02. The Number One Prankster.

The Academy, a huge building comprised of several other buildings that were erected over time, and served as a training center for up and coming ninja; as far back as Konohagakure's early founding. Outside, the building is easily identified by the tree, at the front and just beyond the entrance, with an old wooden swing hanging down from it.

Located right under the Hokage Mountain, a mountain overlooking all of Konohagakure with the faces of every Hokage; past, present and future carved into the stone wall. With the academy under such a historic landmark; you couldn't miss it even if you were to try.

Unless, of course, if you happened to be Naruto Uzumaki.

When the blonde haired boy stepped out of his apartment, a mischievous grin on his face and carrying buckets of paint; some with paintbrushes sticking in them, going to the academy was the furthest thing from his mind.

"This will be the prank to top all pranks!" Naruto exclaimed, snickering to himself. "Those losers won't see this coming! The Number One Prankster strikes again!"

---

Iruka Umino's class, room 101 located on the first floor, wasn't that packed with students when Minako and Ino first walked through the door.

The classroom had bleacher style seating; the back row being on the top with the front being on the bottom. The teacher's podium sat at the very front of the room, situated in a position so that the sensei could see everyone at once. Behind that is the blackboard that spans the width of the room, with various lectures and lessons written upon it.

Minako recognized several of her classmates already in the room; Sakura sat together in a huddle of girls gushing over Sasuke, who sat by himself in the front row, at a desk close to the window and furthest from the door.

Shino sat at one of the desks closest to the door, watching what appeared to be a small beetle walk across his finger. Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba were together in the middle. As per usual, Choji munched on barbeque chips, Kiba was stretched out; both feet propped on the desk and arms folded behind his head with his puppy, Akamaru, in his lap. Shikamaru had his head resting on the desk; one arm serving as a pillow.

While other students were filing in, Minako made her way up the steps to where Hinata sat in the back of the room. Ino, at this point, joined the girls on the opposite side of the room.

"Morning Hinata," Minako greeted the Hyūga and waited patiently to be acknowledged; in her hand, Hinata held an open book that she was reading. "Mind if I join you?"

"M-Minako, g-good morning." Hinata stuttered. "No, of c-course not."

Minako knew Hinata to be a very quiet, but polite girl who stutters, with problems in having confidence in herself. As she sat down, she allowed her eyes to scan the rest of the classroom in the hope of finding a certain blonde in an orange jacket. Seeing no sign of the Uzumaki, Minako sighed in disappointment.

'What is he up to?' She thought to herself, still looking around.

Before long, Iruka Umino better known to his class as Iruka sensei, a tall man with brown hair tied back in a spiky ponytail, came walking through the classroom door. In one hand, he carried a scroll that he unraveled, and from behind the podium, called off student names, checking them off as he got replies.

One name in particular, one Naruto Uzumaki, did not reply back. The class, and Iruka, half expected a loud ("I'm here, believe it!!") followed by snickering from the loud and hyperactive male. They did not get that.

Silence, they got instead. And the annoying chirp of crickets in the background.

Iruka looked around, up and down the four aisles of desks, seeing no signs of the absent student, he yelled out. "Where is Naruto??"

---

"Bha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Naruto laughed, running through the streets with buckets of yellow and red paint in his hands. Two older, chūnin level, ninja were right behind him, giving chase.

"Naruto, come back here! Just wait when I get my hands on you!" One of the ninja yell out, shaking his fist in the air.

Naruto continued laughing.

"You've really crossed the line this time Naruto!" Another one of the pursuers yell out. "Get back here!!"

Naruto and the two ninja begin jumping on top of the buildings, all while Naruto can't hold in his bursts of laughter. While running, Naruto threw his paint cans and brushes into the air, smacking the ninja on their heads and covering them in paint.

"You brat!" They cursed, making Naruto laugh harder. "We'll get you for this Naruto!!"

"Ha ha! Give it up, you're just bent because you don't have half the guts to do what I do. Do ya? Losers! Wannabes! Suckers! You'll never catch me! Ha ha ha ha!"

Naruto, still being chased by the two ninja, jumps down from the balcony of a tall building and seems to have run down the street, but he's actually hiding behind a blanket that looks like the fence.

"Hey! Naruto hold on!"

The two ninja run by not realizing their mistake, and Naruto thinking he's in the clear, drops the blanket. He scratches the back of his head, a wide grin on his face.

"Ha ha ha. That was too easy. I lost 'em."

With his back turned, he doesn't see Iruka, his sensei, appear behind him with both hands on his hips and a stern look upon his face.

"Is that so? NARUTO!"

"Aaahhhh!" Naruto didn't expect Iruka to appear behind him, and in his shock, he jumped high in the air, arms flailing, legs kicking, and lands hard on the ground. "Where'd you come from Iruka-sensei? What're you doing here?"

"No, what're you doing here? You're suppose to be in class." Iruka jumped on Naruto before the boy made his escape, tied him up and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Iruka gave Naruto a dark look over his shoulder, eyebrows twitching and a tick mark appeared on his forehead. "You're cleaning the whole mountain after school! No if, ands, or buts about it! You're not stopping until it's completely spotless!"

