Chapter 3!

Sorry about the delay for those still reading this...

Well thanks for all the reviews and those who read!

Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto...


In his vision, he sees trees passing by, leaves flying around and the cabin Mizuki told him to head to. With the scroll on his back, Naruto was amazed by how fast he was able to reach the cabin. He landed quietly on the forest floor in front of the cabin. He sat down and rested from his run, sitting the forbidden scroll next to him and used it as a pillow to lie against; with a sigh he looked up at the night sky and saw the many stars shining brightly over the Earth.

"I wish I was a star. They are beautiful, bright and people seem to admire them. They're the lucky ones." Naruto said, stretching his arms over his head.

Elsewhere, Iruka was frantically looking for Naruto, in hopes to find him first.

'Damn it Naruto, where are you and why did you take the scroll?' Iruka thought as he continued searching frantically for Naruto. Mizuki appeared behind him as he tried to catch up to Iruka.

"Iruka, I'll check the woods on this side and you check the one on the other side of the village." Iruka shook his head. He didn't know what it was, but he felt like he should check out the woods on this side.

"No, I'll check this side." Mizuki hesitantly nodded and ran in the other direction. Iruka turned and went into the woods, jumping from tree to tree and still, all he saw were trees, no Naruto.

Naruto could hear someone coming so he snuck to the back of the cabin. He had read the scroll and learned two new jutsus, plus he wrote an extra one down. He had been practicing on the first one on his own, the second one had to be used on a person, but since he didn't see anyone else to use it on, practice had to come later. The third one he knew he couldn't do until he was well trained but he knew it would come in handy later in his life so he wrote it down in a scroll and put it in his pouch. He had just finished perfecting the first one when he heard someone approaching, fast, too fast.

He knew something was wrong, but he didn't know what it was exactly; to err on the side of caution he set up a trap just in case he's instinct would prove him right. After setting up the trap, Naruto walked in the middle of the clearing with the scroll strapped on his back as he waited for the person to arrive. He thought it was Mizuki since he was the one who told him of the place but was surprised to see Iruka jumped from the trees.

Iruka has been searching for at least thirty minutes until he saw the cabin in a clearing, something that he hadn't seen before. He decided to check it out and on his way there, he could see Naruto staring in his direction. He jumped from the trees and landed two feet away from Naruto, and seeing Naruto's surprised look and Iruka shook his head.

"Why would you steal the forbidden scroll Naruto?" Iruka shouted, surprising Naruto even more.

"S-Steal? I-I didn't steal it I-Iruka-sensei. Mizuki-sensei t-told me I still h-had another chance to g-g-graduate. He told me a-all I had to do was b-bring this s-s-s-scroll here and wait for h-him." Naruto explained, to Iruka's shock.

'Mizuki? He's behind all this?' Iruka thought incredulously. A silhouette smirks in the distance as it throws a fuuma shuriken, a very large projectile, at the unsuspecting chuunin and academy student. Fortunately, Naruto did notice the approaching weapon and also noticed Iruka was too shocked to react to the shuriken, he shoved Iruka out of the way and the shuriken hit him straight in the chest, piercing into his organs. Naruto fell on the floor with a dull thud and lay motionless under the shuriken. His eyes were unfocused as they stared at Iruka, a little blood coming out of his mouth.

Again, Iruka was too surprised to react when Mizuki came from out of the shadows.

"I was aiming for both of you but it seems the demon brat has better senses than I thought he had." He turned his head to look at Iruka, unaware that his fellow teacher and chuunin was now angry at with him for his treachery and for killing Naruto. "Looks like I saved the village from the demon." Mizuki said proudly.

"HOW DARE YOU!" He bellowed, Mizuki frowns and completely faces Iruka.

"What do you care?" The grey-haired chuunin asks. "Don't you remember he's the reason why you were an orphan? The reason why your parents never came home after his attack on the village." Mizuki questioned.

Iruka bowed his head so his eyes weren't visible. Iruka then remembered the words the Third Hokage said to him just after he had met Naurto:

"You know… He's a lot like you Iruka." The Third Hokage said.

