The Good Times

"Love is a poison. A Sweet Poison, Yes, But it will kill you all the same"

Naruto

He made his way towards the Academy; he still remembered the first day, thankfully Shikamaru and Choji were there; he thought back to The first day of the Academy a year ago.

Inside, Naruto found that he was the third person to arrive; looking over towards the back, he saw a boy with an oversized green jacket and sunglasses. "He must be shy or something to hide in a jacket like that," Naruto thought.

By the window, he looked over the other occupant, a raven-haired boy in a navy blue shirt and tan shorts with a fan symbol on his back, "So the emo had decided to grace us with his presence".

Taking a seat in the middle of the classroom, he waited for everyone else to arrive. Meanwhile, he went through his backpack to make sure he had all of his books and utensils.

Kids started to rush in, not wanting to be late for the first day. Sitting in the same booth as him to his right was a dark-haired boy with a ponytail that oddly resembled a pineapple, looking like he just woke up for the first time in his life. Next to him and further down in the rightmost spot was a chubby kid with swirls on his cheeks happily munching on what he guessed was barbecue chips if the smell was anything to go by.

Looking up from his row mates, he saw a man in standard Chunin clothing with a horizontal scar along his nose.

Iruka cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "Welcome to your first day at the Academy, my name is Iruka Umino, and I will be your sensei until you graduate. Congratulations on passing the entrance exam and taking the first steps in becoming a leaf shinobi. Note, however, that it only gets harder from here. Today will be an introduction day with several tests—" Some of the students started to groan, Iruka shot them all a glare. "-as I was saying, several tests to see where everyone's at." After explaining the daily schedule for normal Academy days and the tests, they will be doing today, Iruka starts passing around the written tests to everyone.

Iruka looks to see if everyone has a test and nods to himself. "Okay, you will have one hour to complete this to the best of your knowledge. The test goes over information that was in the textbook you were given two weeks ago after the entrance exam; begin!"

Naruto picked up his pencil and started on his test; after looking over the questions, he smiled to himself; it seemed as though all that reading paid off. After Iruka called for everyone to hand in their test, Naruto nodded, happy with his answers.

Iruka organised the stack of papers before he noticed that it was time for lunch. "Now you all are dismissed for lunch, and you have one hour to be back here, don't be late!"

Naruto followed the other students outside to the lunch area; looking around for a spot to eat, he decided to sit under a tree that didn't have anyone nearby. He opened his bag that had his lunch inside, and he had prepared a homemade sandwich with stake, followed by tomatoes that he didn't like much, but Mikoto-chan told him many times that he needed to eat all kinds of vegetables and fruits.

The two people Naruto sat next to in the classroom walked up to him as he opened his bag.

"Hi, my name is Choji; this is Shikamaru. Can we sit with you?" A smiling Choji asks while gesturing to the bored-looking Shikamaru next to him.

"Hello, I'm Naruto; you can sit if you want," Naruto said while internally happy that they wanted to eat with him.

"So, what did you two think about the test?" Asked Naruto, he was curious if he was the only one to read over the textbook before class.

"I thought it was too troublesome, so I just finished as fast as I could and took a nap," Shikamaru said lazily.

This caused Naruto to raise an eyebrow. "I have seen old people with more pep in them than this guy." Naruto looks over to a chuckling Choji expectantly, "Well, it was okay. I don't think I failed," Choji said shyly.

Lunch turned into a comfortable silence as the three boys ate. "Okay, everyone, lunch is over!" The shout came from Iruka. Going back to his seat, he looks at his sensei expectantly for whatever is next.

"Now, we will spend the rest of the day in the training ground to finish the rest of the tests," Iruka said before leading the students to the Academy Training ground.

The academy training ground wasn't anything special, and it had a variety of targets, a running track and an obstacle course for the older students to do.

"Okay, everyone, we will start with shuriken and kunai throwing. You will be graded and ranked, so take this seriously!" Instructed Iruka, eyeing some of the students that didn't look all that interested.

Naruto watched everyone go up and take their test. Naruto noticed that nobody got higher than one or two hits so far, and those were the clan children.

