HELLO ALL! I know its been a really, really long time since I edited this story, and I apologize sincerely for that.. I was busy with finals for a while and then when I finally sat down to add another chapter, my laptop went over and broke down. It took a while to get them money together (Me being 14 and my parents being cheap) and after I got the money together, I sent it off to get fixed. I got it back yesterday at around 5 or 6 in the pm . So I again apologize and hope that you haven't lost interest in the story.
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The days had passed quickly since the fateful day that Naru had been adopted. The day after Tsume had opted to buy Naru some new clothes, stating that her current ones couldn't even be considered rags. So she now sported a black, form fitting shirt with a white outline going around the hem of the shirt. A pair of black cargo pants which stopped before her ankles and ninja sandals. She kept her hair in her traditional high pony tails and now had the Inuzuka's signature red triangles engraved into the side of her cargos.
Over the period of two weeks, Naru had gone through some eventful moments in her life. First she was enrolled into the ninja academy, along with her adoptive sibling Kiba. After she was enrolled, the real surprises started springing out at her. First, the fox kept true to his word, as Naru started feeling the effects of the added chakra in her body. Her whiskers became slightly more defined, and her pupils became slits and her nails became claws. She hid the changes she could under a genjutsu Tsume had taught her, not feeling very comfortable with the thought of giving the villagers another reason to attack her, as small or large it may be.
So now, after two weeks, Naru sat quietly in her seat, waiting for the class to begin. As time went by, she found herself reminiscing about what was probably the most memorable moment out of all.
Xx-Flashback-xX
It was the first day of the ninja academy, and young hopefuls sat in their seats, waiting for their names to be called. The teacher, Iruka Umino, calmly looked at the class before taking attendance. When he reached one particular name, he got no answer.
"Uzumaki Naru?"
He had gotten no answer from his call, and decided to try again, "Uzumaki Naru?" Again, no response.
Moments later, the door slid open, revealing the one person that was missing. The panting Naru slightly bowing towards Iruka.
"G-gomennasai (1), Iruka-sensei, sorry I'm late" She calmly walked to the nearest empty seat, that one being next to a certain raven haired boy.
"Just don't let it happen again Naru" He smiled at his class afterwards. "Welcome to your year in the ninja academy, where at the end of the year, we will see if you have what it takes to become a ninja of Konoha" As he finished, the classroom started cheering themselves, saying things like. 'I'm definitely gonna pass', 'I hope I get to be on Sasuke-kuns team' or the ever so lonely, 'This is so troublesome'
'Today we will be having a sparring session, to know who needs more help in that area. So all of you please move outside" Iruka walked to the door, opening it and holding it out for all the students. Only after all of them were out did he himself walk outside. Once outside, he divided all of them into different sparring teams, most complaining on one particular pairing. Uzumaki Naru and Uchiha Sasuke were the partners who everyone had their eyes on, mostly because they were fan girls staring and drooling for Sasuke
"This sparing will go on until the other either gives up or is incapacitated, you may begin" After saying that, Naru jumped back and fell into a fighting stance, staring at Sasuke who just stood there with his arms folded. "I'm not fighting a girl, and a dobe at that." He silently scoffed, causing all the surrounding fan girls to squeal. Naru growled, running at him at a great speed, surprising Sasuke. Once Naru was in front of him she crouched down, letting loose a barrage of fists on Sasuke's stomach, rising up as she progressed, which caused Sasuke to be lifted off and eventually knocked to a side by a jab to the face.
Naru sneered at him, crossing her arms and repeating in a mocking tone, "'I'm not fighting a little girl, and a dobe at that'" As she finished, Sasuke sat up, wiping a small amount of blood that trailed from his mouth.
He stood and fell into his own stance, knowing not to underestimate her again. Naru grinned and charged him, throwing a punch which was blocked by Sasuke. They began exchanging blows, every single one thrown being blocked by the other.
