The boy with the Golden Hair

Konohagakure, The Land of Fire

Minato gazed at the orange sky. The clouds hovering above the distant hills had just parted to reveal the rising sun. The chirping of birds and people coming out of their houses marked the beginning of another day. Minato had seen several sunrises in his six years of living in Konohagakure. On other days, Minato would have taken his leisurely time to admire the beauty of the Sunrise and then stroll through the streets helping the people in need. But not today.

He somersaulted through the ledge of his house and landed on the flat ground. His aqua blue eyes gleamed as he took a last glance at the rising sun before rushing through the streets of Konoha. He wore a grey jacket that perfectly matched his chain mail vest and olive green pants. Minato preferred wearing high sandals instead of the ordinary low sneakers worn by other leaf shinobi.

A shopkeeper who just upturned the shutter noticed Minato running towards the academy and greeted, "Hey, Minato! Good Luck on your first day in the Ninja Academy."

Minato without stopping raised his left hand and exclaimed, "Thank you, old man Kaminari. I will see you after the classes are over."

Minato stopped abruptly before the front gate of the Ninja Academy. Konohagakure Ninja Academy, A huge building in Konohagakure located directly at the base of the Hokage Mountain. It is where prospective ninja is trained and where official ninja receives their assignments. It was founded by the Second Hokage out of military necessity.

The Academy was comprised of several buildings and was divided into two divisions: The Administrative division and The Academic Division. The Administrative Division is the area where the Teacher staff rooms, as well as the Hokage's office, is located, which is where missions are dispatched and the day-to-day running of the village takes place.

The Academic division on the other hand is the area where the Shinobi classrooms are located. The Academy compound also consisted of the Jonin Standby Station and the field where the shinobi undergraduates take part in several drills of training.

Minato entered through the front gate of the Academy and finally had a look at the Academic Division building which had a kanji symbol for fire on top of it. He looked around and saw several elders heading towards the Academic division building with their children. Some conditions were placed on the admission of the students in the Ninja Academy of Konohagakure

These included:

1. Love the village and hope to help preserve peace and prosperity.

2. Have a mind that will not yield, able to endure hard training and work.

3. Be healthy in mind and body.

Minato went inside the building and headed towards the noticeboard which contained all the information regarding the assignment of classrooms to the new students. The place was crowded as everyone was eager to know their assigned classrooms. Minato tried to match his ninja registration number with the number on the noticeboard and found his class to be Class 1-A.

As Minato proceeded towards his assigned classroom, he overheard someone arguing, "But, mom. Why do I have to attend this Academy, it's such a drag."

Minato turned back to glance at the person who was arguing and saw a male around the same age as his. Black pony-tailed hair, wearing a grey half-sleeved jacket and chain mail vest with light brown three-quarter pants that ended just below his knees.

"Looks like this ponytail guy is in my class as well. I look forward to his introduction," Minato assessed and entered class 1-A.

The Classroom was a large room, in the front was a raised platform where a podium was placed and a blackboard was hung on the wall behind it. The room also had benches and desks lined from up to down in three different rows, each row having three of them each. The classroom as expected by Minato was packed with the newly admitted trainees and the seats in the behind and the front were already occupied. Minato found an empty seat in the first row second bench and rushed towards it to occupy it before anyone else.

But, before Minato could sit on the seat, someone stopped him in midway and gave him a glare, "Hey you! The boy with golden hair, this seat is mine. Find some other seat."

Minato didn't react to his words but silently observed him, he had black medium flowing hair with two upturned spikes of his hair coming over his forehead, and wore a high neck navy blue T-Shirt that was worn by only one clan's shinobi - The Uchiha Clan.

Minato's eyes gleamed as he inquired, "You are an Uchiha, right?"

"Uhh.. What? Yes, I am Fugaku of the Uchiha Clan." Answered Fugaku in a surprised tone.

He took a look at Minato and concluded within himself, "This guy with the golden hair is somewhat weird."

"I have heard Uchihas have one of the most powerful doujutsu, The Sharingan. I am interested In knowing more about it. Can you please provide me with more solid information about it and all of its functions."

Fugaku got annoyed with Minato's curiosity and pushed him aside and riled, "Stay away from me you weirdo."

Minato somewhat disappointed took his seat on the second bench and waited for the teacher while hearing everyone talking among themselves. Suddenly a middle-aged man entered through the door of the classroom and the whole class went silent. The middle-aged man had dark brown hair, he wore a half olive green flak jacket and the usual black outfit under it. A silver metal headband with the symbol of leaf was tied around his forehead. This headband was a symbol worn by all the shinobi in Konoha which was their identity as a shinobi of Konohagakure.

The middle-aged man kept the books that he carried under his arms on the wooden podium and came down from the raised platform and stood right in front of the class.

The man scanned the whole class with his eyes before introducing himself, "Greetings Class, I am Hotaku Shota, the homeroom teacher for class 1-A. Today's class will be an Introductory class, where everyone will share something about themselves so, we could get to know each other better."

"We will start from the left side first row, first bench and then move accordingly," he added and signaled the first student who was a boy to introduce himself.

The boy stood up from his seat, he had a pale skin with black long hair knotted at the end. His eyes were gray with a purple hue in them. "Hiashi of the Hyuga Clan," the boy said in a simple tone and sat down without uttering another word.

Immediately, the boy sitting beside Hiashi who had the same features as him, the only difference was a green cross mark with a short line on each side of his forehead stood up and introduced in a more cheerful manner, "My name is Hizashi Hyuga, I am also a member of Hyuga Clan and I want to be a protector of my clan and my brother."

The next one who was the same guy from uchiha clan stood up and introduced himself and turned back to glance at Minato who was also looking at him before sitting back on his seat. The next student was a girl who had long black hair which came down to her waist, quietly stood up from her seat and greeted in a polite manner, "Hello everyone, I am Mikoto Uchiha of the Uchiha Clan."

As the introductions proceeded, Minato noticed that the next one in the line was the boy whom he saw arguing with his mother in the corridor. The boy looked uninterested and bored as he stood up from his place and complained, "Introductions are such a drag, but, I am Shikaku Nara of the Nara Clan and I don't look forward to see you all again."

As soon as others heard the words, 'I don't look forward to see you all again', everyone started laughing. The fat guy sitting beside him who earlier introduced himself as 'Choza Akimichi of the Akimichi Clan' snapped at him, "Hey, Shikaku! You must not introduce yourself like this, it creates a bad impression on others."

"Whatever Choza, this is such a drag. Like I would even care." Shikaku replied in his usual uncaring tone.

"Leave him, Choza. This guy will never get serious." Suggested the guy with the light yellow hair who introduced himself as Inoichi Yamanaka of the Yamanaka Clan.

Hotaku Shota interrupted to stop the ruckus, " Okay, Everyone! This ends the introductions, we will now begin our first ninjutsu lesson about shadow clones."

Immediately, everyone became silent as soon as they heard their teacher informing them about the lesson of shadow clones. But, Fugaku immediately stood up and announced, "But, Hotaku Sensei, I think we missed someone's introduction."

Hotaku's eyes immediately started scanning the faces of the students present in the class before fixating upon Minato. Pointing a finger at Minato, he ordered, "Hey, you, The boy with the golden hair! Introduce yourself to the class."

Minato cheerfully stood up and put on a huge smile before introducing himself, "My name is Minato Namikaze, and I am from the Namikaze Clan."