Chapter 5

Naruto bounced on his toes the entire way to the park, glee filling him at the thought of learning ninja things. He skipped in his steps, periodically looking up to make sure that Iruka-sensei was still there. Even though they held hands, Naruto still couldn't believe it.

He was going to learn ninja moves! Ninja moves!

He grinned brightly up at sensei (Iruka-sensei was a real sensei!) as his grip around the man's fingers tightened.

"Naruto-kun," Iruka-sensei said and Naruto immediately stared straight at him. Sensei was using his name! Not calling him a demon or a monster, but using his actual name! Naruto almost couldn't stand the ball of warmth that was quickly forming in his stomach, excitement filling him so much that he was surprised he didn't explode from it. Sensei grimaced slightly down at him, but Naruto was too happy to care. "Do you know how to mold chakra?"

Naruto blinked up at him. He thought about it for two seconds and then shook his head wildly. "Nope!" he declared and grinned again.

Sensei was speaking with him! And asking questions! And listening to him talk!

Iruka-sensei was the best!

"Well, then we'll... start there, I suppose." Sensei slowly sat down on the ground, his legs crossed in front of him. He looked at Naruto for a few seconds (Naruto counted to eleven, because Naruto had recently learned to count, and now he was counting everything like Hokage-jiji told him to!) before he beckoned Naruto over. Naruto hurried to sit down across from sensei before sensei could change his mind.

Sensei frowned at him, "Do you know what chakra is?"

"Nope!" Naruto bounced on his seat and his eyes flitted over everything around him. They weren't just going to talk, right? Talking was boring! ...But it was okay if he could learn ninja moves. "What's chakara?"

"Chakra, Naruto-kun, not chakara."

"Right, that."

Iruka-sensei sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Naruto had seen other people to that before, but never in regards to him. He stared at it, fascinated. "Naruto-kun. Chakra is the combination of physical and spiritual energy, which you mold with hand-seals and your chakra network and with it, you can do ninjutsu."

With sparkling eyes, Naruto stared at sensei. "I want to use chakra!"

It would be so cool!

Sensei shook his head, but he didn't call Naruto any mean names, so Naruto knew that he wasn't really mad. A bird was flying in the sky right above him and for a second Naruto was distracted, but he quickly turned his focus back to Iruka-sensei. Hokage-jiji always told him that he didn't have time when Naruto wanted to learn ninja moves — which was so unfair, he never had time. Sensei probably wouldn't want to teach him anymore, once he found out that Naruto was a demon (Hokage-jiji always said that he wasn't, but everybody else said he was, so Naruto just ended up confused) so Naruto had to pay attention and learn everything he could now!

Iruka-sensei held up his hands in front of him, and a leaf that had been floating by in the air was quickly stuck to it. Then sensei started waving his hand through the air, the leaf never once falling off, even when it was under his hand and not attached to anything. Naruto couldn't stop himself — didn't even try — from standing up and running over and grabbing the leaf. No matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't get more then a fingertips distance from sensei's hand.

"Woah..." Naruto stopped pulling and dazedly looked at the leaf, just sitting in the air, unmoved by the wind.

Then he bent down, picked up a leaf from the ground and held it out in his hand.

When he turned his hand around so that his palm faced the grassy ground, it promptly fell off, gently swaying its way back down to the earth. Naruto blinked at it, confused why it hadn't worked. He bit his bottom lip and turned his head to ask sensei.

"You have to use chakra." sensei said and picked up another leaf. He was bent down on his knees in front of Naruto, having moved when Naruto wasn't paying him any attention. He gripped Naruto's hand and shoved the leaf back on the palm. But his hand didn't let go of Naruto, instead a warmth flowed through it, into Naruto and out the leaf, shaking it until it sat as if glued to his palm.

Naruto felt his chest go bump and them bump again. It thumped loudly in his ears and he grinned before he knew it.

"This is chakra." Iruka-sensei explained, his voice low. It wasn't that high grating noise that people usually used when speaking to him. Naruto peeked up at sensei's face and saw that his eyes were clear, focused on their hands.

Naruto grinned wider.

Iruka-sensei sent the warm chakra through their hands a few more times and persuaded Naruto to try again. Carefully, Naruto tried to push that warmth in his belly that apparently was chakra and not just indigestion like the Matron said, into his hands. It tickled as it moved, the unfamiliar sensation making him giggle. Naruto tried to be gentle like sensei said when he finally succeeded in shoving it into the leaf.

Dismayed, Naruto stared down at it with a disgruntled expression as it promptly shredded itself.

He frowned and bit his tongue. He peeked up at Iruka-sensei, wondering how he would react. Would he be mad that Naruto failed, even though sensei showed him how? Would he curse at him?

Naruto didn't like it when people cursed at him.

Water started gathering in his eyes and he sniffed slightly, trying his best not to cry.

"Don't worry," sensei said and after a pause, reached over and gently patted Naruto on his head.

