Yayz! Chapter 3 is finally finished! *throws confetti to celebrate* Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter, I put a lot of effort into typing it. ^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Ranma. All characters belong to their rightful owners. =^_^=
Chapter 3
Part 1 Naruto and his Stupid Pranks
Five years later, Ryoga Hibiki was trying to find his way to the academy, as usual, when he noticed someone zoom passed him laughing. Quickly jumping aside to avoid being knocked over, he immediately recognized the figure by his spikey blond hair as none other than Naruto Uzumaki, number one idiot and class clown of the ninja academy, always pulling pranks on everyone just to get attention.
'Naruto? What's he up to this time?' the lost boy thought to himself as more people zoomed passed while yelling, "Naruto! Come back here!"
Ryoga had a hard time dodging everyone, but he eventually managed to make out of the way of the crowd just in time to see Iruka running after the blond boy as well. "Hey! Could somebody at least tell me what's going on?!" the lost boy called out.
"It's Naruto, he's up to his usual pranks again," Iruka replied. "This time he's taken his pranks too far."
"It sounds pretty normal considering it's Naruto," Ryoga said.
"Yeah ya think?" someone said from behind him, and Ryoga spun around to see that it was none other than Ranma Saotome. "What are you doing here Ranma?" the lost boy asked his rival. "I thought you would've been at the academy by now."
"I almost overslept and now I think I'm probably late now," the pigtailed boy replied. "Well see ya at the academy P-chan, if you can find it without gettin' lost," he teased before running off in the direction of the academy.
"Grrr! Just you wait Ranma!" Ryoga growled clenching his fist while glaring in the direction his rival ran off in, when something else suddenly caught his attention. Someone was on the side of the mountain doodling all over the Hokage faces, and assuming it was Naruto, he decided to see what the heck the blond boy was up to this time. Keeping the Hokage faces within plain sight, he ran straight in that direction, determined to find out what Naruto was up to.
Meanwhile
Naruto, who was running off with a can of paint earlier, was now painting the Hokage faces. "Teeheehee!" he giggled. "Ha ha! Losers! Wannabes! Give it up! You'll never catch me!" he shouted while laughing at the villagers chasing him and yelling at him to stop, along with the third Hokage yelling at him as well.
While Naruto was painting the Hokage faces, something reached out and snatched his paintbrush away from him. The blond boy looked up to see the lost boy Ryoga Hibiki with one of his bandanas wrapped around the paintbrush and holding it up out of his reach.
"Hey!" Naruto shouted. "Give that back! I wasn't finished with it!" he whined trying to grab the paintbrush back.
"Heh! And why would I want to give it back to you when you shouldn't even be doing this in the first place?" the lost boy asked.
"Because... because... Wait a minute I don't have to tell you anything! Teeheehee see ya," Naruto replied, running off again. "Just try and catch me if you can!" he called back to the lost boy.
Just as Ryoga was about to run after him, Iruka ran past making the lost boy jump out of the way to let the academy teacher run past him to avoid being knocked over.
After Iruka was out of sight, Ryoga saw no point in joining the academy teacher to help catch Naruto, so he threw the blond boy's paintbrush aside and continued on to find his way to the academy. When he was about a few feet from the Hokage faces, he suddenly ran into Naruto again.
"Gah! Not you again!" the blond boy shouted. "Oh no Iruka sensei's catching up. Quick pretend I'm not here," he told the lost boy.
"Hey! I'm not gonna protect you!" Ryoga snapped at him as he pushed the blond boy towards Iruka.
"Finally I've caught you Naruto!" Iruka said as he ran up to them out of breath. "I'm taking you back to class now."
"Aww man!" Naruto whined as Iruka went over and picked him up to take him back to the academy with Ryoga following close behind to avoid getting lost.
When they reached the academy, Iruka tied Naruto up so he wouldn't get away to pull off more pranks again while Ryoga took his usual seat next to Kiba Inuzuka.
