Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form. That sucks.

A/N: I wanted to write something like this for a while. It's a high school fic, I know. If you ask me, the plot's kind of a cross between Wicked the musical, and Grease 2. The majority of you probably have no idea as to what I'm talking about. (sighs) Maybe that's a good thing. . .

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Uzumaki Naruto ran through the halls of Konohagakure High School, frantically running to his second period class. (For some odd reason, his locker and classroom were on the opposite ends of the school.) The bell had already rung, and if he didn't get to class quick, he was without a doubt going to catch it from the teacher. Again.

He ran into the classroom, skidding across the tiled floor. "Sorry, I'm late," he apologized. "Did I miss anything?"

"I'm glad you could join us, Mr. Uzumaki," Ms. Omisawa stated dryly, "but don't you think that you could be a bit more punctual next time?"

Ms. Omisawa was a strict woman in her mid-thirties. Her hair was in a tight bun, and she always dressed in black as if she was attending a funeral. She frowned disapprovingly, as her arms were crossed, and her foot tapped against the ground. (It was the school joke that she and Maito Gai would make the perfect couple.) Any smart person would have said, "Yes, ma'am.", and leave it at that, but since this is Uzumaki Naruto, he had a different reply.

"I wasn't late, the bell was just early," Naruto replied in defense.

The students all groaned at his remark, wishing that Naruto had just stuck with the "Yes, ma'am," response. This was mostly because this was not the first time he smart-mouthed the teacher, and they all knew what was coming next.

Ms. Omisawa frowned even more. "I see," she turned to the rest of the class. "Thanks to your classmate's cheek," she began, "you will all receive the unit assignment now, instead of next week."

The class groaned even more.

"The assignment," she continued, "will be about the social habits of human beings. The project will total up to forty percent of your final grade - " she slapped a ruler on top of her desk to stop the complaining, " - and will be due in three weeks time. Any questions?"

A student raised her hand. "Can we choose our own partners?"

The teacher laughed. "Do you honestly believe that I would allow you to pick your own partners after the last time?" she challenged. "The last time I let you choose your own partners, it was a disaster! Barely half of you handed your project in, and only a third of them were complete!" She took a list off her desk. "In fact, I've already gone to the trouble of grouping you all up."

A mix of complaints and cries rose up from the students.

"Don't make me make this assignment worth fifty percent of your final grade!"

The room was silent.

"Good. Now the first group shall be TenTen, Kiba, and Chouji. The second group shall be Mizu, Shino - "

She was cut off by Mizu's cry of happiness.

"And this one actually likes my bugs," Shino said miserably.

" - And Hinata. The third group shall be Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru."

"What?!" Naruto cried. "I'm paired up with those two?!"

"I don't want to be your partner, either," Shikamaru said lazily from across the room.

"Same here," Neji chimed in.

"You're group members. End of story," Ms. Omisawa said sharply. "And anyone who doesn't hand a project in can expect to fail this course."

"Aww, this is gonna suck," Naruto stated glumly.

X X X

"So what should we do our project on?" Naruto asked in the hallway.

"I don't care," Shikamaru answered. "You figure it out."

"C'mon! We gotta do something, or we're gonna flunk!"

"Naruto, what possessed you to take psychology in the first place?" Neji asked.

"I thought it would teach me how to understand girls better," Naruto replied, pulling his hands to the back of his neck.

"There isn't enough psychology in the world," Neji sighed.

"But seriously! What are we gonna do for our project?" Naruto cried, bringing back the original topic. "It's not like the answer's gonna fall right down in front of us!"

Just then, Rock Lee tripped down the stairs and landed in front of the trio.

"Hello," he said in a friendly manner.

"I think we've just found the answer," Shikamaru declared.

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A/N: So how is it so far? Good? Bad? I have like, two more chapters I need to type up (I write my stories in notebooks first.), so they shouldn't take too long. And Mizu is my sister's friend who's been bugging me to put her in one of my stories since "The Adventures of Might Guy!". She actually is a Shino fangirl in real life.