Naruto remembered his first day. His first day when people hurt him. His first day in a new family, such a bloody beginning. His first day at school, exciting and entertaining. And now, maybe, his first day as a Shinobi. All that remained were the last tests.
He sat in his seat, an aura of unrest settled around him. One by one, he watched his classmates enter the classroom, and one by one they steered clear of him, sitting themselves as far away as possible. After all, one does not simply approach Naruto when he was excitable. Too bad for the person that was destined to sit next to him. The general consensus was pity for the Uchiha for having such bad luck.
Once every few weeks, Naruto would be absent without explanation and Sasuke was always a lot more relaxed on those days. The fact that most of them could tell the difference in attitude meant that Naruto had a lot of influence over him, even though Sasuke would never admit it.
When he walked into the classroom, he noticed Naruto's mood immediately. The fact that the entire center of the room was empty and people were grouping together to the sides talking silently, almost made him falter. Almost, but he went on without missing a step. That is, until those eyes rose up to meet his. It stopped him in his tracks, a shiver running down his spine. He never really understood it. Naruto had never directly done anything to him as far as he knew, yet the blond seemed to occupy his mind as much as his brother did, if not more. It was weird, but he liked being around Naruto, even with the constant unspoken threat that hung around him.
After a moment, Sasuke was able to break eye contact, slid his hands in his pockets and walked up to the shared desk and sat down. He ignored Naruto and since it was rare for Naruto to start up a actual conversation, Sasuke stared ahead of him to the school board.
An eery silence filled the room. Sasuke slowly realised Naruto had not stopped looking at him, even after Sasuke had broken the eye contact. It seemed that the entire class had noticed too, because the whispers had stopped and everyone was now looking at them. Be it because he dared to just sit down next to Naruto at this moment, or the fact that a small giggle had escaped the blond which he quickly covered with a hand. Naruto's eyes scanned over the room, before he leaned towards Sasuke, motioning for the raven to come close and listen to him.
Sasuke swallowed hard and shot a look around him as well. Iruka-sensei wasn't there yet, so to avoid issues, Sasuke obliged to the request. Naruto gently placed his hand around Sasuke's ear, making Sasuke freeze in his spot. "You know, I like you. When I kill you, you won't feel any pain." The warm breath wafted over his skin, leaving it moist and uncomfortable. Naruto sat back in his seat again, the same type of gleeful giggle escaped him again, but this time he didn't cover it up. Naruto's focus had shifted away from Sasuke as he focussed on others in the room. The red gleam in his eyes made most people shift uncomfortably and avert their eyes.
Sasuke still sat frozen, staring after Naruto. Did he threaten him? No, it didn't feel like a threat. It almost felt like a gift, a promise and somewhere deep down, Sasuke felt like he needed to thank Naruto for it. He blinked a few times and took a deep breath, realising he hadn't breathed since he leaned in closer. "Thanks... I guess..." He mumbled. Naruto perked up and looked over at Sasuke again, a big smile on his face and his eyes closed in happiness.
With Naruto's mood lightened, the whole room seemed to be able to breath again. Slowly the conversations started up again and people started to move to their assigned seats. It was when everything seemed to settle that a new disturbance arrived. This time in the form of Ino and Sakura. They were, as always, squabbling and Naruto was immediately irksome over it. They were too loud, too present and too... girly. Ino was vain and dragged Sakura into it with her. Naruto knew they spent a lot of time together despite seeming so different. It had to do with the fact that Sakura was indeed an orphan by Naruto's hand and spent a lot of time at Ino's house. They were practically raised as sisters, so despite the constant bickering, they had each others back.
They stopped at the door, still feeling the lingering presence of Naruto's excitable state. They looked at each other and approached Sasuke, careful to avoid looking back into Naruto's penetrating stare. "Uhm, Sasuke, if you'd like, you could sit between us today. We always have a free spot, so..." Sakura started. "Yeah, it's no problem." Ino added.
"No." The simple and short answer wasn't given by Sasuke, but by Naruto. He was glaring at the girls from the corner of his eyes.
"I-It's Sasuke-kun's choice, not yours." Sakura said, though her voice lacked the strength she had wanted to display.
"Is it?" He asked, turning his full attention towards them, cocking his head. "Is it really, now?" Both of them stumbled back underneath his gaze, leaving Sasuke looking nervous as he debated his answer in silence. He turned in his seat, facing Naruto head on. Naruto raised an eyebrow and waited. Sasuke locked eyes with him. "We have a seating arrangement. We can't just switch places." The answer was meant for Sakura and Ino, but it was also to show Naruto he was willing to stay near him. If Naruto liked him enough to make the disturbing promise of a painless death, he figured he must have done something to get Naruto to like him. Since Naruto was one of the stronger students in the classroom, Sasuke thought he might be able to pull himself up and become stronger himself with Naruto.
