"Daiki, hurry up! You're going to be late!"
Honoka stood in the doorway, arms crossed, staring at her son's bedroom door. She'd been waiting for five minutes already and her patience was wearing thin.
"Coming! I'm coming! Don't rush me!"
Daiki's voice came from inside, followed by the sound of frantic movement. A moment later the door burst open and he stumbled out, clutching his jacket in one hand while trying to shove his arm through a sleeve with the other. His red hair stuck up at odd angles, completely disheveled from sleep.
Kenji leaned against the doorframe, watching Honoka immediately start fussing over their son's appearance. She straightened his collar, tried to smooth down his hair, and generally attempted to make him look presentable.
"It's just the Academy entrance ceremony," he said with mild amusement. "Did you really need to spend half an hour picking out clothes?"
"What do you know, Dad?!" Daiki looked up. "This is the first step toward becoming a powerful ninja! Of course I have to take it seriously!"
"Oh?" Kenji raised an eyebrow, deliberately needling him. "But if you don't study hard and can't even graduate, your ninja career will end at step one. Pretty short path."
"Mom! Dad's being mean!"
Daiki's face scrunched up immediately and he turned to Honoka for support.
"Is that how you talk to your son?" Honoka swatted Kenji's arm lightly, though she was trying not to smile. Then she turned back to Daiki with a stern expression. "But if you don't leave right now, you won't have to worry about becoming a ninja. You can try again next year after you learn to be on time."
Daiki's eyes went wide. He grabbed both his parents' hands and started pulling them toward the door.
"No! I'm going right now! Let's go!"
---
The streets of Konoha were packed with families heading in the same direction. Parents walked hand-in-hand with children around Daiki's age, some of the kids bouncing excitedly, others clinging nervously to their mothers and fathers. The Academy enrollment day was always a big event, marking the first official step in a child's journey to becoming a ninja.
Kenji and Honoka accompanied Daiki through the enrollment process, which mostly involved standing in lines and filling out paperwork. When that was finally done, they walked him to the Academy courtyard where the new students were gathering.
"Behave yourself at school," Honoka said, kneeling down to be at eye level with him.
"I will."
"No skipping classes."
"I won't."
"Get along well with your classmates."
"Mom, I know!" Daiki squirmed impatiently, clearly wanting to go find his friends.
"Listen to your teachers," Kenji added.
"Dad!"
"Alright, alright." Honoka stood up and gave him one final pat on the head. "Go on. Have fun."
Daiki grinned and immediately took off running into the crowd of children. Kenji and Honoka watched him go, standing there for a moment longer.
"He's growing up too fast," Honoka said quietly.
"Yeah," Kenji agreed. "Feels like yesterday he was barely walking."
They turned and headed back toward home, leaving their son to navigate his first day on his own.
---
Daiki scanned the courtyard, looking for familiar faces in the sea of kids. He spotted red hair almost immediately. Karin's color made her easy to find even in a crowd.
"Karin! Over here!"
He waved both arms over his head and shouted. Several nearby parents gave him disapproving looks for the noise, but he didn't care.
Karin heard him and smiled, pushing her way through the clusters of students until she reached him.
"There you are," she said. "I was starting to think you'd overslept."
"I didn't oversleep," Daiki protested. "I was just picking out what to wear."
"For half an hour?"
"It's an important day!"
Karin rolled her eyes but she was grinning. "Have you seen Naruto yet? That guy might have overslept."
"No, I just got here. Let's look for him."
They moved through the courtyard together, weaving between groups of nervous first-years and their chattering parents. Daiki was tall enough to see over most of the other kids, which helped.
"There!" Karin pointed suddenly. "He's over there. Talking to... is that a girl?"
Daiki followed her finger and spotted Naruto's blonde hair. He was standing next to a girl with pink hair, gesturing animatedly while he talked. The girl was smiling and seemed to be hanging on his every word.
"Oh man," Daiki said, his face lighting up with mischief. "Is he hitting on her already? We've been here for like ten minutes."
"Come on, let's get closer quietly."
They snuck up behind Naruto, trying not to laugh. As they got within earshot, they heard him mid-sentence.
"...don't worry, Sakura-chan! We both passed the entrance test. Now we just wait for class assignments."
The pink-haired girl, apparently named Sakura, smiled warmly. "Really? Thank you so much, Naruto. I was really nervous about the test."
"Haha, no problem at all!"
Naruto scratched the back of his head with that goofy grin he always had when he was trying to be helpful. He looked nothing like the kid from the original timeline. Instead, he wore a nice blue and white jacket that Kushina had picked out for him. With both parents making sure he ate properly and inherited Minato's blonde hair and Kushina's facial features, he already looked like a miniature version of the Fourth Hokage. Even at six years old, you could tell he'd grow up to be handsome.
