AN: Howdy all, sorry for the delay. Here's the last pranking interlude. (We don't own anything. We have a tumblr page. And KJ left you another note at the end.) Enjoy


Interlude VII: (Pranking) Training Session, P2

Two Month after Fire Festival – One Year, Eight Months after getting scroll from Jiji

"Super Ninja Notes part 589: Operation Underwear"

Naruto strolled down the street hands firmly shoved into his pant pockets as his friends chattered beside him. Kiba-kun with his puppy tucked into the front of his jacket, head thrown back in laugher, Choji-kun with his mouthful, hand shoved inside a bag of chips, and Shikamaru-kun, head bowed as he grumbled irritably, feet dragging as he walked. All things considered, it was a beautiful day. The sun was out, bright and warm, as they walked the busy Konoha streets, searching for the perfect spot for lunch. And best of all, they didn't have to bother going back to class after this.

No, today was a glorious day, a half day. And sure, Iruka-sensei had mentioned something about studying for some test or whatnot, but Naruto was sure that was just optional. Of course, he couldn't be a hundred percent certain on that because he'd nodded off halfway through Iruka-sensei's lecture, but again, Naruto was sure that didn't matter. Impending test or no test, Naruto wasn't about to let his day be ruined by staying inside and studying.

Grinning, Naruto pulled his hands from his pockets to slide them behind his head as they walked. Really, only one thing could make this lunch outing even better than a half day of class and that was if he could get his friends to reconsider his suggestion about eating at Ichiraku's. It was the perfect place for the perfect day, now if only his friends could see it that way.

'I don't know why they had to go and shoot my idea down. And they shot it down so fast too,' Naruto sighed at the memory, shaking his head at the injustice of it all. The Akimichi district had some good bars and grills, and most of them let him in, but it still wasn't the same.

'There's just nothing like Ichiraku's. And really, they should all know by now that there's no such thing as too much ramen. I can't believe they would even dare to utter such blatant lies. It's heresy I say, pure heresy.' Naruto paused in his thoughts, surprised to see his friends looking at him questioningly.

"Dude? What gives?" Kiba-kun asked, a brow raised as he pointed to Naruto's uplifted arm.

Naruto glanced at the hand that was currently pointing towards the sky, 'When did that get there?' Shaking the question aside, Naruto slowly lowered his arm, shrugging his shoulders as he tried to play his rather random behavior off. "Nothing, just got carried away."

"Sure," Kiba-kun replied skeptically before changing the subject. "Hey Naruto, where's your personal Hyuuga guard?" he asked, gaze shifting around them as if to search for the guard in question. "I thought they had you on lock down after the Fire Festival incident."

"Troublesome blond," Shikamaru-kun muttered under his breath before raising his voice. "I'm still not sure how you got away with that prank without some kind of punishment."

Choji-kun nodded in agreement, "Everyone knows it was you. Ino-chan never seems to stop talking about it. Something about the Hyuuga Police needing to use better interrogations tactics or something like that." He paused to eat another handful of chips as he thought his words over. "Actually, I'm not certain on that one. Normally, I try to tune out the conversation when it switches to interrogation. Ino-chan likes to get pretty graphic in her recounted tales," Choji-kun finished, a haunted look filling his gaze.

"Honestly, I don't know what you guys are even talking about. That was a misunderstanding between me and the Hyuuga Police. Their head captain lady even gave me an official apology for keeping me over the legal interrogation limit."

Shikamaru snorted, "You did it. I can't prove it and apparently neither could the Hyuuga Military Police as irksome as that is to admit, but we all know it was you."

"Yeah, man. It literally had you name written all over it. Remember? Blazing lights? All across the sky?"

Naruto nodded at the memory. Oh, how good that had been, "Look, I'll tell you what I told them. There are a lot of people out there that just don't like me. I got enemies and they were just using me to get at the Hyuuga and me. I lost a lot of valuable time to like study and whatnot, and my name was completely smeared by the incident. Wrongly so I might add." Naruto grinned as he replied, his practiced explanation falling easily from his lips. These might have been his friends, but like master pranking rule number forty-five stated, even amongst friends never risk outing yourself. After all, he never knew who might be listening.

Kiba-kun shook his head in response, "Well, at least you stick to your guns. Gotta give you that much."

Choji-kun nodded but Shikamaru-kun scolded at the ground, his mumble of annoyance too quiet for Naruto to hear.

"Still, what happened to your watch dogs? I figured they'd be on you for the rest of your life to prevent any more pranks like that."

"They gave up chasing me like a month ago," Naruto replied with an offhanded wave. He kept his grin to himself, knowing the damaged he'd managed to do in the past month alone. Really, they should have stuck with it. At least that way, they would have made his newest prank harder to complete.

Now, with a completed seal for Operation Underwear perfectly formed and more than ready to transfer onto the unsuspecting clothing of the civilians of Konoha, he'd been able to spend the last month enjoying the simple task doing just that. Ironing his seal onto load after load of civilian laundry under the artful guise of a henge. Free from worry of the Hyuuga Police tail, he'd even managed to finish the last batch just yesterday.

