Fᴏʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ Tʜᴇ Rᴏsᴇs✿

1

Child-like giggles rung through the air.

"Aniki!" a redhead with crystal violet eyes yelled. A blond with bright azure eyes grinned, his whiskered cheeks were crinkled. "It looks kinda funny, Aniki," the redhead smiled, his eyes turned into crescents. "I know right," exclaimed the blond. The wind picked up. Their seats swung slightly. The pair was suspended in front of a large mountain face. "Akemi, should I add more?" the blond wondered and turned to the redhead. The large expanse of rock was coloured with a cacophony of shapes and colours. The once dignified faces carved into the visage of the mountain looked like a couple of roadside clowns with bad make-up. The redhead looked at the covered stone faces. "Nah, I think it looks fine," Akemi waved his hand in a dismissive nature. "Oke—!"

"Naruto! Akemi!"

Akemi waved at the looming shadow with a nervous smile. "I-Iruka-sensei?" Naruto gulped.

˟

In Konohagaru, like many hidden villages, there is a ninja academy. At the age of twelve, the children are deemed fit to graduate on to becoming Genin. There is a total of three tests in the graduate's final year. If they were to fail all three, they must stay behind and complete their final year all over again. In many academic curriculums, there are top students and the top class, and so on. An elite Chūnin by the name of Umino Iruka is the teacher of the top class. He is a man of average height and build with honey brown skin and a scar across the bridge of his nose. One would think the man has it easy because of his excelling students. No, no he does not.

When Iruka stepped in class with a struggling blond and a limp redhead tied in rope, the class snickered. Iruka dropped the pair with a thud on the hardwood floors. Uzumaki Naruto, a 12-year-old spiky blond with blue eyes and a temper that would last for days on end. He was the class clown, the deadbeat, and the loser. He grumbled a few unsavoury words under his breath and rubbed his sore bottom. Something about a stupid teacher and a Debby-downer. Uzumaki Akemi, a 12-year-old redhead with purple eyes that does not talk much, however, he can be quite a loudmouth like his twin brother (Naruto is a loudmouth) when he is only around his twin brother. Akemi gripped the front of his denim overalls and blinked away the unshed tears. "I-It h-hurts," he whispered and rubbed his lower back. "Boys, you both have failed the exam," Iruka sighed exasperated, "Twice!" the man huffed then folded his arms over his chest. "That's it! We're reviewing the Henge no Jutsu!" Iruka yelled. The class stared at their teacher with curious eyes. "Even the ones who passed!" the class was quick to shout out their shock.

The students lined up, a girl with pink hair went up first. "Good, Sakura," Iruka nodded. Sakura squealed and turned to a boy with raven blue hair, "I did good right Sasuke-Kun?" The girl was promptly ignored, and the same boy went upfront. Like the pink-haired girl, he completed the technique flawlessly. Naruto was up next however instead of transforming into Iruka he transformed into a voluptuous girl version of himself, complete with blond pigtails and nude. Akemi gasped and quickly placed his hands on his eyes. He heard yelling and someone's wind being knocked out of them. "A-Aniki, why'd you do the sexy no Jutsu on s-sensei?" questioned Akemi. "You heard right! That was my sexy no justu," Naruto chuckled with a mischievous grin. "Why would you waste your time making such a Jutsu?!" Iruka squawked. Akemi loved his brother, dearly, but sometimes he does not know how come he still loved the blond.

"That's the most you've spoken, Akemi-Kun," a boy with a pineapple spiked ponytail commented, Nara Skikamaru, the son of a renowned genius. "O-Oh, thank you, Shika-Kun," Akemi sent the Nara a small smile and a pink hue appeared on his cheeks. Shikamaru returned the smiled and nodded. "Uzumaki Akemi," Iruka called the redhead. He stepped forward, "Henge no Jutsu." A poof and cloud of smoke revealed an exact copy of Naruto. "Woah! Go Akemi!" Naruto hollered and hooted. The redhead blushed as scarlet as his hair, "Thanks, Naruto." Iruka nodded, "Good Akemi," the Umino hummed.