted to rip her classmate apart. Not only did he question her clone that seemed ready to swoon over the boy. I thought clones were supposed to be copies of myself! I definitely don't swoon over the bastard! But he must have told Aizawa-sensei about her use of her clones.
"Naruto, your clones are a representation of yourself." Kakashi commented lightly. "If your clones like him then you like him as well."
The blonde puffed her cheeks. "Tell that to my future self!"
"She isn't here, Naruto." Kakashi reminded her. "And why are you so embarrassed, Naruto? Are you in—"
"No!" Naruto cried, tugging her pigtails.
Nejire giggled.
She didn't even understand why he would do it or why he even gave a damn about where she was.
"I wanted to prove you wrong and help you." Todoroki admitted. "I really didn't like seeing the way you were silently suffering."
Naruto blinked. "Did it annoy you so much that I made it seem like you were like your Dad?"
"I don't want to be anything like him," he informed her.
It was none of his business.
"You are angry."
Naruto dropped her smile and glared at her classmate. "Well I'm definitely not a ball of sunshine."
"It is funny that changed," Nejire commented. "Now you are like the sunshine to his clouds."
Naruto blinked. "I got that much better?"
"A lot can happen in three years," Nejire eyed Todoroki and chuckled. "Besides, you have a good support system on you."
Tamaki curled his lips and chuckled, not bothering to tell his friend that she shouldn't compliment herself…even if she did deserve the compliment. Hinata blinked and flickered her eyes between the two heroes. Naruto eyed the two heroes, wondering if they had a change in their relationship.
Her classmate did not flinch at her glare. He did not even react to it and Naruto found that was even worse. Everyone flinches whenever I throw a glare at them. Even Sasuke knows better than to piss me off. Why was he not even scared from her glare? She had years of practice and experience of making that glare, but her classmate acted like it was not even scary.
"Oh it is," Todoroki admitted. "You are even more terrifying when you are yelling at me, Midoriya or Bakugou for doing something reckless."
Naruto blinked. "What the hell did you do? You don't seem reckless! Blasty is understandable but you and Midoriya!"
"You are going to find out," Todoroki winced. "But as an apology ahead of time…sorry?"
"Did she forgive you after saying sorry?" Izuku asked him.
Todoroki paused. "Not exactly."
"What did she do?" Bakugou asked.
He sighed. "You will find out…but I really felt like a real asshole."
"Your clone told you everything," Todoroki guessed. What else could I be angry about? There was nothing about her class that makes her want to snap. Bakugou was another story entirely. The boy had always rubbed her off the wrong way with his constant desire of finding ways to irritate her.
"I just want to see you explode," Bakugou admitted.
Shikamaru eyed him. "Are you insane? Have you seen what she does when she is pissed off?"
"He is nearly like a male version of Naruto," Choji reminded Shikamaru. "Except he is angrier and doesn't smile. Remember how many times you warned Naruto not to pick a fight with Ino?"
Naruto frowned. "I don't care!"
"Someone has to!" Shikamaru grumbled. "I want to have a peaceful life and two harpies fighting it out—"
"Shikamaru, you have ten seconds to run." Naruto hissed as both Ino and her crackled their knuckles at the insult thrown at them. The black-haired boy blinked, groaned and began to run away but only to pause when Aizawa held the two furious females at place with his scarf.
Itsuka eyed the boy. "You should never call a girl a harpy unless you want a death wish."
"It is none of your business to know where the hell I was," she snarled. "I have my damn reasons for…"
Todoroki walked up towards her and stared at the happy students walking towards each other. He kept his eyes fixated on them, lowering his voice to a volume that could only be heard between them. "You are my classmate."
"So? You don't have to give a shit!" Naruto grumbled once she calm down. "No one in the Academy gave a shit where I went not unless they were Hinata-chan."
Todoroki sighed. "Well for one: you were my partner for the project and number 2: I want to show you that I was different."