The loud snort that followed Naruto's answer, brought him back to the here and now, turning his attention to his k-9 like friend as the other boy spoke. "Only two months of surveillance? What are they thinking? I'd be surprised if you didn't have something new up your sleeves by now." Kiba-kun grinned impishly, his curious gaze meeting Naruto's gleeful blue ones as he continued. "Do you?" he questioned. "Have something even bigger and badder than that last prank?"

Before Naruto could even open his mouth, a denial over both the previous prank and any future such pranks of epic proportions on the tip of his tongue, Shikamaru spoke up, his lazy drawl redirection the groups attention to him. "Something even grander than turning the whole Hyuuga Military Police Force's official dress uniforms orange and writing your name over their Towers in a brilliant blaze of lights? I don't think even a Kage could out do you now."

"It was really impressive," Choji-kun added around a mouthful of chips, his head nodding in agreement.

Naruto suppressed the frown growing at the corners of his lips, the comment unsettling. Of course he could outdo himself. He was Uzumaki Naruto! Seal Master of Konoha! Prankster extraordinaire! He could always do more. What exactly did Shikamaru take him for? And unprofessional slouch, unwilling to work hard enough to think of something better?

Rightly annoyed at his friend's presumptuous attitude, Naruto was all but ready to defend his pranking legacy. Perfectly willing to out his latest pranking idea to show evidence of his utter brilliance. Only, as he turned to face the lazy boy, blue gaze blazing he caught an oddly familiar look etched across Shikamaru-kun's features. His brow was creased, strangely reminiscent of the focus he maintain when Naruto caught him in an unusual move during one of their shogi games.

'Oh, I see what you're trying to do,' Naruto thought as he calmed himself down. 'Pretty sneaky of you, Shikamaru,' he continued with a little grin of his own, nodding along as if he agreed with the sentiment. "Guys, it really wasn't me. You know if I'd have done it, I'd have taken credit. That was one freaking awesome prank. Not to mention very fashionable. I've always thought the Hyuugas could use a little more color to their wardrobe."

Naruto's grin widened as he spied Shikamaru-kun's down turned look, defeat never looked so sweet. "Yeah, if only I knew who'd done that prank, man now that would be a trip. I certainly wouldn't mind meeting him or her. You know, to shake their hand. Maybe even learn a thing or two. Not that I'd prank anyone. 'Cause I promised Jiji I'd take my ninja career seriously and all. Can't go around pulling pranks like I used to."

Kiba-kun snorted again, his head shaking in disbelief, "Yeah, like I believe that. I bet you anything that a mysterious prank will happen any day now. With the Hyuuga Police letting you off the hook so easily, no way you don't take advantage and prank some poor unfortunate souls. Just make sure it's not me. You're starting to get really creative with your pranks and I'd like to not be utterly humiliated in front of the whole village."

"Kiba-kun, I'm telling you. I don't know nothing about any kind of pranking going on any more in Konoha. Besides, I'm sure it will be quiet for a while yet."

And of course it would be quiet. He still had more than a month and a half before he could activate the prank despite everything being ready and in position. Did he like to wait this long? Heck no. But he'd used an unbiased approach to picking the day, a precaution he'd used for the sole purpose of ensuring that the Hyuuga Police couldn't pin anything on him.

That, and he was sure they'd be monitoring special days far more closely from now on. He'd never get a good look at his own prank if he picked one of those days. And where was the fun in that? Even so, he wasn't sure he'd ever pick a random day again by throwing a kunai at a calendar. Or at least he'd pick a calendar that only had a couple of weeks in the target range. That or he could always just get better at throwing kunai.

Suddenly, Choji-kun turned into a section of streets that Naruto certainly didn't count as being a part of the Akimichi district. He knew all of Konoha like the back of his hand, and this was one section of the bar and grill joints where he was definitely not welcome. "Hey, I thought you said we were eating at an Akimichi place? This is an Uchiha section."

Choji-kun nodded, "Yeah, the new Akimichi owned restaurant is in the middle of the Uchiha shops." Kind black eyes met Naruto's own, his friend's brow scrunching in concern likely having misinterpreted his hesitation, "Don't worry, it'll be good. Ji-san makes the best short ribs."

Shikamaru-kun nodded in agreement, "He makes a mean deer steak too. Got a couple of noodle dishes you might even like, Naruto."

Naruto nodded absentmindedly, sure that they were right about the food, but skeptical about whether he'd even be allowed onto the property. The Akimichi were generally nicer to him so they might let him in, but he certainly wasn't about to hold his breath hoping.

As they grew closer, Naruto could easily pinpoint the new shop. He liked to keep a running memory of all the places in Konoha. Make sure he remembered which ones gave him fair prices, which ones even bothered to let him in and which to avoid at all costs unless under a henge. Currently, Choji-kun's new family shop had taken over an old Uchiha soup shop. The very one that had mysteriously been shut down for the sale of cat meat falsely advertised as chicken. A tip given to the Hyuuga Police and the Konoha Restaurants' Board of Ethics via an anonymous source that had completely ruined them.

