Shit. Shit. Shit!

Naruto biked up the hill as fast as he could. The boss had to keep him for another shift, didn't he?

Naruto hated him. He hated the way he looked at him. He hated the feeling, brewing in his belly, that the man was toying with him.

Naruto roared and used his hate to power up his legs, pushing through the burn.

He was going to be so, so late. He already missed the first two periods. He had to make it in time for the third one…

He dropped his bike, tied them in a hurry to the first pole he found, and ran up the stairs. Class A-7, class A-7, class A-7… A-7!

He ran and opened the door, bursting into class. "Sorry, Iruka! Ran into some – " and stared.

The man who stared back wasn't Iruka.

"Naruto, you dumbass! How could you be late for the first day of school?!" yelled a voice from the second row.

Naruto blinked, still panting, and searched for the source.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "We got a new teacher for our final year." She scoffed. "Don't you read the school emails?"

Naruto managed, barely, to steady his breaths. "We get emails?"

The entire class guffawed.

Naruto's ears burned red. He never checked his. His computer was old and slow, and his phone screen was too cracked for internet surfing.

"What an idiot. Never change, Naruto!" shouted a gleeful voice from the back. Kiba.

Naruto's cheeks began to burn, too.

"All right, settle down," said the new teacher. He had a tired, disinterested voice that was surprisingly authoritative. He sat on his desk, too casually for a teacher – hunched shoulders and legs folded, ankle dangling on top of a knee. "Uzumaki, please take a seat. I believe there's one in the back." He smiled at him.

Naruto stared, blinked, and shuffled to the last row. That was surprising. Most teachers sent him directly to the principal. No one, let alone a new teacher, had ever given him a second chance.

"You need to turn in your summer packet," Ino whispered loudly. "You remembered to do it, didn't you?"

Naruto swallowed with difficulty and clutched his backpack. He sat down and looked away.

Ino pouted. "Aw. Silly Naruto. You forgot."

"Which is fine, Yamanaka, because everyone has been given a week to turn in their work," the teacher added. His eye was as tired and disinterested as his voice. Still, Ino jumped at the hint of reprimand in his voice.

Naruto frowned. He was quite sure, almost certain, that the teacher defended him. He looked up – and stared. Damn, the new teacher was handsome. Thin, long face, sarcastic and sharp, graced by carved cheekbones and a strong jaw. One eye, hooded and tired, yet brilliant, almost feral, gazed back – black and bottomless. His other eye was covered with an eye patch, barely hiding a long scar that ran from his brow to his cheek. He had wild, silver hair, short and messy, and he wore a baggy, ill-fitting suit that looked plain, practical, and a tad weathered. Even his shirt was baggy.

Had he met him in the street… perhaps a gangster, maybe a cab driver; or one of those people with suitcases that always looked stressed. He would've never pegged the man as a teacher.

Naruto shook his head. Handsome teachers meant nothing. He'd just end up being very popular with the girls and very annoying. Still, Naruto was… curious.

The man said something about goals and end of the year stuff, which was boring in any case – "Oi, Sensei!" he cried, leaning back against his chair. "You didn't introduce yourself!"

Half of the class groaned while the other laughed.

"He did, you idiot," Kiba mocked. "Wouldn't wait fifteen minutes just for you, would he?"

Naruto's ears burned again. He scoffed, trying to mask his embarrassment.

"That's enough. You kids are cruel," the teacher said, his voice dry and light. Still, the atmosphere in the room immediately changed. It felt colder. The man focused his one eye on him – and Naruto, for a moment, forgot how to breathe. The man, oddly enough, smiled. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I was asked to teach math for one year, which I agreed to do as a favor to a friend."

Naruto's eyes widened. So the man wasn't even a teacher? Who the hell was he? He waited, but the man stopped talking. "That's it?" he exclaimed. "Don't you have a favorite fish or something?"

The class laughed.

