Chapter Text
Naruto woke up with an energetic yawn. He gazed around rubbing his eyes, trying to figure out the time. Slowly his vision got better. The sun was lazily greeting him, painting everywhere in his favorite color, orange. It was making him happy, filling him with brightness.
He was feeling pretty good for a monday morning which was unusual. He got up and started making his bed as he thought about how he spent last night. "Let's see... Hehe I ate my deluxe edition Ramen with meat. Ahh I also won UNO two times and even teased Sasuke. His face was so red when I mentioned Sakura-chan's visit. I wonder why... " Sometimes Naruto didn't understand Sasuke. He always welcomed Naruto to his house, but didn't invite anyone else. Sasuke didn’t really talk to anyone at class either, besides Naruto himself. But people still liked him anyway because he was super cool, clever and kind.
Naruto looked out of the window, seeing the sky and the village. To be honest with himself, Naruto didn’t really see much of the village from where he was because of garden’s high walls. So, Naruto was getting bored of looking at the same sky. His mind went to dangerous places.
"Maybe I should prank someone. Heh he a fantastic way to start the day. But who is available now to prank..." Naruto said as he put his hand under his chin to concentrate. He weighed his options. He was hungry and didn't want to go far away from his breakfast source, besides he promised to help Aunt Mikoto. He could try to scare Uncle Fugaku but he always ratted on him to his dad. Naruto didn't really like him anyway, he never appreciated his art. And these days Sasuke seemed to not like his father so Naruto didn’t, too!
Finally, he made up his mind. Naruto was going to prank his best friend because what are best friends for if not to be your victim!
Naruto quickly left the window sill and searched the room for his usual prank tools, he was racing against time. He wrapped his trusted rope around his waist as he made a quick plan to scare Sasuke. Despite what people would expect, Sasuke wasn’t an early riser if he didn’t have anything planned. And since he shouldn’t have anything to do - because Sasuke didn’t leave work for a new week — he should be sleeping peacefully unaware of the prank coming his way.
Naruto climbed up the wall of the house, reaching the rooftop. He wrapped the other end of the rope around the chimney, readying himself to jumpscare Sasuke. He could throw a fireball at him, but Naruto isn’t a coward! ‘Here I go’ Naruto said encouraging himself as he lowered his body at once, being level with Sasuke’s window and shouted:
“BOO!”
…but there wasn’t a Sasuke in the bed. There wasn’t a Sasuke at his desk either. Naruto was turning around, trying to see the balcony attached to the room but he was upside down hanging by his foot and it was making him look a little stupid if he spent more time looking like that. Thankfully an irritated voice confirmed his suspicion.
“Naruto, why are you yelling in the morning! And stop being upside down, it looks ridiculous.” Sasuke commented but didn’t wait for an answer. He returned to what he was doing on his other desk, studying his scrolls. He heard Naruto climbing the roof again, probably untangling the rope. A few seconds later Naruto was near him, looking at his scrolls.
“What are you doing being up at this hour and all that?” Naruto asked, being a little curious at the reason why his prank failed.
Sasuke’s focus didn’t leave the scroll as he wrote down a few things. He closed it, feeling relaxed and satisfied as he finished taking notes. “I took notes for next week’s classes. Between homework and training I’m feeling a little behind.” Sasuke liked being ahead of everyone, it felt needed. It also made his big brother proud of him.
“Next week’s? Aren’t you already top of the class, what’s the preparation for, dattebayo!” Sometimes Naruto really didn’t get his best friend. Sasuke already knew most of the things at the academy, but still listened to the senseis. He didn’t need to take notes because he already had Itachi’s notes, but he still took more notes than half of the class.
“Because I don’t appreciate being left behind. Look, while I don’t have a fierce competition on physical parts - aside from you, Sakura rarely gets anything but one hundred on written exams and I can’t afford to slip up. If I want to save my number one spot, that is.” Sasuke - though not voiced - often acknowledged his classmate’s sharp mind. For him, Sakura was the only threat to his number one seat. When she sat next to him or in front of him, as he observed she was always focused on the lessons. Asking right questions and answering senseis when asked questions.
