Well, sorry for the long wait. I needed to check a few things before i got this one posted which is why it got updated so late after my other stories.

Speaking which, for those that don't follow my other stories, i found myself writing a one-shot the other day (naurhina, of course) feel free to check it out.

Anyways, not too much going on in this chapter; mostly a time skip and brief summary from the previous years. I made a decision on how to handle Neji and Naruto that will actually end up being similar to cannon, though as you will see in this chapter, the reasons that each character does something may be different than it was before; you'll also notice that Naruto knows a little more about himself than he should, thanks to Hizashi.

Hope you enjoy the chapter, don't forget to review!

disclaimer no jutsu!

Notice; there will be a poll concerning something that involves this chapter and the next one; PLEASE VOTE!

Things never really went 'back to normal' at the Hyuuga household. Hiashi had been to directly impacted to leave it that way, so things began to change, although many did not notice, and the changes were very subtle.

Outside of Hiashi's immediate family, now including Naruto and Neji, it was mostly the branch members who noticed. Lady Hinata smiled more often, for example and Lord Hiashi didn't scowl as much. One or two branch members actually swore that they saw him laugh when picking Hinata up form playing with Naruto.

They also noticed that Neji distanced himself from the other two for a good while. While it used to be that the three of them were constantly seen playing together, these days it was mostly just Naruto who could seen in the company of both of them, while the other two seemed to avoid each other.

On the other hand, the main branch of the Hyuuga family noticed that Naruto was much closer to Hinata than he used to be. He seemed almost as if her were a body guard. Some laughed with each other at the idea, but some would thoughtfully raise a hand to their chin when it was brought up.

However, the years did pass. While Neji did choose to take up the training in the gentle fist, he still remained aloof from Hiashi and Hinata. This made Naruto more uncomfortable as time went on. He didn't understand it, especially when Hinata still wore the ribbons and sash from the last birthday that they had all three still been close… Only a year or two later, though, Neji had started at the academy, so he was gone more often anyways, and Hanabi began to be old enough to play with them. Hinata and Naruto both were willing to cater to the younger child, Hinata because she dearly loved her sister, Naruto because he just loved playing games and hadn't totally out grown some of them.

Still, the day came a year later that they, too, began to attend the academy. It was a hard day on Naruto. Several of the teachers seemed to look down on him and treat him more poorly than the rest. It even seemed as if they ignored others in favor of punishing him.

The other kids weren't much better. Several of them enjoyed going out of their way to mess with him. Naruto never understood why, but he was glad for the Hyuuga training he'd had. He began taijutsu at a higher level than many of the academy students, so he was able to deter most physical harm, but then again, when fights broke out it didn't matter what he said, he always got blamed, even if he knew the teacher had seen the other students attack him first.

"Well, you must have done some to provoke them little brat!" Most would say. Hinata would always worry over him and ask if he was okay. He would laugh it off, for her sake. After all, he knew why the teachers sided against him, and he knew that they were wrong. Still, he couldn't let his Hinata get upset. Instead, he took to pranking at a more extreme level to put a smile on her face.

Hiashi, meanwhile, was being somewhat taxed with his double life, and yet, he had never felt better; nothing could make him give it up. The smile on his daughter's face when they were alone and he told her how proud of her he was made his heart swell to bursting, and almost break when he thought on how his brother was missing this with his son.

Neji truly was a genius in the gentle fist. He mastered the clan techniques quickly at each step, and once he had entered the academy Hiashi noticed that Neji had taken to late night workouts while the rest of the clan slept, or were guarding the compound. In turn, Hiashi would study his progressing skills and make sure that they training sessions together were directed to most benefit the young boy, who never called him anything but Hiashi-sama, or Lord Hyuuga.

His smile that he had been wearing as he thought of the children dropped at that. It saddened him that he had failed to help his nephew as his brother had wanted. Still, he could not keep trying. He remembered the words of the Hokage about Naruto, and made that his inspiration, to keep trying to overcome the hate.

Now, though, he had paper work to do, and an appointment to schedule with Yuuhi Kurenai, who the Hokage had said would be his daughters Jounin sensei after the academy. So the Hyuuga lord began to shuffle through the papers again, wondering what the children were doing at school…

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"Haha! You can't catch me!" Naruto was running through the village, a paint can in his hand. He was wearing a pair of goggled that Hinata had given him as a birthday present a year or two back. As a gift from the girl he had promised to guard with his life, who imprisoned the beast that was supposed to be his burden, he could do nothing but wear them as a sign of his devotion to her.