So what if I am your classmate? Most of my classmates in Konoha never gave a shit about where the hell I went. Hinata cared but she was her best friend. The closest thing Naruto could ever call a sister, because sisters defended each other and cared for each other. Sasuke cared too…but in his own way. He was a bastard, greedy at times, but he cared in his own way.
"I feel insulted and praised at the same time," Sasuke grumbled.
Bakugou eyed him. "Be glad that she gave it to you. Anyone else would have insulted you for that stunt you did."
Sasuke winced.
It was just too bad that he decided to show how much he cared only after his father was dead.
Nejire paused and stared at the boy. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Sasuke stiffly nodded his head.
"Classmates don't ask about the whereabouts for their other classmates," Naruto declared.
Todoroki shook his head. "It is enough reason for me to wonder why you would skip school after three days."
"After three days?" Naruto asked.
Todoroki sighed. "It had only been three days since Yuuei started and you just decided to skip class…it was worrying."
"Really? So you decided to tell Aizawa-sensei that I was skipping school." She didn't know what was about Todoroki that made her want to snap like this. It would make sense if it had been Bakugou. The explosive teen had a way of rubbing everyone the wrong way. But Bakugou would never consider going to Aizawa. He would have made a huge scene by telling their classmates that she skipped school.
"Oi! I have more tact than that!" Bakugou declared.
Itsuka eyed him. "You kept boasting over the fact you were the first person to figure out that they were dating and that was before their stupid bet."
"Jealous I figured it out before you and Lizard?" Bakugou smirked.
The orange-haired girl smiled. "You shouldn't be gloating…I know your secret."
"She didn't…"
"She had to tell me." Itsuka whispered quietly at the boy. "Or have you forgotten whose room is beside her?"
Bakugou grunted as everyone looked at the two whispering teens, wondering what was causing the boy to pale significantly.
Todoroki had confronted her about her use of clone and it would make sense if he had been the one to tell Aizawa-sensei that she was skiving school. How else would Aizawa spot the difference between her clone and herself? Her teacher could claim to care her, but care couldn't come after just a few days. It took Iruka-sensei years to care for her…so how could Aizawa-sensei care after three days?
"Sorry Naruto," Iruka said, looking at the blond-haired girl. "I know I wasn't the most—"
"You were better than a lot of teachers," Naruto informed him.
Aizawa eyed him. "And I cared for her after three days because I didn't have to deal with the pain of knowing what she carried. That was the difference between us."
Her clone couldn't have acted too out-of-character and Aizawa-sensei had only known her for a few days. He didn't know her personality or anything like that. So how could he spot the difference? Only explanation had to be Todoroki.
"Or maybe Aizawa is very observant," Lee commented.
Kiba nodded. "He seems to have you figured out."
"You should be happy that he spot the difference," Ayame commented.
Tsunade frowned. "I am more concerned that he spot the difference."
"I didn't tell him," Naruto stopped walking and swirled her head at Todoroki. The boy stared back at her with blank eyes. "You would have gotten into trouble if I told him, so I kept it quiet."
"You should have told me even if I hadn't figured it out," Aizawa scolded the teen. "Getting into trouble would mean she would learn the consequence of her actions. I let her off the hook because her situation was more complicated than it look."
Wouldn't that make life easier? Assholes with Todoroki's background always had something to prove to someone. It was always to get the attention of their family, no matter how much it hurt the people around them. Smartest in the class. Best shinobi in the class. Naruto shook her head and gritted her teeth.
"Naruto, are you implying that your best friend wants you to get into trouble?" Itsuka asked, knitting her eyebrows.
Naruto laughed nervously. "Well Sasuke always wants his Dad's attention so he doesn't really help out since he wants his Dad to acknowledge him."
"But that hurts her feelings and ruin your friendship," Itsuka told Sasuke. "Is it that important for you to have his acknowledgment at the time? Your friendship with Naruto should have meant more to you."
Sasuke grunted. "If you knew how hard it was…"
He shook his head and shut his mouth, not willing to admit to a stranger that his Dad seemed to care more for his older brother than him.