Naruto smiled at the memory as they walked up to the shop. Ba-san shouldn't have been so mean to him. And really, no cat deserved that kind of fate. Her soup hadn't even been all that good.

Jolted from his thoughts by the rush of movement just ahead, Naruto turned his focus to the running shopkeeper. Broom in hand and a scowl on his lips, he glared at Naruto from the doorway of his shop. "We're closed," the man snipped. "No soliciting."

Naruto scoffed at the statement, rolling his eyes as he tried to ignore the ornery man. He was far too used to this type of treatment for it to faze him. Ready to continue on, Naruto stopped, noticing his friends confused looks as their gaze shifted from the old man and back to him. Sighing internally, Naruto turned back to the man, addressing him dismissively with a quick, flippant statement. He didn't have time for this. "We're not here for you, old man, now get out of the way. Like anyone would want your subpar yakisoba when Baa-chan's only a couple of blocks down."

The man growled, raising his broom higher in the air as he took a step forward. Naruto guessed he was trying to be threatening, but already breathing hard from practically no activity, he wasn't doing a very good job of it. "That old witch puts opiates in her food. Everyone knows it. Mark my words, the Hyuuga Police will shut her down any day now. Either way, you ought to turn around. No shop is going to be open to the likes of you." The old man snarled the last word with a venom Naruto was unfortunately familiar with before turning to his friends, "If I were you, I'd pick the people you associate with more carefully." His threatening words complete, the old man returned his glare to Naruto, shifting the broom in his hands as he began to sweep his entryway.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the sight. 'Who does that old man think he's playing?' Naruto thought with a shake of his head. 'We all can tell he isn't sweeping anything up with that broom.' "Temee," Naruto murmured with a scoff, turning away so they could continue on. "Is this the place, Choji-kun?" he asked already knowing it must be. He was halfway to the door before he noticed that his friends were still several steps behind him, eyeing the old man with confusion before turning their gaze back to him.

"Yeah," he replied as they finally broke away from their stupor, racing to catch back up with the blond so that they could enter together.

"Yo Naruto, you might really want to cut back on your pranking if this is the welcome you get."

Naruto waved Kiba-kun's concern away. Unwilling to explain that this was the kind of reception he'd always gotten. He wasn't sure what had gotten up that old man's butt, but it certainly wasn't his pranking. Sure that probably didn't help, but old people like him had always treated him like that. He didn't think it would change anytime soon.

Choji-kun's large uncle came to greet them at the door. The bear of a man, leaning down to pull Choji-kun into his arms in a hug that was probably the definition of welcoming before his eyes fell on Naruto. It wasn't hate glaring back at him, contempt and disgust filling his features as he looked down upon him, but it certainly was a look he was very familiar with, hesitation. The cautious thought process of a man that couldn't do everything as he liked even if he wanted to.

He might have been a nice guy, but even Naruto could tell there was something weighing on the man. Outside pressures forcing his hand which meant in the end they, or at least he, wouldn't be eating here. Naruto turned to look out the front door, his gaze locking onto that of the old man across the street, broom still with all pretenses of sweeping gone. His sharp eyes never left the shop. His scowl deepening even further every second Naruto continued to stand within the shop. 'Yup, this isn't going to end well' Naruto thought with a sigh.

Naruto was already backing out to the door, when the Akimichi spoke, "I'm so sorry, Choji-kun, but I'm not going to be able to serve you?"

"What? Why not?" Choji-kun asked, confusion lacing his voice. "You said to come over for lunch any time and to bring my friends along too."

"Hai, hai. It's only, Uzumaki-san's reputation precedes him. Unfortunately, your friend is bad for business around here." The Akimichi turned to Naruto and bowed shortly, "Sumimasen, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto waved him off, at least he was polite about it, "That's okay. Ichiraku's always has a stool for me." With that he turned to go, one hand shoved deep within his pants pocket as he pulled open the door. He wasn't sure if his friends would follow, but at this point he didn't much care. And he certainly wasn't about to stick around to find out.

Sighing deeply as the door closed behind him, Naruto looked up to spot the same old man from earlier smirking at him. His knowing grin pointed towards him before he finally turned around, going back inside his shop the proudly displayed open sign left there for all to see. Sometime life just wasn't fair.

The door behind him opened again as his friends exited. "Dude, I take back what I said earlier. It's too late to cut back on the pranking. Seems the damage is already done."

Naruto tilted his head in answer as he led the way back. Ichiraku's was calling and his friends were now far less likely to complain. At least there was one good thing to turn up from this particular mess.

Gaze shifted forward, Naruto's thoughts wandered, flirting over to the Uchiha civilians as a whole as he debated internally with himself on what he could possible do. It wasn't like he could just prank the old man like he used to. Unlike what his friends believed, he had promised Jiji he'd cut back and he didn't have time to develop a whole new seal for a whole new prank just to get back at some crabby old man. It wasn't like he…

Sudden a smile broke out onto Naruto's face, the most ingenious thought floating to the forefront of his mind. "You know what, Kiba-kun." He paused, his grin growing wider as he slipped his hands behind his head. "If I was still into the pranking life, I wouldn't take that type of treatment laying down."

