Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I do own a dog that I can assure you was in no way injured during the making of this update.

I'm back on fanfiction and in school. Yes, Faeryl36 goes to a private school where I promptly bombed my AP summer reading test. It wasn't my fault though because my teacher decided to be stupid and make the ten question (out of one hundred) on the names of the chapters. I was like, "What the Fuck? Who does this?" It's gonna be a long year guys…but I can promise pretty quick updates for this and the upcoming stories.

Naruto and Gaara walked out of the helicopter. As it turned out, Gaara had a fear of flying although it was kind of justifiable because it's not like he lost his memory or grew up in a world where the technology was advanced to get a large metal machine into the air and keep it there for a prolonged period of time.

Naruto had called Chancellor Shepard beforehand and had convinced him to allow Gaara to gain access to Duel Academy. It wasn't particularly hard though. The man looked very serious as if he was going to say no only to refute that notion when he said yes before Naruto finished the request. Honestly, sometimes that man was worse than Pegasus.

"Where will I be staying?" Gaara's question was a simple one. Everyone needed their own place

"I have no idea," Naruto's flippant response went unanswered as they continued to walk quietly on the road. "Until we find out though, you can crash with me." Gaara nodded; while he was a shinobi who was trained to adapt this whole world was new to him let alone an island where he would be attending school for the foreseeable future.

It wasn't long before the two happened to run into Jaden who was running up to them. "N! We need to get to the Duel Arena!"

"Hey Jaden," he grinned but then frowned, "I guess I should tell you it's Naruto now. Apparently that's my name." His statement went unanswered as he was dragged through the road with Gaara by Jaden.

"We have to get to the Duel Arena. NOW!"

Naruto was truly surprised. While he was actually kind of used from this behavior from Jaden, which actually scared him a little, he was kind of worried. Jaden never got this excited about anything unless the duel was really good or the food was. Since he said they were going to Duel Academy he was able to guess, albeit it took a while for him, that a really good duel was about to go down.

His face split into his trademark grin as he took his arm back from Jaden, "Who's dueling?"

"You missed it. We spent the whole day with Bastion. We played baseball, ate, and a bunch of other stuff it was pretty awesome. The thing is it was all prep work for his big duel today; he is going up against Chazz for a shot at the Blue Dorm, but Chazz isn't playing fairly. He snuck into Bastion's room and he threw his cards away."

That did it for Naruto. It was one thing to be arrogant; as much as he hated it he could work with those kinds of people. When someone else has to revert to cheating to win was another thing. He had pretty good morals and cheating and thievery really bothered him for some reason.

Gaara watched impassively as the energetic brunette dragged him away. It didn't really surprise him though. Naruto had told him all about the people at Duel Academy and Jaden was one of the first ones he mentioned. He could see how the two got along as they had many similarities.

However the last thing caught his attention. Duels like this were hosted? If he were placed in another dorm then he could duel against someone to gain another dorm and gain access. This could be very helpful in the long run.

They ran quickly, very quickly for Jaden as Naruto and Gaara were both much faster than him, and arrived there as soon as possible to warn Bastion of the sabotage.

They get there too early it seemed as only Chazz, Alexis, and for some reason Zane were present at the match.

"You took Bastion's card during the night and threw them in ocean!" Bluntness was another quality he shared with Naruto; it came right after energetic Gaara noted.

Chazz sneered, "You have no proof." While simple and extremely annoying because his statement makes it seem that he is actually guilty, it was true. They had no proof other than motive.

"Where were the cards?" Alexis asked with narrowed eyes at Chazz.

"They were near the docks. It was Bastion's deck; it had both Vorse Raider and ring of Destruction in it. It had to be his! And Chazz did it so that he could win today."

"I saw Chazz throw a group of cards into the ocean this morning," Alexis mused to herself under her breath, but Zane still heard her and he had heard enough. He knew that Chazz was guilty and he found that to be a pathetic show from the dark haired duelist.

"It doesn't matter." Everyone turned to see Bastion walking in with Crowler and Chancellor Shepard at his flanks. "I will duel."

"How will duel without your deck?" everyone in the room turned to notice Gaara for the first time. The stares meant nothing to him however as his eyes bored into Bastion. "To win one needs all his ingredients and without your deck your equation is incomplete."

Bastion smirked; he didn't know who this guy was but he understood Bastion's method. Bastion unzipped his jacket, "A duelist is always prepared…for any contingency!" under his academy-issued Ra Yellow jacket was a series of three belts which each held two decks. Naruto noted that it was similar to his own belt, but not black. "I have six decks, one for each attribute, and these are the pieces to my equation, the tools for my victory."

