The Butler with the Devilish Smile

by The Disciple of Pein

Sometimes when a man dies, nothing changes. Sometimes when a man lives, everything changes. A feared Jinchuuriki becomes a stranger with questionable ethics. A dark avenger becomes an heir to a clan regaining its former glory. A lovestruck girl becomes a genius with an extreme sense of dualism. But why would an outlaw ever show loyalty to a place like Konoha? What is his agenda?

2. Chapter 2

Well, your voices have been heard! I'm happy to present the second chapter of Bandit Butler Naruto! Of course I'd really appreciate it if I continued to hear your voices. Nothing's worse for a writer's motivation than to think no one's really interested. That said I'm going to continue to try and earn those responses, so just watch this space for more and as always, please enjoy!

---

Making buddies

The classroom was quiet that bright, sunny morning. That was possibly due to the fact that there wasn't a single living soul inside it. It was too early for class to begin and even the most diligent of students didn't want to come in and spend the rest of the time before first period began sitting on their butts and watching the clock. Everyone was outside, walking the last sleep from their joints and quizzing each other about their results from the previous exam.

The door to the classroom slid open and broke the humble silence with the presence of someone with reason to come in so early. That person was none other than Sasuke, who came into the classroom with a conspicuous look upon his face. He had needed to utilise the best of his stealth abilities in order to get this far undetected. The girls in his year, and even his female underclassmen for that matter, where always very enthusiastic about greeting him in the mornings. Normally he took this in his stride, but on this occasion he had something he wanted to do. Just a bit of fun really.

He came to his favourite seat in the classroom; one that gave a window view that reached out as far as the street outside the gates. There were still other students coming in, and more than one rabble of females hovering in anticipation, wondering where he was. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk to himself as he slung his satchel off his back and dropped it on the desk. He had about fifteen minutes before the punctual ones made their early arrival, and he didn't want to be caught with his pants around his ankles. Literally.

With the haste to account for the off chance of an earlier arrival than usual, but also with the care to not draw the attention of anyone outside, Sasuke began pulling his clothes off and dropping them on the desk. Once he was down to his skivvies he reached inside his satchel and pulled out a second set of clothes, which he climbed into just as quickly as he had undressed. By the time he was cleaned up and slipping his satchel filled with his old clothes under the desk, he was a new man completely. Like someone right out of a host club as a matter of fact.

Though his father didn't approve of him wearing such things, and his mother certainly hadn't intended them to be used in such a way when she bought them, the silk shirt and suit pants combo were quite the catching pair on Sasuke, especially when coupled with the tiger fang necklace he'd been given as a gift from a travelling uncle of his. With the exam period and two week vacation over with however, and this being the first day back, he thought he'd take the chance to see just how much he could stimulate the female members of his class.

With everything in place all Sasuke had to do was wait until the rest of the class started to wander in. That gave him some time to figure out how he wanted to play on their reactions. He sat back and relaxed for a while, holding his hands behind his head and crossing a foot over his knee. Satisfied with his pose, he took a glance out the window to see how things were outside. He almost had a heart attack when he realised someone was looking in. Doubly so when he saw who it was.

The boy from the police station three weeks ago. He was standing outside the window, staring straight at Sasuke with a familiar grin. His clothes hadn't changed even in the slightest detail, down to the hood that covered half his face or the bareness of his front torso. There was one thing different however. He had a katana strapped to his back. Presumably the one that had been confiscated. Seeing the glint of the hilt and the glint in the boy's eyes, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a little unnerved.

People outside were staring at the boy, wondering who he was and where he came from. Sasuke only knew a little more than them, and even then it was only what he'd heard at the police station before his father hurried off to send a message. This boy was named Uzumaki Naruto if he recalled correctly. He had snuck into the village and resisted arrest, getting himself locked up in the process. Aside from that, the only other thing he had to go on was the look on his parents' faces when they realised who this Naruto was. It was enough to tell Sasuke that this guy was a big deal.

"Ya mind openin' up?"

Naruto's voice was clear even through the glass. There was a distinct sensation in his tone that suggested he was only asking Sasuke in order to save the mess of breaking through the glass on his own. Not wishing to be showered in broken glass, Sasuke got to his feet and lifted the window up, staying on guard all the while. When he did, and there was no glass between the two of them anymore, Naruto's expression cooled considerably. Sasuke sat back down at the desk, and with him out of the way Naruto vaulted inside, landing on that very same desk.

Naruto took a few steps across the desk and slid off, landing in the seat next to Sasuke. He lifted off his katana, sheath and strap alike, and set it down on the desk so he could slouch peacefully on the bench. He closed his eyes and rubbed them with the back of his hand, massaging the dark rings that indicated a lack of proper sleep. Then he cast a glance to Sasuke, and noticed that the dark haired boy was doing his best not to look like he was staring. His best wasn't quite good enough though.

"Thanks." Naruto said, turning in his seat to face Sasuke. "The guy only pointed the room out to me from the outside, and I didn't wanna try my luck with the hallway." He extended a hand to Sasuke. "Name's Uzumaki Naruto."

For a second Sasuke didn't know how to respond, but basic etiquette had him accepting Naruto's hand and shaking it firmly. "Uchiha Sasuke." He said, while trying not to give too strange a look to Naruto. "You're a student here?"

"Am now." Naruto replied, taking the chance to check out the classroom from the inside. "Guess you could call me a transfer student, though technically I'm not really coming from anywhere."

Naruto turned around on the bench to check out a broader scope of the classroom, giving Sasuke ample opportunity to in turn check out Naruto. Somehow he didn't seem the same as the boy he'd seen at the police station three weeks ago. Back then he had appeared so much more… hostile. He'd looked at both Sasuke and his mother as if they were meat and he was a hungry wolf. Right now however, he saw none of that. Maybe Sasuke had just overreacted from the atmosphere back then. Whatever the case, he didn't feel as much of a need to be on guard as he thought he did. Still, it didn't hurt to ask.

"Before… you were in the police station." He said, choosing his words carefully.

Naruto looked at Sasuke quickly, searching his face with a quizzical expression. It was a full ten seconds before he reached any form of conclusion, but when he did it was more overblown than Sasuke expected. "So that's where I recognise you from!" he excitedly exclaimed, suddenly throwing all his attention at Sasuke. He must have realised then that Sasuke had been trying to ask him about that occasion, because he dropped back from his feet to his rear and altered the course of the topic in such a direction. "Yeah, I saw the guard guys and figured they'd wanna see papers. But I don't really have any kind of ID, so I thought I'd just try my luck and sneak past 'em. Didn't turn out like I hoped."

