(A/N)

"Words" English

"Words'' Japanese

'Words' Thoughts

Chapter One - The Rules

Naruto's apartment was a long way from the upper west-side where Tsunade's house was. He grinned as he remembered when he asked her why she wasn't living on the Hill and her response consisted something about uptight bastards with a stick up their ass, not that he would know. The boy hadn't even been in the north before due to horror stories of beat downs from cops who just suspect you of being a gang. Nothing at all compared to the officers he knew down in the Territories.

The blonde was quick to make friends with the patrolling officers, even helped them out on occasion. Little did he know that a big part of this was because he looked so much like his father whom was considered a hero amongst police stations in the lower west and south. People in these stations were almost always ex-gang members trying to make difference, in Naruto's opinion real cops who deserved respect.

He was a tad bit surprised when he finally shifted his eyes from his old sneakers, it seemed that his feet already knew the way home and sure enough he was at the bus stop. His lips curled up at the sight of the vehicle exactly where he'd just seen it a few hours ago. Naruto told the driver not to wait for him, but a gut feeling told him that his request would be ignored.

Walking up to the doors he knocked on the doors with his knuckles and eventually this woke up the driver whom was obviously exhausted, suddenly Naruto felt a bit guilty. "Told you not to wait up for me Mr. Mantani," he huffed, but the smile on his face never flattered, he was always confronted by the fact that others go out of the way to take care of him, well his friends at least.

Mr. Mantani was a burly man with a black fuzzy beard, but kind eyes. The worn denim jacket he wore hardly covered his beer belly, people often thought of Santa Claus when seeing him. This man drove the bus route from the west to the south, but oddly enough he worked both night and days, Naruto always figured he was struggling to support himself and his daughter, nice to know that there are at least some people out there who would do anything for family.

"Sorry Kit, but there is no way in hell you are walking down to your house at this time of night," a tired gravely voice responded, deciding to add a mumbled, "I told you to call me Shouhei."

All of his friends called him Kit due to his scars and fox-like nature. At first he had been annoyed by the nickname, but it grew on him and now he feels as if Naruto is just a formal name to only use on special occasions. The nickname had started when he was eleven, given to him by one of women who took care of him. It was at also at age eleven that he was discovered on the streets by Jiraiya.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the comment, "Yeah, yeah, whatever old man. Save me the lecture and just take me home," he beamed. With that he took the closest seat to the right of the driver and began to chatter on about what he was going to do tomorrow. It was mainly a one sided conversation, but it the joyfulness that Naruto was emitting made it all worth while to Mr. Mantani.

Uchiha Sasuke was always on time, early even. He was above tardiness, something that in he actually prided himself with. All of this is why he is in front of a mirror at five a.m. spiking his hair with gel and straightening his out his black flannel shirt. However the unusual thing was that school only started at seven and he lived just minutes away from North Hill Academy. Some may think that this implies that Sasuke was nervous, or even excited for school, but it was quite the opposite.

To him school was pure torture. It certainly was not because of the work, he was in the top of his grade, but more the way he is treated. Bullies were never a problem, but it was the constant admiration that bugged him. The Uchihas had once owned a vas empire that was worth millions, but after they all died and Itachi was incarcerated all of this money went directly to him. In other words, people saw him as a walking money-bag.

Boys were terrified and envious of him because of his cool demeanor and what they thought was the possibility of him going insane like his older brother, while girls adored him for his good looks and mysteriousness. Teachers took pity on him for his current family situation and always treated him with kindness no matter what he did. Defiantly the pity was irritated him the most.

It seemed as if the only person who saw him as Sasuke and nothing else was his guardian Hatake Kakashi. He had been the legal guardian of the boy for ten years and treated him as a nephew. Kakashi did not get close with the idea of riches, but rather the well being of the child. The man was the head police officer for Konoha, stationed in the north-side. Stern, but fair, he was a good guardian by any standard. In fact he was the reason why Sasuke has decided to take a career path in the law enforcement field.

Sasuke had full intentions on becoming a detective, to help solve crimes and put criminals behind bars. This being the reason as to why he had applied to become a junior investigator for the Konoha police force, obviously he was accepted due to not only his respected surname, but it was Kakashi who was doing the screening process. There was no doubt that Sasuke was intelligent, more equipped for the job than most of the senior investigators, but that didn't stop them from treating him like a kid.

Much to his dismay this meant that he was the butt of many jokes, the most recent one was by far the most annoying; they assigned him to the Kyuubi Case. It has been two years since the criminal had started to make appearances, most of them for petty thefts, but as time went on petty thefts turned into grand theft and he began to be associated with gang violence. While it couldn't be proved there was a sinking suspicion that he was also responsible for several murders, Kyuubi was good at leaving no evidence behind.

To make matters worse was that all that was inside the file given to him was a list of random stolen items and a picture. One thing was clear however, Kyuubi had taken that picture willingly, if the peace sign he was holding up was any indication. What surprised Sasuke the most was that no one had profiled this guy, was he really that elusive? If he was, it certainly explained how so many tried in vain to crack the case, it was dubbed impossible and now they thought they could keep Sasuke busy by giving him something that he couldn't possibly solve. But oh was he going to prove them wrong, just to spite them.

