A/N: Even though school is virtually over there is still SO much to be done… Sigh… Especially what with my CCA and stuff I can't find that much time to do this. In case of you getting misconceptions about whether I'm conceited. I just can't disable the *bleep* function. Sigh… Please correct me about the Great Ninja wars thing if I get it wrong because I never really paid attention to those.

Chapter 3: Academy

Iruka was halfway through teaching the his class about the history of the First Great Ninja War when the door suddenly flew off its hinges to reveal 'Naruto' standing in the doorway, looking like he'd just run a marathon which, knowing him, he most probably had. He flushed when he noticed all heads directed at him and struggled to put the door back in its original position.

"I think it was much easier to bust it down than put it back" he mused as he abandoned the door to slide into the empty seat next to Hinata, remaining completely oblivious when she turned a colour that would have put a tomato to shame. Iruka sighed at his student's crazy antics and proceeded to give him a dressing down before the sound of snoring reached his ears. A vein in his forehead popped and he snatched the nearest non-lethal object and hurled it at the source.

Minato was out like a light the moment his head made contact with the table. Snores escaped from his lips as Iruka's words passed over him, unheard. He was suddenly wide awake when he felt a shift in the wind's direction and knew from experience that something was being thrown at him. Alarm bells went off in his head as every muscle in his body strained to move away or at least catch it. It was a reflex beaten into him and honed during the Third Great Ninja War.

He forced his body to stay still to keep up his façade and was beaned by a duster, the powder coming off it in an explosion of white, causing the ones nearest to him to erupt in a sneezing fit. Minato sighed as he brushed the white chalk powder out of his hair and sat up to look at his sensei, deciding to let adrenaline keep him awake for the rest of the school day. Iruka sighed exasperatedly as he returned to writing on the chalkboard and lecturing his class.

He was especially worried about 'Naruto' not because he was failing, but because of the way he burned the candle at both ends. Iruka occasionally spied on his worrisome student and found that he was much better than he let on. Scratch that, he was practically a genius. He researched sealing methods late into the night that only the Yondaime or the Legendary Toad Sage Jiraiya could understand, he trained himself in high-level techniques and had even mastered a large number of said techniques. If they were to spar in Taijutsu, he would most likely lose hands down, especially in speed if 'Naruto' deactivated the gravity seals on his person. The most incredible thing though, was that 'Naruto' was only 8!

Iruka feared that his student was more of an enigma than everyone would care to believe and was secretly training himself so hard. He was afraid 'Naruto' would fall apart under all this. Academy in the day, rigorous training in the afternoon, researching or attempts on his life at night. Meals were taken in Ichiraku's but even then, he only ate two meals a day and not three and he was clearly sleep deprived but hid it extremely well. Iruka made a mental note to have a talk with his wayward student.

As Minato listened to his sensei drone on about the Shodaime, he thought about the girl sitting next to him. He was sure her name was Hinata or something along those lines. He was only sure about the fact that she was the Hyuuga heiress. He found her very queer because she always turned red and started to stutter whenever he got close. So different from his outgoing Kushina. He decided to divert his attention to the pink haired girl snuggling up to a clearly irate Sasuke because the thought of his wife made his heart clench.

The pink haired girl was Sakura. She must have been named 'Sakura' due to the colour of her hair being as pink as cherry blossoms or 'sakura' as it were. She clearly smitten with Itachi's brother, Sasuke, who was so unlike his cousin Obito. Looking at the two was painful because they reminded him of those he had lost. Sasuke of Obito and Sakura of Kushina.

He sighed and directed his attention to the only other blonde in the room. Yamanaka Ino. Minato knew her father well. After all, they had been friends since their Gennin days. He had seen Inoichi around, still working for the Torture and Interrogation division even after his 'death'. He was immensely happy when he found that Inoichi was among the survivors.

Anyway, Ino was Sakura's 'rival' in the 'race for Sasuke's heart' as the Sasuke fan club called it. He disliked fan girls and wouldn't have let them be. It was a danger to her life, her team mates and the mission. Fan girls were nearly useless but with a little encouragement and training, they were a potentially great asset.

There was Shikamaru, son of Shikaku and every bit as lazy but every bit a genius in the thinking department. Chouji, son of Chouza. Even from the first glance you could tell that he was an Akimichi. It seemed like the Ino-Shika-Cho trio would live again. Then there was Kiba and his ninken, Akamaru. Kiba was brash, reckless and loud but also loyal to a fault. He was a good friend to have once you saw past his flaws. Akamaru followed Kiba everywhere and participated in most of the attacks in Kiba's arsenal. It was a major faults but it could be corrected.

Lastly there was Shino. He was rather reserved and stoic. He was just like his father in every respect but did not seem to have many friends and did not seem keen on extending his small circle of friends. There were others in the class but Minato never took the time to get to know them. Sasuke had become rather withdrawn after Itachi slaughtered his clan and Minato himself was in shock when he heard of what happened because he did not believe that Itachi was one to commit an atrocity to that degree. He made attempts to get Sasuke to open up to them but was pushed away. He had watched the fan club's passes at Sasuke and wondered if their raving was making the situation worse.

