Academy

Hayato clicked his tongue. His foot lingered by the door side, tapping impatiently as he waited.

"Naruto!", He shouted, his patience having finally run out. "I'm leaving, with or without you!"

"Wait, wait, wait!", Naruto begged from beyond the boundary of the bathroom door.

Hayato gave a count of 5 seconds before leaving the door, slamming it as he left. 'First day in the Academy and I might be late...'

As he was making his way down the path, his steps halted. With a sigh, he turned back around - back towards their door, and back to Naruto.

Fortunately, as he neared the door, he could hear Naruto's flustered steps, no doubt hurrying to catch up to his brother.

Right as he reached the door, Naruto burst out with a pair of large green goggles on his head. Hayato didn't know where Naruto got them, but he did note that they were far too big and ugly.

"Hayatp!", he screamed, his eyes were closed from the moment he opened the door so he did not know that Hayato was in fact, right in front of him. "WAIT FOR ME!"

Hayato scowled as he grabbed Naruto by the hair. "I'm right here!"

Naruto flinched as he finally opened his eyes and found his brother right in front of him. "O-oh."

With a quick glide of his fingertips, Hayato drew the goggles off of his brother's head before tossing them through the slightly ajar door.

"Hey!", Naruto said, affronted by the action. "What'd you do that for?"

"It looks stupid." Hayato drawled. "Do you really want to get made fun of, on your first day?"

"You look stupid.", Naruto muttered under his breath, before kicking a small rock and walking off.

Hayato sighed, for what seemed to be the 70th time that week. "Naruto, do you even know where the Academy is?"

The blond-haired boy winced reflexively, but still, he didn't turn around as he continued walking and replied, "Yeah! Of course!"

Hayato grinned, before running to catch up to Naruto. Then he passed Naruto, and stuck his tongue out mockingly away from him.

He quickly ran down the steps, and it was only when he reached the bottom, that Naruto understood. "Wait- I lied, I don't know the way! Hayato!!"

In a frenzy, Naruto burst out into a sprint, desperate to keep up with Hayato.

As they ran through the streets of Konoha, drifting in its sand and marble stones, they engaged in an impromptu race. They pushed and tripped each other up as they traversed the village, laughing whenever the other ended up stumbling or running into a wall.

The villagers gave them a wide berth as they made their way to the Academy, keen to stay away from them - but still their looks of hatred did not cease.

The boys had long since grown to ignore it, but perhaps, that may have been what kept their hatred going. The knowledge that even with the way they treated Naruto and Hayato...

They still laughed.

"Naruto, you're running past it!", Hayato said as he skidded to a stop.

Gleefully ignorant, and overjoyed that he had managed to 'overtake' Hayato, Naruto giggled as he continued his sprint.

"That idiot...", he bit out as he watched his knuckleheaded brother. Hayato prepped to begin running after him until he heard something.

"Hmm?", said a sudden voice from behind him.

Hayato swivelled his head to see a dark-haired girl looking at him with interest.

"Did you know that guy?", she asked, her head tilted to the side in confusion. She wore a dark top, with equally dark shorts, and bandaged wrappings from her ankle to her thigh.

"That's my...brother," Hayato said with a smile. "Naruto."

The girl smiled back, her dark eyes shone with amusement as she replied, "He sure looked to be in a hurry..."

"Yeah, he's got somewhere important to be."

"And where's that?"

Hayato looked away, his eyebrows pinched together in irritation as he mumbled, "Here."

The onyx-haired girl giggled. It was a soft melodic tone that washed Hayato's irritation away momentarily.

"What's your name?", Hayato finally asked.

"Kouki." She stuck her hand out, urging him to take it.

"Hayato." He offered. "And, the dolt with the blonde hair is my twin brother, Naruto."

The bell rang, and Kouki and Hayato began walking toward the Academy doors. Until suddenly, Hayato dug his heels and made to turn away. "I'll catch up with you later, Kouki!"

"Where are you going?", she called out, as Hayato continued running.

"To find my brother!"

It didn't take him long to find Naruto. Only 5 minutes had passed until he found him loitering by the Hokage office. He had been sitting by the steps, his head pressed in between his legs as he frowned.

'He was probably waiting for me...', Hayato surmised mentally, 'Idiot.'

"Naruto?"

His brother's head turned up to see him. "Haya-nii!"