Naruto resisted the urge to cross his arms. Every time a new teacher came, they said what they liked to eat. It wasn't that weird of a question, was it?

"What Naruto means to say," intervened Sakura, "is – do you have any likes, dislikes? A dream for the future? Hobbies?"

And there it was. The soft smile and the glassy eyes.

Girls. Naruto scowled.

"Hmm," the teacher tilted his head as if deep in thought. "Yeah, I have things I like and things that I don't. My dreams for the future are none of your concern, and… well, I do have many hobbies." He smiled at the girl.

The class started to murmur, confused.

"So the only thing we know is his name?" whispered Sakura.

"Settle down. We have a long way to go before we can truly get to know each other." The teacher walked to his desk and retrieved a package of papers.

The class groaned collectively.

"Don't worry, this is a special quiz." The man smiled. "It could mean nothing, or everything, depending on your performance."

The class stared, entranced. Heh, even Sasuke looked interested.

Naruto rolled his eyes and… and saw a loaf of bread sitting on a table near the wall. Next to it lay a bunch of jams, a peanut butter jar, plastic knives stored in a plastic cup, and several water bottles. Were they having a party?

Did they eat, and he missed it?

His stomach, automatically, grumbled.

Naruto curled into his seat.

The teacher finished his explanation.

Naruto's blood drummed in his ears. He did not hear a word of it.

"Just try your best," the teacher said as he passed the quizzes to each row. "Also," he said offhandedly, "if anyone wants to make himself a sandwich, now's the time."

Naruto froze. The food… was that for them? Could he make himself a sandwich? But what if he would be asked to pay after that? What if –

"He meant you, Naruto," mocked Ino. "Your stomach can wake the dead."

Naruto gripped the table, his knuckles white. "Shut – "

"I meant everyone," the teacher interrupted. "Complex carbs can help you focus during your quiz."

Still, no one got up; not even Choji, who was always hungry. Naruto gritted his teeth and dug his nails into his flesh and stayed silent. Didn't matter. He could grab some later when no one was looking. He had to solve the quiz first.

Calm down. Calm down. He tightened his hold on his pencil, then released it. Tightened and released.

He could do this.

The teacher handed him his paper. "Good luck," he muttered. His eye gazed at Naruto just a second longer – and the man turned to face the class. "Start."

Everyone turned their attention to their quiz with a rustle of paper and a scatter of clicks.

Naruto waited, tense and nervous, until the teacher left. He did not like the way the man looked at him. It was like he knew him, and that felt like a threat. He kept his eyes focused on the teacher's receding back, and only when he was distant enough did he turn his eyes to read the quiz.

What's your favorite color?

Huh. Naruto rolled his eyes. It was one of those quizzes, then?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Naruto huffed. Dead, he thought and skipped to the next question.

Do you need help?

Naruto froze. He stared at the question, his heart racing and hurting and thundering within his chest. Help. Did he need help.

He took his pencil, impaled the first letter, ripped through the paper, and tore the question to shreds.

Fuck.

He heaved, staring at the torn quiz. Shit. Shit. His face paled when he gazed at his hand, still a shaking fist, and felt the broken pencil in his palm. Triple shit. He swallowed with difficulty. Couldn't do anything right today.

New year, my ass.

He ran his fingers through his hair, trying and failing to suppress the storm rising within him. Fuck.

Something tapped his shoulder.

Naruto gazed up –

Sensei stood beside him, holding a spare pencil and a new quiz. He offered them to Naruto, then took away his torn paper. He glanced at him again, his eye unreadable, and left.

Naruto flushed and lowered his eyes to the paper. Shit. His face burned with humiliation. Still, he grabbed the new pencil and turned the page. Math. Great. He knew math, but he did not know how to explain math. Everyone always accused him of cheating, all because he knew the answer but did not know how.

I gotta try, he convinced himself. I gotta try.

He tried to read the question. He read the first sentence once. Twice. Five times.

