Weeks and months flew by once again, as Naruto's school days were nothing remarkable. The only thing school did was tie Dix's hands, even if he sent his clones to attend. Most of the time he just had to 'pay attention' to the teachers while between and after classes he had to socialize with the other kids. This was quite frustrating for him, as there is nothing more annoying then playing along with 8 year old kids trying to have fun between each other. Dix, once again, felt like the odd one out. But this time he was glad for it.
He regularly spoke with many of his classmates, like Sakura, Ino, Hinata, even Kiba whom the original Naruto was in a bad relationship with. He even managed to force out some reluctant answers from the stoic Sasuke. But the one he had the most interest towards was Shikamaru. He had a legendary brain, inherited from his father, who was the genius of strategy in his own generation. Shikamaru had a high as fuck IQ, while he remained a cool and interesting guy, instead of being some super-nerd. He was lazy, but that's something that will change in the future.
Dix wasn't really sure he could be as convincing or inspiring as Naruto was in the series, so he had to make sure their allegiance and loyalty is secured in other ways. Thus he tried to make a circle of friendship between the series's major side-characters. His first target was Shikamaru, as he was the brightest and most approachable out of all of them. He tried to maintain a good relationship with each and one of the others too, but he would try to push on them one by one to join the Circle.
Shikamaru obviously noticed Dix's advances, and at first he had no idea why that was and everything was a bit awkward, but soon they got used to his presence and even hanged out sometimes after school. Shikamaru didn't find it 'troublesome', because he mostly hanged out only with his childhood friend Choji. Do not misunderstand, he is a nice guy, but he only thinks about his belly, and Shikamaru had a hard time getting too complex stuff into his head. Thus, when someone came to befriend them whose not an absolute idiot, even though Shikamaru had some doubts, he still warmly welcomed Dix.
One day some kids came down from the higher classes to test the power they mastered in class and rule over the two year lower peasants as their seniors. Dix thought its funny that the bullying trope would come up again. He really likes putting idiot kids in their places. So when the 'big kids' came down from above and started harassing the class, Dix was the one to step forward as the savior.
The reason for the bullies impudence was that they learnt chakra control and a few E-rank jutsus in the 3rd year, while Dix's class was just in the 1st year and was only learning history math and theoretical chakra manipulation. No one was able to defend themselves, not even the 'genius' Sasuke stood up for his classmates. Well he actually knew some jutsus, and could've defeated the thugs, but he probably didn't care. He just stared out the window. So when the higher class kids entered the room Dix was the first one to address them.
"Hey there guys, whatcha' doin' around here? Are you lost? This is the first years' classroom, yours are on one of the floors above, but you should know this by now, don't you?" Dix said to raise the temperature in their brains a bit. It worked well.
"Ahh, shut your trap you little idiot! We need some lunch money, and I think you would be a good chum and let us 'borrow' from you, haha." he retorted with an angry face, which turned into some evil-sounding laughter which his friends echoed back. Dix stood up from where he was sitting and made his way to the door to receive the guests.
"Ahh, I see, so you need money huh? Yeah I'd give you some money, here." he said while getting his wallet out of his pocket and pulling quite some cash out of it. The bullies face, seeing the huge amount of money, turned into a huge smile, running ear to ear, with a deeply satisfied and happy expression.
"Haha, I see you know your place kid, don't worry, for your kindness we'll visit you again soon, haha!" the one in the front reached for the cash, but at the last second Dix pulled it back.
"Ts-ts, you didn't promise you would pay it back later! Otherwise I won't give you my money!" he said with a smug expression. He really enjoyed playing with them. The bullies weren't in such a good mood though.
"What? You little shit! Give it to me, or I'll twist it out of your damn arm! Don't play with me!" the one in the front said. He was quite annoyed by then and his head was getting redder, and if his eyes could hurt, they would've impaled Dix.
"Twist it out of my arm? But if it gets hurt, then how will I be able to count the interest money you will be paying back? Ahh, that's no good..." he said trying to sound innocent and air-headed. "By the way, the interest is 50% so make sure you will get the money for me, okay~?" It seemed like that was the last straw for them.
