Chapter 5

[Timeskip 1 year]

Waking up with a groan, our favorite redhead gazed at the clock. Seeing the time and realizing he had an hour left before the academy started and that today was his first day. He jumped out of bed and ran around getting ready for his day. Standing in front of the mirror, he channeled chakra to his eyes and saw the pride of the uchiha clan, his inheritance from his father and grandfather, his three tomoe sharingan staring back at him. He was now used to higher level speeds as they had increased after many spars with Izumi. In the first few months she had dominated him even as she held back. Eventually he began to hold his own but was still beaten into the ground. He laughed at the memories of his only friend, not that he understood why or how she became his friend. When he asked about her, she told him that she was the daughter of the clan head of the uchiha clan. Basically she was a princess in the village because of her status as heiress to a powerful clan, a founding one no less.

When she saw he ate mostly ramen, she told him he should eat proper foods. Upon hearing this he asked what was wrong with ramen (A.N. insert spiel of how it is the food of the gods here) she replied with nothing but if he continued to eat just that he will grow up to be a dwarf. This stopped him in his tracks and let out an outraged "Hey!" and he swore that he saw a satisfied smile on her face.

After that, she began bringing two bentos each time they sparred. Admittedly she was a great cook. When he voiced this, she informed him that all women in the clan were required to learn to cook but this was her hobby.

His skills also came along quite nicely as he was now a level 5 fuinjutsu user and decided to begin deciphering the hiraishin after he finished level five as this would take some time to do. He also got help from izumi in shurikenjutsu as she showed him how to change trajectories of the kunai. Bringing a scroll entitled 'sharingan triple windmill attack' izumi raised an eyebrow at the uchiha emblem on it but made no comment. He was able to master the technique, unlike izumi. She also taught him to detect and dispel low level genjutsus stating that he had abysmal genjutsu skills. He could now detect and dispel C-ranked and lower genjutsus. In ninjutsu, he learned 'fire style : phoenix flower jutsu' and 'ninja art : shadow shuriken jutsu'

Three weeks ago was izumi's birthday. He was ecstatic when she came that day and hugged her almost immediately and treated her to ramen at ichiraku's. At the restaurant, ayame teased him about being sweet to bring her on a date for her birthday. The blood rushed to his face as it lit up like a Christmas tree. If one looked closely, they could see the slight pink on izumi's cheeks but she quickly masked it. Afterwards, they went to the training grounds behind the hokage monument and let loose on the spars. As evening came, she said she had to get back home as they had a party for her. He took out a small package from his hip bag and held it out for her to take. Staring at him impassively, he told her it was for her birthday and her promotion. At this, she hesitantly accepted the gift and opened it. Inside the package was a beautiful silver hair clip with a red gem on the two wings shaped to look like a butterfly. She looked at him for a moment with a raised eyebrow to which he squirmed under that gaze. Looking to the floor and shuffling his feet, he avoided her penetrating gaze. About to apologize because he thought she didn't like the gift, he looked up to see that she undid the ribbon and placed the clip in her hair re-doing her high ponytail in the process. Thanking him for the useful gift she gave a small laugh which made butterflies enter naruto's stomach.

Izumi was extremely happy with the gift as it showed that he cared for her as a friend and not some fanboy. Only her mother and him saw her as a person and not some tool to be used whenever it was convenient and forgotton about afterwards. His attitude was refreshing and took the strain away from her duties. Naruto even saw though her mask and upon asking , he was told that it was for her father as he demanded that she be this way when representing the uchiha clan. She even introduced him to her crow summons so that they could send messages to each other when she was out on missions. Although the village dubbed her the 'ice queen' and the 'untouchable princess', he knew what she was really like.

Shaking his head from his thoughts, he sat down to have breakfast. Looking towards his closet, he saw his orange jumpsuit that he bought recently. When he showed it to izumi, she asked why did he buy that monstrosity to which he replied that it made him look stupid. Looking at him with a blank face, she told him he was stupid enough no need to exaggerate it. Letting out his cries, she smirked knowing it was easy for her to get under his skin.

As he got to the academy gates, he spotted izumi walking towards the gate with her father and little brother, sasuke uchiha. Noticing she was looking in his direction, he waved and gave a grin which was responded with her own grin and wave. At this moment, the hokage came to lecture about the life of a ninja and all that crap. He thought to himself

'This is going to be a long four years'

To be continued

A.N. At this point in the story naruto is 8 years old and just started the academy. Izumi is 10 as mentioned in this chapter and is a new jounin. Next chapter would either have a timeskip to the end of the academy or it might go through the first day, not sure yet.