An Abnormal Friendship

by Oturan Namikaze

They say that a chance meeting can leave a powerful impact on one's life, shaping the way they turn out and the people around them. But the meeting of three certain toddlers causes destiny to alter its course slightly as these childhood friends strive to leave their mark on the world. Follow Naruto Uzumaki, Medaka Kurokami and Zenkichi Hitoyoshi in this 3-Chapter Story!

2. The Ups and Downs of Growing up

Disclaimer: I do not own Medaka Box or Naruto. Those rights belong to Nisio Isin Akira Akatsuki and Masashi Kishimoto respectively. I also don't own any other anime or its characters that might appear in this story. This story is a Three-Shot, meaning there will only be three chapters, and there will be some differences from the original materials of both Anime/Manga. So without any delay. Sit back, relax and enjoy the story.

People Speaking: "You don't become Hokage to be acknowledged by everyone."

People Thinking: 'It's the people acknowledged by everyone that become Hokage.'

Monster/Demon/Enhanced Speaking: "People don't exist to follow rules."

Monster/Demon/Enhanced Thinking: 'Rules exist to protect the people.'

Techniques or Abnormality Names: "Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"

Chapter 2

The Ups and Downs of Growing up - Friendships and Love!

"I don't see why I need all of you guys to come with me while I'm on vacation." Naruto grumbled as he walked along a street path leading to Hakoniwa Academy, the current school that both Medaka and Zenkichi were attending. The blonde wasn't wearing his Shinobi gear at the moment and was dressed in clothes more suitable for the Six Continents, wearing a white t-shirt with an open high-collared, orange vest over it and black long cargo shorts that reached his calves. He was wearing blue sneakers with white designs, his green necklace and a red wristband on his left arm while his right was completely incased in a full arm cast and held in a sling. "Granny Tsunade worries too much, ya know."

It had been three years since Naruto had left on his training trip with Jiraiya and several months since his return to the village, where a lot of happened to the blonde in that time. Rescuing Gaara from the Akatsuki after they captured him in order to take his Bijuu, the One-Tailed Shukaku, and helping an elder from Sunagakure, Chiyo, bring the Kazekage back to life. Crossing paths with Sasuke and Orochimaru, fighting the latter while being consumed by the rage of Kyuubi's chakra, and facing his former teammate at Orochimaru's hideout. The two teens' battle had been interrupted by other members of Team 7 (Kakashi/Yamato); which was made up of their other former teammate Sakura Haruno, a member of Danzō's Root named Sai, and a Anbu-turned-Jōnin named Yamato who was Kakashi's replacement while the man recovered from the Kazekage Rescue Mission, leading to the Sannin and his pupil's escape… Naruto was still a little sore about that since he was doing fine against Sasuke on his own thanks to his Wind Nature Chakra allowing him to fight off the Uchiha's Lightning Release.

Upon their return and his finished recuperation, Kakashi offered to help Naruto train in creating a new jutsu by using the Rasengan as a base, something that the Chūnin was skeptical about since the man didn't really teach him anything back when he was his student. Thanks to the help he had gotten from Medaka, Zenkichi and Hitomi, and Iruka when he was at the Ninja Academy, Naruto learned how to fight properly instead of like a reckless brawler, train in controlling his chakra via tree-walking and water-walking, and it was Jiraiya that actually taught him various types of Jutsu including the Rasengan. Hell, it was because of Haku and Zabuza that Naruto learned what it truly meant to be strong and what kind of Shinobi he wished to become. The only thing Naruto really learned from the Jōnin was about the importance of teamwork.

Kakashi couldn't help but feel a heavy weight on his body that only continued to grow as Naruto continued to list things that he had learned from other people instead of him. Yamato certainly got a good laugh out of watching the white-haired man getting criticized by the Uzumaki, especially since the blonde wasn't really trying to make his former instructor feel bad as he spoke. Medaka's way of talking down to someone without any negativity behind it had rubbed off on him, which was something that Zenkichi actually wept about at seeing his best friend sometimes act like the Abnormal girl.

The poor guy could barely handle Medaka when she was like that.

Once Naruto had finally allowed Kakashi to start helping him with his Wind Training, something that Jiraiya had been limited on since the man's used Fire Release… while getting some advice from Konoha's residential Wind User, Asuma Sarutobi. He had learned a lot from the smoking Jōnin about how to properly use Wind Release and channel it through weapons known as Chakra Blades. In fact, it was because of that that Naruto decided to get his own Chakra Blade and went to the person he believed to be the best when it came to weapons, Tenten. That was something he almost regretted as the ninja-tool user had overwhelmed him on all the different types of weapons that were compatible with chakra, and all of the bladed ones that would work with Wind Release. But eventually he found the one best suited to his fighting style.

Unfortunately, Naruto had found out in the middle of his training that two members of the Akatsuki had killed Asuma. It had been a hard blow to his friends on Team Ten; Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Shikamaru Nara, who had been trained and led by Asuma since they were made Genin, not to mention his younger brother-figure and Asuma's nephew, Konohamaru. It was near the end of his training that he and the other members of Team Seven had heard about Kakashi and Team Ten going off to confront the members of Akatsuki, Hidan and Kakuzu, the ones responsible for Asuma's death. Going off to join them, the results of Naruto's training was given form of a powerful, unique Jutsu named the Rasenshuriken and allowed the blonde to overwhelm Kakuzu, finishing him off in a vortex of wind blades.

But with the creation and mastery of combining his Wind Release with his Rasengan, they soon found out that Naruto's Jutsu came with a big flaw as it actually damaged his own arm in addition to his enemy. Marked as an S-rank Kinjutsu, Tsunade ordered Naruto to focus on recovery and restricted his usage of the Rasenshuriken until he could find out a way to avoid being harmed by his own creation.

With him being taken off duty and forced to focus on recovery, Naruto decided to take advantage of it and go on vacation to Japan, wanting to see his childhood friends and see how things were going with them. The last he heard, Medaka had won the Student Council President elections and created a suggestion box to help all of the students with their problems. He was glad that Zenkichi agreed to be a member of Medaka's Student Council and could keep an eye on the so-called Medaka Box, because both knew that there would be some people that would try to take advantage of it. Anyways, Tsunade granted Naruto permission to go to Japan with the condition that a squad would be going with him to keep him safe in case the Akatsuki tried anything.

"It can't be helped. With the Akatsuki being more active in collecting Jinchūriki, you are more at risk if we left you by yourself." Sakura replied with a matter-of-fact tone as she walked with Naruto, silently taking in the sights around her as this was her first time visiting the Six Continents. The pink-haired girl was also wearing a different attire, with a long-sleeved pink and red shirt that revealed her navel, white stretch pants and high heels. "Tsunade-sama assign the four of us to watch over you, not to mention I can help keep an eye on your arm."

"Yosh! I will do my best to keep you safe as you recover from your injuries, Naruto-kun!" Rock Lee exclaimed with fire in his eyes. The large-browed had thankfully agreed to wear something other than his green eyesore of an outfit and was wearing a green traditional Chinese shirt and black pants, apparently, to the shock of many, Lee actually had normal clothes for when he was not training or going on missions. Naruto felt a shiver go down his spin when he remembered Guy, Lee's instructor, had tried to offer him one. Not even Zenkichi with his weird fashion sense would agree to wear something like that. "You can enjoy your vacation to your hearts content! Enjoy your Flames of Youth!"

"… Haaaaaa~" Naruto released a heavy sigh as he looked forward with a half-lidded eyes, watching the other two ninjas walking with them. This was the first time that Sai had worn anything besides his ninja gear as members of Root weren't exactly the most social people around, but the extremely pale teen seemed to be doing fine dressing in foreign clothes. He was wearing a simple black V-neck shirt and gray jeans a white belt and white sneakers.

Naruto's gaze shifted to the final member of the squad assigned to watch over him. Covering for Kakashi as the white-haired had to take care of an assignment near the border that Tsunade needed him to take care of, Yamato had retaken the mantle of Team Seven's leader. Forgoing his headpiece and Jōnin outfit, the man was dressed in a brown turtleneck with a black trench coat over it and blue pants, and black boots. "So, how much further is this school?"

"Not that far," The blonde replied as he reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, squinting as he held it to his face. "Should be another mile, I think. This is the first time I've been there actually."

"It will be nice to see Medaka-san again. I haven't seen her since she and Zenkichi-san had come to the village for the Chūnin Exams." Sakura commented while thinking about the bluenette that she had met three years ago, recalling how she and Zenkichi had been adamant that their childhood friend was going to not only win his battle with Neji, but that he would become a Chūnin. It had been unbelievable to see that the non-shinobi Abnormal somehow had been unaffected by the Genjutsu placed on the people at the stadium. The two visitors from the Six Continents had remained in the village for only a short time to pay their respects for the fallen, including the late Sandaime who had died in the battle against Orochimaru.

"Yes, I've heard a lot about this Kurokami and Hitoyoshi from reports. I wonder if-" Sai was interrupted by Naruto chopping the back of his head with his uninjured arm.

"NO NICKNAMES!" Naruto shouted with a pissed off expression, "You better not try anything while we're here!"

Nodding her head in agreement, Sakura could understand that the white-skinned Shinobi had a tendency to cause trouble for people… She was also still pissed that about her chosen nickname being Ugly while Ino was called Beautiful. "This isn't a good place to cause problems, especially since we're technically visitors."

Sai grew a fake smile on his face as a lump formed on his head, "Whatever you say, Ugly, Dickl-"

"What did we just say?!"

(Outside of Hakoniwa Academy)

"Whoa~! This place is gigantic!" An amazed Sakura said as she and the others walked passed the entrance, taking in the town-size school campus around them. "I can't believe this is a civilian school, it completely blows away the Ninja Academy."

"Apparently Hakoniwa has thirteen different classes where each focuses on different categories, ranging from standard education, to diverse arts, to physical education. But Class 13 is supposed to be very exclusive and reserved for a certain group of students." Naruto explained as he recalled the information that he had been told about in the letters that Medaka and Zenkichi had sent him. "The academy has three categories for the students; Normal, Special, and Abnormal."

"What kind of classifications are those?" Yamato questioned with a raised eyebrow.

A small frown formed on Lee's face, "These Specials and Abnormals sound like people with abilities that make them superior to the ones known as Normals."

"In a way, they are, I guess." Naruto shrugged, "I don't really know the more specific details except that people who fall under Special and Abnormal are given more special treatment."

"Very interesting." Sai muttered while in a thinking pose.

Their conversation came to a halt at the sounds of explosions and rumbling coming from the direction of the main building up ahead. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he noticed that the ground and area surrounding the structure seemed to be fine, but the building was full of holes and was slowly breaking apart. "What the hell?!"

"What's going on? The entire center looks like it's about to come crashing down!" Sakura was in shock at what she was seeing.

"Did someone set off an explosion or something?" Yamato wondered as he and the others followed Naruto as he made his way to the main building, most of the center completely in ruins at this point.

"Is it an enemy?!" Lee asked while searching the area for any signs of possible perpetrators.

"… I recognize this kind of damage… But it can't be…" Naruto muttered to himself as he scanned the dust clouds coming off of the destroyed building. It took him a few seconds to adjust, only for his eyes to widen in shock as he caught sight of a something glowing inside of the dust. "Shit! Why is she using War God Mode?!"

"What do you mean War Go-Wait, Naruto?! Don't go rushing in!" Sakura cried out as Naruto leaped into the ruined building. "Captain Yamato!"

Narrowing his eyes slightly from the blonde's actions, the wood user signaled for the team for follow. "It can't be helped. Obviously Naruto knows more about the situation than we do. Follow after him!"

Doing his best to avoid the large rubble, Naruto focused his attention on the glowing object ahead of him, before finally getting a good look at the figure. Standing in front of a ten-year-old boy wearing a white outfit, with what looked like Zenkichi and two other teenagers assisting him, was a fluorescent-red haired Medaka, who had scoffed marks and clothes that were barely hanging on. She was currently fighting against the three holding her back from attacking the boy, who had a vicious smirk on his face.

"Release me, you three… Or else you'll get dragged into my problems." Medaka stated as the three tried their best to hold her back.

"Not happening!"

"We're not going anywhere!"

"So snap out of it already!"

The ten year old, Public Morals Committee Chairman, Myouri Unzen, continued to smirk as he noticed the angry look on Medaka's face start to soften, "What's the matter, Kurokami? I thought you were going to finish me. What a weak resolve for a monster to possess if you let these guys get in your way!"

His words only seemed to reignite the Abnormal girl, who narrowed her eyes before throwing off all three teenagers with a powerful shove. "Do not mistake showing mercy for weakness! If I cannot reform you, then I have no choice!" Pulling back her arm once more, Medaka charged forward with every intention on delivering one final blow.

Only for Naruto to get in her way, surprising Medaka and Unzen as they saw the whiskered blonde to intercept her punch with his one good arm, wisps of bluish energy covering his hand while holding back Medaka's fist. Steam could be seen coming off the point of impact where her fist was digging into his palm, "What the hell are you doing, Medaka-chan?! Why the hell are you in War God Mode of all things?!"

"Why are you interfering, Naruto? This a matter for those that attend Hakoniwa Academy."

Instead of giving Medaka a verbal answer, the Shinobi instead reared his head back slightly before delivering a powerful headbutt to the girl's forehead. Everyone except for Zenkichi gaped at the blonde's actions, while Medaka couldn't help but stumble back a bit from the impact as she looked at the scowling Naruto. "Never mind the fuck about me… A Student Council President is supposed to protect the school and its students, ya know! Didn't you tell me that? If you were to try and finish this guy off, a Human being… How could you still call yourself Medaka Kurokami?"

"Ah…?!" Medaka blinked as she looked around at the ruins surrounding them, before turning her gaze to the members of her Student Council. It took the girl a few seconds, but the heavy atmosphere around her began to fade as her hair returned to its normal blue. "My apologies. It seems that I took things a little too far and almost made a horrible mistake." Turning her attention to Unzen, who had lost his smirk as he realized that the battle was not only over, but that Medaka had come out of it victorious. Even it had been a stroke of luck for her to snap out of that ridiculously strong, battle-crazed form. "Second-Year Unzen…"

"Naruto! You idiot! Don't run ahead of us in your condition. "

The blonde blinked at the familiar voice calling out to him and turned to see Sakura and the others arriving in the area, "Sakura. Hey! Perfect timing! We can use some of your Medical Jutsu to heal some people!"

"Huh?" It took the pinkette a few seconds for her to process Naruto's words before taking notice to the other people in the area, specifically the bleeding Unzen and Medaka, who appeared to be barely able to keep steady on her feet, talking to each other with the latter asking the ten year old Abnormal to be her Vice President. The boy vehemently declined almost immediately, not that the bluenette seemed to mind. "Right! Sai, Lee, help me get all of the injured together!"

"Roger!"

"Alright."

As the two followed Sakura's orders, Yamato walked up to Naruto with a heavy frown. "You can't just recklessly rush into an unknown situation. Don't toss all the Shinobi rules and teachings out the window whenever you feel like it."

"It's easy to figure that whatever was going on had to do with Medaka-chan, and I needed to move quickly since she was in War God Mode. The last time I saw her like that, she nearly destroyed everything in her path to get to someone… Speaking of which," Naruto started as he turned towards his other childhood friend, who only had a few scuff marks and slight tears on his uniform. "What the hell, Zenkichi! I finally come to visit you guys after so long and I find Medaka-chan nearly killing someone! And what happened to your school?!"

Zenkichi rubbing the back of his head with an awkward smile, while off to the side, Sakura had Medaka laying on her back and scanning her body with green chakra-coated hands. "It's a long story. Thanks for your help, Naruto."

"Of course I'd help. But in case you didn't notice Zenkichi… I ONLY HAVE ONE ARM AVAILABLE, YA KNOW!" Naruto exclaimed as he held up his bandaged arm, which was so wrapped up that it wasn't even visible.

A worried look appeared on Zenkichi's face as he stared at his friend's bandaged arm, "How did that even happen? I thought the Kyuubi made sure you didn't get injuries that badly, or at least healed them."

"I got it after developing a new jutsu. It's an S-Rank, fully developed Rasengan that uses my Wind Chakra to…" Naruto paused as he remembered what was happening and grabbed the collar of Zenkichi's uniform with his left hand. "Hey! Don't try and change the subject!"

"Um… Akune?" A brunette, glasses-wearing girl dressing in the female version of the uniform Zenkichi was wearing, leaned in closer to a tall blonde-haired student next to her. Like Zenkichi, both she and Akune were not as injured as Medaka with some scuff marks and lightly torn clothes, though the girl could feel some soreness in her back from earlier explosions. "Who exactly is this guy? How does he know Kurokami and Hitoyoshi?"

"Ah, that would be Naruto Uzumaki. He's a childhood friend of Medaka-chan and Hitoyoshi from the Elemental Nations." Akune Kouki explained as he rubbed his chin, recalling the punch Naruto decked him with years ago.

"The Elemental Nations? You mean where those Shinobis are from?" The girl, Mogana Kikaijima, questioned with a raised eyebrow. After thirteen years, the World Peace Treaty and association between the land of Shinobis and the Six Continents was still a popular topic of discussion. The brunette had recalled seeing some Shinobi wondering through her hometown when she was younger, but those people were mostly adults in their thirties and forties, it was the first time that she had seen people her own age. "Why is he here now?"

Akune shrugged his shoulders with an annoyed look. Just like with Zenkichi, Naruto wasn't someone on his list of friends due to how close the whiskered blonde was to Medaka. "Apparently, they alternate sometimes between Uzumaki visiting them here in Japan or Medaka and Hitoyoshi going to the Elemental Nations to see him."

"… Shinobis must be something else if he was able to stop Medaka with one arm."

"Hmph. It was most likely because she was holding back on her punch, not to mention Naruto had his chakra energy to help him out." Akune scoffed as he completely repudiated any thought that the blonde was even close to the level of someone like Medaka Kurokami.

"Sakura-san, it's been a while since we last met." Medaka mused as she looked up at the concentrating Kunoichi. "I see that you've taken to using Medical Ninjutsu…"

"Yeah, Tsunade-sama took me as her student around the same time Naruto left three years ago." Sakura replied with a pencil-thin smile, "You certainly took a lot of damage, didn't you?"

Medaka closed her eyes with a light chuckle. "A few broken bones, and I believe I felt some of my organs shift into the wrong places."

"You can actually tell what is wrong with you?"

"Of course, it is my body after all. Why wouldn't I be able to tell what is wrong with me?" Sakura couldn't help but sweatdrop at how Medaka asked that question like it should be an obvious thing for everyone.

'Naruto was right about her…' The medic thought to herself while focusing on restoring the injuries she was able to at the moment. 'Hard to believe someone so smart has a thought process that can't see the differences between her and normal people.'

Off to the side, Lee and Sai were restraining a struggling Unzen, the ink user creating a few serpents to bind the ten year old while Lee was using his brute strength to hold him in place. Sai was looking at all of the destruction around them, "It is hard to believe that people from the Six Continents were able to do this much damage on their own. This is certainly something that will need to be noted in or reports."

"I think that it is an excellent situation that will allow me to train and grow stronger with all of these worthy adversaries!" Lee commented with an excited look of concentration, "The fact that there are people who strive to improve themselves shows how strong their Flames of Youths are!"

"Flames of Youth? That sounds so freaking stupid." Unzen stated as he tried kicking back at Lee's torso, though with his injuries the blows didn't seem to bother the Taijutsu user that much. "Now let me go, you caterpillar-browed fucker!"

"Such a mouth on this one even though he's so young."

"You're mother likes my mouth!"

Sai tilted his head at that, "I don't have a mother, so I don't think that's possible. Nevertheless, you should calm down. Our medic will take a look at you once she has finished with Medaka-san."

"Like I want some large foreheaded chick looking at me!" Unzen retorted with narrow eyes and clenched teeth, only for a hand to come up and flick him in the forehead. Despite the simple act, the impact dealt a great deal of pain and caused blood to drip down his face. Turning his head to face the owner of the hand, he was met with the glaring, green eyes of Sakura, "What the hell?!"

"Brats should learn manners." Sakura replied with crossed arms.

Unzen scoffed at that, "Screw your manners, flatty!"

"You know, he does have a point. Compared to all the girls we've seen since we've got here, you are on the small si-"

With a few large twitch marks forming, Sakura slammed her fist against the craniums of Unzen and Sai, causing comically large lumps to form on the top of their heads. "Keep talking like that and I'll put you both in worse conditions than when I got here!"

