Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Something about an ass hole Uchiha and vengeful Uzumaki seems oh so right.
"Your grades are definitely Kokusai material, Uzumaki-kun."
The older gentleman placed the papers he was looking at into a manila folder, smiling. His reading glasses reflected the light from the chandelier just above his large office desk, hiding his amused eyes. He hadn't seen such a gifted student his entire time in office as Prime Minister, and there was no way that he was going to let such talent slip away.
The student in front of him had a shocked expression on his face. He'd heard what the man had said, but it'd come as a huge surprise to him to hear that his grades were good enough for one of Japan's top notch schools... Only the wealthy went to Kokusai and he was just- he was just a middle-class citizen.
"R-Really?" he looked onto the desk at his transcript, his heart pounding.
"You can tell your mother that you will be an official Kokusai student starting on Tuesday," the Prime Minister chuckled and pulled a sheet of paper over from one of the many piles on his desk. Grabbing a pen, he signed his name at the bottom of the sheet, followed by the date and the word 'scholarship'.
Kokusai... He was going to be a Kokusai student next week...
"Thank you so much!" the blond bowed down in his chair, clapping his hands together. "You don't know how much this will mean to my mom! She's been hoping and praying that I get into a prestigious school here in Japan... but I never imagined it would be Kokusai High School!"
Chuckling, the elderly man stood up and held his hand out.
"I know it will be tough transitioning between America and Japan, so there's no need to bow to me. A handshake will do. I wish you all the best, Uzumaki-kun."
The student reached out eagerly and shook the man's hand, also taking the paper that was handed to him. There were no words that could describe his happiness and excitement, and all he could think about was how his first day at school would be.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
When Hatake Kakashi had heard about the new scholarship student who would be attending his class, he'd immediately gossiped to all of his fellow teachers about it. He'd felt like a high school girl while doing so, but having a new student at the school that wasn't of royal lineage or part of a well-known company was unheard of. He wondered if maybe the boy had bribed the Prime Minister into giving him a spot at Kokusai, because never in the school's forty years of history had anyone been accepted who wasn't high class.
But the boy who'd walked through his door didn't look like the type to bribe, and he most definitely didn't look like the type who would fit into a school for the wealthy.
He came in, blond hair a mess and school uniform not even the slightest bit pressed. His tan skin was something that stuck out like a sore thumb in the classroom full of pale Japanese, the whisker marks on his cheeks also an odd find. His school bag was covered in pins and little stitched-on badges that read 'my dad's a proud member of the army', and he even had an army bandanna that was tied securely around his wrist. Though, what really stood out was his bright blue eyes that practically screamed he was a foreigner.
"Everyone, we have a new student joining us today. His name's Uzumaki Naruto and he came here all the way from the United States," the teacher stood up from his desk and walked to the front of the classroom. "Treat him kindly."
One of the girls in the back frowned, along with all of her diamond-littered friends.
"I've never heard of you," she said. "What company does your father own?"
Naruto blinked his eyes slowly before he opened his mouth to speak.
"My dad doesn't own a company... He's part of the army and is in Iraq right now," he watched everyone start whispering to each other, some students even laughing. "And my mom's a nurse..."
Kakashi stepped in.
"Ah, how interesting. Both are very respectable jobs," he smiled.
Naruto smiled back, but his cheerful nature seemed to be annoying some of the students. They didn't think he should've be so cheerful, especially with how he wasn't even the slightest bit wealthy. To them, he was an eyesore. Someone that didn't even deserve their attention.
"Why don't you take your seat, Uzumaki-kun? We're about to go over the French Revolution," the teacher said as he lifted up a board marker and began jotting down the title of the chapter they were on. He listened in on the quiet conversations that were going on in the room, not surprised to hear what the topic was. "Class, quiet down."
Naruto wasn't stupid. He knew that his classmates already didn't like him, if he could tell by their glares. What really bothered him, though, was that he had already been discarded, even before anyone got to know more about him. Just because he didn't have an abundance of cash didn't mean he wasn't worth getting to know.
