Sorry this has taken so long to come out! I really meant to do it during the summer holidays - I'd get the chance to look over and edit it for the gazillionth time, and hopefully be satisfied with it, which clearly didn't happen. And then I didn't have any time afterwards, due to starting university. So I'm really sorry, everyone, though I want to thank you for taking the time to read this new chapter.

Please feel free to point out any mistakes, or anywhere where you think I could improve upon the wording, etc. I wrote this chapter aaaaaages ago and, despite editing the feth out of it, I'm still not all that happy with it.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I profess to owning Naruto... And theres no chance I ever will, either. :(


Chapter 1

Five in the morning the following day saw Kasumi standing in front of the memorial stone, her breakfast onigiri on a container by her feet. She sighed, her fingers tracing the markings of one important name – her mother's.

At least once a week she would get up early just to spend time with her mum, eat breakfast with her and tell her anything significant – what her most recent school report was like, how she thought she did in a school test or if she'd made a new friend. However, if her father had been especially cruel, she usually visited the monument more than just once.

"Okaasan, I miss you…" She mouthed silently, taking one or two shuddering breaths to stop herself from crying. She cleared her throat, and whispered to the winds, "Dad hasn't been s-so bad lately. He still spends the majority of what little money we have on alcohol, and he- well, you already know… Eto, Umino-sensei is helping me with my studies; he's a good teacher, patient and helpful. I've been busy helping Sandaime-sama, and I met Uzumaki-kun yesterday," here she grinned. "He's hyper and fun; y-you would've liked him. I think we could be friends. At least, I hope so," she finished wistfully.

Seconds of silence flowed into minutes and her smile gradually faded to be replaced by a sad frown, "Although people in the village don't seem to like him. I mean, yesterday I caught several of them glaring at him with such hatred that it was almost painful to see.

"What's even worse is," the frown on her face deepened, "I saw Umino-sensei looking at him so coldly, like everyone else… And I thought he was nice. Why do they hate him so much? How can they look at a kid like that? I mean, he can't have possibly done anything to deserve it!" Her voice cracked, and she had to take a little while to calm her breathing and hold back tears. Then she whispered hoarsely, head bowed, "Naze? I just, I don't understand it at all kaachan"

She then sat down, with her back against the rock, and unwrapped the small package on top of the box that contained her lunch. "You know, I managed to make this all m-myself. I'm g-getting better, although I'm still not as good as you were…" She picked up the onigiri and murmured, "Itadakimasu."

Kasumi rested there for about half an hour, humming or faintly singing songs to herself and to all those names engraved upon the stone.

The sun was shining sleepily in the sky, having not long ago raised his head over the horizon. She looked at it, trying to gauge the time and stood up, sighing and brushing dirt off of her trousers.

"Gomen nasai mina-san," she stretched briefly, "I've got to get to school now."

Walking down the training field deep in thought, she never noticed the silver-haired shinobi walking towards her. It was only until it was too late (in her mind) that she realised she was on a collision course and tried to flip herself backwards. But, being a jōnin, he had already slid out of her way with liquid grace and envious ease and had caught her as well, one arm against her back, the other holding her shoulder to prevent her from making the manoeuvre.

She studied him, wondering why he wore a mask and hid one of his eyes. War wounds, perhaps? She pondered. He was examining her too, less obviously though. He smiled at her, his dark eye curving upwards.

"Eto… A-ano sa, c-can you please l-let go of me now…?" She asked shyly, feeling somewhat on edge. He did as she asked, setting her on her feet.

"Of course. Watch yourself in future, ne?" He replied and suddenly he was standing a metre or so away from her. She gasped; she hadn't even seen or felt the movement!

"H-hai," she stared at him in awe, before bowing and continuing hurriedly on her way.

Kakashi stared after her for several seconds before striding up to the stone. I wonder whom she was here for…


Kasumi was still thinking about her encounter with the jōnin, when she was broken out of her reverie by a loud voice calling her name. She barely had an instant to turn and brace herself, when a bundle of blond energy collided with her. She managed to right herself after a second where she seemed about to fall over.

"Ah, Uzumaki-kun…"

"Chigau! I've told you that it's Naruto! Na-ru-to! Being called 'Uzumaki' makes me twitch," he juddered to prove his point.

"Okay, okay – I get it!" She giggled, "Could you get off of me now, Naruto-kun?"

The first bell – the one that summoned the children inside – rang and both she and Naruto ran towards the door. They wove in between all the other children and were two of the first into the classroom.

"Kasumi-chan, over here!" He waved her over to a spot by the window, and she sat down next to him, taking out her books, homework and writing utensils.

Naruto spotted the scroll in her hand and blanched. "That assignment wasn't for today was it?" Iruka-sensei was going to kill him!

"No," she replied quietly, "it's to be handed in tomorrow, but…" She shrugged and walked down the class to put it on Iruka's desk. She had just sat down next to Naruto again when a certain brown-haired chūnin walked in.

