Hey guys. Bit overdue i know but with holidays and crazy work hours left very little time to get this chapter finished, checked and double checked. Anyway its up now and the chapter is under construction and will be up shortly. Im sorry again and i hope this chapter is up to standard. As always constructive criticism is welcome. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto only.

Chapter 6

It was finally January. Naruto and Hinata were on their way to the Ninja Academy, escorted by Ko. The past four months had been filled with intense training sessions both physically and mentally. Naruto had shown the greatest improvement. His taijutsu was now good enough for him to put up a decent fight and even win. During the training, Ko noticed that Naruto's movements were always sporadic and unpredictable rather than consistent and fluid. Surprisingly enough, it suited him. Naruto never took defeat hard, he got frustrated but it disappeared quickly and he always vowed to win the next time round.

Naruto had also picked up reading and writing skills as well as some mannerisms for addressing certain people in society such as the Hokage or a clan head. But he keeps referring to the Hokage as gramps or old man in private, as it's his sign of affection. Ko quickly explained to Naruto that some people may not like being nicknamed off the bat, and that eventually after befriending said people and then giving them a nickname was a better way to go.

Hinata, on the other hand, had also improved. Not as much as Naruto for she lacked his limitless stamina. Hinata had refined her current level of the Gentle Fist style and had started to learn more advanced techniques. Naruto and herself would spar with each other for most of their training time. While Ko did spar with them individually, he believed that it would be good experience for Hinata to fight with someone outside of the clan and Naruto was the first choice. Through Naruto's praise and encouragement, Hinata had finally dropped her stutter and had become a bit more daring.

She even joined in with Naruto's pranks, which came as a huge shock to Ko. She did, however keep her constant blushing when Naruto did praise her and the fainting reduced to only when extreme physical contact occurred such as hugging. The pranks were mainly on Ko, for his constant sneaking on them. So the pair agreed to have a little payback. The pranks ranged from rigged water balloons to dug out pits. After the first couple, Ko was more actively aware of two troublemakers, however it was good trap making training for when they become ninjas.

Now today is their first day at the Academy and Ko is satisfied with the pairs progress, now its up to their teachers and themselves to improve. Naruto was bouncing around in excitement; finally his journey to becoming Hokage is about to take a serious turn. Hinata, on the other hand, was calm and collected. With her rediscovered confidence, she was ready for anything and everything the Academy could throw at her.

"Naruto, calm down. Now" demanded Ko. Even though Naruto is 6 years old, acting like a 2 year old is a bit much.

"Aww, come on Ko, I'm finally going to become a ninja and I'll be Hokage in no time, you know" countered Naruto, earning a giggle from Hinata.

"You watch, Ko. After today Naruto will hate the Academy," said Hinata with a knowing but cheeky smile.

"No way Hinata, I'm going to be the best ninja ever, once we leave the Academy," retorted Naruto, showing his foxy grin.

"What do you mean 'you're going to be the best'? I'm clearly going to be better than you," returned Hinata. When Hinata gained her new confidence she started to show signs of a mischievous nature, hence her becoming a partner in Naruto's pranks but it was all in playful fun. She was still respectful to her elders and strangers, she only shows her carefree side to those who were close to her like Naruto, Ko and the Third Hokage.

"Challenge accepted Hinata, loser has to buy dinner of the winner's choice," said Naruto confidently

"Deal, get your money saved and ready Naruto. You're gonna need it," said Hinata sweetly. Naruto paled a bit. The last time he and Hinata had dinner together with Ko, as a way to release the stress from training, they went to an expensive restaurant and Hinata ordered an expensive meal. The owner of said restaurant hadn't heard about Naruto being a demon container and naturally welcomed him with open arms and encouraged him to come back soon.

"If you two are quite finished," interrupted Ko, "we're here". Naruto and Hinata were amazed to see the number of children of a similar age starting the Academy today. The pair recognised a few of the children to be from well-known clans within the village. There were also children from small ninja families and non-ninja families, this made up the bulk of the class as there are a few clans in the Hidden Leaf. A young, scar faced man with brown hair in a pineapple like style, walked out the main door and proceeded to stand on a podium that had been set up for today, followed by a silver haired man.

