Naruto's POV
Grinning devilishly, I finished the amazing portrait that I had worked on. Guess what it looked like?
A colorful array of red, white, and brown was splattered on the classroom walls. The brown was covered with dots of darker brown that were artfully rendered to look like a certain someone's warts. The white-and-red hat he wore was supporting a huge pink flowery heart. The person's hair was long and curly, and scribbles were made on it to represent messy hair. Drool was coming out of his mouth, the corner decorated by a particularly large brown wart.
Indeed, it was Lord Hokage, Master Sarutobi, ruler of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was he who was painted most illuminatingly on the walls of Iruka's classroom. But sadly, the clock was ticking, and I knew I would have to finish off soon. So, I quickly slapped the heart with the brightest magenta I had before beginning to paint yet another unsightly pustule on his face until I heard a deadly whisper behind my back.
"Naruto…" Freezing, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and a terrible prickling sensation was spreading slowly across my body. Dreading this moment, I turned my head around only to receive a face full of spittle.
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE HOKAGE HAS DONE FOR US? DO YOU EVEN TAKE NOTICE, YOU BAKA!? HE PRACTICALLY SAVED OUR VILLAGE FROM BEING LEADERLESS! IF IT WEREN'T FOR HIM WE'D ALL BE DEAD BY NOW FROM INDECISION AND REBELLION! NOW, I WANT YOU ERASING THAT WALL RIGHT THIS MOMENT OR IT WILL BE NO RAMEN FOR THE REST OF YOUR SORRY EXCUSE OF A LIFE! GOT IT MEMORIZED?" Iruka was yelling his head off, and a staff member actually came in and offered to perform a Calming Jutsu on him before he was literally kicked out of the room with one splendid strike from the red, angry ninja fuming at me.
"Ehehehe…" I laughed nervously. "Sorry, Iruka-sensei…" He turned his flaming eyes on me again.
"Sorry? Sorry!? SORRY SIMPLY DOESN'T CUT IT, BOY! DO WHAT I SAID EARLIER OR YOU'LL GET TO STAY RIGHT HERE, AFTER EVERY CLASS, AND HELP ME DO CHORES! WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO THAT? YOU KNOW, YOU ALREADY HAVE TO STAY AT THE FRONT OF THE CLASS, TIED UP, AND LISTENING TO EVERY WORD I SAY! THAT STARTS TOMORROW!" His rambling went on and on until he calmed down and told me to get cleaning.
I moodily dabbed at the painting that I had created. I was so far away from finishing that I knew I wouldn't be able to get it off for at least another few hours. For another thing, I thought my painting was really good, actually, because it wasn't that harmful. Well, at least I had a few more hours…the only people that would wake up this early to school were Ino and Sakura, who had a sort of insane rivalry over who gets to be Pretty-Boy Sasuke's girlfriend.
I just didn't get it! Why did all the girls like Sasuke so much? He was a good-for-nothing, arrogant, idiotic bastard who believed himself superior to everyone in Konoha! I bet I could beat him! I, the great Naruto Uzumaki!
In my sudden anger, my hand immediately wiped away nearly a fourth of the paint I used. I blinked. Wow…do that again, Naruto! I wiped away most of the mess I had created and, deciding to save some for later, filled up a bucket with the paint. Luckily, too, because there was still around a few minutes for me to pretend to be late to class. I looked at Iruka, who was staring slyly at me.
"Fine. Leave. I'll just add a few more days to your confinement to the pole. You'll be starting that tomorrow all the way until the end of the week"
Sighing unhappily, I made my way to my desk and waited for the first arrival (after me, of course!), probably Sakura, so I could sit next to her. The door opened and I found myself staring into cold teal eyes. That's so not Sakura…
Scrutinizing the newcomer, I kept on gazing at him until I was certain that he had never been to Ninja Academy before. Nor had I ever known that he existed at all! Wow, Naruto…you run around in the streets all the time and you never noticed this kid? A tiny, foxlike voice spoke in my head. I shook my head and it was gone. Who the hell was that? Ah, well, never mind.
The boy's eyes traveled over the classroom, and he walked over to the very back, so that he was covered by the shadows. Strangely enough, I realized that he did seem to melt into it, as if he really wasn't there. What the hell?!
Gaara's POV
SLAM! The door burst open, two squabbling girls trying to squeeze into the classroom first.
"Sasuke loves me!" The blonde one snapped at the pink-haired girl. I mentally sighed. If I wasn't already insane, I'm sure I'll be if these two lovesick girls do this every morning. Then the voice spoke.
