Don't over-think this one, it's a humor/parody fic after all. I can't take all the credit for it, I must admit. First of all, I don't own Naruto or its characters, so if you're a lawyer I don't want to hear from you. Ever. Second, my twin sister, The Beloved Laura, helped me develop the story line (however frail and superficial it may be) for this particular fiction, mainly in choosing which characters perform certain actions and developing the more feminine dialogue. She's a sweet girl, so I don't want any flamers attacking her fragile self-esteem. Enjoy the story.

> > > > >

A variety of materials, ranging from brick and drywall to paint and carpeting, rolled out of Konoha on a fleet of tractor trailers. In their wake, trailed by dust and tire tracks, a new structure, very similar in appearance to the shinobi academy but smaller and rounder, cast its shrinking shadow upon a group of eleven genin, their jounin instructors, and their Hokage. Tsunade beamed proudly at the new building, one of the first original additions to the city she had made since becoming Konoha's Fifth Hokage. The others, largely confused, simply looked on and admired the workmanship until the silence was broken by the kage.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked, eager for comments.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, much to the relief of the others. Nobody else was willing to look like the idiot and ask what they were there to see.

"What do you mean? This is Konoha's new Shinobi Training Building. In here, you can do basic workouts if the weather isn't favorable outside, and the chuunin and jounin can undergo complex mission simulations. Its facilities far surpass what you're used to, even for you genin. Youstudents are welcome to work out in the gym, the weight room, the pool, the…"

"Pool?!" Sakura gasped, expressing the feelings of every other genin present. The sun was rising, and it wasalmost summer. They were all sick of working out in the hot sun, and most heard the word 'pool' with welcoming ears. They dashed inside, following the smell of chlorine and steam to their goal. Tsunade and their teachers followed soon after, though with considerably less enthusiasm. There was a café inside as well, a nice place for teachers to rest.

Within five minutes, most of the genin were swimming happily in the cooling medium, looking spitefully up through the sunroof at the blazing summer day. Shino sat nearby, quite averse to being drenched. He had a habit of…leaking…and his bugs didn't get along well with water. The other genin knew this and accepted it as one of his many quirks, but Shino's poolside companion confused them. Slumped in a chair, in swim trunks and a heavy jacket, Kiba simply looked on as Akamaru swam with Hinata in the shallow end. Naruto, always first to speak up, called him out quickly.

"Oi, Kiba, what's wrong? Can't you swim?" he shouted, climbing a nearby ladder to address him from solid ground. The others watched, as they were curious as well and could hear Naruto's yelling from underwater.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I can swim, I simply choose not to," Kiba said with uncharacteristic poise. That line had obviously been rehearsed.

"C'mon," said an oblivious Naruto. "Get in. It can't be any fun hanging around out here, especially while your dog is in the pool without you."

"I said I'm not getting in!" growled Kiba, irritated that Naruto had, for no intelligent reason, ignored him and pressed the matter. He had really hoped it would be ignored.

The other genin, in the meantime, were becoming amused. The two most bullheaded people they knew were squaring off, and one or two were getting ready to take bets on the winner. Sakura, eager to motivate the potential conflict, threw some wood on the fire.

"Come on in, Kiba!" she shouted, laughing on the inside. "Naruto, see if you can get him in!"

"You got it, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out, waving back at his love. He turned to face Kiba, who now stood along with Shino, and bared his teeth.

"Don't you try anything funny, baka,"Kiba grunted. "I'll make sure you leave this building in a stretcher." The other genin questioned Kiba's defensiveness, but Shino was quite aware of Kiba's reasoning. He'd back him up, if needed.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING 'BAKA', YOU…BAKA!" Naruto shouted back, charging Kiba before he even finished speaking. He threw a punch, easily dodged by the nimble Inuzuka, but also managed to grab hold of Kiba's hood. He jerked back, anticipating a counterattack, and pulled the garment right off of Kiba's back. Kiba whirled around, revealing his chest to the entire gathered crowd. Naruto, dropping immediately out of battle mindset, then stopped. He stood up straight, let go of Kiba's jacket, and stared at him. In fact, Shino and Akamaru were the only ones not staring at Kiba, both being perfectly aware of what had upset the others so much. Akamaru leapt out of the pool and dragged the stunned Kiba out of the pool room and back toward the exit. Shino calmly grabbed the jacket from its resting-place at Naruto's feet and followed them. From the back, Ino's shocked voice could be heard, breaking the silence that had settled among the genin.

"Wow."

