Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Again, I am so sorry for taking so long to update, but I just recently moved to a new city and it took me awhile to find some time to type up this chapter. Thank you to everyone who submitted a review, its great to hear that you all like my story. I know everyone is anxious to know about Naruto's sensei but you all have to be patient. This story will be full of surprises and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Chapter Ten

After having a great night's sleep, Naruto awoke to the sound of chirping birds and the warm, bright sun outside his window. Letting out a yawn, Naruto rose from the bed and stretched out his arms. I feel great! My body isn't even sore or anything. Naruto felt completely rejuvenated and ready to take on the world. Naruto walked out into the hallway only to have a delicious aroma enter his nostrils. Walking down the hallway, Naruto entered the kitchen to see Iruka by the stove.

"Morning, Iruka-sensei! Something smells really good!"

"You're too loud." Sasuke suddenly appeared next to the blonde haired boy with a slightly irritated look on his face as he glared at Naruto to lower his voice.

" Good Morning boys! I thought that you guys could use a good breakfast to start your day before we go to the academy." Naruto and Sasuke sat at the table and Iruka began placing the food on the table. Iruka placed a tray of grilled fish, white rice, omelets, and some fruits in front of the boys. The delicious smell made Naruto's mouth water and he had to hold himself back from devouring the whole meal.

"Wow, Iruka-Sensei! This looks great!"

"Thanks, Naruto. Go ahead and dig in." Naruto picked up a pair of chopsticks at lightning speed.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto dove into his plate and began eating. Sasuke drank some green tea as he watched Naruto finish his plate in less than thirty seconds. Iruka was also amazed and disgusted by Naruto's eating habits.

"Slow down, Naruto. You're gonna choke if you don't chew your food." Naruto stopped and swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei. I guess I'm just excited to start training today. Mmmm, this is so good! I've never had breakfast like this before." Sasuke was taken back from his last comment.

"You've never had a real breakfast before?" Naruto looked at Sasuke to see his confused expression.

"No, not really. I usually eat ramen for breakfast because I can't cook and I have no one else that can cook for me or at least teach me." He went back to stuffing his face with the other food on the table. Sasuke felt a bit guilty that he could enjoy breakfasts like this anytime while Naruto had to eat ramen all the time. He learned a few things about cooking from his mother but Naruto doesn't have anyone to teach him anything. Life must be really hard for him. Sasuke ate the rest of his food in silence while Naruto discussed unimportant topics like the pranks he had pulled while Iruka lectured him that he shouldn't do them again. After everyone was full, Iruka stood up and began clearing off the table.

"You two should go get ready, I'm leaving in fifteen minutes." Sasuke looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Class doesn't start for another thirty-five minutes. Why are we going in twenty minutes early?" Sasuke and Naruto looked at Iruka curiously.

" I am the teacher and I have to prepare today's assignments before your classmates arrive. Besides now I can make sure neither of you are late to my class, especially you Naruto." Iruka glared at the blonde eight-year old only to receive a sheepish grin as a reply. After everyone was dressed and ready, Iruka, Sasuke, and Naruto walked over to the Academy which was only a ten minute walk from Sasuke's house. When entering the classroom, Iruka looked up at the clock.

"Well, it looks like we have ten minutes before class starts, so I guess you guys can just sit and talk until everyone arrives." Sasuke decided to take a seat next to the window and sat silently, watching the people walk by. Naruto stood by the door for a minute, watching Iruka go through some papers on his desk. When the silence started to become uncomfortable, Naruto finally decided to say something.

" Iruka-sensei?" Iruka looked up from the papers to see Naruto standing only a few inches from his desk. " What are you gonna teach us during training later?"

"Sorry, Naruto, but your just going to have to wait and see when it is time."

"Please Iruka-sensei, I can't wait that long." Iruka then opened a drawer and pulled out a large textbook.

"You have to be patient, but in the mean time, you can look through this book. It contains some events in Konoha that happened in the past, like the great ninja wars. I'm sure you can find something interesting in here. Why don't you sit next to Sasuke and you both can look at it together?" Naruto looked over the book before taking it reluctantly. He then walked up to were Sasuke was sitting. He noticed that Sasuke was still gazing out of the window, not even paying attention to him. An evil smirk formed on Naruto's face as an idea came to his mind. Lifting the book over his head, Naruto dropped it onto the table next to Sasuke causing a loud, booming noise. Sasuke instantly jumped up from his seat as well as Iruka who was also startled from the noise. Sasuke was breathing heavy and glaring at the laughing blonde which irritated Sasuke even more. Naruto was holding his sides and his eyes were tearing, he was to busy laughing that he didn't notice Sasuke walking towards him.