"It won't matter. You won't beat me," Chazz's belief in his own skill was unmistakable. He knew that he was going to win this.

Naruto angled his head up and grinned, "You think so? Bastion here is prepared for all contingency and I feel pretty compelled to believe him."

"You're going down, Chazz." Jaden's anger about Bastion's card had not been lost it seemed.

Gaara merely narrowed his eyes. While silent it was incredibly effective as Chazz visibly shuddered under the gaze under the redhead.

"Heh heh Gaara is staring down Chazz…heh heh," Gaara then brought his hand to his temple as Naruto grinned at him with his eyes closed. Blunt was a very good word to describe Naruto.

As Bastion went up to the duel field, Naruto and the others went to sit by Alexis and Zane. She smirked as she turned to Naruto, "N, where have you been?! I haven't seen you anywhere… I was so worried," her statement was finished with her best impressed of a sad and lonely girl complete with fake tears. No response followed because N had passed out on the floor with blood flowing from his nose. "Huh, I never thought that the blood actually came out."

Gaara avoided touching the growing pool around Naruto's head. "I am Gaara Subaku. I suppose I should reintroduce N as Naruto as that is his real name. He could tell you that himself but you decided to turn him into his teacher."

"Who's his teacher?"

Gaara smirked; he didn't answer the question as it almost made him laugh and he couldn't let that happen, "Perhaps another time."

It didn't matter as the duel was already starting.

Chazz opened his turn by drawing, "I summon my Chthonian Soldier in attack position and set one card." Naruto, who had popped up from the ground as if he hadn't lost two pints of blood, noted that Chazz was going back to using his first deck from when hey dueled.

"I summon Hydrogen!" the brown aquatic dinosaur appeared on Bastion's field with 1600 attack points, "Attack his Chthonian Solder for damage." (4000-(1200-1600) =3600).

Chazz smirked; this was all too easy for him. "And you call yourself a genius? My soldier deals the same damage to you." Naruto knew it. It did the same to him during their duel.

"Since Hydrogedon destroyed a monster I can bring another one to my field." It seemed that Bastion wasn't done with his turn, "Attack!" his second Hydrogedon dashed forward and did damage to Chazz directly (3600-1600=2000).

"Tch. That was a move? I missed it." Chazz drew to start his turn. "I activate my trap card; Call of the Haunted, but wait there's more I activate the quick play spell card Inferno Reckless Summon which allows me to bring out two more monsters of the same name as long as they have less than 1500 attack points."

'What's he doing this time? He can't seriously being thinking of using that same strategy again?' Naruto thought while thinking of their, admittedly short, first duel. Naruto was forced to sweatdrop as he watched Chazz run the same strategy he had used on him. As a result of Chazz's attack Bastion's lifepoints dropped to 1600 and one of his two Hydrogedon's was destroyed as a result of the battle.

"I summon Oxygedon and use it to attack one of the remaining Chthonian soldiers (2000-(1800-1200) = 1400)," Bastion stood defiant as his lifepoints took the same hit. "Now Hydrogedon attack his other Chthonian Soldier (1400 –(1600-1200) = 1000) and as a result I can summon another Hydrogedon to the field."

Bastion set a card with his remaining phase and 600 lifepoints.

'He's playing it smart here, but right now Chazz has the stronger monster and the higher life points.' Naruto knew from experience that a win was possible right now, but he wasn't sure if Bastion could pull it off. He then turned to Gaara next to him and noticed his green eyes scan the match with scrutiny. Gaara saw things differently than Naruto did but he understood what Gaara saw. He saw what he needed to become better. He watched as Jaden gripping the rail tightly in anticipation for the next turn. Alexis who looked on with one hand supporting her head on the rail and finally Zane who, while as stoic as ever, twitched whenever an error was made by either of the duelists.

I sacrifice my Solder for the Infernal Incinerator." Chazz had made his move and it seemed to be a game changer as the monster lived up to its name. "His attack grows by 200 points for each monster you have on your field making a total of 3400."

Gaara noted that Naruto was right when he had said that Chazz had better cards than skill. He could have waited out the battle by attacking Bastion's monsters but he instead went for what he considered to be a for sure win by attacking Bastion regardless of his face down card. Gaara was proven right when Bastion activating the trap Amorphous Barrier to end the battle phase entirely.

"I play the spell card H20 bonding which allows me to fuse my two Hydrogedon's and one Oxygedon to make the equation necessary for water, or in this case the Water Dragon!" Bastion's turn had given him the card for his victory.

