Chapter Two: Sorting things out

No one's POV

"So, what do we do now?" Asked Masaru curiously slightly interested in Kasumi's answer. "What do you suggest, Kasumi?" Asked Chiyuki as well, while on the other side Akemi decided to stay silent and listen to their conversation. For them, it was not an every day experience to see Kasumi taking responsibility and behaving so seriously as she is doing it right this moment.

"Well, I suggest that we first go meet the Hokage and explain our situation to him. He could help us find a place to stay for the time being. And he's sure to help us in our trouble, since he is well known for his kind nature. Then we will decide our next step. So... what do you say?" Asked Kasumi after her explanation. Others were pretty impressed by her logic and decided to go with her plan instantly.

"What are you waiting for now? Go!" Said Kasumi hurriedly. "What about you? Are you not coming with us?" Asked confused Chiyuki as Akemi and Masaru seemed to agree with her. "No. I can't come with you. I still have some matters to take care of. But, I promise you this, I will come as soon as I'm finished with it." She said with a serious expression. The others eyed each other suspiciously, confirming if they should let her go or not. Coming up with their decision Chiyuki spoke up. "Okay. But hurry, and stay out of trouble this time." She said seriously with a hint of worry in her eyes. "I will." Replied Kasumi smiling determinedly, truth evident in her voice. Seeing her unwavering determination, her teammates said their goodbyes to Kasumi and quickly leapt through the window, heading straight for the Hokage's tower.

Kasumi, on the other hand, turned towards Iruka and spoke in a calm, yet happy voice. "Iruka-san, thank you for believing me and I'm sorry for the mess my teammate Chiyuki caused." She apologised bowing to him, while Iruka was taken by a sudden surprise because of her actions. "It's okay. Nobody was hurt. That's all what matters. And the damage will be fixed later." Said Iruka honestly.

"I see. Well, it's time for me to go, too. After all, I need to find that little troublemaker of yours." Said Kasumi walking towards the open window. But before she could leap through it Iruka's voice stopped her. "Naruto? Are you sure you'll be able to find him? He's not easy to track, you know. Especially, if the person doesn't know him really well."

"Oh, don't you worry. I will definitely find him. If what I have been thinking up till now proves true, then there's no doubt about it that I'm bound to find him very soon. You'll just have to take a seat and wait patiently Iruka-san. After all, I'm well known for surprising people when they least expect it." She said smiling mischievously at him.

Iruka's expression showed complete confusion, but nonetheless he had put his trust into her, since he knew better not to underestimate this kid. She was simply unpredictable in his opinion. "Sure I will, Kasumi-san." He said kindly as she left through the window sending him a small wave in the process of it.

Iruka turned back to his students which were all wearing an expression of astonishment. "Okay class it's time for us to go back on our lecture." He said as one of his students raised her hand and asked. "Iruka-sensei, are you sure we should do that? The classroom is in total chaos and few of your students have already left." Iruka suddenly sweat dropped as he eyed carefully the empty seats in the back and in the middle of a trashed classroom. "Oh, is that so? Than I have no other choice. Class, you're dismissed until the day after tomorrow."

Everyone cheered at this announcement and went happily home. Everyone but a few people, who were taking a stroll through the village thinking about the recent incident at the academy. They could not help themselves but to wonder who where those people, who suddenly popped into it. But as they went their separate ways, they've all had the same thought. 'Eventually I'll get to see them soon.'

Kasumi's POV

'Now, where could he only be?' I thought as I walked down the crowded street. If he's the person who I think he is, than he should be at that place for sure. After all, his favourite dish is ramen. Getting closer to the Ichiraku's ramen stand I slipped inside and bingo! He sat on the second chair on the left side, happily slurping his food without the care for the world. By the looks of it, he seemed to have eaten a lot of bowls of ramen. He's a lucky little bastard that I found him first and not someone else.

I immediately decided to have some fun. Coming up slowly behind his back I put my hand on his shoulder, to which his body automatically reacted, seeing as he immediately tensed up by my touch. I brought my mouth to his ear and whispered in a creepy voice. "I found you."

The poor boy instantly jumped from his seat high in the air and squealed like a little girl. He got all scared. His butt hit the ground as he fell down. That's it. I can't hold it anymore. "Bwahaha hahahahaha hahahaha! Your face! Hahaha haha! It was priceless! Hahaha!" I laughed loudly getting his attention. He slowly turned around from his spot on the ground and looked at me in pure shock. Seeing as I still laughed at his misery, his shock suddenly turned into rage and he began to yell at me. "Aaaahhh! It's you from earlier this morning! What are you laughing for so hard?! Is other's misery that funny to you?!"