"Who is?" Iruka asked.

"Naruto. He's like you in many ways. He has no parents, noone to take care of him. He has to work for everything. Even though Kurenai-san has been there to teach him a thing or two, he's still lonely. One person isn't enough, not for him anyways."

"What are trying to say Hokage-sama?" The Third Hokage puffed his pipe and blew off the smoke before he answered.

"Nothing really, just try to understand the boy. He's been through a lot just as you have."

"Yes, the demon's the reason why I am an orphan, why my parents never returned after his attack on the village…"

"So why…" Mizuki said before being interrupted by Iruka.

"But Naruto's not Kyuubi, he's not the demon that attacked the village. He's his jailor, a hero who keeps Kyuubi from returning to finish the job. And for that, I accept him just as I accept my other students. There's no chance in hell that I will ever see him differently." Iruka said angrily. Suddenly, both chuunin notice someone moving, so they turn their heads and are surprised by what they see.

Naruto is standing, the shuriken still in buried in his torso, as he smirks at Iruka.

"Thanks for accepting... me… Iruka... sensei." Naruto said before he vanished. Mizuki's eyes widened and Iruka let out a sigh of relief. He had hoped beyond reason that Naruto didn't die, but before he could return to the matter of Mizuki, out of nowhere, Naruto reappears from underneath ground and sends a right hook right at Mizuki's chin. His fist hits dead on and sends the traitorous chuunin flying into the air. Naruto stands confidently as he watches gravity work its magic on Mizuki. As he hits the ground, Iruka ran to Naruto, staring in disbelief.

"Naruto, how did you do that?" Iruka asked, amazed by Naruto's plan and power.

"I-It didn't feel right, this 'secret test' that Mizuki-sensei t-told me about. When I got here, I started reading the scroll b-but it seemed weird that a-an academy student had to take a forbidden scroll, t-take it to a s-secluded area and l-learn at least one j-jutsu from it. After I learned the kage bushin, I-I heard someone coming, I felt uneasy as the person came closer s-so I made a clone and had him s-stand here to wait w-while I hid under ground." Naruto explained with a timid smile, Iruka placed his hand on top of Naruto's head and smiled back. He was proud of Naruto, knowing this was only the beginning of a great man that he was going to become.

"You think you won brat, just because you got a cheap shot? HUH!?" Mizuki shrieked, staggering from the ground and rubbing his chin. He didn't take Naruto punch well, and felt embarrassed that he was able to hit him. Iruka moved protectively in front of Naruto.

"You will not harm him, Mizuki, not while I'm here."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." Iruka looked back at Naruto and smiled at him. This was the distraction Mizuki needed to launch his counter-attack. Neither were quick enough to dodge or block as Mizuki stabbed Iruka in the chest with a kunai. The traitor-turner-murderer leapt back as Iruka fell backwards. Before he hit the ground, Naruto caught him and gently set him on the ground, blood gushed out of his body as Naruto removed the kunai to bandage the wound. Kurenai had thought him how to bandage a wound but this was too much for Naruto. Lying in front of him might be the only adult who had voluntarily accepted him other than Kurenai, and he was dying, it was too much for Naruto and then he snapped.

Mizuki stood in front of them as he saw Naruto's back stiffen. Red chakra started to pool around Naruto as he stood up, his tears fell from his eyes, but evaporated from the intense heat radiating from the chakra. Mizuki was cowering in fear from all of the demonic chakra coming from Naruto. Naruto turned his head , piercing Mizuki with his eyes. The swirl pattern had returned as did the green color with a hint of crimson laced throughout the swirl. The whisker marks on his face deepened and grew bolder and fangs sprouted from his lips, his nails grew as well, turning into claws. Naruto glared at Mizuki with newfound hatred.

