Let us say that…

…there once existed a man.

A man so unpredictable that even the Gods were clueless about him. He was labeled an enigma, an oddity, even by his fellow humans. He was a wildcard. There was no telling what he could or could not do, he was also known for his ability to be able to change how people think and feel. He was stubborn. Through determination and sheer willpower, he managed to best those who were considered legends amongst mortals. He was powerful.

Even so, with all of those traits, he could not fill the emptiness he had within him. He was hollow.

That man, through all unfair odds and impossible chances, managed to do things that even Gods would consider impossible. He changed the very meaning of hope and faith. With his friends beside him, he stood triumphant over his enemies. He was hailed even worshipped by the people he protected. People respected him, people feared him and people adored him. Everywhere he goes, he got nothing but praises. People were forever in his debt for all the things that he had done for them.

But, what they do not know is that he was not always so strong, not always so determined and not always unpredictable. There was a time when he was nothing more than a boy, a boy born through sacrifice. He was meant to shoulder a burden so big that not even the people in the whole world could carry it. Yet, through all the discrimination, hardships, pain, suffering and maltreatment, he endured. He became someone. He learned how to live, he learned how to laugh and he learned how to love… yet, he could never be satisfied if it is just him who is experiencing that.

He was selfless, ultimately so, even to a point where one might consider it to be a form of mental illness. Where others lived like kings, should they ever be given the same treatment as he had during his prime, he lived like a servant. Where others spend their money on lavish banquets or vintage wine, he spent in a thrifty manner. Where others choose to take, he chose to give.

This only made people admire and adore him even more. People loved him. And he loved them too. Even after all the mistreatment that they have given him, he was willing to cast that aside.

He was a hero to them.

Even so… even so… no matter a hero or not…

All those praises, those kind words…

They mean nothing if suffering still exists.

So, he made a wish.

To the sixth star that overlooks the Wintery plains of the North, he wished,

'I wish to protect. I don't have to be a hero. I just want to protect everyone.'

And that wish of his was granted…

…in the form of curse.

"…Naruto, you up yet?"

Waking up, a pair of blue eyes snapped open to greet the day. The owner of the same blue eyes took his sweet time to stretch his sleeping limbs and yawn himself to awakening. He blinked more than once, registering the fact that he was now awake and no longer dreaming of swimming in a pool of ramen broth with chicken angels flying around him. He looked to the left and looked to the right. He's in his room. He then settled to look at the person who had just called him by his name.

"Come on, get out of bed. It's time for school."

A girl, no older than fifteen, was standing by his door frame. Her hair was pink in color, making her rather hard to miss. It was short and kept together by a red ribbon tied together on her head. She was wearing her school uniform, the female version of his school's uniform. It consisted of a white buttoned up collared shirt and a green blazer with white linings around the edges, a red and green pleated checkered skirt, a pair of black knee length socks and a pair of black school shoes. She had her bag toted by the hand, holding it with her left hand whilst her right was firmly grasped on his door's knob. She was giving him a rather intimidating glare, almost as if she'll drag him out of his bed if he didn't do anything about his current state of self.

"Sakura…?" our blonde haired protagonist mumbled sleepily, his eyes blinking. He caught the brief flashes of pink and green. Yes, it was Sakura. "We have school today?"

Sakura did her best to keep herself from launching at the boy with a punch that could potentially break his jaw, neck, spine or anywhere else near his medulla oblongata. She sighed scornfully, almost regretting that she knew this person. "Of course we do you dummy it's Monday!" she yelled, but managed to contain it because she didn't want to wake the neighbors up. "Hurry up now and get dressed, we'll be late! Again!"

"Alright… alright…" he mumbled with no real intention of getting out of bed, but a fierce glare from Sakura made him thinks otherwise. "Just wait for me outside, I'll get changed." He shooed the girl, eliciting a humph and the closing of a door. He stood from his bed like a zombie from a grave and moseyed over to his wardrobe to grab his uniform.

