Pranks

At the Ninja Academy, the moment the bell rang, the whole campus filled with energy and noise. Students left their seats in droves. Some laughed and played around in the classroom, while others chased one another down the hallways.

During the break, Naruto pulled Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji into a corner of the classroom. His eyes sparkled with mischief, as if he were hiding countless little secrets.

"Hey, don't you think Menma's been acting way too smug lately? He's always showing off during sparring practice. It really gets on my nerves." Naruto crossed his arms and pouted, swaying a little as he spoke, his face full of indignation.

Kiba scratched his head, his eyes lighting up as a mischievous grin spread across his face. "Haha, Naruto, what are you planning to do?"

Shikamaru sighed helplessly, a hint of worry in his eyes. "Naruto, this isn't a good idea. He's your little brother, after all. You're going to get yourself into trouble."

Choji was stuffing potato chips into his mouth, his cheeks bulging. He chewed as he mumbled, "I think Shikamaru's right. If we get caught, we're in big trouble."

Naruto didn't seem concerned. "What's there to be afraid of? It's just a little joke. Look, I've already got it all planned out." As he spoke, he pulled a small wooden box from inside his clothes and carefully held it in his hands. He shook it mysteriously and lowered his voice. "Menma's terrified of spiders. We'll put this in front of him, and it'll scare the daylights out of him."

Kiba's eyes lit up with excitement. "Haha, that'll be fun!"

Shikamaru frowned and tried to stop them. "You really shouldn't do this. What kind of older brother leads the way in picking on his little brother?"

"Aw, come on, Shikamaru. When did you get so timid?" Naruto cut him off impatiently, then fixed his eyes on Menma, who was sitting at his desk, engrossed in a book titled Nintaijutsu Teaching.

Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji crouched low and tiptoed toward Menma. But Menma heard them coming and looked up. Seeing them approach, he put down his book and asked, puzzled, "Why are you sneaking around?"

Naruto tried hard to hold back his laughter, his face turning red. He held the wooden box out to Menma, his voice brimming with barely concealed excitement. "Menma, we found something good for you. Open it and take a look."

Curious, Menma took the box. He sensed something was off, but opened the lid anyway. The moment it came open, a spider suddenly crawled out.

"Ah!" Menma sprang up as if struck by lightning. He hurriedly tossed the box aside and leaped away, putting distance between himself and the spider. He pressed his back against the wall, his face pale and fear still lingering in his eyes.

Seeing Menma's reaction, Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji could no longer hold back. They clutched their stomachs and burst into laughter.

Menma still hadn't recovered. Leaning against the wall, he breathed heavily, his chest heaving as he nervously glanced from time to time at the wooden box lying on the floor.

"Haha, Menma, it was just a joke." Naruto laughed as he walked toward Menma and reached out to pat him on the shoulder.

"You guys went too far! Naruto, you're Menma's older brother. How can you bully your own little brother like that?" A clear voice rang out.

The four turned around. The speaker was Ino. With her arms crossed, she stood watching them, a hint of disapproval in her eyes.

The commotion had also caught Kuaiyu's attention. He hurried over to Menma and gently patted him on the shoulder. Only then did Menma seem to wake from a nightmare and come back to his senses.

He gave Kuaiyu a grateful look, then turned toward the four. They were now sneaking toward Sasuke's back.

Sasuke was reading alone in a corner. Sunlight streamed through the window, outlining his profile in a soft glow.

Naruto crept up behind him like a thief and carefully placed a toy snake there. Then he deliberately cleared his throat and called loudly, "Sasuke, there's something behind you!"

Sasuke frowned and slowly turned around. When he saw the toy snake, his eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't panic like Menma had, but he still frowned in displeasure and slapped the toy snake aside, a trace of irritation in his eyes.

When Sasuke barely reacted, they turned their attention to Shino. They knew Shino was always carrying bugs, so while he wasn't looking, Naruto secretly hid the container Shino used to keep them in.

When Shino noticed his bugs were missing, a look of panic flashed across his eyes. He began searching all around his desk, while the others hid nearby, covering their mouths as they snickered, their eyes brimming with excitement at having pulled off their prank.

Because of what Ino had said earlier, they decided she deserved to be pranked too.

So they set up a little contraption on Ino's seat that would suddenly spring out a scary doll. When Ino came back and sat down, the doll popped out with a whoosh. "Ah!" Ino screamed in fright and covered her face with both hands.

After Ino was startled, the four laughed without restraint. The whole class turned to look, most of the students glaring at them in disapproval. They all thought the four had gone too far.

But Naruto didn't care and kept laughing. Shikamaru and Choji, on the other hand, felt they'd taken the joke too far, and a sense of unease crept over them. When they heard Naruto wanted to prank Iruka, Choji was especially adamant in his opposition, his eyes wide as he shook his head frantically.

But Naruto and Kiba wouldn't listen. They simply thought it would be fun and figured nobody had ever tried anything like it before.

The four went up to the front of the classroom and secretly tampered with the podium and chair. The moment anyone touched them, they would fall apart. Naruto and Kiba exchanged glances, their grins growing wider and more mischievous. Shikamaru and Choji stood off to the side, watching them with helpless expressions, as if they could already foresee the disaster to come.