Sitting in his seat, he opened his back pack and pulled out his textbook, turning to page 126. Images of the French Revolution made him think back on how much fun he'd had learning about it when he'd been around all of his friends back in Miami. School was much more fun then than it would ever be at Kokusai. He knew that already.
He'd thought that he would fit in, since he was at least handsome if anything else. He thought his charm and smarts would get him a couple of friends, but it seemed as if all anyone at the school cared about was money.
"Hey."
Naruto looked up at the girl that was sitting in front of him, seeing a folded note in her manicured hand. Reaching forward slowly, he took it, looking around at the teenagers around him. No one was paying him any attention, all too busy taking notes. Pulling his arm back, he opened up the piece of paper and read the contents inside. Squinting his eyes, he wondered why anyone would write with a pen with such bright blue ink.
Hey new kid!
I see you're already getting the boot from most of the class, so I thought that I'd be your friend! I'm the girl in the third seat of your row. The one with long blonde hair and a white dress on.
Blinking slowly, he lifted his head from the letter and saw the back of said girl. She was also busy writing down notes. While scribbling his own, he stopped every once in a while to finish the rest of her message.
My name's Yamanaka Ino! Let's have lunch together this Friday. See you then! By the way, you should be very proud of what your parents do!
Crumpling the note up, he pushed it into his backpack and smiled to himself. At least he would have one person to talk to...
The rest of the class went by slowly, Kakashi finishing his lecture with a joke about guillotines that had a group of the boys in the front laughing until they went red in the face. Most of the girls laughed at them and chatted with each other, completely ignoring Naruto. The blond didn't mind, though. He'd rather be ignored than be talked about.
When the clock tower rung outside in the courtyard, Naruto sighed out of happiness. He was so happy that he wouldn't have to sit around with everyone anymore; that he could go to a different class and maybe meet some more people that were as nice as that Ino girl.
"Speaking of which," Naruto mumbled to himself. He looked up so he could maybe catch a glance of Ino's face, but instead got a glimpse of her retreating back as she left the room quickly. "I was hoping to talk to her before Friday..."
Standing up, he grabbed his bag and silently thanked whatever god existed that Kokusai ran similar to an American school. If not, he would've been stuck in the same classes with the same students for over eight hours. He'd rather die than deal with all of the same ignorant snobs all day.
"Enjoy the rest of your day, Uzumaki-kun," Kakashi-sensei waved his hand a bit in farewell. "Ignore what others say. You're wealthy when it comes to your intelligence, so don't think otherwise."
Naruto smiled.
"Thank you, Sensei. That means a lot."
Heading out of the classroom, he immediately noticed the hundreds of pairs of eyes on him. He didn't expect so much attention, even though he was the new kid. New kids at normal schools never got as much attention as him at the moment and he was starting to feel a little awkward and uncomfortable.
Whispers were coming from all directions, some of them reaching the foreigner's ears. Most of the talk was of false rumors that he was the son of some banished European king, or that he was a low-key mafia member that was hired to murder someone at the school. He wondered why they would come up with such stupid stories when they could just ask him themselves. Of course, they probably wouldn't believe him no matter what he told them.
"Sakura-sama!" a young freshman girl ran past him, bumping into him and sending his backpack crashing to the floor. His books spilled out, along with the digital camera he considered his 'lifeline'.
Eyes widening, he dropped to the ground and quickly shoved it back into his bag, heart hammering. He would rather die than lose his camera. Putting his books away too, he stood up and watched the young girl that had slammed into him talk with a pink-haired girl he didn't recognize. They both grinned to each other, then took off down the hallway, most of the hallway's crowd following them in a buzz.
"What the...?" Naruto frowned, wondering why everyone had suddenly took off.
"I know why they all went running," a sultry voice spoke from behind him, a warm wisp of air brushing against his ear.
"Gah!"
Naruto spun around, coming face to face with a taller than usual male that had long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. His smile was firm and business-like, not at all cheerful like his own. His dark eyes wouldn't budge, as if waiting for Naruto to either speak or piss himself out of fear. Naruto chose the former, not really wanting to ruin is only pair of uniform pants.