The male uniform is not much different from the female's. They have the same buttoned white shirt, green blazer and all. But they have the privilege of wearing the most necessary piece of clothing of all, pants. Yes, pants. A pair of navy slacks with two pockets to store small items into. He put on his socks and proceeded to make his way around the room to grab the red tie he placed on the dresser last night. He lazily fastened the tie around his collar, making sure that it's comfortable. Once done, he opened his door and walked downstairs to rejoin his childhood friend.

"Come on Naruto we're gonna be late!"

Grunting an irate grunt, he made no effort to reply to the girl who's shouting right outside his house. He made sure to grab the house's keys from the kitchen table and left for the door immediately, since there's no time to fix breakfast. He locked the front door once he's finished wearing his shoes.

"Ah, my bag."

"Guh… hurry up!"

After fixing that little mistake, he walked through the front courtyard of his house and through the gate. Locking the huge brass padlock that ensures his property remained untouched, he then pocketed his keys inside his blazer's pocket. He was just about to turn around when he felt a hand grabbing his left hand, pulling him with a strength he was not expecting.

"We've no time to walk, if we run we might just make it!" Sakura stressed urgently whilst dragging him and running. She had a firm grip on his hand, he's afraid she might just break it with how strong it was. Naruto didn't even retort or push her away, it's faster this way. Good thing was, their school is not far. Konoha Academy was just a few blocks away they'll be there in a few minutes.

"Move your legs and run already!"

"Hmm…"

"Don't go back to sleep!"

It's a good thing that Sakura was a very strong woman with physical capabilities that exceeded most men. One would think that she's an easy picking, but those who have tried to make such approach to her learned about it the hard way. She managed to drag her blonde childhood friend all the way to the main road that lead to the school at an amazing speed too. On the distance, she spotted a tall lithe figure with black hair walking casually with hands inside the pockets of the person's pants.

"SASUKEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The black haired boy flinched and he instinctively looked back and that was a mistake. He didn't have time to react and avoid the girl's deathly grip on his collar.

"CHAA! I CAN'T HAVE MY BEST FRIENDS LATE ON THE FIRST DAY OF THEIR NEW SCHOOL YEAR! CHAAAAA!" She's a running speed demon right out of the gates of hell. She trampled over other students who dared to be upon her path as if they were pebbles on the ground. She was a running flash of green and pink, with black and yellow behind her.

"Yo," the blonde waved to his partner in misfortune.

"Hn." The other lazily replied.

The school's gates were in her sight, causing Sakura to double her speed. She spot something green standing tall in attention in the middle of the school's gate, arms crossed. Her eyes blazed like the ninth circle of hell, her nose began acting as a steam exhaust. Her arch enemy… her worst foe… there can only be two of them, but this one… this one's one of the worst. He is…

Gai-sensei.

The PE teacher stood tall and unfaltering, even when faced with a raging one woman stampede heading towards his way. He inhaled the scent of the morning dew, taking in as much as he could. Despite the calamity that was approaching, he had naught show the slightest hint of fear. In fact, one would think that he was actually welcoming it. He, Might Gai-sensei, the strongest and the most physically trained PE teacher in all of Japan, stood like the Tokyo Tower; tall, strong and proud. There was a gleam in his eyes; one that he knew he was making. He allowed himself to show a wide, but modest smirk. That smirk was everything but cocky.

He pointed a bandaged finger at the approaching incarnation of fury. He stood, facing something that none were willing to face.

"Come, let us see if I can stop you this time, Pink Fury."

'Pink Fury' developed a massive vein on her forehead, popping as far as showing it. Her eyes darkened and dark intentions began to seep out from her very pore. She drew her head back, showing everybody witnessing a vision that could only be described as fury in its purest form.

Before we continue, let us start with a short story.

Haruno Sakura was sweet girl, oh yes she was. She was kind, always helping in the local hospital and even retirement home as a volunteer without any form of reimbursement. She was considered to be one of the smartest girls in her school, and she had been keeping this title ever since she was in elementary.