When he got his anger out on me and I finally had calmed a bit down, I began to speak again. "No, it's nothing like that at all. I actually thought, that it would be pretty funny to scare you. So I did what I did, and it turned out to be much more hilarious. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, though." I said apologetically.

"Oh, is that true? Then I'm sorry too for yelling at you." He said smiling sheepishly. "It's okay." I replied don't minding it at all. "Say, what are you doing here and what's your name?" he asked curiously as I remembered my purpose for being here. "Aaahh! That's right! I came here to get you instead of your teacher Iruka. You know, I got into a big trouble because of you. You'll have to repay me somehow. As for my name, I'm Kasumi. Nice to meet you." I said smiling in the end.

"Kasumi-chan, huh? Well, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo! And I'm gonna become a Hokage someday, so until then you better not forget it!" He said happily with a goofy grin plastered on his face and determination evident in his eyes. It really is him. Hearing his enthusiastic remark I only smiled to myself with closed eyes and said in reply. "Whose ever gonna forget it if you say it like that? But your dream is interesting. I'm sure you'll be able to achieve it in the future, but only if you work really hard for it, you know?"

"So, does that mean you're going to support me? You really believe me?" He asked in kind of a shaky voice as his eyes mirrored his emotions of shock, surprise, happiness and hope. To that I only smirked and said. "Isn't it obvious? I don't get to meet people like you very often, and as I'm concerned I have a similar dream as well, which I'm determined to achieve someday, too."

"Ka-Kasumi-chaan!" He suddenly exclaimed as he hugged me. I was taken by surprise and unsure of myself what to do, I returned the hug. "Thank you so much! You don't know how much that means to me. You're the first person to ever have said something like that to me." He said while crying the tears of joy. I showed him one of my true smiles as I cleared his wet face and answered him kindly at the same time. "You're welcome."

"Say, do you want to be my friend? I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. I'll understand, after all people around here are spreading bad rumors about me, and I don't want you to be treated like me. Like an outsider or be called a demon like me. I mean, I don't want to be some influence on your reputation. Or-" he continued to blabber on and on about unimportant things, so I decided to stop him by putting my finger on his lips to shut him up. I held my kind gaze on him as I said the next words. "Naruto, I'll gladly become your friend. And you don't need to be such a worry wart about unnecessary stuff. To me it doesn't matter what will people think about me when they see me with you. To me all that matters is you and our friendship. Let stupid people think and talk all what they want. Be yourself and don't let it bother you, since it would not bother me. You got it?"

"Yes." He said smiling happily. I only answered him with 'good', and just when I have said that my poor stomach growled making my face to heat up in embarrassment. "Um, I'm sorry." I said shyly as Naruto laughed. "That means you're hungry. Come, sit over here." He said tapping on a seat next to him, as I walked over to him. "I'll treat you to ramen." He smiled kindly at me. "Is that okay?" I asked concerned because I didn't want to be a burden to anyone.

"It's okay. It's okay." He replied. "Now, hurry up before I change my mind."

"Okay, I'll do it as you say. But let me give you a little warning, I eat a lot, so... don't blame me if you end up penniless afterwards." I said giving in. But boy, I knew it he will regret it later not listening to me. You'll see.

~After quite some time of eating~

"Whaa! That hit the spot. Thanks for treating me to food Naruto. It helped a lot." I beamed at him satisfied that I restored my energy.

"You're welcome. But man, you really weren't joking when you said that you eat a lot. Looks like I'm completely broke, too. Sigh. Well, there's nothing that I can do now. By the way Kasumi-chan, how did you get into a trouble because of me? I mean, we are a completely different person. Surely Iruka-sensei wouldn't be that stupid to mistake you for me, now would he?" He asked curiously.

"Well, Naruto I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you. After all, he did exactly what you have just denied." I answered truthfully as he exclaimed in pure disbelief.

"Eeeehhh?! He actually did that! I almost cannot believe it. I mean, this is Iruka-sensei we are talking about. He caught me every time I did something mischievous and above all, he had never mistaken me for some other person, especially a girl."

"Well, it seems you've got a wrong impression about him." I said seriously.

"Now it does, but I still seem to not believe it entirely. It's a great shock to me." He said calmly as confusion was evident in his voice.