It was an unusual story that brought a few questions to Sasuke's mind, but before he could bring himself to ask any the door to the classroom opened and one of the early birds made their entrance. In an instant both Naruto and the newcomer, Aburame Shino, were locked in a vice grip stare that Sasuke couldn't hope to get between even if he had a wrecking ball.

Shino spent several moments standing in the one spot, studying Naruto from behind his sunglasses. Naruto didn't go that far himself, but he couldn't deny interest in this odd figure that was showing him such silent consideration. Eventually however Shino broke off his stare and redirected his attention to Sasuke, sparing only a few seconds to gloss over the Uchiha's unusual dress before raising his voice.

"Is this a friend of yours, Uchiha-san?" Shino enquired, before looking back at Naruto. "It would be best if you were on your way. Because class will be starting soon and the only ones permitted on these grounds during hours are staff, students and ninja."

"Relax Shino-san. This guy's a transfer student." Sasuke explained. This however did not seem to satisfy the Aburame.

"A transfer student?" he repeated with a frown. "Unlikely. Why, you ask? Because a transfer student implies someone that has come from one educational institution to another. Since there are no other ninja academies inside of Fire Country that could only mean that he was transferred from another ninja village, which is unlikely because-"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Naruto exclaimed, waving his hands to silence Shino. The Aburame clearly wasn't pleased with being interrupted, but he gave Naruto room to talk. "Gimme a little warning before ya open that thing!" he said in a joke that did not amuse Shino one bit. "I got homeschooled alright? My sensei said it was time to get into the business and sent me up here. Hokage was pretty happy to let me in, so here I am!"

Naturally Shino saw a number of flaws in that story, particularly in regard to someone being allowed into the academy immediately after the exam period. But Naruto vouched for himself so much so that Shino was willing to put the matter to rest. At the very least when their instructor arrived Naruto's story would either be confirmed or rejected. That would be sufficient to appease Shino's curiosity.

While the Aburame was thinking all this he crossed the classroom and headed towards his preferred seat at the back. This left Naruto and Sasuke watching him strangely, not sure if Shino was satisfied with Naruto's explanation or irritated by having his logic treated so rudely by the offending party. Whatever the case, by the time Shino was seated the other two had diverted their attention. Naruto scratched his head in bewildered confusion while Sasuke gave him a sympathetic smirk.

"You sure know how to put your best foot forward don't you?" he asked.

For a few seconds it didn't look like Naruto was listening to him. He appeared to be too wrapped up in his own thoughts. Sasuke settled for watching him then, wondering just who this strange guy was. But then out of nowhere Naruto grabbed his sword and stood up on his seat, fixing a rather unnerving stare upon Shino, who met him with a scrutinising leer.

"Is there something you wish to say?" the Aburame asked. He eyed the katana in Naruto's hand. "Unsupervised fighting is prohibited. But if you attack me I'll have no choice but to fight back."

The undertone of a threat that lingered under Shino's breath brought about a grin to Naruto more ferocious than he had displayed so far. The air crackled with electricity as Sasuke looked between the two of them, wondering if he was about to be dragged into something dangerous. He wasn't experienced in the area, but he was sure he could feel something really messed up coming from Naruto. It was almost as if the strange boy wanted an excuse to unsheathe that katana and cut Shino down.

And then the bell rang.

The dull ringing permeated through the walls of the hallway and bounced around the classroom, leaving through the open window and joining the din of its sister bell outside. For the duration of the noise not a movement was made between the three young males as two out of three continued to stare each other down.

Then the ringing ceased, and the sounds of footsteps began.

"What're you talking about?" Naruto asked, relaxing his stance and smirking. "I just realised I know your name but you don't know mine. Didn't seem fair. Uzumaki Naruto."

A long pause came as both Shino and Sasuke were thrown by Naruto's display of… something. It sufficed to say that neither of them knew what to make of the hooded boy or his strange mannerisms. But as the footsteps drew nearer and the classroom door opened, Shino decided to close the matter in as neatly a way as possible.

"Aburame Shino." He said, before taking out a book from his bag and burying himself in it.

Satisfied, Naruto turned around and dropped onto the bench, laying out his katana back on the desk. He busied himself in studying the number of students that wandered into the classroom in fragmented groups, eying them up as they did him. As expected, there wasn't a single person who wasn't curious about his presence. As equally expected, there wasn't one of them with the balls to do more than glance at him uncomfortably. In that sense, Aburame Shino wasn't so bad in his books.

"Hey, Sasuke-san." Naruto spoke without doing more than inclining his head but a couple of degrees in Sasuke's direction, and certainly without taking his eyes off the students making their way inside. "I got a favour to ask ya. I'm looking to make some buddies. Think you could point out some people to me?"

Sasuke had only just managed to recollect himself from Naruto's very peculiar introduction with Shino. This was why he cocked a brow at this request, since getting a read on this odd boy was proving to be a tricky task. "No problem." He responded. "What kind of people are you interested in?"

At this he got a cursory glance from Naruto, one equipped with a cocky smirk. "The kind of people that'd be good to make buddies with." He said. "Long run style."

Now this drew more than just Sasuke's attention. It led him to look at Naruto in an entirely different way. He saw the strange boy less as the worrying individual with a blade at the ready and more like… well, someone he could understand a little better. Shifting in his seat to get a better look both at Naruto and his classmates making their way in, he adopted a cool smile coupled with an intrigued glimmer in his eyes.

"Looking for connections?" he asked, watching the door. "I can help you with that. Not just yet though." His smile grew. "I've got a little situation to deal with before that."

It was Naruto's turn to give Sasuke the look of intrigue, but he was distracted almost immediately by a sound that made his ears ring. Wincing, he turned to the doorway and saw that a sizable group of girls had come into the classroom, all of them staring at Sasuke with hearts in their eyes. Just as he realised that the ear piercing sound he had heard was a resounding "KYA!", the girls rushed forward, brimming with excitement.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

Naruto was almost forced to duck for cover at the stampede of femininity coming his way. It looked like the sight of Sasuke dressed as he was had given them an awful case of tunnel vision, for they were storming the bench below and even climbing over Naruto just to get close to Sasuke, who embraced their enthusiasm with a stoic smile that was eerily believable even from Naruto's perspective.

