Hello everyone, and welcome to my brand new story, Welcome to Konoha!

So I've been putting this one off for a while. So nearly a year ago I had a poll on my profile asking my regular readers which stories they would prefer I start. Shortly after I closed that poll I quickly wrote the first chapter of the first place winner, my My Hero Academia story, The Dragon Hero. After that I worked on the second place winner, my For Honor inspired Naruto story, A Warden's Duty. I won't lie, it was a bit disheartening to have such an underwhelming response to that story. In the past months I've spent my free time writing updates to a few of my more popular stories to try and get my mojo back and work through some writer's block. But this isn't a sob story, I've finally figured out how to start this story and I'm ready to jump right into it.

A quick note, I'm not putting this story in the crossover section because while certain elements were defiantly inspired by the videogame Bully, this isn't a one-to-one translation of the plot and I'm not going to be featuring any characters from the game in the story. So with that, I hope everyone enjoys the story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

As the car sped along the two lane road to the sleepy small town, the driver quickly took a glance in the rearview mirror to the only occupant of the backseat, a tall, blue eyed, spiky haired blond teenage boy who looked remarkably like the older man. The teen was currently laid across the entire backseat, causing the man to ask, "Naruto, could you please sit up and wear your seatbelt?"

With a huff, the teen complied, but stated, "This is such bullshit."

"Language young man." The car's last occupant, a woman with long crimson hair and violet eyes, immediately but halfheartedly scolded the young man.

"Come on mom, dad," the teen once more tried to explain, "you both know that I didn't start that fight, I shouldn't have gotten expelled…again."

"But you knew you were on thin ice already, you shouldn't have allowed yourself to be baited into the brawl." His mother lectured, "That was the last school in our area, private or otherwise. This is our last option."

As the uneasy silence fell over the car, the driver tried to change the mood by saying, "Try to look at it this way, Konoha Academy isn't that bad. It's where your mother and I meet." He only received silence as Naruto stared out the window as the car passed an elaborate sign that read 'Welcome to Konoha'.

A few minutes later and the car pulled into a circle drive in front of a large iron gate where a tall man with spikey white hair pulled back in a low ponytail dressed in a red and tan suit stood waiting. Quickly the car was parked, the driver hoping out and quickly walking towards the man with a shout of, "Jiraiya-sensei!"

Walking to meet the slightly shorter man, Jiraiya extended his hand which was eagerly taken as he replied, "Minato! It's been too long, glad to see you are doing well." He then turned his gaze past his old pupil to the other two people got out of the car, the teen reaching back in to grab a backpack and duffle bag. Addressing the woman, Jiraiya gave her a friendly hug as he said, "Kushina, lovely as always."

Returning the hug, the red head replied, "Hello, you old pervert."

While man would be offended, the man just chuckled before turning to address the youngest of the group, "And you must be their boy, Menma was it?"

"Naruto," the teen corrected, "and before you say it, my name means whirlpool."

"Right, sorry about that." Jiraiya quickly apologized for the mistake.

Trying to take control of the situation, Minato spoke up, "Thanks again for arranging this for us, especially a month into the school year."

"Don't worry about it my boy, it really wasn't that much of a hassle to arrange the admittance of the son of one of Konoha Academy's brightest scholarship students." Jiraiya quickly told the group before switching gears himself, "Speaking of which, afternoon classes will be starting soon so it would be best to give Naruto the tour and have him unpack."

"Right," Kushina replied before pulling her son down for a hug, "Naruto, please this once behave yourself."

While the request wasn't all that unusual, Naruto could hear the tremor in his mother's voice. It finally hit the teen, this was his last chance before his parents were forced to do something drastic, like military school. Returning the hug, Naruto promised his mom, "I'll do my best."

When Kushina finally let go of her son, a few stray tears in her eyes, Minato stepped forward. Instead of a hug, the man placed a hand on his son's shoulder as he said, "Look, I won't lie to you, the place isn't perfect but it still is pretty good. Just try to keep an open mind, okay?"

