Author's Note: Holy shit, we're in the double digits! Who would've thought I could make myself work this much? XD I'm sorry this chapter took so long – computer troubles and real life have hampered my writing. But you guys rock – over 220 reviews! I think I'm in love!

An Inconvenient Truth
Chapter Ten: In Which Naruto Meets Another Friend

Dear Journal,

Rumors have been spreading about the upcoming Chuunin Exams. Kaka-sensei has, of course, kept his mouth shut tight, but I wonder if our "missions" a couple days back have anything to do with them. Genin don't usually get single missions, no matter how awesome they are (yes that was arrogant but hey – if a guy can't be prideful in his journal, where can he be?). Maa, I guess we'll find out today. Kaka-sensei scheduled the first team meeting for Team 7 since our missions.

But on to other matters. Rai-nii-san is hanging around somewhere in Konoha – knowing him, he'll pop up at the least expected time and ask me if I wanna train. This time I'm saying no, once and for all! Stupid flirt, I bet he's just trying to get into some poor woman's pants . . . .

Excerpt from Uzumaki Naruto's Journal, Age 14

Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni
June 13th

Kakashi was disgustingly cheerful when he strolled into his team's training grounds three hours later then the original set time. Of course with one look at Naruto's dangerously twitching eye and Sakura's clenched fists he quickly decided that a peace offering may be needed. Even Sasuke had a suspiciously homicidal look on his face, and the Uchiha Glare of Doom was out at full blast. Kakashi was almost impressed; Sasuke was getting closer and closer to Itachi's level every day.

"Ah my cute students look so angry today," Kakashi said, with a happy eye-smile in place. He pretended not to notice Sakura blazing eyes or the dangerous crack of her knuckles. "Mou, I suppose that I should just take these forms for the Chuunin Exams to a team that will actually appreciate them. . . ."

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto's voice was strangely calm, contradicting his rapidly twitching eyebrow and annoyed look. "If you don't explain that in one minute, I'm sticking you in a closet with Haruno-chan."

Kakashi shuddered; he had no doubt that he would be beaten up – and badly – if that were to happen, especially if Sakura's gleeful expression was anything to go by. He also had no doubt that if anyone could lock him in a closet it would be Naruto. 'Damn that little imp.'

"I registered you for the Chuunin Exams!" he crowed cheerfully, enjoying the look of shock that passed over his team's faces. It was good to know he could still surprise them. "All you have to do is fill out these forms, and you're free to join in on all the fun!"

Naruto sighed. "Only you could make a deathly tournament sound like a sleep-over Kaka-sensei," he muttered.

Kakashi took that as a compliment.

"We have to enter as a team, don't we?" Sakura asked, eyeing the papers in Kakashi's hand with caution.

"No," Kakashi answered calmly, ignoring the look he got from Naruto. "It's up to you if you want to join. Neither your teammates nor I can force you to join. You guys have two days to choose, so use your time wisely! That's all for today, so have fun doing what Genin do, oh students of mine! Ja!" With a final wave Kakashi disappeared in a poof, leaving his students looking after him in resigned exasperation. They'd gotten used to their sensei's odd ways by now.

"Well I don't know about you two, but I'm signing," Naruto said, and Sasuke nodded in agreement. Sakura, however, bit her lip, looking down at the papers uncertainly. Naruto noticed the look and gave the pink-head an encouraging grin.

"You'll do fine Haruno-chan," he told her. "Plus it'll be an academic experience, ne? Real life prepares you more than books can!"

Sakura gave him a shaky smile before saying, "I'm not sure Naruto. I'll have to think about it. Anyways, I'm off to the gates; Sasuke-kun would you like to come with me?" She gave the Uchiha an adoring look and both of the boys grimaced.

"Way to be nauseating Haruno-chan," Naruto muttered, ignoring the angry look it earned him. "Why would you go down to the gates?"

Sakura huffed. "I heard that some of the foreign teams are coming in today, and I wanted to go down to see them!"

Naruto's was instantly interested. "Foreign teams? Do you know from what countries?"

Sakura tilted her head to the side. "Ano . . . I think Ino mentioned Mizu . . . Iwa . . . and Suna. She also said something about Ame and Ta (1) as well, but she didn't give any specifics. . . ." Sakura trailed off at Naruto's excited look. "Why? Is someone you know coming?"

"Arigato Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried, not answering Sakura's question as he sped off towards the gates. He grinned in excitement as he took to the rooftops to avoid village traffic. If Suna was coming then he might see Gaara again! (2)

Naruto had become friends with Gaara soon after he and his mentors first moved to Suna. Hisoka, as a traveling samurai, often took up missions for any of the hidden countries, and the Kazekage had requested his presence as soon as he'd heard that Hisoka was nearby. He'd taken Naruto with him to see Sunagakure, and had left him outside of the Kazekage Tower with the promise that he wouldn't move.