Naruto's eyes grew wider than they had ever been. He didn't even noticed he had stopped breathing until his chest started to hurt, and then he took a giant breath. Exhilaration filled every inch of him and his own hand moved to the top of his head, where sensei's warm hand had just rested. He patted it himself, but it wasn't nearly as nice.

Iruka-sensei smiled at him and said, "If you keep practicing, I'm sure you can manage it."

Naruto practiced the entire way back to his apartment.

Even while unlocking his door, while warming up the dinner the helper who he never saw had left him in the fridge, even while getting ready for bed, Naruto practiced. He never stopped. Every time a leaf was shredded, Naruto ran outside and gathered every leaf that he could find. He formed a bowl with his shirt and shoved them all in, hurrying back up to his place before he dropped them.

The next morning, as soon as he had eaten his breakfast, Naruto picked up one of the leaves he had left on the floor and got back to practicing. Sensei said that Naruto could do it. Naruto refused — absolutely refused — to disappoint him.

It wasn't until late in the afternoon that Naruto finally stopped shredding the leaves.

"YOSH!" Naruto jumped up from his bed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I did it! he cheered and danced around the room, jumping in the pile of shredded leaves.

Dizzy, he soon started spinning around until he fell on his back. Staring up at the cracked ceiling, he he threw up his hands again and laughed wildly, prouder of himself then he had ever been. An overwhelming feeling of satisfaction curled through him and he — he was going to show Hokage-jiji!

Naruto hurried through the process of getting properly dressed like jiji always nagged at him about. He threw himself out the door, not forgetting to grab a handful of leaves as he went. He bet jiji was going to be super surprised by Naruto's accomplishment! And then, then maybe Naruto could find sensei again and see if he could get another lesson! Naruto whooped loudly at the idea, startling several birds who were nearby.

It wasn't difficult getting into the Hokage Tower, mostly because people didn't really look down in there. They were all carrying so many things they probably couldn't see their feet anyway.

Blowing passed dozens of people and dancing between even more legs, Naruto systemically made his way up the tower, all the way to the top where Hokage-jiji's office was. He waved at the secretary as he passed her, ignoring her scowling at him. He was too excited to be upset about it.

"Jiji!" Naruto bowled through the door and proudly displayed his leaves.

"Look what sensei taught me!"

Hokage-jiji blinked down at him from the other side of the desk, visibly surprised. The other people in the room scowled when they realized who he was, but Naruto didn't care. Jiji finally smiled at him and waved him closer, smiling as he asked, "Taught you what?"

Instead of answering, Naruto ran around the desk and held up the leaves in his fists. Then he realized that he was carrying too many — he could only do one at a time — and let them all go, sans one. The remaining one he held out again in Jiji's direction. He concentrated, his eyebrows furrowing, his tongue jutting out of his mouth as he did his best to direct the warmth, the chakra out through his hand. Obediently, he leaf stayed put, even when Naruto started waving his hand around wildly to show off his success.

"See?!" He bounced on his toes and held out the hand toward jiji again. Pleased, he declared, "I can use chakara!"

"Chakra, Naruto-kun." Hokage-jiji corrected him.

Naruto nodded, distracted by all papers on the desk. He jumped up on his toes and clung to the desk, pulling himself slowly up so that he could see them. Restlessly his eyes rove over them, amazed at how many there were and that jiji hadn't gotten bored of them! And all those squiggly lines that didn't even look like proper drawings...

"What sensei taught you this?"

Naruto mumbled, "Iruka-sensei."

Then he realized what jiji had asked and jumped back down. He wondered where Iruka-sensei was right now. Staring out the window, he determined that it wasn't at all too late to try to find him again. But where would he start looking? Yesterday they met at Teuchi's, so that seemed like the logical first step. And sensei was a sensei, so he would probably be at the academy, right?

Now that the idea was in his head, Naruto found that he didn't want to wait. He had showed Hokage-jiji and now he would show Iruka-sensei!

As quickly as he came, Naruto rushed out the door again.

He ran down the streets as fast as he could, still gripping the leaf in his hands. Even as full speed it took him a while to get there as his legs were so short. Naruto wasn't short! It was only his legs that weren't tall enough. Plenty of legs tried to trip him up as he ran, but Naruto circumvented them with the ease of practice. He thundered down the streets and ran in to Teuchi's ramen place. Pulling to a fullstop, Naruto stared around the place and frowned when he couldn't see the man he was looking for.

He ran up to the counter, climbed a stool and asked, "Where's Iruka-sensei?"

"Naruto-kun!" Teuchi came over and smiled at him. "Iruka-kun hasn't come here today. Did you have fun yesterday?"

Naruto nodded wildly. "Uhuh. Look!" Then he held out his hand and displayed his awesome ninja skills again. He beamed up at Teuchi and loudly announced, "I'm gonna be a ninja!"

Teuchi grinned brightly back at him. "Very cool!"

