Chapter 5:

After Mouse's death, Naruto changed in some ways. She no longer cried as much and smiled more often. She started wearing a lot of orange, along with a long-sleeved blue shirt underneath her sleeveless orange shirt and orange shorts. But she also became bolder...

The children blinked at Mizuki, their substitute teacher. "Alright, I need you all to prepare some leaves and—"

"Puff," someone let out a snicker, causing the rest of the students to burst into laughter, for the most part.

"What's going on?" Mizuki raised an eyebrow and set down the chalk.

Everyone shook their heads, no one willing to reveal what they were laughing at. He turned around again, and everyone burst into laughter once more. "Enough, tell me so I can laugh too," Mizuki turned, looking at the students, most of whom covered their mouths. Then he noticed a leaf with a small piece of ribbon falling to the ground.

He picked it up and read what was written: "Sorry for being the bad sensei, but it's the only way someone would notice me... by being a bad boy."

Was that what had caused so much laughter among the students? "Who did this?" Mizuki asked, looking around the classroom.

No one spoke. When he realized it, Uzumaki wasn't in the room.

In that moment, they heard an explosion, and everyone turned to look out the window. The Hokage monument was painted orange, with whirlpools and the Second Hokage's statue appeared to have a runny nose.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" they heard their actual sensei shout. They saw Naruto covered in orange paint, escaping over the roof of the academy. She turned and smiled at the classroom. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'll be... the next Hokage, dattebayo!" With that, Naruto jumped off the rooftop, leaving silence in the classroom.

"That great" Kiba Inuzuka suddenly muttered in a low voice, as if he had just realized something, but he was the only one who thought that was great.

"Everyone will have extra classes!" Mizuki said angrily, and the children gasped indignantly, still hearing Naruto's laughter in the distance.

"Hey, because of you, we got extra classes!" When the children left the classroom, they found Naruto on her knees, covered in paint.

"... Oh... sorry?" Naruto tilted her head a bit before getting up, putting her hands on each side. "But... I'm not sorry," at that moment, Naruto fled. This was supposed to be her punishment, to sit there until Iruka-sensei returned, but she didn't want to. That was it.

Another change had occurred. "Hey, Chouji!" Chouji jumped at Naruto's voice and turned to see her. She had sat down next to him, Shikamaru hadn't arrived yet.

"H-hi, Naruto," he was somewhat surprised. Before, Naruto used to keep her distance.

She still stumbled over her words, and many times Chouji didn't understand what she was saying, but... Naruto had joined in playing with Chouji and Shikamaru, unaware that someone else would join them a couple of years later.

But... Naruto didn't seem to consider them her friends, and to some extent, Naruto didn't seek them out when she didn't have anything interesting to say or do. Her life was separate from the time she spent with the boys.

…

When the Uchiha clan was massacred, Naruto was angrier than ever.

"Poor Sasuke-kun," a girl mentioned. "He must be all alone." The comments hammered in Naruto's mind, especially when she heard a girl bragging, "I saw him at the hospital. I must have won him over since I treated him so well." That was enough. Naruto glared at the girl by the window. "Ah!" Anger turned into surprise when the glass disappeared and the girl fell, a crack could be heard when she hit the ground.

Cries for help and the sobs of some friends began to resonate, but Naruto realized that the glass had returned. The girl survived, which was a relief for the parents, although everyone still wondered what had happened. Naruto was fighting with Sasuke; perhaps she shouldn't have been angry with... the girls. Because she knew she had caused that. Somehow, it was her fault.

...

Shikamaru Nara approached Naruto, initially more because of Chouji. Naruto was annoying and loud, too much trouble for Shikamaru to think it was worth it. He thought the blond would be fine on his own, that the bright smile the boy wore wouldn't fade easily.

But he noticed the pain in Naruto's eyes when he was rejected or insulted by any of their classmates. He saw how he would force that unpleasant smile to grow and pretend not to care. That was what pushed Shikamaru to get closer to the blond, to "be friends," even though back then the word was quite vague.

"Are you waiting for Chouji?" Shikamaru opened his eyes only to see a bright blue, as Naruto's golden lashes fluttered when he blinked.

Shikamaru sighed with his hands under his head. He had lain on the grass to watch the clouds. "Not really... he's busy." Naruto hummed in response and moved out of Shikamaru's line of sight so he could see the sky again. But Shikamaru, without realizing it, was slightly disappointed by the blue of the sky compared to Naruto's blue.

He heard the sound of grass being crushed beside him before feeling Naruto's elbow brush against his. He turned his head to look at him, seeing Naruto gazing at the sky with a blank expression, his mouth slightly open, his eyes only brightened by the sky before him.

"You're a nice guy, Shikamaru," Naruto mentioned, causing Shikamaru to open his eyes in surprise. His categorization of the blond had caused a pang in Shikamaru's heart.

"You are too," Shikamaru whispered, engraving that fact not only in Naruto but also in himself. After all, they were friends, right?

Thanks for Read!