"You don't need to help him Akio," Iruka-sensei tried to convince me as I scrubbed the mountain side faces of the Hokages alongside Naruto.

"I understand," I told him calmly as I heard Naruto muttering the word 'darn' over and over again. "But I have nothing else to do, so I may as well help a friend."

"I swear," Iruka sighed and shook his head with a smile. "You can be too nice for your own good."

I only smiled at him as I continued scrubbing with Naruto still missing under his breath.

"I won't let you go home unless you clean that all up." Iruka directed his sentence towards Naruto who finally looked up.

"Like I care," Naruto grumbled. "There's nobody home anyways."

He looked back down again with me following his lead as Iruka's face softened.

"Naruto..." Iruka started.

"What is it this time?"

"What I meant was..." Iruka looked away awkwardly as he scratched his cheek. "If you clean up all that mess, I'll buy you ramen tonight. That goes for you too Akio."

Naruto's expression seemed to brighten up almost immediately.

"Alright!" Naruto cheered. "I'll finish this up in no time!"

"Less talking and more scrubbing then," I teased him with a smirk on my face causing him to stick his tongue out at me.

****

After what seemed like hours, the three of us finally ended up at Ichiraku's ramen. I was sitting off to the side, however, as I didn't want to get in the way of Naruto and Iruka's special bonding moment. I had originally planned on not coming at all, but I mean, hey, it's free ramen.

Plus, I still need to do grocery shopping.

"Naruto," Iruka started talking. "Why did you vandalize those faces? Don't you know who the Hokage leaders are?"

"Of course, I do!" Naruto exclaimed with a mouthful of ramen, and he went ahead and finished his bowl before continuing. "I know they earned the title Hokage-sama because they were the best ninja of their time, right? The Yondaime Hokage was especially a hero who saved the village from the nine-tailed demon fox."

"Then why did you do that?" Iruka questioned.

At this Naruto grinned, and I gave a small smile at his response.

"Because I'll become a Hokage myself, and I'll be the greatest Hokage of all time!" He pointed his chopsticks at Iruka as he made his exclamation. "So that everyone will finally learn to accept me! By the way, sensei, I have a favor to ask."

"You want another bowl?" Iruka guessed.

Yes. Yes, I do want another bowl.

"Mmmm.... No... I was wondering if I could borrow your Konoha headband for a little while?" Naruto pleaded with his hands together.

"This?" Iruka's hand went up to fiddle with his headband. "No, no! This is worn only by those who have graduated from the Ninja Academy. Tomorrow, you will..."

"You're mean!"

"So that's why you took off your goggles..."

"One more bowl!"

****

The next day we all sat quietly as Iruka began to go over the graduation test.

"We are now about to begin the graduation test," Iruka began. "When your name is called, proceed to the next classroom. The test is on the clone jutsu."

I could practically see the sheer horror on both Naruto's and Katie's face. Yeah... It was safe to say that the both of them sucked at the regular clone jutsu.

And soon enough, Iruka was calling out names one by one.

"Masaomi Akio!"

I went to the next room to find both Iruka and Mizuki waiting for me. Have I mentioned how much I hate Mizuki? No? Well, now I have. I hold a very large hatred for him, and I don't dislike people that often. However, he just really seems to tick me off.

"OK, Akio," Iruka smiled at me as I stood in front of the two. "All you have to do is create three clones and you'll pass. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," I spoke before performing the hand signs with a quiet 'Clone Jutsu'.

Immediately, seven perfect clones appeared on each side of me.

"Good job Akio," Iruka congratulated me as he handed me head band. "You pass."

"Your clones were perfect," Mizuki mentioned as he gave me a false smile. Somebody silence him with soap... And hot sauce... And maybe some acid...

"Thank you very much," I gave them a slight bow before I took a head band from Iruka. "It has been a pleasure learning here within the past year."

"It's been a pleasure to have you."

And with that, I gave another bow before walking out of the room and outside to where all the other graduates had gathered with their parents. There were only a few who stood off to the side feeling awkwardly left out. Those people included Rose, Emily, Katie, and Sasuke. Well, actually, Sasuke was actually being surrounded by fangirls who were trying to convince themselves that they were going to be on the same team as their beloved Sasuke. And unfortunately for me, I was soon placed in the same situation.

"Akio-kun!" A girl shouted towards me as she tried to get through the crowd of other girls. "Congratulations on passing."

"Not that we didn't already know that you would pass with flying colors!"

"Will you go out with me?!"

"No! He's going to go out with me!"

"As if! He's obviously going to be on my team, so that pretty much means we're soulmates!"

"Hah???!!!"

Uh... Wut?

"A-ah, um, I apologize ladies, but I'm afraid I have to go run errands at the present moment. So if you'll excuse me..." I sent an innocent smile towards them as I gained a sparkly air around me.

(↑Okay, I would just like you guys to notice how long Tadase's neck is. You'll never look at it the same way ever again.)

"Kyaaaaaa!!! He smiled at us!"

"We're sorry for getting in the way!"

Well... At least they moved. That was starting to get scary. I sighed as I finally walked towards the exit with my head band around my neck and my mood dropping as I noticed Naruto going off with Mizuki. As much as I would love to help, it's not my place to interfere.

And it never has or will be.

****

1059 words excluding A/N's

Finished- 9:58 PM on May 16, 2018

Bye ~