Chapter Text
The first thing Naruto noticed about Konoha High was that the air smelled like rain, even though it hadn’t rained in days. The second thing he noticed was that his shirt collar was uneven, and no matter how many times he tugged on it, it kept slipping back into chaos. Typical. First day and already off balance.
Still, he grinned as he stopped through the front doors, gym bag over his shoulder, a clipboard tucked under one arm. The halls were still mostly empty—school would not start for another forty minutes—but the energy buzzed faintly in the background. He liked that feeling. Like something was just waiting to kick off.
He followed the directions from the welcome packet (that he had not exactly read thoroughly) and made his way to the staff room, but decided the staffroom could wait and made his way to the gym first.
The door was already open, voices drifting out—soft conversation, occasional laughter, someone sipping loudly from a thermos. Naruto paused at the threshold, then knocked against the frame before waltzing in.
Iruka, the vice principal, seated near the front with a small binder open in front of him, looked up. His face lit up. “Ah! You made it. Everyone, this is Uzumaki Naruto—the new PE teacher.”
A few heads turned his way. Naruto gave a wide, easy grin and stepped closer, waving one hand. “Hey! Sorry if I'm late–I swear I got turned around trying to find the gym. You guys have three identical hallways that lead to nowhere. I think one of thems haunted. Anyways, I hope there’s free coffee.”
There were scattered chuckles. He dropped into the first open seat, tossing his bag to the side and glancing around.
Across the room, a guy with short bangs and a deadpan stare blinked slowly at him. It was quite scary. He raised one hand in the laziest possible wave. “I’m Sai, the art teacher,” he said flatly, embodying a creepy smile.
Weird
“Cool,” Naruto said, leaving his thoughts to himself. He leaned toward the guy next to him who was currently halfway into a nap. “And this is?”
“Shikamaru,” the man replied without opening his eyes. “Math teacher. Don't talk to me before noon.”
Naruto laughed, was everyone in the school this weird? Either way he was already Starting to like this place.
Iruka ran through some staff announcements, mostly things about timetables, upcoming sports meetings, and an assembly next week. Naruto half-listened, his eyes drifting. The school nurse—Ino, she said her name was—had sat next to him and talked to him about 'everything there’s to know about Konoha High' which mostly felt like gossip but he didn’t mind. Most of the teachers were chatting quietly or scribbling notes, but one guy, sitting rigid and sharp-looking at the far end of the room, was not paying attention to him at all.
His hair was dark and framed his face perfectly, a perfect contrast to his pale skin. The mans face was very unreadable, his eyes glued to his laptop screen unwavering. While he had noticed that both he and Sai seemed to have very similar onyx, nearly pupilless eyes, this guys were even darker. If that was possible.
Naruto’s grin wavered slightly.
Everyone else had at least looked at him. But this guy? He hadn’t even spared him a glance.
Interesting.
First period PE was a mixed-grade class. Naruto bounced a ball lazily against the gym wall, his sneakers squeaking faintly on the polished floor. The gym smelled like rubber and floor polish and teenage sweat, for some reason that grounded him.
His first class was about to start soon.
He could do this in his sleep.
Still, he found himself shifting his weight as the doors swung open and students trickled in. They came in pairs and small clusters—some loud, some half-asleep, a few already glued to their phones. One kid had a monster energy can and the type of eyes that screamed trouble, another had two different socks and a camera strapped to their backpack.
Naruto smiled.
This was his type of territory.
“Alright!” he called, clapping once. The sharp sound echoed through the gym. A few heads turned. “Find a spot on the benches–if you sit down fast, I’ll pretend this is a chill class.”
A few chuckles rose up, and a few of the more skeptical students gave him side-eyes as they settled in. Naruto did not take it personally. Teenagers were like cats: aloof, unpredictable, and mostly just pretending not to care.
He grabbed his clipboard and did a roll call, checking off names and occasionally raising a brow at pronunciations.
“Nakano. Sarutobi. Hyuuga…” He looked up when a soft “here” echoed from the second row. The girl didn’t meet his gaze, but he caught a glimpse of lavender eyes and dark hair pulled back neatly. Shy type. Noted.
He finished up and tossed the clipboard onto a nearby bench. “Okay. Ground rules. I don't care how cool you think you are, we warm up first. That means stretching, not standing around complaining about your knees.”
Laughter again, bigger this time.
“Okay with that settled, Im Uzumaki Naruto, but you guys can call me Naruto-sensei, no last name formalities are needed. If you forget my name it's always on my lanyard,” he continued, planting his hands on his hips. “I don’t do yelling unless it’s fun. I do jokes, I do competition, and I definitely do laps. So—”
“Sensei,” one student interrupted, raising their hand, “do we really have to run? It’s your first day and its a Monday.”
Naruto grinned. “You don’t have to run. You get to run.”
A loud groan erupted from the group.
“Stretch it out, let’s go!” he barked, but his tone was playful.
He walked between the rows as they bent and reached and twisted, offering dramatic commentary as if he was a sports announcer.
“Look at that calf stretch, that's ten out of ten commitment.”
“Great arm circles, very impressive.”
“The guy with the red hairs hamstrings have to be crying!”
