Naruto's in Junior High, so he's 12/13. I don't own Naruto. (please give me ideas for what Kakashi should teach.)

Sakura tucked the strains of hair that hung in her face behind her ears. She dreamily watched Sasuke stalk by, glaring angrily at everything in his path. Sakura read her watch; 8:30. The locker bell was going to ring in precisely 4 minutes. Ino stood next to her pink-haired best friend and watched Sasuke with greedy eyes. Both of the girls eyes lid slid down into a glare when they saw-

"Naruto," Ino groaned. He walked past, clutching his backpack grumpily, pouting, and slouching as if he didn't want anyone to know he was walking past. "Ick. I hate that kid."

"Don't complain," Sakura protested. "I'm in homeroom with him. He's a totally pain in the neck… to everyone in the class; even the teacher!" Sakura repositioned the straps of her backpack and stormed in the opposite direction of him.

"I am so sorry." Ino comforted, patting her friend's back. Sakura and Ino started bursting out laughing, causing heads to turn. Sakura drew a quarter from her khaki pocket, and shoved it into the slot of the snack machine. She punched in the code for a chip bag.

"Locker bell in two minutes," Sakura warned her friend.

"Oh!" Ino jumped, spun around, and headed for the 300 wing. Sakura shook her head, and headed for the 400 wing, where her locker waited for her to open it.

"Don't sit here!" a kid protested at the breakfast table. Naruto had a hard time finding a peaceful non-bullying spot in the cafeteria.

"Yeah," he exclaimed. "Who wants to sit next to you, anyway?" he marched off, carrying his plastic tray containing a muffin. "Stupid kid." He mumbled to himself. He plopped down on the end of the closest table of the window. A tree waved through with droopy branches. He stared at that tree, as he picked up his dry muffin. Before he took a bite, he looked at it, and threw it on the ground. He got up, and left his tray there.

The hollow bell called out through the school, announcing locker bell. A mass of kids got up from their table and headed for their locker. Naruto didn't use his locker. He hadn't even seen it. When his last hour teacher assigned it to him, he hadn't even looked at the location of the locker. If you asked him was his combination was he'd have no clue.

He slowly walked towards his first hour class, hanging his head low. Not that he was sad, he just didn't have a reason to raise his head. Walking to class was a struggle for him; because kids would bump into him with their shoulders, and he'd just let himself be pushed around. 10 minutes later, a second bell rang and that commenced the starting of first hour. No biggie… Naruto had enough detentions as it was.

When he had reached class, the tardy bell had rung. His teacher, Mr. Umino, gave him yet another detention. No biggie… He set himself down in his assigned desk, unzipped is backpack, and started on his bell ringer. Homeroom was Social Studies. History…

Sakura had finished before Naruto even started. She had replaced her bell ringer with a book.

After class, Mr. Umino had called Naruto to his desk. While everyone was getting ahead start getting to their class, Naruto was being held back.

"What did I do?" he asked slowly and dreadfully. Iruka shook his head.

"You did nothing wrong, Naruto." Iruka said. Naruto glanced behind his teacher. Looking his teacher in the eyes for him was like looking directly into the sun. "I just want to recommend something." Naruto huffed.

"I don't need special help if this is what this is about." Naruto frowned.

"No, Naruto." Iruka said. "I'm recommending maybe… a tutor… or a consular?"

"What kind of consular?" Naruto asked a little fast. His defense system was charging up really quickly.

"Maybe a… academic consular," he said. "Unless you want guidance consular, which wouldn't be a bad idea?" Naruto looked down. Why did all his teachers say stuff like that? Sure, he didn't have a good family life, but that didn't seem like a big deal to him.

"And maybe if you got an academic consular, it could be a student your age." Iruka suggested, shrugging. Naruto blew a disapproving huff air out of his nose.

"Yeah," he grumbled. "I'll think about it." He lugged his backpack on his back, and walked out the classroom. Iruka shook his head, and frowned.

'That boy…" he thought.

"Naruto!" his gym teacher, Ms. Mitarashi exclaimed. "You're not dressed-out and you're late for class!" Her purple hair was tied up in a pony-tail and she was carrying a clip-board around, grading. One of Naruto's enemies… grades. "And…?"

"And what?" Naruto asked grumpily.

"Your excuse?"