Why don't you? Snap their necks, and they'll be mute forever. I could do that for you, you know, it's quite easy. Just let me out and I'll-Shut up. I growled. And I clicked shut the invisible cage.
I didn't know when exactly the voice began showing up, but I do know that it gives me murderous intent. It'd be a great excuse for the villagers to hate me more than they already do if I killed someone.
I knew I wouldn't be able to shut this thing up forever, though. The voice returned whenever there was blood and it was a lot worse when I had inflicted the wound myself. Kakashi had helped me by telling me to brood it out whenever I did feel it. However, the voice got worse as I got older, and by now it was nearly unstoppable when I was pissed enough.
"Does not!" The pink-haired girl retorted.
"Does too!"
"Does not!"
"DOES TOO!"
"Does no-" The pink-haired girl was cut off by the door opening again and a raven-haired boy walking in with an arrogant stride.
"Sasuke! You're so cool!" The blonde screamed. To put it simply…I felt sick. The pure love radiating from her and the pink-haired girl was enough to make someone barf. "Sakura, he cut you off. That means he loves me!" The girl continued. The newly named Sakura narrowed her eyes at the girl and snapped.
"IF HE CUT ME OFF, THEN HE HATES YOU, INO!" She yelled. Such mood-swings…
The door opened again, another girl walking in and wincing all the way at the racket coming from Ino and Sakura. It was the girl I saw kneeling beside the puddle that had turned to ice. She made brief eye contact with me and we forged a silent rivalry against each other. I could feel a presence inside her, and I was sure she could feel the same from me.
Of course! Let me kill her for you, and you'll have one lesser to worry about.
No thanks.
Come on, one simple agreement and I could give you all you desire! Blood…the essence of life…so tasty…
Taste my fist, insane one.
With that, I tried ending the conversation by delivering a mental punch, but he kept on ranting on and on about killing the lesser. I still didn't know what he meant, and I didn't care.
Sasuke strode over to a seat in the second row, sitting in a seat far away from all of the girls. A shuffle immediately rose and all of the girls that were in the room moved over as close as possible to Sasuke. Ino and Sakura managed find seats near to his. The only person left on the right side other than me was the girl I had started a rivalry against.
Deciding to distract myself, my eyes traveled to the blond boy, Naruto, who was staring at an empty seat next to Sakura. He slowly stood up and ran over to it, but she flashed a glance at him and moved over so that Ino was at the end of the row and Sasuke was next to Sakura.
Looking fairly disappointed, Naruto looked around for another seat, and his eyes landed on the one next to me. He plopped himself into the chair and started to make a tiny fire with an explosive tag. I raised an invisible eyebrow.
Another argument started and I sighed for real. Directing my eyes to the classroom, I let them stay there, knowing that they would look blank, cold and emotionless.
But then a rock sailed over my head and went straight toward Sasuke. I watched, slightly interested, as the raven-haired boy's hand shot out and caught the rock. He lowered his hand, still holding it, and the girls roared in admiration. By now, the classroom was nearly full.
"So cool!" They squealed.
A few minutes later, our teacher, brow furrowed at the noise, stood up and began the roll call. The classroom immediately went silent.
"Uzumaki Naruto!" He called after many other names, including mine, at which several eyes turned to me, including some faces I knew. Knew because of daily ambushes and many bruised limbs. I had ignored the stares, even if I was a little uncomfortable with the attention.
"Naruto?" Iruka called again, exasperated.
Suddenly, with a loud boom, a firecracker, spitting out sparks, rolled cleanly over to the second row and exploded over and over. It burned up the floor around Sasuke's feet and set fire to his pants. He quickly put it out by swatting at it. Several people laughed, but with a deadly glare from the girls, they fell quiet. Only one voice was still laughing. And highly obnoxiously, I might add.
"HAHAHAHA!" Naruto was hunched over, gasping for air, and positively rolling on the floor. "Here, Iruka sensei!"
The corner of my teacher's mouth twitched. He rolled his eyes to heaven and continued calling names.
"Only Naruto could have such a dramatic way for a simple roll-call…" I heard Iruka sigh.
A/N I really didn't like this chapter…there were next to no ideas for this. Was Naruto too OOC? Critical reviews are always appreciated. And for my five reviewers and every single person who's reading this…THANKS SO MUCH! *gives cookies*
demonhellfire:…um…what do you mean? And as for Temari and Kankuro…you'll find out later. That's actually a pretty big part of the plot…
RyoDemonRyo: My reply is in the reviews section.
Graffiti-Kami: Of course not! Naruto's personality is what made him what he is now. And thanks for reviewing!
SmoothCriminalVictim: Thanks!