"The hell?!" Naruto couldn't help but exclaiming his shock at this mindboggling situation. Despite never in his life wondering what a girl acting like an excited puppy would look like, he was forced to witness not one, but several cases of this. He wasn't going to say anything, but then he noticed one of the girls kneeling over his katana and panicked. "HEY WATCH IT!"

The act of grabbing his sword and pulling it to his chest served to break the concentration the girls had on Sasuke, and allowed them for the first time to notice that Naruto was even there to begin with. Suddenly it wasn't the dressed up guy beside him that was getting all their attention, but he himself. Somehow being the centre of attention from a group of decently pretty to outright attractive girls was not as awesome as he'd expected.

Seven pairs of female eyes all bore into him, searching the face of this new boy that had entered their midst. Their gazes drew from his round blue eyes, down to his well defined muscles and immediately he felt himself being assessed. When blank expressions started to show traces of blushing on every girl's face, Naruto primed himself to make a hasty exit. He was not prepared for this!

Just as he was about to make a dash something caught the back of his senses. He looked from the corner of his eye to the guy sitting next to him, and could almost see the furious flames spilling out of what was on its own nothing more than an annoyed leer. Without even intending to it seemed he had managed to ruin Sasuke's attempts at doing whatever the hell it was he was attempting to do.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto and Sasuke looked over their shoulders to the new voice that called out to the latter of the two. Behind them, at the desk above, a girl Naruto hadn't noticed was leaning forward with about as casual a pose as she could muster while still putting herself far enough forward to show her best features. Boy were they some features. Where the seven girls in front went as far as outright attractive, this girl was on a higher tier. It was hard to look at her and not think indecent thoughts.

"Good morning to you too Ino-chan." Sasuke had his game face on in an instant and flashed the girl his best charms. Naruto figured that directed at any of the girls in front, they would have swooned. With this girl, Ino, however, the effects were not quite as strong. She smiled widely in return, clearly happy to receive such attention, but it didn't take her long to switch her own attentions to Naruto.

"Who's the new guy?" she asked, studying him every bit as diligently as the now pouting girls in front had. But unlike them she didn't indicate any obvious reaction to Naruto's physique. In fact the best one could describe her response to Naruto's appearance would be "mildly interested".

"This is Uzumaki Naruto." Sasuke said, almost succeeding in hiding the slightly peeved tone in his voice. Naruto caught it however and cast Sasuke a knowing grin. A grin that Sasuke did absolutely everything in his power to ignore. "I met him a few weeks ago when he was locked up in a jail cell."

That would do the job of putting off the girls who were currently looking at Naruto, Sasuke believed. Shame then that it instead served only to heighten the interest Ino was sending to Naruto. "What were you doing locked up Naruto-kun?" she asked with a smile.

Feeling the silent fury emanating off of Sasuke, Naruto couldn't help but play on the atmosphere. "Not much, just walked into the village without a passport." He said with an aloof gesture. "Gave this one guy the run around for a while… uh, what was his name?" he looked at Sasuke. "Kinda looked like this guy over here. Inabi?"

"Uchiha Inabi." Sasuke reluctantly admitted.

"Wait a second, you gave an Uchiha the run around?!" Ino exclaimed, showing more than a little intrigue by now.

Naruto shrugged. "I guess I did." He then looked at Sasuke. "Sounds like you Uchiha guys got a bit of a reputation."

"Well of course!" cried out one of the girls, one of the few that hadn't reacted in such an exaggerated manner to seeing Naruto. "The Uchiha run the entire police force and special forces! Sasuke-kun here is the son of the clan head and the police chief!"

Sasuke hissed at the girl, frightening her into falling off the desk she was currently crouching on and causing a good bit of bother to the boy on the bench below. He often enjoyed the company of the females in his class, but there were several of them that he'd known from the start would never make it as a ninja. That girl there had too big a mouth for her own good. Even an academy student like Sasuke had known better than to just tell official positions to a stranger like-

During his thought he'd looked in Naruto's direction, and it was that act that brought those thoughts to a standstill. Naruto was watching him from the corner of his eye, and was showing that same unnerving stare he'd worn at the police department. It worried Sasuke a great deal to know that the unwanted revelation had warranted such a response from this unknown person. Just who the hell was he?!

The moment passed then when Naruto smoothly turned his eyes away from Sasuke and looked to the mess of girls in front of him. Some of them were giving worried looks to Sasuke, unaware of what had made him so angry so quickly. Others were looking at their fallen sister who had landed in a very compromising position with the boy in front, both of them paralysed by shock and embarrassment. Others still were looking directly at Naruto, having noticed the look he'd given Sasuke but not knowing the reason why. Naruto decided to have a little fun of his own and flashed them the intense look he'd given to Sasuke right there. To his surprise, their blushes turned to full faced flushes.

All of a sudden a sharp whistling disrupted the air and the girls quickly abandoned their fixations in favour of heading towards their favourite seats before they were forced to settle for whatever was nearest. Thoroughly confused by this development, Naruto looked to see one of the male students retreating from the door and heading to his own seat.

"What's going on?" he asked Sasuke, watching the door for whatever was about to come.

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, not sure just how much he could safely tell this person. But both his games, of playing with the girls and finding out stuff about Naruto, had been severely disrupted. He needed to work carefully to fix that situation. He wasn't happy with the imbalance of information between the two. In order to fix that, he needed to be cooperative.

He looked at the door and a great deal of the emotion drained from his face. "The top student in the class always makes her entrance just before our sensei arrives." He said, watching with a great deal less interest than Naruto.

Naruto's ears pricked at the sound of "top student in the class". Now there was little that could tear his eyes away from the door. He wished the rest of the students in the classroom would quit talking among themselves so he could hear the footsteps out in the corridor, but as it was all he had was sight to go on. Lucky for him he didn't have long to wait. The door was pulled open, and a girl walked in.

She was unlike anyone else in the room. But that could be taken as good or bad depending on how you looked at her. Her hair was short and pink, a feathered fringe obscuring green eyes. She was pretty, but she had other, much more distracting details. Details such as the numerous plasters covering her hands and fingers, the bandage around her arm and the gauze on her cheek. She was eye catching in every sense, and yet for some reason she troubled Naruto in a strange, unfathomable way.

Sasuke took notice of the level of attention Naruto was giving to the girl, and took it as an opportunity to pick up on a couple of things. He leaned in towards Naruto and murmured in a low enough voice that only Naruto could hear. "That's Haruno Sakura, highest ranking student and least popular girl in the entire year." He said, looking at Naruto studiously. "She your type?"

