He most certainly did not like the other boy that sat directly behind him. He was rude, unkempt, creepy, almost downright malicious, and worst of all, a genius. But not the type of genius like Sasuke, who aspired in both shinobi skills, and mental strength. But while his shinobi skills were nowhere near the level of Sasuke's besides his odd taijutsu, his mind more than made up for it, and the worst part? It appeared only he noticed. Everything about the other boy was odd, his name was only a single letter, "L" and his skin resembled that of a recluse, pale and unsightly, with greasy, partially brushed hair to match. The thing that creeped him out the most, and gave him shivers when done, was the way the boy spoke, in almost complete monotone, with lack of sincerity or emotion, it was if the boy simply cared about nothing, the past, future, present, all didn't matter to him.

If anything, he could be compared best to a hermit, with pale skin, greasy hair, loose clothing that only clung lightly to his starved body, and dull, black eyes that seemed to look into his soul when his gaze was even directed in his direction. Another reason of his intense dislike of the boy, was his posture and the way he sat, which showed absolute lack of interest. When he sat, he pulled up his knees into his chest, and leaned onto his behind, and only at times when he was slightly interested would he lean upward onto his feet. And while he wasn't the most respectful of people himself, he at least knew proper manners, but simply wasn't compelled to use them. Although it appeared as if L had never been taught them.

Perhaps he was an orphan like himself, and didn't have an older figure to look out for him like the old-man did for him. But from his knowledge the orphanage staff were generally competent when it came down to basics, and certainly were not easy going about the non-use of proper manners, it would be almost impossible to survive in their without learning a thing or two. Whatever the reason, he decided to confront the boy on his odd behavior. "Why are you so weird?" He asked aloud hoping a direct question would be responded with a direct answer. L casually glanced in his direction, before relaxing further into the comfort of the chair and disregarding him completely.

"Answer me!" He yelled this time, drawing the attention of the class, it appeared everyone in the room was looking at him except L. But after a few seconds, he looked down upon his seat.

"Who, me?"

"Of course you! Who else did you think I was talking about?"

"Sasuke."

The answer through him for a loop, why would he be talking to Sasuke? Though his unasked question was resolved seconds later.

"Well, you're normally yelling at him about something or the other, so I tune you out, this time I summarized it not to be any different." L proceeded to pull out a large chocolate bar. Damn him and his chocolate bar, he was getting an answer about his weirdness if he had to be mean or not.

"Well wh-" At this moment Iruka chose to arrive in the classroom, and from the looks of it, he was not happy.

"Naruto! I could hear you yelling from down the hall-way, the other teachers already think I'm soft, stay here after class!"

Dang.

All he wanted was answers as to why L was being such a creep.

It was after the bell rang at the end of class that both he and L were called over to Iruka's desk, he walked upright, attempting to show the slimmest amount of respect possible in hope it wouldn't get him in trouble, he had more pranks planned and he wasn't going to let something like detention stop him. But L appeared to care less about punishment, as he strolled over to the desk at a leisurely pace, with an almost over dramatic slouch. Once L had arrived Iruka started;

"Now during lunch I heard rumors about the disturbance this morning being the result of you two arguing, If one of you can provide a proper reason why I shouldn't drop you both in detention for today I want to hear it now."

"It was all L's fa-" Naruto began to say, about to go in depth about why it was not his fault, but L interrupted him before he could even properly begin.

"Iruka-sensei, I was sitting quietly at my desk awaiting your arrival to begin class when Naruto began to act up, screaming and yelling at something. I was used to him bickering at Sasuke, and this time I assumed no different and tuned him out, but I realized both he, and the entire class were giving me pointed looks, so I assumed had spoken to me, and after a brief discussion in which he accused me of being weird, rather loudly might I add. You entered the classroom, resulting in this now current conversation."

"Very good, now Naruto, do you disagree with any of this?" Naruto didn't answer right away, and was at a loss of words, L had taken the conversation and used it against him, why couldn't Iruka-sensei see he wasn't the bad guy?

"Well Naruto?"

"No sir." But before Iruka-sensei could dish out a punishment, L interjected;

"I don't see it fit to put Naruto in detention, why you may ask? It's because this will only continue to re-occur without proper handling, and all punishment might do is encourage a physical altercation, which would take away from my sweet eating time." At this, he pulled out his chocolate bar and took a rather large bite out of it.

Naruto, having no better choice but to begrudgingly go along with it agreed.

"Yeah, what he said!" Naruto exclaimed, hoping for a way out of detention, Iruka nodded softly.