I do not own the anime or manga called Naruto…if I did, I would not be drowning in debt from college.

It had been several months since Naruto had gotten hurt and Kiba found out about the Inuzuka mate thing from his mothers "talk". Because of Naruto's fluffy problem, in the form a gigantically evil demon fox, whatever damage the doctor's could not fix, the fox did. Not out of the kindness of his heart or anything, but because if Naruto died, the fox did too. At least, that is what the two of them figured, since Naruto had not yet met her fluffy tenant and so could not ask. As Naruto was fully healed that night, for whatever reason of the fox's, she was released from the hospital with a warning to go easy in training. She was lucky she did not have to stay the entire night as the hospital tended to make her go crazy, well most ninjas went crazy for the inactivity they were forced to endure in hospitals, so Naruto was not in the minority in this instance.

Since then, Naruto had moved into the Inuzuka compound at his mother's request, something about keeping an eye on the two of them. Kiba and Naruto both thought Kiba's mother was referring to the adult activity the class was informed of during Iruka's "talk", he described the act as something to do with the "birds and the bees". And as Kiba told his mother later that night after Naruto had crashed in her room, he had yet to get the kiss he had asked Naruto for in the hospital, so he did not think that would happen any time soon. Besides, all of the compounds dogs had taken an instant liking to Naruto and took great joy at keeping him away from her.

The really scary thing about the whole set up was how quickly Hana, his older sister, and Naruto had taken to each other. His older sister was a little, ok a lot, on the violent side. One time he walked into her room as she was writing in her diary about her crush, but as soon as she saw him walk in she hurled a kunai at his head and when she missed she sent her three dog companions, the Haimaru triplets, after him to make sure he got out of her room. Kiba was five years old at the time; his sister was 11 and was training to become a ninja. He was hoping that Hana's violent tendencies did not rub off on Naruto, Kiba was thankful his sister had mellowed out a bit now that she was a fully fledged veterinarian for the clan. Unfortunately, Naruto did pick up on Hana's most frequent act of violence, when ever either of the girls thought that he did something spectacularly stupid, they would whack him on the back of the head, though Naruto called it a 'love' tap.

But the best part about this new situation was that all of their other friends now knew that Naruto was his and he was hers. With his 'claim' on her and her acceptance…of sorts… the instincts that drove Kiba to fight with his friends had almost completely disappeared. The instincts still sparked up whenever one of their male friends got a little too friendly with Naruto. Apparently whenever the need to protect came, his nose would scrunch up cutely, Naruto's words, not his, the scrunching would warn their friends to back off before Kiba became overly aggressive.

Since that day that had, the class had finished training with sharp pointed nin weapons and with ninjutsu. In fact, they were done with all of their training, as today was the day of the graduation test. Naruto did not tell Kiba, but she was worried about the exam. Hana had told her what she was to expect to see during the exam. Naruto was not too worried about the written exam, she liked to read and was able to reciprocate any information she had read, or heard for that matter. Her skills with weapons had also improved greatly; Hana had taken to helping her train after school along with Kiba. It was the last part of the exam, the part that tested her ninjutsu that was worrying her. Naruto was proficient with the kawarimi, or replacement, jutsu, and the henge jutsu, she had even made her very own jutsu using the henge, the oiroke no jutsu, a very special jutsu designed to wipe out perverts. It was the third jutsu she would be tested on that she just could not get, no matter how hard she tried, the bunshin jutsu; the stupid clones were always just beyond her grasp.

Already most of the class had passed through the green exam door that lead to the exam room were the two senseis, Iruka and Mizuki, waited for each of the students to show off their skills. The students who went in never came out, at least not out the green door, there must be another door were the students exited the room. Naruto and Kiba were the only ones left in the room waiting to be tested.

"Kiba, come on down, it is your turn." Iruka called from the now open doorway.

Naruto stood and gave Kiba a quick hug, then said, "Good luck Kiba."

He returned her hug and replied, "Good luck to you as well…I know you can pass this test."

Then Naruto watched as Kiba made his way down the stairs into the exam room, leaving Naruto in the class room al alone, the last to be tested. After another five minutes the door opened once again and Naruto was called down to take the final portion of her exam.

Filled with dread, she waited for Iruka to ask her to perform the required jutsu.

"Naruto, for this part of the exam I want you to perform the three jutsu; henge, kawarimi, and at least two bunshin, they can be performed in any order, but you need all three to pass." Iruka stated from his seat at the desk.

Taking a big breath, Naruto quickly did her hand seals in quick succession. Upon completion of the seals, she switched places with a very pretty, but toxic potted plant near the door that Naruto could only assume was the exit that the other students who already. While switching places, Naruto also completed the seals to henge into the green and purple plant. When she was finished, there were two potted plants, another soft poof near the door, let the two teachers know that not only had she performed a perfect henge, but a perfect kawarimi as well.