"Good morning class! Now today, we shall be learning about…" Iruka called out, projecting his voice loud enough so that even pupils at the back could hear him. He walked over to the board, picked up a piece of chalk and started to write out notes and draw diagrams to illustrate some points. Kasumi diligently copied it all down, even though she was somewhat familiar with particular sections of the lesson.

A light snore from her left broke her concentration momentarily and she glanced up to see Naruto sleeping on the desk, his arms folded to form a pillow for his head. She sighed and – looking up to make sure Iruka hadn't noticed yet – prodded him in the side. He jolted awake and turned to glare and stick his tongue out at her.

"Pay attention," was all she muttered, looking down at her page once again. Naruto exhaled noisily but did begin to write something down.


Lunch was two hours away when Iruka finally stopped writing – of course, he hadn't been writing the whole time; he had taught verbally and also made sure his class understood what he had taught by giving them several simple questions to answer.

Kasumi was glad that he had stopped however. Even when he had just been speaking, she had copied down any point she considered relevant or even simply interesting. Twinges of pain were shooting from her hand down her arm, making her almost regret writing so much.

"Now, today class we shall be revising Kawarimi no jutsu and the other techniques we have learnt so far. And after lunch, we shall be doing weapons practice, as well as taijutsu. If you'll all form an orderly line, we'll get outside and be able to enjoy the nice weather sooner, ne?"

Kasumi stood up, latched on to Naruto's arm and dragged him into the queue.

In the training yard, Iruka spoke to each pupil individually, asking him or her to demonstrate for him and then giving pointers on how they could improve. He then left them to practise as he went on to speak to someone else.

He left Naruto until last, and eventually went over to help him after he had dawdled for as long as he could. He asked the boy to show him the techniques they had learned and how he did them, letting out a quiet sigh when he saw just how hopeless the boy was.

"Naruto, stop playing around. These techniques aren't that hard to do; just, take your time and try it again, okay?" Iruka said sternly.

Naruto scowled, biting back the desire to inform his teacher that he wasn't messing around. Instead, he took several deep breaths, calming himself down so that concentrating would be easier. Moulding and gathering his chakra was a little difficult, even if he was focusing on it, as he couldn't really tell how much he would need. Okay… Now!

"Bunshin no jutsu!"

He took one glance at the clone he had created, and gnashed his teeth in frustration, for while it was indeed better than his previous attempt had been (as in, it wasn't collapsed on the floor), the improvement was only marginal.

Iruka just sighed again and bit out, "Naruto. I can't help you if you're not taking this training seriously! I'm here to give you help, but if you don't want it – finding your pranks a much more wholesome way to spend your time – then fine." And with that, he walked off, leaving a sheepishly chuckling blonde behind.

Kasumi noticed the whole exchange and came over soon afterwards; before long she was training alongside Naruto, chatting very openly with him and laughing every now and again.

Iruka was, to say the least, rather shocked. Most of the kids, even those that spoke to Naruto, would prefer to avoid him whilst training (no doubt thinking he'd hold them back) and some laughed at him when he got things wrong. But here was someone, whom Iruka certainly hadn't seen spending a lot of time with Naruto before, quite willing to work next to him.

When Kasumi approached, she got the feeling that she'd have to play her cards just right. So she waved, "Hey Uzuma— Naruto-kun, c-could you help me with some of these techniques that we have to practise?"

She hoped that making him think, rather than that she was helping him, that he was helping her would make him more receptive to the idea of training together. And it worked.

"Sure, Kasumi-chan! What'cha stuck on?"

And so they trained – she would watch his technique when she asked him to demonstrate something, and then would give subtle hints and pointers, so subtle that he would then think they were his own idea in the first place. It also made him think about what he was actually doing and he mulled over some of her suggestions and questions for quite a while.

It may have been thought of as being deceitful and, as Iruka observed, he wondered why she went to all that effort, rather than just tell him what he it was that he was doing wrong. Yet as he continued to watch and listen, the answer dawned on him. Rather than tell him about his every error and what exactly he was doing wrong – basically a stream of constant put downs, like the teachers all gave him – she was showing him that he could figure through some of the problems himself.

Rather than making him feel like he was useless she was proving that he actually was intelligent and capable, even if very few others thought so.

There was a break for lunch and then Iruka sent them to loosen off their joints and muscles again.

When Iruka felt that his students were all moving well, he ordered them to pair up and spar with each other – just taijutsu – to test themselves. Kasumi, of course, went with Naruto since they had already been partnered together and, although he had to watch all of his class to ensure that no one got seriously hurt, he was the most curious about their fight.

It was organised so that everyone was fighting at the same time, which was better, in some ways, than one pair sparring and the rest watching as it was easier to get nervous and distracted that way.

And, Iruka considered, an upside is that it also prevents Sasuke's fan girls from stopping – this way they have no excuse to cease their practice and stare. He almost laughed aloud at the image of how indignant the girls would be if they knew, but didn't show just how amused it had made him, his features staying composed.