The girl, Sakura, paused when she was midway across the floor of the room. A quick scout led her to see only one empty seat in the entire class. That search led her to settle her eyes on Naruto and realise she was being watched. Most people would have looked away, but Naruto continued to watch as she came nearer and nearer, until she was sitting down beside him in the last available spot. After a few seconds of looking dead ahead, she turned to Naruto and asked a single question with her eyes alone. "What?"

Naruto ceased his staring to avoid giving an answer. Sakura had no problem with ignoring the issue and returned to waiting silently for the instructor to come. Sure enough as Sasuke had said the instructor wasn't far behind Sakura. He came into the room and closed the door behind him, looking over a register as he made his way to the centre of the floor.

"Good morning everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your vacation." Said Umino Iruka, lifting his eyes from the register to look around the room. He was searching for something, and it didn't take him long to find it. "Ah, there you are." He said, looking straight at Naruto. "Everyone, as you may have noticed we have a new student joining our class. His name is…"

---

The morning interval came sharply at eleven o'clock and the students of the academy made their way to their favourite haunts for the half hour that was theirs to enjoy. Cliques gathered together and small duos hung around whatever spot provided the best shade, the best view or maybe just close access to the nearest vending machine.

Sasuke sat in the courtyard after having changed back into his more practical attire. The effect of dressing up had worn off and it wasn't a good idea to attend the physical lessons in clothes that weren't intended to be run through the dirt. In that sense he could see why his father disapproved of such a get up. When you went to all that effort and didn't get the payoff you wanted, you couldn't help but think that the whole thing was a waste. Of course, it didn't help that a certain stranger had to show up at the worst possible time.

"I do something to piss you off?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder as Naruto climbed over the foliage and stone to sit down on the bench next to the sullen Uchiha. The question made Sasuke reconsider everything that had gone down. Blaming Naruto for things going wrong was just petty. Not like the guy knew what Sasuke had been trying to do with his display.

"It's fine, I just find myself without a lot of the enthusiasm I woke up with." He said while piercing a straw into a box of juice. Leaning back and sipping, he looked at Naruto and realised the new arrival was still wearing his hood up. "You know we've got some good shade in this part of the village. You don't have to hide beneath that thing."

As if to indicate that Sasuke spoke the truth, some clouds drifted in the way of the sun and made what had been a bright day a little dimmer. That along with the shade of the branches in the trees above meant that there was little to no glare to be had from direct sunlight. And common knowledge dictated that anyone who wore a hood when they didn't need to was hiding something.

"Hey now, watch what you're saying." Naruto smirked, eying the excitable girls from earlier. "My good looks have already stolen the hearts of these young ladies. You don't want them basking in my full radiance just yet."

Such unashamed arrogance couldn't be met with anything other than laughter. Sasuke looked aside while chuckling into his hand. But he hadn't missed the odd kind of attention he was getting from the girls at the moment. With Naruto around now things were starkly different to how they had been these last few years. Maybe a change in the norm wouldn't be so bad.

That was, if the guy mixing things up wasn't trying to use Sasuke to scrounge up information on the other students.

The turn in Sasuke's expression caught Naruto's eye. He gave a sideward look to the Uchiha and managed to read a great deal on his new "friend's" face. "You don't trust me, do ya?" he asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. Sasuke looked at him quickly, but Naruto waved a hand before he could speak. "It's cool, I get ya. I was always taught that coming out on top is more important than getting on people's good side. Guess I'm doing a bad job breaking the habit."

The unexpected honesty coming out of Naruto's mouth made Sasuke rather uncomfortable. He wasn't used to seeing other guys act in any other way than nonchalant or with full on bravado. It made him feel a little guilt for some reason, though he couldn't quite place it. All he knew was that he didn't like feeling like this, and had to do something about it.

Just as he was about to open his mouth, Naruto jumped to his feet and climbed over the stone bench. Sasuke turned around with a surprised frown just as Naruto reached inside his jacket and pulled out two- what the hell was he going to do with kunai?! Suddenly concerned, Sasuke got to his feet to watch what Naruto was doing. But instead of throwing the kunai or anything like that, Naruto faced the nearest tree, sized it up, and jumped at it.

He didn't jump high at all, no more than two feet off the ground. When he reached the apex of his jump he stabbed into the tree with a kunai, suspending himself there with the blade. Then he swung up with his other hand and with one move at a time started to climb, all while hanging from the two blades, grunting with each movement.

By now Naruto was becoming a spectacle among those who noticed him and those who were nudged by those who noticed him. Sasuke was beginning to grow worried that he might be associated with the strange monkey boy. "What are you doing?!" he demanded quietly, trying to hide his embarrassment from the students on the other side of the courtyard.

Naruto grunted again as he lifted himself higher, grinning down at Sasuke when he had a moment to take his eye off the task. "Been sitting on my ass for three weeks now!" he replied. He lifted himself up higher and pulled out his kunai, grabbing onto the thick bough and using it to swing safely down to the ground. He then turned to Sasuke and rolled back his sleeve to his elbow, showing that his muscles weren't limited to his torso. "Barely got any time to move around with all the interviews, background checks, medical checks and so many damn questions I just wanted to break something!"

As Naruto slipped his sleeve back down and hid his kunai back inside his coat Sasuke turned his head to the side and rubbed his neck with a slight look of discomfort on his face. Whether Naruto intended it or not, Sasuke had seen through his words to the underlying truth. The Hokage and the rest of Konoha's administration had gone to great lengths to make sure that it was safe to enter a stranger like Naruto into the ninja program. Of course they did; it would be stupid for them not to. But in acknowledging that Sasuke had to look upon his own suspicions on Naruto. He had to be pretty cold to even think about isolating the new guy just because he was strange. Especially if the Hokage vouched for him.

While Sasuke was being possibly a little too harsh with himself Naruto wandered past him to take a look at the students who were returning to their business. He let out a low whistle that drew Sasuke's attention. "You know, I thought the kind of people I used to hang out with were average looking guys." He said, giving special attention to the girls. "But now I'm starting to think they were all a bunch'a ugly sons of bitches." He gave a wry smile to Sasuke. "No wonder you're trying to play them all, you greedy bastard!"