But one day, something happened to Sakura something… bad. She was helping her mother shopping for dinner one evening, it was back when she was still in middle school, anyway so she went shopping and she did so at her own leisure pace. She carefully picked up the necessary things, always paying attention to the price and used every discount tickets she had in her disposal. Everything was going well.

However, how-fucking-ever… that happened.

She went to the cashier to pay and the clerk who was working the register was almost done tagging her items. Once she had everything bagged and ready to go, she noticed something. There, it was that. That. That big, red sign that caused her very form to freeze when she laid eyes on it. That… that… that sign that said…

'50% on everything starting 6:20 - 7:00!'

She should be happy, but she wasn't. Why?

Because it had just recently been posted.

Long story short, ever since that day, the fearsome grocery store rampage that happened that day was known throughout the town and everyone knew the name Pink Fury…

Now, let's resume.

Gai stared with no fear, but was indeed sweating. 'This speed…! She is truly someone worthy of the name Pink Fury!' mentally, he was crying prideful tears. 'Lee, you have truly found the perfect partner for your life…! As your mentor, I can never be more proud of you!'

Extending his hand forward, Gai opens his mouth. "Now, let us see what you can do Pink Fu-uuurhg!"

BAM

That's the sound of Gai's Medulla Oblongata hitting the concrete ground.

CRACK

And that's the sound of Gai's skull fracturing.

"SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFFFFFFFFE!" Sakura yells as she, and her two friends, reached the front entrance of the school. She dropped her two friends back to their feet, panting heavily, but she had a large smile on her face, a smile of satisfaction. "Haa… ha… hahaha!" she threw her hands up in the air like a mad scientist with lightning roaring on the background. "I DID IT!"

Naruto and Sasuke stared at their female childhood friend with blank eyes. The blonde scratched the back of his head, speaking, "I have English for first period."

"I have Chemistry." The other boy replied.

"Let's meet up at recess."

"Hn."

That morning, the small town in a prefecture somewhere in Japan called Konoha, started like any other. The have a passed out PE teacher with a shoe print on his face while he's giving a thumbs up to the heavens, a laughing pink haired ex-Karate champion, a blonde who really got nothing to do despite having things that he should be doing and a bored black haired bishounen who's off to do… whatever it is that pretty boys do.

Yup. Just your normal morning in Konoha.

"Mister Uzumaki… would you mind share what it is that you're doing on your notebook to the rest of the class?"

Umino Iruka prided himself as being a dedicated teacher. Unlike a certain mask wearing senior he knew, he actually tried to approach his students and give them advice for their future. He found that there's nothing more satisfying than seeing the students that you taught and scold becoming fine adults in the future. Thinking about it almost brought a tear to his eyes, almost, if it weren't for this problematic blonde over here.

Every student in the room, excluding the isolatee himself, had their attention focused on the blonde haired enigma who was busy with his pencil and notebook. Said enigma took a moment to pause his activity, taking note of the fact that every one of them had their eyes on him. Blinking several times, his baby blue eyes gave the brown haired teacher a confused look.

"I'm… writing?"

'Duh?!' was what's going through the class's mind.

An additional vein popped into existence on Iruka's forehead, despite his subtle showing of anger, he still managed a smile. "Ohoho? Is that so? Then, care to show us what it is you're writing?" Iruka couldn't claim victory just yet, since this is Naruto he's dealing it. He's dealt with the boy ever since he was an elementary and nothing about him changed. He's still that same problem making, unmotivated boy who… who's surprisingly and outrageously good at everything except math and physics!

"A new chapter for my erotica."

Almost everyone in the room fell from their seat, well almost everyone since Naruto's the only one who didn't. Iruka was also close to collapsing at how nonchalant the boy made his claim sound like. Knowing Naruto, he was nonchalant. He's talking about the same boy who was raised by a man who acknowledged himself to be the world's biggest super pervert over here!