Head tilted upwards as he basked in the warmth of the sun, his latest brilliant idea swimming in his mind, Naruto was broken from his rather pleasant thoughts by Shikamaru-kun's skeptical voice, "Like you're going to attempt to prank the Uchiha clan? Civilian or not, that's insane. I don't care how annoying you are, you aren't that crazy."

"I don't know, he did prank the Hyuuga Police. And I thought that was impossible," Choji-kun replied, his own tone doubtful, but curious.

"Yeah, what would you even do? Through itching powder in their laundry again? Dude, after the first time, I'm sure no one's letting you anywhere near their underwear."

"Look guys, that was years ago. Water under the bridge," Naruto defended, his smile never leaving his lips. "And I keep tell you guys, I'm not about that life anymore," he continued, a soft chuckle escaping him as he thought over his options. The Clans of Konoha had gotten smarter since his earlier pranks, but so had he. And oh how he loved a challenge.


One Month later

Naruto snuck quietly out of the last Akimichi laundry room, confident that his henge was still in place, but cautious enough to remember that he still didn't want to draw too much attention to himself. After all, he might look like an Akimichi, but he didn't really know enough about the clan to pass himself off as one.

'Clearly, I am not an expert on the Akimichi Clan,' Naruto thought with a slight shake of his head, the memory of his first attempt at entering their Clan laundry facility fresh in his mind. Now that experience had been quite the scare. Artfully disguised as a young Akimichi woman, the first time Naruto had tried his hand at infiltration he'd been quickly waylaid by a much larger man, stopping him at the door with a solid hand on his shoulder. The man had been jolly and loud and had easily taken his 'laundry' from Naruto's grasp before pushing him away, telling him that he was way too young to be doing chores this late in the day. He'd been commanded to go play, to have fun and enjoy the afternoon sun while the man ushered him out the door, all the while telling Naruto's disguised form that he would do his laundry himself.

Naruto had nearly stumbled out the door, catching himself just quickly enough not to fall flat on his face before a large Akimichi woman was handing him a bag of chips, patting his henged form on the back while happily saying that 'she' was too thin. Naruto was still surprised at the speed of the woman, even now marveling on how she could get to him and have him eating because his disguised form needed to 'put on more weight' all in the less than five seconds that had passed following his forced exit from the laundry facility. Clearly, even the Akimichi civilians were far quicker than their size would suggest.

'And persistent too,' Naruto thought as he remembered the strong, but gentle push that had him stumbling into what appeared to be some kind of group picnic. Once there, he'd had a plate of food shoved into his hands before he could even take two full steps into the area. He hadn't been able to get away until much later, although he couldn't really say he'd been all that upset about it. It had been one of the most enjoyable times he'd had in a long while.

Even so, that had been his first lesson that the Akimichi did things significantly different from the Uchiha. For one, Naruto had specifically gone as a young woman, knowing that in the Uchiha Compound only the women did the laundry. He'd even been cautious about how well the Uchiha knew all of the old faces, taking into account how often new people married into the clan meaning that a younger face would likely be easily over looked.

Really, Uchiha just made infiltrating their ranks so easy. Completely predictable and easily deceived with just a few choice words all overly inflated compliments about the Clan, they couldn't have made his task easier if they'd personally invited him through the front Compound doors. And given how important they always seemed to think of themselves as he'd just assumed the Uchiha model for laundry would work for every other clan. Clearly he'd been wrong, but it had made sense in his head. After all, didn't lesser clans model themselves after the more important ones?

Of course in the end, his little blunder hadn't mattered. As it was, it hadn't taken him long to get the Akimichi pattern right. It helped that the Akimichi were creatures of habit, maneuvering with a clear pattern for all of their laundry tasks. Like when it was ironed and how long laundry was supposed to be left to dry. The clocklike order to the task had given him a clear opening to their clothing, making the whole sealing process a piece of cake.

'Ah, cake,' Naruto thought, mind veering off track with the memory. 'The Akimichi make really good cake too,' he finished before shaking the thought aside. He'd have to do something nice for the Clan as a whole. That was after his prank came to fruition. As it was, their friendliness and clear cut order to their laundry process had made his life easy. Which was a heck of a lot more than he could say about the Nara Clan or even the Inuzuka Clan.

He'd spent a little under a week casing out all of the major clans he could remember, the Uchiha a less than one day observation as he was probably far too familiar with their inner workings for anyone's sanity. The Akimichi easily categorized as a low risk sector while the Yamanaka being as small as they were had quickly been marked as an avoid target. It was probably a good idea anyway because he'd once remembered hearing Ino-san talking about being able to read minds and if that was a standard for her clansmen then he'd have a tough time pulling one over on them.