"She sure has an angry temper to her, doesn't she?" Zenkichi commented with an awkward laugh, a mostly recovered Medaka riding piggyback with his jacket draped over her practically nude form. Sakura had managed to deal with most of the damage done to the girl, but she still recommended that they take her to the hospital

"You have no idea." Naruto muttered with a heavy sigh.

(Three Weeks Later)

It had been an interesting time for Naruto and the group assigned to watch over him, with all of them staying in the old school building on Hakoniwa Academy's campus known as Ghost Babel. The manager of the building was someone that Naruto knew well and had no issue with the group of five staying with him, Maguro Kurokami, Medaka's older brother. At first, the man had charge them living expenses and, to a 'lighter' extent, his electric bill, during their stay. Naruto had to use two of his trump cards for dealing with the man, which had covered most of the cost.

The first was a promise to get Medaka to come and visit, something that made the girl freak out a little after seeing that her childhood friend had made a submission in the Medaka Box. As for Naruto's second trump card, it involved Naruto transforming into an exact copy of his Abnormal childhood friend and the two Medakas asking Maguro at the exact same time to let Naruto and his friends stay at Ghost Babel with a cutesy voice… The blonde seriously owed Medaka a lot for doing that, to which she requested that he transform into a puppy dog and let her pet him for as long as she wanted, regardless to the embarrassing fact that everybody watched him transform into a cute animal.

It made it worse that Zenkichi took a photo of it on his phone.

But this was the furthest thing from the strawberry blonde's mind as a masked boy wearing the school uniform grabbed him from behind and slammed him into the ground, just as he was about to strike another uniformed teen with spiked up yellow hair and red eyes. He was a Senior Abnormal from Class 13 named Oudo Miyakonojou, whose words alone seemed to affect both Medaka and Zenkichi, forcing them to the floor with a single order.

"It is foolish of you to interfere with a King's romance conquest!" Oudo stated as he removed his hand from the frozen Medaka's chin, who stared at the man with a frown on her face as she processed his words on her becoming his bride. She tried to move as the Senior made his way to the struggling Zenkichi under the grip of another Abnormal named Mizou Yukuhashi. "You will pay for it with your li-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as a foot colliding into the back of his head, belonging to an angry Naruto striking him with his bandaged arm in a sling. "What the hell are you bastards doing to my friends?!"

"Oudo!" The masked Abnormal called out in shock at the fact that his classmate was surprised attacked by an injured, whisker-faced blonde that appeared out of nowhere, and sent falling forward a few meters pass him. But Yukuhashi didn't have time to process this as he felt a sharp pain in his side before he too was knocked away from Zenkichi.

"N-Naruto," Medaka asked as she looked up at Naruto while picking in surprise, before a thought occurred to her. This was the second time that someone else basically saved her during a confrontation with an Abnormal student involved with Class 13 and this mysterious Flask Plan.

"Let's just say it's a good thing I stopped by your siscon of a brother's room when I got bored."

"Why would you go to his room because of boredom?"

"I thought it would be funny to see his reaction after getting rid of his Medaka-chan Merchandise. Turns out that he has dozens of copies in multiple rooms."

An uneasy expression quickly grew on Medaka's face after hearing that, '… I am seriously having second thoughts about possibly seeing him later. Maybe avoiding Onii-san for the rest of my life would be the best choice.'

"Who the hell do you think you are, striking the head of a King?!" Oudo shouted angrily as he watched the orange wearing blonde reach his unbandage hand out and helped Medaka to her feet, an exact double doing the same with Zenkichi while Yukuhashi was seen lying on the ground a few feet away while a hand raised to a crack part of his mask.

Naruto turned his head to look at Oudo with a raised eyebrow, "A king? Like in shogi? That's a weird thing to call yourself, ya know."

"No, Naruto. A king is a ruler, kind of like your Daimyōs and Feudal Lords." Zenkichi explained as he limped over to Naruto and Medaka, the clone that his friend used to help him dispersing itself a second earlier.

"Really? That's what this guy is calling himself? I've met tons of those before, and he's not on their level." Naruto replied with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders.

"Y-You… little piss-ant!" Narrowing his eyes as he glared at the new face standing in his way, "KNEEL."

"Huh-!?" Feeling a sudden pressure start to overtake him out of nowhere, Naruto barely had time to process what was happening as his upper body slowly started falling forward.

"NARUTO!" Medaka and Zenkichi exclaimed with worry as they watched their childhood friend start to fall to the ground like they did only minutes ago.

"Heh. Right where you belong-WHAT!?" The arrogant look on Oudo's face was instantly replaced with shock as Naruto's body came to a halt just as his knees where starting to bend, before straightening themselves as the younger blonde raised his head to look up at the Abnormal.

"I don't know what that was, but Naruto Uzumaki doesn't kneel to anybody! Especially to an asshole like you, ya know!" Naruto shouted angrily as he fully raised his body and glared at Oudo, shocking both the so-called "King" and his friends. A wild burst of chakra started pouring off Naruto's shoulders as he used his left hand to grab the bandages covering his right arm and began tearing it off. "So, that's the trick you used on Medaka-chan and Zenkichi, huh?" The remains of the bandages were seen getting picked up by the wind as Naruto's right hand clenched tightly into a fist before punching it into his open left palm. "Let's see you try that crap on me again. I'll deck you even harder!"

"… Interesting, only five other people have managed to resist the power of my Weighted Words… I wonder if you can keep doing it!?" Oudo shouted with a demonic smirk on his face as his red eyes seemed to glow slightly. "PROSTRATE BEFORE YOUR KING!"

This time, all three friends felt gravity turn against them as Medaka and Zenkichi almost instantly fell to their knees like earlier, except the pressure was much stronger in comparison, sweat fell down Naruto's face as he was seen greatly struggling while began to bend his knees and descend lower than he had previously. Suddenly, Oudo's eyes widened as the blue energy coming from Naruto turned red as even more chakra poured out of him, Naruto's body halting its descent almost instantly before snapped his head up to once again glare at him, only this time with a wilder, animalistic appearance such as crimson eyes that had slitted pupils and his whiskers thickened as well. But that wasn't all Oudo saw, with his gaze meeting Naruto's, he could see something else… a demonic fox-like creature glaring back at him!

Gritting his fanged teeth, only three words escaped Naruto's lips, "FUCK OFF, TEME!"

Oudo was shocked as he felt his body come crashing to the ground, his head pressing into the floor as his lower body pressed into his knees holding it up. "B-But, how?! How could you throw my power back at me? Are you an Abnormal too?!"

"Abnormal? You're not even close!" Naruto shouted as he sensed Medaka and Zenkichi slowly rise back up to their feet next to him, "I'm a Shinobi of Konohagakure. I never run away, I never back down, and I never go back on my word. That's my nindo!" Making his way quickly towards Oudo, Naruto soon came to a stop right in front of the kneeling man before reaching down and grabbed Oudo by his collar, pulling back his right clenched fist that was infused with the Kyuubi's chakra.

'This is impossib-!?' That was all Oudo's mind could process just seconds before the younger blond threw his fist forward, Naruto landing a clean blow to the Oudo's face, causing it to swell around the impact before the older teen was sent flying back until he crashed into a nearby wall.

"You can call yourself a king or whatever, but I'm going to become Hokage!"

Yukuhashi couldn't believe what had just happened, not only did someone resist Oudo's Weighted Words, they threw it right back at him and landed a clean hit to face. What worse was all the hatred and negative emotions that were coming from Naruto, it was too much to handle and nauseating. Relief soon came as the red energy around Naruto dispersed as the blonde turned and focused his attention on his two friends. Taking advantage of the situation, Yukuhashi rushed over to Oudo's side just as the red eyed man removed himself from the wall with a hand resting on the area where he was struck.

"Oudo-"

"He struck me twice… and made me bleed…" Oudo spoke up as he removed his hand to reveal that his nose was now broken with blood pouring out of it and down his face, as well as a large bruise forming around the left side of his face. The Abnormal's body began to tremble as he clenched his bloody hand into a tight fist, gritting his teeth and a look of rage formed on his face, "A FUCKING NOBODY DARES TO INJURE ME LIKE THIS!?"

Medaka, Naruto and Zenkichi turned their heads towards the shouting to see Oudo was now glaring at them with what seemed to be electricity coming off his body. Naruto maneuvered himself in front of his friends once again, "He's a lot more durable than I thought. Maybe a Rasengan will shut him up-!?" Naruto was cut off as Medaka delivered a chop to the back of his head, catching him by surprise as he turned to face the girl with an annoyed look as a cartoonish lump formed on the back of his head, "What the hell, Medaka-ch-!" Once again, Naruto was interrupted, but this time by Zenkichi, who delivered a punch to his cheek that caused his friend to take a step back from the impact. "You too, Zenkichi?"

"Sorry Naruto, but you are forgetting that you are a guest her, while Senior Year Oudo Miyakonojou of Class 13 is a student at Hakoniwa Academy." Medaka stated with a smile as she walked passed Naruto until she was a few feet ahead of him, "It is not your job to defeat and reform him."

"Medaka-chan is right, Naruto." Zenkichi nodded as he walked passed Naruto as well until he was standing next to Medaka, "That's the job of us Student Council Members."

"… Hahaha… HAHAHAHA~! You two must be beyond foolish!" The enraged glare that Oudo gained a smug aura to it as he shifted his gaze to Medaka and Zenkichi, who were now positioning themselves in front of the Shinobi. "In case you both are too stupid to realize it, neither of you can stand up to the power of the King! While it was most likely a fluke, that pissant behind you managed to land a hit on me, something I will not allow to go unpunished… So why don't you both… GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

The female Abnormal and Normal students could feel the power behind Oudo's Weighted Words, followed by the almost overwhelming urge to follow his command. But to the Students of Class 13's shock, neither Medaka nor Zenkichi moved from their spots as they both narrowed their eyes despite how strong their bodies were trembling. In fact, Medaka could be seen closing her eyes briefly while Zenkichi took in a deep breath, before their bodied seemed to relax a little.

Straightening their forms, the Student Council President and her General Manager only had one thing to say to Oudo. "NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!" With that one statement, a small gust of wind erupted off of their bodies and traveled towards the shocked Oudo, whose eyes widened greatly.

'What the hell?! These two were succumbing to my words minutes ago, and now they've developed some resistance to it! How is this possible?' Oudo's gaze shifted to the non-student standing behind the two, the annoying smirk still on his face as he watched Medaka and Zenkichi remain standing. 'Is it because of that insect? Could his presence have somehow raised their spirits and willpower to shrug off my power?' Oudo's gaze slowly shifted to upwards as he finally took notice to Naruto's attire, specifically the metal headband over his forehead, '… Wait… That's one of those headbands that come from that land of Shinobi and Samurais… So this is the one that Chairman Shiranui told us about…'

"You may want to keep an eye out for a certain Shinobi from the Elemental Nations that goes by the name of Naruto Uzumaki. He is a very close friend to Medaka Kurokami and the Normal known as Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, having known the both of them since they were toddlers despite living in a different continent." Hakama Shiranui explained to Oudo and the other five members of Class 13 that were in his office after Medaka left, "He is a unique specimen. Naruto and the other Shinobi of the Elemental Nations, despite all of their prowess and abilities, are still considered to be classified as a mix of Normals and Specials. But that boy's what is known as a Jinchūriki, one of nine unique Shinobi that are said to possess powers beyond the abilities of an Abnormal. It is likely because of that, that he was able to hold back Medaka when she went berserk in the battle against Unzen."

"HahahaHAHAHAHA~!" The childhood friends kept cool expressions as Oudo started laughing out of nowhere, "I see, so that is how it is. To think that something as ridiculously simple as competitive friendship would be enough to strengthen your body and minds."

"I'm surprised that you're taking this so well, Oudo." Yukuhashi commented as the cracked part of his mask broke off a little more and a fragment fell off to reveal a green eye staring at the taller Abnormal. "Usually I'm telling you about not losing your temper and have no qualms about executing your citizens. But I guess that's a good thing for you in order to create that paradise you want."

"You are correct about that, Yukuhashi. But don't talk so overly dramatic and violent," Oudo replied with a smirk on his face, tapping his temple as he turned his gaze briefly towards the masked Abnormal before looking back towards Medaka, Naruto and Zenkichi. "We are peace-loving, common, ordinary, typical, every-day, normal, average, run-of-the-mill high school students and nothing more… However, that doesn't mean something interesting can't catch my attention."

'His attention?' Naruto thought to himself as he watched the red-eyed male Abnormal reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded letter with Medaka's name on it. A submission for her suggestion box.

"It hadn't been my plan to meet with you today, but I suppose it is better knowing that this will reach you personally instead of simply being dumped into a box." Tossing the paper towards Medaka, Oudo didn't even wait for it to land at the girl's feet as he spun around and started walking away. "That is a date proposal. Meet me at the place and time written there, then we'll have the chance to have a more excessive discussion."

"You continue making demands after trying to force yourself on a young girl's lips!" Medaka retorted angrily as she glared at the retreating Oudo with Yukuhashi following a few steps behind him. "I have nothing to say to you!"

Oudo came to a halt at the Student Council President's words, causing Yukuhashi to do the same as he quietly waited. "Don't be so stubborn. I'm sure you felt it… The same feeling you experienced when you crossed paths with Myouri Unzen." Medaka's widened at that, "I have much more of that… You are an Abnormals like us, like the rest of Class 13, so don't waste your life on these worthless Normals. You weren't born to serve peasants, you were born specifically for me."

The three remained silent as they watched the two Abnormals walk away and disappear from sight. Seconds later, Medaka and Zenkichi plopped themselves on a nearby bench while Naruto stood in front of his friends with arms crossed, "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, thanks to you." Zenkichi replied as he felt all of the pressure from the confrontation finally lifted itself from the area, releasing a heavy sigh. "I'm really impressed. You were able to fight off that guy's Weighted Words."

"So that's what that bastard's ability was… Explains his pompous ass personality." Naruto shrugged his shoulders at that, "It's not liked I'd listen to him anyways. You know how I am when it comes to assholes like that ordering me around. Got to keep a strong will to match a strong body."

Hearing a soft chuckle coming from Medaka caught the two blondes' attentions, "Just goes to show that I am right on how rusty I have gotten from holding back for so long. You've been working hard to keep improving yourself no matter how strong you become… I need to do the same and upgrade myself. Senior Miyakonojou is such a shameless man to speak of me becoming his wife regardless of how I feel. For my response to this proposal, I will enjoy reforming him."

"It looks like your enjoying yourself now with that huge smile on your face." Zenkichi pointed out while Medaka stood up from the bench.

"Huh? I'm smiling?" Medaka asked while looking back at the strawberry blonde.

Naruto nodded his head as he pointed a finger at her large smile on her face, "Yeah, a big one. You look like you're enjoying the fact that there are more Abnormals like those two and the brat from the other day."

'It does make sense. There aren't a lot of people that Medaka-chan has much success with when it comes to bonding with ordinary folks, not even me.' Zenkichi thought to himself with a small frown, watching as the bluenette started pulling at her cheeks to erase the frown on her face. 'Naruto and people from the Elemental Nations have been the closest to such a thing, though that might be kind of a stretch… I need to focus on getting stronger like Medaka-chan and Naruto, or else I'm gonna be left in the dust.'

"So how're you gonna upgrade yourself?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, making Medaka release her cheeks to look at him. "Do you want me to help you and Zenkichi get some training in?"

"Actually, I'm going to pay my older brother a visit."

Both Naruto and Zenkichi stared at Medaka in shock at that, the latter shot to his feet instantly. "Y-You're actually going to see him? Face to face? Willingly?"

"You were angry at me for getting you over to the Ghost Babel just a few weeks ago, ya know. Are you sure you wanna see him so soon?" Naruto added with a concerned expression, remembering how freaked out and flushed the normally calm Medaka had been when she stopped by upon his request.

It was understandable with how obsessed the older Kurokami sibling was when it came to his sister, having created rooms of merchandise that were Medaka-based or documentaries of life events that had been recorded in books… Sometimes Naruto was glad that he didn't have any siblings from seeing how his friends reacted to theirs. They were either hated each other's guts and wished the other dead, one sibling was too obsessed about the other, or something in their family was creating difficult tensions between the two. The closest thing to a brother would either be Zenkichi and Sasuke because of the bonds he shared with them, though the latter was currently a difficult subject after everything that has happened so far.

"Well, as long as the two of you are with me, I'm sure everything will be fine." Medaka said with a warm smile on her face, "I refuse to see that man by myself."

"There you are, Naruto!"

Blinking at the familiar voice calling out to them, the three turned in time to see Sakura land in a crouch nearby before rushing towards them. Taking a step forward, Naruto raised an eyebrow as he noticed that the girl seemed to be out of breath. "Huh? Sakura? What's wrong?"

"We just got word from Tsunade-sama and the village about some new information that was confirmed last night by Jiraiya-sama… Sasuke-kun killed Orochimaru!" Sakura practically shouted.

"…Seriously?" Naruto muttered with wide eyes, before a small grin formed on his face. "Well, I guess Orochimaru bit of more than he could chew… But I'm guessing that the info they got doesn't include the idiot being seen heading back to Konoha?"

The dejected look on Sakura's face was more than enough of an answer. A concerned Medaka and Zenkichi stared at their childhood friend's back, with the blonde Chūnin oddly silent.

"Naruto…"

"It does make sense, after all, you did say that he what most in the world was…"

"The death of his older brother, Itachi Uchiha." Naruto finished with gritted teeth and clenched fists, before closing his eyes with a deep exhale. "… I should've known that my vacation was going to be interrupted by something like this… We'll need to go back so Granny Tsunade can get a team together, because if Sasuke is going after his brother then he'll be targeting members of Akatsuki! One of the biggest missions we still have going on is to go after Akatsuki, so Itachi is the one we need to capture."

"Which is why Hokage-sama and Kakashi-sempai requesting us back as soon as possible." Yamato spoke up as he, Sai and Lee arrived behind Sakura, "There is going to be two teams working in tandem in the search for Itachi."

"Captain Yamato… But…" Turning his gaze to look at his childhood friends, Naruto had a hesitant look on his face.

Seeing his expression, Zenkichi brought his palm against Naruto's back. "What's with the sour look? We can take care of our problems just fine."

"Zenkichi is right." Medaka added after pulling out her fan, holding it in front of her mouth. "Besides, this is a goal that you've been so hard for these past three years. Don't let the chance slip through your fingers. We will handle Senior Miyakonojou and students of Class 13. You need to deal with Sasuke and the Akatsuki."

There was no doubt in their eyes as they encouraged him to go back to the Elemental Nations, to which Naruto slapped his cheeks before a determined expression formed on his face. "Right! Sasuke's gonna return to the village whether that idiot comes willing or not! Even if I have to break every bone in his body to do it, ya know!"

"We've still got at least two days before the transport ship arrives to take us back." Yamato explained to the four teenage Shinobis, "Plenty of time for us to make sure we have everything packed up before we leave."

"Yes, sir!" Naruto and the other three replied with nods of their heads.

"That's perfect then," Opening her fan with a closed-eyed nod, Medaka looked between Naruto and Zenkichi. "You both can accompany me to see Onii-chan."

"Sure."

"No problem."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… Does Medaka-san really not like her brother? I mean, I know he seems weird and sometimes difficult to understand, but he didn't seem that bad." Sakura asked as she leaned in a little closer to Naruto, who let out an awkward chuckle.

"Medaka-chan loves her brother, but he can be a little… difficult for her to handle." It was probably one of the only things in life that Medaka couldn't maintain a cool head with when dealing with her brother's overly affectionate personality (Perverted Sister Complex). This was going to be destructive. Of that, Naruto and Zenkichi had no doubt.

(A Few Days Later)

"Get those barrels on board now!"

"Make sure those lines will hold for the journey back!"

"How's our food stock looking?"

"You idiot! Don't be so reckless with those crate!"

Resting his arms on the railing of the ship, Naruto silently watched as sailors move about on the ports, checking all the supplies and equipment that were resting on the docks next to the boats and ships being used for transport. The captain had told the group that the ship had encountered some difficulties on the route from the Elemental Nations to Japan, adding several hours thanks to the work needed for repairs in addition to the resupplying. Sakura, Sai and Lee were staring at Naruto's back as he continued to watch them work, looking at each other briefly before the pinkette moved closer to Naruto.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked as she stood next to the blonde with her back to the railing, "… You know that they'll be fine. Medaka-san and Zenkichi-san can handle whatever comes their way."

