The next day, after Akito left the village, naruko didn't go to the academy. She just stayed home.
When Iruka got to class he said "good morning class". "Good morning sensei" the class said. "Ok let's do role call. If you're here say here" Iruka said. "Naruko uzumaki" Iruka said but got no answer. "Naruko" Iruka called her again and yet again got no answer.
Iruka got annoyed and looked at naruko's desk thinking that she was asleep but he was shocked when he saw that naruko wasn't there. "Does anyone know where naruko is?" Iruka asked. Everyone looked over at naruko's desk. "No I didn't even notice she was gone" Sakura said. "Come to think of it I haven't seen her at all today" Ino said.
Iruka was starting to get mad although it was nice not having to worry about thumbtacks on his chair or a balloon full of itching powder. He's supposed to teacher her things so she can become a ninja in the future and naruko skipping class makes it harder to do so.
Naruko skipped school for the rest of the week and this made Iruka mad. Naruko may contain the monster that killed his parents but Iruka can't help but feel a kinship with her. She is just as alone as he was when is parents died and she isn't the nine tails, not even remotely similar.
On the last day of school for the week naruko was walking down the streets of Konoha looking sadder than ever. Just as she was going to pass ichiraku ramen the owner noticed her. "Naruko" the man called out to her catching naruko's attention. He gesturing for her to come inside.
Naruko ,with her head down, walked inside the ramen shop and sat down. "Hey pops" naruko said in a sad tone. "Is everything ok? you seem upset today" the owner asked. Naruko shook her head no. "What's wrong?" the owner asked. "I don't wanna say" naruko said with tears in her eyes, thinking back to all the good times she had with Akito.
When Iruka's class was dismissed, Iruka decided to the hokaga's office to talk to sarutobi about naruko skipping school. Iruka was frustrated that naruko hasn't came to school for the whole week and he wasn't gonna let her get away with it any longer.
'Damn it naruko you can't just skip school' Iruka thought. The more Iruka thought about these past few days he realized something was off 'now that I think about it I haven't heard about or seen naruko this week'. Iruka found it weird that naruko hasn't pulled any pranks or seen her at the ramen shop at all this week.
Iruka was starting to get worried about naruko. The fact that she hasn't been going to get ramen or pulling pranks got Iruka thinking something happened to her. 'What if she got hurt or worse. No that can't be it. She's probably working on some prank or something else' but no matter how much he tried to reassure himself he couldn't help but worry. Now instead of going to the hokaga's office he was now heading to were naruko lives.
When Iruka got to naruko's apartment he knocked on the door and said "naruko are you home? I wanna talk to you" but no one answered. Iruka was becoming inpatient thinking she was still asleep so he went to look through naruko's bedroom window.
When he got to naruko's window, his eyes widened to see that she wasn't in bed. Noticing her window was unlocked, Iruka opened naruko's window and searched around for naruko.
Iruka search naruko's entire apartment but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. Iruka went pale and got even more worried. Iruka then left naruko's apartment and tried to think on where naruko could be.
"Alright Iruka calm down. Think where could naruko be" Iruka said. The first thing that came to Iruka's mind was ichiraku ramen. Iruka sprinted towards the ramen shop. 'Maybe she's there' Iruka thought.
When Iruka got to ichiraku ramen he went inside and started looking around for naruko but he didn't see her. Remembering how close naruko is with the owner he decided to ask the owner if he's seen her at all today. "I did see her a couple hours ago. She came in, sat down, talked to me for a couple of minutes and then left" the owner said. Shocked Iruka said "she didn't get anything while she was here?" "I asked her if she wanted anything. She just said that she already ate" the owner said. 'That's weird, naruko loves ramen. She uses any excuse she can to come here' Iruka thought then said "did she say where she was going before she left?" "I'm afraid not but someone should go check on her. The poor girl looked like she was going to cry" the owner said.
"Ok thank you" Iruka said then left. 'She looked like she was going to cry' Iruka thought. Iruka was walking, lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize that he was almost at the back hills.
