Naruto was dreaming about home. Key word being was, as just when it was getting to the good part, i.e. the bit with lots of ramen and the Hokage's hat, he heard a voice, and recognising it as the Kyuubi's, he voluntarily entered his mindscape. He was not amused by this turn of events.

"What do you want, Fuzzy?" he called, turning to face the cage.

The Kyuubi growled at the slur, but didn't say anything about it "We have a problem."

"What would that be?"

"There is some kind of barrier in place restricting our recovery. The estimated 7 days for your recovery will be much longer, taking at least 2 months unless something changes, and your insistence on moving around just makes it worse."

"A barrier? Who the hell would do that, no a better question, who could do that to me?"

"While this barrier is slowing our recovery, it is not stopping it."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that the barriers affect on us is probably an unforeseen side effect, which we will hopefully easily circumvent."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Do not mistake me brat, without this knowledge you may have done something stupid, risking our lives. Remember, if you die so do I. Now be gone, filthy hairless monkey"

With that, he was back in the waking world, where, if the pounding on the door were any indication, it was time to get up anyway. Stumbling up and out of his futon, Naruto scrambled to the door, grumbling "I'm up, I'm up."

Opening the door, he found himself face to face with Chchamaru, who said "Good morning Naruto. Master and I are now heading to class. Takamichi-sensei will hopefully be here shortly; therefore I suggest you get dressed as soon as possible." And as quickly as that she was gone and heading for the cottage door.

Naruto closed the door and got dressed, wearing his usual orange and black jumpsuit, not bothering to wear his cloak or hitai-ite. Grabbing another cup of instant ramen, he headed to the kitchen and boiled the water. While waiting for it to finish, he thought to himself 'Today's the day I meet Negi and start my new mission, my new life.' Grinning to himself he thought, 'I can't wait.' Hearing the telltale click of the kettle he poured it into the ramen packet. 3 minutes later he was eating it and a further 30 seconds after that he was preparing another. 'I guess all I can do now is wait for Takamichi to arrive.'

Half an hour, and 6 cups of ramen later, Naruto was thinking about the Kyuubis latest news. A full 2 months till he was fully recovered, that could be a problem. Right now he probably couldn't produce a single Kage Bunshin, never mind a Rasengan. His only saving grace was that he still had a few days recovery time until the trip, which he was going to make the most of. Luckily his job was to only step in when absolutely necessary, so as long as Negi did fine, he was in the clear. Nevertheless, those soldier pills were looking more and more tempting.

Hearing a knock at the door, he opened it to find Takamichi waiting for him. "Are you ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Walking in a companionable silence, Naruto concentrated on learning the lay of the land so he wouldn't find himself so easily lost.

A short time later found them outside Negi's class. Turning to Naruto, Takamichi said, "Okay Naruto-kun, I'm going to introduce you to the entire class now but before we begin, I feel that I should warn you that there are quite a few special cases in this class. Not all of them know about magic, but some are aware of its existence, while others have special traits and histories all their own that have nothing to do with it. Have you prepared a cover story?"

"Hai!"

"Can I ask what it is?"

"I will be saying that I'm from an isolated region, which will hopefully help with culture differences and any lack of common knowledge. Apart from that though, I feel as though I'll just have to make it up on the spot. Hehe, sorry" Naruto apologised, scratching the back of his head.

"Its alright, just report anything you've said about yourself to either me or the headmaster, and hopefully we'll be able to keep it consistent. Now, are you ready?"

"Hai!"

"Then come in when I call." With that said, Takamichi knocked on the door and entered the room.

Negi Springfield, 10 years old, Mage, was doing his job, teaching third year pupils at an all girl middle school. So he was rather surprised when there was a knock on his door followed by his friend Takamichi entering the classroom.

"Hey Negi-kun, sorry about this but I'll need to take a bit of you and your classes time. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

The students of class 3A looked on in curiosity, well most of them did. One, by the name of Kagurazaka Asuna was staring at the elder teacher with a look of longing. Another of the students, a certain vampire, looked on with mounting horror.

Takamichi turned to the students and announced, "There is a new member of staff at the faculty this year, and as he will be primarily working with Negi-kun and this class, I would like to introduce you to him. You can come in now Naruto-kun" he called out the door.

In came a blond haired boy, with bright blue eyes, whisker marks and wearing orange. He looked awfully familiar to Negi, though he couldn't quite place why. Walking up to stand beside Takamichi and Negi, Naruto looked at the class gave a cheery smile and introduced himself. "Hello, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I look forward to working with you all."

Hearing Naruto's voice, it finally clicked for Negi and many members of his class, "Eh, you're that streaker from yesterday!" Negi shouted.