"Hm? Oh, yeah, of course I know that. My minds just thinking about all sorts of stuff…" Thinking back to an earlier conversation that he had with Maguro when Medaka and Zenkichi left that morning to confront Oudo, Naruto had a frown on his face. "… Hey Sakura, what you do think of a drink that could turn someone into something more than themselves? Giving them all these abilities, knowledge and physical capabilities that normal people couldn't achieve in their lives."

Sakura had a thoughtful look on her face before shaking her head with a frown, "A formula like that sounds good in theory, but something like that sounds not only dangerous, it completely changes what it means to be Human. It is basically in our blood to be different from one another, where some excel at something more than others while don't do as good."

"Yeah, I could never agree to something like that." Naruto replied as an image of Sasuke and Medaka flashed through his mind, "I've been working and pushing my body to the limit to get where I am. To just give all that up and take the easy way out or change who I am, it puts a bad taste in my mouth just talking about it, ya know?"

"Does this have to do with what Kurokami-san and her Student Council is facing?" Sai spoke up as he and Lee walked up to the two. Hearing about this supposed formula caught the pale teen's attention.

Lee had a deep frown on his face as he held a clenched fist in front of his face, "Such a creation would be most unyouthful! Taking something that makes you a genius goes against everything I believe in when it comes to hark worker beating natural talent!"

"Whatever the case may be, this is something that Kurokami-san and her group need to take care themselves." Yamato called out as he approached the four Chūnin, "As much as we want to help, our orders are clear. Hokage-sama wants us all back to continue the Akatsuki Pursuit Mission… You still wanna find Sasuke Uchiha, right?"

"Of course I-"

"Are one of ye brats, Naruto Uzumaki?"

Turning their heads to look down at the docks, the five ninjas saw a middle-aged man wearing a pirate-like attire and a thick beard that is tied into three individual braids at its bottom. It was the captain of the ship, and the shocking thing about the guy was that both of his eyes were covered by eyepatches.

Naruto blinked as he called out to the man, "That's me! Is something wrong?"

"I got a strange call from someone askin for ye!" The captain shouted back before tossing a cellphone up towards the Jinchūriki with surprising accuracy, right in Naruto's outstretched hand that went up to his ear.

"… Hello?"

"Heh heh, awesome! I knew I called at the right time!"

Raising an eyebrow at the female voice, Naruto took a few steps away from the team of Shinobis. He recognized it from when Zenkichi introduced him to the short, blue-haired girl that he had become friends with, "Chibi-Shiranui?"

"So you remember me. That's perfect!" Hansode Shiranui replied with a happy tone, completely ignoring the nickname that Naruto continued to call her upon their meeting for the first time. "I just called to tell you that something is happening back at the Academy that you need to be aware of."

"Why do I need to know? I'm sure that Medaka-chan and Zenkichi have it covered."

"And what if they're the reason I'm calling?"

Naruto froze at that, something that the others noticed. "What do you mean?"

"The Abnormals of Class 13 have captured the Princess and brainwashed her. If you don't hurry, then I doubt our beloved friend will be able to handle Medaka II."

"Princess? Belove… Zenkichi! Are you saying Medaka-chan might do something?! How do you know this?"

He could hear Shiranui giggle on the other line, "Silly Naru~! I'm surprised that Zenkichi didn't tell you that I have a network of information! There isn't any sort of information that I can't acquire!"

"… Just who the hell are you? There's no way you're an ordinary Normal student." Naruto questioned as his grip on the cellphone tighten and caused large cracks to form on the mobile device. "I could tell something was off when we met… ANSWER ME!"

A sudden tension grew as he could practically feel the emotions coming from the girl instantly vanish, "Who? Let's just say that I'm someone who's spent enough time in the shadows of another person to know where and how to get what I want… Better hurry back~!" Before he could say anything else, the line went dead as Shiranui ended the call.

"Damn it!" Naruto shouted as he threw the phone towards the wooden flooring, shattering it into pieces. This caught Sakura by surprise as she watched Naruto rush towards the boat's railing. "Change in plans! I've got to go back now!"

"Wait, Naruto! Tell us what's going on!" Sakura shouted as she moved close to Naruto, only to take a step back as a familiar red shroud began to form around him. "The Kyuubi's Chakra Cloak?!"

Raising his hand up to Naruto's back, Yamato narrowed his eyes. "Stop right there, Naruto! If you let your emotions get the better of you again, the Kyuubi will take over again and create chaos."

"I'll be fine! I just need the boost to get me there quickly!" Naruto shouted back, his voice a little distorted from the Bijuu's Chakra.

"The ship is going to leave soon. Even if we request that they delay their departure, I doubt that it could be for more than an hour or two at best." Sai commented as he brought his hand up to his chin to form a thinking pose.

"Plenty of time!"

"Naruto, I am ordering you to stay here! Your recklessness will end up getting people hurt or worse!" Blocks of wood could be seen coming out of various spots on Yamato's arm as the Jōnin readied his Wood Release Jutsu, "If you do not follow my directions then I will be forced to restrain you! Don't think that I won't do it!"

The blonde was quiet for a few seconds, frozen in his position with one foot raised onto the railing while Kyuubi's cloak continued to ooze around him with two tails already formed with a third one emerging. "… You know… There wasn't a lot of things that I consider Kakashi-sensei to have taught me. He usually focused on teamwork exercises or read his book while our team was on missions, the only time that I believe that he tried to teach anything was the Tree-Climbing Exercise, but I already knew how to do that and Water-Walking. He pushed me off to some stupid Jōnin that didn't teach me anything before Ero-Sennin knocked him out, just so he could focus on Sasuke and taught him the Chidori." Naruto frowned as he raised his hand to the right side of his chest, over the lung that Sasuke had pierced through with that very Jutsu before the Kyuubi healed it completely. "There is one thing that he taught me that I treasure, the very first lesson he ever told us… Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

Sakura's eyes widened at that, Kakashi's words of that day when Team 7 was formed were still fresh in her mind. She wasn't the only one to recognize it as Yamato narrowed his eyes, hesitating for a just a second… But that was more than enough.

"If I'm gonna be considered scum either way, I'd rather do everything I can to help my friends, ya know." Naruto stated before leaping off of the boat with a powerful jump, the boat rocking back and forth several times with huge splashes of water soaking the people on the docks.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she rushed to the railing, only to watch as Naruto's form disappeared from sight.

Lowering his arm, Yamato gritted his teeth in frustration. "Damnit!"

"Shall we pursue him, Captain Yamato?" Sai asked as he turned to face the Wood User.

"I believe we should try and help Naruto-kun out!" Lee exclaimed while pumping his fists in front of his face, flames forming in his eyes as he spoke. "Even if it does cost us time, we shouldn't abandon the people we met at Hakoniwa Academy when they need help!"

"But we received orders to return to the village," Sai countered with a small frown. Though he was starting to understand bonds a little bit, the Root Training that he had been given had always pushed the necessities of following any orders that were given by people of high rank, especially Danzō and the Hokage.

"… I think we should try and hold the boat from departing…" Sakura finally said as she looked back at her team. "As the rate he's moving, I doubt we'll be able to catch up to him and stop him from doing everything he can to reach Medaka-san and Zenkichi-san."

Yamato was quiet for almost a minute as he silently thought about their situation, coming to a conclusion. "Fine. Lee, Sai, I want you both to do everything you can to delay the captain and the ships departure until we get back. If we don't come back in two hours, I want you to head back to Konohagakura and inform Hokage-sama of the situation… Worst case scenario, the three of us return on the next ship in a few days."

"Yosh!"

"Very well."

Turning his head to the pinkette, the man had a stern look on his face. "We will give chase after Naruto and make sure he doesn't go berserk because of the Kyuubi's chakra. Let's go, Sakura."

"Yes, sir!" Sakura nodded her head before following after Yamato as he leaped off the boat.

As Lee and Sai remained behind on the ship and watched the two chase after Naruto, the Captain walked up to them with a parrot on his shoulder. "Alright boyo, I've lent ye my phone long enough! Hand it over!"

"Braaaah! Hand it over, please!" The parrot repeated while tilting its head a bit.

The Ink Jutsu User and Taijutsu User shared a quick glance before turning their gaze to the shattered remains of the Captain's cellphone laying on the wooden deck… Before turning their gaze to the outstretched hand of the bearded man.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Meanwhile, on the rooftops of the city path leading to Hakoniwa Academy, Naruto could be seen running across the roofs as fast as he could. His face cleary had a pained expression on his face as he felt the throbbing pressure of Kyuubi's chakra getting to him as each second past. Flinching lightly as he landed on the next building, Naruto had to regain his balance before he started running again. The blonde could also feel the corruptive temptations that usually followed start to affect his mind, though he was doing his best to ignore it and focus on the task at hand.

"Do you honestly believe that you'll make it there in time? A weak Human like you can barely handle my Chakra without being corrupted," The Kyuubi's voice echoed within Naruto's mind as the shroud covering Naruto grew a fourth tail and his physical features turned more animalistic, black rings forming around his eyes and lips while some of his skin started to peel off. "Just give into it. Do so, and I'll guarantee your friends safety and destroy their enemies."

"… N-No… I-I can do it myself!" Naruto flinched as he felt the pain of Kyuubi's chakra searing against his skin. Medaka and Zenkichi's faces flashed through his mind, making Naruto grit his pointed teeth as he landed on another rooftop and sped to the other side. "They were there for me all of these years."

"I don't care if you have a monster sealed inside you."

"Come on, Naruto! I refuse to let you brush off your studies! I'll help you!"

"From now on, every time we come to visit, we'll be here to welcome you home."

"… Even if we both love Medaka-chan, I don't want anything to happen between us. You're my best friend, after all!"

"Naruto."

"Naruto!"

"I swear I will protect them! I won't let anything bad happen to either one of them!" Naruto shouted as he reached the edge of the building's roof, stepping on the ledge as he prepared to leap off. Suddenly all of the pain he was feeling vanished and was replaced with a large surge of power, and the floor under his leg became a large crater as he jumped off. Naruto's eyes widened as he not shot passed the next rooftop, but several after that and still remained airborne. Looking down at one of his hands, he didn't know what to say or think as he saw a strange yellow energy flickering over his arm and the rest of him. "… Is this the Kyuubi's chakra? It feels different…"

The Kyuubi was silent as it automatically knew what was happening to Naruto, lowering his head against its paws with an annoyed look, "… Hmph…"

"I feel like I can do anything like this, ya know." Clenching and unclenching his hand as he muttered to himself, Naruto turned his gaze back to the path ahead to see that he was finally starting to descend and was heading towards the street level. Narrowing his eyes as he landed in an open part of the road, Naruto landed in a crouch with his focusing on the path leading to Hakoniwa Academy. "Don't know how long I can use this power, but if it can help me reach the campus even faster then I won't question it!"

Tensing up his legs, the glowing blonde disappeared in a yellow flash before anyone could see him. Each step seemed to clear over ten blocks in a second while buildings, people, and everything else were becoming blurs around Naruto as he focused on making it closer to Hakoniwa Academy. It didn't take him long to arrive at the front gates, but even then the whiskered Shinobi didn't stop there as he continued towards the main building reconstruction site, before coming to a stop as he caught sight of a large sign stabbed into the ground with childish writing and a mini-drawn winking Shiranui's face on it.

Go to the Clock Tower and look down! ;-)

"…" Lifting his head up to the large white tower on the other side of the building, Naruto narrowed his eyes as he once again began running forward. It didn't take him long to make it to the base of the Clock Tower and saw the normally closed entrance was wide open, allowing him to enter the building to see that the interior was definitely high-tech. Coming to a stop at what looked like the ruins of a metal gate that someone had destroyed and a keypad laying on the ground. Looking around with a serious expression, Naruto blinked as he sensed something coming off the ground beneath him… no, whatever the feeling was, it was coming from beneath the floor he was standing on. "So that's what she meant by look down."

(Meanwhile on the 12th Floor)

"Forgive me, Zenkichi. But I must end your life," Medaka cried out with tears falling nonstop from the left side of her face. Crouching on top of an injured Zenkichi, who was covered in bandages, bruises and blood dripping from his lips from the blow to his throat that Medaka, no, Medaka II had dealt to him mere seconds ago. Medaka II brought her hands to the strawberry blonde's throat and began squeezing down. "Because that is the only way for me to move closer to achieving perfection."

"Go ahead and kill me!" Zenkichi exclaimed despite the strong grip on his throat, all of his attention focusing on the girl on top of him, a former shell of his female childhood friend after she had been brainwashed by Oudo and his Abnormal abilities. "I'd rather be dead than continue seeing the person you've become."

Before any more words could be said, a loud rumbling sound could be heard coming from above their heads before everyone in the room, the members of Class 13, Medaka's student Council and Maguro, who was hiding somewhere, felt the entire area shake as if they were experiencing an earthquake. Medaka II's head lifted upwards in time to realize that something was coming from the floor above and leaped off of Zenkichi just in time as something glowing yellow broke through the ceiling and crashed into the area between the Abnormal and Normal students.

"Looks like I made it just in time."

Everyone's' heads perked up at the new voice and focused on the dust cloud that had formed between Zenkichi and Medaka II, where a strange glowing figure could be seen standing in the center. With a wave of the figure's hand, they dispersed the cloud to reveal a smirking Naruto… Only he had a strange yellow flame-like energy partially covering his body. The 'flames' seemed to flicked and move about, revealing his normal appearance underneath while the parts that were covered in the energy had some prominent circular/swirl designs and various other lines extending along his body. But just as they got a glimpse of the form, the energy surrounding him vanished and left him in his normal state.

"N… Naruto?" Zenkichi muttered as he stared at the back of his friend. "W-Why are you here? You're supposed to be heading back to Konohagakure by now. And what was that form just now?!"

"No idea, doubt I could do it again at the moment. As for why…" Naruto shifted his gaze briefly at Zenkichi before looking back at Medaka II, "Let's just say someone contacted me just as the ship was doing preparations to take off. But enough about that for now, give me a cliff-note version of what's going on."

Oudo narrowed his eyes, the phantom pain from Naruto's strike the other day flaring up. "This fool again, Naruto Uzumaki."

"So this is the Shinobi who managed to overcome Oudo's Weighted Words." A short-haired redheaded girl wearing a mildly-revealing red and white outfit with a yellow cap on her head, commented with a look of awe on her face at Naruto's sudden appearance. Looking up at the large hole above the blonde's head, Itami Koga let out a whistle. "He passed through all eleven floors and he doesn't look even a little tired!"

Youka Naze, whose real name was Kujira Kurokami, Medaka's older sister, was a girl wearing the Hakoniwa Academy uniform with a skin tight black suit underneath it and had bandages wrapped around her head with a dagger sticking out of her forehead, crossed her arms under her large breasts. "He is another person close to Medaka growing up. I wonder how he'll stand against Medaka II."

"Are you okay, Zenkichi?" Naruto asked without taking his eyes off of Medaka, already sensing that something was wrong with the girl upon seen the look on her one-sided teared face and the broken straightjacket she was wearing. "… What did these people do to Medaka-chan?"

Raising to his feet, Zenkichi used his sleeve to brush off the blood from his lips, "Not surprised you picked up on that. These guys brainwashed her so that she agrees with the Flask Plan under the name Medaka II. They tried wiping out her memories, but she's gotten most of them back. But even so…"

'So, Chibi-Shiranui was telling the truth… Which just adds more questions on how she knew about this.' Deciding that it was questions for later, Naruto shifted his position as listened to Zenkichi finish explaining the situation. Shaking his head a few times, the Shinobi focus his attention on the girl in front of him. "All those tears falling down your face and you still tried to finish Zenkichi off? Your soul must be messed up right now, huh, Medaka-chan?"

"… Naruto… You were also someone who gave my life meaning." Medaka II stated, briefly closing her eyes as more memories flashed through her mind, these filled with times she spent with Naruto. The bluenette's eye snapped open just second before she made her move, charging forward at impressive speed and attempted to deliver a kick to Naruto's throat, only for the blonde to intercept it with an open hand. "I see, you were expecting me to strike you down as well."

"I can see how much this is tearing you apart, Medaka-chan… But with all that knowledge going through your head, you forgot about one of the most important things about being human, the very thing that made the real you stronger!" Naruto gritted his teeth as he shoved Medaka II's foot away, causing her to retreat a few feet and readjust herself. "… Giving up on the bonds you made, and sealing away your heart… Do you really think you'll be better off without them?"

Medaka nodded her head as tear finally started to fall on the right side of her face as well, "Of course. I will achieve perfection by obliterating the two of you."

"… If that's what you really think… Then you'll never get stronger or reach new heights! A person only becomes truly strong when they have people that they want to protect, ya know!" An image of Haku's retreating back flashed through Naruto's mind, as well as his memories with Medaka, Zenkichi and all of the other people he cared about. "So… I'll fight you… to protect the Medaka-chan that I know is still inside of you!"

"C-Count me in." Zenkichi spoke up as he finally made it back to his feet, still feeling the soreness from the strike to his neck. "The two of us… are the only ones who can bring the real Medaka-chan back!"

"Heh, looks like once again, Naruto-kun's unpredictability exceeds my analysis." Maguro's voice called out as the sounds of his laughter could be heard, Naruto's random nature was always refreshing to the Abnormal Analysist as he could never truly pinpoint the blonde's limit or get an accurate read on him. "You really like to make such grand appearances just as people are about to give up hope, don't you, Naruto-kun?"

Staring ahead with a blank, deadpanned stare, Naruto was silent for a few seconds while Zenkichi walked up to his side. "Shut it, Ero-Maguro. I'm already going to be in big trouble with my team for rushing off and leaving them behind, ya know!"

"Do you think they'll be able to stand a chance together?" Kikaijima questioned as she watched Naruto place a hand on Zenkichi's shoulder. "I mean, Naruto-san was able to handle Medaka-chan's War God Mode for a bit by himself."

"It's honestly hard to tell. We saw how easily she was able to hold Zenkichi off with just her legs, not to mention how she is able to use the Abnormalities of the others." Akune answered with gritted teeth.

Closing his eyes as he started to concentrate, Naruto called out to the powerful entity inside of him. 'Hey, Kyuubi. Do you think your chakra can heal Zenkichi's injuries if I give him some?'

"Hmph! Of course it can!" Kyuubi replied from within his cage as he opened one of his eyes, "But whether or not his body will be able to handle it is another story entirely. The bodies of these Humans from the Six Continents don't even possess the levels of civilians from your village. Give him too much, and it could harm him."

'Then I'll just have to trust you with the correct amount, right?' Naruto replied to the fox with a mental smile. The blonde quickly formed a wall of Shadow Clones between Medaka II and the two blondes.

Naruto's words made the Kyuubi go silent as it process the Jinchūriki's words, before letting out a scoff. "Saying you trust me so easily… Just don't come to regret those words."

"Hmm?" Medaka narrowed her eyes as she caught sight of a red, bubbly aura forming around the hand Naruto had on Zenkichi's shoulder, before it stretched out and soon covered the strawberry blonde in a shroud of energy that grew long foxlike ears and a single tail coming out from behind.

"What the hell?!" Zenkichi exclaimed as he felt a surge of energy rushing throughout his entire body, it was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. Raising one of his hands to see shroud doing the same with a claw-like form surrounding his hand, Zenkichi felt Naruto remove his hand from his shoulder. Soon, all the pain from his healing injuries barely felt like heavy tingles. The Normal teen's eyes widened as images of Naruto's form covered in this same energy back during the Chūnin Exams, "Is this… the Kyuubi's chakra?!"

"Just relax, I asked him to heal your injuries. Can't afford to have you slow down during the fight." Naruto stated as he and the shocked spectators watched the shroud around Zenkichi shrink and move inside the Club Typhoon's body. Dismissing his clones, Naruto spun around to face Medaka II and punched his open palm. "So… Are you ready to knock some sense back into Medaka-chan?"

A large, fanged grin formed Zenkichi's face, his eyes flashing red for a split second before returning to his normal blue. "Hell yeah!"

"…" Medaka said nothing as she silently leaned forward a bit.

