(I am aware that the cover is bad, bear with me)

If he were to be honest, Naruto was exhausted. Very much so. Though he found no need to express that in words, as that fact was very clear when he dropped onto his bed like a soulless corpse. As tired as he was, he couldn't help but give a little smile as he recalled the incidents from a few minutes ago.

He, Naruto Uzumaki, is a secret hero of the village! If it wasn't for him, Konoha would be in danger because Mizuki sensei- no, Mizuki tried to steal whatever that forbidden scroll was. All he knew was that he had saved the village from a super evil villian. Even if no one would know about it, Iruka-sensei and gramps would undoubtedly, be proud of him for kicking Mizuki's ass.

And now that he's an official genin, he can finally go out on missions! Make his name known across all nations and be the world's hero.

He wouldn't have been able to sleep from all this excitement. What would be his teammates faces when they find out he passed the test to become a genin? Like he was super strong, and took out Mizuki all by himself? What would his sensei be like? Who would be his teammates? Eventually the exhaustion caught up to him, and he fell into a deep slumber. He didn't set his alarm clock for tomorrow, but that didn't matter....

Because he won't be waking up tomorrow.

At least, not as Naruto Uzumaki...

The sun was, as always, shining brightly in the sky. The blonde boy let out a huge stretch and yawn as he woke up from his bed in a weird sleeping position, his head and left arm hanging off from the opposite side of the bed.

He stared at his ceiling in an odd silence as he sat up.

Wow, this room stinks.

His vision was then directed at the thing that was closest to him- an alarm clock. He stared at it with curiosity and confusion as he held it up to his ear, listening to the ticking noises that the device produced.

Hmm, how very odd.

His head spun towards the door before a huge knock was heard. "Naruto! Narutooo!! Are you in there?"

Naruto, is it? He stood up from his bed and walked towards the door before swinging it open. What greeted him was a man with tanned skin and a scar across his face.

"I'm in here, yes," The blonde boy smiled. It was a bit unsettling to the man, but he shook it off and sighed in relief.

"I'm glad you're okay. Where have you been? You're supposed to be at the academy right now. Your teammates are waiting for you..I don't know about your sensei, but you should head there as soon as you're ready- and fast."

"Sorry, I must've forgotten," The boy smiled in embarrassment. "I'll get ready and head there as soon as possible."

"Good, you better! You're okay, right? Just to make sure, y'know, after yesterday...."

Yesterday? The boy tilted his head. Wonder what had happened yesterday. The man seemed confused at his confusion, so he gave the man a nod as a reply which said man smiled at.

"Then I'll be leaving, alright? Good luck!"

As the man was about to leave as he said, the boy tugged at his shirt.

"Sensei..."

The man didn't give a big reaction to that word, which proved his theory correct. This man was indeed Naruto's teacher. The man's gaze softened as he turned towards Naruto with a kind smile. "Yes, what is it?"

"Where's the academy?"

The man whom Naruto found out to be his sensei named Iruka gaped in shock when he asked that question, but gave him clear directions about where it is. Iruka was seemingly surprised when Naruto nodded to his every instruction like he understood everything, which made him come to the conclusion that 'Naruto' was a stupid child who didn't know his directions.

But still, he cleaned up himself and his room rather quickly. He was weirded out when he realised that Naruto's whole closet only had the same orange jumpsuit and black T-shirt. At least he had different coloured boxers.

He followed Iruka's instructions and walked around his way to the academy that had been mentioned, with the shinobi headband on his forehead that Iruka had reminded him to bring. As he wandered around the village, he could only stare at the surroundings in awe. Everything was so pretty and neat. It was heartwarming to see. He noticed the glares of the civilians, but in all honesty, he didn't really care about that fact. He tried waving to a few of them, but they only gave him eye rolls or cold stares, conpletely ignoring his greetings. Poor Naruto.

Finally, he reached the Academy, the one that supposingly was the one mentioned by Iruka. It looked the same as what he described, so he walked in without much thought. But one thing he forgot was to ask Iruka about his class. And so Naruto wandered all around the whole school trying to find his class. Thankfully, most of them were empty so he didn't interrupt anyone's lesson. There must be a holiday. Was today a very special day of some sorts?

At last, he reached a classroom which he senses two people's presences in. A boy and a girl, it seems. He slid the door open and before he could greet them, he was met with a loud scream.

"NARUTO! YOU'RE SOOO LATE!!"

He soon found the source of the scream to be a young girl with pink hair and a red dress. A boy with black hair and blue shirt that sat in the corner of the room turned his head towards him as well.

"Hn, I didn't expect the dead last to actually make it today. Didn't you fail the exams? Did you just steal that headband?" He scoffed with a smirk.

"Sasuke-kun is right! Don't steal other people's headbands, Naruto! You're not even worthy of one!"

"Well, I mean, I have one....I think Iruka gave it to me? If he did, I suppose I'm worthy of whatever this is," Naruto replied as he tapped on the metal of the headband, smiling. Sasuke seemed to be annoyed at his words, as he clicked his tongue.

"Don't get too confident, dead last. I bet Iruka just pitied you and decided to give it to you because you begged him to. You're going to die when you go out there, so I'll give you a fair warning- quit right now."

Before Naruto got to reply him with anything else, he felt a presence behind him. A male adult, he supposed. Said male adult tapped him on the head as he turned around to face him. It was a grey haired man with 75% of his face covered, with the only thing showing being his eye. Naruto wondered what happened to his face. Did someone ruin it so badly he couldn't show it in public?

"Hello, cute little genins! I'll be your sensei starting today. With that said, see you on the rooftop!"