"Hey you're actually not late for once," Kiba pointed out. "Well almost anyway," he added.
"Yeah thanks for pointing out the obvious Kiba," Ryoga replied. "I was actually trying to make it without getting lost today until Ranma showed up, and then I ran into that blond idiot Naruto."
"Hey speakin' of which, it turns out I wasn't runnin' late after all," Ranma interrupted.
"Shut up Ranma!" Ryoga snapped at him. "I wasn't asking for your opinion about it!"
"Hey you three can talk with each other after class," Iruka told them. "And that especially goes for you two," he added while eyeing Ranma and Ryoga, who looked like they were about ready to get into a fight but stopped when they noticed Iruka looking over at them. As soon as they were quiet, Iruka began talking again, mainly about that they would all graduate tomorrow, while Ryoga was silently considering to himself whether he should ask Hinata out or not.
As soon as class was over for the day and everyone was leaving the academy to go home, Ryoga decided to use this opportunity to ask Hinata out, or at least try anyway. Gathering his courage, he walked up to the Hyuga girl who had already started walking in the direction of her home. "Um... H-Hinata-chan," he said, blushing as he caught up to her.
"Huh? Oh... hey... Ryoga-kun," she replied also blushing.
"Um... well... I was sorta wondering if... well... um... w-will you g-g...," the lost boy said but hesitated while trying to force out the word 'go'. "Grrr! Why does it have to be so hard to ask a girl out?!" he suddenly blurted out before blushing and running off, leaving a blushing Hinata taken by surprise at what the lost boy had been trying to say. 'He was trying to ask me out on a date,' she thought to herself as she started blushing even more. 'I don't even know what to say.'
Part 2 Konohamaru
Meanwhile
After running off after trying to ask Hinata out, Ryoga ended up getting himself lost again as usual and couldn't find his way back to the academy to see if Hinata was still there where he left her. And he couldn't just go over to her place because he didn't even know where the Hyuga residence was, since he's never even been there before. So he just wandered around, careful not to let himself wander out of the village by accident, which would be a problem with his sense of direction if he did. So he was careful not to let his sense of direction lead him somewhere out of the village and end up in the middle of nowhere. He was still angry with himself for running out on Hinata like that, which ended up putting him in a bad mood for the rest of the day.
"Grrr! Why can't I just come out and say it?!" he growled in frustration. "It shouldn't be that hard! All I wanna do is ask her out, and yet I can't even bring myself to even say it when I walk up to her!"
"Hey there," someone said from behind him, startling the lost boy out of his thoughts and he turned around to see a boy about a few years younger than him, maybe about eight years old. "So you're having a hard time asking a girl out a date?" the younger boy asked.
"That's none of your business!" Ryoga snapped at him. "Look I'm not really in a good mood right now, so just-"
"Oh so you mean this girl you were talking about dumped you and that's why you're in a bad mood isn't it?" the younger boy interrupted.
"No, that's not it at all! I just can't come out and say it," Ryoga replied. "I can't bring myself to go up and ask her out," he added in frustration. "By the way, who are you anyway?" he asked changing the subject.
"What?! Everyone in the village knows who I am!" the younger boy replied. "I'm-"
"Honorable Grandson!" someone called out.
"Yeah that," the younger boy said.
"Honorable grandson of what?" Ryoga asked.
"I'm the Honorable Grandson of the Third Hokage of course," the younger boy replied. "But my name is Konohamaru."
"Ryoga Hibiki," the lost boy replied just as the person calling out 'Honorable Grandson' soon joined them.
"There you are Honorable Grandson," he said before noticing Ryoga standing there as well. "And you are?" he asked the lost boy.
"I'm Ryoga Hibiki," Ryoga told him. "You might also know me as the 'Eternal Lost Boy' because of my bad sense of direction."
"Wait so you're lost right now?" Konohamaru asked. "But how can you be lost when you're still in the village?" he added earning a glare from Ryoga.