Sasuke witnessed a flicker of both the red and blue eye, before they both seemed to settle, the red eye still more dominant, but mellowed out. Naruto nodded and sat back in his chair. He liked that answer. Sasuke gave good answers sometimes. Naruto felt elated to now have three people he felt the need to protect, even from himself. Mind you, there was no way in Hell he wasn't going to torment the raven every chance he would get, but, well, maybe he'd lighten up for a little while.
Iruka walked into the room, making the last few stragglers go to their seats. Ino and Sakura also sat down, looking disappointed and still throwing glances towards Sasuke. Naruto stared at them, waiting for their eyes to meet. Sakura's eyes were the first to wander to his. In the glance that lasted less then a second, Naruto poured a Genjutsu into her mind, a vision of her mother holding a knife standing over a small child. There were others but they were covered in a haze of shadows and were distorted, just like the child. As one they ran after the child who ran for his life. He weaved in and out of streets, ducking when heavy or sharp objects were tossed at him. He ran and ran and they just kept following, the trail of blood making it impossible for the boy to shake off his persuers. When the child left he village, he disappeared from their sight for a second, but they found him again, crying and scared, sitting on the ground and already covering his head like he knew what was coming. The shadows closed in, her mother among them and they started hurting the child. It almost looked like her mother was leading the group, prodding them to continue and calling for justice.
"Sakura!" Came Iruka-sensei's voice. It cut through the scene displayed and the vision blurred out of existence. Sakura was heaving for breath. She had no idea what just happened to her or how long it had taken, but to see her mother, and to see her like that, it made her sick to her stomach. Her mother hadn't been a cruel woman. She would have never hurt a child like that! Right?
Iruka-sensei walked up to her and looked at her. "Are you alright?" He asked. His brow was furrowed in worry as he looked her over to make sure she was alright. "Y-yeah, what happened?" Iruka-sensei glanced at the corner of the room, before looking back at her. "Well, it was a Genjutsu it seemed. But don't worry, whatever you saw, it wasn't real and you're safe." He assured her, but it didn't settle the feeling that what she had seen had some kind of truth to it. "Why don't you go to the bathroom and freshen up? I'll put you up for the exams as last, so you have some time to cool down. Ino, you go with her, alright?" Both girls just nodded and left the room.
When Sakura entered the bathroom and looked into the mirror, she realised she had been crying. The traces of the tears were still wet on her face and her eyes were red. "So, what happened?" Ino asked her. Sakura didn't know what to answer, and so just shrugged and went on to wash her face with cold water.
Iruka-sensei stared Naruto down, waiting for the blond to admit he had done something, but he never did. All he got was a bright smile and silence. Again he glanced at the corner of the room, and sighed. It was very difficult to determine who cast a Genjustu, although it seemed very unlikely it was one of his students besides Naruto. Of course, that didn't take away that he had no actual prove Naruto was capable of casting an Genjutsu or that he cast this one. He guessed, for now, he'd need to trust the ANBU that was guarding Naruto that Naruto hadn't done anything inappropriate. And in the end, if Naruto passed the tests, this would be the last day with him in his class and he didn't need to think about stuff like this again. Despite everything, and knowing it wasn't fair to Naruto, Iruka still felt like Naruto was, in part, the Kyuubi and, in part, he held the boy responsible for all the deaths that had occured that faithfull night. He also knew about the incident in the woods and although it was never made public what happened, for Iruka it had always been Naruto that had caused those deaths. Still, there was nothing he could do about it except to do as the Hokage asked and train him as a Shinobi, no matter how stupid that idea seemed to him.
His musings were disrupted by Naruto getting up from his seat and walking over to his desk. Without saying a word, Naruto produced two cookies from... somewhere, and meticulously careful placed them on the desk in front of Iruka, cocking his head as though he was studying if the placement of the cookies was correct. For a second Iruke stared at the cookies, blinking and confused. "...Why are you giving me cookies?" Iruke asked, drawing out the words while eying Naruto.
Naruto turned towards him with a big and innocent smile. "Because you saw my guard!" He said happily, seeming very satisfied with the fact that someone had. "Twice!" He added, holding up two fingers like a two year old showing how old he is. Iruka blinked again. Sometimes it was really hard to see the murderous fiend that hid behind Naruto's facade...
