Masked Koi: Chapter 10. "Friend"
Typically, the first year of the Academy consisted of written work. Most teachers taught it with either gusto or with an air of loathing, remembering their time learning about the two founders and this abstract completely useless concept regarding chakra and geography and why Kumo and Iwa and Kiri tended to not like Konoha.
Politics was something that either went over the children's heads or was disregarded or criticized. Some teachers simply glossed over it to prevent any class unrest. They had more important things to do, after all.
Like ninjutsu and taijutsu.
Genjutsu wasn't taught in the Academy for multiple reasons. Genjutsu wasn't complicated in its concept and theory, but it was difficult to actually perform. Most Academy students, even the sixth-year students, didn't have the reserves for genjutsu.
On top of that, genjutsu was something that required precise chakra control and concentration. Most genjutsu, even the D or C-Rank ones, required long hours of training even if one had an affinity for it. That training time was often used for ninjutsu or taijutsu or weapon-throwing training, something that wasn't as complicated or time-consuming.
There were exceptions, of course. Most Uchiha were at least proficient at genjutsu, seeing that their doujutsu was used for it. Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Shisui, and Uchiha Itachi were the more skilled Uchiha. Shisui preferred his teleportation jutsu over his sharingan, saying that his eyes were simply a support. He wasn't as focused or prideful about his eyes as much as Madara had been.
The Uchiha clan had always been renowned for the underappreciated skill of genjutsu.
A year before Uchiha Shisui had made his debut in the Academy as a very skilled Uchiha, excellent in everything ninja related, there was a genjutsu master.
Hatake Seiseki.
Of course, there were others who were above average at genjutsu, including Yuuhi Kurenai and Hatake Kakashi. Most Chuunin could cast genjutsu and all Jounin knew some genjutsu techniques.
"Does everyone understand?" Iruka asked the class with textbook in hand. Nods from the children.
Most Konoha shinobi were better at ninjutsu than genjutsu. After all, it was flashy and large displays were a symbol of strength and often awed crowds and daimyos to result in promotion from one level to the next. It boosted confidence in shinobi, no matter where they were. It could quickly end fights and was something required in Academy students to Elite Jounin to Kage. It was universal.
As a result, the amount of shinobi good at ninjutsu was much larger than genjutsu. Many clans had become renowned for their unique jutsu, like the Nara with their shadows. All shinobi villages had their arsenal of heavy hitting ninjutsu shinobi.
In training, genjutsu often required another person. Ninjutsu didn't. It was simply gathering chakra and expelling it into flames, rocks, wind, lightning, or water. It was done alone, the jutsu practiced over and over until it simultaneously required as little chakra as possible and had the greatest damage. It quickly became second nature.
There was a huge amount of famous shinobi with deadly jutsu even within Konoha. Namikaze Minato, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Akimichi Chouza, and many others. However, there was one shinobi whose name tended to stand out against the rest.
Hatake Kakashi.
It was obvious why: he could perform over a thousand jutsu, along with an A or S-Rank original jutsu.
Iruka nodded to himself and at the text in his arms. "On a side note, page 120, Hatake Kakashi and Hatake Seiseki's father, Hatake Sakumo was called the White Fang because of his original lightning techniques. He used a special blade that he channeled lightning through to kill his enemies."
Hinata tilted her head slightly. "Iruka-sensei, I have a question."
"Yes?" Iruka's head shot up to look at the Hyuuga heiress.
A knock interrupted Hinata. Before he could even move to open the door, it swung open and a man carrying a clipboard walked in. He surveyed the class with a single eye and then looked at Iruka.
"Kakashi-san," Iruka addressed.
"I came to survey the class. You're a new teacher," Kakashi said shortly.
"I-I thought that a Chuunin would survey me," Iruka stuttered, very aware of the aura of anger around the Elite Jounin. "Of course, you're very welcome here, though. There is a chair at the back," Iruka said quickly.
Kakashi wordlessly walked to the back and sat, his single eye staring at Iruka intently. In his hands were a pen and a clipboard, presumably Iruka's scoring sheet.
"Yes, Hinata?" Iruka asked again.
"You mentioned two highly skilled shinobi in two of the three areas of the shinobi arts. You never mentioned anything about taijutsu or anyone else notable in that area," Hinata pointed out. "Is there anyone?"