"Uchiha Sasuke!" called Iruka; Sasuke walked up and took his stance before he started throwing his Shuriken. He surprised everyone by getting 4/10 on Shuriken and kunai, causing some of the girls to blush at his coolness when he just turned around and walked off without saying a word.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" called Iruka, startling him out of his thoughts; he walks up to the post and picks up some shuriken; Taking a breath and letting them fly like he has been practising.

Throwing the Shuriken like he's been practising, Naruto had a huge grin, having hit 10/10 shuriken. Looking over at Iruka sensei, he sees a surprising look as Iruka wrote on his clipboard; Naruto grabs the kunai and hits 10/10 again; happy at having the best score, he turned to look at the rest of the class. The guys were kind of put off at a kid being so much better than them, and the girls were all looking at him with awe, beating Sasuke, who is an Uchiha; it was just unbelievable.

"He must be a prodigy." "I know beating an Uchiha on the first day." "Plus, he is kinda cute with the whiskers." Naruto blushed at the last one, he walked over to Shikamaru, who was eyeing him differently than before, and a frowning Sasuke who looked like someone just stole his candy.

"What did you think of that Shikamaru? Not too bad, huh." Shikamaru just looked at him for another second before turning away, deeming the situation troublesome.

Sasuke steps forward not to be shown up by some nobody, "Don't get used to it. I will beat you in Taijutsu for sure." Challenged Sasuke, he's going to be number one like his older brother before him.

Naruto, grinning as crazy, looked at Sasuke. "I don't think so; I have been training since I was a kid, and I'm gonna be the best," said Naruto confidently. Sasuke just brushed it off and waited for the Taijutsu spars to start knowing the last names they would be paired with. He would show the nobody then.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at Naruto's words, they were only six years old, and he talked as if he was at least ten years old.

After what Iruka thought was above average accuracy results for first-day students, he flipped the page on his clipboard. "Now we will start on the paired sparring; when I call your names to come up and get into your stance, all styles are permitted, family or otherwise."

"Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, you two are up!" Iruka called out, and he would never admit to favouring any student over another. But he was excited to see this match.

Walking up to the ring, Naruto got into the loose stance for the style he's been practising. Sasuke got into his stance, which Naruto noticed was like Itachi's style.

After hearing Iruka shout "Begin!", Naruto rushes in at Sasuke. Sasuke was taken off guard at how fast the blond was; he barely avoided the punch to his face and went for a leg sweep. Naruto vaulted over Sasuke and kicked him in the back, making him stumble forward. Naruto uses the opportunity to rush Sasuke.

Sasuke, who was regaining his balance from being kicked, rolled back to get to his feet and charged at Naruto. Both engaged in an impressive bout of Taijutsu. Naruto saw an opening and sunk his fist into Sasuke's stomach, making him double over; Naruto follows up with a kick knocking Sasuke back and onto his back, then rushes over and points a kunai in Sasuke's face.

"Enough! Winner Naruto!" called out an impressed Iruka.

Walking back over to the class and Iruka-sensei, Naruto notices the girls and the guys were surprised that someone could beat Sasuke, the Uchiha are usually the best in Taijutsu, and Naruto took him down on the first day of class.

Whispers were heard, "Man Shurikenjutsu and now Taijutsu, this kid has to be some kind of prodigy no way he isn't." One civilian boy said to another, both nodding, "Wow, I mean wow, he beat Sasuke-kun so easily, what a handsome guy." A blond-haired girl in purple said to a wide pink-haired girl who just shook her head repeatedly.

"Okay, everyone, that is all for today. You can head home; the test results will be given back tomorrow," said Iruka looking at Naruto a little longer than the others.

Hokage's Office

Iruka stood in front of the Third Hokage going through his report.

"To be expected from a class with most of the clan heirs, they did better than average. However, one Naruto Uzumaki stood out from the rest; he scored 10/10 on both Shuriken and kunai and beat Sasuke Uchiha in Taijutsu, also his test score on the written exam this morning was quite surprising in that he knew most of the material, the only person that came close was a civilian girl by the name of Sakura Haruno. He has the makings of a genius; we should keep an eye on him, possibly even putting him in a higher grade to give him more of a challenge." reported Iruka; the Third nodded to himself.