"It isn't worth it," Todoroki grunted. "Take it from me."
"If you didn't tell him then how would he figure out that I was skipping school?"
"Well I know the answer now."
Todoroki regarded her. His mismatch eyes lingered on her hair, moved passed the whisker marks decorating her cheeks and landed on her eyes. Why does he always look at my eyes? It wasn't the prettiest eyes. Sakura always had prettier eyes, greener than the greens of Konoha, and Ino's eyes had always been unique. When Naruto compared her eyes, it just didn't seem like much.
"Your eyes remind me of the sky," Nejire complimented. "And it is just as pretty."
"Sometimes it remind me of jewels," Todoroki admitted.
Naruto blinked while Sakura pressed her lips into a thin line at the compliment given about her eyes. Every time she wanted to act kinder to Naruto, something happens and she returns back to being that girl in the Academy. She doesn't like it.
She especially didn't like what Naruto's friend were talking about her but she had to change. Not because of what Sasuke thinks of her or even what people thought of her, but because the way things were happening…it really made her feel like she was the biggest bitch in the world and she was.
Of course Naruto would never admit out loud, it would mean admitting weakness and she was anything but weak.
"Because their eyes looked different from yours, Uzumaki." Todoroki began to move and Naruto puffed her cheeks before dashing to catch up with the taller boy. I am not short but he makes me feel short with his legs. She grabbed hold of his shoulder. The boy stiffened slightly as if expecting her to hit him, which was weird.
"Did he hit you?" Izuku asked quietly.
Todoroki nodded. "Training was what he would say."
Hinata pressed her lips into a thin line, realizing what kind of father the boy had.
She was furious but not furious enough that Naruto wanted to beat the crap out of him.
That honour was left to someone else.
"Yeah, Sasuke!" Naruto declared.
"My clones are me!"
Todoroki took a deep breath and shook his head. He turned his head around, mismatch eyes gazing at her and the blonde folded her arms against her chest. Unlike him or the other members of her class, she did not have a Quirk. If Naruto did have one, then she wanted one that allowed her to read minds.
"No, you do not want a Quirk like that!" Bakugou snapped. "There are just some minds that you don't want to see."
Kenji nodded. "Your eyes might be scarred for life."
"But it would be so cool!" Naruto complained. "Can you just imagine knowing what people think of—"
"Imagine if you can read Mineta's mind." Todoroki informed her. "Or Jiraiya."
Naruto turned green and Tsunade shook her head.
It was honestly difficult for her to read what was going through his head.
"Your clones acts friendly to everyone," he explained quietly. "Their eyes shined differently from your eyes…like they are not afraid to trust people."
"Naruto is actually really friendly," Hinata informed them. "I know you know this now but you see Naruto now. She is actually really friendly…a ray of sunshine!"
Itsuka nodded. "We can see that. I can actually see how Naruto and Bakugou can be related when I watch them interact."
"What the hell does that mean!" Both Naruto and Bakugou screamed.
Itsuka shrugged and offered them a smile.
Oh, not this bullshit again.
"What? You also think that I have a phobia to the idea of trust? Let me make one thing clear: Uzumaki Naruto is not scared of anything." She dared him to challenge her claim. How could she be scared of an idea? If it was ghosts then yes, she was terrified of them. The idea of never being able to eat ramen was another thing for her to be scared. But trust? There was no way she could have a phobia of an idea.
"So you are willing to admit you are scared of ghosts and never eating ramen, but comes to your real issue and you deny it." Bakugou summarized and Naruto nodded. "You are a weirdo."
Naruto eyed him. "Look who is talking! You give a shit about me but act like you don't care one bit! Be more sincere!"
"Naruto…"
"Yes, Hinata-chan?"
"You are describing your relationship with Sasuke in a nutshell."
Bakugou snickered while the blonde scowled at her smiling friend.
It made no sense and it made seem like she was weak.
Naruto Uzumaki was not weak.
"Is someone afraid to admit they are scared?" Bakugou taunted.
