Ⅰ
"This is a total waste of time, Naruto," Shikamaru groaned, rolling his eyes.
"We always pay for your screw-ups, you know."
Ino chimed in. Her tone was more annoyed than furious.
The two and the other classmates all gave Naruto an unpleasant look with their arms crossed. They were pretty much fed up with Naruto's constant pranks over the past several months, and it had come to the point where they could no longer tolerate it.
Despite their disapproving glance, Naruto simply brushed it off, "Like I care." He responded indifferently. His nonchalant attitude towards the mess he had made left me concerned about his behavior.
This was unlike him, I quietly thought. Naruto was always considerate of other people's feelings and would never act recklessly. I remember him standing up for a Hyuga girl who was being bullied and called names like "Blind Eye Freak." Naruto was by her side when this happened. He would always defend the weak and never hesitate to let the bullying continue. Still, knowing this, it was very hard for me to grasp that Naruto had just completely gone off track.
What had happened to him? When did he begin to behave in a way that would give everyone a bad impression? I do not know. But one thing is certain: today's schedule has completely changed due to Naruto's pranks.
To give you the full context of the situation, Iruka-sensei caught us causing a commotion in the corridor. He was in the middle of checking on all his students, making sure that everyone was present in class. While checking the attendance, he noticed that both Naruto and I were absent. He then heard a yell from the corridor. He went to investigate and soon discovered us making all the noise. But to be fair, I only raised my voice.
After the scar-faced Chunkn lectured us for being late, he quickly changed his attention to Naruto. He began questioning him about the pranks he had done this morning. When he learned that Naruto had graffitied the Hokage Monument, he was both ashamed and outraged. He had had enough of Naruto's pranks, as everyone else, but he never imagined that Naruto would do something that could lead to being charged with vandalizing a historical object.
He reminded the blonde boy that the graduation exam was approaching tomorrow. He warned him that this was his last chance. If my friend continued to slack off and refused to take any responsibility, he would be the only student who could not graduate from the academy.
However, Naruto ignored the warning as he looked away with annoyance. This infuriated the scar-faced Chunin, which made him change the test from parkour to a revision of the transformation jutsu (変化の術).
This revision required us to disguise ourselves as Iruka-sensei. We had to line up in the center of the classroom and take turns in hiragana order, from あ (A)to ん(N). My name begins with "だ" (Da), which is the character "た" (Ta) with two small dashes to make the pronunciation stronger. As "た" comes early in the sequence, I was among the first students to perform. After I finished it, it was Naruto's turn to do it.
As Naruto stood in front of Iruka-sensei, he quickly formed a Ram seal with his hand.
"Okay, here it goes," he confidently said. His face bore a mischievous smirk, and I couldn't shake the feeling that he was about to stir up trouble. With a flicker of determination in his eyes, he closed them and focused on executing the Ninjutsu technique.
"TRANSFORM!"
Moments later, a cloud of smoke billowed out, engulfing Naruto. As the smoke cleared, it revealed not Iruka-sensei but a beautiful naked woman with large breasts, a slender figure, and a curvy waist.
Iruka-sensei was deeply shocked when he saw this. He stood frozen like a statue, and his jaw agape as he stared at a stunning woman standing in front of him. Then, within a few seconds, as if his soul had been taken away, he flew back from the power of his forced nosebleed. The erotic image had struck him down like a raging bull.
Naruto erupted into laughter as he dispelled the transformation. Clutching his stomach, he was delightfully watching Iruka-sensei's defeat. "HAHAHAHA! How do you like the new jutsu I cooked up?! I call it the Sexy no Jutsu (お色気の術)! Been trying to perfect this one for months, and boy, was it worth the wait!"
However, his laughter quickly stopped when Iruka-sensei got back to his feet. "YOU IDIOT! CUT THIS STUPID TRICK! THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!"
As I watched him causing trouble again, I shook my head and sighed deeply in embarrassment. "Oh, Kami..."
Ⅱ
As Iruka-sensei took Naruto away to talk with him in private after the revision, he instructed us to go home and prepare for the test. After the two had left the room, the students quickly packed their bags and prepared to leave.
Just as I finished packing my things, Shikamaru's voice called out to me from behind. His hands were casually tucked into his pockets as he began to remark on today's event. "What a day, huh? Hearing Naruto graffitied on the Hokage's Monument. I can't believe he would do that, but I shouldn't be surprised."
"You had no idea," I sighed, reflecting on Naruto's changes over the years, "Being his closest friend for many years, I still don't know what he is thinking in his head recently." There was a long sigh as I rubbed my right temple.