"Alright that's enough questions about it Honorable Grandson," Ebisu said. "He doesn't want to talk about his sense of direction, so don't question him about it."
"Ok," Konohamaru replied just as Ryoga already left.
Meanwhile
After leaving Konohamaru and Ebisu, Ryoga continued trying to find his way back to his apartment, but only ended up getting lost again.
'Now where am I?' he thought, when he suddenly thought he heard someone talking nearby and decided to follow the sound of the voices until he reached the edge of some sort of cliff and he realized that there was someone on the other side of the 'supposed cliff'. Carefully looking over the edge he realized that he was on the cliff above the Hokage faces, then he noticed Naruto cleaning the paint off of the Hokage faces that he messed up earlier this morning with Iruka was watching him to make sure he got all the paint off before going home.
'Heh! It's what he gets for doing that in the first place,' the lost boy thought to himself when he heard Iruka talking to Naruto again.
"So Naruto when you're done, how about a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku?" the academy teacher asked him.
"Really? Alright! Now we're talkin'!" the blond boy exclaimed happily. "Don't worry Iruka sensei, I'll have this cleaned up in no time!"
Iruka nods before looking up at the spot where Ryoga was watching them from. "And since you're lost up there, why don't you join us at Ichiraku when Naruto's done here?" he asked the lost boy.
"Huh? Um... no thanks, I'm just trying to find my way home right now," Ryoga replied. "Shirokuro's probably wondering where I am."
"Alright then," Iruka said. "But if you change your mind, feel free to look for us at Ichiraku. That's where we'll be when Naruto's finished cleaning up over here."
"Or you might be gone already by the time I get there," the lost boy added.
"Well we'll see you tomorrow then," Iruka told him.
"Uh... yeah see ya," Ryoga replied before taking off again, leaving the academy teacher and the blond boy behind at the Hokage faces.
It wasn't long after he left Iruka and Naruto behind when Ryoga realized he was lost again. "Where the heck am I now?!"he wondered out loud as he kept wandering through the village until about an hour later he found himself standing outside Ichiraku. 'And I definitely wasn't trying to find Ichiraku!' he thought.
"Hey there, we're about to close up for the night, so you might have to come back tomorrow," Teuchi said, startling the lost boy out of his thoughts.
"Huh?" Ryoga said looking over to see the ramen shop owner and his daughter walking out of the shop. "Oh... uh... I was just heading home anyway," he told them as they were about to leave until he realized he hadn't eaten anything since leaving the academy earlier. "Wait, could I just have one bowl of ramen before I head home?" he asked.
"What?! We were just closing up now and you choose this time to have ramen?!" Ayame snapped at him.
"Well I have a bad sense of direction, so I always tend to get lost when I'm trying to get somewhere," Ryoga explained.
"I see," Teuchi said. "Well come on inside and we'll get you a bowl of ramen."
"But-" Ayame began to protest, earning a stern glare from her father. "Oh alright then, but only one bowl of ramen," she said as they went back inside to open up again for a few more minutes.
"Alright one bowl of ramen for one final customer of the day coming up!" Teuchi announced as he and Ayame began preparing the ramen.
"Here you go," Ayame said with her usual smile as she handed Ryoga the bowl of ramen. "Enjoy."
"Um... thanks," the lost boy replied while trying to keep from blushing when Ayame smiled at him.
"I see you're not very social around girls are you?" Ayame questioned.
"Huh? Oh... um... I-I guess not," Ryoga replied hesitantly as he continued finishing his ramen. When he was finished Ayame smiled and took his bowl, making the lost boy blush again. "Well... um... I guess I'll... be heading home now," he said. "And thanks... again."
"Hey don't mention it," Teuchi replied. "Feel free to stop by again anytime you'd like."
"Yeah we hope to see you again sometime," Ayame added.
"Uh... y-yeah, see ya," Ryoga replied as he left the ramen shop for the night to head home, while Teuchi and Ayame closed up and did the same.
