Rewriting the Future

Chapter 7: Back to the Academy

"Naruto! Wake up!" Kushina's shouts echoed through the house as Naruto was jolted awake.

At this time, Kushina came barging through the door. "Get up! You're going to be late for your first day at the academy!"

"What?!" shouted Naruto as the panic began to set in and Naruto frantically began searching for something to wear.

Five minutes of panicked dressing later, Naruto had probably won the award for the worst dressed kid in Konoha.

Somehow, he managed to have his orange shorts on backwards, his shirt inside out, mismatched shoes and his socks…let's not get started on that.

In fact, the only thing that would be considered neat would be his hair, and even that was still shaggy and spiked.

Minato got a good laugh out of his son's antics while Kushina rushed him back upstairs to change his clothes.

When Naruto came back down, his orange shorts were on the proper way, his blue t-shirt was right side out and he had an orange vest on the outside.

He had the correct pair of blue ninja sandals on, eliminating the mismatched sock, and his hair was still a mess.

Unfortunately, nothing could be done about the hair.

He had managed to inherit his father's genes when it came to hair and Kushina realized soon in their relationship that spiky and messy was the best it was going to get.

Giving Kushina a quick kiss, Minato grabbed Naruto and proceeded to take his son to the academy for the very first time. "I can't believe it's already time for you to go to the academy" Minato said to Naruto. "It felt like just yesterday that you were riding on my shoulders and sitting in a cradle in my office."

"Huh?" Naruto looked up at his dad with a confused look and Minato just laughed.

"Don't worry, son. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun in the academy. You'll have all your friends, Sasuke, Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru, Shino, and even Neji. And I'm sure you'll make tons of other friends" said Minato. "And besides, you'll learn how to become a true shinobi there, not just through our lame training sessions."

"But I like our little training sessions. I'd rather be doing that than sitting through those reading classes and stuff that Neji keeps complaining about" said Naruto. "I swear, if I hear him say 'no matter how much we dislike them, we were fated to take them' again, I'm going to go crazy!"

Naruto had failed to prevent Neji from turning into his fate-obsessed future self, but a fate-obsessed Neji with a father had to be better than a fate-obsessed Neji without a father, right? At least he wouldn't hold that grudge against the main branch.

Minato laughed at Naruto's complaints. "I'm sorry to say, Naruto, But you have to take them. If you want to be a good ninja then you need to be able to read, write, count, and know about our village's history."

"Well, the history class won't be too bad, you said they talk about the Hokages, right?" asked Naruto.

"Yep. And seeing as you keep saying you want to be a Hokage, you're going to have to know all about them" said Minato.

"But that's why I have you!" shouted Naruto. "Who better to learn about the Hokages then from the Hokage himself!"

"Well, here we are. Now at least try to enjoy your first day and don't worry, you'll be doing a few ninja-classes in the afternoon" said Minato, leaving Naruto at the academy gate. "Here's some money. You'll have an hour for lunch and Ichiraku's isn't far from here so you should be able to get some ramen."