"Mr. Umino held me back after class."

"Probably because you were misbehaving."

"He was… informing me with… academically important matters." Naruto said, shrugging at the complicated words, or at least for him. She slashed her page and walked to the next kid in order of roll-call. Behind him, was Shikamaru Nara.

"Nara, Shikamaru." Anko murmured, grading him. When she walked off, Naruto heard him saying.

"Such a drag…" Naruto snickered, and popped a stick of gum in his mouth. Then he decided he wasn't going down alone if Anko caught him.

"Hey…" Naruto shook the tiny green box that contained a few gritty sticks of gum left. "Want some?" Shikamaru glared at the box.

"No thanks, Naruto." He groaned, pushing the box away.

"You're missin' out." Naruto pleaded.

"On what?" Shikamaru shot back. "If I'm missing out on something so great why offer it to me?" Naruto shrugged. In front of him was Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto chewed swiftly on the gum, and spat I out into Sasuke's hair. He saw Sasuke stiffen and slowly, turning around to face him. His eyes were closed ,annoyed, and slowly reach up to string out the piece of gum.

Naruto burst out laughing, causing everyone in the gym to turn and face him. He clutched his stomach, his eyes were watering, and his knees were bent. Sasuke pulled the multicolored clump out and let it drop to the floor.

"Uzumaki…" he whispered menacingly. He sucked in his stomach and blew up his lungs. Naruto opened one eye to see if was about to use Fire style on him. When Sasuke stood there doing nothing he stopped laughing and straightened up.

"Uchiha…" Naruto taunted. He put his hands on is hips and shook his butt. Shikamaru backed up. Anko picked up Naurto's wrist, held it high, and grabbed Sasuke's wrist.

"My office." She whispered. "Now!" Everyone in the gym was silent as everyone's heads followed their bodies. Anko's heavy foot steps pounded the ground. Sasuke was darkly glaring at everyone and Naruto was darkly glaring at Sasuke. When they arrived in the tiny, window-walled office, Naruto and Sasuke were engulfed with the smell of deodorant and cardboard smelling walls. Naruto's eye watered.

"What is up with you two?" she asked staring up at them. She was sitting in her desk.

"Well…" Naruto was brewing up an excuse in his head.

"First on Monday it was ice down his shirt. The next day, he decides to take revenge and burn a hole in you shorts where I don't want to talk about. Then today?" Anko watched how their expressions had changed from discomfort to laughter when she would bring up their prank of the day. "We can't do this…" she continued. She stood up and started writing a referral for Naruto. "How many does that make today?"

"Two." He grumbled. Sasuke smirked at the yellow paper. Naruto shifted his eyes lowly at Sasuke. Anko handed him the paper.

"Try better tomorrow you two." Anko pleaded. Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and Naruto wanted to shove the detention in the trash bin. The three exited the office. Everyone was, unsurprisingly, talking. They had formed little groups. Naruto watched Sakura as she quickly talked to Ino. Anko walked up to the front of the gym.

"Okay, guys, lets do some stretches!"

After 3rd and 4th hour Naruto found himself eating outside on a picnic bench, eating out of his orange lunch pack. He chewed furiously on his lettuce and ham sandwich. He had successfully got only one more detention in 4th hour Science. He watched as the line for hamburgers got longer and longer. They couldn't be that good, could they?

He stood up, placed the sandwich in a plastic baggie and attempted to get in line. Even though he was in the back, he saw people turning their heads from time to time. Why couldn't they just leave him alone when he did something like them? When he finally got his hands on a plastic tray with French fries and a flat looking hamburger, he sat at his breakfast spot.

He sneakily took out his green I-pod decorated with a squinty-eyed, pink-cheeked, frog. He smiled gratefully as he lightly placed the green headphones, that he had painted himself, and turned on his favorite play list on. As the song blasted through his ears, Sakura and Ino were sitting behind him staring at him with envy.

"How does he get the nerve to do that?" Sakura asked Ino in a normal volume voice, knowing Naruto wouldn't hear her. "Is he trying to get himself in trouble?" Ino glared harder.

"How did he get green headphones?" she asked. "I want green headphones…" Sakura slapped the back of Ino's head.

