Naruto: BELIEVE IT

After a warm meal, the new Naruto's first day in this foreign world passed.

Waking up in the same bed that he woke up from a day ago, the first thing he did was to contemplate.

'What now?'

Above all things, Naruto lacked common sense. He had no idea how this world worked. There also was no such thing as the past memories of the old Naruto being passed on to him whatsoever.

Basically, there was nothing that Naruto knew, and he understood the importance of gathering information.

Thankfully, there was one thing that he found out in the midst of cluelessness; that he wasn't illiterate at the very least.

'...Which is interesting, honestly.'

Naruto scratched his head,

'Being able to read means 'I' was taught by someone. Assuming my age and all that, I guess that the most likely scenario was that I grew up in an orphanage who taught me to read,'

...and probably got kicked out because of him being a demon or an inhumane thing whatsoever.

'Furthermore, the fact that I have money to live off of means that there actually is someone helping me. I have a house of my own with fridge and all that...'

Eventually, he ended up dismissing his ceaseless thought to begin moving.

'...Brgh, whatever. No point in thinking about those when I have no idea what's going on.'

Reaching a drawer, Naruto took out an instant ramen—one of the batch that he purchased from Teuchi—who kindly brought them from a convenience store for him—a day ago. Heating and pouring the boiling water into the prepared plastic bowl, Naruto waited for three minutes before quickly consuming his poor breakfast.

Then, he brushed his teeth thoroughly. That's right, brushing teeth mattered.

Finally, putting on the orange jumpsuit yet again—simply because there was no warmer option for him—Naruto left his apartment room.

As he walked, he had one location in mind: library.

But then, he had to stop in the middle.

'Wait, where is library?'

Naruto ended up facepalming himself.

Sighing, he approached one adult who was walking by,

"Excuse me sir, do you know where—"

"BEGONE, DE—YOU!!"

...Figures.

Used to the antics of these civilians already, Naruto snorted it off, turning his attention away from the man who seemed disturbed by his approach.

"...Hm?"

Then, he noticed two kids who seemed to be around his age. Speaking of age, how old was he?

Anyway, approaching them casually after a quick thought, Naruto waved his hand in a friendly manner.

"What's up folks?"

The two kids, unlike most human beings whom Naruto met in two days, didn't yell or glare at him angrily.

One simply raised an eyebrow with his hands in pockets. Characterized by the tied-up black-coloured hair that resembled a pineapple in shape, his demeanour spoke nothing but laziness.

On the other hand, a chubby-looking one whose eyes seemed closed tilted his head questioningly as his hand busily delivered crackers to his munching mouth.

"Er, I'm not trying to anything suspicious, I swear! Just wanting to ask you,"

Taking their reactions as a positive sign, Naruto asked away,

"Do you know where a library is?"

Two kids looked at each other upon Naruto's question. Without exchanging words, the pineapple-headed one eventually turned his head back at Naruto and spoke,

"We were heading there ourselves. Wanna join?"

Naruto found his eyes widening in delight. He grinned immediately,

"Fuck yeah."

The chubby one then raised his hand as means of greeting.

"Well then, I'm Choji! Nice to meet you!"

"Shikamaru."

The pineapple-headed one, yawning while rubbing the back of his head, also introduced himself.

"Call me Naruto."

In a matter of minutes, a trio was formed.

Watching their interaction, the civilians at the back whispered among themselves. However, no one made any move to stop such interaction.

Noticing their reactions, Choji looked around, confused. Shikamaru, on the other hand, kept his mouth shut as if aware of something.

"What's up? Lead the way."

And uncaring of the attention, Naruto called, bringing the two back to the present. Soon enough, they walked away from the scene, with Naruto excited to finally come in some light of what's going on all around.

__________

"Elemental Nation... hidden villages... six path... chakra, huh."

In the library, Naruto began reading a variety of books ranging from history to basics of chakra. There were so many things to learn, and this also meant there were countless opportunities that he could exploit.

A librarian was blatantly staring at Naruto with dislike written in her eyes. However, the fact that Naruto arrived with two other children, Shikamaru and Choji, made her hesitant in preventing Naruto's entry.

"What's so fun about reading those things?"

Looking at Naruto with that of amazement, Choji muttered before returning to his comic book.

"..."

By the side, Shikamaru silently observed the librarian and Naruto with a stoic expression.

"...Choji."

Then, he whispered to Choji who perked up,

"Don't tell about Naruto to your dad."

"Huh? Why?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Uh, okay. If you say so."