"OWWWW! What was that for?" Naruto said, now rubbing the bump on his head.

"DOBE! Don't scare me like that?"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT, TEME!"

"ENOUGH! Both of you sit down and stop causing trouble, Naruto!" Iruka's face was red and his eyebrows were twitching furiously. Naruto and Sasuke stared at Iruka before glaring back at each other. Sasuke then sat back down and returned his gaze towards the window.

"Hmph!" Naruto sat down in the chair next to Sasuke and started flipping through the pages in the textbook. Iruka slowly calmed down and went back to the paperwork on his desk. Naruto was looking over the pictures in the book carefully taking in each scene. There were pictures of battles, festivals, and people. He was amazed by the number of ninjas that did something incredible in their lifetime. He flipped to the pages about the previous hokages, but stopped when he reached the page about the Yondaime hokage. Reading over the information in the book, he learned that the Fourth hokage was the youngest hokage in Konoha history. He had great potential and was also the apprentice of one of the three legendary sannin.

"Sannin? What are Sannin?" Naruto whispered to himself.

"Do you pay attention in class at all?" Startled, Naruto looked up from the book to see Sasuke looking at him who had overheard the question.

"You know what Sannin are?" Naruto asked.

"Iruka mentioned them last week in class, but I guess you were too busy sleeping to remember. The Legendary sannin are three ninjas that were trained by the third hokage himself. They are from Konoha, but no one knows where they are anymore. The Fourth hokage was trained by the sannin known as the toad sage, but I don't know his name."

" So these three are really strong, right?"

"Yea and you'll be very lucky if one of them ever trained you. Why do you think the Fourth was so strong.?"

" Wow, I going to be strong like them one day!" Sasuke snorted at the comment.

" Like you could ever be that strong, you have the worst grades in the entire class." Naruto glared at Sasuke's smirk.

"Watch Sasuke, one day I'm gonna be hokage and you'll have to respect me!"

"Whatever" Naruto went back to the book mumbling curses under his breath. Flipping to the next page, Naruto's eyes widened in shock. On the page was a painting of the Kyubbi attack eight years ago. The painting was scary compared to the real thing. Of course the real demon was terrifying, but the painting of him sent chills down Naruto's spine. Dead bodies were lying on the ground and trees in the background were demolished. The demon's eyes shined with a lust for blood and a red aura surrounded it's body. I now understand why everyone hates the kyuubi so much. He truly is a monster, but can't they see that I am not the one responsible for that day. Naruto read the caption on the bottom of the page. The Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked Konohagakure and was defeated by the Yondaime Hokage who sacrificed his own life for his village. The old man can really keep the truth a secret. Naruto didn't notice Sasuke looking over to see the picture on the page. He looked at Naruto and saw how hard he was concentrating on the picture.

"Do you even know what that picture is of?" Sasuke asked, bringing Naruto out of his thoughts. Naruto looked up at Sasuke and then back at the book.

"Yea, I do. It's the nine-tailed demon fox that attacked Konoha eight-years ago." And ruined my life. Naruto did not take his eyes of the picture and was only interrupted when the classroom door flew open. One by one, his classmates walked into the room and took a seat at their desks. They talked amongst themselves waiting for class to start. Naruto tried to continue reading the book but failed when one student grabbed the book from the table.

"Well, Look what we've got here! I didn't know the dead last could read." The boy wore a gray jacket with a fur hood. A pair of unusual red triangle marks rested on each cheek, but the one thing that was unique to the boy was the small, white puppy sleeping on the boy's head, under his hood

"Gimmie it back, Dog-Face!" The boy growled at the insult and raised the book over his head.

"You want it, try and get it!" Naruto grinded his teeth in anger. He knew he was the shortest kid in the classroom, but he didn't like to be made fun of because of it. "Don't tell me you're gonna start crying, you big baby!" The boy was laughing and so were some of the other students. Naruto clenched his fists tight, he could feel his heart beating faster and his anger rising.

"Inuzuka Kiba! Give Naruto the book back and return to your seat! Iruka yelled from his desk.