"Like I told mom, I'll try." Naruto replied, earning a nod from his father. From there both parents climbed back into the car, waving goodbye to their son as they drove away from the boarding school.

All the while Jiraiya stood next to the boy until the car disappeared down the road. Speaking aloud, the man mused, "Well you're already off to a good start, you've got a better relationship with your parents than half the students here."

"Yeah, I remember a few tough years as a kid, but once dad's company took off they've all but spoiled me rotten." He then snorted as he said, "And I repay them by being an idiot and getting sent here."

"And he's humble ladies and gentlemen!" Jiraiya announced to an imaginary audience. Jerking his head back towards the gate, the instructor commanded, "Come on, let's get the tour done with before Sensei gets onto me for starting class late again." Naruto shrugged his shoulders, but none the less followed the man past the gate. A few hundred feet later, Jiraiya stopped in the walkway between two near identical buildings. "The academy isn't the biggest school, but we produce some of the brightest minds, as your parents can testify. These are the dorms. Boys, where you'll be staying, is on the left. Girls is on the right, but you shouldn't attempt to go in unless invited, and even then you are to stay in the lobby under supervision." When Naruto nodded his understanding, the older man continued the tour, pointing to the two-story classical building ahead, he stated, "That's the man building where you'll have many of your classes and where the cafeteria is at." He then jerked his thumb to the left and said, "If you follow the walkway that way you'll run into the library." As they climbed the stairs, the man said, "Halfway across the campus is a fountain with a statue of our mascot. To the right of that is a disused auto shop area while the left leads to Senju House, a club house for students from prominent families of the area such as the Uchiha, Hyuuga, and Uzumaki." He then paused and asked, "Any chance you are going to look into that in your own time?"

"Probably not," Naruto stated, "grandparents still don't talk to mom since she eloped with a self-made man instead of looking to further solidify connections between old money."

"Right." Jiraiya replied rather awkwardly before trying to get the conversations back on track, "Anyway, past that is the gym and swimming pool, which is currently drained for cleaning, and then the football field. Now," he paused to open the front door of the school, "let's head to Sensei's office to get you officially registered."

A short walk through the entrance hall and up the flight of stairs and the instructor and the new student arrived at the headmaster's office. Once the secretary saw who walked in, she quickly waved the pair past, allowing Jiraiya to open the heavy double doors, Naruto following soon after. It really was as Naruto expected, a rather spacious room with a fireplace, several bookshelves, and a large oak desk. What was odd was the man sitting behind the desk, who had deep wrinkles under his eyes, several liver spots sporting a small goatee, the color matching the remains of his white hair. Even with the man seated, the teen could tell that he was incredibly short, just barely over five foot.

Naruto had expected Jiraiya to be the one to start speaking, but instead the older man spoke up, asking, "I take it this is the Namikaze boy?" When the taller man nodded, he ordered, "Alright, go prepare for your afternoon class and I'll finish up here." Once left alone, the man quickly gave Naruto a once over before introducing himself, "Hello Naruto, I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the headmaster of this school. When speaking to me you will address me as Sarutobi-sensei, is that understood?"

"Yes, Sarutobi-sensei." Naruto dully replied, use to this kind of treatment.

"Good, now let's go over some of the highlights of your previous scholastic career." A bit of paper shuffling later, and Hiruzen began listing off, "Fighting," in Naruto's defense, he couldn't stand bully's going after the defenseless, "vandalism, including but not limited to graffiti," that billboard didn't have anything nice to say to begin with, "and an instance of arson," well someone had to take care of that crack house before a worse incident happened.

A few moments of silence passed before Hiruzen continued, "I must say you've accumulated quite the list of 'skills', but nothing we haven't seen before." Looking directly at the teen, the man stated, "I will admit, Mister Namikaze, I am a strict person, but I am also fair. As long as you do not cause problems, I see no reason why you should not be treated like anyone else, don't you agree."