> > >

Kiba charged out of the room, angrier than he had been since his parents finally told him the truth about what happened to dogs that were left at the pound for too long. He had pulled on his jacket long before reaching the next set of doors, charging past the jounin and the kage sitting around a table drinking gourmet coffee.

"I'm going home," he managed to mutter, not even bothering to look in Kurenai's direction.

"Wait, Kiba!" she shouted, but to no avail. Shino walked calmly by, following Kiba, and gave a faint nod that informed them all that he, too, would be leaving. Kurenai decided to figure it out as soon as she didn't have a piping cup of her favorite French brew steaming in front of her. She drank in sheer delight, forgetting her students completely. It must be nice to be her.

"Kiba," Shino said, getting Kiba's attention momentarily. "They were bound to find out sooner or later."

"Yeah? Well why couldn't it have been later? Or, better yet, NEVER?"

"You're overreacting. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody will think less of you."

"I don't care how highly they think of me, I just wanted to be treated the same way I always was treated by everybody. But that idiot, Naruto…"

"Didn't everybody treat you like a loudmouthed slob?"

"Yeah," Kiba mused, thinking back to the good old days, like yesterday, and the day before that. "Damn that Naruto!" Kiba and Akamaru stormed out of the training facility, Kiba still steaming from the ears, and headed back home. Shino, realizing that condolence was no longer of any use, let him leave, choosing instead to pursue a trail of ants that caught his attention.

> > >

Tenten arrived roughly fifteen minutes later, not being known for her extraordinary timeliness, and made her way to the pool room, knowing full well that the other genin would be there. She found them sitting in chairs or against the walls, simply thinking over the sight that had presented itself when Kiba's jacket had been removed. Nobody swam.Tenten, obviously knowing nothing of this, simply approached the other girls and asked what was happening.

"Naruto was trying to get Kiba in the water," Ino said, straining to remember anything before the incident. "He ripped off Kiba's jacket."

Ino stopped there, and Tenten thought a moment, searching for some hidden significance that was simply not intrinsic to the story. She found none. "Yeah, so?"

"Think, Tenten. What does Kiba look like without a shirt on?"

"He looks…hey, I've never seen him without a shirt on."

"Neither had we."

"So, what, is there some hideous scar across his stomach or something?"

"No, actually. He's just…really…really…buff." Ino trailed off a bit, smiling and looking off into the distance.

"Uh, okay, then what's the big deal?"

"No, Tenten, you don't understand," Sakura said, fairly certain that Ino was off in some other Ino-world that they didn't want to know about, populated solely by her and Sasuke, though Kiba might find his way there following their stunning revelation. "Did your class ever have a study on Greek culture?"

"Of course."

"Do you remember that painting of Atlas, holding up the world?"

"Yeah," Tenten smiled. The comparison caught up with her quickly, and a look of interested distress wiped across her face. "Kiba looks like that?"

"Oh, yeah," Ino said softly, though none present wanted to know if she was answering the question or responding to some event in her Ino-world.

In the meantime, Sasuke and Neji were in the far corner, frantically discussing the situation at hand. The others glanced their way every once in a while, but none dared disturb them. They were, after all, Neji and Sasuke.

"It is something that must be addressed," Sasuke said, in agreement with Neji, "but I don't think assassination is the solution we want."

"You always say that whenever something like this happens." Neji began to pout. Nobody would allow him to satisfy his bloodlust, and it was beginning to get on his nerves.

"We got lucky this time, it's Kiba and he's not that bad. Imagine if this happened with someone like Shikamaru, or," Sasuke shuttered, "Naruto."

"You're right, Kiba is far more tolerable," Neji said, abandoning his hopes of standing over Kiba's bleeding corpse, his hands stained red and shining in the moonlight. He wanted to kill somebody ever so much.

"I think we should allow him entrance."

"Agreed."

On the other side of the pool room, the girls sat in whicker chairs with expensive smoothies, thinking of Sasuke, of Kiba, of Neji, of Naruto (in Hinata's case). The ugly ones were becoming less and less, and the attractive ones were increasing in number. Tenten began to wonder what was under Shino's coat, a thought that had crossed all of their minds at one point or another. Ino simply sighed, reigning from her throne in Ino-world. The only earthly action she took was a simple mutter.

"If only I'd known…"

> > >

Kiba didn't arrive at the same time as the other genin that day, worrying Kurenai and his teammates. They decided that he was probably just upset, and would return to the training center when he felt better. It would be foolish, and probably quite hazardous, to disturb him until then. The genin headed straight for the pool, obviously, and began swimming laps at their teachers' instructions.