His implication staggered Sasuke both mentally and physically. He had half a mind to shush Naruto, but it was too late and thankfully no one was close enough to hear that. "Keep it down, you're going to ruin everything!" he hissed, stepping in close and putting an arm over Naruto's shoulder to murmur. "Look, after my second year here I started noticing that I got a lot of attention from the girls. It seemed like harmless fun, so I went along with it to see how they'd react. Before I knew it, I had this thing going on for five years on now. I'd appreciate it if you didn't mess it up!"

He turned Naruto to make sure they were looking eye to eye, and as a result saw in full Naruto's squinting eyes looking at him as if he wasn't quite sure Sasuke was all there. That however changed worryingly when a grin slithered across Naruto's face, stretching from one ear to the next. Sasuke felt the air grow colder and he had the notion that now was the time to brace himself for something disconcerting.

"Hey now, what're you talking about?" Naruto asked, slipping out of Sasuke's hold and putting hands on the Uchiha himself. He spoke in a silky manner that rubbed Sasuke the wrong way. "We're buddies aren't we? What kind of friend would I be if I didn't heed a little request like that?"

Sasuke swiftly felt as if a metaphysical corner was forming around him and he was being backed into it. Naruto's eyes were flashing under the shade of his hood and for yet another time Sasuke felt as if he was being dominated by this weird and unusual person who had literally jumped into his life and grabbed a foothold in no time at all.

But then just as quick as the feeling came, it dissipated as Naruto smiled and patted Sasuke on the back. "It's cool man, I'm kinda interested to see how you do things anyway." He said, looking back to the students who were once again giving him and Sasuke fleeting glances. "I'm not good at getting on people's better sides. It's kind of a flaw I'm working on. I mean, I'm not gonna be able to strong arm every guy I meet right?"

There was a cocky look at that last sentence that annoyed Sasuke, but it didn't overcome the feeling of balance that came with the reassurance Naruto was giving him. He was starting to believe that Naruto was really telling the truth. His own preconceptions of Naruto paired with Naruto's poor social skills were most definitely one way to make a bad impression on somebody. Given that thought, maybe the best thing would be to give Naruto a chance.

"So about that favour I asked."

For a moment Sasuke thought about pretending that he didn't know what Naruto meant. At the very least it would give him the chance of questioning Naruto's reasons behind his almost shady request. While he had no problem accepting that the Hokage was willing to trust Naruto to enough of a degree to try and become a Konoha nin, and that Naruto was indeed not good at making friends, the nature of Naruto's request hadn't changed.

In the end though Sasuke had given his word to help Naruto out in that regard, and he wasn't in the habit of making promises he didn't intend to keep. He sat back down on the bench and was soon joined by Naruto. The two of them scanned the courtyard carefully; one searching for people who matched the description and the other trying to pick out such people without as much to go on.

"Alright, you see that gaggle of girls over there?" Sasuke said, nodding towards the water fountain close to the main doors. There was undeniably a large female presence there, but one girl among them all stood out. "You've already met Yamanaka Ino. She's the next head of the Yamanaka clan and as you can see, is fairly popular. That works both for and against you."

With a surprisingly high display of awareness Ino lifted her head from the group and looked over to Naruto and Sasuke, having realised she was being watched. She gave them a coy wink and stuck out her tongue playfully before returning to the conversations of her friends.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

He didn't get an answer right away, for Sasuke was too busy being embarrassed about having been caught watching Ino. It had always been a part of his image to seem casual yet aware of the girls around him, to never seem deeply interested yet at the same time silently welcoming their presence. "Have you ever heard of the "Limit of Love"?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke as he wondered just where the hell his new comrade was going with such a weird question. "…No." he replied.

"It's the idea that there's only so much affection for others a single person can feel." Sasuke explained, eying Ino in a more surreptitious fashion now. "The more people you surround yourself with the more thinly spread that affection becomes. Someone with only one very close friend against someone with a group of casual friends. Ino would be the latter case. She has a lot of casual friends, and if you're not careful you'll just end up one of the many that she only cares a certain amount about. If you want to get any closer than that, you absolutely can't let yourself fall into her group. You've got to step over that somehow."

That made some sense to Naruto, though not a whole lot. He was starting to realise what a tough task he was setting himself up for, but hell if he was going to quit at the first hurdle. It just needed some thought was all. "I get it, so if I wanna get close to her I can't spread myself too thinly either right?" he was more wondering aloud by that statement, and by the look of surprise on Sasuke's face he knew he was right not to expect an answer. "Alright then, guess I'll take it a couple of moves at a time. Gimme an easy one to start with."

Sasuke gave it some thought while he crossed the courtyard with his eyes in search of someone who fit the bill just right. Aburame Shino was sitting in the shade, but he was a no go from the start. Naruto was hardly off to the best start with that guy and Sasuke didn't even know enough about Shino to offer any relevant suggestions. Luckily somebody walked around the corner just as Sasuke's eyes reached that spot. The perfect person.

"There." He said, guiding Naruto with a nod. One of the boys from their class was making his rounds around the academy with a little white dog in tow. He was a guy that shared a couple of features with Naruto, his choice in headdress not the least. "Inuzuka Kiba, a rising star within his clan. If any of his bragging is to be believed then he's already making decent progress through his clan's secret Taijutsu techniques. From what I understand he's considered a genius in his own right." Sasuke smirked at this. "Though you can take "in his own right" however you want. He gets good marks in the physical examinations but he sucks at anything that doesn't involve punching, kicking or perforating someone with shuriken."

He went on to say more, but Naruto wasn't listening. He was watching the Inuzuka guy closely, taking in every detail his eyes could grant him. Kiba had the eyes of a beast, and the walk of an alpha male. His hands were held loosely at his side, his fingers twitching and fidgeting to a rhythm known only to him. Under this steady surveillance, the shade on Naruto's face appeared to grow deeper, and his eyes took on that piercing glimmer.

Perfect.

---

Sasuke sharply raised his arm above his head, gripping his wrist with his other hand for extra support. He acted just in time to block a strong axe kick that would have connected with his skull otherwise. He saved himself from some serious damage, but his arm hurt like hell. So much for walking out of this without any visible bruises.

The offender flipped back before he could counterattack and bounced into a fresh assault, assailing Sasuke with attempted grabs and throws that when blocked transitioned beautifully into jabs and kicks that did little damage, but hit his sore spots with glaring force. When he finally found an opening to make his own move, he acted on it so fast he nearly screwed up altogether. He managed to divert a punch aimed at his face and step into the attack, striking his opponent's jaw with the base of his palm.