Sakura, who was clearly the type to appreciate looks even at her age, seemed very friendly toward him.
"Oooh, Sakura-chan~" Daiki drew out the words in an exaggerated singsong voice.
Naruto whipped around so fast he nearly fell over. His face immediately turned red when he saw Daiki and Karin standing there with matching grins.
"Daiki! When did you get here?!"
Then he noticed Karin too and his ears turned even redder.
"Oh, uh, hi Karin! You're here too!"
"We've been standing here for a while," Karin said, barely containing her laughter. "You were so focused on chatting with Sakura-chan that we didn't want to interrupt."
"I wasn't... we were just... I mean..." Naruto stumbled over his words, flustered.
He quickly changed the subject, gesturing to Sakura. "Anyway! Let me introduce you. This is Haruno Sakura, a classmate I just met. Sakura-chan, these two are my best friends. This is Yamanaka Daiki, and this is Uzumaki Karin."
Sakura gave a small wave, looking a bit shy now that there were more people. "Hi. Nice to meet you both."
"Nice to meet you too!" Daiki said enthusiastically. "I'm Naruto's best friend! We've known each other forever!"
"I'm Karin. It's nice to meet you."
Sakura looked between the three of them, clearly trying to work something out in her head. "Wait... Uzumaki? Are you and Daiki related? And are you related to Naruto too?"
"Not exactly," Karin explained. "Daiki, Naruto, and me, we all have mothers from the Uzumaki clan. Red hair is the clan's trademark. As for Naruto's blonde hair, he got that from his dad."
"Oh! The Uzumaki clan?" Sakura's eyes lit up. Even though she didn't really understand what that meant, it sounded impressive. "That's so cool!"
"It's not that special," Karin said, though she looked pleased by the compliment.
The four of them started chatting more freely, the conversation flowing easily once the initial introductions were done. Daiki was in the middle of telling an exaggerated story about one of Naruto's training mishaps when Sakura suddenly perked up.
"Oh, Daiki, do you know someone named Yamanaka Ino? She's also from the Yamanaka clan."
"Of course I know her," Daiki said, puffing up slightly. "We're from the same clan. She's Inoichi's daughter. Technically she should call me Niisan since I'm older."
"Who should call you what?!"
A sharp voice cut through their conversation. Daiki turned around to find a blonde girl standing behind him with her hands on her hips, looking thoroughly offended.
"I'm older than you! You should be calling me Neesan!"
"Ino!" Sakura's face brightened immediately and she hurried over to grab her friend's hand. "You made it! I was starting to worry!"
Ino's annoyed expression softened when she saw Sakura. "Of course I made it. I wouldn't miss your first day." She glanced at Daiki and Naruto. "I just didn't expect to find you hanging out with these guys."
"We're classmates now," Daiki said with a shrug. "And for the record, I'm three days older than you."
Ino opened her mouth to argue but stopped when two boys came up behind her.
"These are my friends," she said, gesturing to them. "This is Nara Shikamaru, and this is Akimichi Chōji."
Shikamaru had his dark hair pulled back in a spiky ponytail that vaguely resembled a pineapple. His eyes were half-lidded and he looked like he'd rather be sleeping. Chōji was rounder, with a friendly face and a bag of chips in his hands that he was steadily working through.
After everyone exchanged names, Shikamaru's eyes focused on Naruto.
"So you're the Fourth Hokage's son?"
Sakura and Ino both gasped at the same time.
"Wait, what?! Your dad is the Hokage?!"
They stared at Naruto with wide eyes. Chōji just glanced up briefly from his chips before going back to eating.
"That's right!" Naruto puffed out his chest proudly. "My dream is to become Hokage just like my dad!"
"Let's see you graduate from the Academy first," Daiki said immediately, unable to resist deflating his friend's ego a bit.
"Daiki! What did you say?!"
Naruto's face scrunched up and he took a step forward, fists clenched. Daiki grinned and raised his own fists in response. They'd had dozens of these mock arguments before. It was basically tradition at this point.
"Oh no you don't."
Karin stepped between them quickly, placing one hand on top of each boy's head and pushing down slightly.
"You just met new friends and you're already fighting? Come on, guys. Behave."
When they kept glaring at each other, she made two fists and gave each of them a solid knock on the head.
Bonk. Bonk.
"Ow!"
Both boys clutched their heads and immediately stopped posturing.
Off to the side, Shikamaru muttered under his breath, "Girls are such a pain..."
But despite his words, there was a small smile on his face. Meeting this many interesting people on the first day was pretty entertaining.
Sunlight filtered through the trees overhead, dappling the ground where the children stood. Their chattering laughter was full of life and energy.
The Academy's first day had begun.