Deep orange light beamed through the classroom’s tall windows, bathing the room in the setting sun’s brilliance as it dipped below the horizon. I carried a water-filled bucket with me up each row, silently dragging the mop across the classroom’s hardwood floors, and used a blade scraper to dislodge hardened pieces of gum from under the long tables. I had no doubt my classmates would stick more gum underneath the table by next week, but I did it anyway.

Solitude at school wasn’t something I expected to experience again. I took my lunches on the school roof and only appeared when I had to. However, the solitude gave me time to think past the guilt and disgust at myself and reflect on why I felt the way I did. Most likely, it was because I was a child—one with the experience of an adult—and from a child’s perspective, my response to Shikamaru was fair.

He went for the jugular first because he couldn’t stomach criticism, and I responded in kind. Shikamaru hadn’t spoken to me at all since then—rather, I avoided speaking to him, or anyone for that matter. We’d argued about our differences in worldview before, but I always pulled away before things could really get ugly.

I wasn’t a child. I should’ve been above targeting his insecurities, even if he was a little shit and wasn’t above targeting mine. At the end of the day, he would grow and learn that it wasn’t okay to do so. As for me, that was a lesson I’d known long before this life. There was no excuse for how I acted, so if it took me being alone to stop being a child, then so be it because the one time that I didn’t, our entire friend group fractured.

“You’re still here?”

I looked down from the top of the tiered classroom.

“Iruka-sensei?” Leaning the mop and the bucket against the back wall, I jumped from table to table and landed at the front of the class.

“You could have taken the stairs, you know?”

I nodded. “You’re right.”

“Where’s Ren? Isn’t she meant to be on cleaning duty with you?” He looked around the classroom. “Don’t tell me she’s ditched it?”

“Dunno.” I shrugged. “But I’m kind of glad she isn’t here. Doing this alone was pretty calming.”

Iruka gave me an odd look and walked over to his desk, putting on his chunin vest and grabbing his backpack from under the table. “Even if that’s true, you should probably head on home now. All the afterschool clubs are done and they’ll be locking the front gate soon.”

“I was already finished anyway,” I replied. “I’ll see you next week, sensei.”

“Have a nice weekend.”

I forced a smile on my face and nodded.

The best way to get back on track was to stick to a schedule, so the first thing I’d do after dropping my things home would be to go and train. Looking out at the fields behind the school, I saw the last football games wrapping up and a few of the other club members were trudging towards the gate.

I joined them at one of the ground floor’s exits.

“Wait for us, Naruto!”

Haruto tore around the corner first, followed first by Nori and then Ko. They wore plain shirts and shorts, with socks hiked up just under their knees. Against my initial thought to leave, I stayed still and waited for them to reach me. Maybe it was how elated they looked as they ran up to me, but against my initial reaction to ignore them, I stood still.

They gathered in front of me, and I noticed that, despite how much they’d grown, I still stood taller than them

“Why are you still here?” asked Haruto.

“I had to clean my homeroom,” I replied.

Ko winced in sympathy after tying her hair back to keep it out of her sweaty face. “We had to clean our homeroom yesterday. You managed to get out so early.”

“Me and her were stuck in there until six,” said Nori.

“I bet you guys were chatting the entire time,” I replied, snorting softly when they couldn’t form a reply. “If that’s all, I’ll be off. I need to go train for the exams. They’re only a few months away. See you guys around.”

“Wait!” Haruto grabbed my shoulder and then let go immediately when I looked at him, flushing slightly. “S-Sorry. I just meant…” He looked at Ko and Nori, who nodded in support. “Um… spar with us, please!”

I blinked. “...What?”

“We want you to spar with us,” repeated Nori. “We know you’re the best at taijutsu in the entire school, except for Neji Hyuuga in the year above yours. Please! It’ll help us improve.”

“Exactly,” said Ko.

Haruto smirked and clenched his fist. “Besides, we’ll get to show you how much we’ve learned.”

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Between the three of them, any resistance I had crumbled. I reached over to ruffle their hair and walked away to a series of surprised yelps and cries. I continued walking without looking back until I reached the school gates.

“What are you guys waiting for?” I asked. “You scared or something?”

Haruto was the first to look up, his grey eyes clearing up instantly. “You wish!”

Ko and Nori beamed and sprinted after him and I let their animated conversation wash over me. Instead of taking to the roofs as I usually did, I walked through the village—obviously avoiding the more populated bits—and absorbed the sights.

The people aside, the Hidden Leaf Village was a beautiful place, with a nice forest aesthetic that blended with the sprawling buildings. None were ever taller than four stories, with the Hokage’s Red House being the only exception.

Twenty minutes later, we gathered in a field under the shadow of a great tree. Haruto, Ko, and Nori stood ahead of me with determined grins and I relaxed, shooting them an easygoing smile.

“This’ll be strictly taijutsu, alright? You guys haven’t got to use actual weapons in taijutsu yet so it’s only fair. Ready?” They nodded and I shifted my weight. “Alright, come at me.”