"You little idiot, don't you get it? You are not in a position to demand anything. Give it to me or else." the bully said with a menacing voice.
"Or else what?"
"Come out to the backyard and I'll show you!" Hearing this Dix's smile ran up even more, he assumed his signature serial killer look. He was having a blast. Something the bullies too will get soon. He just nodded and followed the seniors outside. In the class everyone was panicking, except those who were looking out the window without a care in the world... Everyone thought Dix sacrificed himself for the class and will get a good thrashing for it. They silently thanked him for it. Sakura, not long after the bullies were gone, rushed to the teacher's room to get someone to save Dix.
A minute or so after Sakura left Dix walked back nonchalantly into the classroom without any visible damage on him. Everyone was shocked to see him 'alive' after what happened. Kiba even stood up and asked what happened.
"What, huh? The bullies? Yeah they are outside, they all somehow tripped at the same time and have a bit of problem standing up now. Leave them be, they'll be okay after some rest." he said like it was the most obvious and natural thing in the world. Nobody believed him. Everyone in the classroom had the same thought. He probably chickened out and simply gave them his money. Dix could see the pity in their eyes, but he knew sooner or later it will all resolve. He just walked back to Shikamaru's desk where he sat down for the duration of the lunch break.
"What really happened, man? They just took your money or what?" he asked.
"Naw, I trashed them... Whats with that look, you don't believe me?! What an understanding friend..." he said, while Shikamaru gave him some barely concealed doubtful glances.
"Haha, don't take it wrong, but you are just a freshman, and those were 2 years above us. What could you possibly do?"
"Yeah yeah I know, but I'm not lying. Just wait a few minutes and you will see." at this Shikamaru just shrugged and let out a quiet 'What a drag', his signature line.
They all went back to finishing their lunches, and just as Dix predicted, around 5 minutes later Sakura arrived back with Iruka behind her. He looked at Dix right away and said:
"Naruto! What is the meaning of this?! Sakura here told me that there is a fight in the backyard of the Academy, but there I only found 4 unconscious students. What happened?!"
Hearing his tone made Dix angry, stood up and slowly walked over to Iruka, with his hands in his pocket.
"Yes, Iruka sensei. Your voice kinda sounds like you find me at fault in this matter. If you want to know, I alone, a first year student, went up the higher floors, ganged on four known bullies, dragged them down to this class, made them harass my classmates, then pulled them out to the backyard and trashed them. That is a good story to put the blame on me in this.. incident. Quite believable, right?" He said all this in a very cold tone.
Everyone in the room heard the hostility in his voice and was chilled by it. This isn't something a kid should be capable of. Also they were awestruck by what Iruka said. It seems like they bullies were knocked out, and considering no one else went with Dix, then he must have been the one to do it! That's insane! He must be strong for sure, maybe a real genius?
Iruka, who was the main target of Dix's words were left dumbfounded. Dix's outburst made Iruka realize he actually had some bias against him, which is unacceptable for a teacher. His anger was subjected to an ice-bucked challenge trough Dix's chilling words, so he just coughed a bit and with a now normal voice he asked him what happened.
"Now its way better. Even though incidents happens, we can talk it trough in a civilized manner. At the end we are not 'beasts'." Dix said with a bit warmer voice and cheerful smile, but with a heavy stare directed straight into Iruka's eyes.
This stang Iruka's whole consciousness. The host of the Nine Tailed Beast lectured him about being civilized. That they are not 'beasts'. It felt like these words were directly meant for him. Like this kid has completely seen trough him. It was a dreadful experience he never felt before, not even in front of the Third Hokage he deeply respected. These few words somehow simultaneously made him angry and gave him the chills. After a few seconds, when he recovered from his dazed contemplation he continued in a low voice.
"I'm sorry, Naruto. I was out of line. Now please explain to me what happened."
Dix did so, with a now genuine smile and without staring. Soon they moved out to take care of this incident. They left behind a silent classroom that was only silent on the surface.