"Come on sensei, were just having some fun!" In that moment, Naruto had jumped over Kiba's head and snatched the book from his hand when he wasn't looking. Naruto landed behind him, and Kiba turned around to face him. " How the hell did-" Kiba was suddenly sent into the classroom wall when Naruto put his fist into his stomach. Kiba's back hit the wall hard and he fell to the floor coughing up blood. Naruto was in a crouching position with his fist out, his eyes were filled with anger as he watched the other boy clutch his stomach. Kiba groaned in pain and his eyes began to water.

"Don't tell me you're gonna start crying, you big baby!" Naruto growled in a mocking tone. Everyone who happened to see the event were completely shocked. One of the toughest boys in the class was just beaten by the dead last. The small dog on the boy's head had woken up and jumped down to the floor. He stood in front of the boy protectively and started to growl and bark at Naruto. As soon as the dog looked straight into Naruto's cold, blue eyes, the dog was quickly silenced and sent whimpering to his master's side. Iruka stood with his mouth hanging open, clearly surprised to see Naruto pull a stunt like that. Naruto was the most suprising boy he had ever met. Finally overcoming the shock, Iruka decided to put order back into the classroom.

" Everyone settle down! I will not have fighting in this classroom. Naruto sit back in your seat. I will speak with you after class. Shino!" A spiky haired boy wearing sunglasses and a coat walked towards Iruka. " I want you to take Kiba to the nurse, immediately. I will speak with him later." The boy only nodded and walked towards Kiba. Wrapping Kiba's arm around his shoulder, Shino lifted the boy up and walked out of the classroom with the white puppy trailing behind them with his tail between his legs. The rest of the class could only stare and wonder about the blond hair boy. Naruto just ignored the stares and whispers and stood up and calmly walked back to his seat like nothing happened. He did not say anything to Sasuke who was staring at him in disbelief, he only put his head on the table and closed his eyes. He was able to relax for another minute or two until he heard the door fly open and two loud voices enter the room. It was always the same, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura would burst into the classroom fighting about who Sasuke liked more. In the beginning of the year, Naruto had formed a crush on Sakura, but he realized that she was too obsessed with Sasuke to even notice him. Their voices were getting closer until Naruto realized they were standing right next to him.

"Naruto, Move! I wanna sit next to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled but was pushed out of the way by Ino.

"No, I'm gonna sit next to my Sasuke-kun!" Sakura pushed Ino back and started yelling at her.

" Sasuke-kun's mine, Ino-pig!"

"Like he would ever like you, Forehead-girl!" Other girls, who were not fortunate to witness what Naruto had done to Kiba, started to appear and argue with each other saying things like "Sasuke-kun likes me better." and "I'm going to sit next to Sasuke-kun." Everyone else began to back away when they realized Naruto was getting irritated by all the noise and it wouldn't be long until he lost it again.

"STOP!" Naruto no longer had his head on the table but was now glaring at all the girls. All of the girls were silenced by Naruto's glare instantly . They could see so much anger in his eyes that it frightened them.

"Everybody sit down, class is starting." said Iruka and all of the girls surrounding Sasuke's table dispersed and found another place to sit. Naruto turned his head to look at Sasuke and saw him rubbing his temples. I guess I did him a favor by getting rid of his fan club. I can't help but feel bad if he had to sit next to one of those girls. Naruto put his head back on the table, but was still paying attention to the lesson being taught. Iruka began teaching the class today's lesson, but was worried about Naruto. He was not the same Naruto from this morning. Did Kiba really make Naruto that mad? Iruka would usually yell at Naruto for sleeping during his lessons but decided against it seeing that Naruto was in a bad mood at the moment, so he let the blonde hair boy sleep.

The bell rang and the class was over. The students exited the building and met their parents that waited patiently in front of the building. Naruto was sitting outside on a lone swing in the shadows of an old oak tree. He watched his classmates meet their parents at the door while Iruka spoke to a fierce looking women with Kiba on her side, who had recovered from that punch to the gut. He was most likely telling her about what had happened earlier that day. Naruto looked over the women's physical appearance. She was probably in her mid-thirties and her brown hair was a spiky mess. By the red marks one her face, Naruto concluded that she was probably Kiba's mother. By her side was a wolf-like dog with an eye patch and one ear. Naruto watched as the lady scowled Kiba for picking fights and he hung his head down in shame. He suddenly saw Iruka pointing in his direction and the mother looked up to face him. The swing stopped abruptly as Naruto stared at the women's animalistic eyes. He realized that his eyes had looked similar to hers after he had met the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but the only difference was that his eyes were the color of blood. The women left with Kiba tailing behind her and Naruto swung silently again watching the other children leave with their parents.

