I finally finished chapter seven. It's a bit shorter than what I've been writing but it is a nice comic chapter to bring you all into the wave arc. I started classes today so it's a miracle that I had time to finish writing this but I hope to have the next chapter out by the end of the week. No promises though, I'm very busy.

I don't own Naruto, but I did get my roommate hooked on it.

Human Contact

Naruto had woken up the next morning to the sun streaming through the glass ceiling. It was seven thirty again. As he did his stretches he couldn't help but wonder why he always woke up at seven thirty. It was like he had some evil internal clock that had a seven thirty fetish. Kakashi hadn't talked to him at all after the test yesterday, still upset about the endangerment of his most prized possession. Naruto was just glad that he hadn't made him do the Gai inspired work out again.

He pulled on some boxers and walked into the kitchen to find Kakashi nursing his usual cup of coffee. The man looked up and smiled at him. "Good morning Naru. Ready for your first day as a real ninja?" (Youtube reference very much intended.)

Naruto smiled back. "As ready as I'll ever be. It's nice to see you're not holding a grudge for yesterday anymore."

Kakashi returned to his cup. He was indeed in a much better mood than last night. His revenge was close at hand and Naruto had decided to wear his favorite pair of boxers in 'kill me' orange. He had trouble keeping his eye off the clock as eight drew nearer, his prey oblivious as he ate breakfast.

The doorbell rang. Only years of practice kept Kakashi from letting an evil cackle escape as he pulled up his mask. "Iruka said he was going to drop by to see you before classes this morning. Can you go and let him in?"

The young boy downed the rest of his orange juice before getting up with a nod. He walked down the hall running his fingers through his already messy blond tresses. Kakashi waited patiently as he heard the door knob turn.

Naruto stood in the door way wearing nothing but his orange boxers in front of his two teammates. Sasuke looked genuinely confused while Sakura blushed terribly. The door slammed shut in their faces.

Inside they could hear someone shouting out more curse words than either of them ever knew existed while another person giggled uncontrollably. Another door slammed shut inside. The front door opened yet again to reveal a still laughing Kakashi. "Come on in you two. Naruto should be here in a few minutes."

The two sat down at the kitchen table Sasuke still confused and Sakura still embarrassed. Never before had she seen a boy in so little clothing and she couldn't help but let her thoughts freeze on that moment in time. He had been perfect, a child Adonis with messy hair yellow as the sun and eyes bluer than the sky. He had been muscular for his age and though he was short his skin was almost perfect, a nice even tan with not a scar or blemish in sight. The only mars to his complexion were the six whisker like markings on his cheeks and even those seemed adorable.

Sakura was shaken from her memory by the voice of her crush. "Who the hell was the naked guy?"

Kakashi's chuckles came back full force. "That was my house mate. I didn't tell him you were coming this morning so I decided to play a trick on him. He's not much of a people person."

"What idiot answers the door in his underwear?"

"I had told him it was someone he knew. Once you get under all his layers he really knows no shame." Sasuke continued grumbling about the blonde's stupidity.

Sakura was currently comparing her crush to the boy he was berating. Somehow his insults made her angry. She couldn't help but notice that the two boys were complete opposites. Sasuke's hair was dark and sleek and had a certain amount of style where as the mystery boy was blonder than Ino with a wild care free look. Sasuke was pale and his eyes cold and dark. The other boy was tan with eyes that sparkled with life. If Sasuke was like the moon that boy was the sun.

It took a while for her to realize that her thoughts were not only repeating, but she was actually favoring a stranger over her crush. Before she could begin to berate herself though a nock sounded on the door and it opened. She turned to see Naruto popping his head into the house. "Hey everybody, sorry I'm late. My guardian decided to play a nasty prank on me this morning."

Kakashi smiled innocently. "Oh, what kind of prank?"

Naruto's teammates had never seen the boy more irritable than he was right now. "Let's just say he screwed with my morning routine and he should watch his back because I will get payback."

Kakashi smiled at him. "Now Naruto revenge isn't a healthy thing. You don't want to end up emo like Sasuke."

"I'm not emo!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You're emo Sasuke get over it. And as for you Kakashi, if I'm not emo yet there is nothing in this world that can bring me down. Believe it!"

Kakashi's eye widened in shock. He pointed at Naruto in accusation. "Don't you dare say that ever again! You know I hate that. It reminds me of Gai."