Not an hour later, Kiba and Akamaru finally showed up. Kiba didn't bring his trunks, he didn't even go to the pool. He stayed in the main workout room, throwing shuriken at a targets. He was still despondent, and felt more antisocial than he had in his life. Akamaru, rather liking the other students and not caring for Kiba's particular social aversion, ran to the pool and jumped in. As soon as the others saw him, they knew Kiba was present and climbed out of the pool. They headed for the locker rooms, eager to change and see Kiba. Akamaru was left in the water, alone and very rejected. He started to swim laps by himself, hoping against hope that somebody would return. Dogs can sulk, too.

Kiba let out a groan as the other genin ran into the main gymnasium. The boys stayed pretty far off, to Kiba's relief, but looked incessantly at him and spoke among themselves. Only Sasuke and Neji departed from this group, talking between themselves much as they did following the Revealing, as it came to be known.

"Maybe I should go and apologize," Naruto said, watching Kiba throw a shuriken so hard as to leave a dent in the wall behind the target. A sweat drop formed. "Heh, maybe not. He still looks pretty angry."

"How did he get like that?" Lee asked as if he expected somebody to answer. "I train at my taijutsu every day, and I don't have that kind of muscle buildup."

"You do taijutsu with your arms and legs, so your torso doesn't get as good of a workout," Shikamaru pointed out. He had hardly been phased by the incident, and was rather annoyed that the others made such a big deal of it. "Kiba fights andruns on all fours, so his stomach and chest do a lot of the work. Also, it takes a lot of bending and twisting to do that tsuuga no jutsu of his, and that probably helps."

"Hmm…maybe he could show me how to do that…," Chouji thought aloud, poking his own rotund build. He had been meaning tomold himself a bit, but didn't know how. It was just so difficult when he lived within a block of the restaurant district.

As the guys tried their best not to envy their sculpted comrade, the girls slowly made their way over to the area Kiba had, until then, filled with an aura of rage and uncertainty that kept the others at bay. Now their curiosity had gotten the best of them, and they finally brought them to train by throwing kunai and shuriken at the targets on either side of Kiba's. Every now and again, he would see their eyes drift to the corners of their vision, staring his chest and the bottom of his jacket. They had nominated Hinata, his teammate, to speak to him first, but upon recieving the signal to appraoch she began blushing so hard it seemed as though her cheeks would bruise. Ino, realizing that Hinata would never bring herself to get Kiba's attention, approached boldly and tapped him on the shoulder. He refused to acknowledge her verbally, knowing that any contact with other people right now would only be a bother, but she addressed him regardless.

"Hi, Kiba," she chirped, trying to sound as friendly and non-threatening as possible. Kiba still didn't respond, but threw another shuriken. Once again, it shot straight through the wooden target and stuck in the wall beyond. "Uh, I was just thinking, and I realized I don't know all that much about you."

"You don't know anything about me," Kiba spat out, the first words he had spoken all day. He had never spoken to Ino, and she had never looked at him. Not until yesterday, anyhow.

"Uh…yeah! Exactly! So, what do you do?" Ino walked around him a bit so she could see his face. He was concentrated, trying his hardest not to burst into anger. He had seen Naruto do so often enough to know what an ass it made you out to be. Ino just smiled, trying to win favor with the boy who now rivaled Sasuke in the Hot Genin List she kept in her diary. Well, maybe not Sasuke, but certainly Neji.

"I don't DO anything," Kiba said, neither knowing nor caring what the question meant. Why wouldn't Ino leave? Where was Akamaru? Didn't he usually keep the annoying people away?

It just so happened that Akamaru had wandered into the jounin area in the back of the gym and was enjoying a nice dip in the hot tub with Kakashi and Jiraya, who were discussing the latest edition of Come Come Paradise. Kurenai and Tsunade were in the next room, separated by a screen, and tried their best not to laugh hysterically at the men's conversation. At one point, however, Kurenai heard a slight bark from Akamaru and realized that Kiba had finally shown up. He got out and dressed, heading out to the training area to find her prodigal student.

> > >

"Look, why don't you just leave me alone?" Kiba shouted, dropping his next shuriken and backing away from the mark he had been throwing from. Tenten and Sakura had joined Ino in her little interrogation, and Kiba was beginning to understand Sasuke's hatred for mankind and all contact with it. The girls, as oblivious to his discomfort as they were to Sasuke's when pestering him, followed Kiba as he stormed off toward the men's locker room. Kurenai intercepted him before he got there, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him through a door marked "Jounin Only". The girls whined in disappointment, remembered that Sasuke was still back in the gymnasium, and hurried back with renewed enthusiasm.

