Trust || Narushika

We meet again

At the age of eight years old, even though it took him three tries, Naruto was finally accepted into the ninja academy and he was practically bouncing off of the walls when he returned home. Finally. He was finally accepted to the academy and he couldn't be any happier. But, this was the first  time he had been happy in ages, everyone thought he was an idiot since it took him more than one try to get accepted into the academy. He just had to prove them wrong, the time would come later on in life, he just had to believe it. That explained why, on the first time, he was the loudest kid there, trying to come across as a hyperactive kid, one that was way too happy to be in education for hours. While he was bothering the teacher, trying to find out what they would learn, he heard someone shout from the other side of the classroom "Sit down and be quiet, demon! We've heard enough of that damn mouth of yours!"

His words were cut off by that, causing him to look over at the person in shock- it was a girl. She was sporting pink hair and was giving him a look that showed she was annoyed and meant every word she said. "Sorry, i'll be quiet" he mumbled in return, going to his assigned seat which was next to some depressed and angry looking kid, he was probably emo. Class continued like usual and Naruto remained quiet, lunch rolling around fairly quickly. He had no parents to make anything and he couldn't possibly bring cup ramen to school, they probably wouldn't let him enter with it. Watching as everyone started walking out and going into their friend groups, the eight year old stayed at his seat quietly, even though his hunger was eating away at him, he would have to wait until he got home since he didn't have any money to buy school lunch either. After sitting there for a while and wallowing in his own thoughts, Naruto hardly noticed the sound of the someone entering the room, only noticing when some food was placed in front of him and someone slid into the seat next to him. "Is this for me?" he asked, looking at the person beside him, receiving a nod as they folded their arms on the table and rested their head on their arms as a substitute for a pillow. "You really didn't need to- I- thank you-"

"Don't mention it, it was troublesome enough to get up and talking requires more energy, let me sleep and wake me up when lunch is over" the person, who Naruto had finally recognised to be Shikamaru, said before letting out a yawn and getting comfortable. Nodding in response, even though it wasn't seen, Naruto started to eat in silence as he saw the other male had fallen asleep. It was quite funny to him actually, how Shikamaru was probably the laziest person that Naruto knew, but he made the journey to the lunch area to get him food. What a friend he was, even though he couldn't voice out his appreciation, he knew that his friend already knew that he was grateful.

After a while, the lunch bell started to ring as Naruto finished his food and threw all the rubbish in the bin that was in the classroom. Students started to pile in, just as the young blond returned to his seat, gently shaking Shikamaru awake, to which the other boy just shrugged him off without much effort and attempted to continue napping. "Hey, Shikamaru, class is about start- you need to get up" the young male continued persisting as he shook his friend awake, receiving what you could hardly call a response as he continued to rest on his arms, humming instead as a reply. "Your mum said I should tell her when you're not focusing in class, I guess I should tell her you were sleeping before we even started- hmm, should I?" he pretended to question, watching as Shikamaru finally got up with a groan falling from his lips.

Standing up, Shikamaru mumbled a quick "troublesome" as he made his way towards his seat without looking back at Naruto, causing the blonde to chuckle at how his friend responded in similar ways all the time, knowing that he was clearly annoyed by the fact that his rest was disturbed. Even so, he continued to be loud in class until it ended, keeping up the image that he let others have on him.

"Okay, class, everyone line up and we'll get on with it" his teacher, Iruka, ordered, making Naruto panic as he just realised what they were about to do. The genin test! He completely forgot about it and was nervous when it was finally his turn and, to no surprise, he failed. Naruto sulked as everyone else received their hitai-ate individually, it was such an amazing ceremony and he wasn't included. Sighing, he walked out of the classroom without anyone noticing, well- that was what he thought.

Suddenly, the other teacher who had been in the room was right beside him "hey, Naruto- there's still a way for you to pass if you really want to" the teacher, Mizuki, said as he looked at the young blonde, knowingly giving him false hope.

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Can we just skip past this- everyone knows what happens already, I didn't even write exactly what happened, bUt- just pretend the whole Iruka giving Naruto his forehead protector happened already.