A/N: The evil will be revealed in part 3 of the prologue, and the dreaming will begin in either chapter 1 or 2. But this is as far as I plan to go until Spring Break's over. So, enjoy.
Prologue part 2
Naruto thanked the fact that his aunt still mailed him birthday presents. He had something to listen to, with his recently-obtained mp3. He was currently rocking to Holiday by Green Day. Today was Saturday, and he was to go to the mall today to meet up with Shikamaru. He walked in past the usual crowds of people, headed to the food court. People stared at his orange jacket and the red orange shirt that advertised some sort of restaurant he liked.
Outside of the Subway booth in the food court, Shikamaru and Choji waited on their friends; Shikamaru for Naruto, Choji for the other guys. Shikamaru spotted the tell-tale speck of orange in the crowd, and when he saw the headphones he sighed. I'll have to go get him personally then. Shikamaru excused himself and went to retrieve the blonde dork.
When they got to the table, Naruto wished he could keep listening. He'd switched it to This Coma by Nailpin just before Shikamaru yanked the earphones out. "So, lay it on me Choji. Is this a prank?" Naruto asked bluntly. Choji snickered. "I thought it was too when I first heard, but Sasuke was serious." This changed Naruto's attitude. Prep/emo Sasuke asked for me? Why? Naruto ignored this thought. "So why'd we meet in such a troublesome area like a mall on Saturday?" Shikamaru continued. Choji smirked. "Well, we've decided that before Naruto can join, he's going to have to change his wardrobe a bit. Consider it a late birthday present, we're buying you some clothes." Naruto smirked. He'd gotten a bit of birthday money out of his aunt's share of Namikaze Inc. He'd make sure he bought something himself here.
After a quick lunch, and agreeing that Lee wouldn't choose a single outfit, the rest of the group, including Ino arrived. When asked why Ino was there, it was said she would be the judge for what was cool and what wasn't for the clothes. With that settled, Sasuke, Lee, and Neji bought some lunch while Shino and Kiba said they weren't hungry. Then they took their lunch with them to the clothing stores.
The Uchiha was the first to buy Naruto anything. They went to Hot Topic to start this off. Naruto decided a bit of orange would have to stay, but other than that they could go wild. Sasuke's first choice was a set of baggy black jeans, with a chain on each side and red stitching. For the shirt, they found a tight-fitting but good-looking black Element shirt, with the Element logo painted red on the front. Naruto himself completed this outfit with a new jacket, dark grey that was close to black, with a large orange fox head on the back and a smaller version of it on his chest, on the right side of the zipper. Sasuke decided to add a pair of black fingerless workout gloves to finish this off, enhancing the look. When Naruto got out of the changing room, he had to admit he looked sweet. Ino, the judge of this event, agreed that this would probably be the best they came up with today. Sasuke paid, and they left feeling like they already accomplished a miracle. Afterwards, Naruto decided to change back into this outfit and just keep his old one in the bag. Now he could walk around without colors that shouted "Here I am, number one dork of Konoha High."
Next was Neji. They had the punk look down, so Neji knew he'd have to try and match that with a little more disciplined flare. He could already tell Naruto would visit his family's dojo for the next thing they'd ask him to do after changing his wardrobe, and he'd want Naruto to look decent. So they headed to another random clothing store. Neji first found a shirt that would look good with Naruto's jacket, a white shirt with an inverse of the Minutes to Midnight cover, where the title and band silhouettes were white and the sky was black. The sea they were in front of on the cover was a darker shade of grey than the original. Neji decided blue jeans would work with this look, since he didn't want black pants in his look. They weren't too baggy, they fit Naruto just fine. They had to admit that this would be a good look when he felt like looking normal.
Kiba was next. He knew Naruto needed some shorts in his look, so he found some baggy grey shorts, by the same brand as Naruto's jacket and they had the fox logo on the right leg. The shorts were about 3 inches below his knees at the bottom, and they had a white stripe at the side of each leg. Kiba chose a red shirt from Speedo with a pattern of totem poles along the chest and upper back. All in all, it was the most average looking thing they'd found for him, but Kiba wasn't too creative so Ino said it would do.
It was Shino's turn now, and you wouldn't think he had an eye for fashion. But when Naruto made him promise no big coat and sunglasses, Shino had to think. Deciding Naruto looked cool in black, he chose from the same store as Kiba, a pair of black jeans just a little tighter than the ones Neji picked, and a very good black shirt. This shirt was black everywhere but the front, which was covered in a very good picture. Said picture showed a pack of dragons flying in the night sky. The dragons in the background were silhouettes, but there was one with a distinct face staring at you, yellow eyes shining brightly, and even his bared teeth and scales seemed to shine in moonlight. The main dragon also had a nose ring, giving a "head of the pack" feel to it.