Sasuke was sitting on a bench on the side of the building. He watched as Iruka spoke to Tsume Inuzuka, Kiba's mother. When Sasuke was six, his family was invited for dinner at the Inuzuka clan house. It was a friendly dinner between the clan head families, but Sasuke found out the reason why his father would always say that the Inuzukas were too in tuned with their dogs. There were dogs everywhere, all different types and sizes but the thing that took Sasuke by surprise that some of them could actually talk. Even the people had dog-like characteristics like elongated canines, razor sharp claws, slitted pupils, and heightened senses. That night he had met Kiba, and his mother and sister. His sister, Hana was twelve years old at the time and was the only normal one in her family. When he had met Kiba, the boy was extremely loud and cocky. He would always go on about how he was going to be the best ninja to ever come from the Inuzuka clan. But out of all the Inuzukas, Kiba's mother was the worst. Sasuke had to admit that the women was very scary. She was very aggressive and looked like she would attack at any minute, especially with that talking wolf with the eye patch staring at him throughout dinner. He was relieved that he never had to back there again.

Sasuke noticed that Kiba and his crazy mother were leaving and Iruka was walking towards him. Iruka stopped in front of him and reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Sasuke, I have to go back into the classroom and collect and grade the papers from today's lesson. I want you to take Naruto and head to the training ground, I will be there shortly. We will be using training ground six, I drew you a map so you don't get lost." Iruka handed the paper to Sasuke and he looked over it carefully. " Just wait there until I arrive, don't do anything else." Suddenly, Iruka leaned in and whispered something into Sasuke's ear, who only nodded as a reply. With that Iruka turned around and went back into the building.

Sasuke looked around to find Naruto. He finally spotted him by himself on the swing under the oak tree. He still couldn't believe what happened in class. There was no way that someone who had the worst grades in taijutsu, ninjutsu…and practically everything else do something that he had done. Sasuke saw him do a complete flip over Kiba's head and gracefully land behind him. He could also tell that the punch to Kiba's gut had a lot of power put into it because Kiba was sent into the wall a couple feet back. Sasuke trained hard all the time to improve his taijutsu, but he could not punch someone hard enough to send them flying into a wall. So how could Naruto, someone with no real training, accomplish that? He was curious and had every intention to question Naruto but he remembered what Iruka had just said to him. Sasuke, please do not go asking questions! If Naruto wants to talk about it, he will. For now, just be nice to him, he's had a tough week. Sasuke sighed as he approached Naruto from the side.

Before Sasuke could get within fifteen feet from Naruto, he had already sensed Sasuke and turned to face him. Sasuke was a bit startled by the look on his face. Sasuke looked down at his feet, unable to keep eye contact with the blond boy. Naruto's once joyful, blue eyes were now hallow and cold, filled with the unbearable pain of loneliness. Even though Sasuke never really met Naruto until recently and always thought of him as a loser, he couldn't help but feel…guilty. Guilty because he never took the time to help him. After class was dismissed, he would always see him. He just sat and watched… and that's what he did… just sat on the swing and watched his classmates leave. Leave with their parents…their friends…their families. All of the things that Naruto didn't have. Sasuke lost count of how many times he saw him sitting there with the same look in his eyes. Never once did he think about saying hello to him. He was guilty because he should of helped him…should have been his friend. Even though it was in the past, it wasn't too late to fix it. Not yet!

He walked up to Naruto and held out his hand. Naruto blinked in confusion and looked skeptically at Sasuke.

"Come on! Let's get to the training ground so we can start our training." A grin found it's way onto Naruto face as he looked at the small smile on Sasuke's. He was being nice to him, out of all people…Sasuke was being nice to him. Naruto grabbed his hand and Sasuke helped him off the swing. Sasuke took the map to training ground six out of his pocket and looked it over. "I've never been to this training ground before." Naruto looked over Sasuke's shoulder to look at the map.

"Hey, I know where that is!" Sasuke turned to look at him.

"You do?" Naruto beamed and nodded his head furiously.

