It was a normal day in the beautiful village of Konoha. People hurried off to work, ninjas headed off on life-changing missions, and kids ran around the streets playing ‘ninja’. In a sparsely populated business section of town, students filed into their appropriate classrooms to begin class in the ninja academy.

One of these students was a very energetic blond, Uzumaki Naruto. As he walked down the hall, he giggled to himself, thinking up new, mischievous pranks to play on his homeroom teacher, Umino Iruka. He suddenly halted in the middle of the hall as he dawned on something. He had already used up all his new pranks. With his sudden stop, students who had been walking behind him bumped into him, cursing him under their breath.

Nara Shikamaru was just walking in. “How troublesome,” he groaned to his best friend beside him. “Naruto’s already drawing a crowd.” As the students filed away, Shikamaru walked up to his troublemaking classmate.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru, his eyes suddenly bright, “Shikamaru! You’re smart right?!”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. “What do you want, huh?”

Naruto giggled to himself excitedly. “Can you come up with an awesome prank for me to pull on Iruka-sensei? I need one! Okay?!”

”How troublesome,” he groaned again. “Why don’t you just follow the rules for once?”

Naruto stopped to contemplate this as Shikamaru and Chouji headed inside the classroom. “Ah! I’ve got it! That’s a great idea, Shika— Huh? He’s gone.” Naruto shrugged happily as he went into the classroom. “Good morning, everyone!!” he announced. He beamed at the class.

”Idiot,” Sasuke muttered under his breath, too low for the blond ninja to hear.

As the girls surrounded Sasuke, as usual, Naruto went and sat down at his desk.

Iruka opened the classroom door, pausing to see if a chalkboard eraser would fall on his head. When there wasn’t one, he walked in slowly, making sure there wasn’t anything in his path. He checked the clock too, just in case Naruto had adjusted the time. Sighing, he opened his books. “Good morning, everyone. Quiet down, please.”

He looked at Naruto suspiciously, knowing that unskilled ninja was up to no good.

Naruto impatiently acted patiently as Iruka taught the class. When it was finally time to try out some shuriken training outside, he walked out with the rest of the class quietly. And when Iruka asked for volunteers, he didn’t raise his hand first, even though Iruka looked at him expectantly.

”I’ll do it,” Sasuke final said when no one spoke up. He stepped forward and with swift movements, hit the targets perfectly.

Naruto grit his teeth, willing himself not to say anything as the class cheered for Sasuke. Showoff, he thought to himself instead. Painfully, he raised his hands and slowly clapped for the stupid showoff Uchiha.

”Yay! Sasuke-kun is the best!” cheered Ino.

”Sasuke-kun is so cool!” Sakura exclaimed in delight.

Naruto’s face dropped. I have to stand it. I have to stand it, he repeated to himself. He took a deep breath to calm himself as he slowly raised his hand. “Can I go next, sensei?” he asked as Kiba stepped forward to throw shuriken.

His classmates looked at him strangely as Iruka awkwardly answered, “Sure…”

”He’s really acting weird. You don’t think something happened to him?” a classmate asked in a hushed voice to his friend.

”He’s got to be plotting something bad,” she answered back.

Naruto gave a cocky smirk as he heard her remark. His plan was going smoothly.

When he failed at the kunai throwing, Naruto didn’t even say anything. He only quietly walked to the rest of his classmates, smiling in good sport. “Darn it,” he grinned. “I’ll get it next time.”
~~~

After school, Naruto was about to walk out of the classroom when Iruka stopped him. “Naruto, do you… want to go out for ramen? My treat…” he asked, worried.

Naruto’s eyebrows shot up excitedly, then he remembered his plan and calmed his self down. “Sure,” he answered, if you don’t mind.”

Iruka finally brought out what was on his mind when they sat down to eat. “Naruto, did something happen?”

”Hm?” Naruto asked innocently as he slurped up his noodles. “Why?”

”You’re acting strange,” Iruka explained in concern.

”Oh… haha,” Naruto chuckled lightly. “I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf!”

”Is that so?” Iruka asked, shocked.

”Yessir,” Naruto said politely. Astonished, Iruka didn’t question him further.
~~~

The next day Naruto sat in his classroom seat, eager for Iruka’s arrival. Shikamaru walked up to him. “What’s with that troublesome look?”

Naruto could only grin. He clapped him on the shoulder. “Shikamaru, you’re a genius!” Shikamaru walked away, confused.

For once, Iruka walked into the classroom, feeling light than he had all year. As he walked in, there was a sudden bump on his head as an eraser fell from the door. He walked forward with mixed emotions, but suddenly slid on an oiled floor and slid a few feet, only to trigger a bucket of pink paint to pour on him from the ceiling.

Naruto hopped to his feet and skittered around his teacher. “Sensei, looks like it’s time to go. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, pointing to the clock that, indeed, showed it was time to go.

As Naruto skipped out the classroom, Iruka finally managed to sputter angrily, “,NAaaaRUuTOoooooo~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
~~~
Shikamaru sighed, resting his chin on his palm. “Ah… so that’s what he was doing…”