Seeing Sasuke casually place his order, Naruto was practically fuming. If it weren't for Sasuke, he could've eaten ramen for at least another half a month. How had he ended up without enough money for even one meal?!
"Go on. Since we're classmates, I'll pay for you." Ignoring Naruto's outburst, Sasuke continued absorbing the knowledge of the Flying Thunder God in his mind and answered nonchalantly.
"I... All right!" Naruto had wanted to argue with Sasuke about his careless tone, but then he remembered he really was broke. After struggling with himself for a long while, he finally lowered his noble head in silence.
"Thanks..."
"So you really don't have any money!"
Just as Naruto was about to thank Sasuke for getting him out of trouble, Sasuke added that remark, leaving Naruto speechless.
"If it weren't for you, I..." Naruto, scolded once again, stared at Sasuke's back and shouted angrily. But then he seemed to remember something and stopped halfway through.
"You're going to pay for me, right?" Calming down, Naruto glanced at Teuchi, who was still busy working, and asked Sasuke quietly from behind.
"Of course. I always keep my word!" Seeing how pitiful Naruto looked, Sasuke simply waved a hand without turning around.
"Great!" Delighted that Sasuke had agreed to pay for him, Naruto left.
"From now on, Naruto, your cells and your father's kunai will be the price of this meal!" After Naruto had gone, Sasuke turned his head and thought to himself.
"The ramen's ready!"
Teuchi's reminder brought Sasuke back from his thoughts, and he began to satisfy his hunger.
After enjoying his ramen with all the toppings, Sasuke set down the money and headed straight for his new home.
"That's quite a bond!" In the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen watched what had just happened at Ichiraku Ramen and smiled approvingly.
An Uchiha who inherited the Will of Fire, and Minato's son. They were both useful pawns!
"There's only one year left until graduation. It looks like my pawns will soon come in handy!" Sarutobi Hiruzen shut off the crystal ball's image and gazed into the distance, murmuring to himself.
After returning home, Sasuke went right back to sleep. After all, the knowledge of the Flying Thunder God would continue to sink in even while he slept.
The next morning, Sasuke opened his eyes and shook his head. To his surprise, the heaviness in his mind was gone.
"Have I finally mastered the Flying Thunder God?" Feeling sure, Sasuke quickly took out a kunai and began testing it. As he infused it with Chakra, a Tomoe Seal soon appeared on its surface.
"It's not very stable. Is it a problem with the material?" Looking at the kunai, which could only produce one tomoe, Sasuke pursed his lips in frustration.
Sasuke's Flying Thunder God Mark was supposed to have three tomoe, but this kunai could only produce one. It clearly wasn't suitable as a vessel for the mark.
"I really did it!"
The kunai couldn't serve as a vessel for the mark, but there was no denying that Sasuke had mastered the Flying Thunder God. The mark itself was proof enough.
"Now it's time to slack off!" Looking at the sun on the horizon, Sasuke smiled contentedly, then headed for the Ninja Academy.
Slacking off meant showing up for three days, then taking two days off. That should do it. With Sasuke's current strength, even if Naruto spent three years quietly building himself up, wouldn't Sasuke still defeat him in one move? There was no point.
Once he arrived at the Ninja Academy, Sasuke lay down on his desk and went straight to sleep. The lessons there were completely useless to him now.
As for their current instructor, Sasuke figured he could take on a dozen of him without much trouble. A hundred might be a bit dicey, since Sasuke couldn't reveal too many of his abilities.
"Is this guy here on vacation?" Shikamaru arrived in the classroom after Sasuke and didn't know what to say when he saw him already asleep.
Then again, it made sense. Sasuke had started training in Wind Release Nature Transformation years ago, so he was surely far ahead of everyone else. Sleeping was only natural. Even Shikamaru could barely keep his eyes open in class. The Ninja Academy's lessons were just too boring. Aside from a few idiots, surely everyone had learned all this stuff by now!
"Sasuke!"
As Shikamaru was thinking this, Naruto called out Sasuke's name and hurried into the classroom!
"Idiot! Why are you sleeping as soon as you get here?" Naruto stared at the sleeping Sasuke and didn't know what to say. It wasn't as if he made a habit of sleeping as soon as he got to class!
"Shh, keep it down!"
Sakura entered just behind Naruto. When she saw Sasuke was already asleep, she gestured to the two boys to be quiet.
"I'll take a nap too!" Shikamaru shook his head helplessly at Sakura's gesture, then returned to his seat and started sleeping.
Seeing that both his good friend Shikamaru and Sasuke, who had helped him, were asleep, Naruto promptly put his head down on his desk and joined them.
The students who came in afterward saw that most of the class was already asleep and quickly joined the sleeping crowd.
When the bell rang, Iruka opened the door with a complicated look on his face. Seeing that everyone was asleep, he assumed Sasuke hadn't arrived yet, so he wrote the words "Self-study" on the blackboard again.
This continued for an entire day. It wasn't until the next day, when Iruka happened to notice Sasuke asleep, that he finally woke the students who hadn't yet mastered the material taught at the Ninja Academy.
Naruto, who didn't know a thing, was one of them. Iruka didn't bother with the others, especially Sasuke. They were bound to graduate no matter what. Naruto was different. If that guy managed to graduate, it would take a miracle.
Soon, graduation season arrived at the Ninja Academy. On that day, many parents waited outside the classroom for their sons' test results. After all, having a ninja in the family was a source of great pride in Konoha.
Of course, neither Naruto nor Sasuke had any parents there. Both their parents had died, so there was no way they could come.
Sasuke had it a little better than Naruto: he still had an older brother, albeit a negligent one. But if that person came back, Konoha probably wouldn't even be holding a Ninja Academy graduation ceremony.
The students were tested according to their rankings. As the top student in the class, Sasuke went first. When he entered the examination room, he gently patted Naruto on the shoulder.
"Good luck!"
Leaving Naruto with those words, Sasuke slowly entered the examination room!
"Strange..."
Dynamic vision and the Flying Thunder God—getting ready in advance to set Naruto up!
Big shots, please toss me some votes! (づ●─●)づ
Before you continue