A young boy with blond hair and whiskers joined us shortly after we left the academy.

"Hey Shikamaru are you going to the playground?"

"Wanna join Naruto?" said Shikamaru while rubbing his head.

"Yeah!" yelled Naruto.

While we walked they talked about normal stuff, like how Naruto did his usual pranks and had to do his punishments.

Why did i react like a child? Technically i should have a mindset of a (soon to be) adult. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that i AM a child. There is no sexual reaction from my body even though my Mom took me to the bathhouse. I even hugged a few girls naked.

Perhaps it has something to do with my undeveloped brain? Or is it a side effect from my growing body?

"Hey what do we want to play? I think we should play Ninja!" yelled Naruto.

"Yeah, me and Akamaru are going to be the twin fang of Konoha! We will destroy all enemys!" said Kiba seemingly excited.

Now i regretted agreeing to play with them. Is this changing mindset something that i need to consider as a problem?

Nevertheless it was easy for me to blend into the crowd as we yelled and chased each other through the playground. We even imagined ourselves doing huge ninjutsus capable of flying, tearing through mountains and breathing fire.

As the sun started to set the parents arrived to take their children away.

"Hey, Hashirama. Wanna train in the practice hall of the academy when everyone is sitting at the desk? I already talked to Choji, Kiba and Naruto. All of them don't like sitting in the classroom very much." whispered Shikamaru.

Naturally i could foresee it that they won't train. Chilling and doing nothing would be the better term to describe what they are doing.

Answering with a nod i waved goodbye as Shikamaru, Kiba and Choju walked towards their parents.

I just wanted to walk out of the playground before i turned and looked at Naruto who stared at the normal parent-kid scene.

Tears almost appeared as i could hear the sad and slow background music appearing while naruto looked at them. The sun setting created a beautiful and yet sad atmosphere.

Normally Naruto should stay a little bit longer when everything turned into darkness, in other words the night.

However i prevented it by saying one sentence:

"When do your parents come?"

I had to play the unknowing guy or else it would seem to suspicious. Especially since i am not sure whether Naruto is protected by Anbu or not.

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"I have no parents, i am living in my own apartment." replied Naruto in a sad tone.

"Wanna come over for a night? My parents are gone for three weeks since they will visit my sister."

It was risky but worth a try.

Naruto turned his head towards me as if he couldn't believe it.

"Yeah, what do we eat for dinner?" grinned Naruto with his eyes closed.

In the corner of his eyes i could see tears forming.

"There should be a Ramen shop around here, right? Wanna go to that place?"

Naruto tried to rub his eyes as if something got into it but i could see him crying. It was probably the first time somebody invited him to a stayover.

"Yeah, it's my favorite place. Let's go!" yelled Naruto before running out of the playground.

As we arrived at Ichiraku Ramen Naruto smiled before ordering two Ramen. We paid 100 Ryo for one Bowl but as soon as i saw the size i gasped. It was huge. Comparing it to a cooking pot would be more accurate.

"Did you bring your friend Naruto?"

The one who spoke was Ayame. The daughter of Teuchi who was the owner of Ichiraku Ramen and who treated Naruto really well.

"Yeah!" grinned Naruto while slurping the noodles into his mouth.

Taking chopsticks i smiled. It smelled delicious. As soon as i slurped the noodles into my mouth it exploded into countless flavours. The soft and sticky noddles combined with the flavored soup resulted in a gourmets heaven.

After eating the heavenly dinner Naruto followed me as we walked towards my house.

Laying a Futon next to mine wasn't that hard. While we brushed our teeths Naruto didn't talked.

Just as i closed my eyes Naruto suddenly began to talk.

"Hey, Hashirama, right? I am happy that you invited me for a stayover. I just wanted to tell you since it's my first stayover and i am quite excited."

"No problem, besides we are going to become Ninjas. So i do think having a good relationship is the most important. Let's sleep and wake up early tomorrow. Didn't Shikamaru suggested that we train in the training hall and skip theory in the classroom?"

Since Both of us seemed to be tired we quickly wandered off into dreamland.

Naturally i talked with every single one of them, especially Naruto since we ate dinner together and had a stayover.

I woke up early and dragged Naruto towards the restaurant of my family. Ordering a huge amount of food we ate breakfast and packed Lunch.

After that i quickly sprinted toward the Academy Training hall. It was open since it could be used whenever one wanted to train.

Since i decided to skip class with the other 4 i naturally wanted to train for real. Especially my Chakra control. Shikamaru said something about it comes with age but i couldn't be sure if what Shikamaru said was true knowdledge or only applied for Clan members.

Throwing Kunais and Shurikens towards a Target i tried to hit the centre with every throw. After that i grabbed all the kunais and shurikens and repeated my training. Rinse and repeat.

Naruto wanted to complain but as soon as he saw me train for real he quickly joined. Suprisingly he was worse off than me. He couldn't even hit the target once.

I didn't picked on him, i continued to train until i was exhausted. Then i plucked a random leaf from the garden and did the leaf concentration exercise.

I had no idear what amount of chakra i possessed. However i wanted to try forming Shadow Clone in the near future as i could train double the amount in the same amount of time.

It should be safe, since i am already a little bit older than 8 and should have enough Chakra reserves for one.

As Naruto and i continued to train Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba arrived at the training hall.

Seeing their shocked faces i grinned inwardly. There won't be skipping time, this time will be used effectively.

Gasping for breath i looked towards the clock, it's noon. I had no idear how many Shurikens or Kunais i threw in the past 5 or 6 hours. Neither did i know the amount of times my weapons missed the target.

Naruto and the rest quickly sprinted away when i told them that i will end my training for today.

Slowly dragging my body towards my home i sighed, my training will continue at home.