"How dare you hurt Iruka-sensei! I'LL KILL YOU!" Naruto said as his eyes started to swirl, hypnotizing his opponent, and before Mizuki could shake the effect of the eyes, Naruto was gone. Mizuki didn't even blink and yet Naruto disappeared without a trace. "What's wrong, can't find me?" A voice came behind Mizuki. He turned around but didn't see anyone. Then, a fist smashed itself onto Mizuki's face, again sending him flying, this time into, and through, a rather large tree, landing roughly on the now felled log and stump.

Mizuki got up, body aching everywhere as he stood. Naruto remained still and passive as Mizuki stumbled back into the clearing.

"I'm not done…" Was all Naruto said before he made a modified ram seal and bellowed; "Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Thousands of Naruto clones appeared after the giant smoke cleared, each one as angry as the one before it. Without warning, they all charged Mizuki and attacked from all sides. Mizuki was too surprised and beaten for a counter-attack but even then he knew he wouldn't have stood a chance against all the clones.

The moment that Mizuki hit the ground, very much unconscious, Naruto ran to check on Iruka. Heaving a sigh of relief as he felt a pulse at Iruka's neck, but it was slowly fading away. Naruto didn't know what to do until an idea popped into his head.

The second jutsu he learned was used for these kinds of occasions. It required a certain set of hand seals and when activated, the user placed their hands over the wounded area, then a small orange barrier would appear around the wounded area and heal it. The only draw back, it took an insane amount of chakra to use it, mostly likely killing the user from chakra exhaustion before he or she would be able to finish the job.

But Naruto didn't care, as long as Iruka survived, he didn't care about the consequences. He did the hand seals and placed his hands over Iruka's chest. The orange barrier appeared and Naruto saw Iruka's wounds start to heal. Naruto could feel his chakra reserves empty and he suddenly felt exhausted and just as the darkness was about over come him he saw red chakra move around him and felt his reserves refill. The next thing he noticed was the orange barrier suddenly darker, more red, and Iruka's wound healed faster. He was surprised at first but figured it was the demon inside him.

Iruka awoke to see Naruto over him with a red orange barrier over his chest. Naruto noticed that Iruka woke up and canceled the jutsu. He had done enough, now it was Iruka's turn to finish the healing by resting.

"I-It's ok Iruka-sensei, Mizuki is unconscious and I sent a bushin to call for help. Just rest for now." Naruto said. Iruka smiled and told Naruto to close his eyes. Naruto hesitated at first but did it anyways, he knew that he could trust Iruka. Then he felt something wrap around his head. He heard Iruka tell him to open his eyes and when he did, he saw that Iruka didn't have his hitai-ite (headband) on. Naruto felt his forehead and felt the cold metal place and the warm cloth now tied to his forhead. He smiled a genuine smile as he hugged Iruka and was softly hugged him with one arm as he smiled as well.

"Congradulations Naruto, you're a ninja now." Iruka said. Soon, ANBU arrived and placed Iruka and Mizuki on a stretcher and Naruto followed them back to the village.

[*.*.*.*]

Naruto is sitting in the seat he sat in yesterday, waiting for class to start. After what happened yesterday, he knew he had to be braver, more confident, but every time he passed by someone, he was too afraid to greet him or her. He knew he had to be a better person but that was proving to be hard. He was the first person in the class; he was just so excited to stay home.

Naruto watched some of his classmates enter the room. Some he didn't really know and some he somewhat recognized; there was the boy with the red triangles on his face. He had his dog, which Naruto didn't understand how they let him bring the dog to school. Then there was Shino, a boy like Naruto, smart, quiet and not much for socializing, Naruto had nothing against the boy and the boy didn't have anything against him. They both had a mutual understanding and always nodded their heads when they saw each other. More kids he didn't recognize or talked to entered the classroom.

Then he felt two small arms wrap around his neck, pulling him into a hug, he turned his head and saw indigo hair and guessed it was Hinata. The same feeling in his stomach started acting up again and he felt his blood start rushing to his head..

"H-Hey there H-Hinata." Naruto said nervously. Hinata let Naruto go and sat in her seat.

"Hi Naruto-kun, I heard that you failed." Hinata asked.