After a while of this, Sasuke clenched his teeth, refusing to be outdone by a girl. He swept her feet out form under her, causing Naru to instinctively grab out to something, resulting in her pulling him down with her. They both fell to the floor, with Sasuke landing over her, his hands on either side of her and his knee between her legs, drawing a dark blush from Naru's cheeks, "G-get off me you pervert!" She yelled out, pushing him off her and quickly standing
"Me?! You were the one who pulled me down, it's your fault!" Sasuke yelled standing, clenching his fists. As they continued bickering, Iruka walked up between them, "Alright, alright settle down now. I must admit, both of you surprised me, so I'll have to call it a draw here" He said, causing them to mutter to themselves, cross their arms and turn their back to each other childishly, earning a small chuckle from their sensei.
Xx-Flash-Back: Kai-xX
Naru found herself blushing again as she remembered that day. She silently cursed Sasuke, hoping he wouldn't pester her again about it. She was snapped out of her thoughts by Iruka's attempts to calm the class. She looked beside her and sighed softly at the sight of Sasuke. She turned her attention back to Iruka, intent on ignoring any comments made by Sasuke.
"Well class, today we will be covering Konoha's history…" And bang. Naru was asleep as soon as the words escaped his mouth. She was all too well aware of Konoha's history, and quite frankly she found it boring.
-Naru's Mindscape-
Naru found herself wandering her own mindscape, poking her head around random areas of it. She eventually ended up at the fox's cage. She decided to pay it a visit, since the last time she talked with it was two weeks ago. As she walked she found herself shivering, noticing that no matter what, she just couldn't get used to such a large body of chakra dwelling inside her body, much less being in the presence of it.
"Well, hello there kit. It's been a while since you last visited me," The fox said, a smile gracing his features. The fox had come to respect and love Naru like a father would love a daughter.
"Naru, I have a favor to ask of you…" As he continued, Naru stared up at him, giving him a questioning look. "I want you to change what your mindscape looks like. Since it is your mind, you can change it to whatever you see fit and not these nasty sewers."
Naru nodded lightly, proceeding to ask if he had anything in mind, since surely he would be in there more than her. Naru smiled at what he told her, and was not surprised at the very least. Agreeing, she shut her eyes and visualized her mindscape, but as she did, she felt something tug at her.
"Looks like I'm waking up…" she muttered and waved goodbye to the Kyuubi. "I'll do it later – I have to go now, bye!"
-Iruka's classroom-
"UZUMAKI NARU!!" Iruka yelled, throwing an eraser at her, hitting her head and bouncing back. She raised her head slowly, blinking the sleep from her eyes. "Thank you for joining us Naru, you're just in time to hear me announce something important," He started again, regaining his composure. "Our next class will consist of target practice, followed by another sparring session." He said before dismissing the class, noticing that Naru stayed behind
"Something the matter Naru?" He asked, raising a questioning eyebrow. He received a nod from her.
"Iruka-sensei, I have a favor to ask. Tomorrow, could you team me up with Sasuke-kun?" She asked, covering her mouth quickly after noticing she added the "-kun" suffix.
Iruka smiled at his favorite student. and nodded. "I'll see what I can do Naru, now go home" he said, wishing her a good day. 'This is getting interesting'
Naru smiled, walking with a skip in her step. After she reached her home, she went to her adoptive mother and told her about her day, giggling softly at the expression she received when she told her Iruka had to wake her by throwing an eraser at her head.
"I'm glad you had a good day Naru, now go wash up, dinner will be ready soon." Tsume told her, smiling as Naru ran out of the room as Kuromaru walked in, sitting next to her.
"In such a short time she went from a shy and quiet girl to and outgoing and utterly loud one…" He said, allowing a wolfish smile to grace his features.
After an uneventful dinner went by, she bid her goodnights to both her siblings and mother before allowing herself to go to bed, peacefully falling asleep.
Xx-The Next Day-xX
Naru awoke with a yawn, again blinking the sleep from her eyes. Sitting up in her bead she stretched, causing some bones to pop into place, and after doing all her morning rituals, she was off towards the academy accompanied by Kiba. Kiba gave Naru a toothy smile before proceeding to talk with her.
"Hey Naru, who would you like to be paired up with today?" He asked, causing her to bite her lip lightly. Offering a shrug, Naru gave her answer.
"Anyone really" She lied, knowing very well who she would like to be paired up with. She just hoped Kiba wouldn't bother her to much about the fact.