"W-W-Why on the principal's name are you writing erotica in the middle of my class?" Iruka asked, the sheer amount of confusion and disbelief was hard to miss after witnessing an atrocity like this.

Naruto did not reply for a solid minute, then, he shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"

Everyone, ever those who were already back to their seats, fell again. Iruka was no exception this time.

"Ah, not to worry sensei, it's in English."

Iruka flipped his desk. "THAT DOESN'T MEAN SHIT!" it was at this moment that his anger was starting to show. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH WITH YOUR ANTICS UZUMAKI NARUTO, GO AND STAND IN THE HALLWAY!"

"…may I bring my pencil and book?"

"OUT!"

He was kicked out of the room, his pencil and notebook following him. Naruto gave the door an annoyed glare, before sighing and picking himself up the floor along with his utensils. He never understood why people did not appreciate the kind of literature he's making. Well, it's more like continuing since his godfather who also happened to be his caretaker was the original author of the series he's currently writing. He passed away quite some time ago and before he died, he wanted him to finish his series for him. How dramatic. Out of all the money he had in his bank account, all he got was the deed to his smut?

It proved to be a useful hands-me-down, because the revenue he's getting is a lot, as in, ten digits a lot. If anyone asked, that's how he got the mansion and ducati. He's been using the money to good use and by good use he meant ramen.

What better way there is to splurge money other than splurging it on ramen?

None.

Anyway, the life of an author had been good to him so far. The only slump he had ever gotten was when he didn't know what flavor ramen was he going to have for dinner, and that only lasted for at least six minutes. But it was a very long six minutes. He was familiar with his late godfather's occupation, so picking up where the pervert left wasn't that hard. The pervert had him write a few entries as extras in his previous books and based on what he heard, people liked it.

It was not a secret that he liked writing erotica, smut, whatever and almost everyone in the school knew about it. There have been mixed reactions to that. Some thought that it's inappropriate for a high school student like him to be writing a genre like this, this mostly comes from the females and the faculty members. While a lot thought that he's damn lucky to be able to make so much money at a young age, this comes from everyone, including the females and faculty members.

To be honest, he didn't really care about their opinions. He made a promise to his godfather that he will continue his legacy and he will do it. Besides, it's not like they dared to voice their thoughts to him directly in the first place. The only one who attempted to that was the math teacher, even so, she really couldn't say anything about it since it's really none of her business.

So deep in his thoughts, the blonde then resurfaced back to his surroundings with the help of a long sigh. It's been twenty minutes and class is going to end in five more. He could just ditch it now and go to the roof and wait until it's second period or he could just stay here and wait for Iruka-sensei to finish and then dragging him to the faculty office to give him a major scolding.

Yeah, he'll do the first one.

Now that he's on the roof alone, he could resume his work in peace in silence. He's working on a chapter that he'd been writing ever since two days ago, this chapter is supposed to be the climax of the arc when the protagonist Hiro rescued the princess and his love interest Eri. To do so, he must venture through the Valley of Death and face ominous monstrosities that guard the place where the princess was being held captive. And then the protagonist must defeat the evil mastermind who kidnapped the princess and threatened the Kingdom into chaos and Armageddon.

Reminded him of a certain game…

But in any case, he couldn't help but be amazed at his late godfather's work. It's amazing and the scenes were all nicely written, despite having a few grammatical errors, which he knew about when he was tasked to proofread his work. Ignoring the H-scenes written by the pervert, the development of characters, tragedy and characterization were all well done. Hiro was supposed to be exactly that, a hero. He fought for truth and justice, always thinking of others and seeking peace. He would choose the least violent method when faced with a situation. He would never think of sacrificing somebody in order to gain an advantage.

And the princess, Eri, was your typical damsel in distress. She fell in love at first sight when she first caught sight of Hiro from the balcony of her room, thinking that he was an attractive looking young man. Through actions of fate, the two managed to meet together and they shared a mutual feeling of love that none could rival. The series, Icha Icha as it was known in Japan, had over four books now with the fourth being his own work and he's in the middle of working for the fifth one. The first until the third featured our protagonist and his adventure, the first three books served as a way to get readers more familiar with Hiro's kind and selfless character as well as his aim of becoming a hero that wished to protect everyone.