'At least, I'll get a handful of them,' Naruto thought as he remembered spotting several of the Yamanaka civilians as they did their laundry at the Akimichi Clan facility. Seeing how close the two clans were with the Nara Clan, Naruto had only been half surprised that he hadn't seen more Nara Clan members. Of course now that he thought about it, the Nara Clan members were probably too lazy to drop by the Akimichi laundry facility.

Naruto had spent one whole additional week following the laundry routine, or lack thereof, of the Nara Clan. Two weeks of tailing and following and waiting only to come up with absolutely no pattern. There had been no obvious catalysis to when the Nara civilians did their laundry at all. They just seemed to be too lazy to do it at any logical time point and while Naruto liked a challenge, he was still in a bit of a time crunch. And in all likelihood, he'd probably need at least two solid months to figure out the Nara civilian pressures to do their laundry because there was always a pattern, he'd learned that much from tailing Hyuuga Policemen. It just wasn't always an obvious one.

So as it had turned out, he hadn't had the time to include the Nara Clan which meant he'd had to mark them on his pranking list as a loss. Which was fine, hopefully he'd get a few via the Akimichi laundry facility, but he wasn't going to get bent out of shape over missing one clan's civilians.

And that had just left the Inuzuka. Naruto shuttered at the memory of visiting their 'laundry' facility, if it could be called that. He could still remember the smell. Piles upon piles of dirty cloths stacked high littering the debris filled floor with used and sweaty material. And it just sat there. For a whole month before anyone did anything about it. A month! That was just crazy.

'Who makes a schedule to do laundry for a whole clan only once a month? Why even wait that long?' Naruto shivered at the thought. Just the memory of the state of their laundry facility was enough to send chills up his spine. 'And people called me dirty,' Naruto thought with a shake of his head. He'd easily snuck into the Inuzuka Compound to find their cleaning schedule, it was posted right next to the flea bath schedule in what looked like the bathhouse for the dogs, but knowing what he now knew about them could have just as easily been the bathhouse for the clan as a whole. Naruto wouldn't put it past them.

He'd managed it in the end. At least to a point. Slipping into the chaos of the one day he had to rig as much of their laundry as he could with his seal. But it had been hard. Harder than he'd imagined because of the one day time constraint as well as the fact that apparently most Inuzukas didn't iron. Heck from what he could gather, most didn't even know what an iron looked like. So Naruto had been forced to get as much of his iron-on work done in the lull between washes, where most of the clan was anywhere but the laundry facility doing only kami-sama knew what, to avoid the weird looks.

There had been, of course, one more major clan he could have targeted, the Hyuuga Clan, but he'd cased the place enough times in the past to know that getting inside would be impossible. At least impossible to do if he didn't have a Police Force Uniform or the Hyuuga pupiless eyes. He'd half toyed with the idea of impersonating an officer, but he'd seen the security check points even for the Police Force and there was just no way he was getting through that. At least not with a henge.

So while he would have liked to prank all of the civilians in Konoha, he'd been severely limited. Which was fine, as master pranking rule number forty-four stated, if a target lacks a known pattern or the pattern can't be exploited quickly and efficiently given the timeline, modify the prank. The rule had left him with only three viable options: make the target smaller, change the prank altogether, or don't target them at all. He'd settled for option one and three, unwilling and unable to change his prank this late in the game. Which meant that he'd only been able to really prank the Uchiha and the Akimichi civilians (he barely counted the Inuzuka as one day of frantically ironing on seal was not enough to get all their civilians, not by a long shot). They were all that was left of the major clans of Konoha. At least, he didn't think he was leaving anyone out.

Turning the corner, Naruto made to leave, but slowed at the sight of what appeared to be another picnic. 'Maybe I could…' he thought, glancing down once more at himself to check that, yes, he was still in his disguise. The Akimichi were really nice and this was really one of the only times he could play with the other kids without being turned away. And they would let him eat as much food as he wanted which was always awesome because the Akimichi really did make the best short ribs in Konoha.

Naruto slowed to a stop and turned towards the picnic, his feet already carrying over to the commotion even as an older Akimichi called out to him. In the next moment he was quickly covered with pats on the head, the air around him filled with jovial laughter as food was shoved into his hands.

What was one more night anyway?


Day of Prank

"Alright class, I know this is just review, but I want you all to be able to do your very best on the…" Suddenly, the door to Iruka's classroom was thrown open, two hurried police officers bursting through his door and interrupting his lecture with barely concealed annoyance filling their features.

"Excuse us, Iruka-sensei," the Hyuuga to the right began, bowing shortly as he addressed the man, piece of chalk still held tightly in his grasp. "We apologize for the interruption, however, we have pressing business to attend to," he finished before both he and his partner turned to the class.

"Uzumaki-san, you are under arrest."

Iruka sighed at the statement, shoulders slouching as he turned to his favorite student. 'Really, Naruto-kun, what have you done this time,' he thought as Naruto shifted in his seat, his gaze bored as he eyed the two officers by the door.

"What do you think I did this time?" he asked, not bothering to move from his spot.

