Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

No beta! My mistakes are mine.

Chapter 10

Nori and co. Age 10

It was in the Hokage's best interest if Nori and Sasuke were to be in a genin team together and their friendship with the Hyūga while on surface seems unimportant, plays a key part in that plan.

"Risky moves you're going for, Hokage-sama," stated Danzo.

The Hokage sitting opposite of the old War Hawk said nothing; he merely lifted the cup of tea sitting in front of him, to his lips. Hiruzen, of course, knew what he was referring to. The trio consisting of the last Uchiha and last Uzumaki in Konoha, and Hyūga heiress was moving up in the academy at a fast pace. It won't be surprising when they manage to graduate in the following 6 months.

The Sandaime also knew that Danzo wouldn't dare try anything involving Nori with both Sasuke and Hinata around. The old hawk had developed an unhealthy obsession with the jinchuriki girl ever since she showed great promise during her first academy year. Of course Danzo only saw a weapon of mass-destruction

"That – that man is a monster," breathed Sasuke as he collapsed after yet another day of special training with Nori's precious Gai-senpai.

Nori nodded while putting her finger to her chin. "Gai-senpai is very strong indeed."

Sasuke stared blankly at her. "That was not the point I was trying to make."

Hinata would have laughed at the exchange had she not been so winded for the excessive training they had been put through just minutes ago.

"Only six more months," gasped the Uchiha as he pulled himself into a sitting position leaning against the tree Nori was currently sitting against. He glanced at the red-head who was currently deeply focused on her newest project – Fuuinjutsu. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous of her stamina. Tiredly he moved his hand to ruffle her short red tresses. She looked at him with clear blue eyes. He smirked slightly.

"How is it going with your newest pet-project?" he asked mentioning to the book now sitting in her lap with a small nod of his head. Nori followed his gesture before frowning.

"In theory it's quite simple, however..." she trailed of as her face scrunched up with annoyance. Sasuke knew that face only too well; she was frustrated with things she didn't understand.

"No drawing explosive tags on your own. You know w-what Gai-sensei said," reminded the Hyūga after finally catching enough air.

Nori blinked a few times before she smiled. "Aa."

Hinata smiled before joining her friends, sitting down on the opposite side of Nori.

"Ino-san, is everything alright?" inquired Nori as she gazed upon Ino, sitting alone in front of what Nori knew to be the Yamanaka's flower shop.

"Nori-chan!" exclaimed the 10-year-old as she soon as she spotted the social awkward girl. Nori titled her head to the side, a clear sign of her thinking process. Ino grinned.

"I'm bored, Sakura ditched me." Ino expressed her utter dislike of being left out by the pout she adopted. Nori raised a brow, but otherwise remained impassive.

"What are you up to?! Are you going to see Sasuke-kun?" the blonde asked eagerly. Nori restrained a sigh. While it was true that the two girls, Ino and Sakura, hadn't terminated their friendship over Sasuke, that did not stop either of them from chasing after him, just in a much more subdued manner than it had been present in the manga Nori read (once upon a time).

"No, I was just returning from training-"

"Great!" she interrupted Nori mid-sentence. "Then you're free."

No, Nori really wasn't. Didn't the Yamanaka already know she had a schedule to keep to? She could just tell Ino wanted to annoy her and would stop at nothing to get her way. And Nori, being as she was, had no desire to argue with the intrusive blonde.

"So, what have you been up to lately?" asked the hipper blonde.

Nori looked up from the book she was reading as a way to show Ino just how much she didn't want to talk to her.

"Training."

Ino pouted. "You always train," she moaned. "When was the last time you did something fun?"

Nori shrugged. "I don't really divided things like that, into fun and non-fun, that is. But I suppose training must count as fun."

"Training doesn't count!" exclaimed the blonde.

"Is staying alive and avoiding being killed fun?"

Ino looked confused. "I s-suppose?"

Nori nodded. "Then training should be considered very fun," deduced the red-head.

Ino just shook her head.

"You're so weird." Ino grinned.

Nori smiled faintly.

They walked a bit further before Ino slyly asked, "So, I heard Sasuke-kun and Kiba got into a fight."

Nori made a noncommittal sound. "How is that news? They get into some type of fight every week."

It was true enough, Kiba seemed to dislike the young Uchiha for one reason or the other, and Sasuke wasn't exactly hard to rile up if you knew how to push his buttons and Kiba seemed to be doing a pretty good job. She guessed it was because Sasuke was lacking a Naruto (for lack of a better term) and Kiba was the replacement to went his stress on.

"Any progress on the clone juts-" Ino smiled nervously as she noticed the dark cloud looming over Nori's head. Maybe that was the wrong question. "Don't be down! Mizuki-sensei said you were getting better at it!" she tried to show Nori the optimistic side of her dilemma, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

"I don't like Mizuki," Nori muttered, now staring at the ground. Ino frowned. The lack of suffix for the teacher was a dead giveaway on her stated dislike.

"Why not?! He is nice, isn't he?" she asked confused about Nori's attitude towards the Chunin.