Iruka looked at Kakashi, as if for permission. Kakashi acted as if Iruka wasn't stuck between a rock and a hard place. He could care less for the Chuunin. Iruka sighed shakily. "Why don't you ask Kakashi-san? He'd be better at answering that than me."
The whole class turned around to look at the Jounin. Kakashi didn't bother to soften his cold stare at the Chuunin. Hinata looked at him with white eyes, curious. Kakashi wrote something on the paper and then marked something off. Iruka heard even pen stroke, every mark he made. He felt sick.
Then, Kakashi looked up at the class. "Hand me your book, Nara."
Shikamaru lifted his head up sleepily and tossed the book at Kakashi, who caught it deftly. Kakashi flipped to the page 120 that was basically a watered down and somewhat false biography of his family. It did, thankfully, include the part about Seiseki's defection and nuke-nin status.
The words ended abruptly. Underneath the part that was about the White Fang and its terminology was a blacked out area. It went on for the other half of the page. Kakashi was livid.
"Each year these," Kakashi used the tips of his thumb and index finger to hold the spine and wiggled it with disgust, "things are revised. Iruka, I'd like to know who exactly was in charge of authorizing this blacked out region," Kakashi said, his voice calm with daggers sticking themselves into the terrified Chuunin. Iruka licked his lips, suddenly very parched.
"M-me," Iruka said. Kakashi wrote something else down and promptly made his way to the door and left.
Lunchtime came and everyone forgot about the scary Jounin who made Iruka cry at the end of the day.
At night, there was a meeting for all the Uchiha.
"Uchiha Itachi is still in a drug-induced coma. Tsunade is either not receiving or responding to our pleas to heal the wounded from the Tsugi's attack, much less Itachi," Shisui paused.
Obito looked at him, the only other person even remotely around his age. The only other people here were civilian Uchiha and they were pushing past fifty, sixty, and maybe seventy. The one-eyed Uchiha had a bad feeling about the guy ever since he came back with that weird container with ashes in it and blood all over him, Kakashi, and a Hyuuga.
"And there have been no reports of the children? No ransom even?" one of the elders asked. Obito didn't bother with his name.
Shisui looked…Obito's eye widened. Guilty. Shisui made a frustrated sound that at the same time sounded like defeat.
"I lied. I…I saw the children. When Hyuuga Ko, my former teammate, and I went after the people who kidnapped Hatake Kakashi, we encountered a barrier. Inside were the children. They," Shisui's voice faltered slightly. "Were murdered."
One of the fifty-year-old women stood up, violence clear in her black eyes. "You stupid child! You saw all those children and didn't even make an effort to save them! How dare you call yourself an Uchiha, much less the leader until Itachi-kun is better!"
Shisui looked at her as if she were dirt beneath his feet. Obito saw the churning waves of red anger in him for a brief moment before the man composed himself. Obito, for once, thought it best not to butt in. He's got something festering in his mind and I don't think it's just the children.
"Sayo-obaasan, are you unaware of the power the sharingan holds? For one, when the mangekyo sharingan is awakened, two jutsu become available to you. One is the Amaterasu, the black flames that burn for seven days and seven nights, and the other is the Tsukuyomi, the genjutsu where I can control time and space and mass. The Amaterasu only works on things that are not chakra, or chakra-infused. For example, I can burn this entire village, but I would not be able to if every plank of wood and pipe and window were infused with chakra. Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm saying that the barrier, the chakra infused barrier, could not be burned. On top of that, it was probably an A-Rank or S-Rank barrier. I am no expert in barriers or fuuinjutsu past what is necessary of me in my profession as a shinobi, so therefore I could not have taken down the barrier. I possess only fire-release jutsu, which proved useless against the barrier. Could you have taken down the barrier?" Shisui asked calmly.
Sayo glared at Shisui. Shisui ignored her angry looks and looked around at the rest of the Uchiha, as if challenging them to speak against him.
"So you were there…Kakashi won't tell me a thing of what happened, but to be honest, I'm worried he'll commit suicide. He looks worse than when he attended the funeral for his sister," Obito said. Shisui smiled at him. With that smile, the room dropped ten degrees.
"I-I'm sorry. I forgot that his sister was your…" Obito said quickly.
"Back to why I called for this meeting," Shisui said. Everyone perked up a little. "What should we do about the children? More importantly, when Itachi wakes up, what do you think he'll do?"