"Where would you put his performance compared to the other years?" The Third was curious about the little blond talent and whether or not he should be moved up yet.

"I would say years two or three possibilities, and we won't know for sure until we cover more material." Answered Iruka.

Hiruzen nodded, "Okay, dismissed." with a quick "Hokage-sama." Iruka left.

Taking out his crystal ball and watching a certain blond boy read a book while eating dinner, and sighed, "If he continues like this, people will put two and two together. He is pretty much a clone of his father, and if word spreads of a spiky blond-haired blue-eyed genius, people will find out who he is. Which is something that would be a big headache should that spread to some other countries like Iwa. I should classify his info and his parents' info on a much higher level to be safe, a good thing not too many people know anyway." The Third took out his pipe and puffed on his glorious tobacco before getting back to work.

Naruto went through hand seals; after ending in the snake seal, he called out, "Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

A massive wall of solid earth shot up from the ground before him; proud of his now fifth mastered Jutsu, Naruto started reminiscing about his time in the Academy so far.

Naruto's Shurikenjutsu has gotten to a level that stationary targets weren't even difficult anymore; he's starting to practice wire techniques, something that only the most skilled in shurikenjutsu learn.

In Taijutsu, Naruto hasn't learned any new styles. He still relies on the Uchiha style form and the unnamed style from the book he was given from Itachi. Naruto has made alterations to both styles to fit his small body, albeit average for his age. He changed the style to focus heavily on speed and counterattacks.

Genjutsu Naruto can say he is at the top of his class, but he doesn't know anything other than the Sharingan Genjutsu. Naruto was disappointed to find that in the academy library, only Genjutsu theory was covered. He would have to wait until he was a genin to make any headway in the illusion department.

In Ninjutsu, Naruto's most pleased with his progress. After receiving the scroll of jutsu from Itachi, he added five new jutsu, which he had just mastered last one. The others include the Water Release: Jet Stream; this jutsu has many forms, a wide cone of water to a concentrated stream, the more chakra, the further the range. Fire Release: Flame Bullet; this was a smaller version of the Uchiha's famous fireball jutsu. Wind Release: Wind Bullets; another chakra dependent jutsu in that the more chakra fed into the technique, the more bullets produced and the stronger they would be. Lastly is his favourite jutsu so far, Lightning Release: Lightning Stream; the user would extend two fingers after condensing lightning chakra and release it all at once in a stream; it was mostly a stunning jutsu, but with enough chakra and control, it could pierce or even kill.

Right now, Naruto put his hand on his pocket to see the kunai Shisui had gifted him for his birthday, and Mikoto made the sweater he was wearing.

Just the thought of the last winter put a smile on his face, Naruto knew this was how Family felt like, and he would give it all to protect them.

' The snow had started for five weeks now, Naruto stood in his apartment, thankfully the fire was ablaze in the fireplace, and it was warm despite the minus temperature outside.

Naruto couldn't help but just look at the snow as it was falling, he didn't know why but it was very relaxing; Naruto also knew the new year would be today; therefore, a lot of celebrations will be around the hidden leaf, thankfully the new year would distract the people, and Naruto found it this day as the only few days when he could go outside without anyone glaring at him.

Naruto gently touched the new jacket he was wearing; Mikoto-chan had bought it for him this birthday, Itachi had given him two fire jutsu scrolls.

As he kept looking at the snow outside, he suddenly felt two chakras right outside his door; a huge smile erupted on his face like a volcano.

"Guess Who it is?" Shisui asked from behind the door.

Itachi rolled his eyes and was about to knock when the door opened, and Naruto jumped at him like an arrow and hugged him. "Nii-san", he shouted in joy.

Itachi smiled and gave Shisui a look. 'I told you so', and the other Uchiha grunted.

"So you love him more than me; you wound me Naruto", Shisui said, whipping away an imaginary tear from his face and his right hand on his heart.

Both Itachi and Naruto chuckled; the young blonde pulled away and turned to look at Shisui.