"Well, not to be rude, but..." Chouji interrupted, "Why do you always help him? I've noticed that you're always by his side, and whenever he makes a mess, you're the one who cleans it up."
The two were curious about it. They seemed to want to understand my support for Naruto as they awaited my explanation.
"It's simple, Chouj. I made a promise."
"A promise?" he tilted his head.
"Yeah," I nodded. I then explained how I met him and pledged to be by his side. As I continued to tell my story to them, I could tell they were amazed by how devoted I was to Naruto.
"Wow, Darou. I had no idea that you made such a promise to him," Chouji responded.
"Yeah. No wonder you've stuck with him all these years," Shikamaru chimed in, his voice tinged with respect for my dedication to Naruto's friendship.
However, as the boys acknowledged my friendship with Naruto, a girl's voice quickly reminded us of the consequence we got into, "Well, even if he was that devoted to Naruto, it still doesn't change the fact that we all got into a mess," We turned our heads to the person who had said that. It was Ino. She raised her brow when she reminded us of what had happened throughout the test.
"You don't have to tell me about that, Ino," I replied, shaking my head. "I was aware that we'd all be dragged into it, but who would have thought… that would happen?" Shikamaru and Chouji started to avert their gazes, their cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Most of the boys were deeply shocked to see it in broad daylight, and let's just say… certain parts of our anatomy reacted to it quite happily.
However, the girls had a different reaction. They were very furious when they saw a naked girl posing in a very provocative way.
The vein was popping on Ino's forehead when she quickly recalled the very scene. She cleared her throat to clear her mind. "Yeah, well… you gotta do something about him, Darou. It's getting out of control." She looked at me. "Have you tried telling him to stop these pranks?" she asked, her tone curious.
"You think I haven't?" I retorted, frustration seeping into my voice. "I've been trying to understand his misbehavior for years. He wasn't always like this before, and no matter what I do, I am no closer to the answer!" My voice had a hint of defeat; the stress had worn me down over time. "I... I don't know anymore. I'm starting to feel like...argh. What kind of friend am I if I can't keep him out of trouble?"
I was nearly hopeless by this point. I felt like I had let Naruto down immensely, which compelled me to release my frustration in an outburst.
Seeing how down I was feeling, she nudged my shoulder to get my attention.
"Well, here is some advice for you, Darou," she kindly said. She sat on the edge of my desk.
"Instead of trying to figure out why he keeps pulling pranks, you should try to talk to him first. Sometimes people act out because they don't know how to express themselves. But given that you're his closest friend, Naruto will surely open up to you. Don't be hard on him. Just have a chat and see how it goes."
There was a tone of empathy when she explained it. It was as if she had been in a similar situation and knew what she was saying.
I was a bit surprised to receive such thoughtful advice from her. I didn't think that she would be so generous to help me figure it out.
"Oh, umm… thank you, Ino," I replied. "That's… really thoughtful of you. And I have to admit, I didn't think you were fond of Naruto."
In response, Ino let out a small chuckle, her expression softening with a hint of nostalgia. "He can be a bit annoying sometimes, but he does remind me of someone I used to be close to." her gaze drifted momentarily into the past as she confessed.
After a brief pause, she hurriedly carried her belongings and got ready to leave. "I should get going. I need to help at the flower shop this evening. See you tomorrow." She dashed for the exit, leaving us behind in the classroom.
After hearing her thoughtful advice, I found myself reconsidering my impression of her.
She was an extremely assertive girl who would never back down. Her attitude, words, and way of thinking were always straightforward and outspoken. Given her admiration for Sasuke, the last Uchiha in our class, I was under the impression that she didn't like Naruto at all. I had gotten used to seeing her being harsh towards my friend for a long time. It was quite obvious that she was always on Sasuke's side and would scoff at Naruto whenever he did something that annoyed her.
However, I started to realize maybe she wasn't as harsh as I had believed. Seeing this kind side of hers for the first time, I began to sense that there was a warm compassion beneath her bold demeanor that I hadn't noticed before.
"Darou? Are you okay?" Shikamaru's voice cut through my thoughts.
"Oh, I'm fine, Shikamaru," I quickly reassured him, though my mind was still grappling with Ino's words. "I'm all good."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes," I nodded confidently.
"Okay then. Let's go home." With that, Shikamaru, Chouji, and I left the academy. As we strolled the street, I slowly reflected on today's events. I was given some thoughtful advice on addressing Naruto's misbehavior and gained a new perspective on Ino.