"He had two younger brothers. Of course he'll go after, er, whoever attacked, and seek vengeance. I'm willing to follow him," another Uchiha said.
"I will too," another Uchiha said.
"So will I. They killed my granddaughters," Sayo said.
Soon, the rest of the clan was caught up in the fight for vengeance. Shisui nodded and left with his marching orders: get Uchiha Itachi ready for battle. He'd known his friend would've gone after the damned clan that killed his two little brothers. Shisui clenched a fist. The clan who'd gone after Koi's blood and won.
"Hey, wait up," Obito ran after him.
"What're you doing, following me? You're supposed to help organize the elders and equip them for battle. And get equipped yourself," Shisui said, a sharp look sent towards the younger Uchiha.
"I-I'm not going. If those Tsugi are so terrible that not even Kakashi can speak a word about them, I can't go. Plus, I wouldn't be much help with this single eye. Aren't you going?" Obito asked, walking with him to the hospital.
"No," Shisui said.
"Why not?" Obito asked. "You'd ensure that clan wouldn't ever come back."
"No, I wouldn't. I'm weak," Shisui said. Obito made a choking sound, a skeptical sound.
Shisui stopped suddenly. He closed his eyes.
Ne, Shisui. Do you want to get dango together? Shisui suddenly couldn't speak. Next to him, Ko gave him a jealous glare and Kushina-sensei pushed him forward with a small smile. Koi sighed, muttering something about him being girly and grabbed his hand and tugged him, hard. Shisui almost tripped but he caught himself and found himself being dragged into a running pace with Koi holding onto his hand tightly, grinning. Shisui didn't even remember what the dango tasted like. Probably because Koi had vacuumed them all up.
"Just, please, take my word for it. Go back and help the elders and apologize to Sayo-obaasan for my rudeness for me. I'll get Itachi," Shisui said, cutting Obito off and vanished.
In the second year, kunoichi classes started. The boys did mostly the same thing, except without the flowers and perfect housewife imitations. They worked on infiltration techniques and how to blend in with crowds of people and how not to be too conspicuous despite being seven.
Kunoichi classes were held every other day. When the girls didn't go to kunoichi classes, they learned about how to survive in different terrain and how to tell if a plant was poisonous or not.
Edible wasn't a word necessarily used since a shinobi had to eat what wouldn't kill them—what was available. Most of the time in the field, very little found was edible and even fewer could be recognized as edible, like shiitake mushrooms or mitsuba parsley.
It hadn't taken long for Naruto to notice the lack of food in his father's home.
Naruto knew what he had to do, but he surely didn't want to do it. With every fiber of his being screaming bloody murder, the boy walked to his father's office. He didn't bother knocking; he was the Hokage's son. At least he could be entitled to that intimacy.
"N-naruto!" Minato yelped a few octaves higher. His face was heated to a pink color and there was a busty woman practically on him, leaning over him, with her hand on a frame that was turned face down.
This was the first time Naruto had been in his father's office. Hopefully the last time.
Naruto was still too young to understand the indecency between his father and this mystery woman, so he disregarded it completely. Even if he understood, he had something to achieve, a purpose in coming here, and it didn't involve her. She looked stupid, and Naruto hated stupid people. Like Kiba, who always yells out in class and throws paper balls at me and acts like he's the victim when I tell him off.
"Tou-san, I need money," Naruto said. He might've been blunt, but he didn't want to spend any longer in his 'father's' office than he had to. The woman was giving him a strange stare.
"Sure. Here," Minato hurriedly handed the boy a quite a few bills: fifty 1,000 ryo worth. Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the huge amount before he turned and left with the lick of the door behind him. Right as the door was about to close, the two adults went back to their business.
With the money in his pocket, Naruto walked down to the store. He stole glances at the people around him and could see the strange looks they gave him. It was odd…some people even seemed angry. If Naruto didn't know better, he'd say they were angry at him.
He shook it off and entered the store. He stood bewildered.
How…how does this work?
Naruto internally groaned to himself. He looked around, suddenly paranoid. If anyone from his class was here and saw him like this, so stupid and helpless and ignorant, it would be the end!
A few people walked by him, their eyebrows raised but didn't say anything to the boy. Naruto pushed himself into an area between the circulars and the baskets and watched everyone carefully. Some people were looking, some were smelling produce, some were inspecting things, and some were indiscriminately throwing things in a basket.