"H-Hello..."
The gentleman's cold smile grew slightly wider.
"Hello, Naruto-kun. Word has spread fast about you... A transfer student all the way from the United States, who has no royal background or even the slightest bit of wealth. You're the hot topic of the school, if you didn't already know."
Naruto swallowed thickly.
"U-Umm..."
"There's no need to feel nervous," the older teenager chuckled and leaned back, the air about him changing drastically. His scary aura disappeared and was replaced with a more welcoming one. "I'm not here to harm you. I just wanted to reach a welcoming hand out and say hello to the new student here at Kokusai. I hope your day is going well, aside from the rumors."
The transfer student didn't know what to make of the mysterious student. He didn't know which was the real side of him: the intimidating, frightful side or the charming, kind one. Maybe he was bipolar.
"It's not going as well as I'd hoped it would, but it's not horrible. At least one person was kind enough to talk to me," he grumbled.
"Would that person happen to be Yamanaka Ino?" the male asked, brows raised in an inquisitive manner.
Naruto blinked.
"Actually, yeah."
"Ah, Kokusai's Saint Mary strikes again," he smirked
"Kokusai's Saint Mary... that's an odd nickname," Naruto scrunched his nose, causing the unknown student to chuckle. "Um, but not to sound rude or anything... who exactly are you...?"
The man looked fairly amused.
"My name is Uchiha Itachi. I'm a college student at the neighboring Kokusai University for the Gifted. I'm taking classes here since the college building is under constru-"
"Itachi!" a voice rung out from the direction of where all of the students had ran to. "Itachi, your shit-head of a brother is causing trouble again! He beat up some kid in the bathroom!"
Naruto turned to see who was yelling, but squawked when Itachi roughly pushed him aside to book it down the hallway as if he were a fugitive. Scowling as he rubbed his sore side, he slung his bag over his shoulder and followed the college student. There was loud laughter coming from around the corner that he was approaching, followed by cheers and clapping.
Peeking around the wall, he saw a good bit of the school's freshmen and sophomore students crowded around the boy's bathroom. They had their expensive cell phones out to take pictures, some girls even going as far as recording videos straight to Youtube. Quietly approaching the large group, he stood on his tip toes and peered over dozens of heads.
Standing in the middle of the circle was Itachi, anger clearly written on his face. Right in front of him was a shorter boy who looked almost like his twin, except with a younger looking face, shorter hair, and a different uniform. The mini Itachi was just as angry as the normal-sized one, yelling profanity and kicking at something on the ground.
He couldn't get a good visual of what the boy was kicking, so he excused himself as he pushed through the cheering crowd. Then, as he approached the front, he saw a blood-covered teenager lying on the floor, looking as if he were about to pass out from blood loss. The fact that this was being cheered on made Naruto sick and he couldn't help but do something. He didn't give a shit if his next move would cause him his life or cause him to be the most unpopular person in school. If there was one thing his father had taught him growing up, it was to protect the weak.
"Otouto," Itachi scolded his sibling. "I'm sure whatever he did didn't need to be addressed like this."
His brother, Uchiha Sasuke, kicked at the injured boy on the floor once more.
"Does it matter what he did? Just because you're my older brother doesn't mean you can boss me around as if you were my mother," he snarled, accentuating the final word. It made Itachi cringe.
His anger was rolling off of him in waves now, but before he could speak another word or even hear a single word from Itachi, his breath was knocked right out of his chest and all he saw was white before he hit the floor.
His vision was slowly coming back as he heard gasps from the crowd around him. There was a distinct name that came from the surprised crowd, though, and it was Uzumaki Naruto.
When he could finally see again, he blinked his eyes quickly and looked up at who had attacked him.
Naruto stood there with a frown on his face. His cerulean eyes were narrowed out of loathing and his fists were clenched, as if he were ready to punch Sasuke in the face if the raven-haired boy dare to lift himself up. The fact that some good-for-nothing gaijin(1) had the nerve to stand up to him, let alone push him, pissed the younger Uchiha off like nothing else. No one could lay a finger on him without his permission. Absolutely no one.
