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Chapter Two: I Swear I Thought It Was Saturday

A/N: Welcome to chapter two! From my understanding, henjin translates to 'weirdo', 'oddball', or 'strange person'. And I understand Sasuke's acting a bit OOC, but I promise there turns out to be a very good reason for this (if you haven't guessed it already).

I--I

Oh, this was going to be good.

It was almost pathetic how easy it was to skip school and gather the supplies he needed to pull off such an epic prank. All the Jounin were completely oblivious; by the time they noticed the 'improvements' he made to the village's beloved cliffside, he would already be at Ichiraku, begging for a free bowl of ramen!

As soon as he was sure the guard across the street wasn't looking, Naruto dashed out from behind a wall to the opposite end of the block, open bucket of paint in hand. He whipped around a corner and, much too busy glancing over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't been detected, ended up colliding with a stranger.

They both fall less than gracefully on their behinds.

Naruto shakes his head, forcing his sight straight. "HEY! Why don't you watch where you're--?!"

Sitting with a paint can upturned over her head, the girl in front of him pushed the rim of the bucket up with her palm, levelling his angry gaze with a pair of curious grey eyes. With black shoes, a matching knee-length skirt, and a light grey turtleneck paired with an open black vest, she was basically monochromatic from head to toe, including the two silver stripes running down her--you guessed it--black hair. As a matter of fact, she'd be totally boring if it wasn't for the fluorescent lime splotches splattered all over her person.

Naruto burst out laughing, doubling over himself and using a free hand to point at her. "Y--you really have no idea how stupid you look right now, you know!"

Surprisingly enough, she started laughing right along with him. "I know, right?! Of all the colors in the world!"

"This is almost worth losing all that paint!"

"I can only imagine what Inuzuka-san's going to say about this one!"

The two Academy Students continued their hysterics, much to the unnerved confusion of a few select passerbys.

"Hey, I know you.", she sighed, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "Uzumaki Naruto, right? Aren't you in Iruka-sensei's class too?"

Naruto's laughing came to an abrupt halt. "Yeah, so?"

"Well, am I sure glad we ran into each other!" There could not have possibly been a more literal use of the phrase. "Come on--if we don't leave now, we're going to be late for class!"

Before he knew it, she had a moderate grasp on his wrist and they were running the deplorably short trek to school.

"Wha--HEY! I WASN'T PLANNING TO GO TO CLASS TODAY, YOU KNOW!"

"Don't be silly, Uzumaki-san!", she giggled. "It's the last class before the Genin exam, after all! I promise I'll reimburse you for the paint after school."

Why, oh why did he have to take the color he needed two blocks away from the Academy?

The move was so unexpected, Naruto hadn't even thought about using a Substitution Jutsu to slip out of the hold; he couldn't even wrench himself loose from her clutch in time to prevent from reaching Iruka's classroom.

Naruto realized if he had studied last week's text about escape tactics like he was supposed to, he probably wouldn't be in this mess.

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The school bell rang.

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto untied the bright orange jacket from around his waist, dropping audibly into his seat as he shrugged the coat back on. The girl at the front--the one who had the gall to drag him here--finished speaking with Iruka and climbed the steps to her desk. Resisting the great temptation to put his leg out and watch her fall flat on her face, he ignored her as she passed by him and claimed her seat next to her deskmate at the far back of the room.

"Looks like the mime finally decided to add some color to her act.", he heard Kiba snicker.

"I don't remember asking you anything, Inuzuka-san."

"You know you're always entitled to my opinion. You're welcome, by the way."

"If you feel like starting something, we can take this outside after school, just like we used to."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'd feel bad sending a girl to the infirmary again."

"Stupid mutt!"

"Damn snob!"

"That's enough, from the both of you!" Iruka was already on his feet, fuming. "Naruto!"

The blonde rose from his seat.

"What exactly were you planning on doing with that paint this morning?!"

Naruto folded his arms assuredly. "I was going to use it to wreck the faces on the Hokage Mountainside!"

"Why in the world were you planning on doing such a thing?!"

"Because my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be a bigger and better Hokage than any of the old geezers carved into the side of some stupid cliff, you know!"

The class erupted in laughter.

"The audacity!", he shouted angrily. "Naruto, you'd do well to thank your classmate for stopping you in time or else you would be spending the rest of your day cleaning up your pointless mess!"

Scoffing, Naruto plopped back down into his seat. Even then, he could feel his deskmate's stare on him; he opened his eyes and made sure to glower nowhere but the spot in front of him. "Teme, what's with that look?"

"I was wondering what you were doing here on time."

"Why do you care, anyway?", he snapped, sinking further into his seat. "And so what if I was? I don't see what the big deal is, you know."

Sasuke shrugged, almost unnoticeably.

"You always talk about how much stronger you are compared to everyone else.", he said. "Why don't you start by proving you're stronger than someone who's known to be weaker than you?"

Naruto clicked his tongue. "Jeez! Enough with the riddles, already; either tell me who you're talking about or just shut the heck up!"

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke opened his notebook and remained silent. Iruka grabbed a piece of chalk and began writing something across the board, commencing his lecture.

"...I'm talking about the girl who dragged you here, dobe."

Naruto froze up. Caught in disbelief, he turned his head just enough so that she entered into his peripheral vision.

It was one thing to be caught by a Jounin guard, or a Chuunin academy teacher, or even a Konoha police officer, but to be dragged to class against your will by a classmate who was weaker than you?

He gritted his teeth together and tightened his grip on the pencil.

If she thought she was getting away with this, then she had another thing coming.

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The girl in the back of the room sighed tiredly, scratching her head so that flakes of dried green paint snowed to the ground. Class had ended ten minutes ago and here she still was, picking coloring out of her hair. She suddenly realized it was kind of hard to see with all her bangs off to the side, half-covering an eye.

Maybe I should get it cut.

"Oi, henjin!"

She snapped out of her daze and glanced around the classroom, realizing she was the last student left.

"Eh?", she blinked, pointing at her nose. "Me?"

"Yeah, you!"

Much to her surprise, he seemed upset.

Naruto put a hand on his waist and angrily pointed up at her. "I challenge you to a fight!"

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