The Last Rising Sun

A year has passed since the massacre of the Asahi clan. Konohagakure was still suffering from the lack of military strength, that's why this year the ninja academy accepted more admissions than it used to accept annually.

Among the students heading to their classrooms was a boy, his hair was black as night and his eyes were gray, he had a red scarf, a black sweater, gray pants and blue sandals typical of a ninja.

(Could it be here?)

The boy contemplated the classroom door for a few seconds, he wasn't entirely sure if that classroom is the one he was assigned to.

"Hey, can you step aside? You're obstructing the entrance."

Toru looked behind his back and found a boy, he had a lazy and tired expression. His eyes were brown, his hair was long and black, his hair was tied in a ponytail.

"Yes..."

With a tired tone of voice, Toru replied and turned away from the door.

"This is a bummer, I would have stayed home" Said the brown eyed boy.

As the door was opened by the boy, Toru could see some of the students inside, his eyes widened in shock at the sight of two people he knew.

(So... we are in the same class).

Toru's gaze turned neutral, and without much thought he walked into the classroom. The girls' eyes turned to the boy who had just entered. Toru felt those looks, so he ducked his head and walked to the seat farthest away from everyone.

"Who is he?"

"He's very cute."

"Will he have a girlfriend?"

As Toru looked straight ahead with a neutral expression on his face, the girls in the room confessed to muttering among themselves.

"Yeah, he's cute, but not as cute as Sasuke."

A golden-haired girl burst into the conversation. Her eyes were green and she had bandages on some parts of her body.

"Sasuke? I don't know him."

One of the girls spoke, she had brown hair and black eyes, she was wearing a red colored blouse and a black colored skirt with bandages covering her legs.

"What, how come you don't know him?"

"Um, well... me."

"What's your name?"

The golden-haired girl asked, to which the brown-haired girl had no choice but to answer.

"My name is Hakuto, Hoki Hakuto."

Hakuto looked at the golden haired girl with a bit of fear, well, anyone would be afraid if someone comes up to you and starts talking about people you don't know.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ino, Yamanaka Ino."

With a smile on her face, Ino spoke. At first glance she seemed to be a very sociable girl.

"Nice to meet you..."

Hakuto seemed to be a little nervous, she felt a great pressure in Ino's words, something like 'If you try anything with Sasuke, I'll take it upon myself to wipe you off the map.'

(Help me, I don't want to be around her) Hakuto said mentally, somehow he developed a strange fear towards Ino.

"Who is he?"

Saving the fearful Hakuto, one of the girls in the classroom spoke while looking at a black haired boy, this one had just arrived.

"He's really cool."

"I think I fell in love"

"He's so handsome"

All the girls began fawning over the boy who had entered the classroom. His hair was black as were his eyes, he was wearing white pants and a blue shirt with the Uchiha clan emblem on his back.

(They make a lot of fuss)

With his hands in his pockets, Sasuke made his way to one of the seats located in the center of the classroom. When he got there he could notice who was sitting in the farthest seat from everyone.

(Toru is here too, I don't know if that's good or bad).

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment before he saw the man coming through the door.

"Quiet everyone, go to your seats."

The man had a large horizontal scar on his face which covered part of his nose, besides that he was wearing the tactical vest that chunin and jonin always wear. He was also wearing the forehead protector with the symbol of Konohagakure.

After hearing the man's words all the children went to their seats and remained silent.

"Well, uh... Oh, yes. I should introduce myself" The man said quietly before speaking again.

"Hello, I'm Umino Iruka, and I will be your sensei until the day you graduate. That means you won't be able to get rid of me easily."

As he spoke, Iruka took the time to look at the faces of all the children standing there. It only took a few seconds before his gaze stopped on someone.

(The demon child...)

Iruka's gaze lingered on a boy with tousled hair. Just seeing him brought back bad memories.

"Sensei, is something wrong?"

Seeing that Iruka had stared at nothing for a long time, one of the students present decided to bring him back to reality.

The one who had spoken a few seconds ago was a girl with short brown hair, her eyes were sapphire blue.

"Oh, it's okay. It's just that I'm a little nervous" With an awkward laugh, Iruka replied.

"Well, now that I've introduced myself it's your turn, is there anyone who would like to introduce themselves?"

Hearing that, Toru could feel a slight pressure on him, after all the presentation is something that will decide his place in that classroom.

"Me, me, me. Sensei, I want to introduce myself."

Raising his hand the tousle-haired boy spoke, he had whiskers on his face and his hair was blond.

(Naruto... for sure his presentation will be disastrous).

Toru looked at Naruto, he had a feeling that his presentation would become awkward for everyone.

"Go ahead" Iruka agreed, though his gaze was a bit hostile towards the boy.

With a smile on his face Naruto stood up, he also put his foot on the table.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto and I will be the next Hokage!" pointing his finger at Iruka, Naruto introduced himself.

(I knew it, everyone will see him as the class mockery).

A sigh came out of Toru's mouth, although he expected Naruto's introduction to be ridiculous, what just happened far exceeded those expectations. After that everyone maintained silence, a very awkward silence.

"And how are you going to do that, loser?"

Toru set his gaze on the boy who had just spoken, he had brown hair, black eyes and his cheeks had two red triangle shaped marks painted on them.