Of course, Naruto being Naruto, he went to the nearby playground anyways.

-Flashback-

Nine-year-old Naruto knew that Hisoka-chan would be mad at him when he came back out of the tower, but it was so boring waiting around, especially with all the creepy, strangely clothed people giving him weird looks. Plus the playground was full of kids; surely he could find someone to play with? Maybe Hisoka-chan wouldn't be so angry if he knew that Naruto had made a friend while disobeying orders. . . . After all, Hisoka-chan knew that the only friend Naruto had who was his own age was Haku, and he barely saw the feminine boy.

So off he went to the playground. It was a nice place to play – it had been put in the shade of one of the taller buildings so that the area was nice and cool, and there were plenty of slides and games. When Naruto wandered over, many of the kids' heads popped up, and with them dozens of large eyes to give him curious looks.

"Aa. . . ." Naruto muttered, a little uncomfortable with all the eyes on him. Even if he liked attention, the unblinking stares were a little bit creepy. "I'll just . . . go to that sandbox. . . ." Quickly he moved to one of the sandboxes in the corner that held the only kid who hadn't looked up upon his arrival in it.

He gave a sigh of relief as he slipped over the sides; as soon as he had started heading for the corner, the other kids had lost interest in him. With a happy smile on his face he turned only to come face to face with two emotionless green eyes. Naruto yelped and feel backwards.

Placing a hand over his fluttering heart he muttered, "Jeez, you scared me half to death!"

The red-head didn't say anything, instead opting to stare Naruto down. The blond took no notice of the glare and instead continued to chatter happily. "But that's alright, I'm used to it. Rai-nii-san does it all the time, even though Hisoka-chan tells him not to. But then Hisoka-chan does it too sometimes, but he says that's for training. . . . But enough of that. My name's Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours? Do you live around here? Is it fun? This is my first time being in Suna, so I'm really curious. Is it this hot all the time? Does the sand get in your clothes? Do you always—"

"Quiet," the red-head said in a low tone, shutting Naruto up immediately. The blond looked startled at the annoyed voice, but after a moment he smiled.

"You don't talk much do you?" The red-head didn't answer, and Naruto supposed that answered his question.

"What's your name?"

The other boy considered the question and then said, just as quietly as before, "Gaara."

"Gaara, hm? Well, Gaara you're the first person my age I've met around here, so do you wanna be my friend?"

Gaara blinked. Naruto took that as a yes.

"Alright then! When Hisoka-chan comes back out, he'll be angry – I was supposed to stay by the Kaze Tower and wait for him but the playground looked more fun. So he'll come storming over here – good thing he can sense chakra or else he wouldn't be able to find me and he'd be even more angry – and you're gonna cover for me! Say something like . . . I was standing by the tower ever so innocently and somebody was in trouble and needed my help! Yeah, Hisoka-chan would fall for something like that. What do you think, Gaara?"

Gaara blinked again and Naruto smiled at him.

"I thought it was a good plan too! Yes, we're gonna be perfect friends, Gaara!"

"What are you doing over there?"

Naruto frowned and turned to see a boy around his age with dark hair and eyes standing outside of the sandbox, a sneer that didn't look right on the face of a child turning his mouth ugly. Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Why shouldn't I be here?" he bit out. Naruto had a problem with people telling him what to do and this boy had an air of arrogance around him that the blond didn't like.

"You're with him!" the boy sounded honestly surprised. "He's a monster – you shouldn't be in there. He'll rip you apart if you're not careful." His smug tone indicated that he thought Naruto would be "not careful" really soon. That set the blond's teeth on edge.

"Who are you?" he asked, trying to keep his tone even.

The boy puffed up instantly. "Seito Kaoru. My father's one of the Kazekage's councilors!" He gave Naruto a look as if to ask 'why aren't you sucking up to me yet?' Inner Naruto gagged. "You should be playing with me, not that monster," the boy continued, ignorant of Naruto's disgust.

Naruto glanced at Gaara from the corner of his eye and frowned when he saw that the red-head's face was just as impassive as when he'd met him. 'Does none of this affect him?' he wondered. The sort of things that Seito Kaoru was saying reminded Naruto of his time in Konoha, and that just made him all the more protective of his new friend.

"Listen, Seito," he rolled his eyes when the boy frowned at the lack of honorific. "I don't care who your father is, and I could care less about who you think I should play with. Gaara is my friend, and if you don't like that, there are plenty of other places for you to be." With that said, he turned back to the red-head, who was staring at him with what might have been shock on any other face, and began to chatter again.

