Disclaimer: Let me just say this. . . if Naruto were mine. . . Naruto and Sasuke would actually be gay. . . but they're not. . . and that really sucks. ;p

A/N: Sorry about my other fic people. I still need a monitor for that comp to get it. I'm working on retyping it, though. So it'll be up ASAP. As for this fic. . . I think I will like this one more than my last one. lol

Warnings: none for this chapter.

"I can change Seijunna. Just trust me this time!" Naruto tried to convince his parent, throwing his arms out in front of himself. "Just because I didn't try to do well in school before doesn't mean I won't try now." The man sighed, annoyed from listening to Naruto whine all morning.

"Naruto," Seijunna put his paper down and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Why would I spend my hard earned money on more schooling for you when you never cared about school before? It'll turn out the same as last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. . ." He trailed off, making his point to Naruto.

"Please?" Naruto begged and pulled out a chair to sit in front of his foster father. "How often do I bug you this much to GO to school?" The blond said, clasping his hands together as if he were praying for something. Seijunna sighed again.

"Never." The man admitted. Never in his life had Naruto begged to GO to school, in fact Naruto always begged to stay OUT of school. His musing was interrupted by more begging from the blond.

"what if I started calling you dad again? Would that help, cause I can do that if you want. Or. . . I'll cook dinner for the next month!" The blond babbled on, thinking up obscured ways to butter-up his father.

Seijunna took on a serious countenance and said, "Put all your video games in storage for the next two months, clean your room, and cook dinner for two weeks. If that happens I'll consider considering sending you to college." Naruto's eyes lit up immediately when he heard this and he practically jumped onto Seijunna, hugging him profusely.

"ThankyouThankyouThankyou!" The blond cheered, jerking the brunet in his arms back and forth in excitement. Naruto jumped off Seijunna, leaving him stunned beyond belief.

"I'll get started right away!" Was all Seijunna heard from the loud blond for the rest of that morning. But Naruto did let out a groan once he reached his room. "Great" He slumped against the door, rubbing his face. "What was I thinking?" He whined and slunk to his knees in the middle of his room, sighing, and starting to pick up random papers from the floor. "This is going to take a while." He sighed one last time.

Near one 0'clock in the afternoon Seijunna thought it was odd to hear nothing from his foster son for such a long period of time. Something was surly wrong with the boy to be acting like this. 'He must have a cold.' The man thought. He walked down the hall towards his own bedroom, but stopped at the sound of snoring. It was coming from the blonde's room. He sighed, took a drink of his coffee from this mug he was holding then walked to Naruto's door. He turned the handle, opening the door just enough to peek his head in and froze when he did. All he seen was the blond lying on the floor sleeping. . . that's it. No papers, no garbage, and NO dirty clothes. Naruto was lying on the FLOOR. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Just to make sure this was real, Seijunna closed the door, then opened it again, peeking inside. All he could say was, "Wow."

'Maybe I should reconsider giving him what he wants. He's never cleaned his room before. . . I really wasn't expecting him to actually do it.' He stepped out of the room and closed the door, walking to his own bedroom to relax. 'I'll talk to him about it later on.'

The two sat at the dining room table eating spaghetti Naruto had made from scratch. The blond had surprised Seijunna once again. "Since when did you know how to cook?" Seijunna asked, slurping a noodle into his mouth, leaving the red sauce on his chin.

"Since you're hardly ever here for dinner." He commented a little snobby-like. "Pizza gets old after the twentieth time." He finished. Practically snubbing his father. Seijunna just shrugged and slurped another noodle. The rest of the meal was carried out in silence.

The next week Naruto spent making sure he kept his room clean, didn't play his video games secretly, and that he made dinner for his father even if he'd have to refrigerate it and then heat it later. Naruto wanted to go to college very badly. He just wanted one last chance to prove himself to other people before he spent the rest of his life flipping hamburgers at Mickey D's.