The first three installments featured Hiro venturing strange places and meeting strange people, making friends with said people and even enemies with some of them. His godfather's creation, Hiro, was always portrayed as a person who could not say no. He meant for Hiro to be that protagonist who would help others without even needing time to think about it. His godfather's character of Hiro was not flawless, per say, as there were times when Hiro became a little bit too weird. For instance, in the second book, when Hiro was supposed to fight a brave warrior from a distant land, he chose to flee instead.

Why? He was a hero, he's meant to be heroic and unyielding, so why did he flee? It did not make sense to him, maybe it did for others, but to him, it didn't. Why run? When he had the power, the courage and the ability… why didn't he fight? Naruto read the book and nothing would end up in Hiro dying if he fought the warrior, his godfather is not the type of person to kill off a main character that easily, unlike the author of that one book with the midget and snow zombies. So why didn't his godfather made Hiro fight?

Another one in the third book. This time, Hiro was given the choice to receive unimaginable power or nothing at all. He chose nothing at all. At first, Naruto thought that his godfather was going with the whole 'power corrupts' thing for the rest of the series, but in a later chapter, one of Hiro's closest friend, the very same friend that he grew up and spend his childhood with died because Hiro wasn't strong enough to protect him. Why? Why didn't Hiro chose to receive power, knowing that he will need it in order to protect the people around him? It could be taken as Hiro letting his closes friend died because he lacked the foresight of his friend's death, but no, he knew, at first, that he was going to need power, yet when the opportunity was present in front of him, Hiro denied it, despite knowing that he will need it.

Why?

Until this day… he could never figure it out. This was also the reason why he wasn't making as much as his godfather when he was still alive. People read the Icha Icha he's writing mostly because of the smut and erotic scenes he'd written, not for the main core that was the story. Truthfully, it made him disappointed. He's disappointed in himself. His godfather's precious work, which was not only famous for the erotic scenes, had been reduced to nothing but pure smut. The pervert must've regretted giving him the task of continuing his legacy.

He stopped moving his hand, not out of free will, but because he's too tired to write. He'd written his notebook full of words that he'd already end up at the very last page. He stretched his hands up, giving tired grunts. Writing put a strain on his eyes, and before he knew it, he'd probably have to wear glasses. He looked around, noticing the lack of things on the school's roof. Really, if it weren't for the money, he would have abandoned this job a long time ago, despite the promise he made to his godfather on his deathbed.

Still… if it weren't for that promise, the promise he made after the promise of continuing the Icha Icha series…

'Naruto, I want you to learn and appreciate yourself. Promise me that you'll try your best to protect others and yourself.'

If it weren't for that and the money… then, he would have stopped writing entirely. What's the connection between that last promise and writing?

It's simple, writing was the only way for him to get money and with that money he could use them to protect others as well as himself. After all he's not strong enough to do it with his own two hands.

He instinctively stopped his hands from moving to gather his belongings when he felt a sense of dread radiating from behind him. He felt himself flinching and frozen from the immense feeling of dread flooding and hitting his back. Imagine yourself frozen, incapable of moving a single muscle. The sweat that oozed out from his skin was like ice itself, cold. He felt himself getting dizzy, but he did all he could to not faint. What's happening? Who's doing this? Were thoughts that crossed his mind… never in his life had he felt such malicious intention aimed at him. The wind was dead, completely absent when it was present before. His heart was beating as if he had just run a marathon around town. He dreaded to think what could be behind him, what on earth was capable of producing this kind of intent?

But despite all the bad things that could happen to him, he turned to look.

A fox. An orange fox.