He also wore a loose fitting dark blue shirt with an orange lightning bolt on front. He had on a pair of orange pants and an orange jacket was tied around his waist. It had a spiral on the back, just like on the back of a shinobi's battle vest, but he knew now that it was the symbol of his mother's country.

He had done all he could, since he entered the academy, to learn about his father, the fourth hokage, and about his mother. He had almost told Hinata about his parentage once when she helped in his 'research', but that would mean telling her what it was trapped inside of her, and he couldn't bear to tell her that such a gentle creature as she had a demon as destructive as the kyuubi inside her.

Still, he hoped she'd get a good laugh out of this one. He had decided that in the days preceding the graduation exam he ought to pull off an extra big prank! So, he had painted on the hokage faces today, even his dad's. It had been a little hard to do the fourth hokage like the other three, knowing that, but then again, he'd done jii-san's face as well, so he decided he might as well do his dad, too. Besides, if he didn't people might begin to realize that he knew more than he ought to. Of course, now he had to doge the NPCS, (Naruto prank control squad). He chuckled as he thought about how they formed a special group just to catch him!

"Naruto, you get back here!"

"Yeah Naruto! You aren't going to get away with it this time!" Naruto just kept running and laughed.

"Ah, your just jealous because I can do it and you can't! Haha! Just keep trying to catch me you losers!"

"Narutoooooo!" Soon enough, though, Naruto gave them the slip by side stepping and putting up a camouflage sheet that matched the fence they were running by.

"Hold up there Naruto! You're in big trouble mister!" They ran by without even seeing him.

"Heh, that was too easy," the blond said, not seeing the shinobi bending down behind him.

"OH YEAH NARUTO!" Naruto jumped up in the, air flailing around before falling on his rear to look up at his teacher.

"Irukua sensei! What are you doing here?" Iruka stood straight and pointed an accusing finger at the boy.

"No, what are you doing here! You're supposed to be in class!" Naruto grinned sheepishly as Iruka grabbed him and picked him up by the shoulder.

"OWOWOWOW! Watch it sensei, that hurts!"

"Yeah! Well maybe you should have thought of that before skipping class!" And so Naruto was dragged back to class by Iruka till he was deposited on the floor, gaining some laughs from some of his class mates, though Hinata gave out a small gasp when Naruto hit the floor.

"Ow, Iruka sensei, did you have to put me down that hard?"

"Well, Naruto, your grades aren't exactly the best, so with the graduation exam coming up tomorrow you need to quite fooling around and be serious!" Naruto just laughed, shrugging.

"AH come on! Everyone takes this crap too seriously; they all needed a laugh," he said, winking at Hinata who smiled back at him, thus he failed to miss Iruka's eye twitch until it was too late.

"Fine! Since you missed it, everyone will review the transformation jutsu!"

"AHH!

"WHAT!"

"What a drag…"

Soon everyone was in a line and began performing the jutsu. Naruto was apologizing to Hinata, of course, while some of the other kids continued to give him glares.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan, I really didn't mean to make you have to redo this stuff, I was just trying to get in a laugh."

"It, it's alright," she whispered back so as to not interrupt the other students doing the jutsu.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto winced before Shikamaru and Ino spoke up to him as stepped forward.

"This is a total waste of time, Naruto."

"We always pay for your screw ups!" He glared at them slightly.

"Yeah, well, you don't put up with what I do, either, so it's even," he whispered back at them, making sure Hinata didn't hear, then flashing her a grin.

"Do your best!"

"Of course Hinata!"

"NARUTO! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!"

"Alright alright, sensei, I'm here, I'm here," he said as he stepped all the way forward. He did the seal then prepared his chakra.

"Transform!" There was the usual smoke, and Naruto felt a little bad about it as he made up his mind on his transformation. The smoke cleared and there he…er, she… was.

"MMmmm, mua!" A striking blond figure now stood, with strategic cloud covering, wearing nothing and sexily blowing a kiss at Iruka.

"Ah, AAAHHHH!" Iruka fell back in a massive nose bleed. What the heck was that! Then there was another poof as the jutsu was dispelled.

"Ahahhaah! Got'cha sensei! That was my sexy jutsu!" Iruka recovered from the blood loss remarkable quickly, stuffing his nose with tissues to stop the bleeding and using his 'big head jutsu'.

"CUT THE STUPID TRICKS! THIS IS YOUR LAST WAAARNIIINNG!" Several students laughed as Naruto, once again, was deposited on his rear. Hinata, meanwhile, was uncovering her eyes, blushing heavily at Naruto's technique. Still, he was giving her an apologetic look, and it was kinda funny…still, she kept her grin hidden, though Naruto could tell he'd amused her; he could see it in her eyes. She always did have such nice eyes.