About two hours later Ryoga finally managed to find his apartment. As he went inside he saw that Shirokuro was already asleep at the end of his bed. He was so exhausted from all that wandering around earlier that he let himself collapse onto his bed, careful not to accidentally kick the black and white dog in the process, and fell asleep.
Part 3 Graduation At Last
The next morning Ryoga woke to Shirokuro licking his face and barking at him to get up.
"Alright Shirokuro, I'm up," he told her, even though he wasn't fully awake. After wandering around the village and continuously getting himself lost, he'd been so exhausted by the time he found his apartment that all he wanted to do right now was sleep. Just then he felt a small pebble hit him in the back of the head.
"Yo P-chan, we're gonna be late if ya don't hurry up!" Ranma called in to him. Great, the last thing he needed was Ranma appearing in the window to make the lost boy's mood even worse.
"What do you want Ranma?" Ryoga asked turning to glare at his rival. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you today."
"Hey it's not like I wanted to wait for ya or anythin'. Akane threatened me," Ranma told him. "And I would've gotten another blow from her mallet if I didn't stay an' wait."
"Ranma, I told you I'm not in the mood to- Wait Akane's out there waiting too?" Ryoga asked, changing the subject from what he was originally going to say.
"She was, 'til she left with Sakura and Ino," Ranma replied. "Stupid uncute tomboy," he muttered. "She's so uncute."
"Ranma! Stop saying that about Akane!" Ryoga snapped at him. "So what if Akane's not like most girls, she can be c-cute in her o-own way!" he added blushing as he said the last part, not realizing that he was saying it.
"Yeah whatever," Ranma replied. "Anyway let's go or we'll be late," he added changing the subject.
So the two boys start heading over to the academy with Shirokuro walking beside Ryoga, who was still in a bad mood, and Ranma constantly teasing him the whole way was only making it worse.
"Hey Ryoga, I know just the thing that'll wake ya up. A little splash of cold water," Ranma teased as he splashed a bucket of cold water in his rival's face, activating his pig curse. "Feel better P-chan?" he asked as the black piglet jumped up and started attacking him. "Gah! Cut it out you crazy pig!" Ranma shouted as he managed to grab the piglet by his bandana. "Look Ryoga, we're already runnin' late so let's just hurry up and get to the academy," Ranma told him.
'Yeah and I'm blaming you if we're late Ranma!' Ryoga thought while glaring at his rival.
"You still comin' Shirokuro?" Ranma called back to the black and white dog. "I'm pretty sure P-chan would still want you to come along."
The dog barked as she picked up the lost boy's clothes and followed them to the academy.
When they reached the academy, they were only a couple minutes late when they went inside, Iruka motioned for them to take their seats, not noticing that Ryoga was still in his piglet form. Ranma went over and handed the piglet to Hinata before taking his seat next to Naruto, while Shirokuro jumped up to sit next to Kiba.
After being set down next to Hinata, P-chan blushed as he looked up at her as if to say 'I'm sorry I ran off like that yesterday'.
"I-It's ok Ryoga-kun," Hinata said looking down at him with her sweet but shy smile.
"Alright as of today you will all graduate," Iruka announced. "But in order to graduate you will each need to perform a perfect shadow clone."
"Aww man that's my worst technique," Naruto whined catching the attention of the pigtailed boy next to him.
"Hey don't worry about it Naruto, I'm sure ya can do it if ya tried hard enough," Ranma assured him.
The final test before graduating began, and they were all called up one by one to create a shadow clone. When it came to Naruto Uzumaki's turn, the blond boy went up and performed his clone which ended up pitiful and sprawled on the floor. A total failure... or was it? But before Iruka could fail him, Akane quickly spoke up. "Wait, can he at least try again before you fail him Iruka sensei?" she asked pleadingly. "I'm sure he can do it if he just concentrates harder."