He placed his notebook in his bag, wanting to recite before finishing the day. Then, Sasuke looked at his little library, deciding on getting more books. 'Maybe I should skip lunch entirely and practice fuinjutsu.' His big brother was scheduled to arrive in about a week and he wanted as much free time with him as possible. His borrowed fuinjutsu book - from the Hokage, no less - joined his notebook as well.
Naruto heard Aunt Mikoto calling for breakfast, making him remember his promise. “Oh, crap! C’mon Sasuke, hurry up!” They descended stairs while making every possible noise. Aunt Mikoto already set the table, drinking her green tea accompanied by Shisui. Naruto sat by Shisui, already looking apologetic. Thankfully Aunt Mikoto accepted his apology and waited for Uncle Fugaku to start breakfast. Which takes too long if you ask Naruto.
The breakfast went as it always did. Sasuke’s father asked Shisui how his recent mission went, his mom asked how their academy and training went. After finishing breakfast Fugaku startled Naruto, his voice more stern than usual. “Naruto. Don’t shout in the morning.”
Naruto held his breath, nodding and trying to leave the house. Sasuke’s father often gave long lectures about how one should act in public whenever he saw Naruto happy — which meant always. Naruto felt his breath behind his neck already when he planned a little harmless joke.
“Now now Dear, don’t be so hard on him. The boys were just playing.” Naruto exhaled. Aunt Mikoto, ever the angel that graced his dark world, being a wall between her husband’s long lecture. Unlike the devil Obito is.
“Hmph.” Naruto silently walked towards the door, not wanting to interrupt the Hellfire. “You’re pampering this child too much. I wonder when you are going to adopt him.” Naruto pricked up his ears and held his breath once again.
‘Adopt me? It would be so cool dattebayo!’
Mikoto laughed at her husband’s antics. After two lovely boys all she wanted was a girl to pamper. ‘If only Izumi-chan wasn’t so shy…’
“You know I can’t do that.” Naruto couldn’t believe it. How come Auntie Mikoto can’t! He needed to find the reason. For this sensitive mission he had to find the most knowledgeable person he knows.
He started breathing again after reaching Sasuke and Shisui.
“Have a great day at the academy, Champion! You too, Sasuke!” They bid goodbyes to Shisui who earned an enthusiastic goodbye and a classic ‘ don’t you have a house, Shisui’ combo.
The two students kept a steady pace. As they walked, Naruto asked his best friend the question. “Hey Sasuke. Do you know how adoption works?”
Sasuke thought for a while. “You need to make a form and take it to the Hokage. Then he checks if both parties are compatible.”
“Compatible in what?”
“They review your finances, check your DNA etc.”
Naruto nodded in understanding. “What is a DNA?”
Sasuke tried to remember a book he read. “It controls how you look, basically.”
Naruto nodded again. Thank Kami he has a genius friend. then it must be because of how he looked. But he was a perfect boy as his mom always said. ‘If it’s about looks…’ Naruto looked at his friend, then tried to imagine other Uchihas. They all had either black or brown hair. And he had blond hair…
‘It must be because I have blond hair!’
Happy that he found the reason but sad he couldn’t become Naruto Uchiha Uzumaki, he changed the topic. “My sunflowers stopped growing these days. But they are even shorter than you, Teme. My mom said it’s because I overwater them but Dad said they are under too much sun.”
‘Did he just call me short-’
“Hmph. Maybe it’s a different specie, just like you’re Dobe.”
They bantered, a few insults spoken, a few jabs at last night’s UNO match— because of course one of them would bring it up. It stopped after seeing the academy grounds. This time, silent, they walked to the classroom.