Standing up, Sasuke breathed in deeply and smirked, ignoring the pain in his chest.
"I know who you are, you disgusting gaijin," he seethed. The crowd quietly laughed at his inappropriate term. "You're Uzumaki Naruto, the American transfer student. I heard that you're dirt poor and that you're only here because of your grade point average. Someone of your class isn't welcome here."
"Welcome or not, I wasn't going to let you get away with hurting someone like that. Just because you have fuckin' money doesn't mean you can pick on people," Naruto argued.
He noticed girls behind him giggling, but ignored them. He'd just wanted the school to see his kind and happy-go-lucky nature, not his rough one. But if that's the side he had to show to make a statement, then so be it. "I don't care who you are. Wealthiest guy on Earth or not, I don't give a shit."
Sasuke only smirked more.
"Work on your Japanese," he crooned.
Taken by surprise, Naruto stuttered.
"Wh-what?"
"I said 'work on your Japanese'," Sasuke stood up straight and dusted off his uniform, adjusting his tie. "You sound incredibly stupid with your horrible pronunciation and awkward wording. If you're going to be a student at an excellent school, then you need to know excellent Japanese. I suggest you go home and practice."
The anger that overwhelmed Naruto was tremendous and he was just about to punch the other male in the face before Itachi intervened and placed a hand on the blond's chest.
"Calm down, Naruto-kun," he spoke smoothly. "My brother is always like this. Ignore him."
"Naruto-kun?" Sasuke snorted, kicking the boy on the floor one last time. "Are you two best friends now? Why would you associate yourself with someone like him?"
Itachi remained calm and stoic.
"Who I associate myself with is none of your concern."
"Whatever. I'm going into the city with Kiba. I'll see you when I get home," Sasuke glared at Naruto before turning and walking away, the crowd quickly moving out of his way.
Naruto grinned to himself, proud that he'd been able to stand up to someone like that bastard. What he didn't know was that his little stunt had earned him a couple of fans. As he tried to get over to the injured boy, he was bombarded by teens.
"That was amazing, Uzumaki-kun!" a sophomore boy claimed.
"No one's ever been brave enough to stand up to Sasuke-san..." a soft-spoken girl chimed in. "You did what a lot of us always wanted to do..."
"Good job!" an obnoxious male slung his arm around Naruto's shoulders and smiled so wide it seemed his face would split in half. He looked around Itachi's age, with slicked-back silver hair, amethyst eyes, and perfectly white teeth. "I've been waiting for someone that shit head's age to stand up to him!"
"Excuse me...? -Wah!" Naruto was pulled into a painful noogie, his hair becoming more untidy than it had been originally.
"The name's Hidan," the high-energy man stated while releasing his grip on the new student. "I'm Itachi's best friend. It's nice to meet you!"
"N-Nice to meet you too..." Naruto squinted his eyes, making sure to not fall over.
Most of the crowd had dispersed since the class bell was going to ring. The few people that had spoken to Naruto in person helped the bloodied boy off the ground despite that fact. The male thanked Naruto for standing up for him with tears in his eyes, letting himself be helped downstairs to the nursing facility.
"It seems like you're going to be an even hotter topic now," Hidan laughed, slinging an arm over Itachi's shoulders too. "I can see it on the school website now. American commoner speaks foul words to Japan's richest!"
"What he did was wrong," Naruto frowned. "There's no way that I could be the bad guy in this."
Itachi chuckled.
"You're a very interesting person, Naruto-kun," he pulled away from both of the students. "But I have to get to class now. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day," he smiled. "But remember this, if you're ever in a tight bind of any sort, just say you're part of the Akatsuki. Alright?"
"A-ah, alright," Naruto responded hestitantly.
Itachi smiled.
"It's just some useful advice from your senior. Come, Hidan."
"Yessir!" Hidan grinned and patted Naruto on the back before following after Itachi like a loving dog, his hands tucked deep in his vest pockets.