The opponent's head snapped back from the blow, but the movement was followed with a quick kick that drove Sasuke back and allowed said opponent that time to recover. When that time passed, she looked at Sasuke with a concentrated glare, rubbing her chin with the back of her hand. It was the first blow Sasuke had managed to land on Sakura, though not for lack of trying.

The crowd was cheering on the two combatants in a much more refined manner than when they were younger, yet still getting their feelings across pretty damn well. Naturally almost all the girls were calling out their support for Sasuke, while some of the more jealous boys overcame their feelings towards Sakura in the hope she'd mess up the pretty boy's face a little.

Naruto kept himself to the back of the crowd, but maintained a decent enough line of sight to see what was going on. He cursed his lack of height that forced him to perch on a window sill to see the fight. But it gave him a higher perspective, which certainly wasn't a bad thing. And since he'd been forbidden from carrying his katana out here, it was comforting to at least be able to sit with it nearby, inside. There was one other benefit to being up here though.

"Hot damn!" he exhaled, cringing as Sakura slithered into Sasuke's punch and wrapped her leg around his ankle, throwing the Uchiha to the ground and striking with the back of her head to make sure his hit the dirt. She rolled off a split second later while Sasuke was gripping his aching head, readying her stance for when he managed to get back to his feet. "Does she hate that guy or something?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't have anything to do with this." Said Ino, who sat upon the sill of the window neighbouring Naruto's perch. "Sakura doesn't hold back no matter who she's fighting, and with Sasuke-kun being the only one in her tier when it comes to Taijutsu it's natural that he's her opponent. Those two have been fighting each other for years now."

Naruto let out a whistle as Sasuke got to his feet and resumed his stance. There was no blood, but Naruto could clearly see the signs of disorientation from the light swaying going on right now. The top male of the class staggered forward into a clumsy grab that Sakura countered with a straight punch. But at the last second Sasuke's dizziness magically disappeared and he grabbed Sakura's wrist, pulling her in and throwing his forehead against hers in a heavy head butt. Naruto winced as Sakura cried out and stumbled back.

"Of course Sasuke-kun always makes sure to give it his all too." Ino added with a smile.

Before the fight could get any dirtier Iruka blew into his whistle and ended the spar on the spot. Both combatants had fallen on their rear; Sakura from the blow she'd just received and Sasuke from the collective impacts of two blows to the head. Iruka and another instructor named Mizuki checked on both Sakura and Sasuke for signs of concussions before helping them both to their feet. Iruka gave an instruction for the two of them to make some sort of "gesture" and they approached each other to perform some weird two fingered handshake. When that was done they promptly turned away from each other and headed to different sides of the crowd.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, who was supporting the back of neck with both hands, using the relaxed pose to hide his need to nurse his head. The disguise didn't work too well, as shown by one of the bolder girls who came over offering to check Sasuke's head for him. She might have been successful had some of the other girls not noticed and decided to act in kind, attempting to check out all of Sasuke's wounds no matter how slight. It led to Sasuke brushing them all off, acting like he was totally fine. Naruto could see otherwise, but he wasn't about to be a dick and call Sasuke out on it.

"How the hell does that guy manage to be so popular with the girls?" he pretended to wonder out loud.

Ino was watching the crowd of girls with what she must have believed to be a suitably passive expression. Except there was clearly a snide quality to it that wasn't exactly becoming. "I hope you're not grouping me together with them." She said in a not too subtle way. "They barely made the cut this year and are trying to grab a hold on Sasuke-kun in case they don't graduate and lose their chance completely."

Naruto gave her a suggestive look, but she was too busy watching to make sure none of the girls got too handsy with "Sasuke-kun". He would have left her to it if not for the fact he wasn't satisfied with her answer. "I guess there's more than a bit of glamour to the idea of being attached to the son of the police chief and head of the Uchiha." It sounded like a statement, and it was meant to. But it was really a question, and one that Ino was willing to answer. In her own way.

"Please, if any of them were that devious they wouldn't be the bottom of the barrel!" she remarked. Naruto had to hold back a laugh at her brazenness. He really wasn't expecting this Yamanaka Ino to have such a mouth on her. "Sasuke-kun started this whole thing when he first started receiving love letters. I'm sure he's just being nice to them to give them some good memories before they have to sign up to the police force or get civilian jobs or something."

By now Naruto could hardly tear his eyes away from Ino. Observant and outspoken. That could be a dangerous combo. At the very least it gave Naruto a little faith in his fellow classmates that he wasn't the only one who saw the game Sasuke was playing.

Ino caught him staring at her and offered him a wink. "Of course, looks and status aren't everything." She coyly said. "A guy also has to have a bit of a wild side, don't you think?"

Caught off guard by the sudden change of topic, Naruto responded with a grin that could certainly be called "wild" and let his eyes wander over the class. While he'd been otherwise occupied Iruka had called out another pair of students to spar in front of the class. Naruto was growing a little anxious, wondering when his turn would arrive. Watching the crowd was the only way to keep himself busy. That brought his attention to Sakura for the second time.

Unlike Sasuke, Sakura seemed to have recovered completely from their spar. Also unlike Sasuke she had not integrated herself into the crowd. Quite the opposite in fact. She had found a corner of the building to sit down in and had taken out a book from the backpack she had brought with her. Naruto couldn't confirm it, but the book looked to be a textbook. Sasuke hadn't been kidding about her work habits.

On closer inspection he noticed that the anger and strength that she had displayed during her spar had settled down completely, to the point where she only resembled the fierce girl from a few minutes ago by superficial means. In a sharp contrast to that she looked quite calm, serene in fact, as she read through her textbook. There was also something to be seen in the distance she kept from the rest of the class.

A collective gasp from the crowd brought Naruto's attention back to the ongoing spar, where an interesting development had just taken place. One of the combatants had managed to pull his opponent into an arm lock. At first Naruto thought the class was overreacting. He'd seen that move a few times in his training. But then he noticed the glint of the blade, and a smile played across his face. The guy with his arm locked had a kunai in his free hand with the tip poking his opponent's inner thigh. One quick cut and the guy's femoral artery would develop a very nasty leak. That fight was over.

Iruka blew his whistle and the guy with the moves released the guy with the knife. The two of them got to their feet, the victor looking worse off than the loser. Just like with Sasuke and Sakura the two of them were made to do that weird handshake and go their separate ways. The victor slouched off to one side to join his tubby friend, who offered him a grin and a pat on the back.

