Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: You guys spoil me. Arigato gozaimasu Rizera, xXMikomiUchihaXx and SecretAgentX! 4/12..we're a third of the way through..

..IV..

"Hey, Sasuke!"

The whisper came in the middle of a math test. Uchiha Sasuke frowned. He knew the owner of the voice-hyperactive blond, prankster, and resident pain in his neck Uzumaki Naruto. Who also happened to be his best friend. But 'pain in the neck' was more all-encompassing.

The brunet glanced at the teacher to make sure he wasn't paying attention (which he wasn't-he had his nose buried in that suspicious orange book, as usual), and turned slightly so Naruto, who sat directly behind him, could hear.

"What do you want?"

Naruto looked like he wanted to respond with a snappy retort, but apparently decided there was a bigger issue at stake and stayed on target.

"Er..Would you mind leaning to the right a bit?"

"…Why?"

"I want to cheat off your test," Naruto replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You're already finished, there are five minutes left in the class, and I don't even know what half these questions are talking about!"

Sasuke couldn't believe his ears. "Kakashi gave us a week's advance notice for this test," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth. "You're telling me you didn't study in all that time?!"

"Didn't even crack a book," was the matter-of-fact reply. Sensing that Sasuke was about to say it was his own fault, he quickly reverted to good old-fashioned pleading. "C'mon, Sasuke, be a pal! Just this once, pleeease?"

Sasuke shook his head and turned to face his own paper. Naruto scowled, but the scowl melted into an evil grin after a few seconds.

"Sasuke," he hissed. Sasuke grumbled, showing the blond had his attention.

Naruto's grin widened. "Help me out or I'll tell everyone on the track team that you use a full bottle of hair gel on that duck-butt style of yours."

Sasuke turned a bit, glaring. "I do not use gel. And you're one to talk about weird appearances; you look like you've been brutally assaulted with ten cans of orange paint."

Waving the clothing comment aside, Naruto pressed, "I know you don't use gel. But nobody else does. You know people around here'll believe anything."

"…" Unbelievable. He was being blackmailed by the metaphorical village idiot, and with false evidence to boot… Wait.

He growled a "Fine, just let me fix something" and leaned over to erase and rewrite a few answers on his test.

..

"Uzumaki Naruto, stay here please."

"Huh?" Naruto's head shot up as all his friends started to file out of the door. "Why?"

Sasuke smirked as their teacher beckoned, and decided to pack up his things very slowly; he couldn't miss this.

"It has come to my attention," the gray-haired man stated in his lazy drawl, "that you cheated on your math test."

The blond kept his face carefully blank. He's good, Sasuke observed. But it won't save him. Insert evil cackle here.

"Why would you think that?" Naruto inquired, the picture of innocence.

"Because," was the bemused reply. Kakashi held up two sheets of paper-Sasuke's math test, and Naruto's. "Your answers are identical to Sasuke's. Including the wrong ones."

Naruto's jaw hit the floor. "You've gotta be kidding me! Wrong ones-Sasuke never gets this crap wrong!"

"I believe you just effectively incriminated yourself," Kakashi said cheerily. "I'll see you this evening for your detention, then."

"Hang on!" the blond yelped. "What makes you think he didn't cheat off of me?!"

"I shouldn't have to dignify that with an answer. But for one, Sasuke sits in front of you."

The wheels were obviously turning in Naruto's head; realizing something, he turned furiously to Sasuke. "You! You set me up!" he yelled angrily. "You let me cheat off of you knowing that-"

"I let you cheat off of my test?" Sasuke interrupted, raising a slim eyebrow. "And why on earth would I do that?"

The livid attack that resulted earned Naruto enough detentions for a month.

..Fin..