Naruto smiled widely. "Want my fist to meet your face?"
"You wouldn't dare punch me if I use IcyHot as a shield."
"So you are scared to get punch!"
"Please, your punch is like a little girl! It's weak!"
Naruto growled. "Why you little piece of—"
"We don't hit family," Kenji said, rushing towards the two of them and separating them before they get punch. The red-haired man looked at Bakugou. "And you little piece of shit know that Naruto can give a real sucker punch or have you forgotten what happened last week?"
Naruto smiled while Bakugou scowled.
"You isolate yourself from everyone."
I have to work to survive and no one really wants to get to know me. She stopped herself from spilling those words to her classmate. It had been one thing to say those words to Aizawa-sensei. The man had gotten her in a bad time when she felt safe in the apartment that Ero-Sennin helped her find in this country. She wanted to scream at him at the time, but Eri had been on the other side of the door.
"Well now it goes back to being depressing," Kiba commented lightly.
Tamaki sighed. "You think?"
So Naruto had no choice but to lower her guard slightly.
So she did the next thing that she was good at and that was lashing out at people. It was a trait about herself that made her childish as Kakashi-sensei and Sakura liked to tell her, but Naruto had never really been a child. There was no better way for her to unleash her anger.
"You were never allowed to show your emotions properly," Aizawa reasoned. "So you do what any child would do since you weren't taught how to deal with your emotions."
Everyone blinked at them.
Not unless she listened to the dark voice that lingered inside her head, but Naruto refused to listen to that sinister voice.
Was it possible that the Kyuubi influenced her. Kenji pressed his lips into a thin line and flickered his eyes to Naruto, who whistled when everyone turned back to her.
"Me? What about you?" Todoroki blinked and Naruto held her head high. "It has only been a few days, but you haven't even attempted to make friends with any of our classmates! Don't preach to me about isolation when you are doing the exact thing."
"Ouch," Kiba commented. "That gotta hurt."
Todoroki nodded.
Todoroki kept quiet and regarded her. There was no lashing out or anger, not even hurt radiated in those mismatch eyes, and Naruto wondered if just maybe she went a little bit too far with her words. But then she remembered how Aizawa took away Eri from her, forced her to stay at home and only allowed her to sent a clone…because you need to trust me, Uzumaki. He talked to Aizawa-sensei about something that was not any of his business.
"Does my future self know that this didn't happen? That you didn't do it?" Naruto asked.
Todoroki shrugged his shoulders. "We don't talk about it. It is in the past."
She blinked at the knowledge.
She does not believe one bit that Todoroki didn't talk to Aizawa-sensei about herself.
"I don't know how to make friends."
"Really?" Neji asked, eyeing Bakugou and Midoriya before looking at Todoroki. "Doesn't seem like it."
Todoroki nodded. "I'm still in the process of learning."
Naruto blinked and blinked as her classmate stared down at her. I am joking. She waited for him to spill those words to her, but Todoroki just stared at her. He looked uncomfortable for admitting those words, but all Naruto could think that it was an act. Todoroki was a pretty boy. The kind of boy that the girls in the Academy would have wanted to date and the boy that all the boys would have wanted to befriend.
"Really?" Todoroki knitted his eyebrows and looked at the females.
Naruto gawked at him. "Have you seen yourself? You are even prettier than Sasuke!"
"There would have been a lot of fights between the girls," Ino confirmed.
Shikamaru grunted. "It would have been a nightmare."
He is bullshitting. He wanted to wiggle his way out of her anger and to calm her down by pretending that he didn't know how to make friends. Naruto opened her mouth to tell him this, only to close it when Todoroki says:
"My father never allowed me to spend time with the other kids, Uzumaki. I am not lying to you."
"That's sad," Hinata said softly.
Nejire smiled. "But it is better now, isn't it? You have more friends now!"
Todoroki nodded.
It was hard for her to know whether Todoroki was telling the truth or not, but the anger in his voice at the words my father made Naruto think that maybe, just maybe that he was telling her the truth about his past.