"Seriously…"

Naruto's 5th hour was his elective; art. He didn't like anything on the list they had received at the end of last year, so he randomly checked off 3 things. He was stuck in art… People who could paint swiftly, people who could draw a character without looking at them, people who could draw decent stick-figures. Naruto had to concentrate on their proportion to where these kids could draw one faster that he could start off with the body.

He sniffed in concentration… focusing on a beautiful straight line. Kids watched how he didn't even hold the pencil correctly. Some snickered at his white-knuckled hands squeezing a fist around the pencil. The head was circle. He wanted a nice, round, even circle, not a wobbly, curved-in one. Sakura, being in the same class as him, deiced to help him… just a little bit.

"Hey," Sakura said behind him. "Naruto, want some… tips?"

"Tips?" Naruto asked slowly. "On what?

"On… a couple things!" she said. "Want to learn how to correctly hold a pencil when you're drawing?" Naruto looked at his sweaty fist and nodded. She picked up a pencil and weaved her fingers around it. "Like so!" Naruto dropped his pencil.

"Like…" Naruto murmured to himself, trying to copy Sakura. He realized Sakura had a presences about her no else did! He didn't feel like inside she was judging him. He got an awkward grip on the pencil and held it up. "Like this?"

"Close enough." Sakura said. "Okay… and when you draw a stick person… don't think about it so hard, okay?" She got up.

"Okay." Naruto nodded. He added this moment to his list on why to like Sakura. She walked away to her painting again. He sighed and tried what she had advised, and now it was a lot easier.

6th hour pasted quickly and 7th hour arrived. Math… That one past surprisingly fast too. His math teacher made everything make sense. The numbers weren't numbers… they were patterns… that made sense. That explained multiplying, they're just patterns! Eventually, a student announced 1 minute until the bell. Everyone mounted their backpacks, heard the bell, and swung their bag over their shoulders and headed out.

The bus wasn't cool but it wasn't hot and Naruto got a seat all to himself at the front of the bus. He played games on his phone, texted people, and prank called kids he knew on the bus. The apartment building that half the kids on the bus lived in was one of the last stops. He recognized Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru, and Ino. Only two people were left on the bus after their stop; Sasuke and Neji Hyuga.

When Naruto got off the bus, he watched the door slowly creak closed, and he waved teasingly at Sasuke through the window, who didn't even glance down. The dirt from the road, kicked up into his face, but he deiced to follow the bus anyway. Where did Sasuke live?

He ran after the bus that looked hazy from the sun. He tumbled over a couple times, but got up in curiosity. When the bus stopped, he hid behind a tree, and glanced to see who was coming off. It was Neji. Naruto passed up Neji to follow the bus again. He huffed and started slowing down after a mile or so and he started trotting. The bus turned, and Naruto was on his way down a road that had the view of the ocean.

The sun was reflecting off the water, making Naruto squint after the bus. After another two miles he lost the bus. He picked up a rock off the ground and threw it angrily. Then he sat on the side of the road, took out his unfinished lunch, and started eating it. He faced the sea, thinking about Iruka's offer.

Did he really need a consular? Or was everyone just too paranoid, but what about? Paranoid that maybe one day he'd turn on the wrong path? No… it was more than that… something was strange when people talked to him. Like they were afraid to say the wrong thing or he was a monster. He wasn't a monster… was he? He was about to eat the last bite of his sandwich when he saw a lonely ant. He sighed and broke off a piece for it. See… he wasn't a monster.

He lied down in the grass, placing his hands behind his head.

'I'm not a monster…' he thought. 'I'm just…'

"What am I?" He asked himself. "Am I different?" He picked another rock and threw it in the water. Thonk… The water rippled towards the sea. He got up and headed home. When he opened the door to his apartment he found it trashed. It was trashed before he left, but not like this. Toilet paper… paint… eggs… someone had pranked him. It wasn't Sasuke he wasn't even home yet from what Naruto knew. Couldn't be Sakura… wouldn't be Sakura. Ino… Shikamaru… Choji? Nah…

"Ah… well." He sighed and started picking up egg shells. "What a life I have… everyone wants this one." He deiced the T.V. could help have something to listen to. When nothing was on, he hooked up his I-home with his I-pod and finished the playlist he hadn't finished at lunch… When the egg shells had been picked up, he noticed blue paw prints.

Who could it be…? Please review!