"Yup! I found that place when I was five. It's my secret spot, because no one ever visits that place. I didn't know it was a training ground. Come on! I'll show you a shortcut!" Naruto ran past Sasuke, he turned back to look at him and smiled. "Come on!" Sasuke smiled and ran after him. Naruto led him down a few alleyways and empty streets. They ran into the woodsy area of the village and kept on running for about five minutes. Taking sharp turns left and right, Naruto had the way to the grounds memorized completely because of all the time he had visited his secret place. Sasuke was beginning to get worried, they were running deeper into the woods and was afraid of getting lost. Does Naruto really know where he's going? I should of followed the map Iruka gave me!

He was broken out of his thoughts when the two boys ran into a clearing. Sasuke was stunned by the view in front of him. The luscious, green clearing was not damaged or ruined like the other training grounds were from being over used. The field stretched on and on and was completely surround by the forest for privacy. A gentle stream could be seen that led to a waterfall about half a mile away. Sasuke looked at Naruto who was just smiling at the scene. Naruto then ran into the middle of the field and laid on his back, staring at the bright blue sky. Sasuke slowly walked up to Naruto, still taking in his surrounding. Looking down at the boy, Sasuke could see how calm and peaceful Naruto felt by this place. Sitting next to Naruto, the boy took in a deep breath and sighed.

"Naruto" Naruto faced Sasuke.

"Yea?" His voice was so relaxed and calm.

"I like your secret place" Naruto smiled.

"Yea, me too." They sat there for a few minutes before Naruto sat up.

"Hey, where's Iruka-sensei?"

"He's back at the academy. He'll be here soon." Just on cue, Iruka appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Hey guys, I hope I didn't make you guys wait for too long." Sasuke stood up and Naruto did the same.

"You're fifteen minutes late." Sasuke said in a slightly irritated tone. Iruka rubbed his head nervously.

"Heh heh, Sorry. Well at least it was only fifteen minutes. I heard that there is an elite ninja in this village that is always three hours late to everything." Naruto eyes widened in shock.

"Wow, three hours! I would hate to be the one waiting for that guy to show up." Sasuke nodded in agreement.

In a different village not to far away, A silver haired man wearing a mask sneezed.

"What's the matter? Don't tell me you're catching a cold!"

"No, I'm fine. Come on Pakkun! We need to hurry up and finish this mission."

"Hai, let's go."

Back at the training Grounds, Iruka thought that he should talk to Naruto about what he did to Kiba.

"Hey Naruto, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh…sure." Naruto walked over to Iruka. They both walked until they were earshot away from Sasuke who looked curiously at the both of them.

"Naruto, what you did in the classroom-" Naruto interrupted him.

"I know what I did was wrong, but he was picking on me again and I kinda lost it. I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei. I promise I'll apologize tomorrow for hitting him." Iruka smiled softly and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"That's what I like to here, Naruto. When I talked to Kiba earlier, he said that he was very sorry for taking the book and making fun of you. He would of told you personally, but he said something about needing to eat later and doesn't want to be punched in the stomach again." Naruto and Iruka started to laugh.

"He doesn't need to worry, I'm not mad at him anymore."

"Good, Now let's get back to Sasuke before he begins to feel left out."

"Hai, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto and Iruka walked over back to Sasuke to start their training. Iruka had been thinking all day on what would be a good training exercise to run these boys into the ground and he finally got one. He couldn't help but smile to the thought. This is going to be fun.

"Alright guys, Listen up!" Iruka yelled in a commanding voice. Naruto and Sasuke stood in attention.

"I want twenty laps around the field from each of you and then-"

"NANI?!" Naruto was dumbstruck and Sasuke's mouth was hanging wide open. "You want us to do twenty laps around this whole thing! That's way too much!" Iruka raised his hand, signaling Naruto to stop.

"If you have time to complain, than I should make it thirty laps."

"No, No! Twenty laps is just fine." Naruto said waving his arms frantically.

"Good! When you're done, we can start the next exercise." Sasuke was hesitant to speak.

"And what would that be?"Sasuke asked, fearing what the answer would be.

"One hundred push-ups and one hundred sit ups." Naruto and Sasuke's faces went completely pale. "These exercises will increase your stamina which is important when you become a ninja. There are missions where you have to endure days and days of endless battles or running. If you don't have the strength to keep going, it could kill you. Now what are you waiting for? Start moving!" The two eight-year olds groaned as they started their first lap. They wondered how long they would last with the new, sadistic Iruka training them. Iruka only smirked evilly as he watched the boys start the beginning of their new and very painful training experience.

End of Chapter

Please Review and I promise that I will update the next chapter a lot sooner than the last one.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.

-Thorn3drose : )