"Of course, sir." Naruto replied, happy that at least it seemed like he was being given a fair chance this time around.

"Good." Hiruzen agreed as he shuffled a few more papers around before handing one to the teen, "Here is your assigned room, you are fortunate to nab one of the few singles, go ahead and unpack and change into your uniform, you still have enough time for afternoon classes."

With that Naruto once more nodded to the man before leaving the office and heading over to the boy's dorm.

Approaching the building, Naruto hated how he wasn't surprised to see a group of teens standing around in a half circle. Despite not knowing what the school uniform was, he had a feeling the dirty, white shirts were against the dress code. When one of the boys finally noticed Naruto approaching, he called out, "Hey boy's, fresh meat is here!"

Again, Naruto should have expected this, every bully everywhere always wanted to test out the new kid to see if they were an easy target. As such, the blond calmly set down his suitcase, backpack, and duffle bag as the other teen began walking forward, then shifted to charging. Oh well, if these idiots wanted a show Naruto would give him a show.

Stepping forward, Naruto quickly took charge of the scuffle by kneeing the charging bully. While his opponent gasped for breath, Naruto didn't let up, delivering a quick knuckle sandwich before tripping his opponent to the ground while he was off balance. A quick kick to the gut to ensure the one sided fight was over, Naruto addressed the rest of the crowd. Holding up his arms, the blond asked, "Well does anyone else want to try?"

Before any of the stunned bullies could answer, the door to the dorms opened. Out walked a teen about Naruto's height with short red hair and green eyes that coldly regarded the crowd. Naruto could also see deep bags under the new comer's eyes. Speaking in a cold, disinterested voice, the teen asked, "What happened here?"

After a beat, a bully spoke up, saying, "It was the new kid Gaara, he just took out Daimaru without even trying."

"I see." Gaara said slowly, seemingly disinterested. At seeing this, Naruto hoped that this was over, only for Gaara to quickly gain a manic grin as he leaped off the stairs and rushed towards the blond. Surprised at the speed, Naruto tried a quick hit, only for Gaara to duck underneath the blow before hooking Naruto's arm. With a flurry of movement, the leader of the bullies threw Naruto to the ground, the blond quickly rolled to try and get up, only for the red head to quickly fall upon him and rain down blow after blow. In response, Naruto quickly brought his arms up in an attempt to block most of the blows while he tried to get his feet under Gaara to kick the boy off of him. However he never got the chance to put this plan into action, instead a nasally voice called out, "What is going on here?"

"Oh shit, it's the snake!" a random bully yelled out.

"Run for it." Someone else yelled. Gaara evidently heard this as well, delivering one last punch to the gut before hopping up and rushing off.

As Naruto got his breath back and started getting back on his feet, he saw a tall figure slowly walking towards him. The man was wearing a three piece beige suit with a purple tie, was extremely pale and had long black hair that he kept free. Despite being his apparent savior, Naruto still shuttered at seeing the golden eyes on the man's pointed face.

This feeling turned out to be true when the man regarded the teen with a glare and demanded, "Why aren't you in uniform?"

"I just got here." Naruto explained, yet the man didn't accept that excuse.

"Well then go and change before I give you a detention." Figuring that the man was one of those type of teachers, Naruto stayed silent as he collected his bags and walked towards the dorms. Not even a single day and he was already tired of the bullshit.

Finding his dorm room wasn't that difficult, although it was still too early to know if it was a good thing to be on the first floor. Despite having a rather spacious room, unpacking was done rather quickly since Naruto opted to leave most of his personal possessions at home. After putting his clothes away, the teen found a few sets of his uniform hanging in the wardrobe. Closing the doors, the blond quickly changed into the tan dress pants and white dress shirt, rolling the sleeves halfway up his forearms. However, Naruto stopped short of putting on the dark orange sweater vest. The color maybe okay, but there was no way he'd wear that thing.