"He sounds like an absolute asshole."
"He is," Todoroki agreed.
That was the end of their conversation.
"How did your relationship improved?" Kiba asked, knitting his eyebrows together.
Todoroki shrugged. "You will find out but persistence helped."
They blinked and Nejire skim read to the next page, smiling widely. "Oh! We are going to see your point of view! Is this where we see the reaction to her words? Did her words make you want to know here more? Is this how you guys became friends?"
"Finish reading and you will find out, Nejire." Tamaki informed her.
My father never allowed me to spend time with the other kids, Uzumaki.
Shouto could only stared at the large cafeteria in front of him. He doesn't understand what made him decide to tell Uzumaki about the small fact about his life with his father, but it irritated him that Uzumaki would think that he lied about his ability to make friends. His eyes darted around the numerous classmates scattered around the cafeteria, feeling almost out of his depth as he tried to think of what to do.
"How did you go from being irritated with her to liking her?" Choji asked, knitting his eyebrows together. "I really don't understand how your relationship changed so much."
"Relationships can be complicated," Todoroki finally replied. "And it changes over time and situation. There was a situation that changed our relationship from Naruto not being friendly to me to be willing to consider me a friend."
"What? You saved her?" Kiba asked, smiling widely.
Todoroki eyed him. "It's Naruto. She can save herself."
Naruto grinned.
Do I just go up to them and ask to sit with them? He looked at Midoriya and his group of friends, before flickering his eyes to Kaminari and his group of friends. It made his legs wobble slightly at the thought of interacting with them. What would they even talk about? Kaminari and Mineta focused so much on the female anatomy that it made him feel queasy. Bakugou was just too loud for his taste.
"They are that bad?" Naruto asked.
Bakugou nodded. "Kaminari has some self-control but Mineta…"
"Is a creep!" Itsuka finished.
Naruto nodded and looked at Bakugou and Todoroki. "How did the two of you become friends?"
"We are not friends/We bonded over some things!" Todoroki and Bakugou swirled their heads at each other and raised their eyebrows at each other. Bakugou scowled while the mismatch boy shook his head.
"Get your story right." Sakura informed them.
He didn't even know how he feels about Midoriya. The boy seemed to have a very special relationship with All Might, something that he picked up from observing them interact. It probably was because their Quirks were similar. But not many people had Quirks similar to All Might, maybe they were related.
"Oh no." Midoriya muttered, slapped his face.
It was possible that Midoriya was the son of All Might.
"They look nothing alike!" Bakugou said to Todoroki. "Naruto has more chance of being a child of All Might than Midoriya!"
Todoroki raised his hands. "At the time, their relationship was so close that—"
"It will be like me thinking Bushy Brow and Gai were related! And I doubt they are related!" Naruto declared. She paused and looked at Gai and Lee. "Wait, are the two of you related? Are you father and son?"
"I'm not old enough to have fathered Lee," Gai informed her.
Lee bobbed his head. "But I admire him!"
"Sounds familiar to you?" Bakugou asked Izuku and the boy groaned.
Shouto shook his head and fixated his eyes on Uzumaki. The girl seemed to be gobbling up her ramen like there was no tomorrow. Of all the options that he had, Uzumaki was his best option. They could talk about the project that Aizawa-sensei assigned them to do. It escaped his mind to talk to his classmate about it on their way to class.
"My behaviour didn't help, did it?" Naruto asked.
Todoroki shook his head.
He placed his tray of soba on the table, pulled out a seat and asked. "Is this seat taken, Uzumaki?"
"You could have taken a seat without asking," Naruto informed him.
Todoroki paused. "You might have bitten my head."
"Fair point."
"Go ahead," Uzumaki said reluctantly, slurping her noodles. Shouto sat down and knitted his eyebrows together as his classmate continued to gobble down her food. How did he start a topic? Did he first talk about parents? Wait, no it probably was a bad topic to begin between then. His classmate was an orphan and the thought of just talking about his father made his skin crawl.
