Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the original characters.
A/N: I would like to thank everyone who added this story to their favorites and follows as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.
Previously:
"I'll read the next chapter!" Mikoto declared.
Now:
Aizawa handed the book to Mikoto before making his way back to his spot. Naruto gazed at the slouching man and bobbed her head when the man made his way towards the water dispenser. He grabbed the plastic cup and pressed the blue button. It was a really long chapter when I think about it. Naruto let out a sigh and closed her eyes.
"Tired already, Naruto-chan?" Hinata asked. Her pale, lavender eyes darted from her white blouse to her skirt before looking back at her with concern eyes. I did have a nightmare last night and I spent the whole day working. She grimaced and let out a tiny yawn while her friend continued to gaze at her with a frown playing on her lips.
Naruto nodded. "I was working till just an hour ago and the book is draining my energy."
"It won't be long now," her friend reassured. Doubt coloured her tone and the blonde shook her head before closing her eyes. I doubt that we are going to finish this book anytime soon. It still looked like they were going to be here for days which was definitely going to be a huge problem for her. That boss of hers was going to jump to conclusion if she didn't come in tomorrow.
Why did everyone stop playing with me?
"You know I can't remember that memory with just that thought," Naruto commented. Everyone blinked and turned their heads around at her. Her former classmates raised their eyebrows at her and the blonde let out a tiny sigh. "It used to be common for me to have that kind of thought whenever I was in the playground."
Her mother slumped her shoulders. "Do you have any good childhood memories?"
"I have a few good ones," Naruto confirmed. Her parents, grandmother and her aunt relaxed their shoulders as Hinata and Sasuke bobbed their heads at them. She flickered her eyes to Mikoto and Fugaku before moving her eyes to the screen. "I don't understand why the book likes to bring out bad memories."
Her father smiled. "Maybe this might be a good memory?"
"Doubt it," Bakugou grumbled, folding his arms against his chest. He slumped against his seat and looked up at the ceiling before looking back at her and the others. "The pattern seemed to be bad memories that makes you want to fucking kill someone."
Mitsuki narrowed her eyes at the blond-haired teen. "Katsuki, how many times have I told you to stop swearing?"
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.
She just doesn't know why.
"You know this was actually them being nice to me," Naruto commented. Her parents swirled their heads at her while everyone from Japan blinked at this piece of information. She exhaled and rubbed the back of her neck before closing her eyes. "I mean they could have been shitty to me but they were really nice when it came to lying to me."
Kaminari grinned. "Probably because you looked like a little angel."
"We were only five…maybe six maximum," Naruto pointed out. The blond-haired boy looked unconvinced while she rubbed the back of her neck. She inhaled and exhaled before letting out another yawn. "There was definitely no way at that age, little boys were being nice to me because of my appearance."
Several of the boys from Konoha bobbed their head.
"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.
"They are damn lucky that I'm dead," Kushina growled. Minato bobbed his head alongside Narumi, Mitsuki and Masaru. Shikamaru and Choji exchanged glances while Kiba inched further away from the ball of fury that was her mother. "They wouldn't dare to give you those eyes when I'm alive."
Fugaku rolled his eyes. "Probably because some of them would remember how horrible it is to be punched by you."
"And also because my father is the Fourth Hokage," Naruto commented with a grimace. Mikoto and the others bobbed their heads in agreement. Her mother pursed her lips into a very thin line, violet eyes not looking one bit convinced by her words. "What? You know that it is true, Mom."
Kakashi shook his head. "Your father might be the leader but your mother is the more terrifying one between the two of them."
The adults in the room bobbed their heads.
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.
"This must be the day that you met Sasuke!" Ashido declared. Naruto bobbed her head and furrowed her eyebrows together as Sasuke gazed at the scene before them. The pink-skinned teen glanced at her and Sasuke before swirling her head at Hinata. "I thought you met Hinata first before Sasuke."
Hinata shook her head. "The day I met Naruto was definitely more remarkable than the day Naruto-chan met Uchiha."
"I will forever dislike the day that you two become friends," Sasuke grunted. Hinata rolled her eyes while Sakura and Ino exchanged glances, eyebrows furrowed together. No one knows the full story of how the two of us became friends. She let out a sigh as the black-haired teen rolled his eyes. "You would never have the courage to interact with Naruto if it hadn't been that day."
"Yes but it was definitely not because of my shyness at the time," Hinata stated. Naruto blinked and raised an eyebrow at the Hyuga heiress, who thinned her lips. "You would never share Naruto-chan with anyone. I'm surprised you never threw a fit whenever she went with Shikamaru and the boys to skip class."
Naruto sighed. "He did throw a fit and Hinata-chan, Sasuke always had a sharing problem."
"I do not!"
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.
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.
"You always had so much talent when it came to art or anything that requires creativity," the Third Hokage confirmed. Her parents blinked while Mitsuki regarded her with thoughtful eyes. Most of the boys from Konoha blinked at this piece of information before bobbing their heads at her. Bakugou and Izuku exchanged glances, not looking one bit surprised by that comment.