The exams, for as far as they were worth calling that, were quick and easy. The absolute minimum amount of skill was required in order to pass. After all, the Academy was only meant as a basis to build upon in the future, basic knowledge, basic skills, a basic idea of Shinobi life. The children would be woefully unprepared for the future when they graduated, though most of them thought they had gained great skills. Iruka understood the idea behind it, and he always prided himself in setting up his students with the best possible match to continue their growth. He also loved watching them get D-rank mission after D-rank mission and watching them slowly crumble under the tediousness before finally getting chances to work their way up. Most would be fifteen to sixteen before they would progress to Chuunin and become actual useful members of the Shinobi forces. The time underneath their Sensei could be seen as high school, a continuation of studies.
Another year had passed, another classroom full of students were happy and excited for receiving their Hitai-ate. Even Naruto. Well, there was no doubt he would make it. Despite his weirdless, he had always aced his tests and the exams were no different. Sasuke and Sakura were also top of the class, just barely behind Naruto.
All the students were loud, talking and laughing, discussing their plans for the near future. Naruto had made his way over to the trio of trouble, adding himself to the mix, making it more explosive. They had been little monsters, pranking the town and Shinobi in the village alike. If they had gone further then they did, they might have ended up in trouble with the law. Whether it was Shikamaru being smart enough to avoid such things, Choji being too lazy or Kiba being too just, it didn't matter. What did matter, was that Iruka was currently able to overhear their latest plan, and with each passing sentence, he felt the irritation towards them build up. It was all too tempting to retract their Hitai-ate and have them to the exams all over again in a month or so, but he couldn't do that. "We should go to the market after this. I heard there is a new merchant we can mess with!" Kiba spoke in a hushed tone, but his voice carried through the room as always.
"Yeah, he's a weapons merchant. How about it, Shikamaru?" Choji chimed in. The Nara nodded, looking at Naruto. Iruka noticed a sly look towards the corner of the room and the ANBU woman rolling her eyes. For the millionth time Iruka wondered what kind of relation there was between Naruto and his guards. Naruto nodded. "Yeah, of course. We haven't welcomed him to the neighbourhood yet." He said smiling.
"So, any ideas?" Choji asked.
"Well, I'm testing something. It seems to work, but I need some more targets. Might as well, right?" Naruto replied.
"Wait, you're not gonna hurt them, right?" Kiba looked worried, but exited.
"Nope, just a little teasing, is all. Nothing bad. Besides, you know..." Naruto hinted at something, but it was lost on Iruka. The other three nodded and smirked. Iruka narrowed his eyes, but didn't act on it. He had advised the Hokage to place Naruto under Hatake Kakashi. If there was ever a Jounin to keep Naruto in check, Kakashi would be the best fit. He also lost a lot during the Kyuubi attack and Iruka was sure Kakashi would be able to handle Naruto properly. Too bad he also had to place Sasuke and Sakura with him, but the both of them would make it through.
Iruka felt eyes on him and he immediately snapped his head up to see a dangerous glare being pointed at him from Naruto. It made Iruka uncomfortable to say the least. It almost felt like Naruto was looking straight into his mind, picking up on the throughts Iruka had on Naruto. There was hurt in those eyes, backed up by anger. Naruto stood up and walked over to the desk. "Sensei, do you really hate me?" He asked in a small voice, seeming more like a child then ever before. Iruka couldn't counter the genuine sadness that was laced into his voice. He sighed. "Hate is a strong word, Naruto. You shouldn't say it so lightly."
"But you're not saying that you don't?" Naruto let his head hang forward a bit as he looked up at the man. Somewhere he liked Iruka. He had never lied to Naruto, no matter what kind of truth Naruto asked about. Even now, with such a heavy question, Iruka spoke the truth. "It's complicated, Naruto. I can't explain it well. Just know that I still advised the Hokage on the best team for you and I hope everything goes as it should. I also know you try hard and for what that is worth, I acknowledge it."
"Well, since you're honest, I guess I can't argue much." The air around Naruto seemed to have shifted again. Now, he seemed almost an adult, accepting something he can't change instead if fighting it without results. "For all it's worth to you, you have been a good teacher and I thank you for the time and effort you put into it." Iruka was taken aback by Naruto's words. They were so sincere he almost felt bad for his judgement of the boy. Naruto inclined his head and turned around, walking out of the classroom, almost like he forgot class was still in session and his friends would be in school until Iruka dismissed them in a few hours... aand they were all gone... Damnit. Naruto wasn't being sincere, he was being a distraction and it had worked. Now he was four students short on the last official day of school. This would be a nice conversation with the Hokage this afternoon...