Starting from the End

16. Reintroductions...

Naruto was happy. He was too delighted that he almost ignored a small group of villagers behind him. He might lack Kurama's enhanced senses but 7 years living in constant war made him wary of his surroundings. So, he substituted himself with a nearby trashcan and jumped on the next roof-top. He was thinking to give out some of his heavy-dose philosophy. But he was tired by his morning schedule of training and didn't want to ruin his good mood. So he jumped away from the daily-dose of an ordeal.

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9 hours of sleep was quite refreshing. And after kicking them out of the Uzumaki-Namikaze household, he had nothing to do in the middle of the night. And he had cried enough to compensate his whole life. He again summoned shadow clones to continue chakra-control exercises. What? It may be annoying but it was essential in his case. The more refined his chakra control would be, the more it would come easily to use that efficiently. And started to do his own taijutsu katas in the clearing near the house. About 6 hours of continuous self-improvisation, taijutsu training, custom made sealing arrays and meditation he allowed himself to take rest in the shade of a tree. I need to buy chakra papers... money. Oh, Sensei has my seals containing scroll.

He decided he had enough of early morning training. Now he had some time to plan. One thing was clear like crystal. He was horrible in long term planning. And he wished either Shikamaru, Sakura, Sasuke or Shino from his time was here. If it could be Kakashi, it would be more appealing. But it was his damned luck that only he survived. If only Kumara was active, he didn't have to concern himself with any kind of planning. He again felt a pang of loneliness. I can survive. He will come back. He just needs time. These were Naruto's only mantras.

He needed to wait for the chunin exam. Before that, he couldn't do anything except creating a strong bond with every single Konoha 12. But again their bonds started to form during the exam. So he really can't appear near them and say let's be friends. But maybe... Sai was out of the question, for now. But meanwhile, he felt like he was forgetting something. Something very important, something he should have remembered. But for his dear life, he couldn't remember. So he left that to time to reveal.

Naruto had decided one more thing he wanted to do. So left his clones behind and went to his former homeroom teacher's apartment, only to find it was locked. He was jittery about his own thoughts. He didn't know whether he would be shut down or not. Still, he wanted to try. He waited in front of the door and waited for his Iruka sensei.

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"Naruto... what are you doing here so early in the morning?" Iruka was a little confused to find his most naughty student in front of his apartment. It was unusually too early to have a visit from Naruto. Moreover, Iruka was still trying to grasp the situation that arose in the selection day and their conversations. He was really worried about this child. And Naruto's restlessness was causing Iruka to be more worried.

"Can I call you Dad now, sensei," Naruto said with a timid voice and a red face.

"Naruto..." Iruka said with a sigh. It was a sigh of relief. Not that Naruto would understand. He just wanted this child to act more like a child than the darkness he saw the other day.

Naruto seemed to shrink more thinking about the impending rejection. Maybe I should keep quiet. He did almost gave up his hope.

"... I told you, you can call me when we are off duty. And we are now. So, yeah son. You can call me dad." Iruka said with a smile.

Naruto's face brightened and a wide smile appeared on his face. "Thanks, Dad." He hugged Iruka tightly.

Iruka felt content to see a little light came back to the boy's eyes. "Let me fix something to eat. I'm pretty sure you missed yours."