Most of the onlookers were once again shocked as the two boys sped forward and appeared on either side of Medaka, who kept a neutral expression on her face as she watched the two make their move, intercepting Naruto's fist and Zenkichi's foot with her hands. But neither boy was finished as Zenkichi spun around to use his other leg while Naruto opened his fist and grabbed onto Medaka's hand, holding her in place as Zenkichi's second kick flew at her head. Medaka's body suddenly bent backwards at a weird angle in time to dodge Zenkichi's attack, before using the momentum of her spin to escape Naruto's hold by kicking him in the face. Recovering from the blow, Naruto closed in the gap between him and the bluenette just as she landed gracefully on her feet, throwing several punches at Medaka II to which she blocked a few while countering with a strike to his shoulder. Jumping back in time to avoid her jab to his throat, Naruto's eyes widened as the Abnormal pulled a few pairs of syringes out of nowhere and threw them at him, before retrieving shuriken from his pouch and flung them at the incoming projectiles. The shuriken easily shattered the needles before sailing passed Medaka II, slicing a few strands of hair in the process, before curving upward and lodging themselves into the ceiling.

"It looks like she's not holding back now." Naruto deduced while Zenkichi landed next to him, weaving through several hand seals. "Zenkichi!"

"Right!" Raising his left foot high, Zenkichi quickly brought it down with a stomp so powerful that the surrounding hexagon floor tiles come undone and elevation into the air.

Finishing with a Tiger Hand Seal, Naruto channeled his chakra into the airborne tiles, taking control of them and sending the now spinning tiles at Medaka. "Ninja Art: Tile Shuriken!"

"Not bad, but foolish." Medaka II stated as she moved effortlessly through the barrage of shuriken coming at her. It was almost as if the bluenette was dancing with how graceful she moved while avoiding the dozens of floor tiles coming at her.

"That was Takachiho's Auto-Pilot!?" Naze spoke up in surprise at yet another one of the Abnormalities that her sister was able to learn from the other members of Class 13.

As Medaka II finished dodging the Tile Shuriken, she was greeted by Naruto and Zenkichi rushing towards her not even seconds behind the tiles. Bringing up her arms to block their attacks once again, the bluenette immediately took notice to the increase in speed coming from the two of them and reciprocate by doing the same, only to feel something wrap around her wrists as she continued to intercept their attacks. A nearby light revealed glints of wire string wrapped around her wrists and originated from Naruto's hands, to which he pulled on the wire and bound her hands together long enough for Zenkichi to land a powerful blow to her stomach and sent her a few feet back. Snapping the wires apart and freeing her hands, Medaka II lifted her head in time to see Naruto diving at her from the air with a flying kick.

Shifting to the side, Medaka II evaded Naruto's kick causing it to shatter the flooring behind her and proceeded to strike his exposed back, only for Naruto to spin around and use the bottom of his foot to knock Medaka II's kick away before he started to exchange blows with the Abnormal. The whiskered blonde did his best to block and counter Medaka II's attacks using some of the fighting style that Jiraiya had taught him called Frog Kata, landing a few solid hits in retaliation to the ones the Abnormal scored. He didn't learn much since the man had stated that he needed to train to be a sage to truly harness the style's true power, but for right now it was helping him out a lot. Finding an opening as he knocked Medaka II's arms away, Naruto dealt a back fist to the side of her face before following it up with a knee strike to her chin, but the girl recovered enough to catch it with her hands… But that only made Naruto smirk as he brought his own hands down and held hers against his knee.

Just as Medaka II realized what he was planning, Zenkichi quickly came up from behind and performed a roundhouse kick to her head that connected with her temple, sending her flying back through the air. Despite feeling the shakiness following from the blow to her head, Medaka II managed to regain her balance and landed on her bare feet, though the force of her landing carved large cracks under her. Raising her right foot, Naruto's eyes widened at seeing one of his kunai knives hanging on her large toe by the hole at the end of the handle. The girl kicked the blade into the air before catching it in a reverse grip and charged forward once again.

Moving himself in front of Zenkichi, Naruto reached into his back pouch and pulled out what looked like an elongated kunai knife with Konoha's leaf symbol on the base, using it to intercept Medaka II's weapon. Sparks flew through the air as the knives in Naruto and Medaka II's hands clashed with each powerful and fast-paced swing they took. But some quickly took notice to the cracks forming on the kunai Medaka II wielded as Naruto's weapon appeared to be made of stronger material, and with one last swing of his blade, the blonde Shinobi shattered the smaller kunai into large fragments. This didn't stop Medaka II, however, as she sent a kick at the hand Naruto held the kunai, hitting it at just the right angle that caused it to fly out of his hand and spiraled into the ceiling above where the shuriken that Naruto had thrown earlier were located. The force behind the spinning knife not only dislodged the shuriken, but knocked them towards Medaka II, who caught them by sticking her fingers through the holes in the center.

"Heh, not bad. Last time I saw someone do that was when my team was fighting Kakashi in that survival exercise." Naruto smirked, before he and Zenkichi rushed towards the brainwashed Abnormal, who said nothing as she threw the shuriken at the two. Shifting out of the way to avoid the incoming projectiles with ease, the two blondes caught sight of ninja wire stretching from the shuriken to Medaka II's hand, which jerked back causing the aerial weapons to come back towards the two. "How many tools did she steal from me? And where is she hiding them?!"

"Just watch yourself, Naruto!" Zenkichi warned as he instantly recognized the ability Medaka II was using, having fought the original user earlier. "She's copied many the Abnormalities of Class 13, this is the ability of a guy I fought a few floors up, Munakata, Medaka-chan can hide weapons on her person no matter the size or how deadly it is."

"Seriously?!" The Shinobi exclaimed as he dodged the returning shuriken before grabbing onto the wires connected to them, giving them a hard pull on the line connected to Medaka II's hand… only for her to release her grip to reveal an explosive tag with the corner already on fire. Naruto's eyes widen in shock as the paper was flew towards him and Zenkichi, shoving his friend away with gritted teeth before raising his arms in front of his face "SH-!"

Zenkichi stared in shock as the paper bomb explosion went off and trapped Naruto in a ball of flames and smoke, before his burning form was sent crashing into a nearby wall from the force of the explosion. But he didn't have time to think about it as he saw Medaka II rush towards him, sending out a kick to intercept her stretched out hand. The two exchanged hard stares before the strawberry blonde and bluenette continued the battle while moving at higher speeds that before.

"How is Hitoyoshi-kun moving even faster than before?" Kikaijima couldn't believe what she was seeing, especially when the Normal teen had struggled so much against Medaka II not even twenty minutes ago.

"It's not just his speed, both his body's durability and strength is gone up a few levels as well." Akune pointed out as he and the others watched Zenkichi actually take several blows from Medaka II, yet he somehow managed to brush them off to continue fighting the girl off. "It must've been because of that weird shroud Naruto put over him before… Looks like it did more than just heal the guy."

"Whoa~! That Normal is on a whole new level!" Koga said with wide eyes, part of her seeing similarities in how a Normal like Zenkichi was fighting of Medaka II thanks to whatever enhancement Naruto gave him, compared to the cybernetic remodeling that Naze had done to her to change Koga from a Normal into an Abnormal. Except there was one major difference. "How long do you think he can keep this up?"

"No idea, but I doubt whatever boost he received will remain for much longer." Naze replied as she studied the battle with calculations going through her mind with each blow she saw Zenkichi land on Medaka II. But her attention quickly shifted downwards as a large crack formed in the ground under the clashing childhood friends' feet. "Hmmm?"

She wasn't the only one as Medaka II's gaze lowered to the floor to see the crack growing twice as large in a split second, before an unharmed Naruto emerged from the ground with a yellow, chakra-infused right fist ready to uppercut her. Bujust as the brainwashed Abnormal was about to move back and dodge the incoming punch, the soft sounds of something popping was heard coming from behind her and she felt something powerful connect with the pack of her head, pushing her forward towards Naruto. It had happened in an instant, but some of the airborne rubble created by Naruto and Zenkichi's attacks had exploded into puffs of smoke before turning into multiple Shadow Clones of Naruto, with one of them using the Substitution Jutsu to switch places with Zenkichi before the remaining clones threw the strawberry blonde at Medaka II from behind, allowing him to deliver a kick to the back of her head. Similar smirks formed on both Naruto and Zenkichi's faces as the blow made contact under Medaka II's chin and sent the bluenette flying towards the ceiling, crashing into it with enough force for the cement and ceiling lights around her to break and leave a human imprint against her back.

"A direct hit!" Naruto stated as he adjusted his position next to Zenkichi, meanwhile, the burning figure from the earlier explosion vanished in a cloud of smoke followed by the remaining Shadow Clones. The two blondes raised their arms and shared a fist bump as they look up at the motionless Medaka on the ceiling. "It's a good thing I put a lot of chakra into that Shadow Clone."

"Impressive indeed. I didn't even see when you substituted yourselves with clones, let alone think it was possible with living objects." Maguro's voice echoed through the large room.

Naruto's grin grew as he kept his gaze focused on Medaka II, "Heh. No one ever said that it couldn't be done. I've seen plenty of people do it with living creatures before, like a Rogue Ninja using a rabbit to make my team think that there wasn't any enemies around."

"Didn't you also say that Kakashi did something like that during that Bell Test with one of your clones?" Zenkichi pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"… Shut up!"

Oudo only let out a grunt as he crossed his arms over his chest, while Yukuhashi had a shocked look at Naruto escaping the explosion with the use of cloning himself. "The ability to use chakra certainly catches my attention. Such an extraordinary power is better suited to a king."

"… This is almost similar to how you won that match during your Chūnin Exams." Medaka II's voice called out from her spot in the ceiling, the bangs of her eyes covering the upper half of her face and yet her tears could still be seen falling down her face. "It appears your teamwork had become very effective over the years."

"Of course it has!" Naruto stated while watching the ceiling rubble fall of the fifteen year old bluenette as she detached herself and landed on the floor with a crouch. A decent sized bruise created by his Chakra-based attack was visible around her chin, with a few more tears and bruises seen from her brief, yet impressive clash with the two blondes. "When it comes to fighting opponents that are on your level or higher, we knew that we would need to figure out ways to come out on top."

"You are someone worth working hard to stand beside, pushing ourselves to be better than what we were before." Zenkichi added with a determined look on his face, "So seeing this person that those bastards from Class 13 believe to be the real you is sickening."

"That means that we'll do what the real you would do, and hold nothing back until we get through to you!" Naruto's Chakra, which had changed from its original blue to a yellow color, was swirling around him as he punched his open palm.

Rubbing her sore chin as she could feel the accelerated healing ability she gained from Koga start to patch up the injury while she processed their words, Medaka II couldn't help but think back to how the two boys changed her life so long ago. "Do you both recall what you both told me thirteen years ago? Back when we first met?"

Zenkichi tilted his head in confusion at the strange question, "Don't really remember much from back then. Probably something about how you were born to make everybody happy."

"Me either… I think it was about how you push people to become better and encourage themselves to improve." Naruto added with a similar expression, though the shocked look on Medaka II's face told the two that they were right on the money. "But even if we don't have perfect memories of that time, it doesn't matter…

"Because it's something that the two of us believe with all of our hearts," Zenkichi finished. "And that won't change, no matter what happens between the three of us!"

To the surprise of everyone in the room, Medaka II took a step back with a tearful shout, bringing her hands to her head as she thrashed about. In the shadows, Maguro's eyes widened slightly as he noticed sparks covering her hands before a bright light erupted from his youngest sister with larger sparks forming around her head. Naruto and Zenkichi stared at Medaka II as she let out a scream as more sparks appeared, the two shocked at what they were seeing and equally confused since the girl's face and voice projected the pain she was feeling.

"What is she doing?!" Koga asked Naze as they, Akune, Kikaijima, Yukuhashi and Oudo watched the screaming girl continue to hold her head while sparks covered her entire upper body.

Naze didn't know how to answer her best friend's question as her gaze focused on her sister. "Did something go wrong?"

"No," Behind his mask, Yukuhashi's eyes widen from recognizing what was happening. "Those are EMP waves. That monster of a girl is trying to brainwash herself with Oudo's Abnormality!"

"She was able to use my Weighted Words without any issue, so for her to be able to use my brainwashing ability as well is theoretically possible." Oudo deduced with narrow eyes.

"But the brainwashing procedure is always a delicate process," Naze stated as Medaka II continued to scream. "At the rate she is going, Medaka's brain won't be able to survive and will destroy any chances of it remaining intact."

""Stop it, Medaka-chan!""

Medaka II's eyes snapped open in surprise as she felt two different hands grab on to her hands and pull them away from her head, ceasing the brainwashing attempt and halting the pain going through her. In front of the girl, Zenkichi and Naruto were seen standing with the former holding onto her left hand while her right was in the latter's grip. The emotions she saw in their eyes reflecting only warmth, concern and love as they gently lowered her hands even further away from her head.

Zenkichi was the first one to speak, "We're sorry for saying that we can't stand the person you are now. Especially if it means that you're gonna hurt yourself to such an extent just to revert back."

"The important thing the bonds that we have between us isn't as insignificant as you tried to dismiss," Naruto continued as he reached up with his free hand and brushed away Medaka II's tears. "You're still the same person you've always been, so there's no reason for you to change."

"Naruto… Zenkichi… But I'm-" Medaka II didn't get a chance to finish as both boy wrapped their arms around the trio to form a three-man hug with her in the center.

"Just because you want to make everyone else happy doesn't mean you should ignore yourself."

"You deserve to be happy as well, Medaka-chan."

Hearing the words coming from her childhood friends seemed to make something in Medaka II's mind click as she felt a new sensation build up inside of her. Taking a deep breath as she moved out of the hug, the presence surrounding the girl changed. A familiar smile formed on her face as she looked back at the two boys that she loved more than anyone else in the world. "Thank you both so much… For reminding me of who I am… A creature such as Medaka II is neither who I was nor will it ever be my future. I am Medaka Kurokami! The woman born to help strangers find happiness, and be happy alongside them!"

"Finally!" Kikaijima exclaimed happily with tears building up in her eyes.

A look of relief appeared on Akune's face as he helped Kikaijima stand on her feet, "She's back!"

Watching as Medaka took two armbands from Zenkichi and slid them onto her bicep, Naruto shook his head with a shrug. "Seriously, how much are you guys gonna make me worry about you?"

"As if you're one to talk." Zenkichi retorted with a deadpanned expression while crossing his arms over his chest, "Just how many times did we have to save your butt when you decided to do something completely reckless?"

"Shut it! Who's the guy that had stab injuries all over his back, huh?!"

"This coming from the idiot who can't create a new technique without it nearly cutting his arm off!"

"It's a work in progress, ya know! And it's still a helluva lot cooler than a stomp!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Almost everyone watched the two with sweatdrops or looks of disbelief as Naruto and Zenkichi started arguing with their faces angrily pressing against one another. It was almost laughable at how these two managed to be the perfect team in the battle against a brainwashed Medaka, before getting into a cartoonish quarrel while in the middle of enemy territory. Speaking of Medaka, the girl closed her eyes with a smile before pushing the two boys apart.

"That's enough out of both of you. As much as I enjoy seeing the two of you get along so well, there are more important things that need to be taken care of." Opening her eyes, Medaka focused her attention on the final four members of Class 13 and the Flask Plan, meeting Oudo's intense stare with no reaction. "Shall we take this to the next level down?"

"Yes, I do believe that that would be a perfect idea." Oudo replied as he brought a hand up to his face, brushing some of his bangs off his face. The red-eyed blonde turned around and began walking towards the nearest door. "After all, it is the most appropriate battlefield for one such as I to make you submit to me, Medaka Kurokami."

"Very well, lead the way." With those words of the Student Council President spoken, the blonde Abnormal passed through the exit leading to the next floor with the other Abnormals following after him. Naze could be seen throwing a dagger at an area while saying something, to which Maguro appeared from the shadows and rejoined the group. Medaka turned her head to look at Naruto, "Will you be coming with us?"

"As much as I want to, the transport ship is probably waiting for me… I should get back. Captain Yamato and the others are probably angry enough at me for using Kyuubi's Chakra to run off." Naruto replied with a little bit of sweat falling down the side of his face, letting out an awkward chuckle as he placed his hands behind his head. "I'm probably going to be in big trouble when I get back."

"You have no idea." Naruto's entire body tensed up at that, shakily turning around with fear present on his face… letting out a 'manly' shriek at the sight of a ghoul-faced Yamato standing behind him with a black aura coming off him. "I see that you are scared… Good… Because I'm gonna make sure you learn not to disobey me again, you brat. There will be consequences for your actions."

"C-C-Captain Yamato! W-Why are you here?!" Naruto questioned as he took a fearful step back, before feeling a finger tap against his shoulder and looked back to see a smiling Sakura, though it was still unsettling in its own way. "Huh, you're here too, Sakura?"

"Of course I am! Don't you remember what happened the last time you used too much of the Kyuubi's Chakra?" Sakura said as memories of the horrible condition Naruto had been in after his Four-Tail mode had dispersed, "Acting reckless with that much power hurts not only you, but it can cause harm to innocent people as well. We saw the giant hole you created to get down here!"

"But I'm completely fine! See?" Opening up his Chūnin vest and jacket, Naruto showed the two other Shinobi that he had no peeled skin or any other damages that were there after previous usages of the Kyuubi's Chakra. In fact, the blonde Shinobi's body looked as though it was in better condition than before if that was even possible. "I don't know how… I think… I was able to use Kyuubi's Chakra without it backfiring on me."

"You harnessed its power without being consumed by it?" Yamato questioned with narrow eyes and a small hint of disbelief in his voice.

Zenkichi took a step closer to Naruto, "That weird yellow form you arrived in, are you talking about that?"

"He also used it to heal and revitalize you, Zenkichi." Medaka pointed out as she pointed to the areas that the strawberry blonde had sustained injuries from his battle with the Abnormal known as Munakata. "Anyone could tell from just looking at it that the energy coming off of him was not normal. It even changed the color of his Chakra from blue to yellow."

"It did?" Naruto blinked before raising his hand up and channeled Chakra into it to see that it indeed was a different color. "Huh. I didn't even notice."

"That is something else to look into when we return to the village." The Jōnin stated while staring at the yellow flame-like energy coming off Naruto's open palm. "If everything is taken care of here, the three of us need to get back to the ship before it takes off."

Turning his head to look at his childhood friends, Naruto had an uneasy look on his face. "Will you guys be alright now? I don't want to leave and you both start fighting again."

"You don't need to worry about us, Naruto." Zenkichi replied with a small smirk, "This time is for real."

Medaka nodded her head with a look of pride on her face, "Zenkichi is right. I won't be falling for the same tricks as before, in fact, I know that this conflict involving the Flask Plan will come to an end very soon."

"… Alright then, I trust you guys… But before I go," Raising his glowing hand and placing it on top of Medaka's head, Sakura and Yamato were shocked to see a familiar red shroud cover the bluenette's body. Just like with Zenkichi, it only surrounded Medaka's body for a few second and completely healed the girl before disappearing. Seeing the raised eyebrow being sent in his direction, Naruto only grinned as he reached into his back pouch and pulled out something, holding it out to the Abnormal. "Better for you to be going into the final battle in top shape, right? You must've received a bunch of damage even before Zenkichi and I kicked your butt."

"As I recall, our battle didn't exactly have a climax." Medaka pointed out as she took the object out of Naruto's hand, revealing it to be a new fan with pink flowers and a black background. "Unless you both wish to continue the battle and find out who would win?"

… It didn't even take the two boys two seconds for them to reply to Medaka's offer.

"No thanks."

"I'm good."

Medaka only smiled at her childhood friends' replies, not bothered by them in the least. "In any case, this is where we go our separate ways. You need to get back to Konoha and track down Itachi Uchiha, and try to deal with the Akatsuki as well."

"Yeah, and you need to put an end to this Flask Plan!" A large grin formed on Naruto's face as he and Medaka raised their right arms and interlocked them between them, "Don't do anything stupid before we see each other again!"

"Hmph, as if you're one to talk." Medaka replied as they lowered their arms, "I don't want to hear that you ended up in the hospital again because you were being reckless."

"I second that." Zenkichi added with a knowing look, nudging his male best friend in the ribs. "You better not tear up that arm of yours again before you find a way to work around that Rasenshuriken's backlash. Don't want you to become left-handed."

Crossing his arms with a pout, Naruto spun around. "Ha-ha! If this is how you thank the guy who rushed all the way here to help, then maybe I shouldn't even bother next time!"

A few seconds of silence passed before the blonde turned back to face Medaka and Zenkichi, and everyone immediately took notice to the similar smiles that formed on the trio's faces. Sharing a nod of their heads, Medaka and Zenkichi began walking the door that Oudo and the other Abnormals had walked through while Naruto headed in the opposite direction where the hole he had created leading to the first floor of the Clock Tower, retrieving his Chakra Blade along the way, with Sakura and Yamato following after him. Even though they were parting ways, the bonds between them remained strong as they ever were.

NUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZH

"W-Whoa… What the hell happened to this place?!" Akune exclaimed as he and the others were looking at the massive crater that was supposed to be Konohagakure and instead were ruins that had hundreds of destroyed buildings while small living quarters where spread throughout the area. The outer ring of the crater had housings and other buildings that looked like they had been smooshed together by a powerful force.

"This place looks completely different from how you guys described it earlier!" Kikaijima added as the strap of her bag slipped off her shoulder slightly, startled at the destruction below them. It was certainly not what they expected after hearing Medaka and Zenkichi, and the latter's mother, Hitomi, go on about how beautiful the large village was.

Zenkichi had a worried look on his face as he stared down at the once majestic village that he had visited enough times to consider a second home, "Just what could've caused something like this?"

"Hmm… Could it have been that Akatsuki group that Naruto had told us about?" Medaka brought her hand up to her chin as she recalled Naruto telling them about the criminal group of Rogue Ninja that were going after Jinchūriki, a look of concerned growing as she began to wonder if her childhood friend had been captured.

Standing on the other side of Akune, Nekomi Nabeshima was frowning as she stared down at the wreckage as well. "I know that people from the Elemental Nations were known to be powerful and destructive, but this blows away anything I was expecting."

"We should get down there and check things out." Zenkichi commented as he made his way towards the lower path leading to the remains of the village gates, catching sight of the reconstruction being done to the village through the checkpoints. The Normal couldn't help but feel the concern building up inside of him as he wondered about the condition of his other childhood friend if the Akatsuki was really responsible for the destruction.

"Agreed. It shouldn't be too hard to find someone that can explain what had happened." Following after her General Affairs Manager, Medaka and the rest of the group made their way to the main gate checkpoint where small crowds of people moving to and from the gates. There was also some carpenters traveling with lumber and other equipments that was most likely being used for the rebuilding of the village. "Seems like they are getting plenty of aid with the construction."

"They're gonna need it to work on a place as large as this. It's the size of one of our cities back in the Six Continents," Kikaijima said as she look notice to all of the different suppliers and construction workers going into the village, her mind silently processing the possible prices being put into it. "Just goes to show how much money one of these Hidden Villages must make with these Shinobi."

"It's actually not as much as you think, young lady." A voice spoke up behind them, making the five teenagers turn their heads to see an older gray-haired man with a matching beard, wearing glasses, a sleeveless V-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals. Standing next to him, a young teenager with black hair wearing a matching outfit to the older man's was staring back at the group. "A lot of the construction and equipment being used has a bit of a price deduction while I've heard that Daimyōs from other villages like Yukigakure are sending over technology and any machineries that will help Konoha get back on their feet."

"Really? That's extremely generous." Nekomi blinked in surprise at the information.

The teenager next to the man grinned as he placed his hands behind his head, "Well, it's the least we can do after everything that Nii-chan did for us!"

"Nii-chan?" Akune repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"My grandson in talking about the Shinobi that saved the Wave Country from a tyrant that was bankrupting our people and gave us back our courage." The older man said as he crossed his arms with a reminiscent look on his face. "I'll admit, when I first got a look at the kid I completely underestimated him. But Naruto proved me wrong and saved us all."

"Did you say Naruto and Wave Country?" Zenkichi blinked as he recognized the story, looking back and forth between the two. "Excuse me, does that mean you're the bridge builder, Tazuna, and his grandson. Inari?"

"Oh, you know of us?" Tazuna replied with a surprised look, "I was under the impression that you lot were from the Six Continents, given your outfits and all."

Medaka took a step forward with her closed fan in hand, "You are correct about that, but Zenkichi and I are childhood friends of Naruto. He told us about his time in Wave Country."

"You guys are friends of Nii-chan?" Inari questioned with an excited look, "Then you guys must be here to see him after hearing about the battle he had won against those Akatsuki guys!"

"So he was fighting the Akatsuki… At least he came out victorious." Medaka commented with a pleased look on her face. She had already had enough of a scare after Zenkichi had been bitten by all of those snakes from his battle with Misogi Kumagawa and nearly died, the last thing she needed to hear was that the other person she cherished most in life was on death's door as well.

Zenkichi let out a sigh of relief with a smile on his face, "Just like that idiot to make us worry about him without even seeing him."

"This Akatsuki guy must've been really powerful to damage the village so much." Akune spoke up with a hand on his hip.

"You don't know the half of it. According to the stories being passed around, this was the leader of the group and his partner," Tazuna explained with a grim look. "The crazy part of that news however was that many had died during the attack on the village, but somehow Naruto managed to talk the guy down and he brought back everybody he killed."

"It was probably just someone adding craziness to the story to make Naruto's story sound even better." One of the men working for Tazuna commented with a shake of his head, "I don't doubt that he managed to convince the enemy to side with him, but the idea of cheating death like that sounds unbelievable, right?"

An uneasy silence passed over the five students from the Six Continents as they exchanged a look at the man's comment, the memory of Kumagawa using his All Fiction to undo his death still fresh in their minds.

"Hey! Nii-chan is still a hero! If they say that incredible stuff happened, then there has to be some truth to it!" Inari called out with a fist pumped in the air, "Anyway, we need to hurry and make sure all of the new equipment transported from home properly."

"Good point, Inari." Tazuna replied with a nod of his head before turning to face his construction crew. "Alright guys, let's get a move on! We've still got a lot of ground to cover for this job! Just because we made a lot of progress so far doesn't mean jack shit if we slouch off!"

"Yes sir!"

"Roger that!"

Watching as his grandfather and the other workers once again make their way towards the village, Inari flashed a smile at the older teenagers. "Sorry about cutting this short. Hopefully we'll see you in the village!"

"Don't worry, we understand." Zenkichi replied with a nod.

Akune brushed his hand through his hair, "Good luck to you. We saw the damage earlier from the nearby cliffs."

"Be safe too." Kikaijima added while flashing the boy a small smile. Inari's face turned a little red at this before rushing off to join the others from Wave Country. "Huh?"

"I think someone got a small crush… And I thought it was only little girls that got them so quickly." Nekomi mischievously smirked as she whispered this to Medaka, who raised an eyebrow at the greenette's words.

Opening her fan as she watched the men from Wave Country reach Konoha's checkpoint, Medaka had a confused look on her face. "Kikaijima-san is an attractive girl, so wouldn't it be expected for boys to be interested in her? Besides, Inari-san looked to be about twelve years old, not that much younger than us."

"Three years for you guys, four for me."

"Eh?!" The glasses-wearing brunette blinked a few times as she processed what the two were saying. "W-What are you two talking about? I-I have no interest in guys from the Elemental Nations!"

Nekomi tilted her head at that, "Oh? And what's wrong if they're from here? So far, all the people I've seen haven't been ugly or hard to look at."

"Indeed. Plenty of people I've met from all the times I've visited have been very nice, and some of them having various appeals to their looks." Medaka commented as she looked up at the sky as if she was in thought, "Naruto's whisker marks have always been an eye catcher for some of the girls back in Japan. I've certainly enjoyed petting them myself whenever I feel down."

"I will admit that he does remind me of a fox whenever I saw him," Kikaijima admitted as she closed her eyes in thought. "I've always wanted one for a pet but they've got a mischievous side to them tha-Wait! What am I saying?!"

"She actually admitted to a cute animal that she likes!?" Zenkichi exclaimed in shock.

He wasn't the only one as Akune had a dumbfolded look on his face, "It's kind of creepy to see her act like a normal girl. Especially after all of the crap she keeps putting us through."

"Shut it! I'll tell Tanegashima and Yakushima about all the mean things you're saying about me when we get back to the academy!" An embarrassed Kikaijima cried out before turning her body away from the two boys so they couldn't see the redness of her face.

(A Little While Later)

"Welcome to Konoha… Wait, you five are from the Six Continents?" One of the two Village Gate Guards, Izumo Kamizuki, stared down at the passports that he had been given.

Sitting next to him with a curious look, Kotetsu Hagane glanced down at the Japanese Passports before looking up at the student. "Hardly ever see people from the Six Continents visit us during this time of the year. What brings you lot all the way from Japan?"

"We're visiting a childhood friend of ours that lives here." Zenkichi explained as he glanced passed the gate and got a good look at the reconstruction being done to the destroyed village. "I can't believe Konoha got hit this badly."

"It's to be expected when dealing with a dangerous group of S-Class criminals." Kotetsu replied while leaning back in his chair with a comedic sigh, "Everybody in the village has been bustin' their butts ever since the battle ended, and there are still a lot of Shinobi that are being looked at in the medical tents. More and more responsibility is being piled up on us to make up for the ones who can't work."

Flashing his partner an annoyed look, Izumo turned back to Medaka and the others. "Just ignore his comments, he was dropped on his head as a kid… several times."

"Oi!"

"Are there really a lot of issues with the rebuilding of Konoha?" The bluenette of the group asked.

Izumo only smiled at the girl while waving his hand in a dismissive manner, "Nothing that isn't to be expected. We're a little short of man-power, but thanks to the connections we have with others villages we should be fine."

"I see… Allow us to assist you in the reconstruction!" Medaka practically shouted with a large grin on her face while she placed her hands on her hips. People that were at the other entry checkpoint desks turned their heads in the direction of the suddenly loud voice.

"EH?!" Akune and Kikaijima shouted at the same time as they started at their president in shock. Nekomi only shook her head silently with an amused smile at her Kōhai's offer, shrugging her shoulders as she had expected the President Princess to say something like that.

Zenkichi was in a similar boat to Nekomi, though he was in agreement with Medaka on helping the village in some way. The strawberry blonde had become attached to the place after all of the times that he, Medaka and his mother had come to visit.

The spiky haired Chūnin chuckled as he leaned forward and rested an arm on the table between him and the teens. "Don't worry about us. Like Izumo said, we will be able to handle things just fine. You lot just focus on seeing your friend. Which reminds me, who is this childhood friend of yours?"

"We're here to see Naruto Uzumaki." Medaka answered causing the two older men to perk up at the girl's words.

"So the Hero of Konoha knows people from the Six Continents, huh? Kind of jealous," Kotetsu said while crossing his arms. "I've always wanted to see them myself, get a feel of the rest of the world."

Zenkichi blinked at the first part of the man's words, "Did you just call Naruto the Hero of Konoha?"

"It's what everybody in the village is calling him after he defeated Pein and his Six Paths." Hanging back their passports as he explained what had happened, Izumo had a small smirk on his face. "He's the talk of the village right now with all of his achievements and victories."

"Jiraiya-sama would be proud of how strong Naruto has become. At least he was able to avenge his master."

"Can't even imagine what was going through his mind after finding out that Pein killed Jiraiya-sama."

"Did you just say that Jiraiya-san… was killed?" Zenkichi's eyes widened in shock with his irises shrinking, something that Medaka mirrored as this was the first that they heard of the Sannin's fate.

"You didn't know? Yeah, it happened almost two months ago… A lot of people took it really hard, both Naruto and Tsunade-sama most of all." A frown formed on Izumo's face as he recalled the day that news of Jiraiya's death had reached the village, just like during the Sandaime's funeral, it rained heavily the entire day. "But even though he's dqdgone, he left his legacy in Naruto."

"And hopefully his Icha Icha books as well." Kotetsu muttered to himself in a very low voice so no one could hear him. Unfortunately, he didn't count on one thing.

A certain Abnormal having exceptionally hearing.

Crossing her arms under her large bust, a thoughtful look formed on Medaka's face. "I suppose it would be up to Naruto if he wants to get into writing. He did help with a few of the Icha Icha books when Jiraiya-san was working on them."

'Not really done willingly, especially when he wouldn't let us get any rest.' Zenkichi thought to himself with a small bittersweet smile at the memory of the white haired man waking both him and Naruto up in the middle of the night to read his drafts and give their reviews. The strawberry blonde remembered how pissed he would be every time and curse Jiraiya out before joining Naruto in his reads… Hard to believe he'd never see the perverted sage again…

"Really?!" Kotetsu exclaimed as he shot to his feet with an excited grin.

Letting out a sigh at his best friend's actions, Izumo's exposed left eye shifted towards Medaka and the others, "Please continue on into the village. There are some restrictions due to the rebuilding being done, but you should have access to most of the area within the village. Enjoy your time here."

"Thank you very much." The bluenette of the group replied as she and the others grab their travel bags, before they walked through the large gates passed the seated duo.

"…"

"…"

"As if I needed even more reason to be jealous of Naruto." Kotetsu said as he leaned a bit over the table to watch the five teenagers as they disappeared passed the pathways created by the construction workers to reach the higher parts of the buildings. Focusing his attention on the two in the middle, Kotetsu stared at Medaka's back. "Becoming a powerful Shinobi that can face against enemies on league with Kages, known as a hero of many different villages and countries, and now I find out he's got a childhood friend that attractive… What's he got going for him that I don't?"

"Dedication towards his work? No issues with responsibility? Honest and cares about helping the people around him without thinking about a reward? Won't slack off to hang out with Jōnin just to try some special syrup?" Izumo paused in his listing as if to think of another reason, not caring about the dirty look his best friend was sending him. "Oh! Spiky hair that actually looks good on him?"

"… Fuck you, Izumo."

"… Also doesn't give off a weird vibe that he might be a jealous, whining douchebag."

"Izumo, if you don't stop, I'm gonna my mace down your throat?!"

The area was silent briefly as Izumo stared up at his glaring friend, who had an anime pissed-off expression with gritting teeth and a fist held up in front of his face. "Dude… As your friend, I'm going to be completely honest with you… What you just said sounded really gay… Maybe that's why you're still single."

"RAAAAAAGH! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Ano… Should we be worried about those guys?" Kikaijima asked as she glanced back after hearing the angry shout coming from behind them, a bead of sweat falling down her cheek as she could hear the two arguing even from their distance.

"Nah, I'm sure they'll be fine." Nekomi shook her head with an amused grin, "When it comes to boys, banter and arguments between friends' just shows how close they truly are."

The brunette tilted her head with a confused frown at that, "That sounds really dumb."

"And yet! There is some truth to Nabeshima-sempai's words." Medaka nodded her head with a knowing expression, "I've lost track of how many times Naruto and Zenkichi have argued about something in the past, and yet they always seem to be even closer after finding a resolution. Truthfully I am jealous of them."

"There is no need for you to feel jealous of those two," Akune stated with a dismissive scoff while pointing at a thumb at a now scowling Zenkichi. "The only reason they get along so well is because they ar-GAH!?"

Medaka's Student Council Secretary didn't get to finish his statement as an ordinary looking black and white ostrich that was wears three red bow ties on his neck landed on top of him, surprising the four at the sudden and bizarre entrance. While the flightless bird seemed to look around with a frown on its face, three baby ostriches were seen on the adult bird's back and making some noise. Hopping off of the groaning Akune, the ostrich broke out into a run while leaving the group behind.

"Condor! Get back here you stupid bird!" A familiar voice could be heard echoing throughout the area, causing the four standing student to turn their heads in time to see Naruto appearing between them… his feet coming in contact with Akune's head as he landed. "I've already captured the rest of your Four Ninja Animal Warriors! You know how this'll end!"

"Never!" The ostrich named Condor shouted back as he continued running with three baby chirping ostriches on his back, "I will never give up on getting my freedom!"

'… Di… Did that ostrich just talk?!' Zenkichi, Kikaijima and Nekomi thought to themselves in disbelief while Akune let out a grunt as Naruto unknowingly adjusted himself on top of the blonde Special, and Medaka dismissed it as being a normal thing when it came to the Elemental Nations.

"Haaaaaa~ I hate that fucking bird almost as much as I hate going after that stupid cat!" Naruto growled as he glared at the retreating Condor. Noticing that he wasn't alone in the area, the Shinobi blinked in surprise at the familiar faces surrounding him. "Medaka-chan? Zenkichi? Kikaijima? And… Who are you?"

Not hiding her amusement at the condition of the former member of her Judo Club, a large smile was present on Nekomi's face as she introduced herself to Naruto. "Hello there, we didn't get to meet the last time you had visited Hakoniwa Academy. I'm Nekomi Nabeshima, Captain of the school's Judo Club."

"Wait… You're Nekomi the Foul King?" Naruto blinked with a mildly surprised look.

"Oh? You've heard of me? I'm honored that the Hero of Konoha knows about me."

The blonde Shinobi let out a sigh at that, "I'm guessing from that, you guys know about the battle, huh?"

"We heard about it as we were entering the village. I can't believe you defeated the leader of the Akatsuki by yourself." Zenkichi said with a grin on his face as he walked up to Naruto, intentionally stepping hard onto Akune's back as he made it to his male best friend's side and slung an arm around his shoulder. "You're really becoming a well-known figure in the Elemental Nations, aren't you?"

Medaka giggled before nodding her head in agreement, crossing her arms under her torso and lifting her chest a bit… Something that caught the attentions of men and women walking passed the group. "I'm very happy to see how far you've come, Naruto. I suppose I should get your autograph now before everyone else gets the chance."

"Come on, you guys! Don't make this even more awkward for me. I'm still having trouble with all the attention the village is giving me now!" Naruto whined as he pushed Zenkichi back with an embarrassed look on his face from his childhood friends' words. "But seriously, if you guys didn't know about the attack on the village beforehand, why are you guys here?"

"Well, we're-"

"Naruto!" The bluenette was interrupted as Sai landed a few feet away from them, before making his way to them. "Have you located the target?"

"Yeah, I just caught sight of him before he took off in that direction." Pointing in the direction that the ostrich had ran off, the whiskered blonde turned back to look at his pale teammate. "What the situation on the other Ninja Animal Warriors? Did you finish taking them back?"

Sai nodded his head while placing a hand on his hip, "Indeed. It was a lot easier with all of them incapacitated and bond with my Beast Mimicry: Snakes. Hmm? Medaka-san, Zenkichi-san, what are you five doing here?"

"Hey there, Sai. We just came to the village to visit during an available time period after some things happened. Don't mind us too much." Zenkichi replied with a wave of his hand, a little wary of the Root Agent after hearing about his tendency to give people horrible nicknames.

"I see… Naruto… Why are you standing on top of Kouki Akune-san?"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked a few times at Sai's words before looking down to see that the older blonde was glaring up at him. "Oh, so that's where you were. I thought it was weird that I didn't see you."

"About damn time you finally noticed me! And why didn't you guys say anything?!" Akune exclaimed while angrily pointing at Kikaijima, Nekomi and Zenkichi, the latter smiling cockily as he shrugged his shoulders.

Opening one of his eyes to look at the angry Akune with amusement, the Normal spoke up while failing to suppress his laughter as Naruto stepped off of the Student Council Secretary, allowing Akune to get up to his feet. "Not my fault you couldn't handle the situation by yourself. I mean, you're always going on and on about how I don't compare to you or Medaka-chan. So how was I supposed to help you?"

"Hitoyoshi, you bastard!" Akune shouted as he grabbed Zenkichi's collar, to which the strawberry blonde mirrored while now glaring back at the Special.

"… So, it this another one of those boys being boys moments?" Kikaijima questioned while turning towards Medaka and Nekomi as they watched the two male members of the Student Council began tossing insults at one another. "Because those two are the exact opposite of close friends. More like complicated frenemies with it being more enemy than friend."

Ignoring the confused look on Naruto's face, Medaka shook her head with a smile. "Maybe so, but I am more than confident in their ability to work together when the situation really calls for it."

"They do seemed to have that weird compatibility when it comes to the battlefield."

"How long do you guys plan on staying in Konoha?" Feeling that it was better not to ask, Naruto decided to change the subject to something a little more important. "You semester should be coming to an end, right?"

"Only for a weeks or two. Part of the reason we came here is to get some training in while Zenkichi recovers from his near-death experience during his battle with Kumagawa." Medaka explained, only to be greeted with an alarmed look on Naruto's face and quickly remembered that the blonde didn't know about the Student Council Battles. "It's a long story."

"Which we unfortunately don't have time for at the moment." Sai spoke up as he decided to interrupt the conversation, "Our mission to capture Condor is still going on, and we need to finish it as soon as possible."

Knowing the near-emotionless teen was right, Naruto nodded his head before looking back at his friends from the Six Continents, including Akune and Zenkichi as their argument came to a halt. "As much as I hate to say it, Sai is right. With Sakura working hard to help the ones still in the Medical Tents, Kakashi-sensei recovering from his battle with Pein, and Yamato being one of the key factors in the rebuilding of the village, it's only the two of us working on missions at the moment."