"Jeez, what an idiot right Gaara? Like I would leave you like that, especially after I just said you my friend! And plus, you need to help me with my plan against Hisoka-chan—"

"Hey!" Seito hadn't left, instead he'd stared at Naruto for several moments in disbelief before talking yet again. "You can't go with that monster. He's killed so many people; you'll just be another body to him. Even his father hates him."

"So?" Naruto said, obviously shocking the other boy. "I don't know his father, and I don't know any of you. Why should I trust your judgment? I like Gaara, he's my friend. Nothing you say can convince me to desert him." The disgust was clear in his voice, and Seito flushed.

"You're probably a monster just like him," he said with another sneer. "You're probably gonna help him kill us all! Hey!" he called, but this time it was to the rest of the kids in the park. They all turned and Naruto was disturbed to see that the malice in their all of their eyes. None of the kids in Konoha had hated him like this, not even when their parents did. What had Gaara done to deserve this?

"He's another monster!" Seito howled and the other kids visibly perked up. "He's gonna help him kill us! We should get them before they get us!" Naruto stiffened when Seito gave a yell and turned, clambering up the side of the sandbox to reach the two boys inside. He grabbed Gaara's arm and drew close to the red-head, ignoring the glare his troubles got him.

"Well at least I won't be lying about the trouble part," he murmured under his breath before turning to his companion. "Look, Gaara, I can probably hold them off. You should get out of here, or their parents might blame you instead of me."

Gaara's eyes widened at the concern in the blond's voice. He hadn't been sure what to make of this strange person who had suddenly came into his sandbox and declared himself Gaara's friend. Nobody honestly liked Gaara. They tolerated him because of his father, detested his existence, or feared him like his brother and sister. But he doubted that the blond who called himself Naruto would throw himself in the line of fire for someone he didn't like. Besides, there was something in those eyes of his. . . .

Abruptly he shoved Naruto behind him, ignoring the blond's loud protests. His sand rose in defense as the kids came closer and he heard Naruto gasp. Most of their attackers halted at the show of strength, but a few, Seito among them, continued forwards until they were thrown back by Gaara's sand. He felt hands grip the back of his shirt and Naruto whispered in his ear.

"Don't kill any of them."

He turned and regarded the blond curiously, confident that the attack would be put off for the moment. Naruto read the question in his face and shrugged.

"If you kill them, their parents would blame you, and then you'd be more hated than ever. Plus they expect it of you – shouldn't you prove them wrong?"

Gaara blinked. He'd never quite thought of it like that before. The blond was odd, he decided. But it was a good type of odd.

"NARUTO!" the blond behind him eeped and a hand gripped his shirt tightly.

"Uh-oh. Stick to our story Gaara, or else I'm fish meat. Hisoka-chan is gonna be so mad. . . ."

Yes definitely a good type of odd. Gaara, for the first time in years, felt the urge to smile. He could do worse in a friend than Uzumaki Naruto.

-End Flashback-

Naruto smiled fondly at the memory. Even though the red-head had accepted him at their initial meeting, it had still taken a lot of time to take down all of his walls. Luckily Hisoka had been so relieved that he had a friend that wasn't a girly-looking, needle obsessed, Missing Nin he had allowed Naruto to visit Gaara as often as he liked.

He'd been surprised when he found out about Gaara's demon Shukaku. The red-head had told him about his inner demon about a year after they met, when Naruto had absently wondered aloud why Gaara looked like he didn't sleep. Naruto had been horrified to find out that his friend actually didn't sleep and, with the help of Hisoka and Raiden, had fixed up the seal so that he could get at least a couple hours of rest each night. That had been a couple of weeks before Hisoka had died.

Gaara was one of the only people who Naruto had allowed to comfort him after Hisoka died. Itachi had been one, and Raiden had been the second, for obvious reasons. But being comforted by Gaara was different; Raiden would try to sympathize with him, and Itachi would treat him like a little brother. But Gaara just stood there silently, holding Naruto against his side, and when the blond had finished with his grieving he would silently hand him a tissue. Naruto had decided back then that, despite being without close friends for most of his life, Gaara was good at comforting people.

They'd grown closer after that, and Gaara had very nearly come with Raiden and Naruto when they decided it was time to move on. But ultimately it was the need to reattach his family ties that kept him in Suna. His brother and sister, despite the example of Naruto, were still terrified of him, and his father still hated him. When they'd parted ways, he'd told Naruto that he wanted to change that.

Naruto had gotten a couple of letters from Gaara over the years, but most were just as short as conversations were with the red-head. He hadn't heard from his friend for a year at least, and his last news had just said that he was closer with his family and he hoped to see Naruto soon. Naruto knew that Gaara still wasn't a chuunin, and since he was one of their best genin he hoped that Suna would send him to the Chuunin Exams.