Naruto shrugged. "I can let my imagination flow and there is no right answer when it comes to art. That is probably the reason that art is my new favourite subject in Japan."
"What was your favourite subject in the Academy?" Her father asked. He tilted his head and looked at her with a burning curiosity that almost made her want to squirm. What was her favourite subject? Well she did stop trying in the Academy but there was one subject that always made her want to bounce in excitement.
She hummed. "Taijutsu!"
"Of course that was her favourite subject," Ino grumbled. The platinum-haired teen shot a weary look to Naruto, who only offered an innocent smile to the girl. I get to whoop your asses without getting into trouble with Iruka-sensei. As tempted as she was to vocalize that thought, it would probably confirmed whatever theory that Ino had about her having a personal vendetta against her.
She didn't understand what creative meant.
"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.
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.
"Your father and you inherited that hair color from Souta," Narumi commented. Naruto blinked while Minato curled his lips into a slight scowl as if he didn't like being reminded of his father. "I can only guess that was Souta's wife, who complimented your hair because god forbid that people would compliment a cute little girl because of something that was not her fault."
The sarcastic tone of her grandmother almost brought a smile on her face, but the whiskered teen kept her composure. Instead, she chose to sneak a glance at Sasuke. The black-haired teen stared at the image with regretful eyes as if he wanted to go back in time to their more happier and innocent days.
Kiba cleared his throat and looked at the screen. "You know if I didn't know any better, I would think that those rumours about Sasuke having a crush on you was actually true."
"Sasuke never had a crush on me," Naruto declared. She folded her arms against her chest and then frowned when she saw Sakura looking at her with disbelief. It has been nearly three years and she still believes that bullshit? Of course she did because no one could believe that a boy and a girl could simply be friends.
Mikoto and Fugaku exchanged glances and then shook their heads.
Her heart ached like it always did whenever she thought of that kind, old lady.
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.
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.
"Now I simply know it is because I live inside a village that wants a scapegoat," Naruto said dryly. Several of the shinobi from Konoha flinched but did not try and deny the fact that she had been the unfortunate person to get the blame. It was actually a wise decision because if they dared to deny it then it would contradict everything that had been shown.
Her grandmother pinched her nose and shifted her gaze to the Third and Fifth Hokage. "Have you ever thought of having them go through grief counselling? Or make them learn how stupid it is to treat a child with such behaviour?"
"That would mean they have to have a brain and what about discrimination? We need that in the system," Fugaku grumbled. Mikoto pinched her nose and threw an exasperated look to her husband before looking at Kushina. The red-haired woman reluctantly nodded her head in agreement while Minato grimaced.
"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.
"That's my girl! Don't let anyone boss you around!" Kushina declared with a large smile on her face. Most of the males from Konoha turned their heads to the red-haired woman before shifting their eyes to Naruto. They stared at the mother-daughter duo for the longest time before shaking their heads.
Narumi chuckled. "Well it seems that trait runs on both sides of the family."
"I think we can all agree that Naruto takes after her mother in appearance and personality," Shino stated with a tired sigh. He pushed his glasses upwards and Naruto didn't need to have the Byakugan to know that her childhood classmate was currently frowning underneath his turtle-neck shirt. There is nothing wrong with my mother and me refusing to being bossed around! She clicked her tongue and looked away from the bug-user.
She would swallow her pride if it meant that she could play with him.
"You know I can understand why Uzumaki is playing alone but why is Sasuke playing by himself?" Kirishima commented. Naruto grimaced and the teen darted his eyes between them. "With the way Haruno and Yamanaka fight over him, you would think Sasuke has a lot of friends or something like that."
Naruto sighed. "I don't fully understand it too because Sasuke was actually really friendly before his family died."
"No one really wanted to get to know any of the children from the Uchiha clan," Fugaku replied. Everyone blinked as the black-haired man curled his lips into a grimace. "Most of the shinobi feared us because our Kekkei Genkei allows us to steal their jutsu and found our eyes to be rather creepy."
The whiskered teen hummed and knitted her eyebrows before shifting her gaze to Sasuke. I mean that explains the adults but I don't think that really explains our classmate. She knew there was a better explanation but what would be the more appropriate one? She blinked when her childhood friend shook his head.
"There were a lot of people that looked up to me," Sasuke replied blankly. Kirishima nodded while several people gazed at the black-haired teen with curiosity. "They might even have admired me but they never tried to make an incentive to be friends with me. Most of them were also jealous of my lineage and skill, which also made me an outcast in a way. The only person who took the time to be my friend was Naruto."
Mikoto nodded. "For me, it was Kushina and Minato."
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto but you can call me Naruto!"
Never Naru-chan.
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.
"That is the other reason why you don't allow anyone to call you by that name, isn't it?" Hinata asked. She frowned and snuck a glance at the whiskered teen. Naruto stared at her best friend for the longest time before reluctantly nodding her head. It would be a cold day in hell when she allowed someone else called her by that nickname.
Narumi nodded. "So you are trying to dissociate with the part that you think makes you weak."