"Your crimes are too numerous to list in such a short amount of time…"

In a surge of energy Iruka didn't think the boy had, Naruto-kun shot up from his seat, interrupting the officer before he could even finish his statement as he shouted at the two, clearly offended by the accusation. "You know I've done nothing wrong," he yelled, but seemed to calm down almost immediately. "But if you insist, then I'd like to see this arrest warrant myself before you try to hold me illegally, again," he huffed before slipping back down to his seat.

Iruka sighed again, turning to look at the blond, before protesting. He knew how this would go, he only hoped Naruto had a good alibi this time, "Now Naruto-kun, just go with the nice officers and I'm sure they'll…"

"I know my rights, Iruka-sensei," Naruto-kun interrupted, arms crossed as he glared over at the Hyuuga officers still standing by the door.

'Of course he does,' Iruka thought with another sigh. 'He's obviously heard them read to him more times than should be legal.'

"…so where's that warrant?" Naruto-kun continued, the question drawing Iruka's attention back to the two officers by the door. They stood there quietly, shifting to meet each other's eyes, before turning their gazes back to Naruto-kun. Neither of them moved to produce the warrant.

'That can't be…' Iruka thought as he eyed them. They needed so little to obtain a warrant. It was practically a given that they would have one. He'd had enough run-ins with the law to unfortunately be very familiar with that aspect of the Hyuuga police system.

"That's what I thought," Naruto replied with a grin, a smug smile lining his features as he kicked up his feet, resting them atop his desk. "You can comeback when you have something more substantial. I can't be your scapegoat for everything you know."

Iruka watched as the officers visibly frowned, turning their backs on the classroom as they left the room. 'Well, that not something you see every day,' he thought before returning to his planned lecture. 'I wonder how long it would take them to come back and how much material I'll be able to cover in the meantime,' he thought as he moved to continuing going over the review material. He had the majority of the classes' attention, although he would have been far happier to have Naruto-kun's, but there was only so much he could do for the boy.

'Oh well, at least he's in class,' Iruka continued, wishing that just that much would actually help his favorite student on the history portion of the Genin Exam. 'Maybe I can try to get him to study more with a ramen bribe. That always seems to work,' Iruka thought as he continued his lecture. The memory of Hyuuga Police officers barging into his classroom long forgotten.


Later that day

Iruka sat pleasantly at the ramen bar, Naruto-kun by his side as they laughed together. They'd both nearly lost their ramen at the sight of the pink thong that had suddenly popped atop the dark pants of an older man passing them by. Iruka thought he'd seen the man running one of the restaurants in the Uchiha district, but he couldn't be sure. That man had been selling some rather disgusting yakisoba that Iruka had been glad he hadn't paid for it.

Just then, Ayame-san's bright green underwear came into view as it popped over her pants. Nearly spitting out another mouthful of ramen, Iruka shook his head. Really, the village's underwear problem was definitely getting out of hand. Currently the talk of the entire town, it seemed no civilian was immune to the effect.

"You're not responsible for this, are you Naruto-kun?" Iruka asked, once he got his breathing under control.

"Responsible for what, Iruka-sensei."

"That," Iruka stated simply, pointing to Ichiraku-san's smiley face boxers on full display for everyone to see. "From what I've heard, this has been happening all day to practically every civilian in the village. I think only the Hyuuga, the ninja and the traveling merchants were spared from this prank."

"Really, Iruka-sensei," Naruto-kun huffed, and Iruka was genuinely surprised to see that he actually looked offended at the suggestion. 'Maybe he didn't do it this time,' Iruka thought just as Naruto-kun moved to speak. "Would I prank the old lady who gives me free food? Would I prank old man Ichiraku?"

'Oh, spoke too soon,' Iruka thought with a sigh, that was classic deflection, a lying tool he'd mastered himself years ago when he'd been up to no good, pranking the hell out of the Konoha residence. Actually, now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure that was one of Naruto-kun's pranking rules, along with another fairly familiar one.

"You know what, yes. Yes, I do think you would. Remember the time I asked you why you pranked your friend Kiba-kun?" Iruka asked, noting the rather confused look Naruto-kun was giving him as he tried to remember. Which in the end could mean one of two things. One, he'd pranked his friend way too many times to remember the exact time mentioned. Or two, he'd just completely forgotten the conversation altogether. Knowing Naruto-kun, both were viable options. Pushing forward, Iruka clarified, "You told me that it was prank rule number fifty four. Prank friend and foe."

Naruto-kun's eyes widened as realization dawned. "Well no one can prove I did it," he defended hastily. "And Jiji encourages me to practice my fuuinjutsu, so there," Naruto-kun finished, sticking his tongue out at him in a huff.

Iruka sighed, a small smile growing at the edge of his lips. He'd had a feeling Naruto-kun had done it, and somehow he doubted his favorite student would be turning himself in anytime soon. Actually, Iruka was fairly certain that the blond would deny that this conversation ever happened.