The Konoha Gate came into view and Naruto blinked at the number of teams already assembled outside of them. There was a large crowd of Konoha nin there to see the foreign teams, and he could see the headbands of Ta, Mizu, and Iwa among the outside nins. But no Suna. Sighing he made his way to the group of Konoha nin, and grinned when he saw the bright blonde hair of Ino.

"Hey! Ino-chan!"

Ino looked up from her conversation with the lazy looking Nara beside her and waved when she saw Naruto. He jogged up to her side.

"Uzumaki, it's been a long time since I've seen your face," she said slapping his shoulder with mock anger.

Naruto laughed. "Gomen for denying you such a handsome sight, Ino-chan. I know how much you love it." Ino blushed and muttered an annoyed comment under her breath. "But who are your friends?"

He met the Nara's eyes and was surprised to see that they were sharper than they had been before he'd joined the group. Of course, the other boy was probably analyzing him. He was an unknown in Konoha – no one knew his skills outside of his team, Raiden, Iruka, and Jiji-sama. And all of them except Raiden only knew some of them. So Nara would obviously be curious, especially if Ino had been talking about him.

"Naruto, this is Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji." Naruto turned to the chubby boy next to Shikamaru who was eating a bag of chips and nodded his head. Chouji smiled at him and offered him a chip, which Naruto refused. Then he turned to Shikamaru with another nod of greeting. The Nara just flicked his hand. "Are you here to see the teams too?" Ino drew his attention back to her.

Naruto shrugged. "Sort of. I made a close friend when I was traveling, and I was hoping he'd be here. So far, though, I haven't—"

"Uzumaki."

Naruto started and whirled around, his eyes widening as he took in the flame bright hair and flat green eyes of his best friend. Instantly he threw himself at the other boy, and would've sent them both to the ground if Gaara hadn't steadied them. Like everyone else who came into contact with Naruto, he knew that the boy was enthusiastic during reunions.

"Gaa-chan!" Naruto either didn't see or ignored the tic of Gaara's nearly non-existent eyebrows at the cute nickname. "I wasn't sure if you'd be here or not! You stupid, deranged raccoon, why didn't you tell me you were coming to Konoha?!" Gaara's eye started to twitch, but Naruto was too busy squeezing the life out of him to notice.

"The councilors made the decision late," Gaara said indifferently. "They informed us four days ago that we were to come to Konoha."

"Who's these 'we' you're talking about?" Naruto asked, slowly moving away from his friend.

"My teammates," Gaara said, sweeping a hand behind him. Naruto was surprised to see a shocked looking Kankuro and Temari standing behind the red-head.

"Oh, you guys are his team?" Naruto asked, without much enthusiasm. He'd hated how they treated Gaara in Suna, and thus he didn't like them very much. A hand on his shoulder brought his attention back to his friend.

"They have changed." Gaara's voice was quiet, but intense. Naruto sighed.

"Doesn't mean I have to," he whined childishly before stepping forward with a hand outstretched.

"It's nice to see you again, Temari, Kankuro!" he said, much more cheerfully. The two looked surprised, but Temari hesitantly took his hand and gave it a shake. Kankuro just gave him a nod.

"Naruto, who are your friends?" Ino asked her eyes on Gaara. Naruto snorted.

"Flirt," he said with more amusement than anger. Ino's chances of scoring Gaara were practically nothing. The red-head was just as apathetic as he was during their childhood years.

Ino glared at him and then stuck her nose up in the air. "It may come as a surprise to someone as uncivilized as you, Naruto, but some of us have manners," she said, with distinct snobbishness.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "If you want to call shameless flirting manners, Ino-chan, be my guest, but don't expect me to believe you." Ino just glowered at him.

Naruto turned back to Gaara. "I'm going to be in the exams as well," he said cheerfully, ignoring Gaara's narrowing eyes. "Kaka-sensei signed us up."

"Really?" Ino said enthusiastically. "Asuma-sensei did the same for us! I guess we'll be in this together, Naruto!"

Naruto laughed, "You just can't wait to see me fight, Ino-chan! And I know exactly what you'll be watching," he added with a wink. Ino huffed.

"Honestly, where did you learn such crude manners?" she muttered.

"Blame my guardian. He's a bit of a pervert." He grinned as Ino started to radiate anger. "If you want to talk to him about my horrible manners, he's got black hair and golden eyes and his name's Raiden." Ino gave a grin (Naruto was eerily reminded of Sakura earlier and inwardly shivered – girls were scary) and stalked off, dragging a complaining Shikamaru and a still-eating Chouji with her. "If you see him, tell him Naruto sent you!" the blond called after them, grinning when Shikamaru gave him a lazy salute. 'You can run, but you can't hide, Rai-nii-san. This is payback for all those times women beat up on me for your pervy behavior.' Inner Naruto cackled evilly.

