"Hello, Kakashi-sensei!"
Sasuke greeted him as well.
When Naruto saw the white-haired ninja, his heart stirred slightly, but his expression remained calm. As though this were his first time hearing of Kakashi, he greeted him casually.
Kakashi swept his gaze over the three of them, told them where to gather tomorrow morning and not to eat breakfast, then vanished with a "whoosh."
Just then, Iruka came out of the school carrying his lesson plans. The moment Naruto saw him, his gloomy expression immediately brightened. He ran over and shouted, "Iruka-sensei, we graduated! How about treating us to ramen?"
Upon hearing that, Iruka nearly dropped the lesson plans in his hands. He only tossed out, "Iruka-sensei has something to do," before vanishing with the Body Flicker Technique.
Naruto scratched his head where he stood and said in confusion, "Come on, Iruka-sensei is being too stingy, isn't he? It's just one meal of ramen. It's not like we could eat him broke."
As he muttered, Naruto's face broke into a brilliant smile. "Still, Iruka-sensei can be stingy, but I can't be. Next time I see Iruka-sensei, I'll treat him to a whole roasted lamb..."
With the class assignments settled, Naruto and Sasuke prepared to head home and said goodbye to Sakura.
Sakura was especially happy today because she had been assigned to the same class as Sasuke, so the smile never left her face. "See you tomorrow, Sasuke-kun, Naruto," Sakura said with a springlike smile.
Early the next morning, Naruto and Sasuke got out of bed.
Kurama had risen first because he needed to make breakfast. By the time Naruto and Sasuke finished washing up, Kurama, dressed in a beautiful white lace dress adorned with pearls across the chest, carried the final breakfast dish to the table, then turned and called out,