Naruto nodded his head, "I did fail, but something happened last night which made me pass." He said, amazed that he didn't stutter, maybe he was changing.

"Well… What happened?" Hinata asked curiously. Naruto looked at his desk and thought back on the events that occurred yesterday.

"Nothing, I just proved that I was good enough to be a ninja." Naruto answered vaguely. Hinata knew that he wasn't going to say more about it and she decided to change the subject.

"Who do you think will be in teams?" She asked. Naruto looked thoughtful about it, he honestly wanted to have Hinata on his team, other than her, he didn't really care as long as it wasn't Sasuke.

"I'm not sure… But I think we'll find out soon." Naruto said, continuing to scan the new arrivals, seeing Sasuke enter the room and met his eyes for the first time. Sasuke, was surprised, but quickly hid it, he was sure the tea would make the idiot fail like Mizuki had said. Sasuke just grunted and went to his seat, ignoring the blonde thorn in his side, cursing his teacher for not being up to the Uchiha standard of greatness. Minutes later, two girls charged into the room, fighting for the seat next to Sasuke, the pink haired one of the stopped once she saw Naruto sitting with Hinata still latched around his neck, thinking quickly, she decided that it would make Sasuke like her more than her rival if she were to insult the boy.

"Why are you here Naruto-no-baka, weren't you the only one who failed?" Sakura sneered smugly, Naruto looked down, crest fallen.

"I-I'm here because I'm a n-ninja too. I know I-I failed but I ended up p-passing a-any ways." Naruto replied timidly. 'So much for changing.' He thought. Sakura just scoffed and started to walk away.

"I bet it was a fluke. No way you're talented enough to be a ninja, not like Sasuke-kun." She said, still sneering as she turned, prepared to win Sasuke's heart.

"But it wasn't a fluke. I really tried." Naruto said, more to himself than anyone else, hoping no one heard but Hinata was close enough to hear it.

"Hey, forehead!" Hinata yelled. Sakura stopped in her tracks and faced Hinata.

"What did you say?" Sakura said, the room had gone totally quiet.

"Naruto is talented enough to be a ninja. In fact, he's even better than your 'precious Sasuke-kun.' He doesn't have anything to prove to you, so back off!" Hinata yelled. Sakura took a step back; no one has ever gotten Hinata this mad before, sure, she was only mean to Sasuke but she never snapped at anyone. This was unprecedented and she was too shocked to retort.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was more than ready to prove that he, and by association the Uchiha, were the best. Sasuke suddenly appeared behind Naruto in a blur of motion, extremely fast for a new genin and had a kunai up to his throat.

"You're saying he is better than me? This moron can't even defend himself." Sasuke snarled at the Hyuuga heiress. However, it was during this moment of distraction, Naruto, moving faster than Sasuke just had, blurred out of existence and suddenly appeared next to a smiling Hinata.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." She said as she rested her elbow on Naruto's shoulder and leaned on him, while Naruto just stood there nonchalantly.

"Let's settle down, we don't want to start something we can't finish." Shino said, playing the peacemaker from where he was sitting, just a few seats away.

"Yeah, let's calm down. I personally don't want to get in trouble the day after I graduated, do you?" Kiba asked hoping to calm everyone down, a little out of his depth in trying to calm his classmates down, he was usually the one causing trouble.

'Damn, he's faster than I thought.' Sasuke thought as he grunted again and returned to his seat, Sakura and Ino following him, still praising his skill.

Elsewhere, The Hokage had the jounin instructors in his office as they discussed potential teams. They had witnessed the little performance Naruto and Sasuke put on through the Hokage's crystal ball and the jounins were impressed by Naruto's speed and intelligence.

"So, who will you take Kakashi?" The Third asked.

Kakashi had been thinking about it since yesterday. He wanted to take Sasuke to help him train the Sharingan, he also wanted Naruto but after the little show they had, he wasn't so sure.

"I'll take the Uchiha, I don't really care about who else." He said, and then turned to the orange book Kurenai bought him last week. Their deal lasted until Naruto became a ninja, and Kakashi made Kurenai buy him at least one last book.

