Chapter Text
Naruto doesn't like this assignment. “Write down who you’d want to spend your last day on earth with,” Iruka-sensei says, and Naruto… doesn’t have an answer. He really doesn’t like this.
He doesn’t know what his mom or dad’s name is, so he can’t write them down. He doesn’t have any friends, so he can’t really write them down, either. Yeah, okay, he gets to hang out with Shikamaru and Kiba and Chouji sometimes, and that's fun, but they're not friends. Not like how Shikamaru and Chouji are friends, or Kiba and Akamaru.
Naruto has no one.
After a moment, he scoffs, folding up the piece of paper into a paper airplane and letting it fly. There’s no point.
Iruka-sensei, of course, gets mad. “Hey, Naruto!” he says, marching up between the desks to glare at him, hands on his hips. “Don’t throw out your paper!”
He leans back, closing his eyes so he doesn’t have to look his teacher in the eyes. Iruka-sensei is very, very good at knowing things when he shouldn’t, and Naruto doesn’t want that. “But there’s no way the world’s gonna end, Iruka-sensei!” he says, and he grins.
His teacher doesn’t accept that. “That’s why I’m saying if it does, Naruto.”
“Well, it ain’t gonna happen!”
They bicker back and forth, and Naruto lands himself a detention. Of course. He sulks for the rest of the day, chin on his desk while he glances at Sakura, who’s setting next to him. She’s pretty, but he hasn’t ever spoken to her, not really. And she likes that pretty boy, Sasuke – so he doesn’t think he wants to spend his last day on earth with her.
No, Naruto doesn’t have an answer for him, not that Iruka-sensei seems to care. After everyone’s filed out of the classroom at the end of the day, he slaps down another one of those papers in front of him. “Listen. Naruto.” He’s got that ‘I’m trying really hard to be patient and not yell’ voice, which means he’s really tired but also trying to be nice, so Naruto tries to listen, glancing up at him. “If you can finish this assignment, and sit here without disrupting anything while I go bring my things to my office, I’ll treat you to ramen.”
Well, that’s a promise, and Naruto perks up, sitting upright and giving his teacher a grin. “Okay! Ramen, ramen, ramen!”
He dances in his seat, and Iruka-sensei laughs a little, ruffling Naruto’s hair before he heads to the front to pick up his books and all the assignments they turned in that day.
Unfortunately, that still means Naruto has to come up with an answer. He frowns at the blank paper, balancing his pencil between his lip and nose. He could just write down ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’, even if that’s not really their names. Iruka-sensei might be okay with that. But… how can he choose between his Mom or his Dad…?
Okay, so maybe not that.
For a brief moment, he considers writing down ‘Iruka-sensei’, but that’s all kinds of embarrassing. He doesn’t want his teacher to see that!
Naruto’s next thought is Old Man Teuchi and Ayame, because they’re really nice and make great ramen, and if he spent his last day on earth with them it means he’d get to eat ramen all day and that sounds like a GREAT last day, but again, he can’t… choose. Teuchi and Ayame are a package deal, like when there’s a buy one get one on cup ramen, and he doesn’t want to pick one over the other. He really can’t!
In desperation, the blonde is considering putting down Old Man Hokage when he notices something. It’s a paper, left on the floor. Iruka-sensei must’ve dropped it when he left!
He’s supposed to stay in his seat. He knows he is. He knows that Iruka-sensei will buy him ramen only if he stays. But… Well, maybe if he picks it up for Iruka-sensei, he won’t have to answer this dumb question! And maybe it’ll give him an idea, or something.
Cause so far all his have been embarrassing.
Dropping his pencil on the desk with a clatter, Naruto skips down the stairs. It’s one of the ‘last day on earth’ papers, he realizes as he approaches. It’s lying face down on the ground, and he leans over and picks it up, flipping it over.
It’s his name.
Naruto.
Doesn’t.
Understand.
He looks it over to check if it’s a prank, maybe. But he knows this isn’t Shikamaru or Chouji or Kiba’s handwriting, because this is very neat writing and they… well, they’re not very neat. (Not that he can talk, but they’re not neat either!) Nobody else would bother to prank him. It’s not Iruka-sensei’s handwriting, either, because he’s quick and flourish-y and messy, and this… isn’t that either.
This isn’t a prank. This isn’t even a piece of paper that just randomly has his name on it. Naruto’s turned it over three times and it’s definitely one of the papers from earlier.
Someone wrote his name down.
Someone wants to spend their last day on earth with him.
He’s shaking, a little, Naruto realizes. His hands shake and the paper jiggles and he makes himself stop, FORCES the shaking to move away from his arms and down to his legs, because this is suddenly the most important piece of paper he has ever touched in his entire life.
The door slides open. “Naruto,” Iruka-sensei says, exasperated. “What did I tell you? Stay in your seat!”
Naruto doesn’t move.
There’s a pause, just a quiet little silence, and then Iruka-sensei is kneeling next to him, pressing a gentle hand to his arm. “Naruto,” he says, and he’s quiet this time, quiet and concerned, but Naruto still can’t look away, still can’t look at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Iruka-sensei-“ His voice cracks, and he can’t finish. He can’t talk. Naruto turns the paper instead, so that his teacher can look at it, instead. “I want… I want to- to spend my last day on earth with… with whoever wrote m-my name down.”
And then Naruto bursts into tears.