"I don't understand what you mean but if you are saying that I'm refusing to acknowledge that part of myself…then maybe," Naruto replied. She clasped her hands together and leaned against her seat. "Running away like that was weak of me but no way was I going to allow myself to be subjected by those people."
Naruto was a strong girl.
"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.
"That was probably one of the happiest days of my life," Naruto commented. Sakura and Ino blinked while Hinata gazed at the blonde with knowing eyes before throwing a heated glare at Sasuke. "That was the first time I didn't feel like people hated me and the first time I made a friend because no one tried to discourage Sasuke away from me."
Mikoto smiled faintly. "I always wanted Sasuke to be friends with you."
"You wanted more then that," Fugaku said dryly. Minato narrowed his eyes, looking ready to give a verbal lashing to the former head of the Uchiha clan but only for Narumi to gently whack the Fourth Hokage. Kushina only shook her head and exchanged amused looks with Mikoto, who giggled at the interaction.
It was only when the sun set down that Sasuke's mother appeared.
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.
The whole room grew quiet as Mikoto's words died down at the last sentence. Naruto winced and averted the concern gazes of her parents and grandmother, choosing instead to focus her eyes on Fugaku. The man looked unfazed but the blonde did not miss the way the man's jaw tightened just a little bit by her comment.
I probably made things worse but as long as they don't mention our conversation then everything will be fine. Well she hoped so because she really did not want to be the reason that the married couple fight.
"You have always been observant but I didn't realize that you were that observant," Mikoto finally said. Naruto closed her eyes and offered an apologetic smile to the woman. She really hadn't realized that the book would go further than her meeting with Sasuke, if she had known then she would have tried to stop the whole thing.
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.
Aizawa grimaced. "You deserved better than that."
"Well you can't cry over spilled milk," Naruto said, shrugging her shoulders.
What the woman did next, surprised her.
"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 like Minato when you smile like that," Kushina commented. Her mother quirked her lips into a smile while Narumi and Mitsuki bobbed their heads in agreement. Naruto could only blink before looking away from her parents. So if her real smiles resembled her father then did that mean her fake smiles resembled her mother? Well that might be the case.
Shikamaru frowned. "You don't give those smiles, do you Naruto?"
"Well there has to be a reason for me to be happy, doesn't it?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at her skipping buddy. He inspected her for the longest time before he nodded his head in agreement. It wasn't like she didn't want to give anyone those smiles but there had been no real reason for her to smile like that.
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.
"When did it make sense to you?" Ashido asked, tilting her head to the side. Her yellow eyes flickered from Naruto to Mikoto before swirling her eyes to the quiet Kushina and Minato. After a couple of minutes, the pink-skinned teen returned her attention back onto her.
Naruto frowned. "Well I understand now because it is kinda obvious that my Mom is best friends with Mikoto-obaachan, but I didn't think about before that. So maybe there is an event that is going to make sense to me?"
Her future classmates bobbed their heads and the whiskered teen curled her lips into a frown. What on Earth happened for me to think about why Mikoto-obaachan looks at me with those eyes? She shivered and pulled her bottom lip back. It certainly couldn't be a good event because nothing good ever happens to her.
"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," Aizawa commented. Naruto blinked and the black-haired man unravelled the white cloth from his neck. He laid it on his lap and began to smooth things out. "I presume Mikoto-san didn't want to alarm you or Sasuke with her sadness, which is presumably the reason that she had that expression."
Mikoto bobbed her head and Naruto waited for the woman to say something, but the black-haired woman only looked down at the book with a melancholy smile. What was going through the black-haired woman's mind? Was Mikoto sad that she noticed something like that? Because she couldn't help but noticed it.
Narumi sighed. "Children are very sensitive to the emotions of the people around them."
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.
"If Minato-niisan told us about you then you would never ever have those doubts," Mitsuki grumbled. The blond-haired woman sighed and flickered her eyes to Bakugou. "I would have definitely called you pretty and have you model in some of my outfits."
Masaru nodded. "It would probably clear you of the longing that you have for a little girl. Maybe Katsuki wouldn't have spend the first year of his life in girl clothes."
The whole room grew quiet and Naruto felt her lips twitched when Bakugou's cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. The fact that her cousin had been dressed like a girl as a baby shouldn't have been amusing, but those twitching eyebrows and the embarrassment on his face really made her want to burst out in laughter.
"Should we call you Katsu—"
"Finish that sentence, Sparky and I'll kill you!"
It would be only years later when someone else would say that Naruto was pretty.
"Isn't that a piece of foreshadowing, isn't it? I wonder who would give you that title!" Kushina chirped. Naruto eyed her mother and darted her eyes to her father, who looked torn between throwing a fit or being relieved to know that someone would have those thoughts about her. If she could guess from their previous interactions, she figured that he was leaning to the former.
Shikamaru eyed the males in the room. "Well it definitely has to be someone from Japan."