"Didn't think these guys would be so rough!" Naruto thought with a smile of his own.

Iruka and Mizuki came together after the two students were off the stage and whispered into each other's ears. It didn't seem like all that much until both of them glanced Naruto's way. That made him perk up considerably. They were talking about him. Who wouldn't be interested?

After a half minute of quiet discussion Iruka and Mizuki stepped away from each other and Iruka raised his voice. "Alright, Naruto." He said, looking directly at the person in question. "Now you've seen how it's done why don't you come here and show us what you can do?"

In an instant Naruto felt all eyes fall upon them, all of them curious and none of them subtle. He didn't mind the attention at all, but neither was he interested in it. The blood was starting to pump a little bit faster through his veins as his heart prepared itself for what was soon to come. "You wanna see wild?" he said, sliding off the window with a quick glance at Ino. "Beautiful, you don't even know what that means."

The class parted to watch the new guy heading towards the sparring field. When he started to pull his arms out of his sleeves, everyone made sure they had a clear line of sight in time for him removing his jacket. In doing so they all saw one hell of a spiky fringe to what was otherwise neat blond hair tied back in a short ponytail. There were also the whisker markings on his face to draw the eye. But more importantly they got to see the full scope of his muscles. He wasn't built like a ninja. He was built like a fighter. And not only that. He was a fighter who'd been inked.

On either arm, near the shoulder, there was a red spiral that was familiar to each and every student in the class. It was the same spiral that was on the back of almost every ninja in Konoha ranked Chunin or above. But there was a difference. Those spirals were bound in chains that were wrapped around Naruto's arms. And in the centre of these wrapped chains there was a single, shattered link. A broken chain.

Dropping his jacket at the front of the crowd, Naruto found his way to the centre of the sparring field and turned on the class. He liked the way they were all looking at him. Not one of them could figure out just what they were looking at. He'd given quick looks to the people he'd come to know at least a little. Sasuke didn't show anything on his face. He definitely had Ino's attention. Little could be seen of Shino's face. Sakura's eyes were just peering over her book, giving nothing away.

Iruka and Mizuki both looked at Naruto's back, trying not to show their distaste at his physique. It was far from the kind of build either of them would recommend for a student. A full-fledged ninja with a few years of combat experience could maybe handle it ok, but they seriously doubted this eleven year old boy had such credentials under his belt.

"And for your opponent…" Iruka announced, looking through the crowd. "Inuzuka Kiba, come forward."

Naruto had to try not to look excited as that name was called out, or as the boy bearing that name stepped forward. Inuzuka Kiba paused at the front of the class to remove his little dog from his jacket and sit it down on the ground. He then joined Naruto on the grounds and faced him, wearing quite the sharp toothed grin. It was a grin Naruto recognised well. He had seen it in the mirror so many times.

"Guess I'll be the one to break in the newbie!" Kiba declared with great confidence.

Naruto laughed out loud at Kiba's remark and showed the cocky bastard his own resolution. "Ya think I'm gonna let you ruin my academy debut?" he asked while showing a face that told Kiba exactly how ridiculous he thought that notion was. "When I'm through with you you're gonna look like such a little bitch your dog over there's gonna get real hard just lookin' at ya!"

That wiped the smile clean off of Kiba's face and put in its place a bitter scowl. The instructors both shared a weary glance at what they knew was not going to be a neat match. The rest of the class was mixed between those put off by Naruto's vulgar trash talk and those who were amused by it. For the most part it seemed Kiba's bravado was working against him, because the divide between those two parties was in Naruto's favour.

Iruka coughed into his hand to draw the attention back to a more professional note. "Naruto, when we start a spar it is customary for both sides to make the sign of the ninja." He said, referring to that hand sign the other combatants had made before the start of their match. "It's an acknowledgement of respect to your opponent and the understanding that you will conduct yourself in a fashion that is to be expected of comrades participating in a friendly fight."

Naruto indicated his understanding with a quick salute, though really he didn't see etiquette as a realistic ideal in this fight. Kiba looked like he was just waiting for the signal to begin. That was just fine, because Naruto was as eager to start as he was. Iruka raised his whistle to his lips, and after both combatants made the sign of the ninja, he blew into it.

Kiba jumped back to make some distance between him and Naruto and to take on his combative stance. He kept himself low to the ground and put his hands together in a tiger seal. A second later he fixed his stance and supported himself on all fours. Strangely, his body changed a little. His nails grew to sharpened points and his face took on a more feral appearance. In no time at all he looked less like an eleven year old boy and more like a beast in a boy's skin.

Naruto's smile slipped across one side of his face as he took on his own stance. He raised his cloth wrapped fists before his face and turned his body ever so slightly. Then he raised himself onto the balls of his feet and started lightly bouncing from one to the next, forming a steady rhythm with each step. His body was limber and his posture impressive. Both Iruka and Mizuki couldn't help but look closely at how Naruto held himself.

"Is that… boxing?" Iruka thought with a squint.

Like the crack of a whip Kiba suddenly launched himself at Naruto with a ferocious swipe of his clawed hand. But his strike met empty air as Naruto ducked underneath the attack and moved in for the counter. His fist shot out for Kiba's face, aimed straight for his nose. Somehow however Kiba managed to pivot himself around the attack and follow up his own failed strike with a sharp backhand.

The hit made its mark and slashed Naruto's cheek open, adding four bloody lines to the markings on his face. Naruto hissed at the pain but wasn't distracted by it. With impressive reflexes he pulled himself around and fired another punch that struck Kiba in the back of the head even as he was still descending from his lunge.

Thrown from the force of the punch Kiba rolled across the ground, landing on his hands and feet. Yet before he could even take stock Naruto was right in front of him, diving for the sole purpose of getting low enough to punch Kiba in the face. It was another successful hit, and one that knocked Kiba from his feet. Naruto rolled over on his back and righted himself in a second, launching himself at his now prone opponent. Kiba had no idea what was going on when he was lifted from the scruff of his neck and tossed up into the air. He had a faint idea though when two rapid punches to his stomach knocked the wind out of his lungs.

The class was silently watching the fight, without even a note of their vigour from before. They watched as Kiba barely managed to regain his balance and slide across the ground, but remain on his own two feet. At a distance from him Naruto was continuing to bounce from one foot to the next. The blood was flowing from his cheek down his neck. The sight of such an injury made Iruka panic and hastily lift the whistle to his lips.

