Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Everyone went wild, the moment Iruka finished the team assignments. Sakura was standing triumphantly over Ino while screaming words that cannot be repeated. Ino was crying a river over not being able to be on the same time as her beloved Sasuke-kun. Hinata was poking her fingers together, while Shino was observing a bug on his sleeve. Shikamaru was staring out the window daydreaming. Kiba and Chouji were high-fiving each other. Naruto flashed Iruka a wide toothy smile and a thumbs up.

It wasn't really noticeable, but Naruto saw the slight twinges of pain the man tried to hide. The battle with Mizuki last night had taken its toll on the young chunin. The fuma shuriken hadn't damaged anything fatal, but Naruto knew that being stabbed in the back wasn't a fun experience. Still, he wasn't upset that he was a jinchuriki of the Nine-tailed fox or that he missed lunch the previous day.

No.

What shocked the young soon-to-be-ninja was that Iruka didn't abandon him. The nine tailed fox killed his parents. Iruka had every right to kill him but instead, he treated him like a human being.

Flashback

Naruto's eyes widened as a shadow hovered over him with a pained smile on his face. Neither person missed the big "thump" that came mere seconds after.

"Iruka-sensei? Why?" Iruka only smiled gently at the boy beneath him. He ignored the pain in his back, choosing to focus on the dark chuckle behind him.

"Run…Naruto!"

Mizuki eyed the scene before him with disgust as Iruka threw himself in front of the demon boy. However, he didn't stand idle as the little punk ran off into the woods. He chuckled softly as Iruka pulled the shuriken out of his back.

"I don't know why you're helping him Iruka. He's nothing but trash. And like all trash, it's got to be taken out eventually. I need that scroll." He watched as Iruka shook his head. Iruka faced him with a look of determination in his eyes and straightened himself despite the pain in his back.

"Naruto's a lot of things, but trash isn't one of them. He's smarter then what people give him credit for. If I were you...Mizuki...I'd leave the boy alone."

Mizuki only growled and took off into the woods with Iruka right behind him.

Naruto came into a clearing, and looked behind him with a sense of dread as he heard footsteps behind him. He saw Iruka come from the trees and signed a sign of relief. Naruto gripped the scroll tighter as Iruka's smile seemed to darken.

"Naruto! Naruto, thank Kami your safe. Give me the scroll!" Naruto only stepped back and shook his head. "Iruka" growled.

"You little brat! I'll-"

Mizuki was caught off as "Naruto" kicked him back. "Naruto" went up in smoke as Iruka was revealed. This only served to make Mizuki even angrier.

"First you get in the way and now you're in the way Iruka!"

"I've told you before, Mizuki. Naruto is a future shinobi of this village. I'm not going to let you touch a hair on his head." Despite his words, Iruka fell to one knee. He stumbled to his feet before faltering again.

Taking out another fuma shuriken, Mizuki threw it with a frustrated yell. What neither shinobi didn't count on was a blonde-haired soon-to-be shinobi joining the fight again.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Groups of orange boys slammed into Mizuki in every direction, which resulted in the chunin being pummeled into the ground by Naruto's clones. Iruka watched Mizuki be overwhelmed by the clones, and fall to the ground moaning in pain. Naruto walked over to Iruka with a tired smile on his face. Iruka caught the boy as he fell forward into his lap and slipped into unconsciousness.

Iruka watched as the clones poof away not in smoke but in crystal dust. Iruka More chunin arrived a few minutes later and stared at Iruka, who was still holding Naruto in his arms. Mizuki groaned from pain as the other chunin picked him non to gently and hauled him away to the hospital before being taken to Ibiki. Iruka and Naruto were rushed to the hospital and were treated accordingly, and released later that night.

Naruto was too caught in the memory that he didn't notice Shikamaru walking over to him until said lazy boy waved his hand in his face. "Naruto Asuma-sensei is here. Come on." Naruto nodded his head and walked next to the Nara with a bounce in his step.

Asuma Sarutobi was a tall shinobi with short black spiky hair. Naruto could've sworn that the man's brown eyes were trying to bore right through him as he scratched his beard. Shikamaru did a small sigh next to him, meaning he felt the same way. It's a good thing Naruto learned how to speak Nara. All four of them walked up the stairs in silence until they reached the roof.

…

To be honest, Asuma didn't know what to say to them. Hi. Hello. What up? Well here goes nothing. He thought.

"Well why don't we get to know each other?" All three boys stared at him with either a blank look, irritated sign, or a beaming smile.

"I'll go first. My name is Asuma Sarutobi. I like to play Shogi. I like eating sausage and soba with tororo. I dislike perverts and people who put others down. My dream is to marry a certain someone and help you guys reach your dreams. Your turn bug boy."

If Shino was offended in any way, he didn't show it outwardly. "My name is Shino Aburame and not bug boy. I like collecting and studying new insects. I dislike people who kill insects or treat them unfairly. Why you ask? Because they are also living creatures. My dream is to reach the rank of chunin and then become the next clan head."

Asuma nodded as he pointed to Shikamaru. "Alright. Your turn lazy pineapple."

Shikamaru glared at Asuma while giving a long sigh. "My name is Shikamaru Nara….I like sleeping and cloud watching. I dislike people who disrupt my sleep and people who…. My dream is to live an average life, marry an average girl and have a girl and boy in that order. Then watch my daughter get married and my son become a successful ninja and then die of old age before my wife."

Asuma nodded again, albeit a little more slowly as he turned his attention to Naruto. "Okay…your turn little fish cake."

Unlike Shino, Naruto pointed his finger at Asuma and stated-well shouting "The name means maelstrom. Not fish cake." Asuma grinned and waggled a finger in Naruto's face.

"But fish cake sounds cuter."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. It means maelstrom and not fish cake. I like ramen and training. I dislike people who put down others without even trying to help others first. I also like playing Go because it is a fair game. My dream is to become Hokage, so that people would recognize me for me and not for someone else."

Again for the hundredth time, Asuma nodded before handing each student a piece of paper. "Alright, since the introductions are over your first test is tomorrow."

"Test?" Insert loud groan from our resident fish cake and lazy pineapple.

"Yup! Meet me at training ground 25 at 8:00 sharp. Also don't eat breakfast or you'll throw up." With that, the bearded smoker left via shunshin leaving the three soon-to-be-ninjas alone.

...

"I'm hungry. Anyone up for ramen?" asked Naruto. Shino and Shikamaru shrugged their shoulders and followed after the blond midget to Ramen Ichiraku.

Chapter 2 done. What a drag.

EDIT:5/27/2015 I added a few things and reedit a few things there. I also tried catching any grammatical errors and fixing them.