"Eh, it's not like that, that was an accident, I didn't even realize I was naked!" Naruto yelled out immediately, trying to defend himself.

"That was mine and Shizuna-sans fault." Takamichi explained, stopping an argument before it could start. "We stripped him in his sleep so we could wash him and his clothes, but he woke up, panicked and ran before they could be returned to him. Sorry for that."

The students' reactions to this news both comforted the blond and sent a chill of fear up Naruto's spine. From the snippets of conversation he could hear, they were not going to maul him for being a pervert. No, they were more likely to maul him trying to get his clothes off. "He's got such a sexy body under that orange jacket, it's a shame he doesn't take it off. Wow, his eyes are gorgeous. Those whisker marks make him look so cute. We're so lucky; we get the super cute kid and now this super hotty." This, and comments like it were the general consensus of the class. Taking a step back from nervousness, well that and the fact that the girls were beginning to surge forward, he sought a distraction. Unfortunately for him he couldn't find one, and he suddenly found himself surround.

"Hey, how old are you?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"What are these whisker marks?"

"Where do you come from?"

"Will you go out with me?"

Frankly, Naruto was too overwhelmed to respond even with all the less than subtle groping. Thankfully Takamichi deemed it fit to intervene. "Now, now girls, let him breath." Backing off slightly the girls still looked at him curiously.

Blushing in embarrassment, Naruto asked "What were the questions again?"

In response one student stepped forward. She had short spiky red hair kept out of her face with a clip and pulled back with a ponytail, was a couple of inches shorter than Naruto and was wearing an armband that read Press. "Hello Naruto-sensei, my name is Asakura Kazumi, class number 3 and official reporter for class 3-A and I believe the main questions were as follows, how old are you?"

"16."

"Where are you from?"

"A place called Konoha, very far away."

"Where's that?" This came from one of the girls behind Asakura, though Naruto couldn't tell which one.

"Nowhere you would know, it's very isolated."

"Now that all of the boring questions are out the way, time for what we really want to know. Got a girlfriend? What do you look for in a woman, tall or short, big or small?"

Blushing again, and he had a feeling that this would become a familiar sensation, he stuttered out "N-n-no and don't know."

Finally taking pity on the poor boy suffering under Asakuras flood of questions, Takamichi interfered, again. Negi for his part could only watch in apprehension as his new colleague was overwhelmed by his students and take solace in the fact that it wasn't just him that didn't stand a chance against them.

"Girls, I think its time you got back to your seats so I can properly explain the reason I brought Naruto here." With a dejected sigh the students made their way back to their seats. "Now, as I said before, Naruto will be working at Mahora Academy from now on. His first job here will be to help Negi-kun look after you girls on the fieldtrip, so I decided he should meet you all first. The second reason I brought him here is that I will be busy for the next few days and will be unable to show Naruto-kun around the campus. I was wondering if the Strolling Club would do so." An immediate, loud and enthusiastic 'Hai' was heard from the twin pranksters of the class, while a much more sedate 'Hai' sounded from the resident kunoichi. Not that Naruto knew about any of this. "Thank you. There is one more thing; I would like volunteers to take Naruto-kun shopping. He doesn't have any other clothes than what he is wearing at the moment and needs at least a few things."

Takamichi got the response he was expecting, which was about two thirds of the classes hands shooting up and cries of 'Me, me, I'll do it!' Pointing to the one who put her self forward first, a cute girl with long purple hair, he said "Alright then Misa-kun I'll leave him in your care."

There was an immediate and large outcry from this announcement from the girls, directed at both Misa and Takamichi. "Hey, no fair, how come she gets to go?" "You already have a boyfriend dammit, save some for the rest of us" "More than one person should go, after all you don't know what she'd do to him if they were left alone."

"Hey, what kind of girl do you take me for?!" she yelled back, incensed at the last comment.

"Yes, more than one person probably should go, but I'll leave that for Misa-kun to decide. Well Naruto-kun, I'll leave you here so you can get to know everyone. Here, we've even provided you with a class roster." He said, handing him a green file. "If you have any questions, please come and see me or the headmaster at anytime."

"There is one thing," leaning in close to Takamchi's ear, he whispered "I really need a bath, is there anywhere near the cottage I can get one?"

"Ah yes" he chuckled, "I'd forgotten about that. I'm afraid the only practical place is the dorms. There's a large bath there that all the female students use. Don't worry though, as long as you go during class time, you should be safe. Oh, and one more thing, the headmaster is expecting bi-monthly reports. Good luck Naruto-kun." The 'you're going to need it' that was swirling in both their thoughts remained unsaid. With that, Takamichi was gone; leaving Naruto at the tender mercy of the class which looked like it was getting ready to collectively jump him again so that they could continue where they left off.