After hearing what the boy with the marks on his cheeks said, even though Toru kept silent, everyone started laughing at Naruto.

(Predictably, the class clown was already decided).

"Settle down, children. Thank you for your introduction, Naruto. Now take a seat."

Naruto resigned himself and sat back down, now he had been marked as the mockery of the classroom.

"Well, is there anyone else who would like to introduce themselves?"

(This should be my chance, if I introduce myself in a friendly way I'll end up in a good position, and I can make friends...it's what my mother always wanted).

Toru closed his eyes and tried to think of a suitable way to introduce himself. And while Toru was thinking, Iruka looked at his students, one of them was raising his hand. It was Hakuto, his hands were shaking a little and his look was unsure, but Iruka didn't take that into account and nodded his head giving Hakuto some reassurance.

"I... My name is Hoki Hakuto, it's a pleasure to meet you all."

Hakuto gave a slight bow with her head and sat back down. Her face was a little red, she wasn't used to being around people, after all she only knew one person out of those present.

(She could easily become one of the most popular, she's cute but too shy. Although I'm not one to criticize others, it's better to concentrate on my own introduction).)

"Thank you for your introduction, Hakuto."

A sigh came out of Iruka's mouth, he was a bit nervous since it was his first time as a teacher.

"Now, we don't have all day for presentations, so we'll pick students at random, this way we can move faster and start with the classes."

All the kids present felt overwhelmed, the first day of school was exciting, but they knew that receiving classes is boring, so shortening the time of the presentations was not a very nice thing to do.

(Now that the introductions will be random I might have to introduce myself soon).

Toru looked out the window while thinking.

(Should I make a joke? No, it might upset everyone. Maybe I could talk about my hobbies?)

While he was deep in thought, Iruka noticed Toru.

"You, the one in the back."

"Me?"

Iruka replied with a smile and a slight shake of his head.

(It's hopeless. I will have to give all my energies in this presentation, my ninja life depends on it.)

Toru stood up from his seat and looked at Iruka, everyone, especially the girls, kept silent so they could listen to Toru's presentation.

"Um... this... I'm Asahi Toru. Um... nice to meet you. Um... uh... I'm not good at anything special. Uh... um... I hope we can get along..."

After his introduction, Toru sat back down, for some reason everyone started clapping.

(Ha~ I messed up)

"Nice to meet you, Toru."

Iruka's awkward smile made Toru feel pathetic, even Sasuke let out a small laugh when he heard Toru's introduction.

"Hehe... well, let's get on with the introductions."After that the introductions continued until the last student was reached.

In the course of the introductions, Naruto was marked as the classroom clown, Sasuke as the perfect and cool guy, Hakuto as the shy girl and Toru as the weird and quiet kid.

-Lunch time-

At this moment Toru was eating alone, on the branch of a tree, he had a book in his hand and a bread filled with fruit in the other hand.

"The human body is the best conductor of electricity. If I had finished my electric shock glove, I could have used it for the day I become a ninja."

Taking a bite of the stuffed bread, Toru read the book, on the cover it said, Everything you should know about electricity. And as it said on the cover, the book contained many interesting facts about electricity, and jutsus that use the element of lightning.

"Most of them already got friends, huh."

Taking his eyes off the book, Toru could see his classmates talking to each other. It was sad, but unfortunately he was ignored by everyone.

He even went so far as to invite a girl to lunch, but she turned him down completely, that girl's name was Enko Onikuma, from the Onikuma clan. For some reason Toru felt that he could invite her to eat, but you know the result.

(He is...)

Toru's eyes were still looking at Naruto, he was all alone, sitting on a swing. He was watching the children play and talk to each other with a sad expression on his face.

(I should go and talk to him, but I ended up ignoring him for a long time, it would be very hypocritical to go and talk to him just like that out of the blue.)

Toru's eyes closed for a moment.

"I'm lonely too, everyone ignores me and sees me as a weirdo, but.... Why don't I care in the least?"

Toru opened his eyes again, he watched everyone playing and chatting with each other, but that didn't cause him any feeling of loneliness, he didn't feel left out, it was as if he was already used to it.

(Even I can't understand myself).

Finished eating that stuffed bread, Toru closed the book and came down from the tree. Walking slowly he went to the classroom, even if he was surrounded by many people he felt completely alone, but that loneliness, somehow, was pleasant.

-Last hour of class-

Iruka had to leave for a few minutes to give his report on the students who were assigned to his class, so everyone was free to do whatever they wanted until sensei returns.

*Scratch, scratch*

The sound of the pencil stroking the sheet of paper made everyone look at Toru for a second, before ignoring him completely, but there was someone who didn't ignore him, indeed, she kept her eyes on him all day.

She was Hyuga Hinata, ever since that fateful day when the funeral of two clans took place, Toru stopped talking to her, no, not only that, Toru stopped talking to everyone.

(It seems he is still drawing, after so long...).

Hinata was staring at Toru, watching the movements of his hands, his hair, his eyes. It had been so long since she started looking at him, every time she looked at Toru she felt something strange in her heart.

(Why... are you so different? Why do you make me feel like this?)

As she looked at Toru, a faint smile formed on her lips and a blush appeared on her cheeks. At that time she had no way of deciphering what she felt, but maybe in the future....