"Very well then," Iruka sighed. "Naruto, I'll give you one more try, but if it ends up like that one-" he said as he pointed to his pathetic clone. "-I'll have no choice but to fail you."
"Alright! I get one more try! I'll get it right this time! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed happily as he focused his chakra and did another shadow clone, this time more perfectly. "Ha ha! Yeah, I did it! Believe it! Believe it!" he kept shouting over and over again.
"Well Naruto, it appears you passed this time," Iruka said.
"Yeah! Hokage here I come! Believe it!" the blond boy shouted happily. "Ramen at Ichiraku tonight to celebrate!"
"*sigh* Naruto go sit back down now, you're wasting time," Iruka said as the blond boy went back to his seat.
Pretty soon almost everyone had done their clone and passed. But when it was getting closer to Ryoga's turn, the lost boy suddenly realized that he was still in his piglet form, so he jumped down from Hinata's lap and ran out the door to find some hot water while dragging his clothes with him.
"I guess I forgot that he was still in his piglet form," Iruka suddenly said after noticing the piglet leaving to find some hot water to change back.
Meanwhile
P-chan ended up getting himself lost while still inside the academy which meant that he wouldn't be able to find his way back to the classroom once he found some hot water to change back. Just then he felt hot water being poured over him, and he got his clothes back as soon as he changed back, while at the same time he was wondering who it was who poured the hot water onto him when he suddenly noticed Mizuki standing next to him.
"Hey, Iruka sent me to get some hot water for you," the white haired teacher told him once he'd finished getting his clothes back on.
"Thanks," Ryoga replied, even though he wasn't too fond of Mizuki, he still thanked him for the hot water anyway. "Now which way back to the classroom?" he asked.
"Oh right, you're the one with the bad sense of direction aren't you?" Mizuki questioned. "I'll walk back with you if you'd like," he offered.
"Um... sure," the lost boy replied.
When they re-entered the classroom, Ranma had just got done doing his clone followed by Akane, which meant that Ryoga was next. After Akane had done her clone, the lost boy went up to do his.
After everyone had done their clones, the whole class passed and they were able to graduate and get their own Leaf headband which officially meant that they were now genin. After graduating they decided to celebrate becoming genin, and Naruto suggested they go over to Ichiraku to celebrate with a bowl of ramen.
"Hey we should have ramen at Ichiraku to celebrate! Believe it!" the blond boy exclaimed happily. "Who's with me?"
"Count me in," Ranma said.
"And me," Akane added. "I wouldn't mind having a bowl of ramen to celebrate."
"Same here," Ryoga replied.
"Anything that has to do with food is fine with me," Choji said while eating a bag of potato chips as usual.
"R-Ryoga-kun is going... and N-Naruto will be there, so I'll come to," Hinata added.
"I'll only go if Sasuke's going," Ino said.
"Yeah same here," Sakura added, and both girls turned to glare at each other.
"Back off billboard brow! I wanted to go with Sasuke first!" Ino shouted at her rival.
"No way Ino-pig, I wanna go with Sasuke!" Sakura snapped back at the blond girl.
"Both of you shut up!" Akane demanded. "First off, you don't even know if Sasuke even plans on joining us! And second, he doesn't even like any of you so what the point in going out with him?!"
While Akane, Sakura, and Ino were busy yelling at each other; Ino and Sakura fighting over Sasuke with Akane telling them to shut up, Kiba also decided to join their celebration group along with Akamaru of course. Which left Shikamaru, Shino, and Sasuke if he wanted to.
"This is all such a drag," Shikamaru complained. "But if I have to," he said.
"Ya know, nobody's forcin' ya to come Shikamaru," Ranma told him.
"I guess I'll go too," Shino added.
"Now the only one left is Sasuke," Sakura said.
"Wait where did Sasuke go off to? He's not here all of a sudden," Ino added.
"He probably went home already," Ranma suggested.
"No, he's right over there," Akane pointed out. "He looks like he is going home though."