Naruto blinked. He noticed that the dreaded feeling was no longer there as if it was never even there in the first place. He looked around, thinking that it might have just been his hallucination, but no, he knew what he felt. His attention was then returned to the fox. Clearly, this fox wasn't here when he got here. Did it climb all the way up here? What's a fox doing on a school's rooftop anyways? He continued to stare at the vulpine creature for what seemed to be minutes, still baffled at the absurdity of this all. A minute ago he was feeling pure murder being aimed at him and now, the possible culprit was this fox? That didn't make sense.

He saw the fox licking its own fore leg, grooming its luscious orange fur. There's something weird about this fox. It's not your normal Japanese red fox. It's way larger, closer to a dog and its ears are way longer in a sense that it reminded him more of a rabbit. The black rings that encircled its eyes and the way that its eyes glow a vibrant red color… yes, this fox was not normal. The fox remained sitting, staring back at the whiskered teen with the same amount of curiosity in its eyes.

Naruto brushed everything away and proceeded to make his way towards the stairs, walking past the fox. He sensed the fox and it did not follow him or anything like that, it just remained there, sitting. He walked down the stairs shaking his head while holding a hand on his forehead. Perhaps he's not feeling well today and all that happened was just his hallucination? Perhaps…

He made his way back to his classroom where everyone began to take notice of his presence. A boy with brown hair approached him, his school attire worn messily.

"Hey Naruto! Where were you off to man? Iruka-sensei was so pissed you ditched class just like that." the brown haired boy said to him, but despite the topic, he wasn't concerned at all.

"Well he did ask me to get out of class, Kiba, so technically, I did nothing wrong." Kiba laughed at hearing his response. Naruto merely sat on his desk, which was placed by the window. He and Kiba had been friends ever since primary. They both entered the same school and have been doing so until high school. "Where's Sasuke?"

"Oh, he was here a second ago." Kiba informed his blonde friend. "He said that he wants to talk to you later at recess and that you shouldn't forget about it."

"Hm, thanks." Naruto muttered. Then, his curiosity got the better of him. "Say Kiba, you own dogs, right?"

"Dude, my family's been raising dogs for three generations now, saying that I own dogs would be underrated. More like, dogs know I own them." The boy declared smugly. But Naruto ignored his bragging, moving on.

"What about foxes? You know anything about them?"

Kiba adopted a thinking expression, before speaking, "Despite being from the same family as dogs, wolves and such, they actually belong to a different genus. I won't go into details but in short, they're actually more like cats than dogs." Then his face turned curious. "Why are you asking me this? You want to get yourself a pet fox?"

The blonde narrowed his eyes, before shaking his head. "Nah, just curious." He rested his chin on his hand, eyes slowly dozing off into nowhere in particular.

Math will start in twenty minutes and the teacher will kill him if she saw him sleeping when she entered the class room. He'll just have to bear with it.

He'll just have to bear with it.

Bear with it.

Bear… with it.

Bear… with…

…it.

"Uzumaki Naruto-kun! Are you sleeping in my class again?!"

"No I wasn't, Yuuhi-sensei!"

It'll be a loooong day before recess.

"You're having ramen for lunch again, idiot?"

"Hey, I don't to hear that from the tomato munching preppy."

Sasuke, despite hearing the insult, was not insulted in the slightest bit. He stepped forward and took his place opposite of his blonde haired counterpart, putting down his lunch box which was made to him by his mother. The Prince of Konoha began opening his lunch box, completely ignoring the whispering and hushed mutterings that his classmates were making about him and his friend.

He spot a pair of girls giggling while constantly looking at the both of them. The Uchiha said nothing and he opened his lunch box, taking his chopsticks afterwards. "They're doing it again."

Naruto slurped his ramen into his mouth before replying to Sasuke's statement. "Hm?"

"They're doing it again."

"Ah."

"…you know, I would appreciate it if you act more surprised." The Uchiha gave the blonde a mild glare, while pointing his chopsticks at the blonde. "This is us they're talking about you know, which means it not only affects me, but you too."