He turned back to see Gaara giving him a look and shrugged. "Payback, Gaa-chan, what else? Now, where are you staying?" He turned to Temari, knowing Gaara well enough to realize that the red-head wouldn't answer him. 'I think he's already used his quota of words for the day,' Naruto thought with amusement.

"Konoha Inn," Temari answered hesitantly, still surprised by Naruto's friendly attitude. Back when the blond still lived near Suna he'd been cold and irritable with them. Temari knew now that it was because of their treatment of Gaara, but it still surprised her that he could forgive them so easily. Especially since they hadn't even shown him that they were behaving when it came to their youngest brother! 'I had no idea they were that close,' she thought, and voice in the back of her head told her that she had never noticed much about Gaara back then, content as she had been to ignore him.

"Sugoi," Naruto said with a whistle. "That's one of our best, I think. Haruno-chan was babbling about her mom going there a couple weeks back. Jiji-sama must really be sucking up to you if he's placing you there. Anyhow, Gaa-chan you wanna come with me to get something to eat? They've got the best ramen in Konoha, you wouldn't believe it!" He tugged on Gaara's arm, pulling the red-head behind him as he started to chatter away.

"I got to see Itachi-sensei again, can you believe it? He lives in this big creepy house, and once you get settled in we're gonna get a lot of pink paint and do a painting job on it, okay Gaa-chan? And you're gonna cover me when Itachi-sensei comes after me, because he's scary when he's mad! You wouldn't want little old me to get killed, would you?" There was a paused and Naruto yelped. "Gaara! What kind of friend lets his best friend get killed! Mou, what happened to that cute little red-head I used to know? The one that defended me with his sand. . . ."

Temari and Kankuro exchanged a look, both, for once, in agreement. Their little trip to Konoha was going to be much stranger than they thought it would be.

But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for. (Paulo Coelho)

Naruto was heading home from his full day out with Gaara when he heard the shouting. He stopped and stared towards the place where it had come from – one of the training grounds, if he wasn't mistaken, that was surrounded by a wall of trees. He could hear vague words filtering through the thick wall of leaves.

". . . stupid . . . loser . . . bakayaro . . . never amount . . . leave. . . ." Naruto tensed and started to angrily stalk towards the training ground. Those words were too much like the ones that he'd heard during his first years in Konoha – no way in hell was he going to let someone else have to stand them!

He burst through the trees and stopped dead when he saw what exactly was going on. A teenager in a green leotard (Naruto did his best not to cringe) was lying on the ground, obviously having seen the worse part in a fight. His bowl-cut black hair was messy and tangled, and he had bruises and slashes over his body, giving his leotard a battered look. Big black eyes looked up at Naruto from underneath thick, bushy eyebrows.

Standing above him was another boy, this one with looks the complete opposite of the one on the ground. He had long dark hair that cascaded down his back and was tied loosely at the end to keep it out of his way. Pale eyes without a pupil - 'Byakugan,' Naruto thought instantly – stared down at the other boy arrogantly, and the boy's neutral colored shorts and shirt were without a scratch.

"Who are you?" the arrogant boy asked and Naruto stiffened. This was the voice that had been saying those words.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he bit out proudly. "And you're obviously a Hyuuga, not that I care. What about you?" he asked towards the boy on the ground.

"R-rock Lee," he said, eyes widening even further.

"Hm. Well, Lee-san, I can take you to the hospital to get patched up if you need it. Obviously Mr. Prim, Proper, and Prideful doesn't need anything, but I wouldn't have offered anyways." Naruto grinned at the tight look on the Hyuuga's face. Oh how he loved to mess with arrogant asses!

"You're one of the rookies in the Chuunin Exams." Hyuuga said, and Naruto nodded, making the other boy sneer. "You won't make it that far. Like rookies could handle the Chuunin Exams," he muttered to himself. Naruto stiffened.

"Look, Mr. Dark, Tall, and Angsty, you know absolutely nothing about me or my team. Until you see us fight, I suggest you keep your comments next to the ten foot pole shoved up your ass." He turned to Lee, who had watched the confrontation with a look torn between horror and admiration. Naruto inwardly wondered if anyone had bothered to defend the older boy before this. "Look, Lee-san – can you stand on your own?"

"Of course!" Lee beamed brightly, regaining his spirit of YOUTH thanks to his wonderful champion. He leaped to his feet, only to fall flat on his face. Naruto sighed.