"Oi, it could be someone from our part of the world!" Kankuro declared. He snuck a glance at Naruto and the other girls before shifting his gaze back to the Nara heir. "I mean Naruto has definitely grown into her—"
"—Finish that sentence and I'll kill you," Gaara said flatly. The people of Japan blinked while the puppeteer paled and scooted away from the stone-faced red-haired teen. "If you truly liked Naruto then you wouldn't have insulted her appearance when you first met her. You will also refrain from trying anything on those girls."
"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 definitely need to learn how to control your temper," Narumi commented. Naruto flinched. As tempted as she was to deny it, it would be difficult for her to deny that she had a bit of a temper. But you can't tell me that I don't deserve to lash out when I had a good reason to jump to conclusion. It was the first time that someone had ever confronted her about the use of shadow clones.
Bakugou eyed Narumi and shifted his gaze to Mitsuki and Kushina. "Shouldn't you practice what you preach?"
"I'm at an age where people can say I'm a grumpy old woman," Narumi replied. Several of the teens bobbed their heads in agreement while Masaru raised his eyebrows at the white-haired woman. It was clear to Naruto that her uncle found the irony in those words and it seemed like her grandmother understood it too because she said. "It's fine when I say it but not you, Masaru."
Masaru blinked. "I didn't say anything."
"Your expression did all the talking."
"Asshole."
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.
"There is nothing wrong with liking someone's looks," Temari commented. Naruto raised an eyebrow and subtly pointed to Ino and Sakura, who seemed to stare at the screen with wild disbelief. "I'm saying that it isn't the end of the world but the moment that you make romance your top priority is when you need to check yourself."
Narumi commented. "If you make love your top priority then I'm deeply concerned for your future."
"I didn't make it a priority when I was twelve and I'll definitely not make it a priority now," Naruto declared. Her grandmother hummed and bobbed her head before shifting her gaze to the quiet Todoroki. He had been quiet throughout the exchange, never really putting any input on the conversation and Naruto was kinda glad that he didn't say anything.
She didn't even understand why he would do it or why he even gave a damn about where she was.
It was none of his business.
"You caught my attention," Todoroki explained. Naruto blinked and the mismatch-haired boy kept his gaze focused on the screen. "You accused me of being an asshole which means if I have to change your mind then I'll have to prove that I'm different."
Naruto stared at him. "That was the longest sentence you have said yet!"
"I know how to talk." He frowned and the whiskered teen shook her head. She pinched her nose and looked away from the frowning boy. There was absolutely no point for her to explain to him that she thought he was a stoic boy, who could barely make a couple of sentences. Not only did it seem untrue but it would probably derail the whole topic.
"You are angry."
Naruto dropped her smile and glared at her classmate. "Well I'm definitely not a ball of sunshine."
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.
"You have guts," Kiba whistled. Everyone turned to look at the male and he offered them a weak shrug. "Have you guys forgotten what happens when you make Naruto angry? She is like a rabid—"
"—Kiba-kun, I advise you not to finish that sentence if you know what is good for your health," Hinata chirped. Kiba furrowed his eyebrows together and the blue-haired teen pointed her finger to the fuming Naruto. The whiskered teen had her hand balled into a fist and had a rather thin, cold smile playing on her lips.
The male made a zipping motion across his mouth and Naruto lowered her fist. She had been hoping for her skipping buddy to finish that sentence so she could have an excuse to pummel him to the ground. No one could say she had a very bad temper if she punched him for implying that her temper was seriously bad.
Narumi sighed. "We need to make sure that you control your temper, Naruto and we also need to make sure that Inuzaka knows when to close his mouth."
"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.
Bakugou snorted and offered her a smirk. "I wouldn't irritate you if you didn't act like a damn robot throughout Middle School. Seriously, if I have met you before your fight with that bastard over there, I think we could actually be friends."
"I already have one asshole as a friend, I don't need two," Naruto retorted. Kushina eyed them for the longest time before shaking her head. There was a sad smile playing on Kushina's lips and the whiskered teen could only wonder what was going through her mother's head. Was there something sad about what she had said? Did she think that they would have been friends if her father just gave her to her grandmother?
It was just so difficult for her to tell.
"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."
"You know that isn't actually a good reason to nose into people's business," Naruto commented. Todoroki frowned and raised his eyebrows at her, looking absolutely mystified by her observation. She guessed he thought it was a good enough reason. "Because if being classmates was enough for people to care about my business then my whole class would care about why I skip classes."
Hinata grimaced and bobbed her head. "Naruto-chan is right."
"Thank you, Hinata-chan," Naruto said. Todoroki regarded her for the longest time but did not say anything. He only gave her a thoughtful look as if he was trying to figure out what he could do better in the future. Or was it something else? It was really hard for her to tell when her future classmate had a stoic look on his face.
So what if I am your classmate? Most of my classmates in Konoha 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.
It was just too bad that he decided to show how much he cared only after his father was dead.
Fugaku's eyebrows twitched and the man swirled his whole body around to Sasuke. "If you cared about her then you shouldn't be using me as an excuse on why you couldn't get close to her."