Naruto began to laugh. "Hahahahahahahahaha! I don't care how much you hate it Kakashi. Believe it!"

Kakashi cringed. "Stop it!"

"Believe it, believe it! Hahahaha!" Naruto began to run around the room as Kakashi gave chase. "Shut up you little brat!" He almost snatched the boy but he leapt into the air flipped and kicked off the ceiling to get behind him running out the door laughing hysterically.

"Nice try Kakashi-sensei. See you at Hokage-jiji's office." With that said he ran off into the distance.

Kakashi screamed out the open door at the top of his lungs. "IF YOU START WEARING GREEN SPANDEX I REFUSE TO TEACH YOU ANYTHING!!!"

They could still hear the boy's laughter fading off into the distance. Kakashi sighed in defeat and turned towards his two other students both of whom looked shocked and confused. "Well if there is one thing he gained from all those pranks he pulled it was how to run away. The only way we'll find the little runt is if we go to the Hokage's office."

Both nodded still rather dumbfounded by the absurdity of the fight. They had been walking down the road for about a minute when something dawned on Sakura. "Kakashi-sensei, why did Naruto call the Hokage old man?"

Kakashi glanced back at the pink haired girl. 'After all that the only thing she's wondering about is Naruto's gift for names?' He sighed at how oblivious gennin could be. "The Hokage has always taken care of Naruto and so he is now seen as a grandfather figure. Couple that with Naruto's bad manners and lack of respect and you have Hokage-jiji."

Sasuke scowled. "And the Hokage actually lets him get away with it?"

Kakashi grinned. "Naruto is difficult to hate once you get to know him and Sandaime knows that being called jiji is probably the most respect the boy would ever give anyone. He doesn't have any family so to be considered part of the one he created for himself is the highest honor he could give someone. Plus the Hokage is rather old."

Sasuke and Sakura face faulted. Yet again he had ruined a very good speech. He seemed incapable of being serious for long periods of time.

They arrived at the Hokage's office to see Naruto sitting on the old man's desk as they both laughed. The old man looked up when they entered the room. "Ah Kakashi nice to see you. Naruto just finished telling me about what happened at your house this morning. I never knew that Gai scared you that much."

Kakashi looked towards the corner of the room keeping his composer. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Naruto turned his head towards the scarecrow evil intent leaking off of him. "There's that hip attitude again."

Kakashi's cool attitude faltered at the sound of his adopted son's voice. He couldn't help the shiver that ran up his spine. "Don't do that! It's creepy as hell you little jackass!"

Naruto and the Hokage began laughing again at the copy ninja's expense. Kakashi pouted at the two. "That's it Naruto I forbid you from seeing Gai ever again."

"Please, you know he's your best friend. After all you two are eternal rivals."

Again the jounin pouted. "Hokage-sama he's making fun of me."

The Hokage was laughing so hard that tears were leaking from his eyes. "Oh stop it you two. I can't breath." The old man gasped for air. "I love it when you two come to visit, it always brightens my day. Haha. So I take it that you four are here for your first mission?"

Kakashi went back into a relaxed pose as Naruto hopped off the desk and took his place next to his teammates. "Yep, my first ever gennin team is ready for a mind numbing stream of D-rank missions."

The three behind him visibly slumped as the older men grinned. "I would love to see how Naruto handles something he can't just skip out on." A scroll passed hands and Kakashi turned to his team.

"Let's get started on the torture, I mean mission."

They spent the rest of the day pulling weeds, walking dogs and going shopping for little old ladies. They all went home tired and irritable only to meet up at the training ground the next morning wait two hours for their sensei and start again.

By the end of the month they had weeded six gardens, painted two houses and four fences, babysat fourteen kids, walked twenty dogs, went shopping twelve times and chased down the daimyo's wife's cat more than any of them cared to remember.

As they stood before the Hokage, covered in scratches watching the animal all of them wanted desperately to kill being hugged into submission by its owner, they all felt a certain amount of sick pleasure at its torment. After all it served the creature right. At first they had all felt sorry for the cat, but after what it put them through it deserved its punishment.

The Sandaime was flipping through his papers to find a suitable torture session for one of his favorite teams. "Okay there is a woman who needs you to plant some flowers for her…"

"No!" Everyone looked at Naruto who was visibly shaking with anger. "I'm so sick of these missions and if I have to buy one more set of clothes because that cat puts holes in them I'm going to kill it!"