"So?" Naruto asked, completely clueless as to why Sasuke was making a big deal out of it. "If they want to dream about it, then let them dream about it. After all, it's not real." He deadpanned with an uncharacteristically heavy voice. Naruto took a peek at his friend's lunch and snorted. "See, tomato munching maniac."

If Sasuke was any lesser, he would have blushed. "Shut up, idiot."

Cue 'kyaaaa~'-ing from every girl present.

"Where's Sakura?" chew, chew. "I thought she'll be joining us?"

"She's busy at the infirmary." Chew, chew, gulp. "Some idiot spilled corrosive acid on his skin at the lab, she's treating him right now."

Gulp. Sigh. "Oh yeah, she's on the health committee isn't she?"

"Hn." Bite, chew, chew.

"You doing anything this weekend?" Gulp.

"No, but Aniki and mother would love to have you come over for dinner." Gulp. Wipe, wipe.

"Again? But I just came over last week." Munch, munch, gulp.

"Yes, but father was away last time. He will be joining us, it has been so long ever since he's seen you." gulp. Wipe, wipe.

"Hm… I guess I'll come for dinner. But dinner only, I don't your mom begging me to stay over for the night. Again." Slurp, gulp. Ah…

"Hn. No promises." Gulp, wipe.

'I'm… I'M SO JEALOUS KUH…!' Every girls present in the mess were looking at the two as if they were the Vatican City itself, they could not bring themselves to enter much less disturb their conversation.

"Yo Naruto, Sasuke!" a familiar voice called out to the two childhood friends from the distance. Four figures came walking in from the direction of the mess hall's entrance, all of them familiar to the two. The one who called out to them was none other than Kiba himself, the canine boy had several other people with him, all of them boys. One is Chouji the fa-big boned school's Sumo ace, next is Shikamaru the school's Shougi ace and the last is Shino the bug nerd. He's cool though.

The four of them came invading on the two's table, taking their respective spot. Kiba and Shika settled to sit beside Naruto, while Chouji and Shino beside Sasuke. Kiba leaned forward, starting conversation. "So what're you two lovebirds talking about?" he asked with a grin. It's no secret that almost every girls in the school shipped these two as if they're Adam and… uh… Steve.

"Screw you doggy." Sasuke said with a glare. If there's one thing he did not appreciate, one of them was Kiba's humor.

"Maa, don't be like that, Prince." Kiba grinned. "If it's to you, we know that honor belongs to our boy here." He wrapped one hand around the blonde's neck, disrupting his eating.

This annoyed the blonde. "I'm trying to eat Kiba, go disturb someone else."

"Sheesh." Kiba let go of his neck. "You two are so in sync." The grin was still present, as if he's enjoying every single moment of this. "For real though, don't tell me that you two're just eating your lunch here like it's your first awkward date or something."

"Goddamit Kiba."

"No, for real," Kiba held his hands up, stopping any advances from the black haired prince. "are you guys seriously wasting your time like… like this?"

Sasuke settled down, letting his anger dissipate. "Hn."

"I'll take that as a yes." Kiba then spoke to the rest. "Wow, guys, whaddaya say we show these two how to have some real fun?"

Chouji let out a nervous laugh. "As long as it's not too wild Kiba, then I'm cool."

Shino pushed his sunglasses with his fingers, before replying in a smooth voice, "I shall not partake in any acts of foolishness, but I should see it first."

"Zzz…" a smack from Choji. "Wha? Who? Oh, yeah, sure, we'll go to Disneyland."

Kiba facepalmed hard, sighing. "Ignoring Shika… how about it, you girls up for something that only us men can do?" he wiggled his eyebrows as a way of convincing the two.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, they both nodded at the same time. "Sure."

Kiba's grinned grew wider. "Perfect." He leaned in, prompting the others – sans Shika – to do the same. "So here's what we'll do…"

"Be careful and change the bandage regularly, okay?"

