“Man, I don’t CARE about Naruto. Shut up about it already!”, said a very disgruntled student, as he struggled with the current material he had to know for a midterm exam. Did that impede the other student from raving on about Naruto? Oh, how I hoped that it did… but it did not. “You SHOULD care, because Naruto is the best anime and manga on the PLANET!”
Aw jeez… This study session was deviating from its purpose quite a bit! And who was to blame? Who else but Naruto Boy?
Hey there, dear readers. Several days ago, while I was compiling answers for the latest Naruto Crunchyroll Rewatch installment, I began to think about a particular student who stopped pretty frequently in our office when I used to be a TA at a local college.
This student would often drop by the officeβwhich was mostly used to host review sessionsβto what we thought was to better improve his test scores and understanding of the material of a subject many students dread: math. But what ended up happening is that this student would often end up talking passionately about another subject entirely… “the best anime and manga in the planet,” Naruto.Β And so I dubbed him “Naruto Boy” whenever I would talk about him to my co-workers and whenever I would tweet about his latest antics in the world of tweets.
This guy was a real piece of work; I’ve never met anyone quite like him! He would just go on and on and ON about Naruto, never missing a beat! And that was why he wasn’t doing too well in class, which is why he ended up stopping by the office in the first place. But his determination to never stop talking about Naruto was… amazing?
Anyways, due to the Moments feature in the world of tweets not really working (it kept putting tweets out of order!), I figured that it’d be best to keep record of those very confusing moments of my TA job right here in this blog, and of course, for your reading pleasure. I’ll also include some of the replies that made me chuckle quite a bit! Here is… the Saga of Naruto Boy.
My first impression of the guy wasn’t great! I think on that day, I was incredibly busy with my own students, so while I normally would’ve provided some assistance when I was done with my session, this time I wasn’t go anywhere near whatever was happening over there! π€£Β I’m sorry, Michael! πββοΈ
I say “sorry,” but Michael let Naruto Boy do things he shouldn’t have, like…
Whenever Naruto Boy was around and I saw Michael walking in the hall towards the office, I’d tell him that his best friend was here. “HE AIN’T MY FRIEND!!!!’, he’d yell desperately. Was he trying to convince himself? π
Naruto Boy would often speak up when it was just me, Michael, and like 1 or 2 students, but whenever the room was full, he would keep to himself:
But what was always strange to me is that he wouldn’t take part in the sessions that would help him understand the class material and get better scores in class. He was just there to “hang.”
Some time had passed, and Naruto Boy has reached the point where he would get bold. Incredibly bold!
https://twitter.com/maoulizbeth/status/527152225857339394
https://twitter.com/maoulizbeth/status/527152773234954241
Time passed, and the day where the Naruto manga ended was here. While he was very happy that his OTP was canon now (Naruto and Hinata), what would he talk about now? Would it be the end of Naruto Boy?
To sate your curiosity, he moved on to talking about the Naruto games he’d played. Yup. This guy has no chill when it comes to Naruto! He was still kinda sad the series was over, but that didn’t last long when a continuation was announced:
A few weeks passed by where Naruto Boy didn’t show. It was a time of peace and productivity at the office. That is, until…
I don’t think I’ll ever forget this moment as long as I live. Naruto Boy just suddenly and loudly opening the door and then yelling “OHAYO, MINNA!” when I was the only one in the room… ohmyGOD! I’m sure I had somewhat of a terrified expression on my face, but I’ll never know! Then he freakin’ did a translator’s note IN REAL LIFE: “That means ‘Good morning, everyone’ in Japanese!” I did not have enough coffee that day to process whatever was going on.
https://twitter.com/Lolibucket/status/540547898526957568
https://twitter.com/maoulizbeth/status/540548654428614656
Oh yes, your eyes read that right: he got into a REAL FIGHT… over Naruto!
I remember seeing a video of this that another one of my co-workers took while it was happening, and it was… quite something! Naruto Boy shoved a guy twice his size with all of the strength his arms could muster, and the guy stood up, ready to just squash him once and for all. It ended with Naruto Boy forcibly being escorted out of the office while the guy that he shoved screamed “I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT NARUTO!!!” I laughed so hard I CRIED that day! I asked my co-worker to send me the video many times, and she while she said “okay, I’ll send it when I get home,” she never did send it over! π©
However, this would not be the last of Naruto Boy:
Y’know, at some points I did feel really bad for Naruto Boy, but he just couldn’t stop… talking about Naruto, and his grades were just terrible! He wasn’t going to pass the class at this rate. Early when I met him and saw how he acted, I thought that maybe he was a special needs student, so I investigated this. But my boss and other staff members at the college told me that there was no paperwork or notice submitted at all. So he was just really a guy who was just REALLY into Naruto.
Finals came and went, and then the semester was over. No more Naruto Boy.
Or so I thought…
https://twitter.com/maoulizbeth/status/554697510997200896
This time around, I wasn’t really around at the same time that he would be in the office, so I didn’t see much of him. What I did know is that he indeed failed that class from the previous semester, and he was back to attempt to pass it again. Maybe, HOPEFULLY,Β he could pass it this time?
Another scuffle happened at the office, which ended with Naruto Boy being banned from the office for the rest of the semester. This time it wasn’t recorded, so I could only go by what Michael told me:
https://twitter.com/tontinic/status/585471892594757632
And so, another semester came to a close. A lot of students passed their courses with flying colors after dedicating so much time to dropping by the office to apply what they learned. But did Naruto Boy pass his class?
I thought that was a question I would never find out the answer to, until…
I couldn’t believe my eyeballs; Naruto Boy was back once more?! And he was taking the same class he failed… so he didn’t pass it after all. It still makes me feel sad when students aren’t able to pass their classes; that’s their time and money being put forth, and for Naruto Boy, it just ended up not working out.
https://twitter.com/Enkrow/status/638397912741888000
I figured that maybe this time would be different. Maybe this time Naruto Boy WILL pass the class and move on to the rest of whatever degree he was pursuing. I was very optimistic about this! It started out okayβhe’d come into the office and we’d go over the material. He was paying more attention than usual… so I was very hopeful that we could keep this going!
I was wrong.
Pretty sure he acted out because whenever he’d start up his Naruto talk when other students were around the office, he’d get told to shush. I guess he had enough of that, but I managed to get the situation under control so that it didn’t turn into a THIRD physical fight. π©
After that, he didn’t really stop by much because I kept getting some of the other students dropping by every day. Then, he completely stopped coming. When I asked my co-workers if they’d seen him, they told me that there had been yet ANOTHER situation with the guy, which prompted them to kick him out of the office AGAIN. Apparently one of my co-workers was especially angry with him, so… that scared him from ever coming to the office ever again.
My co-workers never really told me what happened with Naruto Boy this time. “Oh, believe me, you don’t want to know,” they said. …No, I actually REALLY DO! But they never told me, so the mystery will live on for all time.
I never saw Naruto Boy again. It’s quite sad because he totally had the potential to pass his classes, but he just never really did any of the work. I *BELIEVED* in him when he was in my class, and… he failed once again. πΒ People sure are incredible in very weird ways, that’s for sure.
And that is the Saga of Naruto Boy. It’s kinda impossible to forget; how can anyone forget about a person who got a huge man to scream out “I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT NARUTO!!!” It’s IMPOSSIBLE, I tell you!
Hope you all enjoyed reading this very weird tale of how someone’s love for Naruto… got them to fail a class 3 times.
Until next time, my dear readers! π
Omake:
Yes… peace wouldn’t last in the office forever, for a new presence would make themselves known: ocarina boy! But that’s a story for another time.
Figuratively Speaking 