Now settled in as much as he could be, Naruto opened his door and laid down on the bed, trying to get his head around the current situation. Before he could even get half a though going, someone knocked on his door frame. Turning his head, the teen regarded the brave soul, a boy a few years younger than him with short brown hair spiked upwards. The younger kid wore what Naruto assumed was the standard Konoha Academy uniform, complete with sweater vest, along with an unnecessary blue scarf.

Boldly, the kid stepped into the room, giving a brief wave as he said, "Hey, I'm Konohamaru."

"Naruto," the teen replied, "and don't ask me how I'm doing. I've been here for half a day and already some psycho is out for my blood."

"Ah, so you met Gaara." Konohamaru guessed. He would have said more had someone else not inserted themselves in the conversation.

"Yep, the psychopath of an insomniac. Too bad you got him on a day he didn't get much sleep, if you got here yesterday he wouldn't have been so vicious." This new comer seemed to be about Naruto's age, but was the total opposite of the blond as this teen had dark eyes and dark short hair styled to sweep backwards, although it just looked like a duck butt to Naruto.

Not knowing of Naruto's internal critique, the teen introduced himself, "The name's Sasuke Uchiha, and I see you've meet the ankle bitter already." Konohamaru evidently didn't appreciate this description, but didn't voice it as he instead looked away and crossed his arms. Ignoring the younger boy, Sasuke kept his attention on the newcomer as he said, "So Naruto was it? Why don't I show you the real tour of this place?"

Although Sasuke held out his hand, Naruto was quick to swat it away. While the Uchiha seemed shocked to have his offer declined, Naruto said, "Yeah, how about no. Something about you just rubs me the wrong way, ya know? Now, please get out of my room." Still processing the fact someone told him no, Sasuke gave a glare before stomping away. Naruto couldn't help but grin as he heard a door slam shut. Now left alone, Naruto turned to Konohamaru and asked, "Hey, where's the cafeteria around here? I haven't eaten since I left home."

After a brief moment of thought, the younger teen nodded as he said, "Alright I can show you where it's at, it's also the perfect time to get acquainted with the clicks."

As the two teens walked into the main school building, Konohamaru asked, "So, you've already thrown you lot in with Gaara and his group?"

Confused, Naruto asked, "What do you mean? I might enjoy a good fight, but there's no way I'm going to be a bully."

"Your uniform." Konohamaru explained, "Gra..Hiruzen-sensei is pretty lenient about the uniforms, rumor is he didn't particularly like them when he was a student here." While Naruto digested that tidbit of information, Konohamaru further explained, "So while there's plenty of students who don't group up, there are a lot who use it to display their standing. The Bullies opt not to wear the sweater vest."

Now Naruto understood the confusion. Not wanting to be seen as a bully, but definitely not wanting to wear the sweater vest, the teen wracked his brain thinking of a solution, he caught sight of something he hadn't seen before, the school store. Telling Konohamaru to wait a bit, the older teen quickly walked in before strolling back out wearing a dark orange hoodie zipped open. "So better?"

"Yeah, that should work." Konohamaru agreed. "Now come on, the cafeteria is downstairs and lunch will be over soon." While not quite running, the two teens moved quickly as Naruto followed Konohamaru to a smaller set of stairs partially hidden behind the main staircase to the second floor. Walking into the open space, Naruto saw quite a few students sitting around eight or so tables, but Konohamaru pointed out to the first four tables closest to the back of the room. Nodding over to the first table where the students wore the standard uniform, save that the sweater vest was a dark green, except for a girl with short pink hair whose sweater vest and skirt were of a similar shade. "Those are the nerds, they hang out in the library. Generally they don't cause trouble but you might want to stay away from Kabuto," The younger teen nodded towards a teen with grey hair and glasses, "he seems harmless but just trust me on this one."

"Alright," Naruto hesitantly agreed, not seeing the big deal. He then pointed to the next table, where the occupants were wearing a blue variety of school apparel, "Those are the Preps, rich brats with more money than brains and common sense?"