"With Water Dragon's effect it reduces the attack points of all fire type monsters on the field such as your Infernal Incinerator to 0." That had decided it; with no spell or trap cards and one pathetic monster on his field Chazz was defeated as the holographic water cut him down.

'I lost again. First to N or Naru-whatever, then to the slacker Jaden and now to this Ra Yellow; I'm supposed to be the best for my family, but I keep failing' He knees buckled and his fist hit the floor. It was too much for him to take.

At the other side of the arena, everyone was congratulating Bastion on the come-from-behind victory over Chazz Princeton. It wasn't everyday one sees a victory that intense let alone the Dorm prejudice often preventing duels between a yellow and a blue.

Bastion showed them his Vorse Raider card, which had not been thrown into the sea, but was instead covered in his equations. Bastion had won the match before he even entered the field.

"Moving up to Blue now?" Naruto asked Bastion who shook his head.

"Not until I am the best duelist in our class which means I will have to defeat both you and Jaden to obtain that title."

Jaden then grabbed the heads of both Naruto and Bastion, "Then let's all duel right now! Come on a three way match between us would be incredible."

Naruto had to admit that while it was a bad time because of the untimely arrival of Gaara that he was too busy, but a three way match between them did sound awesome. He had never participated in that kind of duel before and he had to admit that he could think anyone better beside Jaden and Bastion to have it with.

Alexis then turned to Gaara who was standing with his arms crossed as he silently watched the exchanges, "So are you going to be a student here?"

Before Gaara could answer a large man in a maroon jacket appeared and shook his hand. Behind his back, Naruto was glaring at him leading Gaara to believe that he was an authority figure as they were the only adults who Naruto glared at or made fun of.

"I am Chancellor Shepard, the principal of Duel Academy. You are Gaara Subaku correct?" Gaara, ever the quiet one nodded his head. "Good now about your entrance exam-"

"What entrance exam? You said Gaara could come here, old man! You better not be trying to dupe me 'cause I'll maim you" he then noticed Gaara palming his face, "and Gaara will too!"

"What I meant to say was that it will decide what dorm Gaara will be placed in."

"Oh. You should better clarify yourself old man. There might be a miscommunication and an extremely handsome blonde male and his red-haired friend may beat you up or the worst case scenario would be that your misuse of the language would send the wrong message to a yaoi fangirl club. " All the males, including Zane and Chazz who was across the room and could not hear them, involuntarily shuddered. While Alexis gave him a deadpan expression, he held up his arms in a placating expression, "Just saying shit happens."

The chancellor looked at his student for a moment, blinked and then turned back to Gaara. "Anyways tomorrow you will face Syrus Truesdale to determine your dorm."

Gaara nodded. He had preparations to do and he would need Naruto's help.

The blonde looked at Gaara with a grin. He knew what Gaara was thinking and they both left together as Naruto put his hands behind his head.

GX

Syrus Truesdale was worried. Apparently while he was in the bathroom after finding Bastion's cards in the ocean, he had been set up for a duel with a friend of Naruto's. The guy's name was Gaara and Chumley was right when he told him that he was intimidating. His arms were crossed and his claw-shaped duel disk was active. His eyes were cold and it reminded Syrus of his brother; they both had the same dead expression in their eyes and that's what was really scaring Syrus. Could this new guy be as skilled as Zane, Jaden, or Naruto?

Syrus drew his card. Patroid was the perfect monster for him to put in defense mode. Right?

"I summon Patroid in defense mode."

Gaara blinked slowly, the first movement he had made all duel before drawing a card to his hand. "I summon Gladiator Beast Tygerius in attack mode." His finger pointed to Syrus' defense mode machine; as words were not necessary for Gaara to make his targets. "Since my Gladiator Beast battled this turn I have to send it back to my deck but I can tag out another one like Gladiator Beast Dimacari and play a face-down."

'He already destroyed my monster? I have no idea how long I'm going to last against this guy." Syrus thought to himself hopelessly.

Naruto had to grin. Watching Gaara beat on Syrus was kind of fun since he had worked with Gaara all night and even given him a new card. He really hoped that Gaara got to use to new card.

Syrus drew another card this time it was Steamroid, his favorite monster whose attack increased when it attacked. "I summon Steamroid in attack mode! Go attack his Dimacari!" Syrus' exuberance was unfounded when Gaara played his face down.

