Welcome back to Mirai! So, here's a huge warning: I did not get to truly finish writing everything I wanted to for this chapter because I actually have a flight to catch so... this is the end result. Sorry about that! But at least I uploaded something? Anyway, I'll be away for a week so I'll do my best to upload the next chapter as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Naruto or this story except for Chieko.

We are Fighting Dreamers, aiming high
Fighting Dreamers, not caring about appearances
Fighting Dreamers, because we believe
Oli Oli Oli Oh-! Just go my way!

- Go! by Flow (Naruto Opening 4)

Chapter 3: The Academy Part 1

The first day.

The first day of attending the Academy.

The day that will change everything.

Okay, that sounded too dramatic. I rolled myself off the bed and ran my fingers through my hair. I needed a shower before going over to wake Naruto up. I had a feeling that he was too excited to fall asleep yesterday. I took my shower and cooked a quick breakfast. Pulling out the two bento boxes I left in the fridge last night, I shoved them into my backpack. I checked to see if I had everything I need.

Wallet, check. Notebooks, check. Books to read when bored, check. Anything else?

I wore my sandals and took one last look into the apartment. The irises on the coffee table seemed to shine in the sunlight coming through the window. I smiled. Hope and wisdom. I hoped to gain wisdom and become a great ninja. Hideo-sensei would have wanted that. I shut the door behind me and locked it. Walking over to Naruto's apartment, I pressed my ear against his door and waited for a minute. Then, I heard loud footsteps running all over the apartment and Naruto's panicked voice.

"Late! I'm going to be late! Oh man, on my first day too!"

I shook my head, smiling. I knocked on the door. "Hey, Naruto-kun. Come on, we gotta go."

The door opened, revealing the disheveled blond boy with his hair sticking all over. "Chieko-chan! Er, give me a minute." He hurried back into his apartment to grab his backpack and wear his orange jacket. He looked around the room. "Food, food. I need to grab-"

I tossed a bento box at him. "Let's go! We're going to be late!"

"Thank you, Chieko-chan!" He shoved the food into his bag and ran out into the hallway. Shutting and locking the door behind him, the both of us raced down the stairs and rushed to the Academy. It didn't help that the villagers were in the midst of preparing their stores. I narrowly avoided a couple of elderly people as they glared at me. It wasn't my fault that they were walking like a bunch of turtles.

I halted to a stop in front of the Academy and had to brace myself as Naruto ran into me again. I turned around and laughed. "You need to learn how to stop."

He gave me a sheepish smile. "You need to give me a warning before stopping."

We stood in silence, looking at the red building in front of us. Several parents and future Academy students gathered in front of the building. It wasn't hard for me to feel the excitement in the air. I noticed Ino with her parents Ino's mom looked like she was fussing over Ino's clothes while Inoichi smiled at the scene. Ino continued to block her mom's hands while bouncing in excitement on the spot. I waved at her and she winked back at me. Inoichi smiled at me. I returned his smile. Everyone looked happy to be Academy students, except the bored-looking boy standing near Shikaku. I grinned. That must be Shikaku's son! Was it…. Shikamaru or something like that? I shook my head and looked at the blond boy beside me. The nervousness and excitement in his eyes. Grinning, I grabbed onto Naruto's hands. "Come on, let's go!"

"Mm! We're going to be the best, believe it!" He shouted back, leading me straight into the Academy with a more confident stride.

We made our way over to the crowd as the ninjas dressed in Chunnin vests walked out of the building. If I remembered correctly, Chunnin-rank ninjas handle the classes at the Academy. I wondered who would be our teacher. They directed all of us to get into line and wait patiently. Most of the parents were saying goodbye to their kids. I watched as Ino waved bye to her parents and she stood behind me. I felt her arms wrapped around my neck. I grinned.

"Hey, Ino-chan!" I whispered.

"Ah… I'm just so excited, Chieko-chan! Aren't you?!"

I nodded, the both of us trying to not draw attention to ourselves. "I wonder if we'll be in the same class."

"We will." Ino's confident words comforted my growing nerves.

We waited as the teachers took turns and called out several names. Those names represented the students that would be in their class. I found myself holding both Naruto and Ino's hand as a young man with brown hair tied in a ponytail and a noticeable scar across his nose introduced himself.

"Hello everyone, my name is Iruka Umino. Now, if I call your name, you'll be in my class. Alright. Shino Aburame-" I watched as a boy in dark sunglasses made his way to Iruka. "-Choji Akimichi-" A chubby boy with his hand in a packet of potato chips smiled and headed to where Iruka and Shino stood. Iruka continued with his list.

I looked around and noticed the other students. Most of them seemed excited but some of them looked as nervous as me. I wondered what will happen once we get to class. Will we be learning something today? Maybe throw some shuriken? I wondered if there's a library in the Academy. I wondered if there will be information about Hideo-sensei's seal or about the weird visions I've been seeing.

I turned my attention to Iruka when he called out, "Naruto Uzumaki."

I watched Naruto pumped his fist in the air and walked over to the rest of the group. I tilted my head at Iruka's disturbed expression but he immediately forced a smile on his face. Hmm… He acted the same way that the villagers did, though he hid it better. Did Naruto do something that I have no idea about? I shook my head and watched Iruka continued reading his list. "Ino Yamanaka." Ino grinned happily, skipping over to stand by Iruka. "And finally, Chieko."

I ran over and threw my arms around Ino as we squealed in excitement. I laughed as Naruto stuck his fingers into his ears while throwing me a grin. I had to admit that we were a bit too loud but it doesn't matter, I was in the same class as Naruto and Ino. I scanned the crowd and noticed the several other students in our class. I recognized some of the clan symbols that were etched onto some of the students' clothing. Huh. It seemed like there are a few of them in our class.

Iruka-sensei cleared his throat. "Alright, come on, follow me."

And we did. We followed Iruka-sensei over to our classroom and everyone scattered to grab seats. The seats were set up in a way that three people shared a long desk. I took a seat with Naruto on my left and Ino on my right. It didn't look like the seating arrangements would be permanent but I had no idea if Iruka-sensei will try to assign seats in the future. I watched as Iruka-sensei's calm expression started breaking as the class refused to settle down and be quiet. I smiled, watching Ino make conversations with a girl seated near us. Naruto, on the other hand, was busy giggling to himself for becoming an Academy student. I poked his whiskered cheek.

"Naruto-kun, you're going to creep people out soon."

"What?" He asked, looking around the room. "Who?"

I looked over my shoulder and noticed a girl with short dark blue hair and pale eyes. I blinked and waved at her. She let out a soft "eep!' and her face turned bright pink as she turned her attention back to Iruka-sensei. I blinked again, smiling.

"Chieko-chan!" The blond boy waved his hand right in front of my face. "Who am I creeping out?"

I shrugged. "No one, actually. Just wanted to get you to stop giggling."

Iruka-sensei looked exasperated and slammed his hand down onto a wooden desk. Everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to him. Well, that worked. "I understand that you're all excited to be here but we won't be getting anything done if you keep talking." He walked closer and smiled. "Now, welcome to the Academy."

Again, I'm sorry for the short chapter (it's depressing-From my 6,000 words to 1,500 words)! The next one will be much longer and hopefully, I can finish writing all the scenes I had planned. Thanks for reading! Please review! Feedback helps.