"Well, Itachi is my nii-san, and you're like an ... uncle", Naruto stated with a smirk on his face.

This caused dark clouds to suddenly appear at the top of Shisui's head and started raining only at him despite the cold temperature.

"An Uncle... an Uncle", Shisui repeated, hugging his legs with a low tone of despair.

Both Itachi and Naruto sweatdropped at the behaviour of the Uchiha prodigy. Naruto thought about where the clouds even came from and could have sworn that he heard a voice inside his head.

"Just like Hashirama, is he secretly a Senju."

Naruto didn't know where the voice came from and decided to ignore it.

"Just joking around, Shisui, of course, you're my big big brother" this caused Shisui to suddenly stand up and put his hand around his neck and rub his spiky hair with his other hand.

"You little brat", Shisui said jokingly, rubbing his hair much to the annoyance of Naruto, who was desperately trying to escape the grasp of Shisui.

Itachi smiled and could see a slight smile on Naruto's face despite his mouth saying something else.

"Now Naruto, today is a celebration; mother wants you to celebrate with us," Itachi said, hoping the little blonde would accept despite his little brother having a tendency to talk 'Shit' to Naruto for whatever reason.

Naruto thought to say no since he didn't want to cause any trouble, but he decided to spend this day with his two big brothers despite his better judgment.

"Fine," he said before pointing an accusing finger at Shisui.

"But if this one throws snowballs at me when I'm not looking, I will kick both of your butts until we reach the Uchiha compound," Naruto said with a half-joking tone.

Shisui, when he heard his demand, hid a snowball behind his back and grinned innocently at Naruto.

"Naruto, why would I ever do such a thing," Shisui said, whipping away imaginary tears with his free hands.

Before Naruto could respond, a snowball hit his blonde hair with Shisui grinning and immediately ran away.

"Good luck Itachi," He said while running; before the Uchiha prodigy could understand why Shisui said that, he saw Naruto making the biggest snowball.

"Haha, Bye," Itachi said, running with Naruto hot on his trail.

"Come back here, both of you", Naruto demanded and started a chase of cat and mouse.

Naruto found Shisui and hit him behind his back; this blonde ran away with Shisui chasing him holding two snowballs in his hand.

"Come back here, sunshine, I just want to play", Shisui demanded playfully.

Naruto grinned madly; with his sensor, he quickly found Itachi hiding at the top of a pole; Naruto dodged a snowball that hit Itachi in the face.

Itachi glared at both of them before chasing them around like crazy. "Come back, both of you, Right now", Itachi demanded as he threw snowballs at both of them.

After one hour of chasing each other around the village, they stopped playing, with Naruto grinning and raising nine fingers from his hands.

"Only nine times, you lose Shisui," he said, causing him to pout before he started rubbing his blonde hair.

Naruto laughed and tried to move his hand away.

Later

Around 5 PM, people had started hanging around the village, visiting restaurants and many different shops.

Naruto reached the Uchiha compound, both his brothers standing at his side, but Naruto couldn't help but notice the small glares coming at him, but this time they were different.

He had seen hateful eyes his whole life, but these eyes were different; Naruto just couldn't put it together why it felt different.

The blonde decided to ignore them and was happy to know Shisui was spending the day with them.

Since Shisui was an orphan, he had decided to spend the night with Itachi's Family.

"Pss, Naruto" the blonde turned to his right to see Shisui gesturing for him to walk closer. Itachi ignored them.

"Hey Naruto, tonight, our Itachi is inviting a lady friend; you as a little brother should 100% try to support him to make a move" Naruto's eyes widened at his eyes, and he couldn't stop but look at Itachi in surprise.

"Her name is Izumi; when she arrives, make sure to tell her how much our innocence Itachi talks about her when she isn't around", Shisui whispered with his arm around the blonde's neck.

Naruto had no idea that this Izumi even existed; he just nodded his head despite having no idea what actually to say to her.

Shisui grinned and patted his back and started acting as if nothing was said, much to Itachi's annoyance who had a guess.

Home

"Kaa-chan, I'm home," Itachi said, followed closely by Naruto; Shisui had left saying he needed to do something first.