It was finally Sunday again and the blond wanted to try to make something that would make his father's taste buds tingle. Just to show him how determined to go to college he was. That night Naruto made Pot sticker soup, corn-beef and cabbage, rice, and sweet melon stir-fry.

Seijunna couldn't help, but to wander into the kitchen when the godly smell drifted into the living-room. "That smells great Naruto." The man said practically drooling on himself as he walked to Naruto who was holding a plate out to him. He took the plate and watched as Naruto set a bit of each dish onto it.

After both of their plates were ready they sat at the table and started eating. Seijunna scarred his serving and stood to get more. He walked leisurely to the counter and started to scoop more stir-fry onto his plate.

"You know, Naruto." He said matter-of-factly." It's a good thing you know how to cook."

Naruto leaned his chin on his left hand while he answered with his own question. "And why is that?"

"Well, you'll need to know how to cook when you go to college." Naruto's face lit up. "If you don't have take-out everyday that is."

Naruto dropped his fork, jumped from his seat, and glomped Seijunna. "I knew you would come through!" He yelled and gave his father a big, wet kiss on his cheek.

With a laugh Seijunna set his hands on Naruto's shoulders and pushed him away lightly. "Listen, I'll pay for your tuition, but you have to pay for your food, furniture, and clothes alright? You have some money saved up right?" Naruto nodded. "Good. I'll give you some starter money in addition, but that's all you get." Naruto smiled. "You've got to get a job ASAP."

"Okay!" Naruto shouted joyfully.

"You'll only go after you have a job. Not a moment before okay?" The blond nodded again. "Okay, just tell me when you've got one and we'll get things sorted out." He turned and finished dishing his second helping onto his plate then sat back down to eat. Naruto hastily cleared the dishes and bounced off happily to his room.

He was so excited. He wanted to tell someone, but he had no friends to tell. Instead, he sat at his computer, wiggled this mouse to take it off sleep mode, and set out to find a job.

The Interview

Making sure to be on time, Naruto walked in the door to the shop. Right as he walked in a young looking man screeched, "You're late!" Naruto gasped and looked at his watch. Then his face contorted in confusion. He wasn't late, in fact he was just over two hours early. "You're appointment was thirty minutes ago! Explain yourself!" The man put his hands on his hips to emphasize how angry he was.

Naruto started to panic. "Well... uh... umm... I-" The man scowled and Naruto flinched. "I thought my appointment was two hours from now." He squeezed out as fast as he could.

The man's face turned to surprise. "What's your name?" He asked as he pulled a pad of paper from his pocket.

"N-Naruto." He stuttered. "Naruto Uzumaki." He waited silently for the man to see when his interview was, his lips taught with worry.

The man looked up to Naruto confused. "You're hired." He said bluntly then turned away, waving for Naruto to follow. He did. The man led Naruto past all the tables in the large room and behind the counter with the register. "Since you're here two hours early, I'll start to explain things with you now." Naruto nodded. "Okay, to open the register you press this." He showed Naruto the Yellow button on the register. "Or it'll open when you have to give someone change." He looked to Naruto to confirm that the blond wasn't in anyway confused with the simple thing he just said. He carried on, seeing that Naruto seemed fine. "All of the calculations are pretty straight forward, it'll add tax automatically so don't worry about that. And you'll memorize prices as you go." Naruto nodded again. "Over here is the Latte machine. We'll wait for an order before I show you how to use it... let's see, back here," The man walked down a hall and into a room with an "employees only" sign on it. "This is the lunch room. You can take your breaks and your lunch hour in here, or you can go somewhere else. I don't really care as long as you're on time. Here," He set his hand on a counter top. "Is where everything is. In this bottom cupboard is extra supplies. Napkins, cups, straws, lids. It's all down there." He looked up. "This is all the break supplies. You wash your own dishes and bring your own food. Now, let's discuss your schedule." He walked over to a file case in the far corner of the room, opened a drawer, and slid a single paper out.