Since it was three against one, I sought to break their advantage by running straight at them. Not having expected the move, all three hopped back. I suppressed the instinct to mould my chakra and threw myself into the thick of it. Nori looked the most hesitant so I went for him first. Using the momentum from my run, I slammed a front kick into his hastily prepared guard, sending him sprawling.

Seeing him roll across the grass got Haruto and Ko to spark to life. The redhead engaged with a determined yell. I blocked her first punch and dodged the next. She pressed her advantage and pushed me back, giving Nori time to recover and Haruto an opening to exploit. He came around me and tried to snake his hands around my neck so I dropped low, flooring a surprised Ko and using the momentum to do the same to him.

I rose just as Nori barrelled into me. We slammed into the tree and I leaned forward, slowly pushing him back. “...I didn’t know you were this strong,” I chuckled.

He bared his teeth in a grin that looked more like a grimace as he struggled to stop me from overpowering him. “I’ve been helping my pa around the smithy.”

“The Academy has a free gym on the ground floor, you know? It might help you get stronger in a more focused way.”

“I m-might have to start doing that with ho-how this is going…”

I nodded in acceptance and pushed Nori far enough to give me some space to manoeuvre before suddenly letting him go. I pivoted and he went flying, arms outstretched to cling onto me, and collided head first against the tree.

“M-My nose!” he yelled.

Haruto and Ko stood on either side of me, and based on the gradual lack of cursing from behind me, it was safe to assume Nori was ready to pull something too. I smiled when they started to circle me.

These three had a bad habit of assuming I’d wait for them to set up whatever it was they wanted to try.

Smirking, I feinted a kick in Nori’s direction, causing the black-haired boy to flinch sharply. Ko and Haruto, assuming I was about to go for him, broke the circle. The redhead went high, while Haruto went low, swinging his heel around the back of my foot. I braced down, negating his sweep.

“Damn,” he cursed and rolled out of the way of my stomp.

Ko stepped in. “Eyes on me, twinkletoes!”

Grinning at the nickname, I countered her incoming right hand with a sharp left hook, knocking her off balance. She hissed and shook it off, engaging with a fast one-two combination. I blocked her lead hand and caught her other arm, swinging around to face Nori.

He was too committed to a sidekick to stop and sunk his heel into her gut, pressing all the air out of her, and effectively knocking her out of the fight. He was perfectly off balance from his kick, so all it took was a jab to send him on his behind for the second time this fight.

I rushed after him and slammed my fist down just next to his head, also knocking him out of the fight.

I stood up and put my hands on my hips. “Well, that’s it for you guys, the—!”

Something collided against me, and I tripped forward, bracing myself against the tree trunk in front of me.

“I’m not done yet,” said Haruto, taking up a basic ready stance. “It’s you and me now. Don’t hold back.”

Fixing my shirt, I looked at him appraisingly. “If you’re so sure.”

For the first time in our free-for-all match, I moulded my chakra. The gap between us closed in less than a second and I grabbed hold of his lead hand, solidifying our connection with chakra. Yanking him in, I pulled on his neck and slammed a knee into his face. He reeled back, dazed and I shoved him forwards. Haruto regained his balance and stepped forward to meet me, throwing a combination of blows.

Surprised by how fast they’d come, I stopped advancing and blocked them, letting him set the pace. He fell into a familiar combination of palm strikes and slapped my hits aside. After the fourth exchange, I signalled a time-out and stared at him inquisitively.

“Haruto? When did you learn the Gentle Fist?”

“The Gentle Fist?” He frowned. “I’ve just been studying Asami’s fighting style since her taijutsu’s better than mine.”

“She’s a Hyuuga,” I replied. “So she uses the Gentle Fist. Perhaps the second most important thing to their clan after the Byakugan?”

All the blood drained from his face.

Nori laughed nervously. “...You’ve done it now, man.”

“I-I’m not going to go to prison, am I?” asked Haruto. “I’ve only been working on it for a few weeks. I was going to use it in my next spar against her… but now, I’m not sure.”

“Wait,” Ko spoke up. “If that’s the case, Naruto’s using the Gentle Fist too. He does a lot of palm strikes and his stance is similar to Haruto’s. He doesn’t slap hits away, though.”

Haruto blinked. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I tend to deflect them with my forearms or trap them instead”

“Can you teach me?” He asked, looking at me like a man on death row. “I don’t want to go to prison, Naruto—I’m an only child!”

“First, slow down.” I held back my laugh. “You’re not stealing secret jutsu and don’t have the Byakugan, so you can’t even use it in the first place. The Gentle Fist is more than just palm strikes; anyone could do what you’ve just done. Secondly, sure, I'll teach you. Not now, though.” I wiped the sweat off my forehead. “We’ve gone at it enough.”

He slumped in disappointment. “Damn.”

“Chin up, dude. That wasn’t a no,” I laughed, looking at the other two lying in the grass. “But here’s a more important question. Ramen, anyone?”

Their answers were unanimous, so I took them to Ichiraku Ramen to refuel.