"Obviously not," he said, smiling. He hoisted one of Lee's arms over his shoulder, taking the boy's weight so that he could stand without falling again.

"You won't get anywhere, Uzumaki! You're just a no-good loser with ideas above his station!" Naruto had been ignoring the Hyuuga, but at that comment he stiffened and stopped in his tracks, not seeing the worried look his new friend was giving him. He carefully set Lee down on the grass.

"Mind staying here for a while?" he asked, and Lee shook his head vigorously. Naruto grinned, giving him a thumbs up before turning back to the Hyuuga, a cold smile stretching across his face.

"Hyuuga I don't particularly care about the angst-driven past you have that's causing you to be such a jack-ass, but you will apologize - if not to me, then to Lee-san, who you were bad-mouthing earlier for, as far as I can see, no apparent reason." Hyuuga looked furious to Naruto's amusement. Obviously he wasn't used to having to deal with attitude.

"Win against me and I'll apologize to the both of you," Hyuuga said after gaining back his composure. He gave Naruto a steady look of confidence that, under any other circumstances, would've made the blond want to befriend him.

"So sure of yourself?" Naruto mocked, discretely activating his eyes as he did so. It was a good thing that Reiki-Metsuki didn't have any characteristic markings like the Sharingan, or even the Byakugan. No one would know he was using it because it only brightened his eye color a tad – unless they knew about his bloodline, most opponents would attribute that to excitement.

Hyuuga had a distinctive aura, much like Sasuke did. His core colors spoke of determination, strength, and a will – three things that Naruto knew he would admire once Hyuuga got the stick out of his ass. He frowned as he saw a lazy green pattern dancing lazily over the top of his next layer – his physical aura - but before he could get a closer look Hyuuga was talking again.

"It is my fate to beat you," he said calmly, his hands rising into a typical Juuken stance. Naruto sighed – he'd learned from Itachi about the Byakugan, but he'd never had to fight a Hyuuga before. 'Why do I get myself into these things?' he thought, but with a look back at an anxious looking Lee told him exactly why he was doing this. 'This is what comes from being raised by Hisoka,' he thought with some amusement. 'You end up protecting the underdogs of the world. Next thing you know, I'll be saving kittens and helping old ladies cross the street.'

"Ara? My fate? I don't believe in fate, Hyuuga-baka." He said calmly, and instantly ducked when Hyuuga came rushing at him, veins bulging and chakra glowing on his hands.

Naruto had to dart and duck to avoid Hyuuga's techniques, but he didn't fight back. He just dodged, weaving around Hyuuga every time he tried to score a hit. After a few minutes of this technique, Hyuuga withdrew, a frown of irritation marring his face.

"What? The great Hyuuga gives in so easily? What happened to fate?" Naruto teased. He dodged the hand that Hyuuga sent at him quickly. "Oho, scary."

"Fight me seriously, baka," Hyuuga said with a growl. Naruto lifted an eyebrow.

"Why should I?" he grinned when Hyuuga glared at him. 'He's got nothing on Itachi,' he thought childishly, mentally sticking his tongue out at the other shinobi.

"When you're fighting a superior opponent, you should always use your full strength," Hyuuga said snobbishly.

"So, this is your full strength then?" Naruto asked cheekily, and had to dodge another attack from the angered Hyuuga. 'The cold ones are always so much fun to tease,' he thought, dancing away from Hyuuga's glowing hands. However, his light attitude disappeared when he noticed Hyuuga's attacks getting sharper and faster – it was getting harder and harder to dodge them as he had been. 'Time to play fair, I s'ppose.'

"All right, Hyuuga-chan, I'll fight you fairly," he said and before Hyuuga could start spouting some smug speech, Naruto disappeared from his sight.

Hyuuga whirled around, kunai in his fingers, and clashed with Naruto, who'd been sneaking up on him from behind with a knife in his hand. Naruto grinned and disappeared again, this time to Hyuuga's right side. The knife back in its safe place, his freed hands started to quickly make seals.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried, and a dozen solid copies of him sprung into being around Hyuuga.

He'd learned the jutsu from Raiden a long time ago, and he liked to use it because he was so comfortable with it and because it always caught his enemy off guard. Seeing an enemy's disbelieving face was always so entertaining . . . .

Naruto sent his clones into action, instructing them mentally to only use Water style – the style he'd been using up to this point. Water style was mostly defensive and, when unsure about an enemy's strength, a good style to use. But while Hyuuga was a good fighter – Naruto was sure that he'd be having a hard time had he not had years of training and experience – this fight was getting a little boring. 'Time to end it, and quickly,' he thought when he saw that his clones were getting demolished. Despite that they were clones of him they were nowhere near as skillful as he was in terms of taijutsu.