"Alright class, you are dismissed for lunch. Gather at the training field after lunch for practical lessons." Iruka said.

The class emptied in seconds and the only ones still there were his sensei, himself, Shikamaru and Chouji. He was walking out the door when Iruka suddenly called out to him. "What is it sensei?" he called from the doorway.

"Come down here! I want to talk to you" Shrugging, Minato walked down the aisle to the front of the room.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" he inquired.

"Well, I have, for lack of a better word, spying on you. I noticed you studying high level seals. What is that about?" Minato flinched at Iruka's question but remained silent. "What's more, I saw you training the other day and from what I can tell, your taijutsu and ninjutsu are above what we teach in class but you don't display these skills during practical examinations. Why?" Iruka questioned.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you sensei." Minato murmured as he stole a glance at his classmates leaving the room, shooting him questioning glances.

"I'm your sensei. It's my job to care about what my students are doing. Please tell me. Maybe I can help you" Iruka pushed.

"It's okay. I don't need any help. And about the nin and taijutsu, a ninja has to have his secrets so I'm sorry but I can't tell you sensei" Minato smiled. For a fleeting moment, Iruka thought a shadow of the Yondaime's smile in his charge but shrugged it off as fatigue getting to him.

"Okay. You can go" he said sceptically but 'Naruto' was already out the door. Iruka sighed and gathered his papers, contemplating where to go for lunch, the mystery that was his student never leaving his mind.

Minato sat in the shade of a large tree and leaned against the bark, his sensei's words still fresh in his mind. He cursed his new body's less than perfect sensory abilities, making a mental note to work on that. He was about to drift off when he felt someone approaching. Lazily peeking out of one eye, he saw the Hyuuga heiress making her way towards him. "U-um. I n-noticed you were al-lone. C-could I s-sit with you?" she stuttered. Minato nodded mutely, scooting over to make space for her.

She settled down in the grass beside him and opened her bento. The smell was intoxicating to him but, as always, he had not brought anything to eat. His stomach growled in protest and he blushed, abashed. "U-um, N-Naruto-kun, w-would you like me t-to sh-share my bento with y-you? I m-made too m-much…" she flushed. "I can't accept that. It's your lunch" he protested. "N-no. I i-insist," she stated nervously. "But-"he was cut off when Hinata uncharacteristically shoved a piece of sushi in his mouth. She squeaked when she realised what she had done and apologised profusely when he started to choke.

After Minato got the sushi out of his system with the help of Hinata, he could see she really did not mind him eating a portion of her lunch. He tentatively used his chopsticks to pick up a piece of sushi and hesitantly bit into it. His eyes widened "Hinata! This tastes incredible! Did you make this yourself?" "I've been making my own lunch since my mother passed away" she said meekly. "Well, you're an excellent cook! You'd make an awesome wife!" he complimented before hearing a thud.

He whipped around and saw Hinata passed out on the ground, bliss written all over her face. Remaining completely oblivious, he shook her frantically, trying to rouse her. He could come up with complex seals, invent jutsus and single-handedly turn the tide of a war in his favour but the one thing he could not do was understand a girl. "Hey! Hinata! Are you sick or something? Hey!" he questioned, frantically shaking her prone body.

She slowly came to but immediately fainted dead away again, seeing 'Naruto's' face at such close proximity. Minato sighed and let her be, eating a few more pieces of sushi while waiting for her to return to the land of the living. The rest of the recess saw the duo sharing Hinata's bento. When lunch was over, they headed to the academy training grounds.

They started with basic warm-ups then moved on to target practise. Chouji flung the kunai one by one and managed a score of 6/10. Shikamaru lazily threw the kunai and scored 5/10, the bare minimum for the exercise. Knowing him, he could have gotten better marks but was too lazy to make expend his effort. Shino most probably took calculated throws at the boards because it was in his nature to do so. Sasuke scored a perfect 10/10 as usual.

Minato resisted all urges to pick up all the kunai and throw them all at once; fully confident he would hit the bull's eye on all the dartboards. It was too easy for him because these were stationary whereas the ones he was used to moved, and they moved fast. He slowly released the kunai one by one at a painfully slow rate and missed a few on purpose, chalking up a total of 8 points out of 10. The male's and female's practical training were conducted separately so he could not observe the training regime of the fairer sex.

Meanwhile, Hinata, who had also accumulated a total of 8 points was watching nervously as Sakura and Ino challenged each other to see who could get the most points and ending up cat fighting on the floor when they had both gotten 9/10. When all the girls had had their chances at the targets, their sensei herded them indoors for ikebana.

Minato and the male half of the class were sparring on the grounds. Iruka was not in charge of the sparring resulting in Minato ending up pitted against Sasuke yet again. Their fight was first. Sasuke entered the ring with his usual aloof front and Minato followed soon after. They stood at opposite ends of the ring, waiting for the signal to begin. "Hajime!" the teacher shouted with a wicked glint in his eyes, wanting to see 'Naruto' get beaten again.

