"Ugh, why isn't our sensei here yet?"
Naruto slumped lazily over his desk, resting his chin on his arms, eyes darting around the room in boredom.
"Ugh, you're so annoying, Naruto! Can't you just be quiet for once?"
Sakura glared at him with no attempt to hide her anger, clearly, she still hadn't forgiven him for stealing her first kiss.
Knowing he was in the wrong, Naruto kept his mouth shut and obediently stayed silent.
"I should try to cheer her up."
His eyes flicked to the blackboard eraser nearby, and a mischievous idea popped into his head. "Sakura seems to enjoy a good prank…"
"Hey!"
He jumped up from his seat and headed over to grab the eraser.
Sure enough, that caught Sakura's attention.
"Stupid Naruto, what are you doing now?"
She didn't want to talk to him, but curiosity got the better of her.
"Anyone who shows up late needs to be punished, right?"
Naruto said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He somehow dug out a bottle of strong glue from who-knows-where and began smearing it across the face of the eraser.
"Uh… Naruto, isn't that a bit much?"
Sakura looked on with concern as he balanced the glued eraser on top of the slightly ajar sliding door.
"It's fine. He's a jōnin. He'll be fine."
Naruto grinned confidently.
"Well… I guess so," Sakura agreed, though she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed for some reason.
Slide…
The door slowly opened, Kakashi poked his head in… and smack! got nailed by the eraser right on the face.
"Uhh…"
Sakura and Sasuke froze in place. Naruto, on the other hand, looked absolutely thrilled.
"Is he really a jōnin?"
Sasuke frowned, clearly unimpressed by their supposedly elite instructor.
"So… my first impression of you guys?" Kakashi paused, trying to peel the eraser, now glued to his head, off.
"…I hate you."
He yanked the eraser off with an audible pop, his one visible eye bulging in fury.
"You actually used glue?! You little punks!"
Kakashi shouted in disbelief. The fact that he had been tricked by a bunch of fresh-out-of-the-Academy genin was clearly a new low.
"…Anyway, let's move on. Why don't you each introduce yourselves, your names, hobbies, dreams, that sort of thing."
Kakashi's silver hair was now awkwardly shortened in front, giving him a slightly ridiculous look.
"Sensei, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"
Sakura asked, still upset from earlier.
"…Fine. My name's Hatake Kakashi. My dreams… I don't want to tell you. My hobbies… and interests… various things."
Kakashi waved it off like it wasn't important.
"Alright, your turn."
"…That's it?"
Sakura grumbled under her breath. "All we got was his name…"
"I'll go first, then. I'm Haruno Sakura. My favorite thing… well, let's just say it's a person rather than a thing. As for what I hate… I'm not telling!"
She dragged out her answer dramatically, mimicking Kakashi's tone perfectly.
Kakashi sighed internally. "Kids these days… all about mocking their elders."
"Next."
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have no likes or dislikes. My dream is to become stronger… and to kill that man."
Sasuke said it flatly, face unreadable.
"Oh, my turn?" Naruto piped up cheerfully. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I love stir-fried rice cakes, stir-fried noodles, stir-fried dumplings, stir-fried, "
"Stop."
Kakashi cut in, already weary. "Can we… not make this just about food?"
"Sure!"
Naruto gave him a cheeky grin. "But I have to say one last thing. My absolute favorite, Ichiraku Ramen! Especially the toppings, that, "
"STOP!"
Kakashi forced a smile through gritted teeth, clearly on the verge of losing it. "How about telling us your dream instead?"
"My dream? Easy. To become the owner of Ichiraku Ramen!"
"NARUTO!!"
Kakashi was practically exploding.
"Okay okay, I'm kidding!"
Seeing that Kakashi, Sakura, and even Sasuke looked like they were about to throttle him, Naruto quickly backpedaled. He didn't want to trigger a group beatdown.
"My real dream is… to become Hokage!"
Naruto finally said it seriously. Of course, deep down, he didn't really care about becoming Hokage, but he definitely couldn't say his real dream was to be surrounded by beautiful women, could he?
"Man… what a bunch of problem children,"
Kakashi thought to himself, his lone eye twitching.
"That's enough for today. Be at the training ground tomorrow morning at seven sharp."
Without wasting another second, he vanished in a blur, as if staying any longer would kill him.
"Wait, Kakashi-sensei! I didn't say what I hate yet! Hey!"
Naruto yelled at the fading speck in the distance, sulking, "Geez, didn't even let me finish…"
"Sakura, you, "
He turned to smile brightly at Sakura.
"Ah! Naruto, I just remembered, I've got something to do at home!"
Sakura bolted out of the room like she'd seen a ghost. She was clearly still traumatized by Naruto's overly long food monologue.
"Hmph! Idiot."
Sasuke turned his back and walked away with a snort. But anyone could see from his rushed steps that he, too, just wanted to get the hell out of there.
"…Am I really that scary?"
Naruto muttered, frustrated. "They just don't get my sense of humor…"
"Hey, Kurama…"
Bored, Naruto reached out to Kurama sealed inside him for conversation.
"Brat! I was sleeping! Stop bothering me!"
Kurama's roar boomed in Naruto's mind, shaking his consciousness like an earthquake.
"Damn it… I'm never cracking lame jokes again!"
Naruto shouted up at the sky in frustration.
"So lonely…"
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