It was another bright, breezy morning, and the classroom brimmed with energy. The other students looked lively and listened intently as Iruka stood at the lectern, talking at length about the Will of Fire textbook compiled by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Our Naruto, however, looked listless, as though all his vitality had been drained away, leaving him with none of the fighting spirit someone his age should have had.
Since last night, he had been stuck at Chunin III in ranked matches. He lost every promotion match. Refusing to accept it, Naruto had attempted well over a dozen promotion matches, only for every one to end in defeat. He had seen every flavor of Naruto's arena: utterly cancerous lineups, purist lineups, damage-dumping lineups-everything imaginable. Yet Naruto couldn't beat any of them, which was strange.
"Could my skills have gotten worse? That shouldn't be happening."
Beaten into a funk, Naruto fell into self-doubt. He simply couldn't understand why he still couldn't beat his opponents when he was playing to the absolute limit. By rights, he should have been able to win. After all, his execution had reached mastery through long hours of training.
Spiral movement, baiting substitutions, timing substitutions, baiting skills, controlling positioning-Naruto had tried them all. But thinking about the opponents he had been matched against gave him a headache and even tilted him a little.
"System, get out here."
[Ding. What business have you with this exalted one?]
"Huh? Seriously, you're putting on airs now? Explain why I can't climb in ranked. Have you been secretly rigging my matches?"
[Heh, what are you implying, host? You can't win, so you claim this system is rigging your matches? If you suck, practice more. If you can't take a loss, don't play.]
After saying that, the system even made a point of sending Naruto an "If you suck, practice more" meme.
[If you suck, practice more.jpg]
Naruto: ...If possible, everyone, please help me report Morefun. I can never climb in the arena, so report them for me. Please don't misunderstand: I have no regrets about this, only pure malice.
While Naruto was still locked in a battle of wits with his system, Iruka was beginning to lose his composure at the lectern. He had been engrossed in explaining ninja knowledge when his gaze happened to sweep across the classroom, and he suddenly spotted that conspicuous blond head resting on a desk, sound asleep. The sight made his temples throb. He really couldn't teach this troublemaker. The boy was far too disobedient. Every other student was listening attentively, while Naruto alone insisted on doing his own thing.
How could he possibly stand for that?
"Naruto Uzumaki!"
His voice was loud, but Naruto remained sprawled over his desk, ignoring him completely. Iruka's expression gradually darkened. This Naruto Uzumaki really wasn't showing him any respect.
Hinata, who sat beside Naruto, also noticed the murderous look on Iruka's face. But before she could do anything, Iruka exploded like a powder keg ready to blow.
"Naruto! Uzumaki!!"
When Naruto still didn't wake up, the furious Iruka grabbed the chalkboard eraser from the lectern and hurled it at him with tremendous speed and force.
In a ninja's hands, even a little chalkboard eraser could whistle through the air. Just as it was about to strike Naruto, he moved, catching the speeding eraser in one hand in an instant.
Seeing Naruto catch the eraser made Iruka even more displeased. This brat really refused to be disciplined. But before he could speak, Naruto's languid voice rang out.
"Iruka-sensei, you really don't need to shout my name."
Naruto slowly stood and lightly tossed the eraser in his hand. Everyone in the classroom watched the little eraser follow a parabola-like trajectory described by -x(x-2), landing squarely below the lectern in front of Iruka.
The classroom, already stirred up by Naruto, fell completely silent at that moment. They all had the feeling that Iruka was about to explode.
Some people saw Naruto differently, though. Sasuke, for instance, had initially been sneering at Naruto's behavior. But when Naruto effortlessly tossed the eraser from this end of the classroom to the lectern, Sasuke fell silent. That exquisite throwing technique was far beyond anything Sasuke could match.
Damn it, has this guy gotten stronger again?
Still, Sasuke shot Naruto a vicious glare. He hadn't expected this blond to love showing off so much.
Really, Sasuke couldn't be blamed for that, because Naruto hadn't expected anything like this to happen either. He had simply tossed it without thinking. Who knew he would happen to send it straight back the way it had come?
By this point, however, Iruka was already on the verge of exploding.
He looked at Naruto with disgust. This student was utterly defiant, and worse still, he had left Iruka with no way to save face. If Lord Hokage hadn't specifically assigned him, he would never have wanted to see this "demon fox." It was because of the Nine-Tails that his parents had died and he had become an orphan. He should have had a happy, complete family too.