The rest of the way there was mostly tuned out by Naru, only catching small portions of what Kiba was saying. They eventually made it to the academy and each parted their ways to go to their seats, Naru taking her usual seat next to Sasuke, who was staring at her apparently thinking. Naru snapped her fingers in front of the last Uchiha's eyes, attempting to snap him out of it. Though, the only answer she managed to get from the Uchiha was a closing of the eyes, and him changing directions so he was looking forward.
But, before she could press the matter, Iruka walked into the class room and silenced the class. "All right students, as I said, today our class will consist of target practice and a spar, so lets all move outside calmly." As he ushered out instructions, the students silently stood and walked towards the door, following their teacher out and towards their practice grounds.
"Ok class, first off we will be throwing some kunai at these target," Iruka said standing next to said target. "You get three shots, first up is Uchiha Sasuke."
After his explanation, Sasuke calmly walked up to Iruka, collected three kunai and stood at the ready, waiting for Iruka's approval. Once he received an encouraging nod from Iruka, he threw them all in quick succession, getting two out of three bull's-eyes, except one that hit just below it. Content, he smirked and walked away, waiting for the sparring to begin.
After collecting the three kunai, Iruka continued to call students forth. Haruno Sakura got no bull's-eyes, Nara Shikamaru didn't even bother trying, saying it was too troublesome while Akamichi Chouji tried his best, but only managed to get two of the three remotely close to the target. Yamanaka Ino tied with Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata got one bull's-eye. Kiba didn't get a single bull's-eye and Aburame Shino declined participating in the event.
"Last up, Uzumaki Naru," Iruka called out, watching said girl walk up and collect her kunai. At his nod of approval she threw the kunai at the target, getting three perfect bull's-eyes. Causing everyone to gasp in astonishment, and a lone Uchiha to get wide eyes at the fact that she did better than him… again.
Offering a smile, Iruka called all the students around to announce the three best scores. Hyuuga Hinata came in third place, earning a small smile coming from the young girl. Second place went to Uchiha Sasuke, which caused him to growl softly and all his fan girls to screech out their protests. And first place went to Uzumaki Naru, which immediately made the fan girls turn their attention to her, penalizing her for being better then "Their Sasuke-kun."
"Settle down now, I will be assigning the partners for the spars now so pay attention. Naru and Sasuke, you two over there." Iruka instructed, pointing over to their designated spot.
"I won't be beaten by you again. I underestimated you last time." Sasuke said in a low voice, falling into a stance, signalling Naru to do the same.
"That's what you think, Sasuke!" Naru taunted, smiling slightly, "How about we make this interesting. The loser has to do whatever the winner wants until the end of the academy year…" After receiving a nod and smirk from Sasuke, she offered her own smirk before rushing him and throwing a jab aimed at his side. Sasuke immediately intercepted her blow with his palm, pushing it aside while throwing his own jab at her, which Naru ducked away from.
They continued this routine indefinitely, each blocking the others blow. Each had a fine layer of sweat over them, both trying their hardest to get a blow through, until Naru made a mistake. Naru wasn't able to block a jab aimed at her stomach in time, causing it to connect. She gasped, feeling the air escape her lungs, though Sasuke wasn't quite through. After hitting her, he pulled his fist back and hit her cheek again, sending her stumbling to the ground still gasping for air.
Sasuke smirked and walked over to her, bending over once he was next to her. "You lose, and a bet is a bet." After saying that, he walked away from her, heading over to where Iruka was, leaving her alone.
Naru slowly stood up, dusting herself off, feeling a bit dizzy. She eventually got to walking over to Iruka and the rest of them with a gloomy look on her face. After getting a look from Iruka, she opted to masking it, putting on a fake smile, receiving one from her sensei.
"All right class, that's all for today. I'll see you all tomorrow." Iruka said, waving his goodbyes to everyone before leaving himself.
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AAAND CUT!, hurray, another chapter finally up. Again, I apologize to everyone who I made wait, I hope you haven't lost interest. A special thanks to my beta ReenaYuki-hime, and at the same time sorry for not mailing ya this chapter, wanted to get it out as soon as possible. Anyways, R and R people!
Gomennasai: Excuse me
