Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto

Naruto sighed as he woke up for school. Two days in and he already felt like dropping out. It didn't help that both Kakuzu and his mother were on his case. While Mito had actually covered for him, he hadn't accounted for the fact that the principal would call home.

In the end, both teens had their ears chewed out. To be fair, they had gotten off lightly with just a warning. His father hadn't commented, hoping to avoid Kushina's wrath. It only worked for so long before he was dragged into the mix.

He sluggishly made his way to the bathroom. The door was open and he could see Mito standing by the mirror, hair brush in hand. He had never seen her hair down but he decided he liked it that way. Soon enough, she noticed his staring and turned to him with an inquisitive look.

Unabashed, he went ahead and told her what he had been thinking. "You should wear your hair down, it looks good on you," he said as he finally walked into the room. Mito turned to the mirror and looked at her still wet hair. She smiled, perhaps he was right with his complement.

"Thank you," Mito said as she stepped out, crimson hair flowing behind her with every step, something the blonde noticed. Yeah, it was definitely better that way.

Mito and Naruto left the house slightly earlier that morning, though only because they weren't sure whether Kushina was still angry. She had the right to be.

"How did you get detention?" the redhead finally asked as she fell in stride with Naruto. Naruto scowled at the very thought of Kakuzu.

"Stupid economy teacher took out his stress me. I swear, it's as if the guy is out to get me or something coz it ain't my fault his broke," he muttered.

"Perhaps you would do your best not to antagonize your superiors," she suggested though Naruto didn't agree with her line of thought. He wasn't known for respecting authority, his mother was simply the exception.

"Keep that up and you'll be just like Sakura, a teacher's pet," he joked as Mito playfully shoved him aside.

"I'm serious you know, neither of us wants her on our case," she told him and this time he agreed. Honestly he wondered how his father had tamed that one. Just the thought sent shivers down his spine.

Soon though, the school came into view and Hinata was waiting by the gates for them to open up. "Looks like she came in early too," Naruto noted as Hinata looked at the pair that was steadily approaching her current position.

"Mito," she smiled at the redhead before turning to Naruto and immediately lightning up like a Christmas tree. "N-Nar-Naruto-k-kun," she stuttered.

"That's my name so don't wear it out," he grinned as Mito gave him a look of disbelief.

"Do you say that to everyone?" she asked as he at least had the decency to look sheepish. "It kinda just tumbled out, ya know," he rubbed the back of his head at being caught out.

"So , why are you here early Hinata?" Naruto asked. Hinata turned red as he smiled at her but she tried to formulate an answer nontheless.

"Fa-father thought it w-would be best if l got used to waking up early so that l'm used to it when l...when l head the family business," she sounded sad at the end of it.

"Family business?" Mito inquired as Naruto answered her question.

"Yea, Hinata's family runs the dojo here in Konoha. They teach a lot of different martial arts classes," he explained. Mito nodded her understanding at that.

The gates opened up automatically as the bell rang, signalling that school was open though it would only start in 30 minutes.

The three walked on to homeroom. Quite noticably, the class was empty and Naruto knew that Kakashi would likely be an hour late at the very least. It was pretty much a given, the man did love his book porn.

Orochimaru had not been having a good day. Granted, it was barely even seven thirty but that wasn't the point. Just last night he had come back from his tour of the elemental nations and was ready for his part time job as Konoha's fashion model teacher. It was actually his job to find and groom young talent because he was famous but the guy was known for his shady dealings and pedophilier nature. Still, those were just rumours.

He had his sights set on Uchiha Sasuke but it would be difficult with Itachi teaching there. It seemed as though Itachi had taken the job just to spite him. The young Uchiha was always a headache to him. He was currently trying to find ways to draw the Uchiha to him rather than actively seek him.

It was during his walk to his office that he spotted the striking redhead on campus currently walking with the one he knew as Naruto. He knew that red hair anywhere. He had been obsessed with the Uzumaki's excellent genes at some point. He knew that that shade of red was native only to them and there weren't really any redheads in Konoha. People would kill for hair like that, even if it wasn't the norm.

It was always a hassle with Kushina because Minato and Jiraiya controlled his interactions with her. Perhaps it would be different this time.

"I love what you did with your hair,". Ino practically cooed once she saw Mito. 'I guess Naruto was right,' she thought.

"It was Naruto's idea to let it down," Mito smiled while lno looked skeptical. "Naruto, dense as a dumpster Naruto? What would he know about a woman's hair?" she mocked.

"Hey, I'm not that stupid!" the blonde yelled indignantly, having overheard lno's comment. Ino stuck her tongue out at him before going back to talking with all the girls. Mito turned an eye to Kakashi, who was reading his book, though it was green this time. "Icha icha," she whispered at having barely seen the title. She would have Naruto tell her about it later.

"Why don't you have red hair?" Sasuke suddenly asked Naruto. The blonde gave him an odd look at the question but answered anyway.

"I don't know," he didn't see the point in to this question. "Why did you even ask anyway?" Naruto fired back.

"I just think that...if you did, you would at least be smarter," Sasuke answered flatly, much to Naruto's chargrin.

This led to a shouting match that Sasuke won, though not really if you considered the fact that he didn't raise his voice more than three octaves higher than his normal voice.

Mito Uzumaki,

that was the girl's name. He had been right in his initial assumption at first glance with the girl. He could make lots of money of that one but there would be a few problems. She lived with Kushina and Minato. She would likely be around the Namikaze's spawn for the majority of the time. In any event, Orochimaru would have his work cut out keeping track of Mito, Sasuke and any other prospects.

With a devilsh grin he looked at the person in front of him. "Kabuto, send the sound four, won't you," he said

"Of course sir," the boy took his leave as Orochimaru smirked. He would make sure he succeeded this time.

"What master do you serve?!" Mito and Hinata were really confused at the moment. Just where did Konoha find it's teachers? Hidan was supposed to be the religion teacher but the guy seriously

seemed to lack a moral compass. When he talked about sacrifices, they hadn't expected him to mean human sacrifices. They refused and now this was where it got them and the rest of the class.

Poor Hinata was going to have a heart attack at this rate. "Who do you serve?" Mito fired back. "Jashin, obviously and do you know what my God is telling me?" his smile was sadistic and it gave everyone the creeps.

"What?" she had to stand strong. "He says to sacrifice you all to detention! The whole lot of you, now get the fuck out of my classroom!" everyone groaned. Mito idly wondered if this was allowed and after a moment of thinking, she decided that yes. After all, Naruto got detention for not loving money. She just wondered how she was going to explain this back home.

"You should tell Naruto about this, why? The reason is because he will wonder where you are when it's time to go home," a voice suddenly said next to her. She startled and took a step back before looking at the culprit...Shino.

"Shino?" she started. "Yes?, that is my name so don't..."

"Does every boy do that?!" she questioned in exasperation. Shino regarded her with a blank expression or, at least she thought he did. "No, why? The reason is because..." she stopped listening as she walked away. Hidan would not be happy if they lingered around but if she was honest, that guy only seemed happy when they were in pain and/or agony.

"So..." Naruto started with his lips twitching up. Mito pursed her own lips in straight line with a pensive expression.

"...l got detention," she delivered flatly as the blonde let his smile widen. "Why are you smiling? your mom won't be happy,"

His smile didn't waver as he hung an arm around her. "Coz, l still have detention and now l got you to keep me company,"

She tried to frown, she really did but she just couldn't stop the wide smile that had began form. Maybe, just maybe detention wouldn't be so bad.

Ja ne. I'll probably update in a few hours again.