"Dear, you haven't exactly hid how much you dislike the idea of Sasuke getting close to Naru-chan," Mikoto argued. Sasuke bobbed his head while Minato and Kushina narrowed their eyes at the Uchiha head. Naruto bobbed her head as the black-haired woman sighed. "If you just cut down the number of times that you ranted about her in the house then everything would have been fine."
The male dropped his jaw. "Do you know how many times I have been called by the civilians because Naruto vandalized their walls? I swear to god that even though she was born with Minato's looks, she got all of Kushina's bad traits! I had to order my men to clean up her vandalism!"
"It was art, not vandalism!" Naruto retorted. Everyone blinked and turned to the blond-haired teen, who folded her arms against her chest. She narrowed her eyes at the fuming man. "I didn't paint anything rude like that one time I ruined the Hokage Monument! And besides I wouldn't have done it, if they haven't pretended that I didn't exist!"
Narumi closed her eyes. "Dear god, is this my mother's way of punishing me for stealing all those cars?"
"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."
"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.
"You have so little faith in me," Bakugou grumbled. He inspected her for the longest time with his lips tugged into a rather large scowl. "Why the fuck would I make a huge scene by telling everyone that you are skipping school? I like irritating you, not getting you into huge trouble."
Naruto blinked. "Well you don't exactly say that you like me."
"Because I don't like you," he barked. She frowned and tilted her head to the side. A huge part of her was just ready to accept those words but from the way that Izuku kept looking at her cousin like he was the biggest liar in the world. Well if she considered the fact he kept tabs on her when it came to her behaviour then she guessed those words weren't true.
Well this book would probably show where Bakugou stood with her.
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?
"I know it is rather hard for you to believe with your past, but you don't need a reason to care about someone," Aizawa explained. Naruto blinked and scratched her neck as the man stared at the screen. "It probably doesn't help that I have never experienced any loss from the beast inside of your stomach."
Naruto frowned and rubbed her stomach. That was probably true. If her father had never placed the Kyuubi inside of her then she probably would have been treated just like every other orphan in the village. People wouldn't notice her but if they did notice her then they would have treated her with some kindness.
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.
"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."
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.
Narumi sighed and shook her head. "You know you should stop with the generalization. No two people are the same."
"Will you stop making a comment about my potential issues if I agree to go to therapy?"
Her grandmother paused, looking like she was deeply considering her request. If her grandmother said that she would stop because she agreed to get help then she would do it. If it would get her to stop hounding me over my issues then I would give it a shot. This whole talk about her issues was going to actually drive her insane.
"Yes."
The blonde sighed. "Fine, I'll give it a shot."
"If you didn't tell him then how would he figure out that I was skipping school?"
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.
"I have never seen you being so self-conscious," Choji commented. Naruto clicked her tongue as everyone from Konoha and Suna looked at her with wide, curious eyes. "You always make it seem like you are above those kind of things."
I'm definitely not going to answer it when Sakura and Ino are looking at me with triumphant. She thinned her lips and sunk deeper into her couch as more and more eyes focused on her. What could she tell them? That she had always been self-conscious because of all those hurtful words being thrown at her.
"Being self-conscious is normal," Narumi observed. Choji turned his whole body to the white-haired woman and the woman offered a small smile at them. "And considering how cruel little girls can be when they feel threatened, it is only natural that they would attack everything that they think threatens their chances with their crush."
Ino dropped her jaw. "And how would you know that?"
"Because Mitsuki and me have been through that road," Narumi commented. Naruto blinked alongside Tsunade, Kushina and Minato. All three of them stared at the elderly woman, who tapped her finger against the table. "I had a few girls spreading horrible rumors about me, even though I was with Mitsuki's father at the time."
Naruto frowned. "Did you cheat on your husband with my grandfather?"
"I was being an idiot and broke up with my husband because I didn't feel ready to actually get married," Narumi replied. Naruto blinked while Tsunade and Hiruzen raised their eyebrows at her. The white-haired woman sighed. "Look I was with my husband since I was seventeen but I wasn't ready to get married at the age of 22. My husband was ready…and well we split up. I met your grandfather not long after in a club."
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.
She was furious but not furious enough that Naruto wanted to beat the crap out of him.
That honour was left to someone else.
"Why do I have a feeling that you are talking about me?" Sasuke asked. He inched further away from her as Mikoto turned her whole body towards Naruto. The whiskered teen smiled sweetly and clasped her hands together but did not even try and deny the question. The male slumped his shoulders. "Seriously, you want to pummel me?"
"Did you think you can try to kill me and not face my rage?"
He shook his head.
"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.
Hiruzen coughed. "I don't think you would want that kind of Kekkei Genkei, Naruto."
"Why not?" She raised a single eyebrow at her grandfather-figure. If she could read people's mind then it would be so much easier for her to figure out what to say to people. I mean I can't remember the amount of times that Sakura and Kakashi-sensei scolded me for not knowing what to say to the clients. Why wouldn't she wanted it?
The Third Hokage sighed and pointed to Jiraiya before moving his finger to Mineta and Kakashi. "Would you want to know what is going through their minds?"
"…You have a point."
