"How do you like that sensei," laughed Naruto. "I call it the Oiroke no Jutsu."
"NOT STUPID MADE-UP JUTSU," shouted Iruka as he got back up. "THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE SO DON'T SCREW AROUND."
Later that day, Iruka was watching Naruto and Anko as they cleaned up their mess.
"You can't leave until this is all cleaned up," reminded Iruka.
"Whatever, it's not like I have anyone waiting for me back home," responded Naruto as he continued to brush off the paint.
"Same here," said Anko as she did the same.
Despite how close the two of them were, they never did move in with each other. Somehow they both knew that putting two of the most hated children in the same place at night was asking for a mob to show up and burn down the place while they slept. Then there was their already close relationship. Even though they were close, they had never been on a date. Mainly because Naruto was equally close to Hinata. But due to their closeness, rumors had spread that involved…inappropriate activates for people their age. The source of these rumors, Sakura Haruno, was repaid for these calumnies by Anko with a trip to the hospital. Sadly, that did not stop the other students from whispering.
Iruka winced when he heard that. Over the years those two had grown on him. He even remembered when he began to doubt that they were all that bad. It happened shortly after Hinata was kicked out of her clan. Neji, her former cousin, was waiting for her after school. He somehow cornered her against the wall and began to beat the living hell out of the poor girl. Before Iruka could stop it, both Naruto and Anko had stepped in. Naruto ran up to the older boy and tackled him onto the ground. Anko went to make sure Hinata was all right before helping Naruto removed some of elder Hyuga's teeth. After Iruka stepped in and separated them, he asked the two why they helped Hinata. Naruto simply said that Hinata was their friend and Anko nodded while glaring at Neji. Neji was suspended for a week for that and Iruka got an earful from the Hyuga clan. They thought that the punishment was too harsh since he only gave her a black eye and broke her arm.
That day had also had an effect of Naruto. Whenever he saw Neji fighting, he could feel the rage that the Hyuga genius felt. It was the same with Sasuke. They both used their anger as fuel and yet, even though they won almost all of the time, they never seemed happy. So Naruto decided never to go into a fight holding a grudge or anything like that: He would fight for the pure enjoyment of fighting and to protect others like he did with Hinata. That way win or lose, he would walk away with a grin.
Iruka sighed and decided to pull out his trump card.
"Hey Naruto, when you get down I'll treat you to a bowl of ramen. And Anko, I'm sure they will have some dango for you." Naruto and Anko turned to look at their sensei with a look of hope and love. With the promise of their favorite foods they got to work faster than ever.
Later, while Naruto was downing his third bowl of ramen and Anko was enjoying her dango, Iruka decided to ask an important question.
"Naruto, why did you fail last year's exam?" he asked. Naruto turned his head and gave the elder nin a questioning look. "I know you have the bunshin jutsu down pat, but last you messed up on purpose."
"Ah," said Naruto as he looked down at his bowl. The truth was he could have passed it all three times thanks to the training he got from the old man. However the first time he got side tracked while working on a jutsu and spent the entire night working on it. So when it came time to make a clone he didn't have enough chakra. The second time was because he had summoned the boss salamander and went through the trials. He was so tired the next morning that he couldn't concentrate, even with Kyuubi healing him. He then looked back over at Iruka. "I didn't want to take a chance that would get me on the same team as Neji-teme." Iruka blinked and Naruto continued. "That bastard's mad at Hiashi for forgetting to put the seal on Hinata, so he takes out his frustrations on her. There is no way in hell that we could ever work as a team. Nothing's worth that, even a year's supply of ramen."
"I see," said Iruka.