Iruka knew the bunshin jutsu was Naruto's worst jutsu, so with misgivings, but knowing he had to ask, he said, "Ok Naruto, all you need now to pass this exam is to perform two bunshins, go ahead at any time."

The two senseis watched the young genin hopeful take an even larger breath than the one she took earlier, cross her fingers in the hand seals required for the bunshin jutsu, and then close her eyes as she performed the jutsu. As the smoke cleared from the two poofs, Naruto slowly opened her eyes to look at her creations, along with her two senseis.

Sighing, Iruka said, "I am sorry Naruto, but with the failure to produce two… uh…livelier clones," at this everyone looked back at the two pale and sickly looking clones who were crumpled on the floor," you fail."

Upon hearing that she had failed, she unconsciously blocked out the conversation between Iruka and Mizuki that followed her failing. Glancing one last time at her pathetic attempts to create clones depressed her even more. She allowed the two clones to poof out of existence, then Naruto made her way out of the exit next to the toxic plant, which she absentmindedly noticed led out to the playground.

As soon as Kiba saw her exit he ran to Naruto's side, closer inspection revealed her depressed face and lack of ninja headband. He gathered her into his arms and just held her, knowing anything he said would not reach her at the moment. Akamaru came up to Naruto's side, pulled himself up on her left leg with his front two legs so that he could reach her hand to give her a sympathetic lick.

Pulling out of the fuzzy haze in her mind just enough, Naruto said, "Kiba," her voice was just a little hesitant, "why don't you go on home. I know your mother has a celebration planned for your graduation."

"But Naru."

Naruto cut Kiba off before he could further voice his protests. "I am happy that you graduated, but I do not feel like a celebration tonight, I feel if I am there I would just cast my mood to the rest of the partiers." Taking a deep breath, steeling herself, she continued, "I will come home later tonight. Have fun though."

Kiba knew that it would be best to let Naruto have some time to herself, she always felt better out in nature by herself when she was really disturbed or upset. It was a hard choice to make though due to his mating instincts that tried to push him to comfort her against the hurt she was feeling, but he also knew that going to a graduation party when she herself did not graduate would be extremely hard on her.

"All right, I will see you later. Come on Akamaru."

She watched as Kiba and Akamaru walked towards their home. When they were out of sight, as the fuzzy haze of her misery misted back over her thoughts, she took her favorite perch, the playground swing positioned at the back end of the Academy grounds.

Drowning deep within her misery, Naruto's superior hearing did not hear catch the slight sounds that accompanied Mizuki's sneaking up on her from the trees behind the swing that was until his voice startled her.

"You know, Iruka did not really want to fail you. He was kind of like you when he was younger." He continued when Naruto's no longer bright, but dull eyes, met his. "He told me to tell you of another way to pass the exam, a way for those students who have a good chance of passing but mess up just enough to fail." Inside Mizuki's mind he was cackling as he watched the excited sparkle light up the little Demon's eyes as she became intrigued with his proposition. "To pass this alternative exam, all you have to do is a mock 'genin' mission. The mock mission you will be given is a recovery mission that has been set up just for you. In the Hokage Tower, there is a scroll room, found on the top floor. To access this room, you will need to make your way through the opposing door in the Hokage's office. The scroll you are looking for is labeled the Forbidden Scroll, and is placed on a central podium. Do not worry about, this is not the real Forbidden Scroll, this is just a mock scroll with a few jutsu. To pass this exam you will need to learn one of the jutsu you will find on the scroll." With her complete attention, Mizuki brandished a rolled scroll from his flak jacket; he opened the scroll to show a map. "Once you retrieve the scroll you can make your way to a special place, marked with an 'X' on the map, to practice the jutsu. When you are done, I will meet up with you and take you to Iruka to show off your new jutsu."

Usually when something to good to be true comes along, Naruto treats it with suspicion, but in this instance with her previous depression and new excitement over the possibility to achieve her dreams, she was too happy to consider what her instincts were telling her. "I accept this mission. I will get the scroll and I will learn a jutsu and I WILL pass." And with that statement, Naruto jumped up from the swing and ran off; she was so quick in doing so that she did not see the devious grin that had made its way upon his visage as he watched her run off.

To all those who favorited or left a response to the Best Mates story, I think you all very much. It is for you all that I offer this and the following chapters in this new sequel. I realize that this chapter and the next will seem similar to the original story, but just know that this small bit is just to lay the foundation to the rest of story. I do offer apologies for the lateness of this first chapter to the conclusion of Best Mates, I can only offer up that I was in the final weeks of my senior year of college, taking 20 hours. In those last few weeks I complete several research papers, finals, and projects. Now I have graduated and have a BS in forensic science, and until the time I find a job, I have time to write. So thanks again to all who have read this story. While I am not going to push for reviews, well push a lot, I just want to say if you have any ideas to this story, or any thoughts, I would love to hear them.