Sakura waved the student she had just treated goodbye as she closed the infirmary's door close. She walked over to the swivel chair and dropped her body onto it, all the while letting out a tired sigh. "I swear… accidents happen way too often in this school." She might as well be the school's nurse if she's treating injuries this often that and there's also the fact that the school's nurse was not always present due to… personal issues.

She had been in the health committee ever since her first year here. This is her second year so she's familiar with the apparatus and medicines that the school had stocked up.

"Hm… we're low on iodine and alcohol, the one I used was the last batch… gotta write that down." She drew out a small clipboard with important papers clipped onto it. Unofficially, she's the school's nurse. She's also the class-rep of her class. That gave her both benefit and detriment. She gets to attend small meetings, which was always good since she loved getting involved in school related activities but that will also require her to spend her time doing tasks needed by the school.

But she got to wear this neat lab coat though.

"Ah… I'm thirsty, I need to get myself a drink." Standing up, Sakura walked outside of the infirmary to grab herself a drink. She walked to the nearest vending machine, which was located on the hallway just outside of the infirmary. She chose a drink of her liking, strawberry milk after inserting the 500 yen coin into the slot.

Picking up the refreshing, cold carton drink, she ripped off the straw and popped it into the drink, taking a small sip from it. She leaned her back on the wall just beside the machine, letting the strawberry flavored milk quench her thirst. "Ah… that was refreshing, still nothing like the one mom makes, though." Her mom made the best strawberry milk!

"I wonder what Naruto and Sasuke-kun are doing…"

Honestly speaking, she could not help but worry about the two. The three of them had been friends ever since elementary and she couldn't help but proclaim that she was the middle ground between the two boys. Every time they'd fight, she'd be the one to stop them. When the two got too mischievous – usually it's Naruto's fault – she's the one to apologize for the mess they made. And when girls began asking them out for dates, she'd be the one to crush their dreams. 'Their' as in the girls'.

It's safe to say that she knew the two boys more than anyone else in the whole world, heck, she might even know about them more than they knew about themselves.

Having her back leaned against the while she took her sweet time finishing her milk, Sakura glances at the watch she had strapped on her right wrist. It's almost time until break's end, she should get back to the infirmary. She discarded of the now empty milk carton and threw it into a nearby trashcan that was placed conveniently near the vending machine. She began making her way back to the infirmary, taking no more than a minute to reach there.

As she was just about to slide open the door of the infirmary, a shout raked her attention.

"SAKURA! NARUTO FELL FROM THE ROOF!"

Her heart stopped for a second. She slowly turned to whoever was shouting and saw a sweating and panting Chouji gasping for breath while he supported himself against the wall. The big boned fella was no runner, it's obvious, so him being in the state he's in right now tells Sakura that he was not kidding around.

Immediately, Sakura dashed off towards the entrance of the school.

From the roof of Konoha Academy, a small, reddish orange vulpine creature watched the body of a blonde student slowly bleeding, staining the ground beneath him. The creature watched as several other students raised a commotion upon the finding of a supposedly dead body. He heard the scream of terror and panic rising and the cries of students.

The creature gave what was known as a smirk.

"You will be the best… I will make sure of that."

Bet you didn't see this one coming, huh? It's actually a little bit fun writing something about Naruto that's not restricted to the canon universe, so this will be my official first attempt in writing an AU that takes place in the modern universe. I left the story as a crossover because of the things that I will be putting inside it, I could have left it as a non-crossover story, but that'd beat the purpose I'm aiming for.

I'm going to make a lot of OOC characters here, especially Naruto's own. Things will be different about our hero and maybe he wouldn't even be called a hero in this story. The thing is, I want to create a Naruto that's a little different from the one from my first story, and I've been watching a lot of anime during summer break for me to keep on being motivated. You might see several reference to other series, but hey, everyone loves an Easter egg or two.

In any case, this is the first entry for this story and the paragraphs above also serve as a warning if you do not like where I'm treading with this. Please review and share your thoughts about this, even if it's still vague as fuck at the moment.