Chapter Three - Illiterate

Period two Math and period three English hit Naruto like a tsunami wave, looking back on it all he remembers is one giant blur

Period two Math and period three English hit Naruto like a tsunami wave, looking back on it all he remembers is one giant blur. Shikamaru had been careful to not let Naruto get into trouble; they had all the same classes so it was easy. The school was so calm and predictable; they were to learn so that when they become of age they can do anything they wish to, so much unlike where he used to go to.

--Flash Back --

The walls of the building were cracked, a few holes here and there too. Ceilings dripped into strategically place buckets that were starting to rust. The remains of torn books where stacked in an untidy pile to the corners of the room, which left one thing to be out of place. All of the wooden desks were pulled to the side, creating a ring with two teenagers in it, knives drawn.

This tends to happen at Namikaze Community School, people from all over south-side attend here, forced via probation or otherwise. The environment is hostile due to conflicting gangs and teachers who completely lose control of their classes. Who could blame them, they were out numbered and the gun stashed in your bag will only get you so far.

Kids weren't here to learn and teachers were not here to teach, they were here to survive. Welcome to the jungle.

Upon entering he was like a shadow covering the room. Tension so dense it was suffocating. It was a well known fact that Naruto was Kyuubi's right hand man, the only one that actually had any means of communication with the man. "So who stole who's cookie?" You could defiantly hear the smirk in his voice.

There was no response from anyone in the room for a couple minutes, they all just stood there dumb-struck, give or take a few from Fire and Wind districts. In this pause Naruto took his time to exam the area. The two fighters were obviously new recruits from the Sand and Leaf, their ages gave it away. He could tell which gangs they were from by the tattoos on their arms and the colors they wore, an hour glass, yellow and dark red for the Sand, while Leaf had blood red and, predictably, a leaf tattoo.

Getting bored with the pause he decided to speed things up, "Ranks, age and who recruited you." The one from Sand gave him an incredulous look as if he had full intentions of not following the directions. In response Kyuubi turned, giving the kid full few of darkened blue eyes, "Both of you."

The one with the hour glass tattoo was the first one to speak up, a squeak reminiscent of a trapped mouse, "Uh…I'm, I'm twe-twelve and, and I uh…I'm a soldier and um, um Miyagi Ryouta?" His whole body stiffened as if expecting something, the razor that was ready for the fight still in his hand, the elbow pointed at a right angle.

The blonde nodded, Miyagi Ryouta was an unfamiliar name to him, probably meaning that he was too a new recruit, defiantly explaining half of the story. Gazing over at the other youngster expectantly, 'Your turn,' he thought.

The reaction from this kid was completely different that the poor stuttering mess that went before him. In fact he was quite calm. "Eleven, I started school early, soldier, proud of it and Danzo." He rolled his eyes while answering the questions.

The older boy winced in his mind; leave it to Danzo to recruit eleven year olds. Danzo was a shady character whom Naruto was not so fond of for several reasons. The name of the recruiter definitely cleared up the second half of the story.

"You two are young so I'll just leave you off easy, if I catch you fighting again I will not hesitate to teach you a lesson, Kyuubi and I have worked too hard for the alliance between the Wind and Fire districts for two idiots to screw it up," smiling while saying so, the faces of people in this room were priceless. They weren't used to their Kit being so serious. Crossing the room he stopped halfway to the Leaf member and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't think this means I won't tell the old man," he whispered for that boy and that boy only.

"Oh and don't hold your razor like that, you're gonna poke out an eye."

Naruto was the voice of Kyuubi and Kyuubi was law.

--End Flash Back --

It was time for the last period before lunch, Japanese Level One. Naruto couldn't help but grin at the thought; he was defiantly going to pass this class, though that wasn't the only reason why he was taking it. Stepping into the classroom, which looked like all of the classrooms in the Academy, Shikamaru and him took seats in the back. The period bell rang and the two waited for the teacher to walk in.

Shikamaru never had Ms. Mitarashi before, but he had seen her in the hallways before. She was short, usually causally dressed in a long sleeved blouse and a skirt a bit too short for a teacher. Add short black hair and you have the naughty teacher from school boy's fantasies, though Ms. Mitarashi would have none of that. Rumor was she was the strictest teacher at the school, for his own good he certainly hoped this was false.