Just then, the bell rang, its clear notes echoing across the campus. Everyone hurried back to their seats, and the classroom fell quiet. Iruka walked in as usual, his steps steady and confident, a textbook in his hand. He went to the podium and placed the book on it. Suddenly, with a crash, the podium collapsed, and the books scattered across the floor.

Iruka stared at what had happened, his eyes filled with surprise and anger. Frowning, he looked at the class and asked sternly, "Who did this?"

Naruto and Kiba clamped their hands over their mouths, their bodies trembling as they tried to hold back their laughter. But their barely contained grins were still plain to see.

Soon, though, they stopped laughing. Every student in the class was staring at Naruto and Kiba—and Shikamaru and Choji as well.

At the sight, Iruka immediately understood what had happened. He looked at the four of them with disappointment in his eyes. "Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji, did you do this?"

The four immediately quieted down, but Naruto and Kiba still couldn't quite keep it together. The muscles in their faces twitched as they fought to suppress their laughter. Iruka's expression darkened further. He rapped on the blackboard irritably and said, "You four, get up here and put the podium back together!"

The four hunched their shoulders like wilted eggplants. Shikamaru thought this was such a pain. He hadn't even been involved much this time, yet he'd still been dragged into it.

Reluctantly, the four went to the front and started putting the podium back together. Just as Iruka was about to sit down, there was another crash—the chair collapsed, and Iruka fell to the floor without warning.

The whole classroom fell into a terrifying silence. Everyone stared in shock. Naruto and Kiba couldn't hold back and burst into laughter again.

Iruka got back to his feet and glared at Naruto and Kiba, his eyes blazing and his face flushed. Just then, Ino stood up and spoke clearly and loudly. "Iruka-sensei, Naruto and the others didn't just prank you. They pranked us too, and they even scared Menma."

At that, several other students chimed in, talking over one another as they described the pranks Naruto and the others had pulled. Shikamaru felt his head was about to split. We've really gone too far this time.

Menma looked at the four and shook his head helplessly. He could already imagine Kushina giving Naruto a good scolding when they got home. At the thought, Menma couldn't help laughing.

As Iruka listened to the other students' complaints, his expression grew stern. He looked at the four and said, "Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, come outside with me!"

Naruto and Kiba immediately sobered up. With their heads lowered, all four followed Iruka-sensei out into the hallway.

Iruka-sensei crossed his arms and said angrily, "Do you think playing pranks like this at school is fun? You've disrupted your classmates and shown disrespect to your teacher."

Naruto said quietly, "Iruka-sensei, we just wanted to have some fun. We didn't think it through."

"Have some fun? This is how you chose to have fun? You've disrupted everyone's studies and daily routine. Now all four of you will stand here and think about what you've done." With that, Iruka turned and headed back into the classroom.

Once Iruka was inside, the four looked at one another, unsure what to do. Naruto and Kiba quickly climbed out through a hallway window. Shikamaru and Choji were startled at first, then followed them out. Choji was rather stout, though, and struggled quite a bit to climb through the window.

Iruka heard the noise and glanced outside. When he saw the four running away, his face turned livid. "Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji! Get back here!" he shouted, then ran after them.

Serves them right. Menma shook his head helplessly, almost as if he were talking to himself.

By dusk, Naruto and Menma had returned home, with Iruka coming along as well. Menma opened the door and went inside, while Naruto kept his head down like a guilty little quail, unable to look up.

"You're back!" Hearing the commotion, Kushina came out of the kitchen with a warm smile and greeted them. Then she noticed Iruka, a hint of confusion in her eyes. "Iruka, you're here too. Did Naruto and Menma get into trouble at school?"

As she spoke, she glanced at Menma, who was sitting on the sofa, and Naruto, who was still changing his shoes. Her sharp eyes immediately told her something had happened.

With a helpless look, Iruka told Kushina everything that had happened at school that day.

Kushina's face darkened instantly, like a storm cloud gathering. She planted her hands on her hips, her eyes blazing as she shouted at Naruto, "Naruto! Look at what you've done! And you dragged your classmates into it too! You even pranked Menma! What a wonderful older brother you are!"

Naruto lowered his head and muttered, "I just thought it would be fun."

"Fun? You think it's fun to hurt people like that?" Kushina raised her hand in anger, but it stopped in midair. In the end, she couldn't bring herself to hit him.

Naruto kept his head bowed, not daring to look up. Kushina turned to Iruka and apologized. "I'm sorry, Iruka. I haven't taught Naruto properly, but don't worry. It won't happen again."

Iruka couldn't say much more. After exchanging a few words with her, he left.

Naruto was still standing there with his head bowed. Kushina went over to him and said sternly, "Why didn't you think about the consequences before pulling a stunt like that? Tomorrow at school, you'll apologize to every classmate you pranked. And on top of that, you're going to write a reflection!"

Seeing this, Menma got up from the sofa and led Naruto upstairs. Kushina watched them and shook her head helplessly, then turned and went back to the kitchen to continue cooking.