Naruto's call alerted the other civilians that were around. Instantly, a group began staring at both of them. They stared at them with familiarity, as though they knew them and hated them for it - even though they hadn't spoken to them once. It was beyond frustrating, and more than a little bit intimidating.

Though, it didn't make sense. They had no reason to be so angry all the time. Nor look at the both of them with such a knowing look.

Truly, at times, it felt as though the whole village knew them. Hayato didn't understand what they did to garner such a reputation.

'It's only a matter of time before they turn on us', Hayato thought grimly.

"Get up." he said Naruto, who was sitting on the floor. His white shirt had become coloured slightly by the sand, but it couldn't be helped. Even Hayato's grey shirt had been stained.

When he made no effort to rise, Hayato lifted him from his collar.

Hesitantly, Naruto stood up, though he did hold a scowl at the cold treatment Hayato had given him.

"I didn't know..."

"That's precisely the point Naruto.", Hayato scowled. "And because of that, we're now late."

Tension had been building within Hayato recently. The villagers irked him, and he would be lying if he said he didn't a little resentment towards them. Respect begot respect, and hatred begot hatred. So it was only what they deserved.

Part of the reason that he wanted to learn Jutsu was to gain security within his own village. At least then, he would be able to combat any of the hostile villagers. And perhaps some of the shinobi; even they harboured a lot of hatred toward Naruto and Hayato - the same way the villagers did.

In fact, it was them that Hayato was most afraid of.

"I'm sorry."

"You always are.", he retorted.

Finally, they found their way to the Academy. It had been 10 minutes since it class had started, so Naruto and Hayato were undoubtedly late. Though still, Hayato did not regret turning back to get Naruto.

In this place they called home, there was no one he could trust more than Naruto. There was no way that he would allow Naruto to be the brunt of their amusement, not when everyone already seemed to hate them.

And well, first impressions count.

Hayato knocked on the door of the class they were supposed to be in, before sliding it open abruptly.

"Sorry for being late, sensei," Hayato said as he bowed. "It won't happen again."

Naruto looked at Hayato confusedly, to which Hayato responded by pushing his head down with his hand, into a bowing position. He then nudged him.

"Ah! Yeah!", Naruto babbled. "What Hayato said! It won't happen! I mean, it won't happen again! Argh! I mean we won't be late, you got that!?"

The class broke out into laughter, jeering at the two twins. A couple of them had even pointed at Naruto as they imitated him mockingly.

Incensed at the laughter, Naruto readied himself to hurl insults but was interrupted...fortunately.

"SILENCE!"

The instructor looked at them both with his jaw clenched and a look of restrained anger. "Take your seats."

Inconveniently, there were only a couple of seats left - all of them not fit for Hayato and Naruto to sit beside each other.

Seeing a familiar face, Hayato saddled next to Kouki.

Naruto ended up next to a civilian boy who didn't look as though he was pleased with the blonde haired boy's presence.

"My name is Iruka Umino, I will be your main instructor for your Ninja studies." The mousy brown-haired man said though it seemed to only be for Naruto and Hayato's benefit. "You will have other instructors, they will teach you Taijutsu and Ninjutsu from time to time. There will also be specialised courses for other fields of study, but that's for you to find out about later on."

Hayato was listening raptly and perked up when heard that. The only fields he had knowledge of were Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and Genjutsu. If he could learn another, it would surely make him stronger in the future...

The rest of the morning was a slug. Time drew slowly and it was clear to see that Iruka wasn't that gifted of a teacher. He droned on and on, without giving space to ask questions. Hayato kept up well, but he knew that Naruto wouldn't, he was never one to focus.

Indeed, when he turned his head to look at Naruto, he had seen him on the verge of sleep. If Iruka noticed, it seemed that he didn't care at all about what the boy did. Though Hayato did notice that he sent stares toward him and Naruto every now and then, and it felt as though their eyes met too often for it to be a coincidence.

Iruka mainly talked about chakra and the three main ninja disciplines. It was enlightening for Hayato to finally gain an understanding of something he once knew nothing about., but wished to so desperately. Though when he looked around, he saw that only a few mirrored his enthusiasm.

Kouki looked as though she had heard the things Iruka was talking about already. Her face was fixed into a bored expression, but she did make sure to pay attention nonetheless.

After a while, Iruka stopped his lecture and addressed the class as a whole.

"Right!", he spoke up, shaking the bored students awake. "Follow me outside, it's time for an evaluation!"