"I wouldn't have cared," Naruto informed him. "But it is nice that you were being thoughtful."
Shikamaru leaned close to Choji. "She has it bad for him if she is being so nice to him. Future Naruto probably changed but Naruto is never this opened with anyone that isn't Hinata."
Choji nodded and eyed the two of them.
It probably be better for him just to get to the point.
"Uzumaki, we need to talk about where and how we are going to do the project."
His classmate slurped, blue eyes never leaving his own eyes. "Simple solution: I do my part at my apartment and you do your part at your home."
Why would he even think that Uzumaki was going to make things easy for him?
"Because she is her mother's daughter," Kenji grunted.
"We need to collaborate and consolidate everything by Sunday night," he points out to her. "The project is due on Monday. Why don't we start after school…"
"So that was the conversation," Aizawa muttered.
The blond-haired girl put down her chopsticks and shook her head. "Got work."
Doesn't she have someone that can take her shift? It wouldn't be a big deal. He stopped himself from saying those words to his classmate. Uzumaki would think he was being a busybody if he asked the question. She would say something to try and annoy the hell out of the both of them.
"That sounds like Naruto," Hinata bobbed her head. "If you annoy her then she annoys you back."
Almost all of the genin paused and looked at her. "So all those times when Naruto annoyed us…"
"It was because you annoyed her," Hinata confirmed.
He would just wait till Uzumaki trusted him and then asked why she wouldn't even consider just switching her shift with someone else.
"Because Naruto loves being kept busy," Nejire commented. "And probably because she wants to make more money."
Naruto hummed. "Sounds like me."
"Then how about during your break at your work?"
"You are really going for it," Tamaki commented, slumping his shoulders and frowning as his eyes flickered to Nejire. The girl blinked and looked away, light shade of pink decorated her cheeks and the girl schooled her expression. Mirio shook his head.
"I want to get our work done." Todoroki admitted.
Uzumaki blinked and then stared at him like he was insane for even suggesting the idea. "You want me to do a damn project during my break? Do you know what break means? It means I relax and don't do anything that requires any physical or mental work."
"You really were making excuses not to work with him," Kakashi commented. "I thought I taught you better when it comes to teamwork. Even though Sasuke and Sakura messed up, those drills should have taught you the importance of cooperating with your partner!"
Naruto pouted. "Blame my future self!"
"As long as she isn't here, you will be the one that will get scolded." Aizawa informed her.
Shouto frowned and realized just what Uzumaki was trying to do to him.
"Then how about after your work?"
He was not going to give her the chance. Shouto would look for any chance not to be at home and for any chance to get his classmate to trust him.
"Is your home life that bad?" Naruto asked, knitting her eyebrows together.
He nodded and everyone frowned.
"No can do," his classmate said with a fake cheer to her voice. "I have somebody to visit and I can't afford to not visit them. The same goes for everyday!"
"Uzumaki, please don't make excuses like that in the future! Or I would drop your grade because of your lack of teamwork," Aizawa sighed. "It is a good thing I decided to pair the both of you together. Anyone else would have given up."
Shouto frowned and rubbed the sides of his head. Uzumaki has an excuse for all the reasons that she doesn't want to do the project alone with me. He wanted her ability to make excuses when it came to his shitty man. There had to be a way to corner his classmate into doing the work with him, a way that didn't involve him bringing Aizawa-sensei into the middle of this.
"It is very easy," Naruto informed him. "Just find things that your shitty old man can't argue against you."
Kenji eyed her. "That might work with teens but Endeavour is a whole different story."
Todoroki grunted at those words.
"When is your day off?"
"Sunday," Uzumaki answered reluctantly. Her eyes brightened and Shouto felt a sense of dread for what was about to be said. "But I have got an apartment to clean and so many other things to do…why don't we do it in your house?"
"You knew it was his weak spot, didn't you?" Bakugou asked her.
Naruto hummed. "My future self isn't an idiot. If someone refuses to let me go into their house then it means that they are either embarrassed to have me around or something else entirely. Basically I observed him and I'm trying to play him."