Quickly he made some more clones and disappeared from sight, circling behind Hyuuga so that the other shinobi couldn't see him easily. Carefully – so he didn't draw attention to himself – he formed a couple more seals and whispered under his breath, "Doton Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!"

Hyuuga was, of course, surprised when he was abruptly disturbed from his fighting of Naruto's clones and pulled underground until he was neck-deep and couldn't move a muscle. He growled and the clones disappeared. Naruto, grinning from his victory, crouched down to Hyuuga's level.

"What's your name?" he asked and Hyuuga looked surprised.

"Hyuuga Neji," he said quietly and with a bit of bitterness.

"Hm. You're a Branch member then?" Neji tensed and immediately opened his mouth, but Naruto waved his question aside. "My guardian told me about the Hyuuga's crazy politics, and I took a guess. Your reaction says it all, Neji-chan. But seriously – try taking out your anger on something other than poor gejimayu over there."

Neji had calmed and considered Naruto with stoic eyes. "Why should I listen to you?" he asked and Naruto shrugged.

"What reason do you have to beat him up?"

Neji sneered. "He's a failure. He gets in the way. And he never stops smiling!"

"How do you define a failure?" Naruto asked, curious.

"Someone who loses," Neji started and then stopped himself. Naruto grinned.

"Then that means you're a failure too, huh? Lemme let you in on a little secret, Neji-chan – everybody loses to somebody. It's one of those facts of life. So, by your definition, everybody in the whole world's a failure. And, personally, I'd prefer someone who can fail with a smile, because it just means they're that much stronger than someone who loses with anger." He gave the Hyuuga a pointed look.

"You don't understand what its like!" Neji said, starting to get angry again, obviously understanding Naruto's insinuation.

"Oh? Why don't you explain it to me then? You can whine and moan about how no one understands your plight all you want, Neji-chan, but all it takes to get someone to understand is for you to open your mouth and let them know."

Neji opened his mouth, than closed it again with a frown. Naruto grinned – he'd let the stiff Hyuuga think on that for a while. Maybe he'd loosen up a little bit. Kami knew the Rock Lee's of the world needed it.

"Have fun trying to worm your way out, Neji-chan!" he sung and hurriedly grabbed Lee before making his get-away. He didn't think he'd want to be around when Neji got out of his little trap.

"Even the wise cannot see all ends." (The Fellowship of the Ring; Gandalf)

A knock on Naruto's door made him look up from his study of his father's old scrolls with a frown. As far as he knew, nobody had any idea he'd moved back into the Namikaze home. Carefully he padded out of the living room to the front door cautiously. However as soon as he felt the intruders chakras he relaxed.

"Itachi-sensei, Gaa-chan!" he cried, as he opened the door. As soon as it was open, the two shinobi swept by him down the hallway, leaving Naruto to stand in front of his door in confusion. Shaking his head, he closed the door and turned to follow them, inwardly wondering what all the hurry was about. When he entered the living room, he found Itachi studying his still open scroll and Gaara staring out the windows.

"Not that you're not welcome or anything," he said, plopping down on the couch, "but why are you guys here? Gaa-chan, I thought you'd be with your family!"

Gaara turned to face him. "Hokage-sama told me where you lived," he said quietly. "I'm staying here during the exams."

Naruto stared at him for a moment before laughing. "You could at least ask, Gaa-chan." Gaara shrugged. "All right, you can stay if you want. Though I don't know why you aren't spending time with Temari and Kankuro."

Gaara gave Naruto a stare. "Three years, Uzumaki."

Naruto grinned and instantly bounded over to give Gaara a hug. The red-head tolerated it, but he glared at Itachi as if to say – 'say anything and die.' Itachi just looked at him impassively. Gaara turned his attention back to Naruto when he heard the blond start to talk.

"I knew you missed me, Gaa-chan! Your cold looks and words are all just for show! You're really a soft teddy bear on the inside!" Gaara's eyebrow twitched. Really, the blond could just be so . . . .

"C'mon, I'll show you where you can sleep for the night," Naruto said, releasing the red-head from his hug and pulling on his hand. "Itachi-sensei, I'll be right back down, okay?" he didn't wait for an answer.

A half-hour later, Naruto came back into the living room to find Itachi in the exact same place where he left him, only without a scroll in his hand. Naruto sighed and plopped down by Itachi on the couch.

"I s'ppose I'm glad he decided to stay with me for a bit," the blond mumbled. "Rai-nii-san's been all over the place, and I'm so used to having someone living with me that I've been a bit lonely in this place. But enough of that," he said, brightening a bit. "Come with me, Itachi-sensei, I've got something I want to show you!" Naruto took Itachi's hand and pulled him after him up the two flights of stairs into the attic.

