One: The New Girl!
"Hey look, it's that kid."
"Ugh, he's so pathetic. Imagine what would happen if he became a Shinobi."
"That thing would come out and destroy the village-"
"Don't talk about that! It's taboo!"
Naruto heard the same strange and hurtful conversation for about the millionth time in his life on his way to the Ninja Academy after a long school break due to the weather. He had been excited to start again, but now his spirits had been killed and he slumped back into sadness. Yeah, he could've started shouting stuff about becoming Hokage, like he usually did, but today he just didn't feel like fighting it.
Naruto opened the classroom door reluctantly, his sadness becoming apparent to his undistracted classmates.
"Hey, Shikamaru, Naruto's acting weird," said Kiba. (Remember, these guys are like seven.)
"I brought earmuffs just for his loud voice! Why's that troublesome kid being all sad?" Shikamaru mumbled back. He and Kiba were interrupted by their teacher, Fubuki Sensei. (Not a real character, so here's what you need to know: she's a total anti kyuubi-Naruto jerkface :P)
"Class, I missed you all over the break!*Thinks: except for that kid.* We have a new student! Go ahead and introduce yourself!" The new girl caught Naruto's eye and most of the other students with a big, bright smile and a flip of her long, thick, brown hair. Her smile was so contagious it got Naruto's spirits to lift once again.
"Hey! My name is Annie!" The teacher then frowned at the strange (totally un-Japanese) name and said, "Oh, well, what's your last name, Annie?"
"Ehh…Uhh…ermm…Marufuji!" The sudden hesitation in Annie's voice caught Fubuki, Shikamaru, and Sasuke Uchiha off. They were the only ones with that sort of attention span in the room. Was she lying about her own last name?
"Oh…well, I'll introduce you to everyone in this room. In the back row is Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji, Ino-"
"Hey, you forgot him!" Annie pointed at Naruto. He sat right between Shikamaru and Chouji.
"Oh, he doesn't need a name. Just call him Baka, or something." The teacher said out loud. The classroom burst out laughing. But, for some reason, Annie didn't. Her friendly smile suddenly turned dark and poisonous.
"That's not very nice." She said.
"Well, he's not a very nice kid. He's selfish and rude." The teacher huffed. Annie glared at her. The class looked confused. Fubuki usually made her insults funny, but this was taking it too far.
"What did you just say? Aren't you a teacher? Why would you say that? What is his dang name?" Annie shouted. This took everyone by surprise. Even Shikamaru, a sensible and neutral kid, usually laughed at the teacher's rude jokes toward Naruto, but this girl didn't even know him and she was going as far as disrespecting a teacher for him. Naruto was shocked too. Was somebody….standing up for him?
"Hmph, I will take your disrespectful manner into memory, Annie. Oh, and his name is Naruto, since you want to know so badly," said Fubuki shortly. Kiba smiled. He liked this kid. Spunky. Happy. Different. He hoped she was good at fighting, sparring with her would be fun.
Naruto just sat there, shocked, until he realized he should be happy. He threw the biggest smile he had at Annie, and she smiled back.
Four months later-
"Okay, Annie, show me what you got!" Ino shouted, feeling anxious to show off for Sasuke during the spar.
"You got it!" They both made the symbol with their hands that Fubuki-sensei had shown them, and then Ino charged without a thought. She stopped, expecting to have felt impact, only to be kicked off her feet with a swift move by Annie.
"Yeah, go Annie!" shouted several students, Naruto being the loudest. He and Annie had become best friends ever since she had stood up for him about four months ago. And she didn't just help him out there.
A week after meeting each other-
"Wow, Naruto, I guess I can see why you love ramen so much!" The two were eating at Ichiraku. Naruto had decided to treat Annie with some coupons he'd only friend he had, he was desperate to keep.
"Yeah, isn't it the greatest?" Annie nodded vigorously as Naruto slurped his ramen up. A young couple with a baby pushed aside the small curtain and sat on the stools next to Annie and Naruto. The couple ordered some ramen with extra veggies and turned to nod at them with smiles on their face when suddenly they frowned harshly at Naruto. "Demon kid…" the man muttered quietly.
"Oi, YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?" Annie was suddenly standing on a chair, an inch away from the man's face with that same dark and poisonous look. His eyes widened. Nobody had ever gotten mad at anybody else when they made fun of the kyuubi kid….and how did she move so fast? Why did she care about that thing?
"What the-Annie!" Naruto yelped. She could get hurt for defending him.
"ANSWER THE QUESTION! UNLESS YOU'RE SCARED OF A SEVEN YEAR OLD!" The man looked around. His wife had gone to feed the baby in the back, the cooks were both in the kitchen pantry, and nobody was in the streets."Go run home to your mommy, kid!" With no one to watch, he grabbed Annie by the neck of her jacket and threw her on the ground. Or at least he tried to. Annie used air manipulation and managed to land softly and feet first. The man's and Naruto's eyes grew wider still. Seven years old and manipulating air like that? The man was about to punch Annie in the face, but Naruto suddenly forgot his shock and jumped on the man's back, wrestling him to the ground.
"DON'T- TOUCH-MY- FRIEND!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "Naruto!" Annie screamed. The old man that ran the shop came out front and eventually broke up the fight. "I would expect better! Wrestling a poor kid to the ground! Get out of my shop!" "But he's the-" "Out!" "Keerrrrjjj…" Annie ran to Naruto and helped him up. "You okay, Naruto?" He was scratched up, but when he took Annie's hand and looked in her face, somehow he suddenly felt better then ever. "Uh…Yeah…I feel great! Annie, how did you do that?" Annie blushed and said, "The wind manipulation? I don't know, I just… did it, I guess…" She rubbed a necklace of4 little metal disks. Naruto had noticed it was a habit of hers. "Well, that was amazing! You should use those moves in combat class!"
End Flashback.
And she did. She had used air manipulation to jump over Ino when she charged, and then swiftly kicked her feet from under her. "Go Annie Go! Go Annie Go!" shouted Naruto over the crowd.
"Great job, Annie! You too, Ino! Now, make the end sign I taught you and go back to your spots!" said Fubuki. She had gotten over the embarrassment from months ago, not to mention the many other times Annie had become angry about the prejudice towards Naruto, and had begin to recognize the great qualities Annie had. Along with that, a few of the things Annie screamed in her face about Naruto started to affect her brain. You Baka! You're a teacher and you should try to love and understand ALL of your students! –Naruto didn't do anything wrong! If you gave him a chance he could become better at throwing kunais but NO! You're just gonna be a bunch of brats and laugh at him and just make things ten times harder! –-Oh COME ON! This is getting so OLD! If you people keep putting him down he's gonna become depressed and hurt his whole life and then he will destroy the leaf village! Shut up and stop being a bunch of bakas!- –Hey, everybody should cheer on Naruto a little bit too. Maybe the reason he doesn't win all the time is because you guys are so distracting. GO NARUTO! -Eventually, Fubuki and the majority of the class realized that Naruto wasn't so bad and he really did have delightful enthusiasm. Since Annie had become the best combat fighter in class, nobody was hard of hearing.
Okay. Yeah. The teacher has seen the light and is filled with love and Naruto is all happy. Blah, blah, blah. it's all very mushy and lovey dovey.
Now for the exciting part. Remember the mean man with a 'wife and baby' at Ichiraku? Well, the baby was a fake doll. And the wife was too. The man had grey hair in a ponytail, a young face, and nerdy circular glasses. Recognize that description? Yeah, that's right, Kabuto. He had snuck into the village on a mission for none other than *stupid evil jerkface meaner* Orochimaru. They wanted the nine tails….desperately.