"I activate the spell card Forbidden Lance. It allows me to weaken your monster by 800 attack points, but it will become unaffected by spell or trap cards." It was too late for Syrus to stop the attack of Steamroid as it lost its attack points and destroyed itself on Gaara's Dimacari (4000-(1600-1300) = 3700) who was substituted for his Gladiator Beast Samnite.

Syrus' eyes got even wider as he watched his chances begin to crumble, but finished with a face down.

Gaara drew his card and sighed. He had dueled and got beat by Naruto all night, but this duel was boring and probably going to be over soon. "I special summon Test Tiger from my hand in defense mode and then normal summon Gladiator Beast Murmillo from my hand. I then can use Test Tiger's effect which allows me to send Murmillo to the deck and bring out Gladiator Beast Laquari in attack mode as his substitute with 2100 attack points."

Alexis watched as the red-haired boy tore into Syrus. Syrus was not a great duelist, that was a well-known fact but the new guy was different. "Naruto… What can you tell me about Gaara?" Jasmine and Mindy turned their heads to Naruto as well as he continued to grin throughout the duel.

"Gaara and I go way back... apparently. I still have amnesia but Gaara helped fill me in. He's pretty new to duel monsters so he can grow, but that doesn't mean he isn't skilled. He gave me a run when we met the other week and I worked with him all last night. He got a lot better. He makes fewer mistakes and covers his tracks with his cards pretty well."

Alexis had to say when was impressed. She had seen Naruto duel twice now and admitted that he was far better than her and in her opinion Jaden even though Naruto stuck to his idea that they were equal. In her eyes, he was the only one with a chance against Zane and to see him speak highly of Gaara spoke volumes.

Gaara's attack was halted when Syrus activated his trap A Rival Appears which allowed him to summon a monster from his hand with equal level to the monster on his opponent's field in this case the level four Laquari to bring out his own Jetroid.

Gaara didn't see the point in this move. Gaara's monsters had more than enough attack points to destroy Jetroid and win the duel. However, he didn't know that once attacked Jetroid allows it controller to play traps from the hand in this case it was Magical Cylinder and Laquari's attack was sent back at Gaara's own lifepoints bringing it down to 1900.

Gaara then had to replace his Gladiator Beast Laquari with Gladiator Beast Darius.

Alexis turned to Naruto as Mindy and Jasmine were off being occupied with staring at the duel, "That was a pretty good move."

Naruto nodded and pouted, "Aw, I totally would have fallen for that." Alexis then rubbed his head in an antagonizing manner.

Naruto grabbed her hand and frowned, "I'm not a dog Alexis." If Naruto Uzumaki was any animal it would be a fox dammit, if Gaara is to be believed.

Gaara then attacked with his Samnite which destroyed Jetroid and dealt 400 more points of direct damage to Syrus lowering him to 3300. Gaara finished with a face down.

Syrus drew what happened to be the perfect card, Polymerization." I special summon my Steam Gyroid in attack mode." The monster rushed on Syrus' command at Darius only for him to watch in slow horror as Gaara hit the first button on his duel disk which signified the activation of a spell or trap card.

"Horn of the Phantom Beast," the trap card equipped itself to Darius increasing his strength by 800 and allowing him to destroy Steam Gyroid dealing another 300 point of direct damage to Syrus with the added effect of drawing a card and sending him back to the deck with his replacement in the form of Laquari.

"I summon Gladiator Beast Octavian to the field by sacrificing my Test Tiger. This duel is over."

Gaara was right; with his final attacks Syrus lost his life points leaving the red-haired boy the winner of the match. He watched as the Chancellor approached him with a yellow jacket in hand. "Gaara Subaku you have proven to us today that you are not only worthy to attend Duel Academy but worthy to wear this jacket. Will you accept?"

Gaara gave a slight smile and nodded. He wasn't sure if he had really died at the hands of the Akatsuki because he was going to be happy here he could tell.

As the Chancellor walked away Gaara put on his jacket buttoning up all the buttons so that it resembled what he wore as the Kazekage. His revelry was broken when he saw a grinning Naruto. "What is it?"

"See those two girls?" he pointed to a red-haired and a brunette in the stands.

Gaara looked over and shrugged, "I am able to see. What's the point?"

"Enjoy the fangirls, Gaara." Naruto snickered and slung an arm over Gaara's shoulder to help him walk away as he was frozen in place.

'They're here too? How is that even possible?'

Well that should be it. It may not be my longest chapter but it's late and I have to wake up at six to go to frickin' school. I am really happy with the number of reviews and favorites (83 and 187 respectively). I feel like I don't suck as a writer. EGO BOOST!