"I found this when we first explored the house," Naruto explained to a silent Itachi as he led them to the part of the room that held his mother's paintings. "I found a couple of paintings by my mother that I thought you and Sasuke might want to have." He let go of Itachi's hand and rummaged through the paintings for a bit until he surfaced with three in his hand. He handed them to Itachi, who stared down at his mother's painted face with surprise. "Apparently, they were friends," Naruto said quietly in answer to his unasked question. "There's a couple of sketches too – I'll just go grab those for you . . . ." he turned away and left Itachi to his privacy.

Itachi grasped the paintings and looked them over carefully. They were very good – Naruto's mother had been a good painter, if nothing else. Itachi was swept away by a feeling of bittersweet sadness as he looked down at his mother's face. How long had it been since he'd seen those features? Six years, seven years? He'd already forgotten most of the details – like that she had a mole at the corner of her mouth, the brightness of her dark eyes, or the way her crow's feet around her eyes had crinkled when she smiled.

"Naruto." The blond looked up from his search to see Itachi staring at him with intense eyes. He swallowed. "Thank you."

Naruto smiled. "You're welcome, Itachi-sensei," he said quietly. "Here are some of the sketches – I'll see if there are any more later on. It's starting to get a little late – Sasuke must be wondering where you are."

Itachi nodded and accepted the sheets of paper Naruto handed him easily. The blond led his friend out of the attic and down the stairs, pausing by Gaara's door to yell a goodnight to the silent red-head before heading down to the living room. Itachi was just about to make his way to the front door, deciding to wait until the next day to talk to Naruto, when the blond's hand on his arm stopped him.

"What did you come over here for, Itachi-sensei? You must have had some reason besides wanting to see my good-looking face," the blond said it jokingly, but there was a serious glint in his eyes.

"I wanted to warn you," Itachi said quietly, shifting the paintings in his hands. "Sandaime-sama has told the ANBU to be on the lookout during the Chuunin Exams. You are in particular danger for being the Kyuubi vessel, Naruto-kun."

Naruto looked surprised. "Someone might be after me?" he asked.

Itachi tilted his head. "Yes. The group Sandaime-sama is wary of has been . . . collecting jinchuuriki as of late. We do not know if they are aware of your merged status, or if it matters to them. If they infiltrate during the exams . . . they are likely to be after you."

Naruto rubbed his face. The easiest time to infiltrate a village was during the Chuunin Exams – during the exams the village security was extremely high and all of the foreigners were treated with suspicion. He'd never suspected that Jiji-sama had an actual group he was keeping an eye on. 'Maybe that's what Ero-Sennin wanted to talk with him about,' Naruto thought, remembering Jiraiya's top-secret information during his return to Konoha. He knew that the Sannin had an excellent web of spies from underground rumors, and most likely kept Jiji-sama updated.

"I'll do my best to stay safe, Itachi-sensei. Thanks for telling me," he finally said, looking up at the older boy with a smile. Itachi was silent for a moment.

"Tell me if anything is wrong, Naruto-kun." Naruto was surprised at the steel in Itachi's voice, but nodded. The older boy sighed before ruffling the blond's hair with his free hand and disappearing out the front door. Naruto blinked and then smiled. Who knew Itachi could be so affectionate?

Author's Notes: Yes, Neji-chan is somewhat of a bastard. You can think of him as my version of canon Sasuke. While my Sasuke may have had Itachi to help him, Neji still had the same things happen to him as they did in canon, hence his bastard-like personality. But like always, the Uzumaki Charm comes out the champion! Bwhaha……Yes, there is a good reason that Naruto is fighting Neji now. It's all for plot purposes. And yes, the fight sucks. I did tell you early on I can't write fight scenes very well. Oh well. Thank you guys for all the wonderful reviews, and keep 'em coming! Chapter 11 will be up sooner or later!

Spoilers (Naruto Shippuden): Yes! And we, Itachi-kun's fans, are proven right once and for all! He's innocent……partly. ……And Sasuke killed him! T.T Oho, I want to see more the mystery! And see Madara's face……!

Doton Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Type, Inner Decapitation Skill): You guys all remember Kakashi's nifty little jutsu that made Sasuke look like a moron, right? Well this is the same thing. Victim gets pulled under ground up to their necks and can't get out easily. Ha.

Juuken (Gentle Fist): Hyuuga's special taijutsu style.

(1) Ta no Kuni is The Land of the Rice Fields, and is also known as Oto no Kuni, possibly from its only shinobi village Otogakure (Wikipedia).

(2) Heh, heh……Surprise?