"That's a pretty comprehensive description. The only thing you forgot is that most of their family's live in town, so they don't stay in the dorms. How did you recognize them?" Konohamaru asked.

"Let's just say that I have some experience dealing with their type." Naruto replied as he caught sight of someone familiar. The person quickly caught Naruto looking at them, replying with a glare before ignoring the boy. Deciding that it was a problem for later, Naruto asked, "So who's next?"

Answering the new student, Konohamaru nodded towards the third table. Unlike the previous tables, these students didn't wear any semblance of a uniform. Sure, they may be wearing the dress shirts, but most had their sleeves ripped off and had a number of patches sown on. A few even wore surgical masks and long coats. Gulping a bit, Konohamaru explained, "Those are the Delinquents, most don't bother showing up to class and just hand out in the old auto body class rooms. You can fight anyone else, but unless you have a death wish don't mess with them, especially not Wind Weasel Temari." Naruto could guess that was the gang's leader, he would bet she was the woman who wore her sandy blond hair in four short pony tails.

Hoping to stop the younger boy from panicking further, Naruto guessed, "So then that just leaves the jocks? I'm guessing they go around wearing their Lettermen Jackets and act like they rule the school?"

"Yep, that's them in a nutshell." Konohamaru replied, having calmed down. "Unfortunately they pretty much get away with whatever they want, only a few of the teachers around her actually make them follow the rules."

"Good to know." Naruto commented as he went to grab some food. Maybe, just maybe he could avoid another incident and actually make it through the school year.

After lunch, Konohamaru gave Naruto directions towards his first class. Unfortunately as all the hallways looked the same, Naruto got a bit turned around, although the new student still had a few minutes before he was considered late. Just as he found the class room, Naruto was suddenly grabbed from the side and pulled to the side before being roughly shoved against a row of lockers.

As Naruto looked down at his attacker, he wasn't surprised to see a young woman with short red hair and red eyes behind a pair of glasses glaring at him while she demanded, "Just what are you doing here?"

Instead of answering, Naruto rolled his eyes and said, "Hello Karin, nice to see you too." In thanks for his cheekiness, Karin pulled him forward before slamming him against the lockers again, Naruto couldn't help but wince when metal met the back of his head.

"I'm not going to ask again. Why. Are. You. Here?" the prep demanded once more.

"I go here, okay? I got expelled again and my parents decided to send me here, happy?"

"Anything but." Karin replied, but thankfully let go of Naruto. "Follow one little rule, you do not know me, I've still got a couple years left and I don't need you to mess up my reputation." With that Karin walked away as Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

Left alone in the hallway, Naruto muttered under his breath, "Nice to see you too cousin." before school his features and walking into his first class, Chemistry.

Walking into the room, Naruto saw that several other students were already leaning over chemistry sets, pour various chemicals, some with more confidence than others. As he was trying to figure out where he was supposed to go, the teacher caught sight of him and walked forward.

"Naruto, right? I'm Iruka-sensei, nice to meet you." As he shook the instructor's hand, Naruto noted that the man was fairly nondescript, having tanned skinned and brown hair pulled back into a shot pony tail, although the scar across the bridge of his nose raised some questions. Continuing, the instructor said, "Go ahead and get set up at station three, feel free to ask if you have any questions."

Before the man could take more than a few steps away, Naruto quickly asked, "Um, what's the lesson plan? I mean there's nothing written on the board."

Iruka looked confused for a second before softly smacking his forehead, "I forgot you came from outside Konoha. You see Konoha Academy is rather unique in that, for most classes, we allow our students to work at their own pace. Each school year, the students are assigned their total amount of work that they can complete at their own leisure, so while some may finish with a few months and spend the rest of the year in self-study, others may take slightly longer. Still, everyone takes the same test at the end of the year." He then brought his hand to his chin and said, "So I guess to answer your question, start with lesson one in the book and just keep working for as long as you feel like it."