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."
Tsunade sighed. "We are going to hear another denial, aren't we?"
"Most likely," Naruto admitted. She grimaced and rubbed the back of her neck before leaning back on her seat. It was starting to become predictable about what she was going to do in the future, because of the amount of times that people had made comments about her trust issues. Issues that might hold some…truth.
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.
It made no sense and it made seem like she was weak.
"You have a constant desire to be seen strong and tough, don't you?" Narumi asked. Naruto looked away but did not dare to deny the fact that she wanted that image. Why would she? The book seemed intent on showing all parts of herself and that made denying aspects of herself really difficult. The best she could do was just nod.
Hinata nodded. "Naruto-chan doesn't like showing any form of weakness to people."
Naruto Uzumaki was not weak.
"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.
"The whole thing with Sasuke really affected you, didn't it?" Uraraka commented. A frown played on the teen's face and the brown-haired teen clasped her hands together, interlocking the empty spaces between her fingers. She frowned. "Your memories showed that you really wanted to be around people."
Naruto shook her head. "The thing with Sasuke was the final straw but other than Hinata, no one really wanted to get to know me."
"Well you were rather annoying," Shikamaru said dryly. The blonde sighed and gestured her hand at the black-haired teen while everyone from Japan offered a tiny frown at the male. He held his hands up in the air. "Look Naruto was always yelling and she kept shouting her believe it too many times. She was also really loud."
Narumi looked at him. "Did your parents acknowledge you and teach you things? If you have been subjected to neglect like Naruto then you can bet your ass that she might have reacted that way because she has no one to shower her attention."
"I get it now but I'm talking about why no one wanted to get to know her when we were kids," Shikamaru defended himself.
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.
"Well considering the fact that no one raised you then it is only natural that you lashed out," Narumi commented. Sakura blinked and opened her mouth but the white-haired woman narrowed her eyes. "I'm giving you a reason that she lashed out, not excusing her actions because if Naruto had no one to raise her then she has no idea of how to handle her emotions."
Sakura grunted. "Then what about her denying the fact that she is childish?"
"Childish, me? I have to raise myself so how the fuck does that make me childish?" Naruto demanded. Sakura narrowed her eyes and stood up, only to be pulled back by a bunch of chains. She thinned her lips and narrowed her eyes. "And by the way I was 12? I have the fucking right to be childish at the age of 12! You think you're all grown up because you liked boys because you were just as childish as me."
The pink-haired teen looked away. "I didn't play ninjas with the Third Hokage's grandson or carried around a frog wallet!"
"But you asked for dates when we had a job that could get us killed," Naruto retorted. "And playing ninja with Konohamaru wasn't childish because I was 12 and 12-year-olds should be allowed to play with kids. I carried Gama-chan because one: the Hokage gave it as my birthday present and two: I don't see a need to buy a new wallet when I have a fully functional wallet. You wasted all of your money on silly stuff!"
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "How is lotion and make-up silly? I could afford to buy those things because I lived with my parents and it was a luxury!"
From across the room, Tokoyami leaned closer to Shoji and commented. "I think I know the real reason he left."
Shoji bobbed his head.
Not unless she listened to the dark voice that lingered inside her head, but Naruto refused to listen to that sinister voice.
"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."
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.
"Are you going to apologize to him?" Hinata asked.
Naruto stared at her. "What do you think?"
"You will apologize in your own way…sooner or later because you are actually capable of doing it," Hinata replied. Naruto puffed her cheeks while Todoroki flickered his eyes between them. Should she try and deny her friend's words? But if the book talked about her future actions then there was a huge chance that she might actually apologized to Todoroki.
She does not believe one bit that Todoroki didn't talk to Aizawa-sensei about herself.
"I don't know how to make friends."
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.
"You know I don't know how girls could like the stoic type," Ashido commented. All of the boys blinked and turned their heads at the pink-skinned teen. The yellow-eyed girl bobbed her head and stared at Todoroki and Sasuke. "I mean they are nice to look at but imagine dating someone that doesn't talk to you? That will make dates rather…boring, wouldn't it?"
Narumi snorted. "You have no idea. I had a few dates with a man like that and we lasted for two months before I dumped him."
"You have got a lot of experience with men, don't you?" Tsunade asked. Naruto could see the surprise in the Fifth Hokage's eyes as if she didn't expect the wrinkly old woman to have a lot of dating experience. I mean I don't remember if anyone in Konoha had more than one boyfriend. It seemed like everyone in the village was with their first boyfriend.
The white-haired woman shrugged. "It gave me some experience on what I wanted in a man, and if it wasn't for the fact Tsubasa still had feelings for me…then I would have screwed up big time. I had something good and because I wasn't ready, I ended up sleeping with a sexist man."
"What was your husband like?" Sakura asked.
Narumi chuckled. "In one word? A lovable dork."
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."
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.
"I'm telling the truth," Todoroki said flatly. Naruto blinked and turned her whole body away from the screen, she focused her eyes on the heterochromatic-haired boy. He leaned against the chair as everyone turned around to look at him. "Endeavor doesn't believe in socializing with other kids."