The moment the word left the teacher's mouth, Minato, ignoring all instincts, mimicked Sasuke and the two boys dashed at each other, eager to land some punches. Sasuke's fist shot out, intent on punching Minato but the latter twisted around the attack and countered with a right hook of his own. He drew first blood as the hook connected with Sasuke's jaw. Sasuke spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth and grabbed Minato's outstretched arm, kneed him viciously in the stomach.

Minato stumbled backwards, coughing. He faltered and his opponent took the opportunity to land a kick. Minato saw the incoming attack but forced himself to take the attack, landing on his back. Sensing Sasuke closing in on him, he twisted his body and propped himself up on his palms while lashing out at his sparring partner with both feet, flipping his legs over his head in a bridge and righting himself. By the time Minato was upright, Sasuke was still recovering from the mule kick and was wide open to another attack when Minato clasped his fist in his palm and drove his elbow in Sasuke's ribs, sending him to the ground.

Sasuke quickly recovered and grabbed Minato's arm, sending him hurtling over his shoulder in a judo throw. Minato saw the ground rushing up to meet him but resisted and ended up sprawled on the floor on his back, out of the ring. He had lost by default. Sasuke's face was overcast and was clearly unhappy about winning by default but remained mute, accepting his win graciously.

He clearly thought of 'Naruto' a worthy opponent because he deigned to acknowledge him occasionally. The teacher on duty was visibly upset that the 'demon' had not been beaten to a pulp by their star student. As the school medic fussed over Sasuke, Minato wandered off to watch the other spars, disregarding his rapidly healing wounds.

Shikamaru faced off against someone he did not recognize but that had not mattered because he had given up the moment they started. Kiba was pitted against Shino and it was found that Shino was rather gifted in taijutsu because he had won against Kiba, who, despite his reliance on his ninken, could definitely hold his own in an all out taijutsu spar. It had been a close call but he had won nonetheless. Minato sat down beneath another tree, feeling very drained. He closed his eyes and waited to be called back into the classroom for ninjutsu practise.

Hinata looked down at her floral arrangement, frowning slightly. She had yet to see the point of these ikebana classes. She sighed in defeat and looked longingly out of the window, thinking that sparring would be more beneficial for aspiring kunoichi. It was not as if they could stop enemy ninja from assassinating them by offering them a floral arrangement. She daydreamed about what her Gennin life would be like as she waited for the ninjutsu lessons, barely registering Sakura and Ino sitting a row down, bickering about Sasuke again as they shoved at each other to watch the spars taking place down stairs.

When they were all back in the classroom, they were told that they were going to be learning the basics of Kawarimi that day and were going to spend the rest of the day trying to switch places with an inanimate object. Minato saw no reason in attempting it but appeared to be trying to appease his sensei. He watched with boredom as the teacher went down the aisle, helping out those who were struggling. As he surveyed the classroom, he saw, to his amusement, that most of them were having trouble performing the jutsu. One had even gone blue in the face with the effort.

He watched as Hinata and Sasuke effortlessly pulled it off, returning to his acting when he sensed his sensei approaching. As Minato glanced into the teacher's eyes, he could tell that the teacher was going to make a pass at trying to guide him in the wrong direction and decided to screw with his sensei.

The teacher stopped in front of his desk and started showing him the wrong hand signs, ignorant of Minato's complete mastery of the Kawarimi, allowing him to perform it even without hand signs. When his sensei challenged Minato to use the jutsu, he was left dumbfounded when his charge used the hand signs he had showed him and yet executed the move perfectly.

Scowling, he decided to just leave the 'demon brat' alone and focus his time on his other students. After a whole period of sleeping, Minato got up and left when the teacher announced it was time to go home. Once they were dismissed, Minato walked back to his apartment, determined to spend most of his afternoon honing his sensory skills.

The sun hung high in the sky and was scorching all it looked down upon when he reached his destination. After finding out that Iruka had been tailing him, he resolved to use this place for a training ground until he had his detection skills up to scratch again. He shed the clothes he wore in public, revealing a black sleeveless shirt open-necked shirt coupled with a pair of black slacks. This ensemble showed off his lithe form and emphasising his toned frame.

He pulled on a glove with a metal plate backing it and slid his trademark weapon out of his kunai holster and inserted his finger into the ring. He strode into the training ground, twirling the tri-pronged kunai on his index finger as he passed through a door in the chain-link fence, darkness enveloping his being until there was no evidence of him being there. His afternoon training had begun, in Training Ground 44, the Forest of Death.

A/N: If you're wondering where he got his tri-pronged kunai from could we just go with him stashing them in a crevice in the Shodaime Hokage's carving because if I remember correctly the Hokage Monument is actually quite hollow according to a filler… And about how he got into the Forest of Death, he picked the lock. I'm so sorry I haven't started with the canon events yet. I promise I'll try to do canon in the next chapter. I've been doing a lot of time skipping so far... which is not exactly very far...