Still feeling confused as he thought the system would just encourage laziness, Naruto decided to just nod along and begin the lesson. After a quick worksheet about lab safety, Naruto got to work on the first experiment. After doing another quick worksheet about balancing the chemical equation, Naruto turned on his Bunsen burner and began mixing chemicals. For the next twenty minutes Naruto followed the directions in the book, adding chemicals, heating the solutions, letting things cool down until he ultimately ended up with a fine, powder like substance that he turned into Iruka for a grade.

After taking a few moments to examine the end product, and asking Naruto a few questions about the reactions he observed, the man smiled as he said, "Well done Naruto, only a few students get this right on their first try, usually they use too much heat, leading to a rather explosive result."

"Wait, did you just?" Naruto began to ask, only for the instructor to cut him off.

"Do what Naruto? Show you how to make a firecracker with materials provided by the school?" the man asked with a wink, "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, who is to say?" He then turned his attention to the clock and said, "You have about five minutes until the bell, perhaps it would be best to clean up your station?" Naruto just nodded and got back to work, he had a feeling chemistry was about to become one of his favorite subjects. Even better, while this school certainly had some bad aspects, he couldn't deny he might enjoy this school.

Naruto's good feeling lasted halfway through art class. The class was taught by Kurenai Yuhi, a true beauty of a woman with red eyes, long black hair, and a shapely figure highlighted by her red and white stripped sweeter and pencil skirt. Art seemed to be one of the few classes at Konoha Academy that actually had a structured lesson plan, and one where the students were expected to work each day. These facts caused Naruto to have a dreaded realization, he had a month of catchup work to do.

Thankfully the first assignment seemed to be easy, gesture drawing. While it seemed like just drawing a few basic, nondetailed figures in different poses would be easy, Naruto soon came to recognize the stark reality, he had no artistic talent. The final bell had already rung about five minutes ago, yet Naruto had stayed behind with the instructor to pour over the twenty or so drawing he'd made in class.

"What about this one?" The woman asked as she pulled one drawing from the stack of papers, this one of a figure in mid-run…with a dramatically short left leg, a missing right foot, oblique torso, and a squashed head. Seeming to ignore the numerous flaws in the work, Kurenai supplied, "It has protentional to be refined and looks to be a good start for a Cubism piece."

"But was the assignment for Cubism?" Naruto asked, unwilling to get a grade he didn't rightfully earn.

At hearing his challenge, Kurenai sighed before saying, "You know, most of my students would jump at the chance to get some easy grades."

"Blame my parents, they instilled a strong work ethic in me." Naruto replied with a smile before sighing himself. "I get that you're trying to help me, but I think it's pretty apparent I just don't have any talent for this."

"Well, practice does make perfect." Kurenai supplied. A quick glance over the rest of the pieces showed that the teen did have an eye for the elements that would make a good piece, he just lacked the skill to translate the ideas to paper. As she tried to think of a solution, the woman looked at the clock, becoming aware how late it was getting. "It's going to be time for dinner soon, how about keep trying for the next few classes. If we can't make any progress, then I'll see about arranging an alternative. That sound alright?"

"You can actually do that?" Naruto asked, not used to having a teacher going out of their way to help him. When Kurenai nodded, Naruto smiled and said, "Yeah, I guess I can give this a few more tries."

'Yeah,' Naruto decided, 'I think I might like it here.'

So ten pages, definitely not my longest chapter, but I think it does a good job of setting up the story. I'm sure people who have played the game already know the basic structure of how this story is going to play out, but hopefully I'll still be able to throw a few surprises in every now and again.

Aside from that, I hope everyone as enjoyed the chapter, even if it was rather shorter than my usual ones. Along with the introduction of the story there are a few questions, questions such as…

What are the consequences of ignoring Sasuke?

How will the conflict with Gaara play out?

How will Naruto interact with the other clicks of the school?

All these questions and more will be answered in future chapters of Welcome to Konoha!

But while we wait, here's acw28 saying, "until next update."