Gah, how do you even buy anything!?
Naruto sunk down and with his knees pulled up to his chest, he watched the people stroll by with his grey eyes. If I don't get anything, how will I eat?
"Hey."
Naruto's head shot up so fast he whacked his head into the wall. He shrieked and rubbed his head that throbbed painfully. With one eye closed and an arm bent to rub his head, he looked up at the person who'd gotten his attention.
"What?" Naruto asked. Who is she?
The girl blinked. Then, in a slow voice as if he were stupid, "I'm Haru. Your classmate. I sit next to Chouji. He sits beside Shikamaru, who sits beside you."
"So?" Naruto stood and looked at her, the pain starting to reside. Haru's the one who has the same class ranking as me…first. Iruka-sensei's always yelling at her for not paying attention since she's always doing something with all that thread on her desk. Why the hell is she talking to me? Everyone in class hates me except for those annoying girls who are so clingy and are practically dead last, like Ino or something.
She sighed, exasperated. "You look lost. I take it the ANBU haven't been doing your groceries lately, son of Hokage-sama?" Haru said the last part with a smirk. It was an obvious jab.
"Don't call me that," Naruto snapped. "I have a name: Naruto. I'm not lost, either."
"Then why have you been sitting there for the past hour?" Haru asked blankly. "Something tells me you've never been in a grocery store. You're probably disoriented as hell and don't know rotting fruit from fresh noodles. You're lost."
"What's your point in telling me all this? And why are you even talking to me? What's it to you?" Naruto growled. Because she was right and Naruto hated it and hated her and she'd patronize him for the rest of his Academy years. This is why I hate girls.
"When people are lost and don't know what to do, they need help. I don't have anything else to do after grocery shopping so I could help you," she said. She smiled and to Naruto, it looked like hell. Like she was getting him indebted to him and she was a mindless girl and Kami knew what she wanted! Naruto tensed. This is bad.
"I don't need your help," Naruto said.
"You're so easy to read it's pathetic. If you're going to lie, you should at least try to make it convincing. After all, you didn't even deny my previous statements about your being lost. Be consistent and stick with your lie. At least your enemy can't use your words as evidence against you," Haru said seriously. "Come on. I'll teach you how to grocery shop," Haru roughly grabbed his wrist tightly and dragged the protesting boy down a couple aisles.
Haru stopped in the instant ramen area. "This is instant ramen. All you need is hot water. Technically, you can eat this by itself, but it's supposed to be cooked."
"How do you cook it?" Naruto blurted out.
Haru tilted her head, her black hair shifting and her black eyes laughing at him. "Ah, it looks like the elite Hokage's son can't cook instant. Well, packaged things tend to come with directions. All you have to do is read it and then follow them. Easy, right? So, you add boiling hot water from a water heater into the cup and fill it up to the inside indicated line and put the lid on and wait three minutes."
"I can read," Naruto hissed. He grabbed one off the shelf and looked at it.
Naruto was so nervous and desperate for answers that he simply couldn't contain himself. "Water heater?"
Haru suppressed a laugh. "Like a teapot. Or a kettle. Some are metal that you heat over the stove, containing plenty of water. Once it whistles, the water is boiling. Electric kettles work the same way, except you plug it into the wall."
Naruto looked at the packages of instant ramen. One was pork, another was miso, another was beef, another was salt, another was spicy curry, another was soy sauce…
Indecision overwhelmed him. He ended up grabbing all of them and putting them into a basket. With pursed lips that refused to cringe in embarrassment, he looked at Haru expectantly.
"What?" Haru asked.
"What's next?" Naruto asked. "What about fruit or vegetables or meat or eggs?"
Haru tried not to roll her eyes. "Follow me."
There was a large array of fruit. Naruto didn't know any of them except for apples and oranges and strawberries. He went bin-by-bin, grabbing a few and putting them into the basket. Eventually, he ran out of room. He looked at Haru, who blinked at him and then he raced off to get another basket.
When he came back, fruit that didn't have those funny looking green and white splotches had been replaced by other fruit. Naruto narrowed his eyes at her.
"Those were good fruit! What're you doing?" Naruto demanded. A few people overheard his outburst and looked at him with distaste. Naruto ignored them and glared at Haru.