The blonde nodded and cleared her throat. "Well I know that now but I didn't know you at the time."
"Which is why we will become friends," Todoroki declared. The blonde blew a strand of her blond-hair and looked away from the blazing, determined eyes of the heterochromatic-haired boy. As tempted as it was to deny his claims, it was beginning to become increasingly obvious that the male had a huge role to play in her life.
"He sounds like an absolute asshole."
That was the end of their conversation.
"With how the chapters switched between the both of you, it seemed like Todoroki-san and you are going to have a connection," Sakura commented. Naruto reluctantly bobbed her head while Todoroki gazed at the book with curious eyes. There was no way that she could continue denying those things when it was becoming increasingly clear that they were going to have some kind of bond.
Kurenai flickered her eyes between them. "Well we figured that out earlier but it seems like Todoroki-san is going to have some sort of influence on Naruto."
"I think they are going to influence each other," Jiraiya commented. "But it is going to be a while before we find out the extent of their future bond but if it is going the way I think it is then—"
"—Do not finish that sentence," Minato pleaded. Kushina pinched her nose and looked ready to scold her husband if that twitching eyebrow told Naruto anything. She waited for her mother to scold her father but she blinked when the red-haired woman lowered her hand. Her mother leaned closer to her father and whispered something in his ears.
She didn't know what her mother said but her father looked almost pleased by her words.
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.
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.
"I changed my mind," Minato declared. Naruto blinked and turned to her father, who stared at Todoroki with approving eyes and glared at Kaminari. The blond-haired teen flinched while the whiskered teen offered a frown at her father. "What? I want you to be with someone that respects you and wouldn't focus on your body. For the love of god, please don't go on a date with him."
The blonde pursed her lips into a thin line. "It is my life and just because someone is a pervert, doesn't mean they wouldn't respect me. Besides, I should experience things that a normal teenager experiences! I mean Grams dated around and she is doing fine for herself."
"It is her life," Narumi commented. "You can only watch and guide her but since you can't do it, then I'll take over in that regard."
Jiraiya frowned. "I should be the one guiding her."
"I'm not allowing a pervert to guide my granddaughter's dating life," Narumi said bluntly. Tsunade bobbed her head and eyed Kakashi alongside Jiraiya with a disgusted frown playing on her lips. "Honestly, I'm going to be concerned if you stayed with her because Naruto should not be subjected to the wrong ideas of what she had to do with boys or…even girls."
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.
It was possible that Midoriya was the son of All Might.
"Definitely not possible," Bakugou grunted.
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.
He placed his tray of soba on the table, pulled out a seat and asked. "Is this seat taken, Uzumaki?"
"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.
"You know for someone who doesn't interact with people, you are more socially aware than Sakura," Naruto commented. Todoroki blinked while Sakura slacked her jaw at her like she didn't believe that she would make that kind of comment. "Sakura, you would complain to Sasuke about your parents when you know damn well that he lost his parents."
Sakura looked at her. "Well I couldn't complain to you because you never had parents! Sasuke would understand my problem because he had them."
"Do you hear yourself?" Naruto retorted. "Sure I don't have parents but from the times I have seen your parents, I would say that you had it lucky! Your parents nagged you because you didn't do the laundry? Or because you were late coming back home? That isn't a big deal! You should appreciate them more but you never appreciate them."
The pink-haired teen clenched her jaw. "My mother embarrass me in public!"
"Embarrassing parents is such a big issue," Naruto retorted, shaking her head.
Sakura scowled.
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."
"You aren't going to make things easy for me, are you?" Todoroki asked. Naruto blinked and tore her eyes away from the fuming pink-haired teen, directing her eyes back at the heterochromatic-haired boy. He had a tiny frown playing on his lips. "You are going to find excuses on why you can't do it."
Naruto paused and considered the question. After a good ten minutes of deep contemplation, she finally replied. "I'm not known for making things easy so your future self should expect a lot of resistance."
Why would he even think that Uzumaki was going to make things easy for him?
"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…"
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.
Hinata blinked and tilted her head. "You figured out Naruto's habits after just a few days of interacting with her? Your future self must have really spent time analysing her."
"It kinda make sense, doesn't it?" Jirou asked with a frown. Hinata arched an eyebrow and the dark-haired girl twirled her earphone jacks as her eyes analysed the screen right in front of them. "Uzumaki bulldozed through his walls which makes him have the desire to watch her, doesn't it? I mean it seems like he is only close to her."
He would just wait till Uzumaki trusted him and then asked why she wouldn't even consider just switching her switch with someone else.
"Then how about during your break at your work?"
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."
Bakugou snorted. "Do you actually take breaks?"
"It might surprise you but I take breaks," Naruto replied. Everyone stared at her for the longest time as if they didn't believe for one moment that she actually took breaks. The whiskered teen thinned her lips and slumped her shoulders. "Fine, I only take breaks when my Boss orders me to take breaks but that is because she thinks I work too much."
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.