Finally, it was Shikamaru's turn. Shino would pay for this as well, but Naruto needed a fifth outfit at least, since it wasn't very attractive at school to wear the same thing twice in a week. So, knowing Naruto wanted to keep the jacket in every look except for Kiba's, he decided upon a baggier look than any yet. He found a pair of jeans that said Paco Jeans on one pocket and the left knee, but were just too big around the waist. Shikamaru told Naruto to go put on some shorts and put the jeans over it, and handed Naruto a blue long-sleeve shirt. The result was a good color combination on top, with jeans that looked to fit better than they really did, but were wide around the legs to give a baggy look.
As they walked out of the mall, Naruto wearing Shikamaru's look for now, and laughing at Assistant Principle Jiraiya trying to flirt with the older women. That's when Neji brought up something. "Naruto, we stated that wardrobe change would be one condition to you two joining us. Sasuke, would you like to take it from here?" "With pleasure." said the Uchiha. "I decided on inviting you when you got trash canned by Kabuto last time, Naruto. And since you two are best friends, I ask one thing for you both to join: You must fight Kabuto and his gang working together. We will watch and keep a circle around the fight, but you two must put up a good fight, if not totally beat them." Naruto looked shocked. "But I've never really fought. I wouldn't know what to do other than throw random punches." Shikamaru seconded that motion. Neji had already prepared for this. "My family owns a dojo. I'll tell them I'm advertising it by giving you guys a trial day in which you attend the dojo, but I'll be teaching you some quick tag team moves. By Monday, you'll be able to kick ass. Show up wearing either my outfit or Kiba's, Naruto. They're easier to move in, and when training that's what counts."
Two days later….
Naruto was the talk of the school from the start of the day. He came in wearing Sasuke's gift, and his jacket and gloves. The common words were "Is that Uzumaki?" and "What happened to him?" from the freshmen class and a few Sophomores who remembered him from middle school. The upper classmen all wondered who the new kid was. Naruto felt good, knowing that this look was awesome. By lunch he and Shikamaru had shaken off all nervousness. They headed for the spot the Juniors liked to get Naruto at, and waited. Sure enough, a minute later they were greeted by the 5 people Naruto hated most. Kabuto already had a retort before anything was said. "Nice look. Let's trash it for you." But when he reached for Naruto, he found Naruto's hand squeezing his wrist. Kabuto wasn't used to Naruto fighting back, and had forgotten that Shikamaru was still there. That was a big mistake, as he got socked in the face by the laziest boy in the school. No one noticed Sasuke, Neji, and Shino hiding in the nearby bushes to keep watch.
Kabuto was pissed. His glasses were slightly askew, and as he fixed them he stated to the others "Don't just stand there, get them both." They circled in on the two, and Kidomaru made a dash at Naruto while Tayuya did the same to Shikamaru. They thought the two were trapped, but Naruto and Shikamaru ducked them and kicked them from behind, causing both to collide into each other instead of the targets. Naruto and Shikamaru stared at each other, not thinking they'd be able to pull it off, and Sakon punched Shikamaru in the back. Naruto saw the fat one try to come up behind him while he was distracted, so he punched Sakon and turned them around, leaving Sakon between Naruto and Shikamaru, who was still on the ground. Jirobo was about to grab Shikamaru, but Naruto had pushed Sakon over Shikmaru, causing him to fall into Jirobo. Jirobo was more surprised then hurt, but Sakon fell on his back after bouncing off the fat one. Shikamaru got up and kicked him in the gut, knocking him down too, though you could hear Shikamaru grunt from having kicked something that thick. Looking around, the two freshmen noticed that Kabuto had run off like a little bitch. The three who were watching were about to come out when they saw principal Tsunade showing up. "Naruto, Shikamaru, my office after lunch." With that, she went to eat.
Neji stepped out first. "Good job, guys. I knew you were getting what I showed you a little fast, but damn. This means that without a doubt you're welcome to hang with us." Shino appeared nearby. "Excellent performance. I expect bitch-boy won't try that again." Sasuke walked out with his hands in his pockets. "A bit sloppy towards the end, but good for a couple of dobes." Naruto scowled, but accepted the friendship.
That night, after a horrible detention with Tsunade that involved cleaning up after one of her destructive tempers, Naruto and Shikamaru hung out at Naruto's, inviting the guys over as well. They had a small celebration, involving video games and popcorn until about 9, when everyone but Naruto went home. It turned out Naruto was best at Soul Caliber 3. Naruto slept on the couch, not bothering to do anything but change out of his clothes. He had a smile on his face as he realized he finally had some friends.
A/N: To reiterate, I should be gone for a week but will be updating both my stories after I get back. Thanks to those who like them so far.