"No, not really at least. His niceness it what makes him suspicious, Ino-san. Anyway," she interjected before Ino could question further, "how have you been doing?" It was easy enough to distract Ino when the topic was the blonde herself.

"Well," and so the rant began. Nori didn't mind as long as the blonde didn't pry too much into Nori's life.

"Hey!" Nori looked up, startled by the sudden change of volume in the blonde's voice.

Ino grinned sheepishly when she saw Nori's blank look.

"I know what we can do!"

Nori remained silent. She followed Ino's hand that was pointing to a clothing store. Nori grimaced. She didn't like shopping to begin with, let alone with all the tension she brought into stores with her status as the jinchuriki.

"I don't-" she didn't get to finish as Ino was already dragging her towards the story. When did the blonde get so bold around Nori again?

"You always dress like a boy; people are already starting to think you're one. I thought maybe we can find you a cute dress."

"There is no point in getting me a dress. I have absolutely no need of one."

Ino pouted. Nori sighed; she felt a headache coming on.

"The clothes I'm wearing are light enough not to sweat too much during training, but thick enough to keep me warm. Furthermore, I don't care if people think I'm a boy or a girl. The less they know about me the better."

She knew Ino was confused, but she was too tired to care at that point.

Ayumi was walking down the road mentally checking her grocery list, making sure she had gotten everything. She knew Nori would be coming over for dinner; it had become a weekly thing. Ayumi could not deny it, the company of the little redhead was strangely comforting in this strange village, filled with social rules and secrets she was not let in on.

Ayumi was so engrossed in her thoughts she nearly missed the silver haired male that passed in front of her. His masked face was buried in a book and he did not seem to be paying attention to where it was he was headed.

"That hair…" she mumbled her eyes watching as he disappeared out of sight. Could he be- She shook her head. Nope, she was done with that.

A blur of green swished passed her face only moments later. She found herself grinning. Gai-san, she thought with a giggle. He would never change.

"Tuna! That's what I forgot," she mumbled thinking of the yellow-eyed cat that was somewhat like Nori's personal little fury shadow.

"Alright class, dismissed." Iruka sighed as he heard several children shout out of joy. They should be taking this more seriously!

He was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he almost didn't notice Uzumaki Nori pass by his desk and out the front door, followed closely by the two dojutsu users.

He frowned. Uzumaki Nori… he did not know what to make of her. She was so quiet that if it were not for her vibrant hair colour and background he would hardly even notice she was in his class in the first place. To top it off the girl had above average intelligence. He would not go as far as to call her a genius like a certain clan was filled with, but… she was not far off either.

It was on that day that Iruka found himself walking along the busy streets of Konoha deeply entertained by his own thoughts.

"Nori-chan!" Iruka was snapped out of his thoughts as the loud voice pierced through the air. He turned his head to see a shinobi clan in green spandex lifting up the red-haired jinchuriki onto his shoulders. Maito Gai?

Nori giggle slight as Gai lifted her up. She really shouldn't be surprised as the years went on Gai got bolder and bolder in showing his affections for his little kohai (nothing perverted of course). To Gai it was almost like have a daughter, or at least a niece. To Nori it was like having the best and goofiest uncle ever. She really loved Gai. Took her a few year, but she could finally say it (to herself, in private, never out loud, because Nori wasn't like that).

"Youthful kohai, and just where were you off to?"

Nori grinned. "Ayumi-san and I have dinner together every Friday. You know that already senpai." Gai could be so silly.

Iruka watched the exchange, a weird feeling swimming at the bottom of his stomach. He didn't know what he should be feeling right now.

The next day

Iruka was seated at his favourite ramen stand, eating a bowl of miso ramen, his thoughts a thousand miles away from the present. He had tried so hard- so hard to ignore Uzumaki Nori, but he just couldn't. She harboured the reason his parents were dead. Every time he looked at her he remembered how lonely it had been for him growing up. Yet, the girl also had nobody – and yet... His thoughts flashed to her smiling face as she was sitting on the shoulders of Maito Gai. She was alone, but she wasn't lonely. Despite all that, there was a shadow of sadness in her eyes and he could see it if only because he knew from experience what it felt like to have people around you, but no real family. Though, he did not think that was why she was sad.

He did not know how to feel about any of that.

A/N: I was on the verge of quitting this story, but then reviews from you guys happened and well... I'm working on the next chapter, but it won't be up for at least another two weeks. This was more of a filer. Again sorry for the late update, this was due to a combination of writers blocks and college stress.

If anybody has a suggestion to how Nori should graduate, please do tell I have a few ideas but none of them seem right. :))

Special thanks to sagar hussain, geekycutecupcake, Arianna Le Fay, DarkDust27, TamashinoSuzume, FleurSuoh, Apocalypsebutterfly, ThatGeekyAsian, Lulumo, Guest#1, Sunrisehime, Guest#2, Centh97, Furionknight, Mon(Guest), PAVeY14, Gal(guest) for reviewing!

I always love it when you guys review, love to read the suggestions too :)

Also big thanks to all the lovely people who followed/favourited this story :D