"I already said this once but if you need someone to talk then I'm here for you to talk about?" Narumi asked, pursing her lips into a very thin line. Todoroki only looked at the screen. He stared at it for the longest time as if deeply considering the offer that the white-haired woman had given to him. "I can't report Endeavor due to his influence."
"It is hard when he has that much power," Shouto grunted.
"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 sames goes for everyday!"
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.
"I am quite curious to see what you will do to convince her to work with you," Kakashi observed. He tilted his head to the side and focused his eyes onto Sasuke and Sakura before looking back at Naruto. "Once Naruto makes a decision, she rarely changes her mind about her decision as Sakura and Sasuke have come to learn."
She sighed. "Is this about the dog?"
"They told you that you shouldn't have taken the huge dog," Kakashi reminded her. The silver-haired man let out a sigh while everyone raised their eyebrows at them. "They had a mission to walk a couple of dogs and well Naruto decided to take the stubborn, big, old dog instead of the cute little dogs."
Naruto grunted. "You're never going to make me forget about it, are you?"
"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?"
"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?"
Todoroki froze and Naruto curled her lips into a frown. She had a really bad feeling that her future self said something that Todoroki probably didn't want to hear. But how the hell am I supposed to know at that time? I might want to get him off my back but I didn't want to bring anything traumatic. She might do things to push people away from her but even she had her limits.
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.
"So you associate that nickname with something traumatic?" Narumi commented. Todoroki did not say anything, but her grandmother seemed to have understood everything if that nod told her everything. The white-haired woman nodded. "I'm presuming that the story will give more details about your trauma."
Shouto exhaled. "I don't want them to know everything."
Everyone bobbed their heads.
"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.
"You aren't wrong," Naruto admitted.
He was not going to fall for her trick.
"If you call me Shouto-kun, then do I call you…Naru-chan?"
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.
"Well you poked the bear," Hinata commented. Naruto nodded and clenched her jaw together while everyone else looked at the blue-haired teen with frowns playing on their lips. The blue-haired teen grimaced. "Naruto-chan, I really hope that you won't go further than what you did earlier with that nickname."
Naruto shook her head. "You know I can't go that far when it comes to words."
It scared him just how much Uzumaki could affect him.
"Don't ever call me that."
"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."
The whiskered teen thinned her lips. She could actually seeing herself to agree to the deal but she also knew herself well enough that she was going to find a way to get what she wanted. And if I recalled what happened in the last chapter then I know what is going to happen. There was just simply no way that she was going to let this go that easily.
Her mother must have known it too because she said: "I doubt that you are going to drop it just like that."
"I also have the same idea," her grandmother commented with a grimace.
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."
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.
"If we are in that situation again then you can go to my workplace," Naruto finally said. Todoroki bobbed his head and the blonde rubbed the back of her neck. Sakura looked at her with disbelief as if she couldn't believe for a moment that she would tell them that. "His situation is totally different from your situation and you know it."
Sakura grimaced. "It doesn't mean I didn't want you to understand my problems."
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."
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."
Iida pushed his glasses upwards and asked. "How many fathers have you pissed off?"
"I think two fathers so far but I don't mind a number 3," Naruto admitted. Todoroki looked vividly interested at her words and the whiskered teen tilted her head to the side. She clasped her hands together and tilted her head to the side. "Seriously, I seemed to have a gift when it comes to making Dads upset."
Fugaku bobbed his head. "You have a real talent with annoying authority figures."
"And I'm proud of it."
Mikoto chuckled and shook her head before skimming through the next page. She bobbed her head and took a deep breath before waving the book around. "So that was the end of the chapter, who wants to read the next chapter?"
A squeaky pop echoed in the room and Naruto groaned when Akane appeared again. The green-eyed woman flashed them a tight smile and the blonde could only wonder when the red-haired woman stopped right in front of them. Her eyes lingered on her and Todoroki as if she found them to be the most entertaining thing in the world.
"You have a better reaction this time around," Akane commented. "It seems like I'm getting the hang of it."
Kushina frowned. "Are you here to bring more people around?"
"A whole bunch of them," she confirmed. "And well I explained things to them but there were two people who weren't exactly pleased with what I'm doing with you guys. They demanded to come along but well only because their kids actually wanted to actually see it for themselves. Geez even after so many years, she is still terrifying."
Naruto frowned. "Who is this…she?"
"You will know when you meet her," Akane replied. She shook her head and flickered her eyes at Kushina. "And Kushina-san, you might need to prepare yourself because you are going to have a cryfest or you might throw a punch, I mean I don't know how you will react when you find out about them. Todoroki-san, it was really, really difficult for me to find him."
Todoroki frowned.
"Who are you talking about?"
Akane only smiled and Naruto had a very bad feeling of what the woman planned to do.
A/N: For anyone that is curious to know, the future children are going to make appearance but their names aren't exactly determined. They won't make a huge impact to the story timeline, if anyone is curious about it. If anyone wants to know if future Todoroki and Naruto would reveal their relationship to the characters, then they won't reveal it on the first book.
So the next chapter is the second interlude.
