Shinobi Isekai!

Friendship

Naruto fidgeted in his seat. Today was the day, and he couldn't wait! His excitement was obvious—he wasn't even trying to hide it—and Sakura-chan sighed loudly beside him.

"Will you calm down, Naruto?" She asked angrily. "You're being distracting!"

"Sorry, Sakura-chan! I'm just so excited!" He clenched his fists as he smiled. "Today's the day!"

"The day for what?" She asked, slender brows scrunching in confusion. "What's happening today?"

Naruto held a finger over his lips. "It's a secret!"

"You better not be planning some juvenile prank!" She yelled. "Some of us are trying to learn, here!"

He folded his hand behind his head, leaning back in his seat. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see, huh?"

She growled his name under her breath, clearly about to launch into another tirade, when Iruka-sensei cleared his throat.

"If I could have your attention class, today we're going to be doing something a little different for you taijutsu segment. One of the older classes will be joining us, so I expect you to be on your best behavior, got it?"

The class began to buzz with excitement.

"GOT IT?"

Everyone nodded their heads meekly.

"Ahem," Iruka-sensei picked up a clip board and opened the door to the hall. "Go on then, get to the practice field."

Naruto launched himself from his seat, rushing through the door and down the hall. Iruka-sensei's voice followed him, but he ignored it.

Today was the day!

He burst out onto the practice field with a yell, catching the attention of the other kids already out there. None of them mattered, though. There was only one person he was looking for.

"Hana-chan!" He cried, wrapping his arms around the smaller child's neck and rubbing his face against her curly brown hair. "I missed you!"

She swatted at him with a laugh. "Naruto, what are you talking about? You saw me yesterday."

He loosened his grip enough to lean back and smile down at her. "Yesterday was forever ago!"

She smiled back up at him, her expression partially hidden by her mask. "You're silly."

Naruto's own smile widened, but before he could speak—

"Naruto! What did I say?"

He was pulled off of Hanako by the back of his neck, Iruka-sensei glaring down at him angrily.

"You can't just go racing off like that! You could have hurt someone!"

Naruto wiggled in his sensei's grasp. "Let me go! It's just Hana, jeez!"

Iruka-sensei looked like he might explode, but Hana intervened. "It's alright, sensei. I don't mind."

With a huff, Iruka-sensei set Naruto down and went to speak to the other chunin sensei. Naruto grinned at his friend. His friend. He never thought he'd have one of those. Sure, there were people who didn't treat him like dirt—he was lucky some of them were in his class—but that didn't mean they went out of their way to be kind to him. Not like Hanako. He'd never seen her look at him with hatred or disgust. Exasperation, maybe, but never anything worse. She was the best!

"Hey, Naruto, who's the girlfriend?"

He turned to see Kiba Inuzuka heading their way, the rest of the 'Naruto's not that bad' group trailing behind him.