This is my first fanfic so it reviews would be nice, whether there good or bad it all helps - tells me what i'm doing right and what is rubbish and needs changing!

The title is the name of a Metallica song from Death Magnetic and the reason I chose it was because I really had no clue what to call this fic and happened to be listening to that song at the time. If I manage to use that space in my head and come up with a real title then I will change it but for now it will stay as it is.

Pairings: SasuNaru, ItaKyuu, GaaNeji, KakaIru, LeeSaku, KibaHina, ShikaTema, DeiSaso. There may be some pairings i've forgotten to mention and not all pairings will appear straight away as this fic is predominantly SasuNaru

Disclaimer: Unfortunately Naruto doesn't belong to me or any of the other characters (be cool if they did though - could keep them in a cardboard box). They do belong to Kishimoto!

Hmm... I don't think there are any warnings for this chapter

I shall stop prattling now and let you read so enjoy!....

Loud chatter is what greeted Naruto's tan ears as he walked through the gates of Konoha High first thing on a Monday morning, his blond hair with the just-got-out-of-bed messy look flopped into his eyes as he walked, obscuring his electric azure eyes from view. He silently dragged his feet through the school and towards his first lesson – Geography. Although he was thankful that at least in this lesson he got to see his good friend, Gaara, who was had been due back from a holiday to his home town, Suna, yesterday meaning that he should be back in school today. For Naruto it had been hell surviving the past 2 weeks without him, what with the constant bullying from his peer's and harassment from his Biology teacher – Orochimaru-sensei – who unfortunately was also his guardian meaning there was no escape from him, even though he had his own apartment now.

Naruto finally managed to make it to his classroom with only a few people trying to trip him on the way. Once outside he took a minute to make sure his grin was intact before stepping through the door and into the room, his eyes scanned the rows of desks until he found his desk and next to it sat an apathetic pale boy with blood red hair and green eyes that could pierce a person with one glance, also on his forehead was a tattoo of 'love' in kanji. Naruto quickly made his way through the rows of desks until he stopped at his desk next to the red-head, where he promptly decided it would be a good idea to glomp the moody looking teen.

"Gaara!!!" the blond exclaimed as he knocked the pale red-head from his chair and onto the floor in a heap. Once the hug was done Naruto jumped off Gaara and into his own seat waiting for Gaara to compose himself before starting to talk at him a mile a minute. To anyone looking at the pair Gaara would of seemed bored and uninterested by that rubbish Naruto was telling him about and in truth he was, it was just that Gaara had missed Naruto, his first friend, while he was away and if you squinted at him long enough you could see the small up-turn of the corners of his mouth as he listened to the blond.

Naruto soon realised that Gaara wasn't really paying much interest to what he was saying so he stopped his talking and decided to ask about Gaara's trip to Suna before their teacher arrived to start class.

"So how was Suna?" the blond asked

"Same as every other time we go. Temari and Kankuro argued non-stop. Although I got a pet raccoon name Shukaku whilst I was there. You should come back with us sometime, it's your home town as well" Was Gaara's reply before he began staring out the window at a certain pale-eyed brunette, also known as Hyuga Neji – Gaara's boyfriend. Gaara and Neji had been together for 2 years and Naruto was glad that his good friend was happy although he personally wasn't close to Neji, in fact he never spoked to him, he generally chose not to spend time with Gaara when Neji was around because he'd rather not impose and be the third wheel. Gaara and Neji got together not to long after the blond and red-head moved to Konoha 2 and a half years ago. Naruto moved as he felt like he needed a change of scenery, and the fact that Orochimaru decided it was time to move again, and a week after he moved he was joined by Gaara, Temari and Kankuro, who were Gaara's older brother and sister.

The blond could see that Gaara would not reply to him any more so he fell silent and gazed around the room. Naruto was a happy person who would talk lots but he did know how to be quiet although that was normally when there was no-one around for him to talk to. Well that's what people thought anyway. As the blond continued to gaze around the room the door opened and in walked another pale teen but this teen had raven hair that stuck up in the back like a ducks butt and deep onyx eyes that the blond swore could see right into your soul. The blond stared. Ah this teen – Uchiha Sasuke, not someone the blond felt like seeing today. His one and only crush. It wasn't well known in school but anyone who was good friends with the blond, namely Gaara, knew that Naruto was gay and had come to terms with the fact a few years ago when he first realised he was crushing over the young Uchiha. Naruto turned his head away from the young Uchiha in hopes that he was not caught staring, although there was enough time for Gaara to look around, notice the blond staring at his crush and smirk at him which fell into a contemplative frown.

"You heard from Itachi recently?" he asked

"Hmm? Oh no, no I haven't, not for about a month. I think he's been away with that elusive boyfriend of his that I'm yet to meet" Naruto replied, blushing when he saw Gaara smirk at him for staring at Sasuke.

"I'm sure he'll get in touch soon, you know what he's like, I'm surprised he didn't move down here as soon as he found out you'd gone 2 and a half years ago considering the amount he freaked out when he couldn't find you." Gaara said.

"Mmhmm" was Naruto's reply although he wasn't really focusing on Gaara any more.

Uchiha Itachi – Sasuke's older brother but also Naruto's best friend. They'd met at school back in Suna when Naruto was just starting Suna High. Itachi was already in his 4th year there but was interested in the blond as soon as he saw Naruto. At that point the blond had no friends as he had yet to meet Gaara and believed he was not meant to have friends so it was a shock to him when Itachi started to befriend him, it took a while for his trust in people to build but soon he became best friends with Itachi and was also pretty good friends with Itachi's friends who became known as a group called the Akatsuki. Through the years of their friendship Itachi became overprotective of Naruto and saw him as another younger brother and therefore when the blond moved away without telling him he through a fit in worry. Itachi had moved away from him while he was young because he did not agree with how the Uchiha's acted and thought even though there are times when he uses being an Uchiha to his advantage and sometimes will revert to acting in such a way . Naruto didn't think that Sasuke knew of his friendship with Itachi.

Students slowly started to file into the classroom talking with friends about their weekends and finally after the whole class was in and seated their teacher Iruka-sensei arrived.

"Good morning class." Iruka greeted with a soft smile "Now for the next month you are going to be put into groups to do a group project were each group will study one country. The groups have already been decided so I'm sorry that you can't pick who you'd like to work with but it's tough luck"

Iruka continued to tell the class about the project they were to do and although Naruto had stopped listening he knew he'd remember it anyway – a perk of having Orochimaru for a guardian for so long – not!

"OK so group 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto.... Haruno Sakura" Naruto had to stifle a groan, he was stuck with Sasuke's number 1 fan girl of all time and man was she annoying! "... and Uchiha Sasuke and you will be studying here - Japan" Naruto's face turned to one of utter doom at that point as Iruka continued to read out the groups and what they each would be studying.

He had one thought running through his head : well this will be interesting.