"Itachi-kun-ohh Naruto-kun is good to have you here," Mikoto said, smiling, walking towards them before Naruto could process it; Mikoto hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek.

"Is good to have you here, Naruto-kun", she whispered and pulled away and walked back.

Naruto smiled; walking inside, he saw Sasuke was reading a scroll laid on the table in front of him; he turned and saw Itachi.

"Itachi, can you show me tomorrow how to do the Flower Fire Jutsu," Sasuke asked.

The smile on Itachi's face faded slightly, the older Uchiha told Sasuke to come with them to play snowballs, but Sasuke had refused, saying that he needed to get stronger to show how much stronger the Uchiha clan was.

"Maybe Sasuke, you should enjoy it today and play. You shouldn't see each day you live as a 'test'.

Sasuke pouted before his eyes hardened at noticing the blonde, who this time didn't bother with him but just went to the kitchen.

After helping Mikoto-chan with the biscuits and other desserts.

Naruto was mixing something that he wasn't sure what.

"Thank you for helping Naruto-kun; you are really good at cooking, just like ..." She stopped mid-sentence, knowing what she almost had said.

The kage had specifically told her and a few others that he would tell Naruto the truth when he thinks that he's ready.

Naruto, of course, knew. "Like who?"

"Like... like your mother, your face is just like hers but the hair and eyes of your father," Mikoto said, feeling tears developing in her eyes.

"Thank you, No one tells me about them, I appreciate it, and I'm thankful for everything that you did for me," Naruto said, smiling.

"You can call me Kaa-chan when we are alone, Naruto. I don't mind," Mikoto said, rubbing his blonde hair.

Naruto hides his face away from her and whips away the tears.

"Thank you for loving me", he mentally said.

9 PM

Naruto was sitting on the couch chatting with Shisui about something; Fugaku had arrived early today and spoke something with Itachi and Sasuke when a knock was heard on the door.

"Come in," Fugaku said, but Itachi stood up immediately to open the door, but the door opened, revealing a girl around Itachi's age, long dark hair; Naruto had to admit that his brother had chosen quite a beautiful one.

"Izumi-chan is good to have you here," Itachi said, smiling and blushing slightly, much to the amusement of both Naruto and Shisui, who were grinning like crazy.

"Oh, how are you doing, Izumi-chan," Mikoto said, winking at Itachi's face who's face turned red in embarrassment.

Mikoto welcomed Izumi inside and made sure that Itachi was sitting right beside her.

Naruto, at this point, was barely holding his laughter; the big brother who he thought was invincible was completely defenceless, even the stoic Sasuke looked amused by what was happening with his brother.

Soon Fugaku brought a gift for Itachi and Sasuke; for Itachi, he gave him a scroll with 'A-Rank' on the top, while for Sasuke, he gave him several kunai and shurikens that weren't real sharp but mostly for target practice.

Naruto was happy when Mikoto brought him a little box, much to his surprise.

"Open it"

Naruto opened it to find a red scarf that was perfect for him.

"Do you like it?"

"Thank you so much," Naruto said, smiling like never before.

While this happened, Shisui looked at his little brother's happy face, and he remembered the most important thing in this world again.

Almost 12 AM

Naruto was outside, standing just looking at the sky, the snow falling on his face, he heard footsteps, he turned his head to see Shisui sitting close to him.

"Beautiful night"

"Indeed, I wish this moment would never end," Naruto said, melancholy.

Shisui turned to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I know what you go through, Naruto; I lost my parent at a very young age. I don't even remember them anymore, but you have me, Naruto, and I will do anything to protect my little brother" Shisui gave him a side hug.

At the other side of the house, Itachi stood with Izumi watching the snow falling.

"I really liked your family Itachi," she said, grabbing his hand and intervening her fingers with his; before Itachi could say anything, Izumi brought her lips to his.

Today

As Naruto walked inside the Academy, he felt a cold shiver around his whole body; he turned around but didn't see anyone and couldn't feel anyone.

Shisui was looking from a far distance, and his eyes became Mangekyo.

"I will protect my home and family, even if it results to this"