"It's not a problem at all. We understand completely on how important things are in Konoha at the moment. Especially with all of the destruction that the Akatsuki had caused," Everyone else from the Six Continents nodded their head in agreement to the Abnormal's words, "We'll just head over to one of the housing areas for visitors-"

"No way! You guys are staying with me like always!" Naruto spoke up while crossing his arms, "The place I was given is a lot of space, more than enough for the six of us! And I'm not taking a no for an answer. " Forming his trademark cross hand-sign, a Shadow Clone appeared next to the Shinobi before he spoke up. "Just follow this guy to the apartment and make yourselves at home, or walk around the village. As for us, we have a self-trained ninja bird to track down!"

Zenkichi had a look of disbelief on his face at that, "So wait… That talking bird actually does have training in the ninja arts?"

"What a strange question? Even without the ability to use Chakra, it isn't impossible to train in the Shinobi arts." Medaka spoke up with a raised eyebrow, not seeing anything wrong with what would normally be an absurd concept for regular people, or even those from the Elemental Nations, to find normal animals that somehow manage to learn how to talk and possess ninja skills.

An uneasy look formed on Naruto's face as he rubbed the back of his head, "The messed up thing is that Condor can use Jutsu. It actually recruited three other animals and formed a Four-Man team that managed to fight off a team of two Chūnin and two Genin."

"Animals from the Elemental Nations are even weirder than the ones back home," Kikaijima commented with a sweatdrop as she continued to hear Naruto talk more about a kangaroo and its joey, an anteater and an army of ostriches that served Condor.

Shrugging her shoulders with a laugh, Nekomi's grin widened a little. "I don't know about that. It'd be interesting going toe to toe with a kangaroo. I've heard about powerful martial artist that was able to defeat a Siberian Tiger with only his bare fists and feet."

"T-That was just a rumor, right?" The brunette said in disbelief.

"Apparently not. Nekomi-sempai made sure to confirm it was true the moment she heard about it… She would keep mentioning how that is the result of hard work instead of relying on talent." Akune could feel a soreness coming from his back, making him think back to the day when Nekomi kept pushing the members of the Judo Club and kept pinning him with every technique in her arsenal… The blonde Special went to sleep that night on his stomach with a giant bag of ice covering his entire back.

"Naruto, we should get back to the mission. Sakura wanted us to meet her at the medical tent when her shift ends so we can meet up with the others, remember?" Sai interrupted his teammate, who turned to look back at the pale teen. "We wouldn't want to anger her again like last time."

"Don't remind me…" Feeling a shiver go up his spine as he remembered the pinkette getting angry at the two of them last weeks.

Naruto and Sai had finished up their respective missions, with the former going with Team Guy to Konoha's Tool Research Lab in order to procure more weapons that Konoha's Shinobi had lost during Pein's Assault, while the latter had gone with Team 10 and several Medical Ninjas to the Nara Clan's Research Facility located in the mountains to procure medicine being kept there. Both missions had gone smoothly for both teams, the eight had crossed paths with Team 8, who had also finished their mission, and headed to one of the remaining restaurants in the village that hadn't been destroyed. It had already gotten late by the time that the two had thought about their missing teammate… only seconds before realizing that she was standing right behind them.

"Uh, Boss?" Snapping out of his thoughts just as he imagined Sakura's fist closing in on him, Naruto turned towards his Shadow Clone. "I'm going to take Medaka-cham and the others back to the apartment now."

"Right. Be sure to check the fridge to see if we need any food. And do anything they ask you to do… within reason of course."

A deadpanned look formed on the Shadow Clone's face as he look back at his creator, "You don't need to state the obvious, ya know. I'm not an idiot." Turning to look at the group of five from the Six Continents, the Shadow Clone pumped one arm into the air with a large grin. "Okay, my peeps! I'll be showing you to the Boss' place to drop of your stuff and do whatever you guys freaking want! The same goes for asking me any questions before I disperse!"

"Alright. Good luck on the rest of your mission, Naruto."

"See ya later, man. Don't get your ass kicked by a talking bird."

"It was nice to finally meet you in person. Maybe we could have a spar while I'm in the village."

"Thank you again for your hospitality. It saves us a lot of money."

"My back is fucking killing me…."

Watching as the six disappeared down the path, Sai turned to look over at the blonde Jinchūriki, whose body was seen slouching forward while releasing a look of both exhaustion and annoyance on his face. "It's always interesting to see how some of your clones get personalities of their own. Maybe you should take Kiba's advice and start your own entertainment profession."

"Shut up, Sai… Just… No more talking."

(Later That Day)

"I see… Tsunade-sama fell into a coma after using up her chakra to try and heal the damages done by Pein." Medaka said with a frown as she and the others listened to Naruto's clone explain some of the issues that have arisen from the Akatsuki's attack, "So, what is the story about leadership? It's obvious that those up in the ranks believe that it is better for Konoha to have a new leader, at least as long as Tsunade-sama is in a coma."

Everyone had gotten settled in Naruto's new apartment, well, except for Nekomi, who only stated that she already had a place to stay while she was in the village. But no matter how many times she had been asked, or by whom in the small group of students, she would not reveal her plans. Once Medaka's Student Council and Nekomi were ready, they left with the Shadow Clone to get a good look at what had been done so far with the village's rebuilding and exchanging stories about what was happening with both Konohagakure and Hakoniwa Academy. Naruto had been especially shock to hear about Misogi Kumagawa's return and his challenging of Medaka's Student Council, followed by Zenkichi's blindness and death after their battle, before somehow coming back to life with his eyesight restored. The strawberry blonde had gotten quickly annoyed at his male best friend's constant checking of his eyes to see what was so different about them. As the group was walking down one of the open roads, they had gotten a lot of attention from almost everybody that crossed their path, especially the kids that came up to them in order to get Naruto's autograph.

"Don't remind me. Kakashi-sensei was telling me that they're waiting for the Fire Daimyō to arrive so the meeting can be held." The Shadow Clone replied with a heavy sigh. While he wasn't a big fan of politics since it went against his usual 'do what you think is right' approach to things, Naruto had quickly learned over the years that it would play a role in his dream of being Hokage and would need to learn about it to some degree. 'Ero-sennin was laughing at me the whole time he watched me struggle with reading all those political books he gave me.'

"You don't sound happy about that." Akune pointed out while putting his hands in his pockets.

"Let's just say that there are some people that would probably take advantage of the fact that Granny Tsunade is out of commission." An image of Danzō flashed through Naruto's mind as he said that, none of the past conversations he had with Jiraiya and a few others involving the bandaged man being anything positive about him. While the Shinobi of Darkness was seen as someone who would commit any act he believed to be necessary to benefit Konohagakure, the Jinchūriki only needed to one encounter with the man to get a read on him… with every part of his body telling him to avoid the man as much as possible. This was especially true after hearing Nagato's tale on how Danzō was partially responsible for what happened to his fellow pupils. "I just hope that if someone does have to become the next Hokage, it'll be Kakashi-sensei or even Shikamaru's dad."

"I seriously doubt my old man will throw his name on to the list of choices." A bored voice spoke up from off to the side, making the groups' heads turn to see Shikamaru walking up to them with Choji next to him, the latter snacking on a large bag of barbecue chips at the moment. "Knowing him, he'll submit Kakashi-sensei as a candidate for the Hokage position."

"Shikamaru? Choji?" Naruto questioned with raised eyebrow. "I didn't expect to see you guys around here."

"We were just visiting Kurenai-san. She getting closer to full-term." Choji explained between snacks, "All of us want to make sure her and Asuma-sensei's baby is born healthy and safely."

The Nara tilted his head slightly as he looked briefly at Medaka and the others before turning back to Naruto, "What about you? I thought you were doing all the missions you could manage with."

"I'm just a clone, Boss is finishing up his last mission for the day right now. He wanted me to help these guys out with getting them a place to stay and stick with them until he comes back." The Shadow Clone explained before turning back to his childhood friends while gesturing to his fellow Chūnin. "Medaka-chan, Zenkichi, you guys remember Choji and Shikamaru, right?"

"Of course. I certainly hope we can have a few games of Shogi while I am here." The Abnormal said with a smile as she exchanged a competitive glance with Shikamaru, something that was usual to see on the normally lazy genius' face. It was to be expected, however, as Medaka was one of the two people, other than his father, that he couldn't defeat no matter which strategy he could come up with. "You've certainly changed your look since we last saw you, Choji-san. Long hair suits you."

"Haha, thanks. I could say the same about you. No wonder Naruto kept commenting on how mu-" The fa… big-boned teen didn't get to finish his sentence as Naruto rushed towards him with an embarrassed look, covering Choji's mouth by shoving the bag of chips down his throat. "GWOUH!?"

"Not another word, ya know! Just go back to stuffing your face!" The redness on the clone's cheeks grew as he noticed the stares he was getting from the others, except for Choji, who was trying to pull out the large bag out of his mouth. "What? What's with those looks?"

"Just what kind of stuff have you been saying about me, Naruto?"

"Is it something perverted? He wouldn't be the first."

"What?! It isn't anything like that!" Naruto retorted as the redness in his cheeks lightened up as he flashed Kikaijima an annoyed look.

Akune let out a growl as he held up a clenched fist in front of his face, "I won't allow you to speak about Medaka-san with such dirty thoughts!"

"Oi! Don't make me deck you in the face again!"

"… Somehow I had a feeling this would happen." Zenkichi muttered to himself as he looked away from the group with a sweatdrop, which only grew as he took notice to all of the attention they were getting now from the citizens of Konohagakure.

A familiar voice spoke up before the arguing could continue, "Naruto used to talk about how much he admired her hair and thought that it looked great long rather than short."

"Damn it, Shikamaru! You bastard!" Naruto shouted as he moved away from Choji just as the spiky-haired brunette managed to retrieve the chip bag and grabbed his bored-faced friend by his collar, shaking him with an anime pissed off look. "Why did you say something if I was trying to keep Choji quiet about it."

"Oh, shut up. It's not like any of your other comments you gave her were embarrassing." The shaking didn't seemed to bother Shikamaru as he looked away from Naruto with a bored look, "What a drag."

Naruto's clone gained a twitch mark at that, "That doesn't mean you can just blurt it out like that!"

"You certainly are taking his compliments well, Medaka." Nekomi said as she watched Naruto continue to shout at Shikamaru and Choji, leaning in a little closer to the smiling Medaka.

Medaka blinked as she turned towards the older girl with a confused look, her ahoge swaying back and forth "Why would my response his words be negative or deny them? None of his words were perverse, nor were they false in any way. As I've stated before, I am quite proud of my body and have nothing to be ashamed of. Although, I haven't really heard people paying compliments about my hair before…"

"It's definitely a unique target of praise." Kikaijima nodded in agreement while passing her hands behind her back, "I guess some people from the Elemental Nations have different tastes in what they find attractive, huh?"

"As if there are such things like normal fetishes back home." Shaking his head as he said this, Akune placed his hands in his pockets. There were a lot of messed up ideas on what was considered sexually attractive or bizarre actions that people deemed to be the most stimulating. 'Seriously, what's attractive about something as disgusting as tentacles or vomit?'

"You know what! Boss can deal with this shit!" The clone exclaimed as he threw his arms into the air with an angry grunt before looking down at Choji and Shikamaru, pointing his index finger at the two of them. "It's about time for the rest of the Konoha Eleven to meet up, right? Take this guys with you and the original will show up eventually! Later, suckers!"

Before anyone could say anything, the Shadow Clone dispersed in a cloud of smoke.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Some of Naruto's clones really do act like completely different people after a while, don't they?" Medaka mused while crossing her arms under her large bosom.

Zenkichi, on the other hand, had an uneasy look on his face, "Should we be worried about him if he has to deal with this all the time?"

"Eh, you get used to it after a while." Choji shrugged with his usual smile as he opened another bag of chips.

"… That doesn't sound reassuring at all…"

"Well, no point in just standing around here. Let's head over to the meeting spot. It's not that far from here," Shikamaru motioned to the crossroad a little ways ahead. "Everyone else should be finished with their missions and assignments for the day."

"You sure it's okay to-"

"Don't worry about it. You guys are old friends of Naruto and visitors from outside the village," Choji laughed as he crumbled up the empty bag of chips. "It also be nice to catch up after so many years."

"True… and Naruto's clone did tell us to stick with you guys."

"Great! After all of us get together, we can head to one of the restaurants that's been rebuilt!" Everyone could see the excited look on the large teen's face, "Pein's attack had destroyed so many of our favorite places, including Yakiniku Q and Ramen Ichiraku."

"Even Ichiraku!?" Medaka called out in shock before a disappointed look quickly replaced it, "That's unfortunate. I was really looking forward to having a few bowls while we were here."

The Abnormal's comment surprised her fellow students, sans Zenkichi, who crossed his arms while nodding his head. "Yeah, and it would've been great to see Teuchi-san and Ayame-san too."

'I wasn't aware that Medaka-san liked ramen that much.' Akune and Kikaijima thought to themselves, surprised that the amazing girl actually loved something as simple and fattening as ramen.

As the seven reached an open area that was filled with construction equipment and lumber of different sizes, they quickly took notice to the six others that were already situated at various spots. Some were seating on some of the lumbers while others stood idly by as they seemed to be waiting. The first ones to notice them were some familiar faces to Medaka and Zenkichi as they recognized him as the one that Naruto fought during the Chūnin Exams, Neji Hyūga, as well as Rock Lee, who was sitting on top of some of the equipment.

Another one to notice the group walking up to them was a platinum-haired girl wearing a purple outfit, who placed her hands on her hips. "Well, it's about time you guys showed up. I know you guys were visiting Kurenai-san, but that was over an hour ago."

"Hey, it's not like we're late. Choji and I ran into Naruto's clone on the way here," Shikamaru replied as he dismissed the mild glare that his other teammate, Ino Yamanaka, was sending his way. "And what're you doing here so early? I thought you were taking shifts with Sakura and Shizune-san."

"I managed to finish checking up on my patients sooner than I thought, so Sakura told me to leave early and she would catch up." Ino replied before taking notice to the five new faces, "Huh? Who are they? I don't recognize them…"

"They're old friends of Naruto's from the Six Continents." Choji explained as he finished his fourth bag of chips, "Remember Kiba, Naruto told us about them."

'Friends of Naruto-kun?' A dark-blue haired girl with similar eyes to Neji thought to herself, listening to Choji and Shikamaru as they introduced everybody in both groups including her. Having seen Naruto various times throughout the village when they were younger, Hinata immediately recognized Medaka and Zenkichi as his childhood friends that would often visit the blonde. It actually made the girl happy to see that the whiskered blonde wasn't as alone as she had originally thought.

The one known as Kiba blinked a few times as his eyes flicked from recalling a memory, "Oh, right! They were the ones that he asked if I could get permission to have them hang out with my clan's canines… Akamaru?"

Whine~*

Almost immediately after seeing the new faces, the large dog froze up as soon as Medaka's entered his line of sight. Despite the large, warm smile on the girl's face as soon as she saw him and the stars in her eyes, Akamaru only saw a dark, monstrous aura surrounding her with a terrifying creature taking shape. It honestly scared Akamaru more than any other creature or bloodlust-filled enemy he had come across… And then he saw Medaka take a step closer to him.

"Aw~! So you're one of the Ninja Dogs I've heard so much about! You're so cute!" Medaka started to gush as she tried to get closer to the large dog, who took a fearful step back each time the girl moved closer. "Don't run away! I just want to give you a hug, or maybe we can play fetch! We can have so much fun together!"

"Akamaru?" Kiba was surprised as his oldest companion continued to whimper loudly while moving behind him in an attempt to hide from the attractive, buxom girl. It was odd to see the dog act so scared of a simple girl, yet it instantly reminded him of how the dog acted when they had secretly crossed paths with the Sand Siblings during the Chūnin Exams and how dangerous Gaara was after sensing his chakra. "Come on, why are you hiding like a little puppy?"

A bead of sweat fell down the side of Zenkichi's face as he instantly saw his childhood friend's body seemed to lose all color and switched to a grayscale. Deciding it was best to try and cheer the bluenette up, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "At least it isn't running away out of the area… So that means there's some hope… probably…"

Anime waterfall tears fell down the girls face as she turned to face Zenkichi, a gloomy aura emitting off of her shoulders. "I'm the worst kind of human in the world! Animals don't want anything to do with me!"

"… So these are Naruto's friends… I can easily see it." Tenten whispered to Neji as she watched the strawberry blonde try and comfort the girl, who was oddly depressed about Akamaru being afraid of her. "Come to think of it… I think I remember seeing her and that guy cheer for Naruto during his match with you, Neji."

"It's possible. Travel between the Six Continents and the Elemental Nations has been around since we were children."

"Yeah, but I've rarely seen anyone from the Six Continents before. I haven't even been there… You went with Team 7 when they went with Naruto a few months back, right, Lee? Lee?"

Behind his teammates, Lee landed on the ground with a surprised, yet happy, expression as he moved closer to the Hakoniwa Academy students. "Nekomi-san!"

"Lee-kun!" Nekomi exclaimed cheerfully as she rushed over to the taijutsu user and hugged his side, causing several mouths of the Konoha Eleven to either comically fall to the floor, eyes turning large from how wide they were becoming, or their mouths to hang open as they stared at the two in shock. "I'm glad to see you're alright! I heard that a lot of Shinobi were injured in the battle with that Akatsuki group."

A dejected look grew on Lee's face as he raised a clenched fist in the air, "To my great shame, my team and I were just returning from a mission when Pein attacked the village! We only arrived just as Naruto-kun had defeated him!"

"Don't let it get you down! Everything turned out okay, right?" Nekomi stated with the smile still on her face, "Next time, I'm sure you'll kick their asses! I have faith in you!"

"Yosh! Your words have ignited my youthful flames, Nekomi-san! I shall keep on training hard so I can be useful when it is my time to shine!" Lee shouted with flames forming over his eyes, "If I cannot do so, then I will up my training even more! I'll do over a hundred laps around the village while doing a handstand and weights strapped to my legs!"

"Um, hey, Lee…" The two turned their heads to see Tenten, Neji and the other members of the Konoha Eleven, except for Team 7, most of them watching the two with looks of skepticism and curiosity. "How exactly do you know this girl?"

Lee blinked a few times before a look of realization appeared on his face, "Oh, that's right! This is Nekomi Nabeshima! She is from one of the other six Continents, known as Asia! We met back when I was accompanying Naruto-kun and his team during his vacation to see Medaka-san and Zenkichi-san at their academy. Like me, she is a firm believer in hard workers over geniuses with natural talent!"

"So, you guys are sparing partners or something?" Kiba asked as he leaned forward on his spot on Akamaru's back with a raised eyebrow.

Kiba and the others were surprised as a heavy blush formed on Lee's cheeks before the green attired Shinobi looked shyly at the floor while scratching his cheek with a finger, "Actually… Nekomi-san is my-"

"I'm his girlfriend!" Nekomi finished happily from her spot next to Lee, keeping her arms wrapped around his left arm.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"HIS GIRLFRIEND!?" Many of the Shinobi and Hakoniwa Academy Students shouted with shocked expressions, except for Medaka, who finally snapped out of her depression and simply brought her fan to her face.

"Interesting," Medaka mused as she stared at the older green-haired Judo fighter. "Congratulations are in order, you've often stated your attraction to men like Zenkichi, who believe in working hard over natural talent. Though I am curious when you two began dating, Rock Lee was only on campus when Naruto-kun visited during his recovery period."

"We actually met during that time after you fought against Unzen and was being look after in the hospital. I saw him training one morning, he was taking laps around the academy on his hands while boulders were strapped to his legs. I was amazed at the sight and went down to meet him." Nekomi explained as she finally let go of Lee's arm, "We end up talking for a bit and I asked for a match. It was the first time I've ever faced someone from the Elemental Nations. Needless to say, I was amazed at his abilities!"

Lee had a grin to match his girlfriend's as he pumped a fist into the air, "It was exhilarating to face one of the fighting styles of the other Continents! Nekomi-san had even helped me with learning some of her techniques to integrate it with my fighting style. We remained in contact through letters after that… We even met up a few times after that, usually the two of us would meet up somewhere in the middle."

"You mean that's where you'd disappear to when you said you'd have to go out on training trips." Tenten commented as both she and Neji couldn't help but stare at their teammate with looks of disbelief, "I thought it was weird that Guy-Sensei didn't say anything when you requested to go by yourself."

"I never expected you to get together with someone from the Elemental Nations, Nekomi-sempai."