Deciding enough was enough, and that he really wanted to finish before something else happened, Negi finally stepped up. "Alright then Naruto-san, if you wou-"

"No." Naruto interrupted. "No -san suffix. I've already had this conversation with Cha-chan and Chibi-chan, just call me Naruto, no -san necessary. That goes for the rest of you as well." He said turning to the girls. "Understood?"

"Sure thing Naruto-sensei." Naruto twitched, part of him liking the sound of being called sensei, another part saying he wasn't really a teacher and didn't really deserve to be known as such. Deciding that that title was acceptable, if not preferable, he motioned for Negi to continue.

Before he could though, there was a loud yell as one of the few girls that hadn't mobbed him, and who had up until this point been extremely well behaved, stood up to voice her disbelief. "What the hell! First the brat and now him, a boy barely older than us, what the hell is going on?" She was student number 8, Kagurazaka Asuna.

"I have to agree with Asuna-san, what could we learn from an idiot like you?" asked the voice of Eva.

"Ah, Chibi-chan, that hurts." Naruto replied, clutching his chest in mock pain. "Luckily for you guys I'm not here to teach. I'm here to keep an eye on you when Negi can't. My role is nothing more than a substitute teacher."

"Why you, I'm sure that there are other teachers that could do your job?"

'Crap, treading into dangerous waters here.' Taking a deep sigh Naruto said "It's just, I have no where else to go, and the headmaster took me in. I wanted to repay that kindness and asked if there was anything I could do. He gave me this job, and told me to help out here until he finds something more suitable for me to do."

"Why can't you just go home?" Eva continued.

Flinching at the question, he debated whether or not to answer. Deciding it was best to do so, he hesitatingly began, "I-I don't have a home anymore."

Seeing the sad look in his eyes, the whole class decided to let it drop, at least for now. They were still curious, but were less in inclined to prod. Well, except for Eva, Chachamaru and Asakura. They just knew better than to push the issue in front of the class.

"I think that's enough questions for Naruto-san, we wi-" Negi began, before a flick to the forehead cut him off. "What was that for?" the child teacher asked, looking up at Naruto while repressing tears.

"Remember what I said about calling me -san? I meant it." Naruto told him, eyes glowing in ways that would be impossible in real life and that scared the hell out of Negi.

"H-hai, no –san" Negi stuttered. With that the glowing eyes disappeared and the happy grin returned allowing Negi to try to regain some composure. He then asked the blond, "Will you be staying in class during the lesson Naruto-s, Naruto?" He'd managed to stop himself from adding the suffix, but only after capturing a glimpse of the ninja moving his hand, no doubt ready to flick him again.

"No, not this time, I have things to do right now, maybe another time." Turning his attention to the class, he said "Um, for the tour and shopping, since I don't know my way around yet I think it best if you come and get me. I'm staying with Chibi-chan at the moment so I'll probably be there."

"Wait, who's Chibi-chan?" Kugimiya Madoka, number 11 and a member of the cheerleading squad, asked. Her answer was Naruto simply pointing to the girl who sat at the very back of the back. "Wait, you mean Eva-san?" she tried to confirm. Eva, for her part, was stewing in embarrassment and anger, being addressed by 'THAT' name in front of her classmates.

Negi and Asuna, however were quite shocked to hear him call the 'evil' vampire such a degrading name, and wondered if he'd be alright.

"Yep, so if there's nothing else, I'd like to be on my way."

"Wait," Misa called, "me and my friends are going shopping the day after tomorrow, so we'll meet you at the train station at about 10 o'clock. Is that okay?" She'd rather not go to Eva's place, that girl gave her the creeps.

"Yeah, that's fine." Turning his attention to the nearest strolling club member, in this case Narutaki Fuuka, he asked, "So, is tomorrow a good day for the tour?"

She just turned toward her twin, Fumika, and Keade for confirmation. Receiving it in the form of a vigorous head nod and a shrug of the shoulder, she turned back to Naruto and exclaimed, "Hai, we'll pick you up at Eva-san place, alright?"

Smiling, Naruto agreed. "Now, unless there's something else" here he paused, waiting to see if there was. When nothing presented itself, he continued on, "I'll be off then."

'Alright then,' Naruto thought as he left the classroom, 'where were the dorms again?'

Sorry for the small(ish) chapter length and late update. It was sitting in my computer for awhile, just waiting to be checked and uploaded and now it has been. Tell me what you think.