"Here, have a seat." He said as he pulled a chair out for Naruto. Naruto sat, still not too sure of what to think of the man in front of him, he still hadn't introduced himself. The man sat next to Naruto. "I'm Keitori Samunaka, the owner of this shop." He held out his hand to Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki, future college student." He replied, taking the others hand firmly into his own hands.

"Ah, college. What are you studying? Oh, and you can just call me Tori." He said, showing his first smile that Naruto seen.

"Psychology. I want to help people out a bit." Naruto replied with a smile of his own. "Pleased to meet you.

"Wow! Psychology! Sounds tough." Tori said, very surprised. "I hope you succeed. Helping out is always a good thing." He reached into his pocket. "Okay, so what hours do you not have classes?" He asked, ready to mark on the paper extracted from the file case.

"Well, I haven't registered for my classes yet. My father wouldn't let me go to any classes until after I had a job. SO I'm not sure when I'm free." He was ready to be denied the job at any second now.

"Hmm... I don't think it works that way. School is the number one thing on your list of things to do. Then family, then work. Okay?" Naruto nodded as if he were a young boy being scolded. "But since I have a great feeling about you, I'll give you two weeks to get your schedule situated. If you can't get everything straight in that time I'm going to find someone else. Am I clear?"

"Very. Thank you for giving me a chance, even if I don't seem ready for this." Naruto smiled. "I'll get my classes arranged ASAP." He said cheerfully.

"Oh, here, take my number. And call when you've got everything ready. Okay?" Tori gave him a card to the shop. "And thanks for stopping by so early. I was in a real pissy mood before. I had another interview," He looked at his watch," An hour and twenty minutes ago and they're still not here. Then you come in, two hours early. I don't know why you did it, but it cheered me up." Tori stood from his seat, holding his hand out to Naruto for another shake. Naruto stood and shook his hand. "See you later then?"

"Yes, see you later." Naruto said with glee. "I'll be happy coming back here. I think it'll be fun." They both headed towards the door.

"Bye!" Naruto shouted from the front door to Keitori who was still in the back.

"See ya Naruto!" Was the only reply Naruto heard as he walked out the door.

"Sei!" Naruto shouted as he entered his house, ready to tell the good news to his father. Seijunna could be heard walking slowly down the hall towards Naruto. The blond didn't want to ware for his father to get there so he ran towards him with a huge smile on his face. "Good news! I've got a job! Plus, he's giving me two weeks to get my classes set up so my job can work around my schooling. He's super nice, but scary when he's mad. I think I'll like it as long as I don't piss him off." Naruto's smile widened even more.

"Did he really?" Naruto nodded in reply. "Well, I guess we need to get your classes arranged and then your schedule will be all set." Seijunna sighed. "You better be serious about this Naruto. If you waste my money for nothing, you're paying me back with interest." He said sternly.

Naruto just smiled, "It'll be fine, I'll get good marks, I promise." He confirmed.

"Okay then." Seijunna said. We'll get your school schedule tomorrow. Then you can get a hold of the man giving you a job and tell him you're ready to start work." Naruto smiled and ran off with a loud 'Whoo'.

"I'll make something extra good tonight!" Was his cheerful call from the kitchen.

Owari

A/N:

while I wrote this, I started writing really weird things. . . (I was super tired). One thing I wrote down on the paper was "I used the old, drop a boulder on it's head method." I must have been really tired cause at that time I was thinking about Mammoths. . . lol. Another thing I wrote was about space. . . "I'll be able to send messages to one of you in space, while I'm here in Washington." It was weird cause I was just writing away and I had written those things in the middle of the sentences I was already writing.. . I think I should start going to bed sooner now. lol. ;

I'll update my other fic ASAP okay you guys... It's stuck on my comp that doesn't have a monitor and we only have a laptop other than that. . . so I'll try to either get it off soon, or just retype and revise it. Sorry for the hugemugous delay.