"Ok, we'll come back to you. What about you Kurenai."

"I want Uzumaki Naruto." She said without hesitating.

"And who else?" The Hokage asked, smiling, he, and everyone else knew that she would take the boy. Kurenai sat back in her chair and thought about it; Hinata was a definite one since she seems to help bring Naruto out of his shel, her third choice was going to be harder. Her choices were Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, Aburame Shino, or Inuzuka Kiba. He couldn't choose Shikamaru or Choji since Asuma told her he would take them and Ino to form the new Ino-Shika-Cho team. That only left Kiba and Shino, and both boys seem to be neutral with Naruto. She looked at the expecting face of the Hokage and just said the first name she thought of.

"Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino." She said, surprising the other jounin with her coices.

"Interesting choices." The Third Hokage said as Iruka wrote down the new team 8.

"What about you Asuma?" Asuma put out his cigarette and faced his father.

"Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka." Asuma said casually, and Iruka recorded the new team.

"Okay Kakashi that leaves you with: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba." The Third Hokage said, Kakashi nodded, his eye never leaving the book. Kurenai sighed at his actions and wondered why she even bothered scolding him about reading the book all of the time. "Iruka-san, go announce the new teams. As for you three; go to the academy with Iruka-san to meet your new teams. Dismissed."

Everyone stood and started leaving the room, everyone except Kakashi that is.

"Aren't you going to meet your new team?" The Third Hokage asked, his eyebrow arched underneath his hat, Kakashi, finally, looked up from his book but shrugged his shoulders before looking back at his book.

"Maybe after I finish this chapter."

[*.*.*.*]

Back in the classroom, Iruka appeared in the classroom in a swirl of leaves in, and everyone grew silent, he had never done that before.

"Alright settle down, all of you. I have the teams and after I announce them, you'll meet your jounin instructor. Now first up team 1…" After Iruka named the first six teams, it was finally team 7's turn.

"Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba..." Both Hinata and Naruto let out a sigh of relief, they didn't want to be with those two and they still have a chance to be on the same team. Sakura silently celebrated having Sasuke on her team, Sasuke just thought a team would slow him down and Kiba wanted to have Hinata on his team instead of the banshee.

"Team 8: Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto..." Hinata immediately hugged Naruto, causing the feeling and a small blush to appear.

"You hear that Naruto-kun, we get to be on the same team, isn't that great?" Hinata asked. Naruto nodded his head.

"Yeah, it really is." He said is he looked at Shino. Shino nodded his head and Naruto nodded back.

"Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji and Yamanaka Ino." Ino immediately didn't like the team, even though she sort of knew them through her father, she wanted to be with Sasuke.

"Troublesome." Was all Shikamaru said before he fell asleep and Choji… well, he continued eating his bag of chips.

"Now, your jounin instructor will pick you up and take you someplace else to introduce yourselves." Iruka then vanished in another swirl of leaves and then jounin started arriving and picking up their teams. Everyone was out of the rrom except Team 7 and 8. Naruto nervously fidgeted in his seat as he waited for his jounin. He wondered who he got.

The door then opened and a jounin walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, my friend over here wanted to be late but I brought him here just in time for you." Kurenai walked into the room, dragging an unconscious Kakashi by the collar. She unceremoniously dropped him by the door and looked over her team. "Hey there Naruto…" Naruto immediately jumped from his seat and hugged her. Hinata looked on, somewhat jealous, Naruto had never hugged her like that, Shino, as passive as ever, just stood to greet his new teacher.

"OK, meet me at the training grounds in ten minutes." She said.

"Which one?" Hinata asked. Kurenai smirked and made a hand seal.

"You got ten minutes to figure it out." She was about to leave when Sakura stood up.

"What about us!?" She half yelled, half demanded. Kurenai knew instantly that she didn't like her this potential genin.

"He'll wake up… eventually." She answered and then disappeared. Naruto looked at his new teammates and shrugged; the three of them leaving an irate girl shouting at the unconscious jounin while her timeates sat on opposites side of the room from each other.