"You shouldn't have underestimate me," Todoroki commented.
"No!"
Uzumaki tilted her head and her blue eyes shone with mischief. Shouto felt his stomach becoming weird as his classmate clapped her hands together, tilted her head and said. "Is little Shouto-kun scared that Daddy might have the wrong idea about his classmate?"
"Oh god, she is taunting you to give up isn't she?" Sakura asked.
Todoroki nodded.
He was not scared of his father but…
"Don't call me that."
Grey eyes flashed before his eyes and Shouto clenched his hands into a fist.
"What? Shouto-kun?" Uzumaki smiled widely and Shouto was taken back when he saw the triumph in her blue eyes. She wants to use that nickname to get her way of us not working together. His cheeks began to heat up as the girl continued to chant the nickname to him. She wanted to annoy him, to make him snap, so that he could leave the topic alone and they would never interact again.
"That is true." Naruto bobbed her head. "Sounds like me! Annoy the crap out of you until I get my own way."
"Does it always work?" Bakugou asked.
She nodded. "How do you think I was able to get Shikamaru to help me with my pranks?"
"I knew it!" Shikamaru declared. "You can't be more annoying than usual unless you wanted something from me!"
"But you never learn," Naruto sang.
Shikamaru eyed her. "Because it is too troublesome to argue with you."
He was not going to fall for her trick.
"If you call me Shouto-kun, then do I call you…Naru-chan?"
"You had guts," Hinata commented.
Todoroki nodded. "If she wants to act like a child then I will do the same."
Everyone blinked at this knowledge.
Uzumaki spluttered and flushed a deep shade of red. Those blue eyes that was usually filled with sorrow and mistrust, now came blazing to life. Anger radiated from them, reminding Shouto of the ocean. Two people can play the same game. Shouto had never been childish before but Uzumaki made him want to act like a child.
"She does that to people," Sasuke muttered, shaking his head at his childhood friend.
It scared him just how much Uzumaki could affect him.
"Don't ever call me that."
"How did you get Naruto to accept you calling her as Naru-chan?" Tenten asked Nejire.
Nejire frowned. "I don't know why Naruto accepted me calling her that. Maybe we will find out later."
"You don't call me Shouto-kun then I won't ever use that nickname," Shouto offered. "And you stop making excuses on why you can't work with me."
"So you went for negotiation," Kakashi replied. "But you should have went with ramen as well."
Todoroki nodded. "I didn't realize how much she loves ramen until later."
His classmate narrowed her eyes. "I will agree to the first but I will only agree to work with you if we do the project in your home."
"You are still trying to manipulate it until he agrees to do your work separately, aren't you?" Sasuke asked Naruto.
Naruto nodded. "You think it will be that easy for me to agree to his wishes?"
Glee shone through those blue eyes and Shouto knew that his classmate believed that she won in their battle. It seemed like she think that nothing would make him be willing to come to her offer, not when he did not like his father. Not when he wanted to have just a few hours away from the shitty man.
"Sorry," Naruto muttered, ignoring the surprised looks from everyone.
Todoroki side-eyed her. "I didn't regret it in the end. You helped me in the end."
He was willing to come to a compromise.
"Fine, we can do it in my house but Uzumaki…my father isn't an easy man. He might ask questions."
"He can't be as bad as Hinata-chan's father or Sasuke's father." Naruto shrugged her shoulders. "No one can be as bad as them."
The mismatch boy curled his lips. "You can make your judgment if the book ever showed what happened during our project."
Everyone raised their eyebrows, curious to know what happened.
His classmate blinked but the shock faded and a fake smile plastered on her face as her blue eyes filled with mistrust.
"He won't be the first father that I pissed off."
"Wait who was the first father you angered? And who wants to read next?" Nejire asked.
"The first father was mine," Sasuke answered. "And I will take the next chapter."
A/N: What do you think about this chapter? For all those that have read both books, what do you think of the development of Naruto's relationship with Todoroki? And of the reactions of everyone.