"Would you mind explaining where you went yesterday, and where you've been all morning?" Kurenai asked, her anger drawing attention from the nearby hot tubs. Tsunade was already getting out, and the two men decided to follow suit in case there was a problem that needed attending. They couldn't just sit in the tubs all day, even though they desperately wanted to.

"Yesterday, at the pool, Naruto pulled my jacket off, and I wasn't wearing a shirt." Kiba was a little disappointed in his response, his rage having been curbed by Kurenai's justified anger.

"So what? You're a boy, there's no reason to be embarrassed!"

"Kurenai-sensei, have you ever seen me without a shirt on?"

"I…wait, no I haven't. Why, what's wrong?"

Kiba lifted his jacket over his head just as the other jounin joined the two in the hallway. Kurenai looked him over a moment, nodding to herself.

"I see," she said, surprisingly impressed at Kiba's build. Jiraya, disturbingly enough, was writing furiously in his book from the moment that he caught sight of Kiba. Kakashi looked over his shoulder and smiled in a most discomforting way.

"Now, they're all going to treat me like Sasuke. I've seen how they treat Sasuke, andI don't envy him. Is there anything I can do."

"Sorry," Kurenai said sorrowfully, looking at Tsunade for agreement. "You're pretty much screwed."

Jiraya and Kakashi roared in laughter at this, obviously finding a connection between their book andKurenai's statement. Tsunade looked at them scornfully, then turned and gave Kiba a sympathetic look.

"Don't worry too much about it, Kiba." She smiled, one of those rare smiles meant to calm one going through hardship. "I'm sure they'll forget all about it in no time."

"Are you serious? Did you see that pack?" Kurenai said, a little too honest for her own good. Tsunade shot her an angry look, disappointed that she had not caught the subtle glimpse of dishonest hope she had given the genin. Kurenai turned back to Kiba, horrified, but he simply looked at his feet and walked out of the jounin area, torn viciously between a deep melancholy and seething hatred. Adults were idiots.

"Akamaru, make sure you don't stay in too long," he called back towards the hot tubs. "You know how you tend to pee in warm water."

"Arf," called a high-pitched voice from around the corner.

"Oh, never mind then," Kiba said, sadistically delighted in ruining the perverts' little hangout. Jiraya and Kakashi moaned in disgust and walked slowly to the showers. Kurenai smiled a bit, glad that Kiba was able to have a little fun.

> > >

Kiba sat in a hallway, trying his best to avoid the gaze of those who walked past him to get to the bathroom. After a half-hour or so of self-loathing, Kiba stood, finally moved from his sulking by the inevitable call of nature. He walked slowly to the bathroom, only to be stopped by an arm crossing his path. He looked over to see whom it belonged to, only to stare a young Uchiha right in the eyes. Neji stood beside him, smirking in a way that informed all that looked at him that he was their superior. Kiba sighed.

"Waddya want?" he asked plainly, not caring for any more questions about his life.

"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked. His tone was not angry, but sounded as though he honestly wanted to know.

"The bathroom, genius. Is there a law against that?"

"You don't want to use that facility," Sasuke stated. "That facility is for the ugly and common, those who know nothing better than whiteporcelain and liquid hand soap. Those who will never know anything other than obscurity and mediocrity." He pointed to the door, where Naruto could be seen emerging from the bathroom. He looked at the three, a little confused, but decided that he didn't care too much about any of them. "You see what I mean?"

"Surprisingly, yes," Kiba said, still not sure as to how he would go to the bathroom without using the bathroom.

"Follow us," Neji said, leading Kiba in the opposite direction. Sasuke followed, smiling. Neji approached a bare section of wall opposite the gym. "Kai!" Neji called out, dispelling the genjutsu that hid a small, discreet door from the view of all unaware of its presence. He opened the door for Kiba, and Sasuke ushered him in. Neji closed the door and replaced the illusion, sealing out all others.

Before Kiba was a sight that baffled his simple, rational mind. A large room, almost half as large as the gymnasium, stood before him, lined with doors labeled with numbers. Bathroom fixtures, brass but looking very much like gold, stood around a central fountain, with servants rushing busily this way and that. Around the fountain was a bench, made of the same brass as the other fixtures, on which a few jounin and chuunin sat comfortably. Kakashi was among them, and he offered the three a friendly wave before resuming his conversation with some lovely chuunin he had obviously just met.