"We have to get him to join us," Sakura insisted.
"I'll be the one to convince him billboard brow!" Ino snapped.
"Well I suggested it first Ino-pig, so I'll be the one to convince him," Sakura shouted back.
"Oh give it a rest you two!" Akane snapped at both of them. "If he doesn't want to join us, then he doesn't have to!" 'But then again he's always by himself all the time. I wonder what could've happened to make Sasuke so lonely,' she thought to herself, almost feeling sorry for the Uchiha boy, but shook off the thought after a while. "Alright if I convince him to come with us for you, will you stop being so obsessed with him and be a little more nicer to Naruto?" she asked the two Sasuke obsessed fangirls.
"Oh you mean you'll do that for us Akane-chan?" Ino asked. "You're the nicest friend I ever had, unlike billboard brow here."
"Speak for yourself Ino-pig," Sakura retorted. "Oh alright I guess I could try being a little nicer to Naruto," she half mumbled to Akane.
"Alright then," Akane replied while at the same time she was thinking, 'What have I gotten myself into? I've never spoken to Sasuke Uchiha before, and now I already told Sakura and Ino that I'd try to convince him to join us. I'm such an idiot. I know most of the other girls think he's cool and all, but- *sighs* Oh well, it's too late to turn back now.'
"Hey Sasuke, if you want to you can join us if you want," Akane told the Uchiha. "We're going to Ichiraku to celebrate becoming genin. You don't have to if that's what you want though, I'm only offering," she said.
"Hmph, I've got better things to do than eat ramen," Sasuke replied. "Eating ramen is something only an idiot like Naruto would do."
"Well suit yourself then," Akane said. "But if you ever change your mind, we'll be at Ichiraku."
"Yeah whatever, as if I'd waste my time eating ramen at Ichiraku," Sasuke retorted as Akane just rolled her eyes at him and went back to the group.
"Well? Is he gonna join us or not?" Sakura asked.
Akane shook her head. "He said he has better things to do than eat ramen and that it was a waste of time," she told both the pink haired girl and Ino.
"Aww," both fangirls sighed sadly, again glaring at each other.
"Hey! At least I tried ok?!" Akane snapped at her two friends who were busy fighting over Sasuke again while at the same time she tried to ignore them.
"Big deal, maybe he just thinks you're all uncute or somethin'," Ranma said as Sakura and Ino turned to fix their glares onto him this time.
"You dare to call me uncute?!" the blond girl demanded. "Sasuke would never say that about me!"
"You've got some nerve calling a girl uncute!" Sakura added as she and Ino both began beating him up.
"Gah! Akane, a little help here!" Ranma shouted.
"What makes you think I'm gonna help you Ranma?!" Akane demanded. "You brought it upon yourself you know?!"
"You are so uncute!" Ranma retorted.
"And who cares if I'm not cute!" Akane snapped, joining Ino and Sakura to beat him up.
"Serves you right Ranma," Ryoga told him. "Don't expect any help from me either."
"I wouldn't want any help from you anyway P-chan!" Ranma snapped at his rival, while Ryoga just simply ignored him and went over to Hinata.
"So... um... Hinata-chan... about yesterday... um, I... uh-," Ryoga tried to say but was cut off by Hinata saying, "It's ok Ryoga-kun," she told him with her usual shy but sweet smile.
"Well... um... o-ok then," Ryoga replied.
"So are we goin' to Ichiraku now or what?" Ranma asked after being beat up by Ino, Sakura, and Akane.
"Heck yeah!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.
So later that same night, the group gets together to have a late-night ramen at Ichiraku to celebrate graduating from the academy. It wasn't until they were about halfway to the ramen shop when they suddenly ran into Mizuki. The white haired ninja had some type of scroll strapped to his back and was about to sneak out of the village when he suddenly noticed the group of newly graduated genin approaching.