Fuck. He held his head, trying to resist the spots dancing in front of him. Fuck.

He did not eat anything since that ramen yesterday, and he shared the remains of his sandwich with the dog he found. He still had to find a way to feed that dog… he was a large dog. He probably needed lots of food.

What if he ate his furniture.

Naruto snapped and pulled himself back up. He had to stay awake. Read the question, he muttered to himself. Just read the fucking question.

The dots became blots, growing larger by the moment. Naruto leaned his head on his fingers, trying to fight oncoming vertigo. Stay awake, he forced himself to sit upright. Stay awake. Stay fucking awake.

The whole world spun. The smell of the bread was distracting. And of course, he had to sit in the back, right where the food was.

Still, pride and vertigo anchored him to his seat. He sat and stared and chewed his new pencil.

It did not help. No matter how hard he bit his tongue and how coppery his mouth tasted, he still could not read.

Fuck it. It's just one quiz. Fuck it.

His disappointment was as bitter as his blood.

"All right, pencils down. Turn in your quizzes, please! You will have your answers next class. Get home safely!"

The students rose and handed the papers to the teacher. Some smiled and waved; others simply shouldered their backpacks and left. Sasuke was the first to go. Of course.

Naruto gritted his teeth, shouldered his backpack, and handed the teacher his paper. He did not meet his eye as he walked away –

"Uzumaki," the teacher said curtly. "Stay here for a minute."

"Someone's in trouble," sang Kiba and sprang out of class, barking in victory.

Naruto's eyes snapped up, glowering. "I didn't do anything," he spat.

The man gazed at his quiz. "I know. That's why I asked you to stay." He lifted the unmarked paper. "You didn't even answer the easy questions."

Naruto scoffed. "You didn't answer your easy questions. Why should I?"

The man hummed. He placed Naruto's paper on the student desk closest to the teacher's and walked to the sandwich station.

Naruto swallowed.

"You don't have to. I was surprised that you didn't, that's all." He pulled out two slices of bread. "Peanut butter? Strawberry jam?"

Naruto coughed. His throat tightened dangerously. "I-I don't understand," he managed. His eyes were fixed on the man's back. He refused to look at the food in his hands.

"What do you like?" The teacher turned to gaze at him with his one black eye. "On your sandwich."

Naruto took a small step back. His chest heaved. "I'm not." His throat clicked. "M'not hungry."

The man turned his gaze slowly back to the task at hand and spread peanut butter on one slice and jam on the other. Then, he placed one on top of the other and sliced the rectangle into two triangles. He put the two sandwiches on a plate and carried it, along with a water bottle, as he walked toward Naruto.

Naruto had to swallow again. He clenched his fists and looked away.

"I want you to try, Uzumaki. As a courtesy to me, if not to yourself." He placed the food on the student desk next to the quiz. "You don't seem like the type to give up."

Naruto crossed his arms. "I can't stay, though. My parents will be worried," he lied. His eyes constantly shifted back to the food. His stomach constricted painfully.

"Ah, of course." The man smiled apologetically. "I'll call and notify them." He walked toward his bag.

Fuck. Naruto paled and clenched his fist. "It's fine! It's fine, don't bother." He blushed when the teacher gazed at him. Again, a hot, burning weight settled in his stomach. It was like the man knew he was bluffing. "They're in important business meetings n' stuff. They won't answer." He sat down with a huff, ducking under the man's penetrating gaze.

The teacher nodded. His phone, all of a sudden, rang. "Ah, excuse me," he said as he fished it from his bag and gazed at the screen. "Uzumaki, why won't you take a break? I'll be back in ten." And left the room.

Naruto counted the seconds. One. Two. Three. Five. Ten. Ten seconds passed, and the man did not return.

Good.

He lunged at the first sandwich, devouring it as fast as he could, choked, and drank from the water bottle. When he finished, he reached for the second one – and froze. He swallowed his saliva, his hand trembling, and shoved the other half into his bag. He hoped it was enough to convince the dog to stay.

