The Great Medic (discontinued?)

11: Show Off

A/N - Hello! Sorry for taking so long to update. Before I get into any bad news, let's start with something neat - my car is fixed and I bought a laptop not too long ago! It's sped up the writing process tenfold which makes me incredibly happy. As for the bad news...

My aunt, who is a single mom, needed surgery but the recovery time for her surgery was going to take time. She has two special needs children, one of which can't take care of himself, speak or really walk around - he's ten years old but acts like he's two instead. My aunt has six kids though so trying to take care of that many children as well as special needs ones would be hard on someone recovering from surgery. My mom - my aunt's sister - told her we'd take in the kids for as long as she needed to recover.

We had my cousins for nearly two weeks and it was agony. There are some other things that made it so, but I won't go into all of that for this author's note. I will say that my parents had a lot of financial difficulties during this time taking care of my cousins and, out-of-pocket, I helped my parents as best as I could but I didn't really make a lot to begin with. Everything with my aunt is fine now and my cousins are back in her care - things have finally calmed down at home.

So, thank you for being patient with me, everyone. I really appreciate you all during these times and I hope you all are doing well. Please read the end author's note for stuff relating to my discord server and, if you're interested in speaking with me and other readers of this fanfiction, here is the link to join the discord server: https://discord.gg/UzBvPaY4jh

It was early the next morning when Naruto made his way through the academy gates and into the courtyard. His eyes lifted from the ground, having been lost in thought after the dream he had the previous night, glancing up to see several of his classmates still outside. It was winter by now and many of the other students were dressed in jackets and long-sleeved shirts. "Seems like we're having class outside today." The blond-haired academy student thought, shivering a tiny bit at the changing wind.

Iruka saw him the moment he walked through the gates, giving the twelve-year-old a smile and a wave before turning back to speak to their other teacher, Mizuki. "Looks like a cross-lesson as well." Naruto mused to himself, moving to sit underneath the lone tree in the courtyard, "Iruka-sensei doesn't usually like working with other teachers much... wonder what the occasion is for?"

Attendance was taken slowly as students started to file in; the school day was about to begin. Only a couple of minutes before the first bell was to ring, the twelve-year-old academy student caught sight of Shikaku who was dropping his son off before leaving to go to work. Shikamaru shrugged off his father's side-hug, moving quickly to make his way over to his best friend. He plopped down on the cold grass beside the blond, immediately moving to lay on his back to stare up at the clouds.

Naruto stared for a moment before snorting at the Nara heir's antics before promptly doing the same, crossing his arms behind his head. A moment passed between them before he tilted his head, a lopsided smile on his face, pointing in a general area, "Doesn't that cloud kind of look like Iruka-sensei?"

The black-haired preteen squinted his eyes, assessing what he was seeing before a sudden chuckle leaving him, "Yeah, it kind of does."

"Naruto! Shikamaru!"

"Speak of the devil..." Shikamaru commented under his breath, getting a slap on his shoulder.

Iruka waved them over, hand cupped over his mouth, "Please gather with the rest of the students, we're about to begin the lesson." Mizuki stood beside the man, eyes narrowed and a clipboard held tightly in his hands.

Naruto hopped up from the grass, hands outstretched for the other teen. The Nara heir reached out, easily grabbing the boy's hand, being pulled up swiftly as the two made their way over to where the class was now gathering. The blond-haired academy student looked around in concern, eyebrows taunt, "Hey?"