The green-haired Special had a mischievous cat-like smile on her face as she looked at the former member of her Judo Club. "Oh~? And is it so strange? There is more to Lee-kun than simple appearance."

As Lee and Nekomi continued to converse with his teammates, members of Medaka's Student Council and some of the other Konoha Eleven, Kiba could be seen off to the side with a depressing aura around him. Shino and Akamaru, who was happy to stay away from Medaka, much to the Abnormal's tearful dismay, were at the Inuzuka's side as he mopped, "To think that Lee of all people got a girlfriend before me, and a hot one at that!"

"Really, Kiba? You should be happy for Lee." Shino commented as he had his hands in his jacket pockets and shook his head in a disappointed manner, "And why? Because he is our friend and a fellow Shinobi of Konoha."

"Shut up, Shino! You just don't get it!" Anime tears fell down Kiba's face as he glared up at his male teammate, before snapping his head to look at his Ninken partner as the dog whimpered while looking away in embarrassment, "What do you mean, I'm acting like a drama queen?! You're supposed to be on my side, Akamaru!"

"Um… Kiba-kun… You should be happy for Lee-san… He managed to find someone he really cares about." Hinata spoke with a hand raised to her chest as she stared down at one of her closest friends and teammate.

"Easy for you to say. You confessed to Naruto. Even that idiot isn't stupid enough to turn you down."

"Kiba!" Shino said sharply, making Kiba flinch as he realized what he said.

Turning his head to look at the female Hyūga, an uneasy expression on her face as she shifted her gaze to the ground. "Gah!? Sorry, Hinata! I said that without thinking!"

"… It's… its fine, Kiba-kun…"

"Um, did I hear you say that someone confessed to Naruto?" Zenkichi asked, causing the white-eyed girl's face to turn completely red as she noticed the stares she was getting from everyone in the group.

"H-Huh, I, well…"

Seeing as the girl in question wasn't going to give the visitors from outside the Elemental Nations a proper answer, Ino let out soft sigh before explaining to the small group about what had occurred during the battle with Pein. The platinum-blonde told them all about how Naruto and his Toad Summon allied had appeared after Pein and his Six Paths had created the giant crater in the middle of the village, and how the battle escalated until only one of Pein's bodies remained after Naruto and the Toads had defeated the rest, only for the last one to pin Naruto down. She then revealed how Hinata had arrived on the battlefield to save Naruto and confessed her feelings to him before trying to fight off Pein, only for the Rinnegan User to almost fatally wound her.

"So, Hinata Hyūga had confessed her feelings for Naruto during the battle." Medaka said as she and the other members of her Student Council, her open fan held up in front of her face while nodding her head several times with a smile. "It is something like out of a romance novel or a movie. The convictions of a young maiden in love is something to be admired! Did he give you a response yet?"

"N-No… Naruto-kun and I haven't talked about it since then," Hinata admitted as most of the redness on her face lightened up to where it was a red dust on her cheeks. "B-but we've been busy with the reconstruction of the village! Not to mention, a lot of Shinobi are recovering while others are assisting the villagers with any problems that are still going on."

A flash of dissatisfaction appeared on Medaka's face at that, before she closed her eyes and tapped her now closed fan against her lips. "I see… I suppose that is disappointing to hear…" While she didn't vocalize it, there was a small part of her that somehow felt relief that Naruto hadn't addressed Hinata about her confession yet… What a weird feeling…

"Uh, Medaka-san… are you okay?" The Treasurer of the Hakoniwa Academy Student Council asked as she noticed the busty Abnormal seemed to be deep in thought.

"Hmm? Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Medaka answered with a confused expression as she turned to look at Mogana with a raised eyebrow.

But before anyone could say anything, a familiar voice could be heard, "Oi! Medaka-chan! Everybody!" Everyone turned their heads to see Naruto running up to them with Sakura and Sai trailing behind him, "Thanks for not leaving the area after my Shadow Clone dismissed itself. It made it a lot easier to find you."

"Sorry for the wait." Sai apologized with Sakura, who managed to finally finish up her rounds in the medical tents, greeting the group with a wave. "It took us a while to finally corner Condor and restrain him. Hard to believe that a simple bird like that trained to be a Ninja Animal all on its own."

Hearing this, Kiba shrugged his shoulders. "Eh. Not really surprising to me. Whether it's in the wild or a domestic area, underestimate an animal and they'll make you pay for it."

"Hey there, Zenkichi-san, Medaka-chan. I'm glad to see that you and the others are doing alright after everything that happened a few months back." Sakura smiled as she looked over at her blonde teammate, "Naruto told me about the fights that you went through with that Kumagawa character. I can believe you somehow managed to get your eyesight back after it was erased."

"Yeah, you and me both." Zenkichi replied while rubbing the back of his head, still having trouble with figuring out what he had seen during his short period of being dead.

"Hey, Naruto! You're not gonna believe this. Lee is going out with the sexy, green-haired chick from the Six Continents!" Kiba exclaimed while wildly pointing a finger at the Taijutsu user, whose face was red as a mischievous Nekomi held tightly onto his arm, pressing her decent sized chest against him. "It's crazy, right?!"

Naruto looked back at Kiba with a raised eyebrow at that, "Why would that be crazy? I already knew that for a while."

"What? You did?!" The Inuzuka stared at the blonde Shinobi in shock, something that was mirrored by others from the Konoha Eleven.

"So that's how you knew about Nekomi-sempai." Akune stated as he remembered Naruto know who the greenette was even though they had never met before.

"Of course, but I only knew who she was by name." Shrugging his shoulders at the looks he was getting, Naruto continued to speak. "Bushy Brow came to me about the contacts that I've made with transportation groups and other stuff so he wouldn't have any issues when traveling between here and Japan. Despite the accessibility being available to everyone, not a lot of agencies possess the knowledge or means to get from the Elemental Nations to the Six Continents and vice versa. Medaka-chan has the Kurokami Group to help her and the others travel here thanks to private jets, but normal people like us can't use it."

"What a drag. I guess that makes sense, you do have the most experience out of all of us when it comes to the Six Continents." Shikamaru admitted with a sigh escaping his lips, "That doesn't explain why you guys bothered to hide it from us."

"Yeah, Lee. Neji and I are your teammates. You didn't need to keep this a secret from us," A small smile formed on Tenten's face as she looked at Nekomi for a few seconds, to which the green-haired girl stared back with a cat-like smile, before looking back at her fellow Chūnin. "I think it's great that you found someone to be with… Especially one that can somehow keep up with you."

A soft chuckle escaped Akune's lips at that, "Funny. I was just thinking that about Nekomi-sempai."

"They do say that there is someone out there for everyone." Ino said while crossing her arms under her chest, "Though I honestly didn't think that Lee was going to be the first one out of all of us to get into a romantic relationship."

"Um… Bushy Brow isn't the first one in our group to be in a relationship."

"…"

"…"

"… EEEEEEEEEHHH?!"

Seeing all of the confused and startled looks he was getting, Naruto pointed his thumb at a certain individual standing silently not too far away from him. "You guys seriously didn't know? Shino is dating the Genjutsu girl that used to be Kurenai-sensei's student… Yakumo, I think her name was…"

"Correct, Yakumo Kurama."

Shocked that the hooded teen wasn't even trying to deny it, Kiba's widened in an anime fashion with large white circles and tiny dots for eyes. "Wait, so you really are dating someone?!"

"I haven't seen Yakumo-san since Asuma-san's funeral," Hinata commented as she thought back to the other female student of Kurenai, who had gone to pay her respects to their teacher losing her husband, before she had to leave for an important clan related issue just before Pein's attack on the village. "When did you two become a couple?

"We-"

"Forget when! How did you managed to not only get a girlfriend before me, but keep it a secret from us?" Kiba shouted in disbelief.

"… He's really sounding desperate with these questions about others getting into relationships." Zenkichi whispered to Naruto, Shikamaru and Chōji, who was munching on a bag on ranch-flavored chips.

The Nara let out another sigh with a bored look, "You get used to it eventually. He's always been the emotional/jealous type ever since we were kids."

"Doesn't mean that days at the academy weren't fun though." Naruto replied with a grin on his face, resting his hands behind his head. "Ditching class to hang out and have fun out in the village. Sneaking out to get a whole bunch of snacks and manga to read before getting caught by Iruka-sensei."

"That was always a pain." Shikamaru commented as he recalled the angry look on the Chūnin Instructor's face whenever he found them. He always wondered how the brunette managed to do it when they avoided so many other Shinobis that tried to get them after one of Naruto's pranks.

Swallowing the large batch of chips he tossed into his mouth, Chōji had a grin on his face. "I don't know. I thought it was fun back then."

"That's because you got to eat all of the snacks before we had a chance to try any."

"What was that about ditching class?"

Everyone, even Kiba and Shino after their conversation came to a halt, watched as Naruto's body turned pale white before he turned around to see that Medaka, who had mirrored Naruto's pose, was staring at the blonde with a stern expression. "I-I… Uh, well you see… C-Come on, Medaka-chan. This was almost six years ago."

"Didn't you promise that you'd take your lessons more seriously?" Medaka asked as she lowered her arms and took a step forward, to which Naruto took a step back. "I thought I made it perfectly clear about how you shouldn't avoid getting a proper education."

"First of all, this happened before that promise!" Naruto pointed out with a bead of sweat falling down the side of his face, "Secondly, just because we weren't in class didn't mean we didn't do any training or anything productive."

"Like when you painted Hokage Rock?"

"Not helping, Kiba!" Naruto exclaimed as he shot the smirking Inuzuka a glare before turning back in time to see Medaka a few feet in front of him. "… Show mercy?"

"… No ramen for one month."

"What?! No! That's just evil, Medaka-chan!" A scared look appeared on Naruto's face as he clapped his hands in a begging manner, "Come on! It was when I was young and stupid!"

Sakura nodded her head in agreement at that, "You were pretty stupid back then."

"The next one to say something bad about me gets a Giant Rasengan to the face!" Naruto shouted angrily as he faced his fellow Shinobi, to which most awkwardly looked away with weak laughs, not wanting to face the Jinchūriki who managed to defeat Pein and his Six Paths when the most elite Shinobis couldn't. Turning back to the red-eyed girl, Naruto decided to use his secret weapon. "How about this? I'll take you to all of the places we have Ninja Animals?" Naruto offered, mentally cheering that his bargain was working based on the glint in he saw in the Abnormal girl's eyes. "We have a lot of clans and Shinobi around here that have animal partners and such that can handle the worst Shinobi around, right, Kiba?"

"Huh? Yeah, I guess so. My mom's dog, Kuromaru, fought in the Third Shinobi World War, so there's not a lot of dogs more badass than him… Sorry buddy." Kiba apologized to his partner, though it didn't seem to bother Akamaru since the dog knew who the alpha of the Inuzuka Ninken was. "My sis is also a Veterinarian, so she takes care of a lot of Ninja Animals as well at her office."

Zenkichi and the others from the Six Continents could see that Medaka was quickly fold as her eyes sparkled. "So I'll get to have fun with all those ninja puppies? Really?"

"O-Of course… I mean, while Akamaru is scared of you, he isn't so terrified that he's running away as fast as he can to get away from you. That means there's some hope for the other dogs of his clan, right?" Naruto spoke up as he flashed his childhood friend a warm smile, something that caught the attention of a certain Kunoichi as she watched the two converse. "So what do you say? Forget about me ditching some classes to hang out with Ninja Animals during you time here?"

"Deal!"

"Knew that was going to happen." Zenkichi muttered with an amused smile, something that was mirrored by the members of the Student Council.

A small bit of laughter came from various people in the group before they took noticed the face that the sun was already starting to set. Seeing that it was too late to do any other activities besides the large group's plans to head to one of the newly rebuilt restaurants, a disappointed Medaka conceded to seeing the Ninja Animals the next day while making Naruto promise that they would follow through with his plans.

(A Few Days Later)

"Man, I know that I'm the host and everything, but Zenkichi didn't have to rush me off like that when he's the one cooking!?" Naruto complained as he walked down the path leading to his new apartment, coming back from shopping at the nearby grocery store with items for the meal that his male childhood friend was making. The best part was that it was an old recipe that Hitomi used to make for the three whenever they were all together, so in the end, Naruto didn't really mind grabbing ingredients for the nostalgic meal. "All of this stuff should be enough for the five of us."

True to what she had stated, Nekomi followed through on her plans to stay with Lee during her time in Konohagakure, something that the blushing Chūnin stutteringly agreed to as his girlfriend smiled mischievously at him. Once again, Kiba gritted his teeth enviously at the Taijutsu User's luck with such an attractive girl, while Akune mused on his condolences on how his sempai was acting around Lee. Eh, as long as the two were happy. But with her insistence on staying with Lee, Naruto only had Medaka, Zenkichi and their fellow Student Council members staying at his place, which made things a little easier with Zenkichi and Akune sleeping on the futon and couch located in the living room while the girls stayed in the guest bedroom… Yeah, Naruto's new place was a major improvement over the small one he used to have.

Looking up at the night sky above him as he lowered his grocery arm, Naruto couldn't help but think back to the last time he had looked up at the stars while walking through the village by himself. It was just after he had heard that Jiraiya had been killed by Pein and just walked around the village as the depression he felt overwhelmed him. Despite everything that happened between the two of them, the perverted hermit had become someone he respected more than anyone, even Iruka, who he saw as a father-figure. It wasn't until after losing the man and confronting both Nagato and Konan that Naruto truly understood what the Sannin had been fighting for, and his dream of ending the cycle of hatred.

The blonde snapped out of his thoughts as he caught sight of a familiar female figure walking far ahead of him, someone that he had been meaning to talk to for a while. Lifting up his free hand to his mouth as he increased his speed to catch up, Naruto called out to the girl. "Oh, Hinata!"

"N-Naruto-kun!" Upon hearing someone call out to her, the Hyūga spun around to see the young man running up to her, a little surprised to see him out so late at night before noticing the plastic bag filled with groceries. "Were you doing some shopping?"

"Yeah. Apparently Zenkichi decided to make dinner tonight using one of Hitomi- obachan's recipes, but we were missing some ingredients." Naruto answered while rubbing the back of his head, a small relieved smile on his face as spoke. "But I am glad that I caught you. I've been wanting to talk to you for a while now."

A small blush formed on Hinata's cheeks at that statement, "With me?"

"Yeah, I've been meaning to. You see… It's about…" Naruto closed his eyes as he took in a deep breath, before reopening them with a serious expression. "About your confession during Pein's attack."

"A-A-About my c-confession?" Hinata repeated nervously. Naruto nodded with complete seriousness causing Hinata to feel some butterflies in her stomach. She hoped he would return her feelings, but at the same time there was doubt. That doubt only grew as Naruto suddenly bowed his head.

"… I'm really sorry, Hinata." Naruto finally said as he clenched his fists to tightly that they were turning white, bowing the upper half of his body so low that his head was almost reaching his knees.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata took a step back in shock at the blonde's sudden actions.

"I realize that it was hard for you to confess, especially during a battle like that. It is not something I have heard many people say to me either thanks to my circumstances." While Naruto continued to speak, he didn't raise his head at all to look up at Hinata, knowing full well that his next sentence would crush the girl. "But the truth is that while I treasure you as one of my most precious people, I can't return your feelings in that way."

Just as Naruto had guessed, his answer was something that Hinata was hoping not to hear. Tears were building up in her eyes as her shoulders began to tremble.

"The truth is that I'm already in love with someone else. I have been for a long time now and after hearing you confess I realized that I can't string you along with false hope, you deserve someone better than me." Naruto explained with sincerely in his voice as he finally lifted his head up to look at Hinata, his heart squeezing at the heartbroken expression on her face. "I know that right now this probably means nothing, but I am really sorry!"

After a few minutes of letting her tears fall, Hinata managed to work up the courage to speak. "… No… I-I understand Naruto-kun… Y-You don't h-have to punish yourself… I'm just happy that you were honest with me."

"I… I couldn't lie to you Hinata, not when you've been so kind to me ever since we were kids." Naruto admitted as he briefly closed his eyes before reaching into his pouch and, to Hinata's shock, pulled out a familiar black container that had contained the healing ointment that she had given him during the Chūnin Exams. "You remember this, right? You gave it to me after my battle with Kiba, and then you encouraged me when I was nervous about me fight with Neji. I've never forgotten what you've done for me, especially putting yourself on the line to save me from the Akatsuki. You don't know how relieve I was when I realized you were still alive."

'Naruto-kun… Please… If you keep saying stuff like this…' Hinata's shoulders began to shake again as she heard Naruto give her praise, her heart throbbing as she knew that his words didn't possess romance, but rather they reflected his view of her as a comrade and precious friend. Finally managing to strength in her voice to speak, Hinata raised a hand to wipe away her tears. "… Y-You don't have to say any more."

"Hinata." Naruto whispered as he watched the Hyuuga girl walk closer to him and placed both of her hands around the one he was holding out.

"To be honest… I was always watching you, wishing to stand by your side. And while the way you see me isn't the way I truly want, you recognize me as an equal… That is enough for me."

"Are you sure? I can understand if you don't want anything to do with me now. Hell. If you wanted to use your Jūken on me, I wouldn't stop you."

"N-No! I-I could never want that!" Hinata stated in a firm tone as shook her head fiercely, surprising Naruto as she continued to hold onto his hand tightly, "It is thanks to you that I managed to become stronger, both as a person and as a Kunoichi. You are as much one of my precious people as I am too you!"

"H-Hinata…"

"… Does Medaka-san know how you feel about her?" Hinata asked with curiosity.

A red blush formed over Naruto's cheeks, his gaze shifting towards the ground as he rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, um… No, I haven't told her yet… How did you know it was her?"

"Medaka-san is a very lucky woman. I can see how much you care about her from the way you two interact with each other," Hinata said as she thought back to when Medaka appeared behind Naruto and copied his movements until he noticed her behind him, followed by how much Naruto was smiling as he conversed with her and tried to cheer her up after the failed attempt to see if any of Konoha's Ninja Animals would react positively to her presence. Building up the last amount of courage in her heart, Hinata swallowed hard. "… Naruto-kun."

"Hu…!?" Naruto was cut off guard as he felt something soft press against his whiskers before realizing that Hinata had gently placed her lips on his cheek, and was unable to say anything as the girl pulled back, the bangs preventing him from seeing her eyes.

"Be sure to tell her exactly how you feel about her before its too late. I'm rooting for you." Hinata said with a smile before quickly spinning around and ran off, not looking back once as her tears lifted into the air behind her.

Slowly lifting his hand up to the cheek that Hinata had kissed, Naruto could still feel a bit of the sensation on his skin. The Hyuuga girl already disappearing around the corner as a small bittersweet smile formed on his face, putting the empty black container back into his pouch. "… Thank you, Hinata. I hope you find someone who will cherish you."

"Wow… That is so romantically cliché. Breaking a young maiden's heart and finishing off with a statement like that."

"Eh? Sakura?"

Spinning around at the familiar voice, Naruto was surprised to see his pink-haired teammate standing behind him with a blank expression and her arms crossed.

"You really are an idiot."

"H-How long have you been here? Wait, why are you here?"

"I had finished up my night rounds at the medical tents and was heading home. It was just by chance that I caught sight of the two of you, but I stayed hidden around the corner instead of going another way." Sakura explained as she motioned for Naruto to walk with her as they took another route that passed the playground, "I'm sorry for eavesdropping."

Naruto shook his head as he placed his hands behind his head and followed after the girl, "It's fine. I just hope things turn out better between us, not to mention how much I hope Neji and Team 8 won't hunt me down later."

"With how protective they are, it's a strong possibility." Sakura nonchalantly said as she shrugged her shoulders, "But don't worry, I'll be sure to heal you afterwards as long as it isn't life threatening."

"The concern in your voice is truly heartwarming." Naruto muttered in a sarcastic tone, before lowering his hands.

"While I am angry at you for making Hinata cry, I suppose I'm not someone who can criticize you on who you fall in love with." A heavy sigh escaping her lips, Sakura's hands resting behind her back as a melancholy look formed on her face, an image of Sasuke's face flashing in the back of her mind. "At least you were honest with her instead of dragging the situation out. Now all you have to do is talk to Medaka-san."

"Yeah, but it's not like the chances of me ending up with her is set in stone. Medaka-chan is someone that is loved by more people than I can count, especially Zenkichi." Naruto pointed out while rubbing the back of his head with an awkward chuckle, though his gaze shifted to the starry sky over their heads. Destruction aside, there were no words to describe the beautiful view overhead thanks to the lack of lights.

