The academy begins

Naruto suddenly opened his eyes and quickly hit the alarm before it rang.

"Yes, I finally managed to wake up before it went off," Naruto said cheerfully. He always had trouble waking up early, but today was different. Today was the first day of the ninja academy.

Since Honoka started the academy last year, Naruto had been eager to start his school life. In his mind, his real training would start today, as he would be able to learn to be a real ninja and compete against other talented kids.

Naruto quickly got out of bed and went straight to the bathroom to freshen up. Once he finished bathing and brushing his teeth, he quickly went downstairs to the kitchen where he found Kushina finishing preparing breakfast.

"Good morning, Mom," Naruto said cheerfully.

Kushina was surprised to see him awake so early; normally, she had to go upstairs to wake up the kids.

"Good morning, Naruto. How did you wake up so early?" Kushina asked.

Naruto smiled and said, "Today, I finally defeated the alarm clock."

Kushina laughed at what Naruto said. She was glad to see that despite all the training and how smart he was, Naruto was still a child.

Kushina finished preparing breakfast and said, "Naruto, go wake up Honoka. Unlike you, she couldn't defeat her alarm clock."

Naruto nodded and went upstairs to wake his sister. Five minutes later, a disheveled Honoka, rubbing her eyes, came down with Naruto, who was already ready for the day.

After that, Honoka and Naruto had breakfast, and once Honoka was ready, the two of them were prepared to leave the house.

"There's no need for you to take us to the academy, Mom," Naruto said.

Kushina's face went from surprised to sad, and she said, "Is my child embarrassed by his mother who loves him so much?" After saying that, she started to cry.

Naruto and Honoka looked at each other; they knew she was just pretending, but they decided to play along.

"That's not true, Mom. If you want to accompany us, you can," Honoka said with a smile, even though she knew Kushina was pretending, she never liked seeing her cry.

A mischievous sparkle appeared in Kushina's eyes as she instantly went from a sad expression to a joyful one.

"Really? I'm so happy that at least one of my children loves me," Kushina said while looking at Naruto, who just stuck his tongue out in response.

The mother and children trio left the house and began their walk to the academy, which wasn't far from the area where the important clans of Konoha were located.

As they approached the academy, Naruto could appreciate the building where he would frequent from now on, the place where he would learn incredible techniques and compete against other kids to be the best in the class. Or so he thought.

The closer they got to the academy, the more and more children with their parents crowded the schoolyard. All the clanless children and orphans who passed the entrance exams were also there. Minato ensured that all children, regardless of their status, could become ninjas.

When they arrived at the academy gates, they saw familiar faces: Mikoto, Hana, and Kasumi accompanied by their children Sasuke, Hinata, and Karin.

When Naruto and Honoka saw their friends, they quickly raised their hands and greeted them, "Hi Sasuke, Hinata, Karin," they said at the same time.

Sasuke looked confused at Naruto. For him, the academy was just a waste of time since his brother had warned him that he was far above the level of the other students, so Naruto's cheerful mood puzzled him. Although deep down, he was excited, he could finally compete against Naruto.

"Hey Karin, why didn't you wait for us?" Honoka said as she approached the girl.

Karin looked at her and said, "I didn't wait because I knew you'd be late since you always oversleep and are hard to wake up," Karin said as she adjusted her glasses.

Honoka's cheeks turned red upon hearing Karin and whispered, "Hey, don't say that out loud, you'll make us look lazy," Honoka whispered to her cousin.

"Hmph," Karin snorted.

Naruto approached Hinata and said, "Hi Hinata, good morning. Are you excited to start at the academy?"

Hinata's cheeks turned red as she saw Naruto getting too close, but she took a deep breath, looked him in the eyes, and smiled. In recent years, Hinata had started her training, and one of the points she trained was to overcome her shyness, especially when it came to Naruto. "Yes, Naruto-kun, I'm excited to start the course with you… and with Karin, of course," Hinata said, embarrassed as she almost said she was happy to be with him.

Naruto gave her a bright smile upon hearing Hinata's words, which only made her blush more. This confused Naruto. 'Hinata is red as a tomato. What's wrong with her? Although lately, she's been acting like this for a while. Anyway, it must be a girl thing,' Naruto thought, seeing her blush.

Naruto then looked at Sasuke and said, "Hi Sasuke, ready to be second in the class?"

Sasuke gave him a fierce look and said, "We'll see, Naruto. Don't cry later when I finally surpass you."

They stared at each other, sparks flying where their gazes met.

.

.

.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Naruto laughed out loud.

Sasuke also laughed, but it was less noisy than his friend.

All the kids, parents, and teachers nearby gave them strange looks but quickly went back to their business.

