Chapter 8: Let Me Sleep for a While
"From now on, you have to study hard, Naruto. If you do well, sensei will treat you to ramen often!"
Iruka looked at Naruto, whose eyes were brimming with emotional tears, and suddenly felt a heavy weight on his shoulders.
But giving this child a sense of warmth was the mission the Third Hokage had personally assigned him.
Besides…
He really couldn't bring himself to keep hating such a pitiful boy. At least for now, Naruto wasn't the demon fox.
"Really? Thank you, Iruka-sensei!"
Naruto's face was full of genuine-looking gratitude. His attitude toward Iruka had become noticeably warmer.
This change made the hidden observers secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Because Naruto's body recovered much faster than expected, once it was confirmed that his memories had returned, he was finally allowed to go home and attend school normally.
"Naruto, go on in. I'll make time to help you catch up on the lessons you missed…"
Iruka gently ruffled Naruto's hair, then led him into the classroom.
Having been hospitalized right after the first day of school, Naruto had missed everything. On that opening day, the teachers had spent the entire time praising how great the Third Hokage was…
"Iruka-sensei… I…"
Naruto's gaze swept across the classroom. After passing over the future well-known faces, he spotted two small boys trying hard to shrink their presence in the back.
So these two were the reason he had "been injured and fallen into a coma," huh?
He would pay them a proper visit tonight.
"Go sit over there. Listen carefully in class…"
Iruka scanned the room. There was only one empty seat left — right next to the Uchiha clan's second young master, who wasn't exactly easy to get along with.
As expected, managing these students was never simple…
"Mhm…"
Without any extra words, Naruto walked over and sat directly beside Sasuke.
At this point, he and Sasuke had no real interaction yet. The current Sasuke was still a soft, tsundere little ball of pride…
It actually suited him quite well.
"Hey…"
Halfway through the lesson, Naruto had already slumped onto his desk, fast asleep.
Sasuke stared at him in disbelief, curious why this new classmate was acting so strangely.
Didn't he just promise the teacher he would study hard? Sleeping so openly — wasn't he afraid of getting called out and scolded?
"Don't bother me… Let me sleep for a while…"
Naruto waved his hand lazily. When he caught Sasuke's arm, he simply pressed it down onto the desk and kept sleeping.
He needed rest now. He still had work to do tonight — stealing.
"You…"
Sasuke's eyes widened as his hand was pinned down. He wanted to punch Naruto right in the face.
But at that moment Iruka's gaze swept over. Sasuke didn't want to be dragged to see his parents, so even though he was fuming, he held back his anger and waited for class to end.
"Uzumaki Naruto! Come with me to the office!"
The moment class ended, Iruka roared beside Naruto's ear before Sasuke could explode.
Sleeping through the entire lesson! If he hadn't been worried about disturbing the other students, he would have dragged Naruto up right then and there!
Now class was over, and this little brat was still sleeping!
"Iruka-sensei… are we going to eat ramen?"
Naruto groggily opened his eyes and finally released Sasuke's hand. He rubbed his eyes and sat up naturally.
The second he asked about food while Iruka's face was flushed with anger, the entire class burst out laughing and quickly scattered.
Even though school had only been going for half a year, everyone already knew how scary Iruka-sensei could get when he was mad.
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