Dramatically high heals clacked on the linoleum and she came into view, a scrutinizing look scrunched her face, trying to scope out any troublemakers in advanced. Instantly she narrowed in on a blonde in the back. She began to walk towards his directions, her short strides slow and steady. "I am Mirarashi Anko, you will not call me Ms. Mirarashi, I will only respond to Anko-sensei, no exceptions," she addressed her students.

"You better be here to learn, because I am sure as hell here to teach, I am not a babysitter and I am not your friend. I will not go easy on you because you're not as smart as the other kids, I will not slow down for you, it is your job to keep up. I will have no English in my class unless I say so," at this point she was standing in front of Naruto, it looked as if this was directing it to him specifically, not just the whole class. "Do I make myself clear, brat?"

"Crystal," he retorted glaring back at her. Why'd she have to single him out? He wanted to lay low, but no, she practically asked for it. "And don't call me a brat, Anko-sensei. It hurts my feelings." This isn't what he intended to say, but he didn't want to test it, he couldn't afford getting in trouble just because some bitch pissed him off.

Anko scowled at the reply. He had no accent, it sounded like he had been speaking Japanese for a long time. The first thought that crossed her mind is the thing that had crossed Naruto's when he realized they had this class. Easy A. She narrowed her eyes, she so didn't need this. "You probably think you clever, don't you? Taking a class for a language you already speak. If this is the case then leave."

"Look lady, I'm not just here for the grade so you can just lay off."

"Oh?" she snarled, leaning both hands on the table in front of him, encroaching on his space, "Then tell me why are you here."

Looking embarrassed Naruto looked up to the ceiling and mumbled something inaudible. His hands fidgeting in his lap, 'Kami, why does she have to play twenty questions with me?'

"What was that? I didn't catch it," her patience was wearing thin, she would have thrown him out of the class if it wasn't for the embarrassed look, it made her curious.

"I said I can't write, okay?" You could hear two girls giggling near the front of the class, the teacher turned to glare at them, but Naruto's heart had sunk a bit, 'It figures she would laugh at me.' Ino and Sakura just had to be in the same class as him.

Relieved, Naruto practically ran out of the classroom, dragging a drowsy Shikamaru with him. Somehow the lazy teen lead Naruto from behind him, despite their distance he could hear Naruto's chatter perfectly. 'He sure bounces back quick…' Shikamaru had noticed the look on his new friend's face when Ino and Sakura were laughing at him. He felt somewhat protective over him for some reason, maybe that he was just seemed so innocent and lost in a new school.

Shikamaru had 'lead' them to the back of the school in a area right next to the football field, perfectly mowed grass and planted oak trees hit the chain-link fence that marked where the school property ended. To the left of the door they had just came out of there was a couple tables next to a ledge. The courtyard was separated in to levels by short cement wall due to the steepness of the hill. In the table closest to the ledge Naruto caught the sight of Kiba yet again flagging them down with his arms.

"Shikamaru, Kit, over here!"

Naruto's escort just rolled his eyes at Kiba's antics. "Calm down idiot, I know where to sit, we've sat at the same table for three years." Both of them toke a seat none the less, Naruto across Kiba and Shikamaru next to the same chubby kid he'd seen in first period.

"Well what if we had decided to move?" he exclaimed frantically like it was the worst thing in the world; the comment was just met with a tired look. "Fine, be that way," he grumbled to himself more than to anyone else. "Well Kit, let me introduce you to the group! First we've got Chouji, my best mate Shino, then Sai," he pointed to each person while saying their name. Once he had Sai's name Sai gave a twisted smile in Naruto's direction causing a shiver to up his spine. "This is Kit."

All of them said hello to Naruto and soon after the table erupted into a conversation, well Kiba and him starting talking. The others just munched quietly, watching the two go at it. They hadn't thought that anyone could have the brunette's energy, but he finally met his match.

Naruto stopped mid laugh when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. "Temari-chan!" Jumping out of his seat he signaled her over. Temari was the big sister of one of his closest friends, Gaara. Together they had grown a bond and she treated him just like another brother, which also meant that she teased him like a brother.

"Kitsune-chan!" She hopped over to where he was standing and squeezed him a tight hug. The boys at the table stared gaping like fish at the action, or a glare in Shikamaru's case. Temari was good looking in a way unlike the girls who clung to Sasuke, she wore minimal makeup and a much more mature figure. She was hot, no questions about it.