Iruka hated to admit it, knowing that he was an Academy instructor and he should set a better example, but he was a little impressed by the boy and his achievements. Iruka had certainly never gotten away with this many pranks when he was his age. 'Ah, interrogation room six, such fond memories,' Iruka thought, happily falling down memory lane.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Iruka turned back to the boy beside him, running a hand through messy blond locks as he laughed. Now if only Naruto-kun could focus that pranking energy into his studies. Unfortunately, right now, it looked like only his math scores would be able to give him a passing score on the written exam for his Genin Exam which didn't even touch the practical portion. His weapon throwing scores were abysmal, and his taijutsu was still utterly pathetic no matter how many times Iruka reminded him to stay back and train with him in it. Not to mention the boy's complete inability to produce a single passable bunshin.

Iruka sighed heavily with worry, signaling Ichiraku-san for another couple bowls of ramen as he sat beside the wildly raving boy. He was seriously concerned that the blond prankster wasn't going to pass.


One Week Later

Kakashi turned the corner off of Main Street on his way to the Hokage Tower. He didn't often walk, but given the recent activities of the village, walking was the best way to experience the interesting undergarments of the civilian population. Unfortunately, he'd not run across any unfortunate soul with their underwear displayed proudly to see on the outside of their clothing, but he held out hope. Sure it had already been a week since the prank began, but this one was just too funny to let go. Of course, he guessed that even for Naruto-kun that was a long prank to maintain.

Speaking of Naruto-kun, Kakashi had really missed their interactions, as infrequent as they were. Now that he'd officially given up his Anbu position, he'd had no way to check up on the boy in person. Although, he supposed that was for the best. He really wasn't supposed to be interacting with Naruto-kun at all. The Hokage would probably frown if he found out that Kakashi had been helping the boy with his pranks. Although he'd always be able to deny that was what he'd been doing. After all, Kakashi was only giving Naruto-kun the tools to succeed as a shinobi. If the boy took those tools and used them for his pranking, well the blame for that really couldn't be put on him, now could it.

Nodding to himself, he entered the Hokage's Tower. He'd made an appointment with the old man to talk about team assignments for this semester, excited to finally be able to train his Sensei's legacy even if the boy would never know why. He knew that the Hokage would be hesitant to allow it, but he'd come prepared, his arguments already lined up and ready to go as to why the boy should be on his team. Really, if there was anyone who could pass his team test, then it would be Naruto-kun. Kakashi was sure of it. Of course the meeting had been set for ten o'clock. And as he'd spent a great deal of his time describing the varying types of underwear worn by Konoha's civilians to Obito-kun, he was now running his customary two hours behind schedule. Still, even well past noon, the Hokage knew his habit. He was sure it wouldn't be a problem.

"Kakashi-sensei, you were supposed to get here more than two hours ago," the Hokage's secretary snipped, glaring at him as he nodded absentmindedly.

"I'm here now," he shrugged, more than aware how his nonchalance was annoying the woman.

She sighed before giving in, lowering her glare as she spoke. "The Hokage-sama's in the main conference room. You can go in, but I have to warn you I don't know when he'll be able to speak with you."

Kakashi nodded his thanks before heading to the conference room. If the Sandaime was in there, then he could only be in another meeting. But given Kakashi's own meeting wasn't supposed to last more than a half hour, Kakashi was sure that his meeting would be closing up soon despite the secretary's words.

Stepping into the back of the room, Kakashi caught the tail end of Hizashi-sama statement. Given the occupants of the room, he figured the man was giving a report of some kind, probably on Naruto-kun's prank. 'Awe, so this is about Naruto-kun, might as well settle in and see what they've found. Should be interesting if nothing else,' he thought as he took a seat against the wall, his presence going practically unnoticed.

"We've gotten no more accounts of civilian underwear appearing on the outside of their outer-garments," Hizashi-sama stated, his calm features glancing out at the room as he continued. "We believe that the prank is finally over."

"It's about time!" Fugaku-san yelled, fist slamming into the table as he spoke. "I don't know why the Hokage-sama allows you to maintain control of the Police Force when your incompetence can't even flush out an eleven year old boy."

"Of course you would complain about it. We all know the Uchiha were hit the hardest," Tsume-san grinned, her snide comment not going over very well for Fugaku-san.

"Why you! We all know Inuzuka don't bath enough for it to have affected you!"

Kakashi held his breathe as he looked between the two clan leaders. He knew the comment was a little unfair given that several members of the Inuzuka Clan had been seen walking around with their underwear on full display, but Fugaku-san had been right. There hadn't been a lot of them. 'Of course, that may have had more to do with their habit of going commando,' Kakashi thought, remembering his many Inuzuka acquaintances and their odd habits.

"Are you trying to say something?" Tsume-san growled, nearly lifting from her seat as her teeth snapped in anger.

"Did I stutter?"

"Enough," the Hokage-sama interrupted, calling the meeting back to order. "The prank is over. We cannot tear each other's throats out over something so juvenile."

"Over a week! A week! We've suffered humiliation from that hooligan for far too long, and you sit on your high horse with your Hyuuga lap dogs and do nothing!" Fugaku-san practically burned with rage. What was keeping him in his seat, Kakashi didn't know.

