"Oh, of course, no doubt!" Naruto tried to hold in his chuckling as he watched Konohamaru make another futile attempt to free himself.
"Alright then! I challenge you to a match! We'll make it fair and square!" The enthusiastic boy declared. Naruto stifled a laugh.
"Um, you've seem to forgotten three things. One, as I told you yesterday, today is my orientation where I'm going to be assigned to a genin team, so I'm on my way to the academy. Two, seeing how easily you were worn out after a little run during the lessons yesterday, you have a long way to go to catch up to me to be a real challenge. And three..." Naruto reached up to lightly tap his knuckles on Konohamaru's head once. "... You're still stuck to the fence, and at my mercy."
It was several moments before Konohamaru responded.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so." He said in a subdued tone. "... So, are you going to let me go, or what?" He snapped in annoyance.
Naruto continued to snicker as he pulled his kunai out of the fence and put them back into his holsters. Konohamaru folded up his camouflage while grumbling to himself. Naruto frowned slightly.
"Hey, none of that." He snapped, making Konohamaru look up in surprise. "Have you already forgotten what I said yesterday? You have to work at your skills. It's going to be hard, and it's going to take TIME. You can't let yourself be discouraged so easily. All that will do is make you feel bad about yourself, which won't help anything." Naruto smiled and ruffled his friends hair a bit. "I'll see you later."
Konohamaru smirked a bit at the encouraging words as Naruto walked away, but then gave a start.
"Hey, wait a minute Naruto!" Konohamaru raced back over in front of Naruto, who raised a questioning eyebrow. "You owe me a pair of underwear!" Konohamaru pointed accusingly at the taller boy.
"What?" Naruto blinked in confusion. "Why would you-"
"From the wedgie you gave him yesterday." Kyaena offered, struggling against her giggles. Naruto went wide-eyed.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." He admitted sheepishly with a sweatdrop as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Look, I'm sorry, I don't have time to deal with it right now. But we'll get together later, and I promise to take care of that with you."
"Where will we meet?" Konohamaru asked.
"If I'm not out in the training fields, you're best bet is to find me at the Ichiraku Ramen... Hut? ... Stand? Restaurant?" Naruto tilted his head slightly. "Funny, I never really thought about that. It's kind of a bar setup, but it-"
"Naru-kun, you need to get going!" Kyaena interrupted urgently, snapping Naruto's attention.
"Oh! Yeah! Sorry Konohamaru, I've got to go! I'll see you later! Promise!" Naruto called as he ran off to get to the academy.
Konohamaru stood silently for a minute, looking where Naruto had gone, before turning to go find the Ichiraku Ramen Shop that his grandfather often mentioned.
'Naruto is a bit weird. But I like him!' He thought happily. 'Whoever runs the Ichiraku shop must be really nice for grandpa and Naruto to both like it so much!'
At Ichiraku's, that was just opening for the morning, Ayame was in the middle of handing a bowl of soapy water to her father when she sneezed violently, splashing Teuchi with the sudsy liquid.
Ayame could only offer an embarrassed smirk.
Naruto managed to get to the academy only slightly later than he intended, and still early enough that there was hardly anyone around. He made his way to his homeroom, just getting there as the door opened and Iruka walked out.
SOTS-1-01-04
Start from the beginning