Unable to hear their voices due to being engaged in books, Naruto quickly noted down a variety of details in his mind.

'So this is the village hidden in leaf. The ruler of this village is called hokage, meaning fire shadow. Sarutobi Hiruzen reigns as the current hokage with Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu as his advisors. Hidden villages count as the military villages that groom the main military force of each nation that is overseen by daimyos. Said military force is ninja.'

Ninja was a soldier. They are physically adept, and in addition to that, utilize many skills including deceits and chakra to augment their combat capabilities. Leaf village, also known as Konohagakure, grooms ninjas in a system that involves ninja academy, genin placement, chunin promotion via exams, and jonin promotion through decisions by the ninja council.

'For some reason, my reputation in this village is shit. But that doesn't mean that there is much that I can do.'

Now, Naruto had to think.

'I am given an apartment room of my own. I am given an allowance. The people hate me and curse me, but they barely harm me directly. Even that restaurant owner a day ago didn't do much except throwing me out. People too threw stuffs at me, but refrain from going overboard.'

It was as if... Naruto had a backing from someone, someone located high up in the ladder.

And that meant for the time being, Naruto probably didn't have to worry much about his safety.

'Then, in the world full of deadly ninjas, what must I do?'

The answer was obvious.

'Get stronger,'

except that... there was no book that detailed how to hone one's skill as a ninja.

Naruto supposed that such things were taught in the ninja academy.

"Yo, guys,"

Shikamaru and Choji turned at him.

"How do I apply to ninja academy?"

"...What?"

Shikamaru seemed confused by Naruto's confusion.

"Huh?"

And Naruto was confused by Shikamaru's reaction.

"Uh..."

Choji then spoke up,

"You are already in the academy? In the same class as us?"

"...For real?"

"Uh-huh."

Naruto couldn't help but question upon hearing that,

"Then why did you guys pretend as if we met for the first time just before?"

"Because we never talked before."

"Ah."

Shikamaru answered Naruto's question, and after a nod of understatement, Naruto furrowed his brows.

"Hm..."

In the end, Naruto sighed before turning to the two.

"You can probably tell by now, but I don't remember a thing. I have no idea why so many dudes hate me or what I'm supposed to do. Since you seem to have known me from the past,"

Naruto figured that there was no point in acting as if he knew everything—not that he was trying to act in the first place.

He thought that reasoning his change of action as a traumatic amnesia was a plausible excuse, however, considering the treatments that he's been getting.

"Will you show me where the academy is?"

Shikamaru looked at Naruto with a conflicted gaze. Eventually, he ended up nodding with a strange feeling in his heart—a guilt, perhaps.

"Wow, that sucks. But yeah, sure Naruto!"

Choji seemed clueless, however.

__________

"For your information, today is Saturday. Academy goes from 9am to 12pm from Monday to Friday every week for us, but I heard that as we advance, the time will lengthen."

"What have we been learning?"

"Nothing much, just history so far. Judging by how fast you've been reading back then,"

Shikamaru remarked,

"You should've covered all the content by now."

"Great."

Sighing with a complex feeling, Shikamaru scratched his head.

"Anyway, here we are."

They now stood in front of the ninja academy, the place located right below the mountain that had four faces engraved.

"You see those?"

Pointing at those faces, Shikamaru then explained,

"They are all the hokages we had up until now. The current hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen-sama, is the third hokage. He retired years ago, but had to return after the fourth hokage passed away."

"Yeah, I remember reading that."

"Then, you have the basics down."

Shikamaru then shrugged,

"Apart from that, teachers said that we'll start practicing some Taijutsu starting next week, so be aware of that. Also, our classroom is 2-A; don't miss the place."

"Awesome."

Naruto grinned as he turned to look at Shikamaru and Choji.

"Thanks man, you saved my academy life."

"...I wouldn't say saved, but,"

Shikamaru said dryly,

"You're welcome, I suppose."

"Uh,"

Choji then raised his hand,

"Just saying, I need to go back now. For lunch."

Eventually, they separated. Watching as Naruto walked away, Choji asked Shikamaru,

"So, Shika, why keep this silent to my dad?"

"...Because your dad hates Naruto."

"Huh? Why? He never talked to me about Naruto though?"

"What happened isn't Naruto's fault. Your dad knows that but still despises him."

Shikamaru whispered,

"And if my guess is correct, Naruto's dad is..."

"His dad is?"

"...Nothing."

Shaking his head, Shikamaru began walking,

"Let's go to your house. Your mom must be waiting by now."

"True, haha!"