"Come on, I know what training grounds she's talking about." Naruto said once they were in the hall. They arrived to the training grounds five minutes later and saw Kurenai sitting on a stump.

"I'd like to say I'm surprised at your tracking skills but I know Naruto already knew this place." Naruto blushed a little and shrugged it off. "I want you three to sit down right here and introduce yourselves. It's not so much for me as for you three to get to know each other. You know, your name, likes, dislikes, dreams and hobbies."

"Usually, one introduce oneself before one asks others to. Why don't you give us an example of what we have to do?" Shino said. Naruto and Hinata stared at Shino; that was the longest thing they heard him say, which in retrospect is pretty sad.

"Okay." Kurenai cleared her throat and tried to remember what the other jounins said to say if their students said something like that. "I'm Yuhi Kurenai. Things I like and things I hate...I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future...never really thought about it. As for my hobbies...I have lots of hobbies." Team 8 sweat dropped ather answer. Kurenai just smiled innocently and pointed at Shino. "Ok, I held up my end of the bargain, now it's your turn."

"My name is Aburame Shino. I like insects and I hate it when people just crush them for no reason. I have no dreams and I like to study insects with my family."

"Good, now you Naruto." Kurnenai said, gesturing at the boy. Naruto gulped and cleared his throat before speaking.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and training. I don't necessarily hate but I dislike it when people pick on each other. My dream is to become strong and respected like the Fourth Hokage was, and my hobbies are training and..." Naruto didn't finish; he didn't really want to say it.

"And...?" Kurenai said, coaxing him.

"And gardening..." Naruto said quietly as if in shame.

"Really? Me too. We should garden together sometime." Hinata offered. Her father gave her a small garden in the back yard and she kept it in the best condition anyone's ever seen.

"I'd like that." Naruto replied.

"Ok, now you." Kurenai said pointing to Hinata. Hinata just nodded as she sat up straight, happy to share with her new team.

"My name's Hyuuga Hinata. I like my friends and my family. I hate stuck up people who don't know how to take the stick out of their butt." Kurenai looked a little surprised at that particular phrase coming out of the heiress of a very high clan's mouth while Naruto snickered. "My dream for the future is to be a competent kunoichi and have a loving husband and family." She looked at Naruto at the corner of her eye and saw him blush. She didn't completely understand why he did but she had an idea. She giggled before she finished the introduction. "As for my hobbies, like Naruto, I like to garden and sometimes make medicine and herbs."

Kurenai nodded as she registered the information. So far she got a bug collector with a logical mind, a competent boy with a low self esteem and a girl with backbone, confidence and heart. In her mind, she chose the right kids to form the right team.

"Ok, now that that's over, let me tell you about the test you'll take tomorrow..." Kurenai said.

"Test?" Naruto asked.

"We already took a test, that's why we're here." Hinata said, puzzled.

"That test was to see who has a chance to be a genin. I am the one who decides of you become one... or go back to the academy." She stood up and started walking away.

"Be here tomorrow by six a.m. and by the way..." She stopped to look at her team. "I wouldn't eat anything, you'd probably just throw it up anyways." She smiled with her eyes closed and suddenly disappeared. Naruto gulped at her words, Hinata shrugged it off and Shino, as always, just remained passive.

"Come on let's go eat something, as a team." Hinata suggested as she stood and stretched, Shino didn't say anything but stood up, Naruto stood up too and smiled.

"Sure, but what will we get?" The blonde asked.

"Not sure, anyone want anything specifically?" Hinata questioned. Shino shurgged and Naruto was thinking about it.

"Well, h-how about ramen?" He asked quietly. He really liked ramen by now but it seemed like not many people did, which he thought was odd.

"You got a problem with it Shino?" Hinata asked Shino. Again, he just shrugged his shoulders. "Ramen it is, lead the way Naruto." Naruto nodded and started walking to Ichiraku's with Shino and Hinata following behind him. They were only a block away when they bumped into team 7. Naruto of course backed up a little, putting as much distance from Sasuke as he could without running.