"Y'know my sensei always said the blood rushes to my head too fast!"

Naruto continued to grin as if he was having the time of his life. He wiped his face with the back of his hand, smearing the cloth wrap in blood, and showing the cuts that had been made to his face. They weren't nearly as deep as everyone thought they were. In fact they were so shallow that no one could believe they bled that much. Even Kiba, upon collecting himself enough to see what was going on, was stunned to see so much blood from what was clearly not a heavy wound.

The overall strangeness of the matter made Iruka pause long enough for Naruto to flash him a wink and a thumbs up. Against his better judgement Iruka lowered his whistle and decided to watch what happened instead. Naruto turned back to Kiba, who was looking pretty unsettled from all the blood. Queasy in fact. Naruto noticed the Inuzuka boy's nose was twitching a lot. It made him wonder.

"Hey." He said, his eyes flashing again. "You wouldn't happen to have a sensitive nose would ya?"

Kiba flinched more from the look on Naruto's face than the question itself. It was as if the light itself couldn't bear to look upon him, leaving only those two blue rings to shine in the shadows. Kiba knew now what was so unsettling about this guy's face. He didn't wear some huge monstrous grin like a creature waiting to devour a child. He didn't have to. The eyes did all the work for him.

The seconds passed without Kiba even noticing. Before long even the crowd was growing impatient from the lack of action. Then one of the rowdier boys whistled with his fingers to snap Kiba out of his daze. "Hey Inuzuka, you scared?!" the boy asked, while a couple of his friends jeered. Kiba snarled under his breath at them, but couldn't take his attention away from Naruto. The bloody freak was smirking at him.

"You're not gonna embarrass yourself are you Kiba?" he said low enough for only those nearby, like Kiba himself, to hear. He reached out with his hand and gave a gesture for Kiba to approach. "Come on! Let's see the Inuzuka prodigy at his best!"

For a second Kiba was suspicious of Naruto's invitation. It sounded a hell of a lot like the bait before the trap. But the jeering was getting louder and Kiba couldn't handle being mocked by anyone. He growled to himself and resumed the charge, scary face be damned!

"RAGH!" he barked as he leapt forward at great speed, driving his elbow into Naruto's gut. Naruto winced from the blow and doubled over, but even the pain couldn't wipe the smile from his face. With his arms guarding his head Kiba had been forced to go low to make that strike, and it gave Naruto a good opening. Kiba saw Naruto beaming menacingly and was filled with enough dread to drop the idea of a follow up attack and move to retreat. He put all his leg strength into leaping back, but a backward dodge was nowhere near as fast as moving forward. As Naruto proved when he stepped into Kiba.

The adrenaline brought on by constant use of chakra made everything seem so much slower to Kiba in those next few seconds. The sight of Naruto eclipsing his entire range of vision, blocking even the sun until only those eyes lit the way. A fist that came from below, arcing up and demonstrating the full use of those muscles. The instinct to brace himself was his undoing as that fist connected with his chin and launched him high into the air.

The sounds of the crowd sharply inhaling was drowned out by a ringing in his ears. His eyes met the sun, but he was already blinded by the shock of the strongest uppercut he'd ever felt. The heat of the day wavered as he suddenly started to feel cold, but then it returned in a searing wave. And before he knew it, he was falling.

Kiba hit the ground, and a whistle blared out, signalling the end of the fight. In the coming moments his senses returned to him until he was actually capable of realising the position he was in. Lying in the dirt, looking up at the sky, tasting blood in his mouth. There was no doubt in his mind. He'd been beaten. But he was too sore to even care.

As Akamaru ran to Kiba's side and licked his master's face, Naruto began another approach. The little dog snarled at the one who had hurt Kiba, but Naruto ignored him. Kiba was just starting to get himself up when Naruto extended a hand. However it was sharply retracted when Akamaru lunged at him. He backed off, and in that moment Kiba quickly got to his feet before Naruto could offer to help him again.

"I can get up on my own." He muttered under his breath. Naruto cocked a brow at the statement, but let it slide.

"Naruto, Kiba, you know what to do." Iruka spoke up.

The two boys looked at each other, one looking perfectly comfortable and the other far from it. Even so Kiba held out his hand with the two fingers. At that instance Naruto hesitated, the lameness of the gesture not lost on him, but he went through with it all the same. The handshake lasted only a fraction of an instant before Kiba stalked off to make distance from Naruto and the jeering boys.

A vaguely disappointed sigh came out in Naruto's exhale, but he didn't let Kiba's standoffishness get to him. He made his way back to the crowd and scooped up his jacket, throwing it over his shoulders as his classmates silently let him pass. In a matter of seconds he was pulling himself back onto his perch and facing the sparring field again, where Iruka was bringing the attention of the class back to him to move things along.

Naruto took the last moments that people were watching him to take stock of their thoughts. Sasuke looked pretty damn surprised even now, with the girls around him completely gobsmacked. Shino had already turned back to the front, either to keep Naruto from thinking he had the Aburame's attention or just because Iruka had called for it. Ino was staring at him with a bit of a quivering smile, as if she couldn't quite believe he was real.

But then Naruto felt something he'd never felt before. It was a feeling as if spotlights had suddenly been thrown on him in the worst of ways. His senses were sparking and he had an idea about what was happening. He leaned forward and looked past Ino to the last person he hadn't checked out. The second Naruto's eyes met with Sakura, he found he now knew how Sasuke and Kiba had felt when he looked at them.

So intense.

Ino noticed Naruto's diverted attention and turned her head. She saw Sakura with her focus locked onto Naruto in a display she had never seen the pink haired anti-socialite wear for as long as she knew her. If her gaze was fire and Naruto was ice, there would be nothing but a puddle left of him by now.

"What's up with her?" Naruto asked, a little breathlessly.

When Sakura realised that she was being watched not only by Naruto, but by Ino too, she sharply buried herself back into her book. The moment wasn't lost on Ino though. She was quite interested in Sakura's interest in Naruto. "I think she's happy that there's someone other than Sasuke who's in her tier now." she remarked, before changing the subject by looking at the blood on Naruto's face. "Shouldn't you get that checked? It could get infected."

Her concern made Naruto smile. He looked at her as he raised his hand to his face again and wiped more of the blood from his cheek. The sight of Ino freezing in shock and horror at his perfectly smooth, unblemished skin was something he enjoyed to no end. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said as he pulled his hood back up, letting the luminescence of his eyes wave against the shade. "I feel fantastic!"