"Those fruit were rotting. Those splotches were mold, a sign that the fruit isn't good to eat anymore. If you'd like to eat spoiled fruit, go ahead," Haru shrugged.
"Then tell me what each of these are called," Naruto demanded again. Cheeky girl. She can't possibly know all of these. There's at least thirty kinds of fruit here. He pointed to them and Haru named them off, like roll call.
"Next are vegetables. You want the leaves of green, leafy vegetables to not be torn and for there to be no bruises or depressions of soft, mushy parts," Haru held up a tomato. "See this dent?" She poked it and it oozed out some red liquid. "It's bruised. You don't want that."
Naruto, under the guidance of Haru, picked up every vegetable and was able to choose ripe ones that were okay to eat and not bruised or spoiled.
"When looking at eggs, you choose a carton where none of the eggs are cracked. You look at each one and check," Haru said. She herself had taken some ramen and some apples and now had a carton of six eggs in her basket.
Haru then led him to the cash register. In the end, Naruto had four baskets. The cashier smiled at him and another worker bagged all the groceries up and with a few clones helping, he walked out with Haru who was smiling smugly.
"You owe me one," she grinned.
Naruto eyed her warily. "No I don't."
Haru scoffed. "Yes, you do. If I hadn't come along, you would've gone hungry tonight."
Naruto didn't seem to look at her when she said that. He had a sudden interest in the road that lay before him with civilians that walked by him with a strange look on their face when they looked at him. Haru glanced at him, confused as to the animosity towards the Hokage's son. Isn't like, the whole village supposed to like him or something? He's practically royalty!
"Ah, so that's it," Haru said aloud. Naruto looked at her with a glare. "You can't cook at all!"
"So?" Naruto blurted out. Then his cheeks turned as red as his hair and he quickly said, "I can!" Naruto amended.
Haru laughed until her sides hurt. "Don't kid yourself!...ahaha…You're not fooling anyone…ha ahaa"
She sobered up after a particularly nasty glare came from him. "I'll help you out," she said earnestly. Naruto looked skeptical. "In return," she grinned. Naruto groaned. "You're going to help me with taijutsu and target practice and ninjutsu."
Naruto didn't want to at all. If I say yes, then I'll have an annoying girl taking up my personal time, but will keep me from interacting with Mikiko and Kayo—two people I hate being around. If I say no, then she'll just keep pestering me. I can't even run away since I've got to refrigerate this stuff and everyone knows where the Hokage's house is! She'll just track me down.
"Fine. Just don't get in my way. We train on my time, not yours," Naruto said harshly.
"Fine with me. I've got nothing to do anyway," Haru said. "I've got too much free time."
"You don't study?" Naruto asked, raising a brow.
Haru scoffed. "No. Everything we're learning is so basic that notes and studying would simply be a regurgitation of what I already understand. But of course you study. I bet your dad gets on your case about it, making sure you're the best and whatever. You're lucky, everything is handed to you on a silver platter. Not to say I'm jealous, though."
There were a few moments of silence.
"Don't act like you know me! You know nothing about me! You understand nothing! You know nothing!" Naruto yelled.
"Hey, I was just joking. What's with you?" Haru grumbled. He's not only a genius, but he's got a temper. This guy is just a smarter, more calculating and serious version of Kiba. Well, Kiba is the opposite of serious so maybe not. Still, he's got an attitude.
"Nothing," Naruto said with a tone of finality.
"I'd imagine your room to be…bigger," Haru said, sitting tentatively on his bed. Naruto was quickly, hurriedly, shuffling and putting papers away. As he was doing this a bit too fast, a paper slipped out of the stack. Haru picked it up and examined it. Naruto didn't notice at first.
"So this is you…who's the lady next to you?" Haru held it up to his face for him to see.
Naruto's eyes widened before he snatched it away and put all the papers in the drawer of his desk and slammed it shut. Haru jumped in surprise and there was a moment of silence between the two. Naruto seemed to be still, yet shaking as he gripped the knob of the drawer.
"S-sorry. I didn't mean to…" Haru mumbled.
"Yeah, you didn't," Naruto said quietly. He turned around with glassy eyes and looked at Haru. "I'm hungry."