Everyone looked at each other with trepidation, before an excited buzz broke out.

Naruto was closer to the front of the class, and tentative to go with the group without Hayato - he waited.

"Scaredy-cat." He scoffed,

"Am not!"

Kouki watched the exchange with a smirk. All 3 of them walked out side-by-side, onto the courtyard where Iruka was waiting.

He held a clipboard, which he began calling names from. Those that were called, had to take an accuracy test of some sort. It consisted of throwing 5 Kunai at a target, which looked easier said than done.

Many missed completely, and others seemed to get rather lousy scores.

However, there were some that managed impressive displays. There was a kid from the Fuma clan, and another with the last name Izuno, who was most likely also a child from a clan. They got 2 bullseyes each, with the rest spread around the target.

Hayato looked at them with more than a little envy, but on the outside, he kept a calm facade. Desperately, he tried to memorise the form of those who got close or achieved a bullseye.

"Kouki Uchiha!", Iruka called out, and immediately everyone began talking in hushed tones.

Hayato's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise, he hadn't expected her to be from one of the most elite clans in the Academy.

And it was as she walked forwards that Hayato finally saw the small Uchiha clan emblem on her back.

The Uchiha clan, one of the founding clans of the Hidden Leaf Village, famous for producing prodigal ninja. All eyes were on Kouki.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Cheers broke out after Kouki finished her test. She managed 4 bullseyes, with the final kunai nearing the border of a bullseye.

With a coyish smile, she returned back to her place.

"Hayato Uzumaki!"

A slight amount of anxiety sparked through him as he felt every eye on him. He walked slowly to collect his bearings. Once he made his way to the targets, he took a deep breath before grabbing the kunai from Iruka.

Iruka didn't seem to have high expectations for him, but Hayato didn't blame him. It would be hard to show a performance better than Kouki's. And Hayato wasn't from a clan, so it was likely his performance would be similar to the other lousy civilians.

"Begin!"

Hayato took a deep breath, angled his body side-ways, and grabbed the kunai tightly with his fingers but made sure to keep his wrist loose. After mirroring the people that went before him, and compiling what they did correctly, Hayato's form looked well put together.

He slung the first kunai, and then...

Thud!

It landed on the second ring.

He felt his stomach flutter, 'I didn't miss!'

Taking just as much time as his first throw, he slowly fixed his form accordingly.

Thud!

It hit the second ring again, but this time it was closer. He adjusted himself again.

Until finally, he hit a bullseye! And then another!

The final kunai hit the outside of the second ring, Hayato's excitement caused it to go wayward, but even still - he was pleased with himself.

Iruka himself looked to be a little stunned, but he quickly schooled his features and called the next name.

The other students shared the same expression as Iruka, and just as they looked at the clan kids who got good scores - they began to look at Hayato in the same light.

As Hayato went back to his place amongst the sea of students, he smiled. He had done better than he thought.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto was looking at his brother in awe as he walked back, subsequently - he had missed Iruka's call.

"Naruto!", Iruka grit out, he bared his teeth as he looked down at the blonde-haired boy.

In response, Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Iruka-sensei!"

He walked up to Iruka, received the kunai, and readied himself.

Thud!

He hit the bullseye immediately! Naruto's eyes betrayed his skill, because he too looked at his hands in awe as if he hadn't known he could do that.

'Am I just a super ninja?', he thought as he held the kunai shakily.

"Naruto! Hurry up, people are waiting!"

With a resolute nod and determined smile, Naruto continued.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Silence engulfed the outside courtyard after Naruto's speedy go. The boy had decided to fling them all in quick succession, not stopping until he had reached the end in one go, drunk from his first bullseye.

"Hahaha!", the children broke out into laughter, once more. Their eyes pooled with laughter as they saw that not only did Naruto miss every other target, but some had even ended up behind the targets, and others stopped short before reaching the target.

"I knew it was luck!", one of the civilian children guffawed.

"Yeah, he couldn't even hit the target after that flukey shot!"

"Back in line, Naruto," Iruka said disappointedly. The corners of his lips pulled into a slight sneer before he reigned it back in. He shook his head in contemplation, before turning to address the raucous group.

"SHUT IT!", he yelled.

And silence reigned once more.

Iruka cleared his throat before saying, "Next, we'll have your taijutsu evaluation!" The bell then rang loudly, signalling the end of a lesson.