Naruto grinned down at his hands and gripped the leaf again. It had been hugged so much that it was hardly more than a thread now and as he watched it finally fell apart completely. He smiled to himself and felt a warm feeling pool in his stomach, a lightness to his chest that he didn't recognize. He thought that now Hokgae-jiji would have to teach him more ninja stuff, because Naruto could use chakra now. It would be awesome.

He was gonna go on adventures and save princesses and be a hero! And then, and then, he was gonna become the Hokage. It would be epic! Everybody would have to see that he wasn't a monster (even though he was pretty sure he was a demon, because otherwise why would everyone call him one) like Hokage-jiji said and he would be respected and have playmates.

He had already planned out all the games he was gonna play with his friends. Hide and seek, obviously, but he was a ninja now, so it was gonna be ninja hide and seek. And tag. They had to play tag. He had played it before with some kids at the playground, but then their parents showed up and pulled them away. The next time he wanted to play with them, they had run away screaming. Naruto didn't understand it, but he knew that tag had been fun and he wanted to play it again.

Sometimes he saw kids playing ninja in the playgrounds. He wanted to play that too, but it was going to be even better because he was gonna be an actual ninja.

"Yosh!" Naruto yelled and pumped his fist. "I'm gonna find Iruka-sensei."

"Eh? But I've just made your favorite ramen." Teuchi protested and put a steaming bowl of ramen in front of Naruto.

Naruto announced, "I'm gonna find Iruka-sensei after eating ramen!"

Naruto followed his own words to the letter, because proper ninjas don't break promises according to jiji. As soon as he had finished his meal of four bowls of hot ramen, he ran away to find Iruka-sensei again.

After scurrying over almost the entire town, Naruto finally, he found Iruka-sensei at the training ground they were at yesterday. Naruto whooped in joy and ran forward, hurrying before sensei could leave. As soon as he was close enough, he took a giant leap and clung onto Iruka-sensei's waist. He cheered loudly and exclaimed, "Sensei, sensei, I found you!"

Iruka-sensei looked down at him. After a second's hesitation, he smiled slightly and said, "You did."

Naruto ignored Iruka-sensei's inexplicable slowness in reacting to him and instead focused on what was really important. Like Naruto's success. He let go of sensei and fell back down on his feet and stumbled slightly. Once he regained his amazing sense of balance, he took out the stem of the leaf (all that was left of it at this point) and showed it proudly to Iruka-sensei. He grinned up at the old man and waited for sensei to respond to him.

"It's broken." Iruka-sensei stated.

Naruto looked at it and conceded. He picked up another leaf from the ground, held it up and concentrated fiercely. His tongue stuck out of his mouth and his eyes narrowed as he stared intently down at the new leaf. He wasn't sure if he trusted this leaf. The last leaf had really stepped up to the task, but this was a new one. One that hadn't auditioned. (Naruto didn't know what auditioned meant, but it sounded cool when that band down the street held them. He was very sad when he didn't get to do it because he was too young.) Regardless, he decided to put his fate into the hands of this brave new recruit.

His chakra flowed into the leaf and slowly but surely, it lifted off his palm and started spinning. Naruto had counted to fifteen (he was very good at counting, though he didn't know what came between eleven and fifteen, jiji hadn't explained it well) by the time the leaf was shredded into a million little pieces that floated gently to the ground.

"Leaf!" Naruto sniffled. "You have done your duty well. Your sacrifice will be remembered!"

Iruka-sensei sighed.

"There, there." Slowly, Iruka-sensei patted Naruto-s head again.

All at once, Naruto burst into tears.

He didn't understand why. All he knew was that Iruka-sensei had patted his head to days in a row, something no other person had ever done in his life before, because Hokage-jiji was busy and Naruto couldn't see him often. It was very rare that he wasn't just politely thrown out the door when he barged in like he did earlier. And usually, when he found nice people that would play with him and came back the next day to continue, they would have changed entirely.

Suddenly they were no longer nice people. Suddenly they yelled at him and threw stuff and were mean. And Naruto had hoped that sensei was different, because he was a teacher and a ninja and Naruto hadn't met such people often, but he hadn't really expected it.

But Iruka-sensei was nice again! He even started ruffling Naruto's hair when Naruto couldn't stop crying and really, it was decided. From this moment on, Iruka-sensei was Naruto's friend. Nothing could change this fact. They were going to go on picnic's and play games and maybe, maybe Iruka-sensei would come over for his birthday and they could have a birthday party. Hokage-jiji had only come once, and that was this year when Naruto turned... well he couldn't remember because it was so long ago, but he knew that jiji didn't usually have time to come. He only came last time because it was Naruto's first birthday in his new apartment.

"Come on, let's keep practicing." Iruka-sensei said and ruffled Naruto's hair one last time.

Naruto grinned brightly, happiness curling in his chest and pumped his fist. "Yosh! I'm gonna be a ninja, dattebayo!"