Naruto shifted his vision away from the sleeping heiress next to him and back to the crowd of people staring at them with a variety of interests. He could hear their careless whispers and the beginnings of wild rumors. He smirked at them then adjusted Hinata to rest his chest rather than his thin arms.
While he was doing that, a blond-haired boy stared at the duo with confusion and slight annoyance. He turned to the pink-haired boy sitting a row ahead of him and harshly whispered, “Who is his and how I didn’t know about this?!”
“Inoki,” He turned to the platinum blond. “You don’t remember him?” There was a slight quiver in his voice, causing the Inoki and another student’s eyebrows to raise.
Sasuke scowled at the boy. “Tell us now, Saki. You obviously know who it is.”
He shook his head then laid down on the table, refusing eye contact with either child. Sasuke turned to Inoki for insight only to receive a confused shrug. Inoki caught sight of a wild-looking brown haired girl and called her over to him.
She stood up to his table and leaned close to his face. “Hello, Piggy. What you need from me?”
Inoki sneered. “If I didn’t need your uncivilized behavior, I would do it myself. Listen, ask that weirdo up there,” He pointed at Naruto. “questions and how he knows Hinata so well and why Saku is being a wimp.” She waved him away and stepped towards the relaxed duo.
Naruto greeted her with a smile. “Hello. It seems that Inoki sent you to us.” He patted Hinata’s head. She nuzzled into his side, lightly snoring.
She snorted in agreement. “Yeah, name’s Kira. Let’s speedrun this. Every question you answer earns me 10 yen from the fool. Who are you?”
“Mito Ina. Adopted son of Dr. Kia Ina and native-born of Konoha.”
“Considering no one except pinky and blind eyes know you, you left for some reason. How long you lived in Konoha, why did you leave and where did you go?”
“I lived in Konoha on and off for five years. I left because my family was called for an emergency in Kumo.” Kira flinched. “My mom wanted to refuse but we were low on income as our merchant business wasn’t performing well. We went, she healed him and watched his recovery for a few years then moved back to Konoha.”
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“Ah, yeah. So how do you know blind eyes?” She glanced at the awake heiress.
A warm smile spread across his face. “She was my only friend when I was an orphan. When I didn’t have a home, she and her mom was my home.” He rubs her head. “She still is family.”
Kira turned to glare at Inoki. “I hate that I’m asking these questions now. How do you know pinky?”
Naruto scratched his whiskers through the thick tape covering them. “I actually don’t know him or anyone like him."
She was about to respond when another voice pierced through the near-silent classroom. “ Sit down Inuzuka Now that you are done interrogating the new kid, the class can start. My name is Iruka Umino, call me Iruka-sensei.” The woman stood in front of the teacher’s desk with her eyes trained on Naruto.
She sighed, pinching her nose. “Due to an unexpected addition to our class, everyone will be taking knowledge tests.” The class groaned their complaints. “Yes. Yes. I know it’s annoying but there will be a practical test and I will try to teach you a new technique today.”
A random student asked. “What are we learning?”
“Henge Jutsu.” She slowly performed the hand sign then henged into the student. “It will allow you to cast an illusion over your body and turn you into your target. It’s a fragile jutsu, meaning if you are touched or take damage it will break.” She released the jutsu and started passing out tests. “Do your best and cheating won’t help you. It’s just an evaluation test.” She glanced at sleeping students in the back. “You can choose not to do it like I know Shika-san will do.”
The tests were slowly passed through rows, the students’ lack of drive was showing. It took a few minutes before the test reached Naruto and Hinata. He patted her back then flipped over the two sheet test.
“Huh?” Naruto blurted. He was shocked to see how easy the questions were despite the month-long study session he had with Tatsuki. He picked up his charcoal pencil and wrote the answers, they were basic questions about the history and government of Kohana. He while he was writing the answers he noticed a subtle motif of grander and the Konoha is the hidden power the lands of fire. He rolled his eyes, knowing that the daimyo would have an issue with their propaganda.
The second page was more complex, full of equations and questions on the military protocol. The equations were a breeze as he has solved harder ones in his spare time to ensure his inventions would work. The military questions were extremely confusing and subjective. He could see that over half of the questions regarding him and his family situation as unofficial residents of Konoha.
One of the questions even addressed this, “In a state of emergency, would you trust a foreigner with combat techniques to aid you and our village? If not, explain why.”
He glanced at Iruka-sensei, she never stopped staring at him since the beginning of class. She returned his glance with a raised eyebrow, her obvious xenophobia showing through actions.
He turned back to his test and sped through all the answers. His loyalties were firm and clear. He was not loyal to Konoha, he was loyal to family, extending that gratitude to Hinata. He rested his head and closed his eyes, wishing the day will end.