"What is this place?" Kiba asked, confused but undeniably intrigued.

"This, Kiba, is the Washroom of the Beautiful, where those beyond the constraints of the common shinobi can assemble and satisfy their needs in comfort and luxury. And with this new revelation you've given us, we've seen fit to invite you. Welcome." Sasuke motioned to a nearby butler, who promptly approached and held his arms out politely. Sasuke and Neji both removed their jackets, donning robes from the nearby wall to join the others at the fountain. The servant did not move as they left, clearly waiting for Kiba. With reluctance, Kiba pulled his jacket over his head, gave it to the man and grabbed a robe from the wall. First thing's first. He went to the nearest door, found a stall inside, and finally got a little privacy. Best of all, this time, it was gold-plated privacy. He emerged a minute or two later, only to find several small tables set up in the main room with silverware being set.

"You guys eat in here?" Kiba asked, looking over at Neji and Sasuke. They nodded.

"Why not? There must be people out there you don't want to hang around, right?" Sasuke smirked, knowing exactly whom Kiba wanted to avoid.

"Not really…" Kiba trailed off, thinking mainly of Hinata and Shino.

"Not even Naruto?"

"Grr…" Kiba growled without knowing it, suddenly aware that a private eating-place wasn't that bad an idea. He took a seat, looking over a menu. Akamaru swam happily in the fountain, basking in attention from every female in the room. Now this was swimming…

> > >

After their meal was nearly finished, Sasuke and Neji sought entertainment. Their new comrade, Kiba, seemed as though he could use some stimulation as well, having polished off two or three plates of beef stroganoff.

"So, what do you guys do for fun?" Kiba asked, accepting for the time being that these two were the only ones who understood what he was going through. He started to wish he could hang out with Shino or Hinata again, but until they trained in private again that just wasn't possible.

"Heh," Neji chuckled. "We usually go and make the others feel inferior. Let them know just how powerful we are. That'll usually cheer us up." He looked at Sasuke, who was nodding in agreement.

"Oh. Uh, okay," Kiba reluctantly agreed, wondering if he could, or even wanted to, make anybody feel inferior. Then again, they had all been treating him badly, avoiding him and pestering him. He started to warm up to the idea, thinking how much he'd enjoy showing up that loudmouth Naruto. "So, what are we waiting for?"

> > >

The three handsome genin left the Washroom of the Beautiful and rejoined the other genin, who were busy in the gym with generic exercises. Neji, seeing Hinata and Lee rehearsing taijutsu on a pair of wooden poles, walked calmly up to a nearby pole and proceeded to attack it as though it were his worst enemy. In fact, Neji pictured just that as he beat the post into submission, imagining a generic member of the Hyuuga main house. Lee, not yet recovered from surgery, was put to shame at his teammate's speed, and Hinata soon grew small and quiet in the presence of such overbearing skill.

Sasuke and Kiba, seeing Naruto in the corner lifting hand-sized weights, strolled over and began lifting the largest dumbbells. There were only two full-sized weights, leaving Naruto no chance of keeping up with them. They smiled at each other, and continued their workout.

In minutes, the three other genin girls had gathered around Sasuke and Kiba. Kiba, closest to the cluster, moved around Sasuke, hoping to find some relief in the distance, but was followed. He gave in, hoping to simply ignore them, and added a few rings to his bar. With a slight groan, he hoisted it up and over his head. As he did, his jacket and shirt lifted, exposing two or three inches of his stomach to the room. The girls gasped and giggled at the sight, filling Kiba with an instant remembrance of rage. He dropped the bar, breaking through several floorboards, and stormed off. He futilelyhoped that the girls would remain to look at Sasuke, but he was ripped to harsh reality as they followed behind him, whispering to one another. Finally fed up with this kind of treatment, Kiba turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I'M SICK OF THIS! GO AWAY, ALL OF YOU!"

"My my, Kiba-kun. Sasuke's never this mean to us," Tenten said, matter-of-factly. "Are you always this angry, or do you have a sweeter side to you?" The girls leaned in as the question was asked, knowing that either answer would only spur more delighted questions.

Kiba, fuming, simply growled and headed for the door. He would die before he stayed for more of this. The girls followed, repeating questions about his temper, his demeanor, his taste in girls, his favorite breakfast cereals and how old he was when he learned to roller blade. Kiba walked away faster and faster, eventually breaking into a sprint for the door. He burst outside, the girls on his heels, only to be swept away by some green blur. The girls sighed in disappointment again, and turned back to go watch Sasuke train.