Naruto however stopped seeing her like that a long time ago and didn't notice the looks he was getting at all. Placing his hands on his hips and pouted, "I told you not to call me that!" referring to her version of his nickname. All that earned him was her ruffling his hair and laughing without reserve, she didn't giggle like other girls. "Whatever loser, since when have you gone here?"

"Since this morning, Shikamaru has been showing me…" Temari did something very unlike herself, she glanced at Shikamaru and blushed. Not many would have caught this for it only lasted for a second, but Naruto saw it. And then it dawned on him, it was that Shikamaru.

'Well this should be fun,' an evil grin appearing on his face causing the other blonde to give him a weird look. "So this is the, what was the word you used? Oh yeah, yummy guy from camp?" She turned beet red from the comment, praying that the other boy had no idea what Naruto had just said.

Over this summer Temari had decided to become a mentor for a children's summer camp, she needed the community service hours to graduate. Little did she know she would have to work with one lazy Nara for over a month. They got a long quite well, but haven't talked since. Naturally Naruto only knew this because he was eavesdropping at one of her slumber parties will he was hanging out with Gaara. Apparently girls only have sexy pillow fights in movies.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh really?" Turning around he met eyes with a slightly miffed and probably jealous Shikamaru. "Oi', dude guess what? Te-" A hand was clapped over his mouth in an instant.

Glaring she turned to her last resort, blackmail. "There is only one way you found out that and I don't think the girls will be too happy knowing a pervert was watching them." Naruto gulped, some of her friends were even scarier, he wouldn't make it out alive.

Sasuke had been hoping this would be a relatively peaceful lunch period, out of habit he had ended up sitting underneath a large tree, his back against rough bark. That was until, of course, the terrible twosome appeared out of thin air. Each had an extra bento box, no doubt for him.

"Sasuke-kunnn I made you lunch!" Sakura fluttered her eyelashes trying to look cute, but it looked a bit like she had something stuck in her eye, only for her to be pushed away by Ino.

"You don't want hers Sasuke-kun, it's probably poisonous, plus I put an extra ingredient in mine, guess what it is?" She gave a suggestive wonk in his direction, not really waiting for him to reply she sang out, "I made it with l-o-v-e love."

"Well I made mine with more love!"

'Here we go again, somebody save me,' Sasuke silently begged to no one in particular. The girls were giving him a headache; he just wanted them to just stop. Was that too much to ask for?

"Sorry girls, but I think Sasuke is allergic to love," his savior came in the form of Neji's girlfriend, Tenten, probably the only sane girl out there in his opinion, lucky Neji. Yay.

Both girl's face's fell at the comment and Ino was the first one to recover. "Is that true Sasuke-kun?"

"Yeah, is it true?" Sakura chimed in with Ino and the worst part was they were serious. Sasuke just looked up at them emotionlessly. He didn't feel like he did anything to deserve this kind of torture, but he knew the only way to make them stop was to answer their question.

"Yes. I am allergic to love," he felt like such an idiot for saying it, the smirk Neji was giving him wasn't helping at all. Then he heard it, hysterical laughing.

The group who had been eating with Naruto earlier had finished early so they decided to walk around and show him the campus. Much to their delight they had been passing by at the same time Sasuke made his little confession. The blonde had just lost it. Hunched over he grabbed at his stomach, it was starting to hurt. "I'm, I'm sorry teme!" he gasped out in-between fits of laughter, "I would have been nicer if I had known about your condition!"

Somehow Sakura was smart enough to figure out that 'teme' was an insult, which totally contradicts the fact that she thinks you can be allergic to an emotion, however she only heard the 'eme' part so she improvised. "Don't call Sasuke-kun a seme! You're the seme, not him!"

Naruto went completely silent at this part, not really believing what he heard. Meanwhile Sasuke nearly slapped his forehead, just when he though his lunch couldn't be ruined more, Sakura opened her mouth. 'At least no one else knows what she said, right? Wait, crap…' his thought process stopped when he saw the biggest shit-eating grin he'd even seen.

"Yeah, you're right gorgeous; I'm the only seme here, after all you know him way better than I do. Though he probably knows him even better," he gestured at Neji, the girn never leaving. Sasuke could have died right there after catching the hidden meaning behind those words, which only added to the confusion as the blonde walked away.

'That's it?'

After Kiba and company ran after Naruto no one talked for awhile, but silence never lasted long for Uchiha Sasuke. He groaned when to his surprise Neji eventually spoke up. "So…what's a seme?"

"Just shut up Neji," he could tell this was going to be a very long year.