"Huh? Isn't that Mizuki sensei?" Akane asked when she noticed the white haired ninja sneaking out of the village, and everyone else soon noticed as well.
"Yeah, I wonder what he's doin'," Ranma said. "It doesn't look like a late night mission or anythin'."
"It'll be a total drag, but we should see what he's up to," Shikamaru said.
They all agree and decided to follow close behind Mizuki to see what he was up to. When they were close enough to him, Mizuki suddenly sensed them behind him and turned around to see that the group of genin had been following him the whole time.
"What are all of you doing out here so late at night?" the white haired ninja asked.
"And what are you doing with that scroll?" Ranma retorted.
"It's nothing that should concern any of you," Mizuki told him as Hinata focused her Byakugan on the scroll to see why it was so important.
"See anything Hinata-chan?" Ryoga asked her.
"Y-Yeah," the Hyuga girl replied. "This scroll... we have to get it back before he takes it out of the village with him," she said.
"You think I'm gonna let a bunch of kids stop me?!" Mizuki demanded. "But here's a little secret before I go, something that happened twelve years ago when the nine tailed fox attacked the village," he said, taking the group of genin by surprise. "After the fourth Hokage defeated the fox, he ended up sealing it inside none other than Naruto Uzumaki. In other words, Naruto is the nine tailed fox demon that attacked the village," he explained, trying to scare them long enough for him to get away.
"So what if he is?!" Ranma shouted at him.
"Yeah, Naruto's our friend and nothing you say can change that!" Akane added.
"And even if he is this so called fox demon, it doesn't mean he still can't have any friends!" Ryoga joined in. "I'm cursed to turn into P-ch... I mean a piglet when splashed with cold water, and yet I still have friends who support me!"
Pretty soon everyone else joined in to defend Naruto, letting him know that he really does have friends he can depend on.
"What? I just told you that Naruto is the nine tailed fox, and yet you all still defend him?!" Mizuki demanded.
"That's right! And nothing you say can break that friendship!" Akane snapped just as Naruto ran up behind Mizuki and stole the scroll back right out from under him.
"Naruto run!" Sakura shouted after the blond boy had gotten the scroll back.
"Huh? Oh right," Naruto said after realizing he now had the scroll, and he ran off like Sakura told him.
"So it appears the fox only cares about the scroll than his friends," Mizuki sneered. "He'll probably use the scroll to destroy the village just like he almost did twelve years ago."
"No! Naruto would never do that! He's only running because Sakura t-" Akane began before Mizuki came up behind her and threatened to kill her with a kunai held to her throat.
"Akane!" both Ryoga and Ranma shouted at the same time.
"Come any closer and your annoying little girlfriend will die," Mizuki said still holding the kunai next to Akane's throat.
"You jerk! Let Akane go!" Ranma demanded.
"How dare you threaten to kill Akane?!" Ryoga added. "Shi Shi Hokodan!" he shouted, careful not to hit Akane in the process as the Shi Shi Hokodan hit Mizuki, sending him flying into the nearest building leaving plenty of time for Akane to dodge it before she was hit with it as well.
"Thanks," Akane said after dodging the Shi Shi Hokodan.
"Shi Shi Hokodan?" Hinata questioned. "W-What exactly is that?" she asked catching Ryoga's attention. But before the lost boy could say anything, Mizuki was back up and walking towards them.
"Hey! You think I'm just gonna run away and let you hurt my friends?!" cane the voice of Naruto Uzumaki. "If you hurt any of them, I'll kill you!" he shouted to Mizuki.
"Well the fox decided to return to defend his friends," Mizuki said.
"Naruto you idiot, I told you to run!" Sakura shouted at him. "Take the scroll to the Hokage or something! That didn't mean come running back here!"
"No! I never run away, because that's my ninja way!" Naruto replied. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted as he made about a thousand or more shadow clones that surrounded Mizuki and began beating him up.