"Hyuuga Hinata! It's your turn."

"Eep!" He timidly walked forward as Naruto clapped her shoulder.

"Don't worry," he whispered, "you'll be great!" She nodded as she made the sign and gathered her chakra.

"Transform!"

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"Oh Naruto, what am I going to do with you?" Naruto just grinned guiltily and shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry, jii-san, but what with how the people treat me at school, well, it really bugs Hinata-chan. So, I did it to make her laugh so she wouldn't get down about how they me treat, you see." Hiruzen tipped his hat down to hide his face. He was fighting between a grin and a grimace. He kept talking to the teachers at the academy, but the only one, it seemed, that was willingly to listen was Iruka. The rest kept treating the boy badly, no matter what they were threatened with (and even after a few had gone through with the proscribed punishments). Eventually he looked up.

"You know I can't let you off for just that, right Naruto?" Naruto laughed and nodded.

"Of course! Why do you think I came prepared?" Sarutobi blinked. Came prepared?

"I…see…Well, I've have Iruka supervise you in your cleaning, then, and the two of you are to report to me as soon as you're done, understand?" Naruto nodded, saluting before running out to find Iruka sensei.

"Sure, no problem! We'll be back in a jiffy!" What is that boy up to?

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"Oh Naruto, now we'll be here for hours waiting for you to get this clean." Iruka shook his head. "Ah well, it can't be helped." The young teacher rubbed his chin for a second as Naruto smirked in front of him. "Well, how about a bowl of Ramen, my treat, when you get cleaned up here, huh?" Naruto laughed, much to Iruka's surprise.

"Haha, Iruka sensei, that is some serious motivation, but come on, did you really think I'd do something that would keep me away from protecting Hinata-sama for that long?"

"Huh?" Iruka's face was filled with confusion as he followed a now running Naruto out to the hokage monument. He was shocked when Naruto ran up to the top of the monument where a few cleaning supplies waited for him. "Naruto, how far in advance did you plan this?" Naruto grinned as he started picking up the cleaning gear.

"Well, getting the right pain took about two months, but I came up with the idea about four months ago."

"Whah? Naruto, why did you…wait… get the right paint? What do you mean by that?" Naruto grinned at him, all his things ready and correctly tied and secured to one of the several park benches (bolted down into the ground, of course), and jumped off the side. Iruka quickly ran over to see what the boy was up to. He almost dislocated his jaw as he saw Naruto easily wiping away the paint with a few squirts of a water gun and a few swipes of a rag. He laughed after getting over his shock.

"Wow, Naruto, you're smarter than we give you credit for! I think I'll still take you out for ramen after your done." Naruto smiled as he kept working.

"Only if Hinata-sama can come, too." Iruka waved a hand at him.

"Ah, who cares, sure, she can come to. In fact, I'll pick her up now since I'm pretty sure you can handle this alone."

"Alright! Let's see if you can get back here before I finish! Whoever losses pays for Hinata, eh?" Iruka smirked this time.

"Sure Naruto. Guess you'll be paying after all!" Smirk still on his face, he brought up two fingers in a sign and shushined away.

"CRAP! I FORGOT TO MAKE THAT AGAINST THE RULES! AAAAAH, COME ON YOU STUPID WATER! COME ON!"

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The sandaime looked in awe at the hokage monument. Just an hour ago there had been paint everywhere, yet now it was completely clean. How had that boy done it? There was a knock on his door. Speak of the devil… Sure enough, in came Naruto, accompanied by a smirking Iruka, and also the shy Hinata. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask.

"So, Naruto, care to tell me how you clean the monument that quickly?" Naruto, slightly put out looking, regained a small smirk and straightened up into his usual confident stance.

"Ha! You really thought I'd do a prank that would take hours to clean up? I ordered a special kind of paint that takes days to dry, so since it was still real wet, cleaning it was no problem!" Hiruzen hid a chuckle by turning his head down.

"Very well, your punishment is complete. What do you plan on doing with your 'surprisingly' new free hours?" Naruto deflated slightly, and Iruka's smirk got bigger.

"Well, we're going out for ramen; Iruka sensei's paying for me, but I uh, lost a bet with him, so I'm paying for Hinata." He put his hand behind his head. "Heheh; guess I didn't think that particular bet out as well as the first one, huh? Not that I mind paying for Hinata-chan, of course," he hurriedly added, causing Hinata to blush.