"Oh, right," Haru said and made her way to the kitchen. Naruto watched with observant eyes as she filled the kettle with water and set it on the stove and the clicking sound of the burner turning on ended soon after. She cracked a few eggs after washing rice and starting the cooking process. With a pair of chopsticks, she beat the eggs and set it aside. She cut up some chicken and after rummaging through his pantry and cabinets, found seasoning. She added water, soy sauce, and something else Naruto didn't recognize, and chicken to a heated pan along with sliced onion. A lid was placed on the pan.
The kettle began to whistle and she grabbed two bowls of ramen and added the water. She tended to the pan, flipping the chicken pieces over and after a few more minutes, added beaten egg.
The rice was done within another fifteen minutes and in the meantime, she'd blanched some vegetables and put the egg dish over steaming bowls of rice. Naruto had already finished his ramen and watched as she put the two bowls of the egg dish on the table. She handed him a pair of chopsticks and put the vegetables on the table.
The two ate in silence. Haru watched with mild distaste as he ate as if he hadn't eaten his entire life: scarfing it up. Haru was so surprised that she ended up not finishing her food, which Naruto ate. Haru twirled her chopsticks in her fingers. Not ate…more like vacuumed…
Naruto wiped his mouth with a napkin that somehow seemed even messier than when he vacuumed his food. He set his chopsticks down with a 'click' and rested his jaw on his palm and looked at her.
"What?" Haru drawled.
"It's not that late. You want me to hold up my end of the deal now, or tomorrow? And, how long did you want me to train your worthless ass?" Naruto asked, a faint smirk on his face.
"Hey, I just cooked your ungrateful butt dinner. You could at least lay off the insults. I thought you saved those for your fangirls and Kiba," Haru pointed out, scowling.
Naruto shuddered. "Don't bring them up. Not after I just ate something decent."
"Decent," Haru repeated, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. "Decent, huh?"
Naruto made a face. "Your cooking is average. It's not anything special."
Haru decided to push her luck a bit, sensing that Naruto was in a 'good' mood. "Like that lady's?"
Naruto's smirk, something Haru equated to a smile, faded. He looked away. "Don't you have to go home? You said it yourself; I've got to study. I'm sure my father will appreciate the rice when he comes home."
"I thought we were going to train," Haru frowned.
"Go home, Haru. We've got class tomorrow," Naruto said, looking her straight in the eye.
Haru wanted to protest, but she supposed he could help her out tomorrow. She picked up her groceries and left. Naruto put his head in his hands and hoped he hadn't just made an enemy. She was a good cook, even if he'd never admit. She was a girl, the same as those annoying harpies.
…
"You're holding the kunai wrong," Naruto pointed out. He stepped forward to fix her grip, but she turned it and flung it towards a target. Naruto's nose was only a millimeter from being cut. He looked at her incredulously.
"That could've hit me! What're you trying to do, kill me!?" Naruto yelled. "Stupid girl."
Haru laughed and glanced up at the target. She'd hit a perfect bull's-eye. Naruto calmed down a bit and glanced up to where she was gaping. Naruto's eyes widened and he crossed his arms.
"Beginners luck. Try this," Naruto jumped up into the air and with a backflip and his hands full of kunai, flung them to all the targets around them, even the blind spots. He landed in a crouch and looked at Haru. "Your turn."
Haru nodded and with a chakra-enhanced jump, she flung herself in to the air. Her black hair in a ponytail trailed behind her and she threw kunai at all the targets.
They hit each target perfectly, just as Naruto's had.
"How…" Naruto started. He narrowed his eyes. "I thought you didn't know how to do this."
"I didn't," Haru said. "Really." She looked down at her hands. How…I don't remember ever learning this and we haven't started it at the Academy.
Naruto didn't respond and simply charged at her. Haru held up her arms to defend herself and Naruto quickly had her soaring in the air. She landed in a tree about twenty feet away. He shook his arm, feeling a little sore. She was a bit bony, as if she didn't have that much muscle or fat on her.
"Taijutsu, then," Naruto decided. "We'll work on that."
Over the next year, Naruto helped her with her taijutsu skills every weekend or so. The workload from the Academy had suddenly spiked and Naruto needed to study. Even though Haru didn't study, she managed to keep her place as second in the class. She'd missed a test after getting a fever once, and that had been a deciding factor to drop her grade a very small percentage.
The second year ended with Naruto lighting incense in front of a grave and his heart feeling a bit less heavy.