Finally satisfied with his reflection the raven glanced over at his digital clock, it clearly read five-fourty, taking this as a cue to leave for school he picked up his messenger bag, weighed down with books and school supplies, and walked out of his room in perfect strides. Once he had reached the kitchen Kakashi seemed to come out of no where. "Yo. Don't you think it's a bit early to leave for school Sasuke?" he didn't even bother to look up from his book.

"Hn."

"We really need to work on those social skills," it was very obvious that he was amused. Sasuke on the other hand was not and continued walking to the front door, trying his best to ignore his guardian. "Bye Sasuke," he said quietly while rolling his eyes. Sasuke was so easily annoyed; it was unavoidable, so he might as well have fun with it.

When Naruto had finally got home he was so excited he couldn't sleep, which was probably for the better considering there was a party going on in the floor above him. He lived in a run-down apartment complex in the heart of the Fire District and the building was packed with members of the Leaf, the predominate gang of Fire. Actually he was pretty sure he was the only one not in a gang in the whole vicinity. The Leaf maybe his family, but that didn't mean he had to a part of them, rather he took care of them. Instead of carrying around a gun he carried around simple medical supplies, if you needed a place to crash Naruto would let you stay in his home without question. That little fact defiantly explained the five boys in his living room.

There were guidelines of course to staying in his apartment. All weapons must be hidden up in the paneled ceiling, on top of each panel is one person's weapons, after this you are to find a colored thumb tack and tack the bottom of the panel as to remind you where your property is. Next there is no drinking in the apartment unless given to you by either Naruto or his two roommates. Drugs will not be tolerated, this also means you are not to break into the pad-locked medicine cabinet. The last rule is the most critical, you must never, under and condition to go into Naruto's room. No one is sure why he stresses this rule so much, but they don't question his authority, since he is paying for one half of the rent.

The main language used among gang members is Japanese, since most of them are at least partially Japanese. Not Naruto however, blonde hair and blue eyes with naturally tan skin he was far away from Asian, yet he spoke the language just as well as the rest of them. He had started to learn to speak it when he was originally brought to the Fire District and even after only five years he spoke it perfectly. Talking just seems to come naturally to Naruto and he made sure everyone was well aware of this fact.

Walking into his bedroom after a few "Hey Kit, what's up?"s he checked the clock and was glad to see that it already read two a.m. The upper west-side was a long bus ride away from his humble abode. This thought caused him to groan.

'I'm going to have to wake up really early every morning just to get there, damn.' He couldn't help but feel some self pity at the thought. Summer was nice while it lasted. Packing up his faded orange backpack, he headed back out to the living room to visit with the boys.

Once Tsunade had reached the school with Naruto she pulled into the parking lot just in time to watch a teenager around Naruto's age walk out of his car. There was an air of superiority about this kid and she didn't like it one bit, looking over at the boy she adopted she noticed that he too looked like he had taken an instant disliking to the raven. Pulling the door open she steeped out of the car. "It's not polite to stare brat."

"I wasn't staring hag!" he yelled while getting out of the car and slamming the door. He was a bit embarrassed at getting called out, but was defiantly thankful that the other teenager was already gone.

Ignoring the comment she walked into the school with Naruto in toe, marching up the reception desk and asking to see the principal. The lady behind the counter paged the principal and lazily pointed a finger to a door that was labeled 'Office' in bold black letters.

Upon entering the office a man in a dark blue suit motion for them to sit down in two chairs facing his desk. "You must be Naruto," He said looking at Naruto with a disapproving glance, "and you must be his guardian?"

"That would be correct," she wanted to make this as quickly as possible. She had a slot machine with her name on it waiting in her casino.

He reached out a hand in Tsunade's direction and in turn she shook it, "It's a pleasure meeting you." The fact that he didn't do the same for Naruto did not go unnoticed. After a pause of silence and the principal ruffling some papers he continued. "We normally don't take children with a record such as this, but we have decided to make an exception do to Jiraiya-san's generous donation."

"I understand and we are please you made this decision," she said in a well disguised fake thankful tone.

Handing Tsunade a large stack of papers the Principal smiled warmly, "You may go outside and fill these out while I talk to Naruto here about some rules and guidelines for him to follow."

With a curt nod she made her exit with a sigh of relief, saying something that sounded astoundingly similar to "What an ass…".

As soon as the door clicked shut the smile that had graced the man's lips was gone in record time. "Look here kid, I've seen your records and I will not tolerate any shenanigans. Any word of a fight, any at all, and I will not hesitate to expel you. You are on thin ice Mr. Uzumaki," his voice was stern and threatening.

An angry Naruto just clenched his fists under the older man's scrutiny.

"Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, I get it," he gritted out.

Handing Naruto his schedule he pointed to the door, "Mr. Nara is waiting outside for you, he'll show you around."

"Thanks," he mumbled while walking out of the office, 'What a jerk…' Naruto thought while hoping that his guide would be at least a bit more pleasurable.