For the first few weeks of the semester, Naruto did what he had always done studying at the Academy. He quickly reabsorbed the knowledge that had faded away in his time outside of the classroom, positively tearing through the standard texts. Once finished, the knowledge-hungry preteen started again, going slower this time. When he finished rereading all the given information, he went back and read it all through yet again.

And so it went for Naruto, who grew increasingly impatient with nothing new to gain from the Academy. It was about a week into the third month when it occurred to the 12 year old that the command for him to repeat his education was less for the purpose of refreshing his memory for him to rejoin the ranks of the Leaf shinobi as it was a formality. As tedious as it was, the boy was mature and openminded enough to see the logic in it, and carried on without complaint.

However, this wasn't to say he didn't mess around. If anything, his more childish impulses found an outlet in the day-to-day in the Academy.

He slept through lectures, never noticed for the facts that he didn't need to breath, and so never snored, and he was perfectly comfortable with sleeping sitting up. Naruto only got caught once, near the end of the year, when Mr. Umino called on him to give an explanation on a fairly advanced concept for rookie level- and only getting dead, awkward silence back. That is, until he beaned the blond narcoleptic in the face with the chalk he'd hand on hand, which led to mild hilarity as the startled boy fell out of his seat, flailing like mad.

The boy also watched certain students during class, as well as the in-session exercises and field routines. When he got bored with studying one student, his attention moved on to another, and then another. For some reason it kept coming back to the two female classmates that came from clans, a contrasting pair of girls that couldn't be more different from each other if they'd tried. Of course, he was careful about when and where he did it, as both shared the disturbing habit of staring at him on occasion. Bother.

Naruto also developed some less innocuous routines, some of which really drove poor Mr. Umino up a wall on occasion.

Having completely conquered the curriculum, which for some strange reason had been dumbed down since his first time around in the Academy, the blond mischiefmaker went about completing his writing assignments in a variety of strange ways. Sometimes he'd write the answers backwards. Other times he'd go as far as to write every answer in code, occasionally providing a simple cipher for the more ridiculous answers. For the majority of the time, however, he'd write out deliberate gibberish or all the correct answers/solutions in the wrong places.

There were also points where Naruto indulged in playground subterfuge, planting things like letters from one student to another, or a small gift of some modest value with a card reading "For that Special Someone 3". This sort of thing was common enough, but the cases of assumption and completely mistaken identity led to a fair share of laughs throughout the semester.

In short, Naruto indulged his long-repressed inner child, having as much fun during his continued enrollment at the Academy as he could.

By the date of the final exam, the boy had actually grown a bit as a person. The change wasn't anything dramatic, but it was a sign that Naruto was beginning to make the transition from child to adult, as weird as that promised to be with his…condition.

Now all that remained to be seen as far as his future was concerned what where he'd end up- and whom he'd end up with- the boy's re-graduation all but a foregone conclusion.

~xxx

Sure enough, the blond found himself staring the exam day dead in the eye, and passed the only part of the test- a demonstration of the Bunshin technique. Mr. Umino and Naruto shared a knowing look as the boy came forward to take his second headband.

After the exams were over with, the chunin schoolteacher found his former protégée sitting outside on the swing, a contemplative look on his face.

"Kinda funny, teaching a student twice," the man remarked.

Naruto scuffed his heel on the ground, sniffing. "Yeah."

"Musta been pretty interesting, having to come back and pass again after all that time..."

The boy cleared his throat, setting his elbows on his knees and turning to look up at the scarred man. "How much did you hear? About what happened after graduation, I mean."

Mr. Umino sighed, putting his hands behind his head, saying "Not a lot, really. Plenty of vague half-truths mixed in with all the pabulum. Only real consistent part was that you beat up at least some part of your team in a bad way."

"Oh," Naruto said, absently scratching his head, "Yeah, that's basically what happened."

"How come?" the brunet said, raising an eyebrow.

"Cuz he hurt somebody else."

"Oh…"

The two just stayed there, in silence, keeping each other company as the minutes passed by, the sun lethargically creeping toward the horizon. Naruto found that he truly enjoyed it; just sharing space with a person, allowed to be silent and simply live in the moment. It was almost a shame when he realized he had to get home, getting up to say his goodbye.

Not minding at all, his former sensei smiled at him, shaking the boy's hand for the first time since they'd met, bidding him farewell as he, too, started back for home.

All in all, it had been a very good ending to one part of his life and a very promising beginning to the next.

~xxx

Don't hate me for this thing being so short.

Updating regularly is a very new experience for me, and as such it's a shooting pain in the ass.

Next chapter is probably gonna be a lot easier to produce, but I'm making no promises.

Also: throat singing – that shit rocks

In Addition!

In reaction to a reviewer who seems to be a hardcore reader-only type fanfictioneer, I've decided to put his review on blast and reply here:

"He lives in the middle of a giant forest and he eats pidgeons? And fantasizes about eating whales? WHALES? I don't even know anymore." - 3ch0

He lives in the middle of a ninja village in a forest. Yes, he eats the pigeons. And the rats. And the cats. And the woozles.

To elaborate on the whale meat fantasy, it's considered a delicacy in Japanese culture, in much the same way bison meat or porkbelly is in more Western cultures. Perfectly reasonable that you'd find that odd, but, then again, this is a very odd story to begin with.

In any case, thanks for reviewing!