"Uchiha." Hinata said coolly, not hiding her distaste for the boy.

"Hyuuga." Sasuke replied, just as icy, glaring at both her and Naruto in utter hatred.

"Hinata!" Kiba shouted, breaking the tense moment. Hinata sweat dropped but forced a smile to come to her face.

"Hey Kiba." She replied, again forcing herself to seem happy.

Kiba went straight for Hinata and they both started talking, ignoring both Sasuke and Sakura. Shino and Naruto just stood behind Hinata while Sasuke and Sakura stood behind Kiba, the four remaining quiet. Kiba kept on flirting with Hinata, saying this and that, touching her arm lightly, which Naruto didn't particularly like. Hinata just ignored his flirting, she only saw Kiba as a friend.

"Hey, you finally ready to quit being a ninja?" Sasuke asked Naruto, deciding that just glaring at Naruto was a waste of his time.

"N-No, I am a ninja and..." Naruto started but Hinata helped him out, she was getting tired of Kiba's constant flirting anyways.

"You better deal with it!" She said. Sasuke grunted then Sakura stepped in front of him.

"Don't talk to Sasuke like that!" She yelled.

"Why? Are you afraid I'll shatter his ego? Please, it's just a waste of time." Hinata said indifferently.

"What did you say?" Sakura retorted back.

"You heard or did you're big forehead get in the way?!" Hinata yelled. Sakura backed a fist back to knock Hinata off her high horse but before she could throw the punch, Naruto caught it.

"I-I believe..." Naruto said a bit timidly. "That that's not the wisest course of action to take." Naruto said somewhat grimly. Sakura saw the seriousness in his voice and eyes.

'I-Is this really Naruto?' Naruto let her arm go, seeing as she wasn't going to do anything. Then a hand sprang out and grasped Naruto's hand.

"Don't touch my teammate like that." Sasuke said, his voice as grim as Naruto's had been. Naruto flinched, taking a step back from the angry Uchiha survivor. Naruto stopped after the first step and stood his ground. Though he was shaking internally, he tried desperately not to show it externally. Sasuke saw the fear in his eyes and smirked.

A small voice in Naruto head was screaming at him.

'Attack the little Uchiha. He not only threatened you but your mate. Are you willing to stand by as he destroys your mate? Do something lethal!' The small voice held thousands of years of anger and hatred, something Naruto had guess was Kyuubi. Even though he heard the voice, a louder voice yelled in his head.

'Don't! There's no point in fighting. He won't destroy Hinata or you so don't start something. When he lets go, just walk away with your team.' This voice confused Naruto. He agreed with the voice but also wanted to do what the other voice wanted to do. In the end, he followed the louder voice's advice after Sasuke let go.

"Back off Uchiha!" Hinata yelled. She hated the way not only Sasuke but the whole village stare at Naruto with hate and malice. The fact the he was only a foot away was not helping either.

"Hmm, seems like losers have to stick together. If not them, then who will?"

"Yeah!" Sakura stuck her tongue out at team 8. Kiba just chuckled. Hinata gave him a death glare which stopped his enjoyment. Sasuke just glared at Naruto only to be shocked. Naruto's eyes changed from blue to a red green like color then back to blue. Sasuke shook his head and just walked away. Sakura, of course, followed after him and Kiba knew he wasn't welcomed with team 8 anymore so he went with his team.

"Come on, let's eat!" Hinata said cheerfully as if the past event didn't happened. Naruto nodded and team 8 walked into Ichiraku's to eat their lunch. In the distance, a lone figure watched as team 8 entered the ramen shop. His eyes attracted to the blond in black, white and blue clothing. Its green eyes were spinning as his doujutsu watched in interest.

"One day, you'll find out who you really are. And when that day comes, I'll be there but for now..." The lone figure disappeared in a swirl of leaves. His voice a whisper in the wind. "There's a test you'll need to pass."


Like it? Hope you did cuz a lot of work has been put into this!

Well, see ya and good luck with whatever!