Damn it.

Damn it.

He drank the entire bottle, salvaging every drop, leaned on the table, and closed his eyes. Just for a minute. Just for one, fucking minute…

A hand shook him awake. Naruto snapped up –

The new teacher leaned over his shoulder. "You can come tomorrow during zero period, if you like," he said.

Naruto rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "Can't. M'fine." He rubbed his face and stared at the first question and did not meet the teacher's eye.

Finally, his eyes focused. He picked up the pencil and waited for the teacher to back off and leave him alone. Only when the man settled behind his desk and diverted his gaze did Naruto manage to focus on his quiz.

What's your favorite color? Orange.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Not here.

Do you need help?

He hesitated, then moved on to the page.

The first question… limit something. Fuck. Naruto rubbed his head, trying to focus… he remembered, more or less, the order of operations. The math was easy enough – he skipped ahead, scribbling the answer only when he wanted to remember it – got to the last part – hmm. That's not right.

Naruto squinted. The math looked right, but the answer felt instinctively wrong. He tried again, retracing his steps, and again… his mind wandered back to the answer he knew was right. It was like a tree, a tree where each leaf feeds the stem and the stem feeds the leaves, and… ah. That must have been it.

Naruto scribbled an equation and calculated the answer. He wrote the calculator's result, hesitated, and then added two more digits. That'll prove he didn't cheat or something.

The next question. Naruto frowned as he read. And blinked and stared and read and stared again. I can't solve it. I can't solve it. I don't know how. I don't –

"Just try," the teacher said. "Don't give up."

Naruto's head snapped up to look at the teacher.

The man sat near his own desk, grading the students' quizzes. He had a beauty mark under his lip, and he did not look at him.

Naruto blushed and gazed back down resolutely. Don't give up. Fuck it, then. He did not know how to solve it, but he knew… he could not explain how, but he knew the answer. He drew his thought process, almost at a loss, using trigonometric functions and angle properties to prove his point.

Fuck it.

He got to the final question. Read it once. Read it twice. He scowled. The question made no sense. He rolled his eyes, wrote a curse, and added a crude drawing.

Fuck it.

He got up and put the paper on the teacher's desk. "See ya," he muttered and marched outside –

"Uzumaki," the teacher said. The man's measured voice stopped him in his tracks. "You left one question blank."

Naruto turned around and eyed the paper the teacher held for him. He gulped. "Oh. Right. You can mark it as a 'no' for me." He tried to leave again –

"Mark it yourself," the teacher said quietly. He offered Naruto a new, unchewed pencil and gazed at him expectedly. His black eye was too knowing, and that felt like a challenge.

Naruto scoffed. He shrugged, walked toward the other man, grabbed the pencil, lifted his arm, and…

His fingers twitched, and the pencil fell to the floor. Naruto's cheeks burned red. He turned around and walked – as quickly as he could – to the door. He refused to meet the man's one, unsettling eye.

"I'll take it as a 'yes,' then," the man muttered.

Naruto opened the door with a thrust. "Fuck you," he snapped and ran out.


Notes:


Hey y'all!
So when I first started thinking about this AU, I was looking for a way to reflect Naruto's power and intelligence. Naruto was always a smart kid and had the potential to be strong, but because of the way he was taught and treated, we didn't really get to see it (except for glimpses here and there) until Shippuden. So I figured I should somehow represent his talent in a school setting, and out of all the different subjects, Math just felt... right. It also allows me to keep Kakashi and Sasuke in the same field as Naruto, albeit with different mathematical approaches (aka I'm sticking them both in the physics department). Anyways, if Kakashi thought one question on a quiz would be enough to get Naruo to open up to him, he couldn't have been more wrong hahah
Well, that's all I got for today! I'd love to know what you think! Honestly, your comments make my day 333
See you next Friday!