The classroom was as loud as ever, showing how they're all children without a sensei present. Sasuke wasn't fond of loud places, voices made it hard to concentrate on anything. Which meant it was a disaster for the first few weeks of his academy days. His classmates always came to his desk, always asking him questions or trying to start a conversation. At first Sasuke tried to keep up and answer as much as he could. He thought they would leave once they got their fill, oh how wrong he had been. Then, Sasuke changed strategies. He didn’t answer anyone.
And it resulted in someone crying to their sibling who was Sasuke’s brother’s friend and complaining about some ‘Sasuke doesn’t talk to me anymore’.
After the Recreant Incident - as Naruto called it - Itachi talked down to Sasuke. He explained about classmate dynamics and what not to do. Sasuke listened attentively.
According to his big brother an elite ninja should always help a fellow ninja. Which was ironic if you asked Sasuke, because the very same elite ninja always just head-poked him when asked for help on training.
So, he changed strategies once again and answered them as much as he could stomach. Just, the answers weren’t always the expected outcome.
‘I am busy right now, maybe later.’ , ‘I am not obliged to answer rude people.’ , ‘Don’t you listen to the sensei?’ and his recent favorite - it made everyone gigly and stop bugging him for a while - ‘I believe in you, [insert name]. You can find the solution, I am sure of it.’
Sasuke, overall, only disliked a few things in the academy. One being changing his usual seat. He always sat at the same place, at least the row when Sakura didn't join him and Naruto which resulted in him sitting in the middle. Now, that someone was sitting in his second place, and next to Sakura a certain Yamanaka was sitting in Naruto's place. He still could sit in his favored sitting - by the window - but that would make him and Naruto split up. Sasuke didn't want to tell Sakura to move, because reasons— but he didn't have the same reasonings for Yamanaka, apparently neither did Naruto.
“Hey Ino-chan, can you move-ttebayo?” Ino looked at Naruto, dragging the moment, slowly she clasped her hands, smiling as evil as a ten year old can.
“You snooze, you lose Naruto. Wake up earlier next time and stop adding -chan to my name!” Ino answered.
“But it’s my seat!”
“Yeah, where is your name then?” She watched as Naruto looked around. He glanced at Sasuke, wanting his help. As if Ino would leave her battleground if asked nicely by the class’ golden boy!
“Why are you even sitting in Naruto’s seat, Ino?” Sasuke asked, trying to understand the sudden change.
“You see Sasuke-kun, my doctor said my eye sight is bad and I thought the ever kind Hokage’s son would offer me his seat so I invited myself over. Thank you, Naruto.”
Ino later added to be extra. “You wouldn’t make me go to the farthest seat, would you? You're Hokage's son, you should be an example.”
Sasuke shaked his head, if Ino got a doctor's notice he couldn’t really argue. His eyes searched the classroom for the other empty seat which happened to be occupied by Yuki and Susumu. Yuki, he didn’t really mind. But Susumu used to be someone who picked on Naruto. Sasuke didn’t want Naruto to be near him and he didn’t want to share a row with them, either. He glanced at their own row, both of the girls weren’t Naruto’s fan either. At least they treat him normal, Sasuke thought.
He saw Sakura look at him, probably expecting a move. He sighed.
“I will sit over there, Naruto. Let’s settle down before Iruka-sensei comes.”
Sasuke couldn’t see the disappointed look on Ino’s and Sakura’s faces.
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Sakura hated sitting next to Naruto. He talked a lot which wasn’t anything new, but she was sure it wasn’t to this degree.
“Hey Sakura-chan do you know why the Second has three red marks on his face? It makes him look like Kiba.”
Sakura tried to calm down and release the pleasure of her second pencil before it broke. She did her breathing exercises before answering him with the same phrase. “We’re in class, stop talking to me.”
Naruto looked like a kicked puppy. Sakura would feel sad only after Iruka-sensei dismissed them for lunch. Her top priority was always her lessons!
“Okay, Sakura-chan.”
‘Finally, some peace.’
“Also don’t tell that to Kiba. He already thinks he can become Hokage.”
Snap.
Sakura needed another pencil.