"Hey Sasuke, do you think there will be many prodigy kids at the academy? I'm eager to compete against them," Naruto said.

Sasuke gave him a blank look and said, "Don't get your hopes up, Naruto. My brother told me there won't be anyone of our level at the academy. That is, if we don't count Hinata and Karin who were trained by your mother."

"Come on, Sasuke, don't be a killjoy. I'm sure there will be someone good in our class," Naruto said, not believing that in Konoha's ninja academy, the strongest village of the elemental nations, there wouldn't be kids as good as him and Sasuke. But what Naruto didn't know was that he and Sasuke were in a completely different league in terms of talent and training. It wasn't that Konoha lacked talent, but he was a complete monster.

While the kids talked, their mothers also greeted each other.

"Hi Hana, Mikoto, Kasumi," Kushina said.

"Good morning, Kushina," the girls said.

Kushina couldn't help but feel bad seeing Hana; Hanabi hadn't been born yet. She should have been born three years ago, but when she asked Hana, she was told that a child now could create internal conflict within the Hyuga clan as they would want to seal one of her children, just as they did with Hizashi. Hearing that, Kushina was filled with worry and guilt. What if Hanabi wasn't born due to the timeline changes? Kushina thought when she heard Hana's explanation three years ago. Since then, every time she saw her, she felt more and more guilty. The only thing that comforted her was Jiraiya's explanation that if someone was destined to be born, they would be as long as their existence was possible. Since Hana told her she wouldn't have another child soon, Kushina had tried to convince her to reconsider the idea.

"How are you girls? Excited for our little ones' first day?" Kushina said to avoid thinking too much about Hanabi.

"Well, I hope they do well, although I think they'll get bored, especially Naruto and Sasuke. You'll see when they come asking us to let them graduate early and hear they can't do it, fu fu fu," Mikoto said.

Fugaku and Minato had agreed to prohibit the kids from graduating early. They believed that the time at the academy would be beneficial for both, just as it was for Itachi, who also received the same treatment. It wasn't good for a child so young to start their life as a shinobi at an early age, as it would only lead to psychological trauma in the future. They even considered delaying graduation until the age of 16, but due to future events, this was impossible now.

Kushina sighed at Mikoto's words, knowing it would be a headache when Naruto realized the academy wouldn't be a challenge for him.

"ALL FIRST-YEAR CHILDREN COME WITH ME. CHILDREN FROM OTHER YEARS GO TO YOUR RESPECTIVE CLASSES," a chunin who was a teacher at the academy shouted.

Honoka said goodbye to her mother, her friends, and her brother as she was in the second year and headed to her class, which coincidentally was the same class as children like Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Karin said goodbye to their mothers and followed the chunin who guided them to the academy's rooftop. There they found their friends from the park: Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Ino, Sakura, and the strange bug kid Shino, whom they also met at the park.

Ino quickly got excited upon seeing Naruto while Sakura did the same for Sasuke. The girls were about to greet them, but before they could speak, they were told to be quiet.

Once everyone sat down, the chunin spoke again, "Now stand up to receive the Third and Fourth Hokage."

The children looked at him confused since there was no one else on the rooftop with them.

'Hmph, Dad, you're terrible at making a dynamic entrance. I can sense you from miles away,' Naruto thought.

Suddenly, two figures appeared in front of the children, leaving them stunned. The Third Hokage and the current Hokage suddenly appeared. The children marveled at the speed of the Kages and applauded their entrance.

Hiruzen cleared his throat, causing the children to quiet down, and then began his classic speech about the Will of Fire, igniting the fire and passion for the village in their hearts.

All the children were moved by his speech, except the clan children, who always put their clan first.

Once Hiruzen finished speaking, Minato stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Hello, little ones. You must be surprised to see me here today, as usually, it is the Third Hokage who gives the speech to new students. But today is a special occasion, not only because my son is starting his career as a ninja but also because of the new developments I have to announce. Starting this year, the academy will raise its level. You will learn all the basics of being a shinobi, from weapon handling to high-level taijutsu. But don't worry; to help you surpass the exams, you will have auxiliary Jonin-level teachers. If you have any questions, ask your teacher once you're in your respective classes. I have high hopes for this generation, so do your best and good luck," Minato said to the children, who were filled with anticipation to start classes. The children who weren't from clans looked at him with shining eyes. Minato was like them and had reached the highest possible position for a shinobi, filling them with hope since someone who wasn't from great clans managed to surpass all his peers and conquer the Hokage position. His mere presence was an inspiration for everyone.

Naruto squinted at Minato's words since he hadn't told him anything about this year being special.

To be continued...

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