Tick. Tick. Tick tick. Tick.

The pencil moved in between the fingers of the child just enough to hit the table he was sitting in before coming back up and falling back down. Bored eyes darted across the room taking in the appearance of his peers. He was bored again.

There was a shift of movement in the corner of his vision that drew his eyes towards what didn't want to be seen. She wasn't attractive but neither was she unattractive. Her hair was not the vivid blonde or glaring pink that he had seen in others. It was a soft, average brown. She wasn't important in the slightest. He smiled at the girl.

Naruto nodded solemnly as she spoke about her meaningless problems. Her parents weren't nice to her; why should he care? He didn't even have parents. Yet, he still kept nodding.

The Uzumaki decided that he was bored again. So he kissed her. She seemed to like that.

He waited at the door as she talked about what had happened. He didn't pay attention much, but it seemed like her dad did something. He closed the door.

Hiruzen sighed as he looked at the blonde child across from him. "Are you certain she wasn't acting oddly, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto was silent for a moment before speaking, "Nah, she was acting like she always did gramps."

The Sandaime withheld another sigh as he dismissed his surrogate grandchild. Not even a few hours ago, the body of a young girl was discovered in one of the training grounds with a kunai in her throat. It was determined to be suicide at first, but the autopsy showed unspeakably horrible acts had been performed on her. Normally, he would not have acted so quickly. Even as serious as molestation was he couldn't do such a thing, but he had often seen Naruto and her together and he couldn't deny that he felt guilty. He was both proud and upset for Naruto. Proud because he seemed to be holding himself together and saddened that he had lost a close friend.

He saw the Hokage moving his mouth, but he didn't really hear anything until his name was called. He took a few moments to register the question and began to think about it. She had talked about her dad doing something, but it was boring as ever. "Nah, she was acting like she always did gramps."

The Hokage spoke a few words and gestured towards the door. He left.

Tick. Tick. Tick tick tick tick tick tick. Tick.

He was bored again.