Sakura sighed, her teammate had finally snapped. "I agree with Naruto. I've had enough of these errands." She looked at Sasuke in shock. He had never spoken out to an authority figure before.

Sarutobi smirked as Iruka, who had been helping him today, yelled at them for their lack of respect. "I was wondering when you would crack. I must say you lasted much longer then I would have expected Naruto. Do you agree with these two Sakura?"

Sakura looked at the boys, then at that damned cat. Her mind was made up when the scratch on her arm gave a particularly strong twinge. "Yes. I'm tired of these D-rank missions too."

Before Iruka could start yelling again the old Hokage held up a scroll. "Well I do have one C-rank to give you."

The three immediately brightened. Kakashi sighed in relief, he didn't think he could take one more D-rank and stay sane. On top of that Naruto had been particularly malicious with his Gai imitations ever since the boxer incident. Perhaps he would calm down if he got out of the village. The Hokage gestured to Iruka to let a man in effectively cutting off his protests. A man only slightly younger than Sarutobi came in, he was obviously inebriated. "Team seven, meet the subject of your mission Tazuna. You are to make sure he makes it home and completes the bridge he's building in safety."

Tazuna took a swig of the sake he was carrying. "So these are the body guards the great Konoha has to offer. Their nothing but brats, and that little one in all the clothes looks like nothing but a depressed ten year old."

Naruto growled in irritation while Sasuke chuckled at his teammate, for once he wasn't the one being pointed out as emo. "I do not look like I'm ten! I may be short but there is no way I look that young you old drunkard!"

The man glared at him. "Why you little punk! Didn't your mother teach you to respect your elders?"

Naruto matched the glare from behind his sunglasses. "Respect is earned not given, and as far as I can see you hardly deserve it!"

Kakashi put a hand on the angry boy's shoulder to keep him from doing anything rash, for Naruto. "I assure you Tazuna-san, these three are full fledged ninja. They should have no problem guarding you, and if anything happens I'll be there too. Also please don't insult Naruto's size, the lack of growth is a very touchy subject for him."

Naruto grumbled in irritation. "It's not like I can help being short."

Sasuke smirked. "Stop being emo Naruto."

Naruto turned to the boy slowly. "The only reason he pointed me out as the depressed one is because I wear all black while you wear those goofy little white shorts."

Sasuke's eye twitched. "My shorts are not goofy, and at least I don't cover up like a mummy you skin diseased loser."

A pare of leather clad hands found themselves wrapped around the dark haired boy's throat. Kakashi immediately ran to pry his students apart before one of them was throttled. Naruto was doing his best to stay put while searing the air with curses, Sasuke was desperately gasping for air and Sakura was screaming at the top of her lungs. Tazuna was laughing hysterically at the mayhem he provoked and Sarutobi was left shaking his head at how unprofessional his ninja were acting.

That night poor Naruto was put through another Gai inspired work out for attempting to kill a teammate. He had tried to tell Kakashi that Sasuke was never in any danger, he had only wanted to make the boy black out, but his guardian would have none of it. And so that evening found him busy doing squats, push ups and sit ups in sets of one hundred three times each. He retaliated by screaming about the power of youth the whole time.

I wanted to make it clear that Naruto is still Naruto, he's just gotten enough training and attention to tone him down a bit. Kind of like he is in Shippuuden. I also wanted to show that he has had just as much influence on Kakashi as he's had on Naruto. The strangling Sasuke thing was just a spur of the moment idea to show that they do still fight a lot.

I can't believe I have reached 94 reviews! I've never gotten so many to one story and I must say it feels nice to be appreciated like this. Which brings me to reviewer's corner, where I thank all of you for your support with one incredibly long sentence!

Thanks too: Tenshi's-Wings (I don't think people realize how strong they're making him), Boejangles (I couldn't bring myself to be quite that mean, yet.), spedclass (for all six times), HinduGoddess (he's right here, and Kakashi has a book shelf.), Hououza (Were you right?), gof22,rickp2006 (they're not that smart yet), Jaded Diamond (hehe, were any of your guesses right?), PryoFromHell959 (yes he will be and I'll do my best), missing-nin class-S, templar132 (I get what you were saying and thank you), Marada (haven't decided on wave arc, may change a bit), ADD Kyuubi Naruto, Gnosismaster, ryu (I told you it was good), likes a good story, jere7782, and of course TuffChick.

Thank you all again you make me smile.

Ja ne

Yooso