'If she wasn't home or at ichiraku ramen then where is she' Iruka thought. Then Iruka was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard some one crying. He realized where he was "the back hills". "Guess I got lost in my thoughts while I was walking but wait is someone crying?" Iruka said. Iruka went into the back hills to find out who it is but the closer Iruka got he realized that the person sounds familiar until he realized who it was.
'NARUKO' Iruka thought and started running. He stopped when he found her, relieved that she was ok. 'Why is naruko crying' Iruka thought. He then walked over to her and said "naruko". Surprised naruko turn her head, with tears rolling down her face, and said "oh hey Iruka sensei".
Iruka walked over to naruko and sat next to her. Just as Iruka opened his mouth to say something naruko beat him to the punch. She said, with tears still rolling down her face. "look I'm sorry I didn't go to the academy this week. I just wanted to be alone".
This really surprised Iruka. 'Why does naruko want to be alone? she never wants to be alone. She wants people to acknowledge her existence that's why she pulls pranks so people will notice her' Iruka thought. He knew this because Iruka pulled pranks when he was a kid for the same reason but this doesn't make sense she wants to be alone.
"Is something wrong naruko?" Iruka asked. Naruko didn't say anything, she just put her head down and continued crying. Iruka gently put his hand on naruko's head and said "naruko if somethings bothering you you can tell me". Naruko sniffled and said "a year ago I met a boy named Akito Agatsuma. We started playing and he became my first and best friend but a week ago he left to go back to his village and I can't write to him or see him since I don't know where he lives".
Iruka honestly didn't know what to say to comfort naruko. He didn't know what it's like to have a friend leave but nonetheless Iruka stayed by her side and did his best to comfort her, even if it's just a bit.
I went back to the academy the next week. Three months after all of that happened, I was playing in the back hills until…
"Well look who it is, well isn't it the little demon" the man said in a threatening voice. Naruko turned around and saw a ninja with a hidden leaf headband with a line through the symbol.
"W-w-who a-are you?" naruko asked. The rogue ninja threw a kunai at her. Naruko jumped out of the way but the kunai badly slashed her leg. Naruko held her wounded leg and cried out of pain.
As the rogue ninja got closer to kill her, naruko immediately got up and started running as fast as her little legs can carry her. The wound on her leg made it hard. Naruko had been running for hours and while she was running the rogue ninja threw thirty kunais at her. Naruko managed to dodge fifteen kunais, the other fifteen unfortunately hit her. Only four made bad wounds, the other wounds she received were just scratches.
Naruko kept running even though she was exhausted and dizzy from blood loss. She didn't wanna die. Naruko started to slow down giving the rogue ninja a chance to catch up.
The rouge ninja pulled out a katana and sliced naruko in the back, making her fall to the ground bleeding out. "I'll give you this demon, you're fast but it's a shame that you gotta die now. Oh wait no it's not".
As the rogue ninja raised his katana to finish her off. Naruko closed her eyes scared that she'll die that was until she heard another male scream "GALE PALM". Naruko opened her eyes and seen the rouge ninja had been sent flying. The other man who saved her stepped in front of her and said "don't worry he's not gonna lay another finger on you".
Naruko's vision was a bit blurry from the blood loss so she couldn't really see what the man in front of her looked like. The rogue ninja was back. The rogue ninja and the man that saved naruko went head to head for two hours. The other guy body flickered behind the rogue ninja and ended his life with a kunai to the back of the head.
The man then walked towards naruko, who was still in shock that someone saved her from getting killed. The man knelt down in front of her. He was close enough for naruko to make out what he looked like. He had messy neon pink hair, neon aqua blue eyes, glasses, a back pack, and a ninja head band with the word light.
As the man took off the back pack he was wearing, he pulled out some bandages and started wrapping some of naruko's wounds so naruko wouldn't died of blood loss. Once he was done he looked at her and said "my name is Riba Hashibira. I'm a jonin from the village hidden in the light" the man said.
'Village hidden in the light? I never heard of that village' naruko thought. Riba turned around and said "hop on". "huh?" naruko said. "Hop on I'll carry you back to my village to get you help cause you look like you need it" Riba said. Naruko got on Riba's back as Riba started hopping tree to tree to get back to his village.
Author's note: sorry for any mistakes