"Very well, you may go, but make sure you come and visit me again soon. I know things are busy at the Hyuuga compound, but having you in here brightens my day, Naruto-san." Naruto gave the old man a thumbs up.

"You bet'cha, ji-san! I'll be back after graduation is over no doubt!" With, they left, Naruto being the one most especially eager to begin consuming ramen.

Ah, Hiruzen thought, I hope these days last until I die…though a little less paper work might be nice…

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"So, Naruto, why paint on the hokage faces anyways? I mean, you know who the hokage are…right?" Iruka considered the possibility that Naruto was enough of a spaz to not get what a hokage was.

"Of course! They're the most powerful shinobi in the village, undefeated ninja champs! Everyone looks up to them and respects them, especially the fourth hokage," he said, his voice getting a little softer as he spoke of the yondaime. "Yeah, the fourth hokage was the greatest of them all, a real hero…" , wondering at his silence as Hinata slowly and carefully ate her noodles. She knew why Naruto had done it, and appreciated it, but still wished he would just talk about the things that bothered him instead of trying to distract her. He was her friend! …even if she wanted to be more than that…wait, when had that happened. Hinata spilling her ramen was missed by the other as their conversation continued, Iruka prompting him to continue.

"So, why do it?" Naruto laughed.

"Well, why not? It was funny. You want proof, well then, ask Hinata if she laughed!" Hinata meeped and hid her face slightly, still trying to clean up the mess she'd made. It was true, she had laughed, but had then immediately covered to her mouth, hoping no one heard it. "Second, I'm gonna surpass them and be the best hokage ever! Believe it!" Iruka stared at him for a moment, noodles not all the way in his mouth. Naruto may not have been the worst all together in the class, but his comprehension usually left something to be desired, and he was far from being the best.

"Well, good luck then," he said, after slurping his noodles up.

"Hahah, thanks Iruka sensei. By the way, can I ask you a favor?"

"Huh? What? You want another bowl"

"I, uh, I wanna try on your headband, please?"

"What this?" Iruka asked, bring a hand to grip his forehead protector. "No way! You can only wear the leaf head band once you graduate the academy and become a shinobi."

"Ahh!"

"Hehey! Is that why you took your goggles off!"

"AH, I WANT ANOTHER BOWL!" Iruka and Hinata both laughed at Naruto antics, the later having finally cleaned up the mess. Still the thought was on her mind, when did my feelings towards Naruto-kun change like that… and how does he feel…. A few minutes later Naruto put down his bowl and stood.

"Well, thanks for the ramen, Iruka sensei, but I need to make sure that Hinata gets home on time, so we'll be going now." Hinata hopped down from her stool and stood beside Naruto, a slight blush on he face.

"Y-yes, Naruto is right; father will want me home soon." Iruka smiled sadly.

"Ah, and I was starting to enjoy hanging out with you two. Ah, oh well," he said, shrugging. "Guess that's it for today, just make sure you're ready for the exam tomorrow!" Naruto laughed as he and Hinata began walking away, waving at their sensei.

"Ah don't worry sensei! You know I'm better than that! Besides, if I didn't graduate, I couldn't stay with Hinata-chan!" Iruka didn't miss the meep that Hinata gave out at that and waved back at them.

Well, when did that happen…well, I hope Naruto's right about tomorrow; even Hinata could use a little help…

So, what did you think? Good mesh of the cannon and my own material, bad mesh, whatever? How do you like a slightly smart Naruto (in reality, he's just being more driven than he was since he feels he needs to protect Hinata, so this causes him to slow down a bit.)

Oh yes, and on a certain note: someone made a comment about naruto and hinata being a bit young in the last chapter to start having crushes. Well, they didn't, really, at that point, but when i thought about that, i realized that actually, little kids DO get crushes. I remember having one back as early as 3rd grade, maybe second, so only slightly older than these two were, and my little bro had one about the same age. it happens, but it's alot more innocent that crushes are in later years. However, it still remains that what happened in the last chapters was not about crushes; hinata was surprised, and a little embarressed, that someone would pay her that much attention. yes, naruto had shown before that he was a good freind, etc, but this is a whole new level of devotion that he's acheived. My reasoning? Beacuse kids understand things a whole lot better than we think, sometimes. So, for Naruto, he immediately knew the seriousness of the situation and reacted accordingly (considering his personality).

Hope that clears things up. Always feel free to ask any questions! I'm more than happy to answer them!

And sorry for not having much of the other characters in this chapter; i wanted to focus on this dynamic for the next couple of chapters, but Hiashi will be back in the next one, and Neji will also be likely to make an appearance.

Until then!