"That's right, you told me about that years ago… I still don't know how the two of you managed to maintain your friendship to such an extent even though you both are in love with the same girl."

"I can thank you and Ino for that." Naruto said making Sakura turn to him with a confused look, "Back when we were kids and I had come back from visiting Medaka and Zenkichi, after all of us were already attending the Ninja Academy. I saw how you guys, friends that had been so close, became enemies because of your feelings for Sasuke. Not having a family, my friendship with Zenkichi was one of most important things to me, and I was terrified that the same thing would happen to us since we both wanted to be close to Medaka-chan."

"Since when have you been the one to hesitate with anything? Geez, when it comes to love, you got to give it everything you got. If you don't do anything, you're guaranteed to lose her!" Sakura stated as she grabbed Naruto's collar, forcing him to face her as she pulled back a fist. "So just be the unpredictable, reckless idiot you've always been! Or do I need to knock the fear out of you… You scaredy-cat!"

Naruto's eyes widened at those final words as he stood silent for a few seconds before a grin formed on his face, reaching up a hand to grab the one Sakura was using to grip his collar. "Heh, how long have you been waiting for your chance to use that?"

Letting out a soft giggle as she released her hold, Sakura lowered her other hand. "You and Sasuke always used that to motivate each other, so I've been saving it for the right moment."

"Thanks Sakura. I know what I need to do!" The grin on Naruto's face grew larger as he turned around and started running off, "See you later, Sakura!"

"See you… Idiot…" Sakura whispered with a smile as she spun around on her heels, stretching her arms high above her head. "Yosh! I think I'll stop at the Dango Shop on the way home and pick up some anmitsu as a treat after a long, successful day!"

(Naruto's Apartment)

"Man, where the heck is Naruto? I sent him out to get groceries almost an hour ago." Zenkichi grumbled as he stood outside the large apartment that Naruto had been given during the reconstruction with an annoyed look on his face and his arms crossed, wondering where his Ninja friend was with the ingredients he had sent him out for.

"I thought Naruto was the more impatient one between the two of you." Zenkichi turned his head slightly to see Medaka standing behind him in the exact same position as him, though she had an amused smile on her face. "Though I do suppose he has kept us waiting a bit."

Suddenly Medaka's ahoge swished back and forth as the girl's head perked up, picking up the sounds of jumping coming to their location thanks to her superior hearing. Already knowing who it was Medaka turned head to face the approaching figure.

"Sorry guys, but I need to borrow Medaka-chan for a bit!" Naruto stated, picking up the Student Council President bridal-style before the others could say anything and leaped off the railing.

"Oi! Where are you taking her?!" Akune roared out as he and Mogana stuck their heads out to see that Naruto and Medaka were already several buildings away.

Zenkichi blinked a few times as he noticed that he was now holding several bags in his hands, filled with the groceries that Naruto was supposed to get. A small smile formed on the strawberry blonde's face as he let out a sigh, closing his eyes as he spun around to head into the apartment. "Well, I suppose it was going to happen eventually. I already had my turn."

"Huh?"

"What do you mean by that, Hitoyoshi?" Akune questioned with narrow eyes.

"None of your business. Just something between me and Naruto." Zenkichi retorted as he made his way to the small kitchen, ignoring the annoyed look the Student Council Secretary was sending him as he started to prep dinner, "Kikaijima, can you help me with cutting the vegetables while I work on the meat?"

"Sure, but I'll be charging you 1000 yen for my help." Kikaijima replied as she walked into the kitchen, her answer causing Zenkichi to sweatdrop before shaking his head.

"Fine, whatever. Just help me get this stuff finished up before Medaka-chan and Naruto get back."

(Meanwhile)

"Where are you taking me, Naruto?" Medaka questioned with curiosity on her face as she remained still in Naruto's arms as he leaped across the roofs of constructions buildings, lampposts and various others objects. There was no fear on her face or any other such emotion as she turned her gaze from the ground below back to the man carrying her, "If you wanted to talk to me privately, you should've just said so-"

"Just wait a little bit, Medaka-chan." The blond interrupted as he kept his gaze focused on the makeshift path up ahead, making one of his childhood friends blink in surprise at the look on concentration that he had on his face, "… There is something I need to say… But if I say it now, there's a chance I met mess things up somehow, ya know."

"… Very well…"

That was all Medaka said before Naruto felt her rest her head against his chest, making the 16 year old smile a little as he continued making his way to his destination. It didn't take them long to reach the place Naruto was heading towards, the Hokage Stone Faces. Channeling Chakra to his feet, Naruto landed on the flat surface of the mountain before heading towards the large, stone head of the Yondaime, using some of the spiky 'hairs' as stepping stones to reach the flat surface at the top of the head. "We made it."

"I remember this place. The three of us used to come here almost every time Zenkichi and I came to visit." Medaka commented as Naruto allowed her to stand on her own two feet securing herself next to him on the flat part of the Stone Yondaime's hair. The two of them staring out at the scarred village and all that remained of Pein's attack, and the reconstruction that was being made. "For some reason, this was always your favorite spot for us to be out of all the Hokage faces, even after learning about how the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into you…"

"…"

"…"

"… I met him." Naruto finally spoke up.

Medaka blinked once at that before turning her head to look at him, "Hm? You met who?"

"The Yondaime Hokage." Naruto clarified as he closed his eyes, having vivid images of the battle with Pein before Hinata got injured, and then things got harder. "Turns out he left a failsafe inside of the Kyuubi's seal in case it ever went out of control, and appeared just as I was about to give up."

"Give up?" This time a bit of shock was present of Medaka's face since she never thought that those two words would ever leave Naruto's lips.

"Yeah, like you heard, Pein was responsible for killing Ero-Sennin. After that, he attacked the village and killed so many people, like Kakashi-sensei and then hurting Hinata… I even found out that Pein used to be a student of Ero-Sennin's just like I was." Naruto explained as he clenched his hands into tight fists, "All of that, and hearing about how Pein… no, Nagato berated our teacher's desire for peace… It just kept building up inside of me… I almost release the Kyuubi just to end it."

"But why would you do that?!" Medaka questioned as she grabbed Naruto's arm to make him look at her, only for him to keep his eyes closed.

"… Because I didn't have my answer… Not yet at least," Naruto replied as he finally turned to face Medaka. Memories of him standing in front of the gate holding the Kyuubi back flashed through his mind, with the nine-tailed beast surprisingly trying to snap the Shinobi out of his despair-enhanced trance. "An answer to Nagato's question to how I would achieve peace in this world… And then he showed up… my Dad."

"The Yondaime… Well, he was said to be a great leader and strategist during the war, something you've inherited from him."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he watched Medaka let go of his arm with a knowing smile on her face. "You don't seem really surprised to hear that."

"Why would I? The two of you look almost exactly the same after all. Not to mention that it would make sense that someone as noble as that wouldn't ask another family to have their child bear the responsibility of becoming a Jinchūriki." Medaka pointed out causing Naruto to sweatdrop at the fact that he didn't put it together even though the Yondaime was one of his role models growing up… his dad was his role model. "He probably has a lot of faith that you could handle that burden."

"That's almost exactly the same thing he said to me. How'd you know?" Naruto asked as he thought back to when his father's chakra remnant's final words to him after fixing the seal.

"Because I have a lot of faith in you!" Medaka answered with a bright smile on her face, causing Naruto to blush at her comment. "And I'm not the only one either, everyone in the village and Zenkichi, we all believe in you, Mr. Hero of Konoha."

"… You and your Proof of One's Worth," Naruto let out a chuckle as he let his body fall back onto the stone head and shift into a seated position, "Don't forget that Zenkichi and I were there when you develop every one of those trump cards of yours… Especially that Over-Flowing Love one…"

"You say like it was a bad thing." The blue-haired girl retorted as she sat down next to Naruto with a confident smirk on her face, "And there is nothing wrong with that trump card."

"Say that to Zenkichi after he stopped you from stealing the first kisses of all the kids going to your elementary school… and the kids around that town festival we went to when I came to visit. I wouldn't be surprised if some of those girls grew up to be lesbians because of you."

Medaka raised as eyebrow at that, "Once again, I don't see the problem. Love isn't something that shouldn't be contained or limited to heterosexuality."

"Yeah… To be honest, I was kind of jealous that Zenkichi was the first person you used that on… I kind of hated myself for that." Naruto admitted while switching his seated position where he had one bent knee upward with an arm resting on it, continuing to speak as he noticed the confusion seen on Medaka's face. "You two were the first people that acknowledged my existence, and the more we were able to hang out, the more I wanted that feeling to be there. At first, I thought that getting that feeling from the village would make things even better, but it wasn't until a few years back that I realized that the feeling I got from other people and what I felt for you guys was completely different… That what I felt between you and Zenkichi was different as well."

"…"

"I didn't really know that much about the concept of love, between friends, family, objects, or even that special person. It wasn't until I asked Hitomi- obachan and she gave me and Zenkichi 'the talk'… that both of us realized that we were both in love with the same girl." Naruto explained as he turned to Medaka, whose cheeks gained a flush of red at hearing the blonde's confession. "Zenkichi and I saw you as someone we wanted to catch up to and stand beside, and after being will you for so long, that desire grew with our feelings. At first, neither of us wanted to admit it each other, because we were best friends. But then I remember seeing how so many of the girls at the Ninja Academy acted when it came to Sasuke, how so many of them had been such close friends before chasing after him… and I didn't want that, because Zenkichi was my 'brother', ya know."

"What you are saying does make sense I suppose, though I don't really agree with it. The bond between the two of you is stronger than many other relationships out there. At times, I couldn't help but feel jealous."

Naruto couldn't help but snicker as he watched Medaka gain a cute pout on her face with her ahoge swaying side to side. "That's because Zenkichi and I made a pact, that no matter what happened, the two of us would never turn our backs on one another, and at the same time, continuing to do our best to catch up to you. To prove that you weren't alone."

"I never realized you both had made such a decision, especially after turning down my marriage proposal all those years ago."

"We were only 2 years old! And we just met you! Only an idiot would say yes to something like that!"

Naruto's words seemed to comically crush the girl's spirit as she had the same expression as she did all those years ago. The only reason he even know about such a thing was because he had asked Kakashi about it after finding out that his teacher had been the Anbu known as Dog, and was watching over Naruto when he had first met Medaka and Zenkichi. A dark veil of emotions hovering above her head as she turned away from her second childhood friend, causing Naruto to sweatdrop at her actions.

"Seriously Medaka-chan? I can't believe this is still bothering you." Naruto pointed out as he watched the girl continue to mope, "This is almost as painful to watch as when you try to play with animals and they run away from you because of your overwhelming presence."

"Don't remind me… Even the ninja puppies didn't work!" Medaka cried out as tears built up in her eyes, to which Naruto rubbed the top of her head with an uneasy look.

'Kiba said he's never seen all of his clan's dogs react that badly to someone before, if ever.' Naruto thought to himself while thinking back to when Naruto had brought Medaka and the rest of her Student Council to the Inuzuka Compound to see if Medaka would be able to interact with them… The girl had been so heartbroken. 'Even his Mom's dog, Kuromaru, an experienced, battle-hardened Ninken from the Third Shinobi War was reduced to a crying mess.'

Shaking his head a bit, Naruto decided to change the subject before the Abnormal next to him sunk into a deeper depression like she usually did when it came to animals. "… I heard from Zenkichi that he confessed to you during a battle with that asshole, Kumagawa."

"He told you about that, huh?"

"Of course, you and Zenkichi promised to keep me informed about everything you guys have to deal with back at Hakoniwa Academy. Especially after all the crap you guys went through while I was there, recovering from my battle with Kakuzu." Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out, to Medaka's surprise, a familiar orange device. "That way, I can come help you guys if you need help."

"Is that a cellphone?" Medaka asked as she reached out and took the device from Naruto and studied it with a curious expression. It looked like the standard flip-phones that she had seen multiple students back at the academy possessed, though there was a few differences, such as a strange antenna-like object that ejected from the bottom of the device by pressing a small button.

"Yup, one of the first models created for Shinobi use. Over a hundred times more durable than cellphones back in the Six Continents so it can be handled on the field. And one of the best parts is that it uses Chakra to recharge itself." Naruto explained as he took the device back from Medaka, "Apparently it was one of the projects that the Kurokami Group took an interest in with the international alliance."

"The Kurokami Group? As in my father?"

Noticing the look on her face at the mention of her father, Naruto shook his head. "More of it being your perverted brother insisting that I'd get one, and he made sure it was orange too!" Medaka couldn't help but giggle at Naruto's excited look as he rubbed his cheek against his cellphone, "The weird thing is that with the few numbers he gave me, he didn't give me yours."

That halted Medaka's actions as her amusement was replaced with a dark aura surrounding her, causing Naruto to freeze up as some of her hair turned fluorescent red. "I see… It looks like I'll have to pay Onii-san a visit once I return to Hakoniwa Academy."

'I feel like I just signed Pervy-Maguro's death warrant.' Naruto thought to himself as sweat fell profusely down his face, his body trembling while his eyes were replaced with large white circles. Trying shake off his fear. Naruto placed a hand on Medaka's and brought it up to his whiskered cheek, "C-Calm down Medaka-chan! Here! Rub my cheek!"

"Haaaaaaaa…" Feeling the familiar sensation of Naruto's whiskers, Medaka's hand softly brushed against the animalistic cheek and the girl started to return to normal. It was the closest sensation to petting an animal that Medaka always dreamed of doing, and the action always seemed to calm her down whenever she got depressed or angry. "… I wish I could have a real animal as my pet."

"I know. But remember, Zenkichi and I promised that we'd find one for you in the future!" Naruto commented as he dismissed the pleasant sensation coming from his cheeks. Letting Medaka continue for a few more seconds before softly clenching his fingers around the blue-haired Abnormal's hand and gently pulled it off, causing her to fully turn to him in confusion, only for her eyes to widen slightly as she saw Naruto's face was a little closer now. "Medaka-chan… I love you. No matter what happens, no matter where we might end up… even if you decide to be with Zenkichi… my feelings for you will never change."

"Ah-!?" This was the second time it happened, just like before with Zenkichi, Medaka felt her heart skip a beat.

Both times were different from when Oudo announce his intentions on making her his woman, which simply caught her off guard… But these confessions were different… They came from the two people she cared about more than anyone else in the world, a Normal and a Shinobi that did everything they could to catch up to her. Both were men who followed their own paths, and yet never let her fall into the despair she had originally expected her life to have… until she met Naruto and Zenkichi in that daycare room.

"Naru-" Medaka was cut off as the blonde teen pressed his lips to hers, causing her scarlet irises to shrink slightly as she could actually feel the emotions pouring out of Naruto as he kissed her. It was definitely a new sensation since she had always been the kisser in the past, always using her Proof of One's Worth on so many since elementary school. Both of her childhood friends had been targets of her kissing spree as well, but still, this had never happened to her before. For someone else to be the initiator… She had to admit that it wasn't an unpleasant experience.

Leaning back as he pulled his lips away from the blue-haired girl's after a few more seconds had passed, Naruto opened his eyes and was greeted by a sight he had never seen before. Medaka's cheeks had a pink shade as she slowly opened her eyes and stared back at him with a soft glaze in them, the hand that was being held in Naruto's soft grip had shifted and now had her fingers intertwined with his fingers. Not even two seconds passed before the look on Medaka's face changed to one of deep thought as she pulled back a bit and gently traced the tips her index and middle finger against her now puffy lips. Staring at the girl as she continued this action a few more times, Naruto blinked as she turned to face the village with a knowing smile forming.

"So, that is what it is like being kissed inside of initiating it." Medaka let out a giggle as she closed her eyes in amusement, "I've always wondered if it would be just as stimulating, but it seems like there is a surprisingly significant difference."

"…Hm-Hahaha~!" Naruto couldn't help but laugh at hearing that, leave it to the Abnormal next to him to see his actions as a learning experience. It was one of the reasons he fell in love with her in the first place, her incredible and unbelievable way of looking at situations. "I guess I shouldn't have expe -"

This time, it was Naruto who was cut off as Medaka grabbed his cheeks before bringing him close and initiated a kiss of her own. A few seconds passed once again before a pleased Medaka pulled back with closed eyes and a triumphant smile. "As I expected, while I do enjoy being on the receiving end, being the one to initiate kiss is much more to my speed."

"…"

"Hmm, what is it?" Medaka asked as she noticed the dumbfolded expression on Naruto's face, only to be answered with a sigh as his head drooped.

'… I was able to confess, that's enough for now… right?' Naruto thought to himself before shaking his head to clear his head, slapping his cheeks a few times and then shot up to his feet. "Zenkichi must've gotten dinner ready by now! Let's head back!"

"Huh? Are you sure? Isn't it normal for the man to want to hear the girl's response immediately after he confesses to her?" The youngest Kurokami sibling asked with a raised eyebrow as she stared up at Naruto.

"Maybe, but you aren't a normal girl!" That was Naruto's response before holding a hand out to her to help her back to her feet with a grin on his face, "I'm more than willing to wait for an answer. Like I said, it won't change my feelings for you."

"… I see." A large smile formed on Medaka's face as she reached up and took Naruto's hand, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. "Shall we head home then?"

Nodding his head, Naruto came to a halt as a thought came to mind. "There's just one last thing I need to tell you."

"Something to tell me?"

"My answer to Nagato's question about acquiring peace and facing humanity's Cycle of Hatred. I did come to one during my battle with him." Naruto clarified as he turned away from Medaka to face the reconstructed village below, closing his eyes as he stretched his arms out as far as he could. "I've decided to believe in Ero-Sennin's words and find a way to achieve peace. Not just here in the Elemental Nations, but for the rest of the world…" Medaka remained silent as she listened to her second childhood friend as he continued to speak, "I'll break that cycle. If there is any such thing as peace, I will seize it. I won't give up, ya know!"

"Naruto…" Medaka whispered to herself as she stared at the Shinobi's back, not realizing a warm smile forming on her face as she did. It seems that just like Zenkichi, Naruto was finding his own path and maturing into a strong man.

The Abnormal girl's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar growling sound, making her blink a few times as she watched as Naruto turned to face her with a sheepish grin. "Okay… Let's go eat now. I'm starving."

"Heh," A snicker escaped Medaka's lips at that. "Alright, let's go home." Feeling Naruto once again pick her up bridal style, a thought occurred to Medaka as the Shinobi was about to leap off the Fourth's head. "Perhaps you should try and improve your relationship with Kyuubi-san."

"Improve my relationship?"

"Of course. The two of you have to face the Akatsuki and enemies just like them. Shouldn't the two of you get along and work together to be victorious?"

Naruto paused at the question, looking from Medaka towards the village below. "… I suppose you're right…"

"… Do you hate the Kyuubi?"

"I… I don't hate him. I mean, yeah, it was because of its actions that a lot of people lost people they care about. My own parents died because of it. And it was because the Kyuubi was sealed inside of me that the villagers treated me like a plague." Naruto started as he thought about what his father had told him back in his mindscape, "But… Kyuubi has helped me out on more occasions than I can count, not to mention, I learned that it wasn't his fault that and someone was controlling it."

"Regardless of its immense power, it's possible that Kyuubi is just like all of us and it became feared because of circumstances."

Leaping off the giant mountain head, Naruto began making his way home with a focused expression. "Yeah. All of that hatred inside of him is probably from all of negativity that Shinobis created from wars and cruel actions. Ero-Sennin's wish for the Cycle of Hatred to be broken doesn't have to be limited to humanity itself… Maybe I can help Kyuubi out as well."

"I'm sure you will be able to figure something out." Medaka stated with a smile before noticing Naruto's apartment complex in the distance. "I have faith in you."

Meanwhile, inside of Naruto's seal, the Kyuubi could be seen laying down with its head resting on its paws. Scrunching his face a little while its eyes remained closed, a grunt escaped its lips as he thought about the words of it container. "Tch! As if I would accept such appealing words just because it sounds nice… There is only one way that I would believe anything you have to say, the same method you've always used to prove yourself…"

NUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZH

Two out of three chapters down, and only one to go. As you read, this chapter followed the Medaka Box timeline in tandem with Naruto Shippūden. The next and final chapter will involve some of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, and the epilogues of both stories..So, like always be sure to leave some nice reviews, but remember that all flames and insults will be IGNORED, so don't bother writing them. I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter and I hope to see you again.

A/N: I am also working on my Dhampir of Yokai Academy story as well. It should be out within the next few weeks.

See you next time!