Naruto let out a groan.

---

The class was busy writing from the board; well, Minako, Hinata, Shino, Sasuke and a few others were busy, the rest did what they were doing when Iruka first entered the classroom, when the door to the classroom flew open followed by an irate Iruka-sensei.

On his shoulder, he carried Naruto who, despite being bound by rope, continued to struggle by kicking his feet and yell something along the lines of not treating the future Hokage this way, or some derivative to that effect, but neither the class, or Iruka, paid attention to that drivel.

The classroom laughed amidst a chorus of ("not uhh's") and ("yeah right's"). Minako crossed her arms and shook her head, making a 'tsk tsk' sound. She swore a look of disappointment crossed the Hyūga's features.

'You've really gone and did it this time.' Minako thought to herself. 'What did you do Naruto?'

Iruka dropped Naruto on the ground beside the podium, glaring down at him.

"I'm at the end of my rope with you Naruto! You've failed the graduation exam last time, and the time before that. This time you're being given another chance and you are screwing up again." Iruka lectured him. "Instead of training and studying like you should be doing, and try to become a ninja, you are doing stupid stuff like defiling the Hokage Mountain."

Naruto shuddered at the look Minako threw him from her seat across the room. That didn't stop him, however, from turning his back on Iruka with a loud ("Hmph!").

As his anger grew, Iruka's vein pulsed. He turned to his class, arms spread wide, and proclaimed, "Alright, because Naruto here decided that playing pranks were more important than coming to class, you'll be reviewing the transformation technique! Now everybody line up!"

A chorus of ("boos") and ("awws") left the students mouths as they filed to the front, glaring at Naruto the whole time. Minako went down and over to Naruto, rolling her eyes as she freed him from the ropes. When they stood up to join their classmates, Minako smacked Naruto on the back of the head, scowling.

"Hehe. Thanks Mina- Ow! What was that for Minako?"

"Two of those Hokage faces that you defiled with graffiti belonged to my family. That's what for." She replied back, going to stand in the line beside classmates Sasuke and Ino. Naruto muttered a sorry and went to stand between Ino and Shikamaru.

"I don't get what you see in that dimwit, Minako." grumbled Ino, leaning on a desk with both palms flat behind her. Naruto clenched a fist and narrowed his eyes at the other blonde, Minako cut in before he said anything.

"Shut up Ino."

"Alright, first up is.. Sakura Haruno." Iruka read from the clipboard in his hand. A girl with green eyes and a red ribbon in her long pink hair, stepped up to stand in front of Iruka. She made the hand signs for the transformation technique.

"Sakura Haruno, here and ready to go," Sakura announced to the class. "Let's do this! Transform!" She said and with a poof, smoke appeared, that completely covered her. Once the smoke cleared, it revealed Sakura transformed into Iruka sensei.

"Alright, good." Iruka drawled, not impressed or disappointed. "Good."

"Yes! I did it!" Sakura poofed back to her original form and cheered, throwing both fists in the air. "Yes! Yes!" She continued to bounce up and down on her feet in a very foolish manner.

'I kicked butt! Hell yeah!' Inner Sakura yelled from deep within the subconscious mind of Sakura, pumping a clenched fist. 'I'm such a badass!'

'Its only the transformation technique,' thought Minako rolling her eyes at Sakura's foolish behavior. 'A very basic technique.. and nothing worth being excited about. I bet all ninja can do that or a variant of it.'

Sakura turned to Sasuke, a large grin on her face and arms outstretched. "Did you see what I did Sasuke?" She asked the boy then turned her attention to Minako, who stood directly beside him, and sneered. "Top that you freak show."

Minako watched as Sakura, with her nose in the air, went to stand at the back of the line. She shook her head, ignoring Sakura and her taunt, refusing to rise to the bait. Next, Sasuke Uchiha, the academy's number one rookie of the year, stepped up and did the transformation technique, transforming into Iruka like Sakura did before.

"Good, good." Iruka said again, marking Sasuke from the list.

Once he got Iruka's approval, Sasuke transformed back to himself and followed Sakura to the back of the line. To the Uchiha's annoyance, his fan girls consisting of Sakura and the rest of the girls; minus Hinata and Minako, started squealing when he walked pass.

Minako rolled her eyes, again, and scoffed at them. In Minako's opinion, Hinata was the only one of the girls to actually have some sense of dignity. Like really, who in their right mind goes around yelling 'Sasuke! Sasuke!' all the time.

"Next is.." drawled Iruka as he read from the clipboard. "Naruto Uzumaki."

Minako let out a small smile when Naruto went up. "Do your best Naruto." She called out to him, one eyebrow raised when he turned to look at her. A mischievous grin and an undescribable gleam in his eyes.

"This is such a drag, Naruto," griped Shikamaru with both hands in his pockets, a look of boredom upon his face. "And a total waste of time."

"Yeah! That's right!" called out Ino. "We always pay for your screw-ups."