They were loosening up. Laughing, nudging each other. He caught the way they were sneaking glances at him too—curious and amused. A girl in the front row whispered something to her friend, who immediately flushed red and looked away when Naruto caught her staring.
He grinned.
They moved outside for laps around the field, the early sun throwing gold across the track. Naruto jogged alongside them, not barking orders, just matching pace and keeping spirits high.
“So what’s your name?” he asked one boy near him.
“Kenta.”
“Kenta! You’ve got the stride of a future Olympian. If you ignore the part where you’re dragging your feet like you hate the ground.”
The kid laughed, almost tripping.
“Sensei, were you really in college sports?” someone else asked, Konohamaru he remembered his name was.
Naruto wiped sweat from his brow. He lifted his hand from his side and raised a finger one by one. “College, middle school, summer camps—one time I had to run a fitness program for toddlers.”
“Toddlers?!”
“Worst year of my life. One kid bit me.”
Another roar of laughter.
One of the students, a girl with bright yellow sneakers and a grin full of teeth, nudged her friend. “Isn't the new gym teacher actually so fun.”
Another boy piped up, “Hey Sensei, how many push-ups can you do?”
Naruto raised a brow. “With one hand or two?”
That earned whistles and fake swoons.
By cooldown, even the surliest kids were red-faced and smiling. Naruto led them in stretches again, this time with exaggerated movements and dramatic breathing. He tried to make sure everyone was having a great time, he always thought physical education was something everybody should enjoy.
“Become the wind. Flow like water. Regret your breakfast.”
Someone snorted so hard they nearly fell over, which caused everybody else to burst into laughter.
“Sensei,” Konohamaru said between pants, “you’re cooler than the old gym teacher.”
Naruto smiled at the comment. “I’ll take that. Unless the old guy was, like, secretly Batman, then I might have to disagree, nobodies cooler than Batman.”
“Nope,” another kid exclaimed. “He just made us run silently. No talking. And whenever we complained he just added more laps for us to do!”
Naruto audibly gasped, while placing his hand on top of his chest dramatically. “What kind of psychopath doesn’t let you complain while running?”
Even more laughter, it was like it was a never ending comedy club in the gymnasium. A few of the kids clapped when he dismissed them. One girl actually bowed before running off, which earned her teasing from her friends.
Naruto stood in the middle of the gym, hands over his chest, watching the last of them filter out.
That had gone… really well.
Usually it would take a while for kids to open up. Then again, maybe this school was already starting to feel like something good. He was definitely going to enjoy his time here.
After class Naruto ducked back into the locker room to grab his clipboard and water bottle, still buzzing from the energy of first period. He could not stop grinning. The echo of laughter, the banter, the way the kids had already started teasing him by the end, it reminded him why he loved this job. People were just easier when they were running around and sweating a little. It stripped away the weirdness, the walls, the layers.
He was heading toward the staff lounge when he spotted someone turning the corner up ahead, moving quick and clean like they had somewhere very specific to be. Dark, slacks, pressed shirt, black dress shoes tapping briskly against the tile floor.
Naruto’s eyes narrowed slightly, the grin still tugging at his lips.
Was that–?
“Hey!” he called out cheerfully.
The man turned his head.
Yeah, it was definitely him. The guy from the meeting. The one who hadn’t looked at him even once. Same sharp jaw, same unreadable face. Same unreadable eyes.
There was a flicker of something in them now, though–Naruto was not sure what it was.
Then, with the flattest voice imaginable the man muttered, “Can’t talk,” and pivoted right into the stairwell without so much as a glance back.
Naruto stopped in the middle of the hallway, baffled, his hand still stuck in the air.
“What?” he said to no one.
Seriously? That was it? Not even a nod? Not a “sorry, I’m busy,” or “talk later”? Just…a verbal eject button and vanish?
He blinked at the door the guy had disappeared into. For a split second, he considered following him, maybe pretending to be lost and seeing what happened. But no, that would be weird, and he had another class starting soon.
Before he could debate it further, a voice drawled beside him, “I think that’s the most emotion I’ve ever seen him show, wow. Congrats.”
Naruto jumped slightly, turning to find Shikamaru there, looking exactly the same as earlier: tired, mildly curious, and holding a mug of coffee like it was the only thing keeping him alive.
“Okay, wait, back up,” Naruto said, pointing toward the door. “What’s his deal?”
Shikamaru shrugged. “That's Sasuke Uchiha, the history teacher. He keeps to himself.”
“Yeah, I got that part,” Naruto muttered. “Did I… offend him or something?”
“Doubt it. He’s like that with everyone.”
Naruto tilted his head, looking back toward the stairwell door. “Guess he’s not big on small talk.”
“Or any talk.”
Naurot gave a low whistle. “Alright then. Let’s see how long it takes to get a full sentence outta him.”
Shikamaru hummed. “Could be a while.”
“I’ve got time,” Naruto said with a grin. “And I’m stubborn.”
Shikamaru nodded slowly, took another sip of his coffee, and turned back down the hall.
Naruto lingered a moment longer, then gave the staircase one last look before making his way back to the gymnasium. There was no time for him to go to the lounge anymore.
His next class had proved to be just as outgoing as the former.