Naruto mouthed the word 'akatsuki' silently, wondering what it meant.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
"I'm home!" Naruto called out once he entered the decent-sized apartment. Kicking off his shoes, he dropped his school bag by the door and made his way down the entry hallway. He realized his mom was working overtime when he didn't get a reply other than the excited sound of his chocolate lab in his bedroom, waiting to be taken outside. "Coming, Kohi!" he grinned.
Hurrying into the living room and into the bedroom hall, he opened his door and greeted his pet with an affectionate rub to the neck and behind the ear. The seven-month old puppy had her tongue out, knowing not to jump up without permission. Naruto noticed a little note tucked into her collar, though.
Pulling it out, he read the chicken scratch out loud.
"Sweetheart, I came home on my lunch break and took Kohi out for a walk. She doesn't listen to me like she does you..." he laughed, "because she went running after the white cat that the people downstairs own. I gave her lunch too, so don't worry about it, my little Kokusai student! I'll be home around eight, with some... McDonald's?" Naruto scrunched his nose. "Come on, Mom. Cook for once."
Kohi stared at her owner, big hazel eyes curious. Her tail wagged on the floor behind her.
"Let's watch some TV, okay?" Naruto crumpled the piece of paper in his hand and threw it in the little trash can by the desk in his room. He shut the door and undid his tie, tossing it onto his computer chair. "You'll never believe what happened today, Kohi," he told the dog who had decided it would be a nice decision to sleep in the boy's dirty clothes pile.
Naruto laughed and pulled off his black vest and white dress shirt, throwing those both where he'd tossed his tie. Next were the pants, the snug article of clothing just being left on the floor.
"Where did I put my sleeping pants...? Oh!"
He reached under his bed and pulled out bright orange sleeping pants, quickly tugging them on. He plopped down on his queen-size bed and grabbed his remote. There wasn't much to do, since he didn't have homework and no new friends to talk to on the phone. At the moment, all of his friends in America were asleep due to the huge time difference, so he was left to just watch Japanese dramas and game shows.
Getting comfortable, he turned on the TV and flipped through the channels, rolling his eyes at a special on Whale Wars. Of course they'd be talking about that on Japanese television. Honestly, it was difficult adjusting between American and Japanese TV. Everything was so different, and not really in a good way.
"There's nothing on," he sighed. "They don't even have an animal channel for you, Kohi."
The dog ignored him, tail wagging while she napped.
Leaving it on one of the news channels, he dropped the controller on the floor and rolled over, deciding he'd just nap. Closing his eyes, he thought about all of the day's events and found himself snorting at the thought of Sasuke.
"A student at Kokusai High School harassed and injured a sophomore student today in one of the school's rest rooms-"
Naruto's eyes flew open when he heard the anchorman's opening statement, his body swiftly turning to the side so he could watch the broadcast.
"Arukawa Shiroyuki was attacked by a new student named Uzumaki Naruto in the boy's lavatory this morning, says Uchiha Corporation's second heir, Uchiha Sasuke-"
"Wh...Whaaaaat?.!.?.!" Naruto shouted, causing Kohi to stand at attention and bark. "That fuckin' ass hole blamed me?.! He—he even went so far as to put it on the news... Mother fucker!Who does he think he is?.!"
On the television, Sasuke was standing with the reporter in front of the school, a smug smirk on his pale face. The way he stood there, with his eyes transfixed on the camera, he looked as if he were staring straight into Naruto's blue eyes. In the blond's mind, at the moment, the youngest Uchiha was the devil's incarnate.
"Since the school is owned by a close friend of mine, I convinced him to not press any charges on Uzumaki-san or to expel him. He just thought it would be a good idea to share what happened today so that Uzumaki-san won't be taken lightly in the future," he feigned a concerned voice.
Naruto's eyes narrowed and he felt an anger he'd never felt before.
"Uchiha Sasuke, for that, I'm going to make your life a living hell."
(1) Gaijin is the Japanese slang term for "outsider" or "foreigner". It's an inappropriate term.