"Good morning parents and children," greeted the young man "welcome to he Ninja Academy. Today, children, you will embark on the journey to become shinobi for the Hidden Leaf village. My name is Iruka Umino and I'll be your teacher for the next six years, along with my assistant, Mizuki," pointing to his partner, "over the years we will be teaching you the necessary skills to be a ninja such as ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu. You will also be learning basic skills for normal everyday life like math, science and history. Let me clear on this, becoming a ninja is not for everyone, so there is no shame if you decide to leave the Academy early. Learning to become a ninja is hard, however once you graduate it gets even harder. If you're up to the challenge, then follow me into class so we can started."

Iruka made his way off the podium and back into the academy followed by Mizuki. The children from the ninja clans followed them in first, slowly followed by the children from the small and non-ninja families. Only a handful of children decided to stay outside as they were quickly discouraged by the word 'hard'. Naruto and Hinata quickly joined in the great number that still wanted to become shinobi, after waving goodbye to Ko.

Iruka and Mizuki led the shinobi hopefuls into their classroom. There was a single desk at the front with a huge blackboard behind it, for Iruka and Mizuki. The desks for the students was set up in a theatre setting on either side of the stairs going up the middle of the room towards the back.

"Ok kids, please take a seat," said Iruka and the students followed his instruction. Naruto and Hinata were seated next to each other in the middle row of the room.

"Good, now Mizuki will read out the names on the register here. When your name is called, please stand up and tell us your hobbies. This way we know: one, who you are and what you aim to be in your career as a ninja; and two, so that we know who had decided to not join us today. Mizuki, if you could do the honours by starting with those from clans," said Iruka

"Shino Aburame" called out Mizuki. A boy wearing sunglasses and a trench coat with the collar covering his mouth stood up placing his hands in the pockets of the trench coat.

"My hobby is to learn everything about insects," said Shino plainly, "I aim to uphold the honour of my clan as a shinobi."

"Choji Akimichi," called Mizuki. A boy with a weight issue stood up, munching on a packet of chips

"My hobby is buying and eating snacks" said Choji with a full mouth, "My aim is to become the sixteenth head of my clan."

"Hinata Hyuga"

"My hobby is flower pressing and my aim is to recognised by my clan as a strong ninja" spoke Hinata with confidence.

"Shikamaru Nara"

"What a drag," said another pineapple hair styled boy, who looked like he just woke up, "My hobby is cloudwatching. My aim is to do the least amount of work with the least amount of effort," said Shikamaru lazily.

"Sasuke Uchiha"

"My hobby is training and taking walks with my brother. My aim is to be stronger than him and make my father proud," said Sasuke, he wore a long sleeved blue shirt and white shorts, his hair spikey at the back with bangs on either side of his face.

"Ino Yamanaka"

"My hobby is shopping and I aim to run my family's flower shop," said a blonde haired girl, wearing a yellow shirt and blue pants.

"You can all sit down now," said Iruka before turning to his assistant, "lets move on with the introductions, eh Mizuki?"

Mizuki started on the list of the children from small and non-ninja families. All of them stating their hobbies and aims for being at the Academy. Mizuki read out the name of Sakura Haruno. She had pink hair tied up by a red ribbon, wore a dark blue shirt and cream pants. She also was sat next to Ino. Sakuras hobby was playing trivia games and aimed to be the first ninja in her family.

Finally Naurto's name was read out and the room went silent. Everyone had, at least, heard his name prior to the Academy and like their parents thought of him as a pest and demon.

"About bloody time, I was getting bored!" yelled Naruto

"Naruto! Mind your language. Hobby and aim, now" demanded Iruka, who was thinking that Naruto would be troublemaker for the next six years.

"My hobby is training and eating ramen. My aim is to be the greatest Hokage ever!" said Naruto loudly and enthusiastically.

"Well that remains to be seen. Now that everyone is introduced with one another, lets get started. First we'll start with basic mathematics," said Iruka, turning to the blackboard and started to write figures starting the lesson. Naruto was about to complain but an elbow from Hinata told him otherwise.

Naruto always found study boring, he was more prone to learning while doing rather than reading. Ko had integrated things like math into Naruto's physical training, using numbers for different movements. Now Naruto had to learn the boring way. 'Lucky I have Hinata with or this will be a long six years' thought Naruto.