This matter was like a thorn lodged in Iruka's heart. Every time he saw Naruto, he couldn't hide the disgust in his eyes. Although he felt that he shouldn't behave this way as a teacher, he couldn't control himself...
His thoughts drifting into the distance, Iruka gave Naruto a long look and was just about to say something.
Riiing...
The dismissal bell happened to ring just then. Iruka snorted coldly and walked straight out of the classroom.
Naruto shrugged somewhat helplessly. Was he being singled out?
But Naruto didn't care. Giving credit where it was due, Iruka might have been somewhat important to Naruto in the original story, having served as an early guide. But as far as he was concerned, sorry, they weren't close. Iruka was no different from a passerby.
Besides, he was himself, not the real Naruto Uzumaki. The childhood Naruto Uzumaki had been ostracized, but he hadn't. He alone had ostracized the entire village.
Ignoring everyone else's gazes, Naruto left the classroom on his own.
A few friends who got along well with Naruto quietly followed him.
Sensing people following him, Naruto turned around and saw that Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino had all come after him.
Naruto asked in confusion, "Why are you guys following me?"
They fidgeted awkwardly before Shikamaru finally spoke.
"Naruto, you were fucking awesome today!"
As Shikamaru spoke, he gave Naruto a thumbs-up. The others also looked at Naruto enthusiastically, as though they were looking at their idol.
Their behavior left Naruto rather bewildered. Scratching his head, he looked them over before asking:
"What's gotten into you guys?"
Only after hearing their explanation did Naruto finally understand. These children of major clans had long disliked Iruka at the lectern, because they could see that the way he looked at Naruto was just like those villagers-ignorant and foolish. As Naruto's friends, they found it infuriating, but since he was their teacher, there was nothing they could do. What Naruto had done today had really helped them vent their frustration.
Looking at them, Naruto couldn't help chuckling. Were people looking out for him?
Still, it felt pretty nice. Friends? He seemed to have had quite a few before, too. He wondered how Mecha King was doing, far away in that other world...
Shaking his head to cast those thoughts aside, Naruto finally looked seriously at the people before him.
"You don't think what I did was wrong?"
"Well, it's a drag, but what was wrong with what you did, Naruto? He's the one in the wrong. He's a teacher, yet he treats his students differently."
From Shikamaru's tone, it seemed he really did look down on Iruka's behavior.
"But I was sleeping in class."
Before Naruto could continue, the others broke into a heated argument.
"Sleeping? What's wrong with sleeping? Naruto was tired from class. Can't he put his head down and rest for a bit? I say that guy was making a mountain out of a molehill."
"Exactly, Shikamaru's right! That's just what I was thinking. That Iruka really is annoying."
Choji hurriedly swallowed the chips in his mouth and nodded along.
"Same here."
Watching them defend him like this, Naruto couldn't help twitching at the corners of his mouth. Were they really going to whitewash everything? Still, he didn't dislike the feeling.
"Besides, was that Iruka completely blameless? Who told him to make his lessons so boring? If I weren't afraid of getting yelled at, I'd sleep too."
Hearing Ino's words, Shikamaru nodded in agreement.
Choji looked at Ino, then at Shikamaru.
"Same here."
At that moment, Hinata also said quietly, "Iruka-sensei looks at Naruto just like those bad people do. I don't like him."
Then they all stopped speaking and fell silent. They couldn't understand why the people in the village treated Naruto that way either. When they asked the adults at home, all they received were evasive answers.
Naruto merely sighed and ended up comforting them instead.
"Okay, it's fine. I'm used to it." Naruto paused slightly, then continued, "Still, I'm lucky to have made good friends like you."
Those few simple words left the little ones blushing. As long as Naruto wasn't sad, that was what mattered. Didn't he still have good friends like them?
Yes, this was the sort of friendship they should have at their age: clean, pure, and free of any scheming.
"Come on, let's go eat, Naruto."
"Naruto, I brought a bento today. Want to try it?"
Ino enthusiastically invited Naruto, giving him no chance to refuse as she pulled him away.
Choji and Shikamaru exchanged a glance and followed.
"Hey, wait for us!"
Standing nearby, the nervous Hinata lowered her head even further. She had actually wanted to invite Naruto to try the bento she had brought too, but she was too shy to say it.
She could only watch as Naruto let Ino pull him away...