"This seems to be a great learning opportunity for our village," Shibi-san began, his voice a quiet calm as he spoke. "Clearly there are some weaknesses around our laundry facilities, both inside and outside of our clan compounds. We should be deciding ways to strengthen this flaw so something like this cannot happen again."

"And you've got to admit. It was kind of funny," Chouza-san added, a smile to his large features.

"Funny? So you find public humiliation funny? I say we need to do something about Uzumaki, before this gets even more out of hand."

"He's just a kid having fun. Let it go Fugaku-san. He won't have time once he's a Genin. I'm sure of that," Chouza-san defended, hand in the air as he waved off Fugaku-san's concerns.

"If he's a Genin. He's dead last with no hope of passing his exam."

A loud snort from beside the Hokage shifted Kakashi's attention. "If he's that bad then we have nothing to worry about," Shikaku-san stated, leaning back in his chair as he eyed the ceiling.

"Fine then let's move on."

"What's his punishment for all of this?" Fugaku-san questioned, gaze leveled at the Hokage.

"That is a bit of an issue and why I have called you all here today," the Hokage-sama began, his gaze shifting to Hizashi-sama before turning back to the other Clan leaders. "As there is no proof of Naruto-kun's involvement, we cannot punish him."

"You have got to be kidding me!"

"What do you mean no proof?!"

"Well, I don't think he should just get away with this."

"This is unacceptable. I won't hear of it."

"Kids these days could get away with murder."

"No proof! Everyone knows it was him. I demand justice. I demand retribution."

"Quiet!" the Hokage-sama silenced the room once more. "We are ninja. Our livelihood is defined by what the enemy can and cannot prove. We teach our children these lessons. We teach them that what they do in life is defined by what is seen and what connections can be drawn. We remind them that if there is no proof nor clear connection to a crime, then we cannot retaliate nor be retaliated upon. So as unfortunate as it may seem and as far as the law goes, Naruto-kun has done no wrong," the Hokage-sama paused as the room broke out in outrage once more, loud shouts of dissent filling the air as the Hokage took a slow drawl from his pipe.

"Enough," he interrupted, eyeing the room with a stern glare. "As I said before, Naruto-kun has done no wrong, and I will not punish him without proof. Is that clear?" Angry grumblings filled the room, but no one moved to protest further. "Good."

"Now, before we continue, I would like to make a formal apology to all of you concerning our current circumstances, but Shibi-san is correct. This is an excellent time for us to learn from the holes that have been exploited via this last prank…"

Kakashi stood from his seat, ignoring the rest of the Hokage's statement as he quietly exited the room. Form the sounds of it, that meeting might actually take a while longer. Too long for him to waste in a room filled with Clan Heads talking clan politics. That stuff got boring fast. He'd just have to come back tomorrow. 'What do you know,' Kakashi thought as he nodded to the Hokage's secretary on his way out. 'Coming late to a meeting does sometimes mean you miss it altogether.' He laughed at that. The irony that he'd missed a meeting to discuss Naruto-kun because the Hokage-sama was already in a meeting discussing the boy. 'Well, at least I know I'll never be bored training Naruto-kun. That is, if he manages to graduate.'

'He really is impressive.'


Day before Genin exams

Pacing back and forth in his favorite clearing, Naruto couldn't seem to calm down. He'd been trying to figure out how to do the stupid bunshin technique for months now and still he was no closer to a perfect clone then he was then. Well maybe that wasn't giving himself enough credit. Currently he could make a passable clone… if it didn't move.

"Shimatta," he cursed as he continued pacing. "Why won't this work?" he questioned aloud. He'd tried everything. From adding as much chakra as he could manage to adding as little as physically possible. Heck, he'd even gone to Iruka-sensei as a last resort and even he couldn't help.

This was it. His last chance. His last day to get this right. And for the first time Naruto thought he might actually fail at something. Sure he'd had setbacks, lots of them. But he'd never out right failed to do anything. He'd always found a way.

Squaring his shoulders, Naruto turned to face his flawed clone. "There is always a way! Believe it!" he declared as he pointed a finger to his near perfect lookalike. Even if he didn't see it now, he knew there would be a way. For now, he just hoped this imperfect image would be good enough.


KJ's Corner (AN)

So that's it. The final installment of the pranking session, interludes. Not going to lie, even with everything we've done with the story, this is by far my proudest work. You guys and gals might not recognized that last section. It's been such a long time, but it's the very last section of Chapter Two: Fuuinjutsu 101. What does that mean? Well, you might have guessed it, but these pranking session interludes were originally planned to go there. All of them had been outlined, with the timeline for when they happened. I told BR13 I needed at least one more chapter to finish my sections (I rough drafted the first two chapters), and he shot me down so fast it wasn't even funny. (To be honest, BR13 only gave me one chapter, but I knew I couldn't do it in one, so you have chapter one and two.)

With all that said, we took out the pranks still as outlines, and decided to make them interludes. Originally, they were supposed to fit into four interludes, but you saw how that turned out. Anyway, I hope you guys and gals enjoyed this as much as BR13 and I enjoyed writing it.