> > >

Kakashi sat on the roof, Kiba by his side. They looked out over the city,basking inthe setting sun.

"Thank you, Kakashi-sama. I thought I'd never get away from them."

"I think we need to talk, Kiba. You've been trying to handle this situation in a couple of ways,none of whichworked out. You tried avoidance first, but that obviously didn't work. Then, with Sasuke and Neji's help, you tried to be antisocial and superior. That led to more aggravation, which sparked your resort to anger. Do you see where you've gone wrong each time?"

"I…uh…didn't hurt Naruto?"

"Well, no. You gave the others too much credit! You'd assume they'd be civil and humane about your condition, when they obviously wouldn't be."

Kiba stand in awe for a moment, expecting a far more benevolent response from the man heralded as the greatest jounin in Fire Country, perhaps the world.

"You didn't even have to think about the answer to this problem before. You knew, almost through instinct, what to do. You hit your physique from the world and acted as though it weren't there. That was exactly the right thing to do, Kiba. I do the same thing, which is why I wear my masks. If you pretend it's not there, then you can be treated like a human being. Simply go back to the way things were, and eventually you'll be treated as you were. Someday, you'll find somebody you can trust, and you'll let her know. Until then, just let things go back to how they were."

"But I can't do that, Kakashi-sama. They already know, and they still treat me like this even when I wear my jacket!"

"The young mind is fragile, Kiba. If you give them something else to think on, something horrible and scarring, something that will perturb their fondest dreams and envelop their mind's eye every time they blink," Kakashi mused, his voice growing deeper and the air around him somehow growing dark and mysterious, "they will have no time to think on you or your physique."

"That's true," Kiba said, smiling in pleasure as he thought of his enemies trying to wrench some horrible vision from their memory. "But, what could possibly do the job?"

"Just think about it, Kiba. I'm sure you'll find a solution."

"But what if I can't?"

"Institutionalization."

"Oh," Kiba said, agreeing silently. Something had to be done.

Just then, a thought worked its way into Kiba's mind. It spawned an idea, an idea as dark and terrible as the infinite void of space. A smile grew on his face, his eyes narrowed. Evil, true and perfect as it could manifest in the mind of a twelve-year-old, had taken seed.

Kiba quickly disposed of this idea, deciding to save it and torture somebody worthy of a fate worse than death itself. A better idea took its place, still evil but less so and far more amusing. He quickly determined that this would do nicely, with just a hint of poetic justice.

"I've got it! Thank you, Kakashi-sama…" Kiba turned around, but Kakashi had already left. Kiba leapt off the roof and went off in search of Akamaru. He'd need a little help.

> > >

Kiba waited outside of the training center ten minutes later, Shino and Hinata by his side. The other genin were inside, enjoying the last bit of the day with some well-deserved swimming. Neither of his teammates knew what Kiba was up to, but he had to spare them the fate that would befall the others. After all, they were his friends, and even then he wasn't completely heartless.

"Kiba-kun, what's wrong? Why can't we go inside?" Hinata asked, shivering slightly in the cold of the night.

"Just trust me on this one, okay guys? I'll take you both out to dinner, just wait a minute for Akamaru." Kiba turned back to the door just in time to see his devoted canine spring forth from the training facility. He was sopping wet, and he held in his mouth a pair of swim trunks, which were equally wet. He smiled and dropped them at Kiba's feet, his tail wagging furiously. "Akamaru, what did you bring?" Kiba asked, as if he didn't know all too well. He grabbed the trunks and threw them onto the roof, where they landed beside a bright orange jumpsuit, stolencarefully from the boy's locker room.

"Kiba, weren't those Naruto's?" Shino asked, not accusing but curious. He raised an eyebrow in amusement. That was about as much of a rise you could get out of Shino, and Kiba appreciated it. Hinata thought for a moment, thenturned a delightful maroon around the cheeks, shocked.

"Were they? Oh well, Naruto still has his clothes, he'll be fine. You guys go ahead and head into town, I'll be along in a second. I forgot something inside."

The other two left, still suspicious, and as soon as they were facing the other way Kiba put his ear expectantly against the door of the building. Akamaru did likewise, both in amusement and anticipation. In a moment a high-pitched scream was heard, followed by another. Soon, every genin could be heard screaming bloody murder, with Naruto's booming voice coming through the clearest. Kiba laughed out loud, and Akamaru's tail wagged faster than helicopter blades. The two walked off after their friends, confident that none of the other genin would even think about them the following day.