"Wow, when did Naruto get to be so cool?" Sakura questioned. "Although he still doesn't compare to Sasuke, but still I've never seen anyone do that many shadow clones before."
'Naruto, you really are amazing,' Hinata thought to herself.
"What's going on over here?" Iruka asked as he came running over to join them, just as Naruto had finished beating up Mizuki and his clones had disappeared. "And what was Mizuki doing?" he added as the blond boy tossed the scroll to the academy teacher.
"He was trying to steal that scroll, so we all stopped him before he could leave the village," Naruto explained. "I just hope Ichiraku is still open right now," he added.
"So you all stopped Mizuki from leaving the village with the scroll. It makes me so proud to think you're all my students," Iruka said. "And if you were still planning on going over to Ichiraku to celebrate, then you might want to head over there before they close for the night.," he added.
"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.
"By the way Iruka sensei," Akane said. "Is it really true what Mizuki sensei said about Naruto? That he is this thing nine tailed fox that attacked the village, I mean," she added.
"Mizuki told all of you that did he?" Iruka questioned. "Well it was supposed to be forbidden for Naruto to even know about it, but since Mizuki went ahead and told you anyway-" he added while sighing. "Yes it's true that Naruto has the nine tailed fox inside of him, and the main reason why everyone here shuns him."
"Well on my word as a martial artist, I'll see to it that Naruto has lots of friends," Ranma said.
"Yeah same here," Ryoga added. "Fox demon or not, he deserves to have friends instead of being shunned by everyone."
"Well you all seem determined to be Naruto's friend despite the fact that he possesses the nine tails," Iruka replied. "I'm proud of all of you."
"Hey, so are we gonna go to Ichiraku now or not?" Naruto asked impatiently.
"Alright then, you all better get going now if you plan on getting there before they close up for the night, " Iruka told him. "I'm going to go report this to the Hokage now," he added as he left the group of genin, taking Mizuki and the scroll with him.
After Iruka left to go report that incident to the Hokage, Naruto and the others were once again heading to Ichiraku for their late night ramen to celebrate. When they arrived at the ramen shop, they found that it was still open with Teuchi and Ayame waiting for them.
"Hey if it isn't our favorite customer, Naruto," Teuchi greeted
"And don't forget Ryoga Hibiki, the lost boy who came here late last night when we were about to close up," Ayame added.
"So that's why P-chan was so tired this morning," Ranma teased.
"Shut up Ranma!" Ryoga snapped at him. "And quit calling me P-chan when Akane already knows about that now!"
"Hey are you two gonna just stand there fighting with each other, or are you gonna join us in here?" Sakura called out to them as both Ranma and Ryoga paused their fighting to join them inside the ramen shop.
"So what brings you all here, besides for ramen of course?" Teuchi asked.
"We're here to celebrate becoming genin and graduating from the academy. Believe it!" Naruto said.
"Well this is something worth celebrating then," Teuchi replied. "Ramen's on the house tonight."
"Really? Alright!" Naruto exclaimed happily.
"I still wish Sasuke would've joined us though," Ino said earning a glare from Sakura.
"I don't think so Ino-pig!" the pink haired girl snapped at her rival. "It was my idea to try to invite Sasuke to join us!"
"No, if you remember correctly billboard brow, it was my idea to invite him!" Ino snapped back as they both just glared at each other.
"Grrr! Honestly you two!" Akane snapped at the two Sasuke fangirls. "Will you stop being so obsessed with Sasuke already?! It's so annoying to listen to the two of you fight over him!"
"Alright, ramen for everyone, coming up!" Teuchi announced as he and Ayame began handing bowls of ramen to everyone, with Ayame saying, "Enjoy!" with her usual smile.
After about two hours of celebrating at Ichiraku, and they all had finished their ramen (Naruto eating about five bowls as usual) they waved goodbye to each other for the night and began to head home, while Teuchi and Ayame got ready to close up for the night.
Please read and review. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will start working on the next chapter shortly. =^_^=