Academy

Naruto and Iruka wandered slowly toward the Academy. They didn't talk much, his mind awash with memories of how things "used" to be. His mind had been wandering a lot lately, remembering things, like how things used to be with his team and how they were like family to him. And as he arrived at the Academy those memories crashed down all around him.

"You've been awfully quiet Naruto," Iruka finally noted.

"Yeah. Memories. I've got lots of them."

"Don't ever forget them. They're an important part of who you are."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Keep them close Naruto. Well, I've got to get some things done. It was good spending some time with you."

"You too Iruka-sensei. I'll see you around." His former teacher waved to him and bounded up the steps into the Academy.

As Naruto looked around, things came flooding back to him. He remembered how much he hated Sasuke in those days. "Sasuke gets all the girls. Sasuke is a genius. Sasuke is the last of his kind, bah?" Naruto said out loud to no one. "Sasuke's got nothing on me now," he said reassured to himself. He remembered how Sasuke could throw six shuriken at a time and have every one of them hit their mark perfectly. "I can do that in my sleep now," he thought to himself. He thought that maybe going to the targets and having a little practice would be something that would help get his mind off his memories so they wouldn't bother him so much.

He checked his pack and saw it was fully equipped with shuriken and kunai. "A little practice will only make me stronger," he said as he kept walking. But then out of nowhere, he saw movement. "Wha?" he said as he squinted his eyes and looked.

"That's Konohamaru! What the hell is he doing?" Konohamaru seemed to be rifling through books. BIG books and he seemed quite agitated. He kept pushing the books aside, going to another, opening it, rifling through it, and casting it aside too.

Curiosity was killing Naruto, but then so was his need to continually get stronger.