"Huh."
That's what Naruto thought. He was totally surprised to see Iruka, not 'cause he had trouble finding him, but because Iruka looked way younger, like early twenties young.
Iruka right now was looking pretty fresh-faced, you know, with that scar he's got across his nose. He had brown hair, kind of spiky, and brown eyes too.
He was rocking his usual Konoha ninja outfit – the blue jacket with the red swirl on the back, dark pants, and sandals. And yeah, he had his forehead protector with the Konoha symbol on.
'Maybe he just became a Chunin and newly an academy instructor,' Naruto was thinking to himself as he walked over to Iruka.
"Iruka-sensei, I need your help," Naruto said, being all polite and bowing his head.
When Iruka saw Naruto, his eyes got all soft. "What do you need help with, Naruto?" he asked, smiling real bright.
You know, back when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked Konoha when Iruka was a kid, his parents died trying to save him. But even though that happened, Iruka never blamed or hated Naruto, which is why everyone loves him in the anime.
"Sensei, I wanna learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu, can you teach me?" Naruto asked, giving him this puppy-dog look.
But Iruka totally got it wrong and was like, "Well, you're only in your first year, and Ninjutsu lessons don't start until next year. But since you asked, I guess I can show you." So, Iruka explained the hand seals to Naruto and showed him the regular Clone Jutsu.
'Hold up.' Naruto looked at Iruka and the clone he made and thought, 'Something's off. Is that really the Shadow Clone Jutsu?'
"Now you try, Naruto," Iruka told him, kind of pushing him to give it a shot.
So, Naruto made the same hand signs as Iruka and focused his chakra. With a poof, an exact copy of Naruto was standing next to him.
When Naruto saw this, his eyes went wide, not just because he did the jutsu on the first try, but because it was that lame E-rank Clone Jutsu, not the awesome B-rank Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
Iruka, who was standing right in front of Naruto, was also shocked and started clapping. "Awesome job, Naruto! You're a natural! You got it on the first try!" Iruka said, all happy and ruffling Naruto's hair.
Naruto just stared at Iruka with this deadpan expression. He couldn't believe Iruka misunderstood and showed him the basic Clone Jutsu. It was like he asked for a Lambo and got a Tricycle.
"What's wrong, Naruto?" Iruka asked, seeing that Naruto wasn't exactly thrilled about learning the new jutsu.
"Sensei, I asked for the Shadow Clone Jutsu, not the Clone Jutsu," Naruto said, totally serious.
"Huh?!" Iruka was completely dumbfounded.
"Naruto, you're not ready to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu yet. You've only been in the academy for two days," Iruka added.
Naruto just slumped his shoulders down, like Hashirama would, looking super sad and like he couldn't be bothered with anything.
"Um."
Seeing Naruto's sad face, Iruka sighed. His heart kind of melted. "Alright, Naruto," he said. "But I'm only gonna show you once. If you get it, great, but if not, don't keep bugging me, okay?" Iruka figured that even though Naruto was a jinchuriki and had tons of chakra, he still wasn't ready for jutsus at that level.
As soon as Naruto heard that, he totally perked up and smiled super wide. Then, Iruka showed him the hand signs for the Shadow Clone Jutsu and made a shadow clone of himself.
Naruto's eyes were glued to Iruka's hand movements and his chakra flow, like he had the Sharingan or something, copying the jutsu.
After that, Naruto did the same hand signs and started to make a shadow clone but stopped halfway. 'Wait! If I make a shadow clone here, it might become a problem, especially if those old shits Hiruzen and Danzo find out,' Naruto thought, and then he bowed to Iruka.
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei, for your time and help. I really appreciate it," Naruto said politely with a smile.
Iruka was about to ask why he stopped, but seeing Naruto's smile, he just nodded. Just then, Mizuki, Suzume, and Shibi Aburame walked into the staff room. Suzume saw Naruto and asked, "What's the student doing here during break? You need some help, kid?"
Naruto didn't say anything, just said 'hello' to Suzume and Shibi and started heading out of the room. As he left, he glared at Mizuki, which totally freaked him out.
'Why is this damn fox glaring at me? But his glare is... scary,' Mizuki thought, feeling confused and a little scared.
After Naruto left, Iruka explained to them that Naruto had come to ask about basic academy stuff and classes, but he didn't mention showing him a high-level Ninjutsu.
Naruto then went to the academy grounds since there was still some time before the next class. He saw Shikamaru, Choji, and Shino chatting on one side, while Kiba was running around with Akamaru.
'Huh.'
Naruto stopped when he saw Hinata standing alone in a corner. 'She's a Hyuga princess and doesn't even have any friends.'
'Is it because she's shy or is it something to do with the Hyuga clan? I mean, she should definitely have at least one friend, even if she's shy,' Naruto thought, looking over at Hinata.
When Hinata saw Naruto looking her way, she looked down at the ground, not having the guts to make eye contact. 'Is Naruto-kun looking at me?' she thought.
Naruto saw her reaction and just gave a deadpan look, like he knew exactly what she was thinking. But he decided to ignore it for now and walked over to Shikamaru and his crew.
——
Later on, the next class was supposed to be Genjutsu. But instead of actually learning Genjutsu, it was all about the theory – the basics of Genjutsu. And it wasn't even beautiful Kurenai Yuhi teaching it, but some random dude instructor.
The lesson was about how Genjutsu messes with chakra flow, how illusions are made, and how to break free from Genjutsu. It was all just talk, no actual demonstrations or anything.
This made Naruto even more determined to graduate early. 'I'll just send a shadow clone to the academy for a few months and then apply for early graduation so I can start doing some real missions.'
He looked around and saw that a lot of people were actually paying attention to the lesson. 'Nerds'. Naruto find it mind-numbingly boring.
'Seriously, don't they know anything about fun teaching? Or they just know how to drill the "Will of Fire" into these young Genin's heads?' Naruto thought, completely bummed out.
Then he looked over at Sasuke, who surprisingly was really focused on the lesson.
'Seriously, bro doesn't need to be so into this stupid class.'
Naruto was amazed at how focused Sasuke was, so he tried to ignore it and looked at his XP.
( XP : 3,195 )
'Hm... yeah, learning new jutsus really bumps those up,' Naruto nodded to himself with a happy grin and then put his head down for a nap, just like Shikamaru, who besides him was already out cold.