"Well, you better believe it. 'Cause that's true." I stated again.

"So, what happened next?" He asked curiously as my story seemed to have perked up his interest.

"Hm, what happened next? You could say that he took me to the academy after tying me in ropes, since I obviously didn't want to come with him. Then he started lecturing me like I was an irresponsible kid in front of his whole class. Man that was a total humiliation." I said while sighing.

"Well, that looks exactly what he would do. And then, what did you do?"

"Then I decided to explain it again to him that I obviously wasn't you. It went pretty well, too. Until some arrogant bastard decided to ruin it. It was apparently a kid named Kiba." I explained, but Naruto suddenly decided to interrupt my talking.

"Kiba? Inuzuka Kiba? What did he say?"

"Well, he said some pretty nasty things about you, only at that time he said it to me, which wasn't very smart thing to do in my opinion. At that time he said that he didn't believe my words as I was a 'loser' everyone hated with passion and that I was gonna stay as one for the rest of my aka yours 'pathetic life'. I, being the awesome me, did the unthinkable. After his little speech and scolding of Iruka, also after the breaking of the ropes I simply got behind his back with my pure speed and kicked him hard with all my strength, sending him directly into a wall, which out of impact instantly crashed."

"Wow! You really did that? But why?" He asked sadly in the end.

"Why? Well you could say he was getting on my nerves for acting all mighty as if was above everyone else. It irritated me. So, I gave him a good beating. Also I decided to do it for you too, since he thought I was actually you, and I didn't like how he was badmouthing you. He was all bark but no bite."

"I see." He said looking sadly at the ground. I didn't like the expression he was showing at this moment, it was making an awkward atmosphere with a little tension in the air. I was never good at handling such situations. But at least I could try something to cheer him up.

"Don't let it get to you." I said as he nodded in response. "Hey, I know what we could do for the time being. What do you say I teach you some awesome jutsu?" I said happily in his direction as this matter seemed to have gotten his attention, and the bad mood was also in an instant forgotten.

"Really? What are you going to teach me?" He asked curiously as his eyes sparkled in happiness and admiration.

"A very special jutsu of mine. Here, I'll show you." I said as I took a familiar stance and I crossed my two fingers of both hands in cross shape. I mixed the right amount of chakra and shouted. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

In a blink of an eye two of my clones appeared as the smoke, from which they came to exist, died down. "Wow! These clones aren't an illusion, they are solid! How did you do that?" He asked in excitement.

I just smiled at him and said. "That, I'm about to teach you, remember? So, I'll explain it to you when we get on a training ground, alright?"

"Okay Kasumi-chan!" He yelled in happiness.

"Now back to business." I said as one of my clones transformed into Naruto. "You two will head to the Hokage tower as planed and explain our situation to my teammates and the Hokage himself, understood?" I said as the two of them just nodded in response. "Good. Now go!"

"Um, Kasumi-chan?" Called Naruto as I turned my attention to him.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Why did you send the two of your clones to the Hokage's tower and why is one transformed into me?"

"Well, I kind of made a promise with my friends that I'll meet them there and I told Iruka that I was going to bring you back. But seeing as things are little different right now, I sent my clones instead." I said while scratching the back of my head. "But you don't have to worry about anything. We have some training to do, remember?" I quickly added hoping to turn his attention elsewhere.

"Oh, yes! I can't wait till we get it started!" He yelled enthusiastically as he fist pumped the air.

~Meanwhile at the Hokage tower~

"Chiyuki are you sure this is a good idea?" Asked Masaru slightly nervous standing before the door of the Hokage office.

"What's wrong Masaru? Are you perhaps having second thoughts?" She asked him in return.

"Maybe. I'm just concerned for our well being. What will we do if he doesn't believe us?"

"Masaru, you are such a worry wart sometimes. You don't have to think of everything so pessimistically. Things will work out somehow." She said trying to calm him a little bit down.

"Easy for you to say. You are not the one worrying."

"I am worried, but I also trust Kasumi and her words more than anything. She's our friend after all. Have a little fate in her, will ya?" Masaru seemed to be in deep thought about it but in the end he just sighed in defeat and agreed with her. "Alright, I'll believe in her."

"Good."

"Are you two ready to go?" Asked Akemi as she glanced at them.

"Ready when you are Akemi."

"Yeah."

"Okay. Here we go." She said as she knocked on the wooden door. An authoritative yet hospitable voice of an older man invited them in and they stepped inside determined to persuade him about their situation at hand.