He shouted out, "You will have a maximum of five minutes. Of course, if you defeat your partner by then or come to a point where a draw is the only probable outcome then you will be finishing sooner than that. Now get ready!" Everyone bowed to his or her respective partner, formed the symbol for 'combat' with their fingers, and the majority then slid into a preferred taijutsu stance. It was quite interesting to examine them all, especially those who used a family-specific taijutsu rather than the one they were taught at the academy.

The tension nearly made the air palpable and all the students were waiting for him to allow them to begin. Seconds ticked by and some of the more impatient children began to fidget, shifting their weight uneasily from foot to foot.

"Start!" Iruka barked

And with that, the children lunged at each other, not giving a second thought to caution. Their movements were chaotic and sloppy but they had a year or so to refine them. One couple however, Iruka noticed, weren't moving.

Kasumi stood staring evenly at Naruto, her posture deceptively relaxed. But her right foot was positioned behind and out, away from her left leg, both knees slightly bent. Iruka was quite intrigued at seeing that as it was clearly the karate stance that he had taught her just the day before.

Her composure was the complete opposite of her partner, as her inaction was progressively riling Naruto. And Iruka could tell by the way her muscles were coiling beneath her skin that she was just waiting for him to make the first move. It wasn't long before he lost both patience and his temper and launched himself at her.

She was able to evade his initial attack with ease, his actions too aggressive for him to suddenly change in the middle of executing one and also easy to predict. Although she knew that she stood a better chance if she just continued to deflect or avoid attacks, she remembered one of Iruka's lessons. Sure, it would eventually wear Naruto out, but she would also tire from the constant movement of evading attack. Better to go on the offensive and let the fight reach the outcome.

There's got to be an opening in his style somewhere A few moments later, the chance presented itself. Having leapt at her again he cametoo close this time and, rather than dodge, she grabbed hold of his vibrant jacket and threw him over her knee. She waited until he got to his feet again but didn't pause enough for him to recover. Repeatedly, she seemed to dance around him, taking advantage of her small stature to get under his defence. She didn't pull her punches and kicks but whilst she was concentrating on speed, the power behind each strike seemed to suffer.

However, Naruto was no idiot, and caught Kasumi several times with a punch or a kick after halting her attack. He blocked a hit and his counter took her straight in the jaw; she was sent crashing to the ground. She slowly stood up, the back of her hand pressed against the area the pain was radiating from, and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva before turning to look at him.

Sweat trickled down her brow and Naruto was studying her with a slight glower. She didn't want him not standing up for himself and she also wanted him to put in more of an effort. Best way to do that, she mentally grimaced, is to manipulate the person by getting them angry about something… But she didn't know what.

She didn't know much about him, but still hurriedly thought through the previous day's events and what had happened so far that morning. Wait a minute… Now, there's an idea.

"I thought Hokage were supposed to be strong." She muttered and promptly wondered if she had said it loud enough for him to hear. It hurt to say such things; she didn't really want to, especially since their friendship was so frail and practically non-existent. Mentally she cursed herself for not wanting him to hold back, although the silent rant didn't show on her smooth features.

And when Naruto shouted at her, she knew that he certainly had caught it. "Shut the hell up! What the fuck could you ever know, huh?" She glimpsed hurt and betrayal on his face, before contorting ire drowned it out. And she knew that she had definitely screwed up. She almost stuttered an apology but bit the words back, realising it was too late now to take it back. She also felt herself flagging and knew that she probably wouldn't last two more minutes. May as well go all out, she decided, biting down on her bottom lip nervously.

They rushed towards each other, and this time their strikes were more adept and had the potential to be somewhat lethal. Iruka wondered if he should stop them as, since the rest of the matches had already stopped, they had gathered a crowd of spectators. But he was interested in seeing the outcome and as he picked up no complaints from his pupils, he decided to let them continue.

But when they suddenly pulled kunai out of their assigned pouches, he knew that was a mistake. He ran to stop them but the two dashed at each other again, sunlight glinting off the weapons. The whole yard held its breath. A swirl of dust was kicked up from the ground; clangs of metal against metal rang out from within the obscurity. When it cleared, everyone's eyes widened and some of the pupils gasped, interpreting exactly just what they were seeing.

For there was Naruto pinned down by Kasumi, her kunai knife gently resting against his carotid artery. And his blade was nestled in her armpit, in a perfect position to sink into the axillary artery: both of their weapons in 'kill' positions.

Their eyes met, expressions of mild surprise on both their faces, and then Kasumi stood up. She brushed the dust off of her trousers before holding an arm out to help Naruto stand up. They grasped forearms and she yanked him to his feet. Then, almost immediately, their index and middle fingers interlocked in the symbol for 'harmony,' mirroring each other with the wide grins on their faces.


Right, glossary time once again (sorry~ DX ).

Okaasan/kaachan: mother/mum
Itadakimasu: said before eating, generally translated as "let's eat"
Gomen nasai mina-san: sorry, everyone
Chigau: [that's] wrong/incorrect
Kawarimi no jutsu: body replacement technique
Bunshin no jutsu: clone technique

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and hopefully look forward to the next... Though I don't know when it'll come out.