A/N: Not much to say except this is a little fillery but more about the Academy times. Probably only gonna be one or two more chapters of the Academy before we get into the main plotline. Thankies, enjoy!

Chapter 16

The year ended abruptly. To Charlie's dismay, the people of Konohagakure had no winter holiday of any sort to keep them warm during the cold months. And so, with little fanfare, their final exam happened and the next year rolled around. It didn't surprise her at all when they landed in the homeroom of Umino Iruka, along with the main cast of characters, though truthfully it was a bit of a relief.

So she hadn't rocked the boat that much. Yet, at least.

Walking through the door to their new classroom with her hyperactive blond friend in tow, Charlie's shoulders slumped, taking in the familiar faces with relief. All the heads seemed to swivel and focus on Naruto as they found themselves an empty table, and the redhead suppressed a cringe. 'Right, they don't know they like him yet, huh?' she thought.

Naruto made a face at most of them as the duo sat down, and Charlie elbowed him in the side. "Be nice. It'll get better, ne?" She allowed him to have the window seat while sitting in the middle of the bench, and dropped her pack unceremoniously on the desk. She usually carried both of their lunches as well as their supplies in it- Naruto tended to be forgetful of such things.

Cyan blue eyes leveled on her with a heavy dose of disbelief mixed in. "I know you're usually right, but that's kinda hard to believe, -ttebayo..." he confessed in a whisper. His heels dug into the soft wood of the bench as he set his head on his fist and turned to stare out the window.

Charlie smirked a little. "I'm always right, Naru-chan. When have I been wrong?"

He whipped around to squint at her, as if to say, you know. She flushed painfully; even after all this time, Naruto had yet to forgive her for the 'chakra allergy' incident.

"Hey." A voice said from rather close behind her. Charlie's head turned, eyes widened a little in surprise; Minato had been a sensor, and she had hoped that by having him in her head, she would be one too. No such luck.

Akiko stood behind her, pale arms crossed over her chest and a grimace on her face. Mayu and Chiyoko were nowhere to be seen, but the willowy black-haired girl didn't seem to miss them much.

Truthfully, the girl had isolated herself from the rest of their class after the confrontation in the boutique. Nobody really knew why the former drama queen had abandoned that sort of thing, nor why she now either blankly stared or glared at anyone approaching her. Charlie, though, had an inclination.

So it didn't surprise her much that the look on the girl's face was rather cold. In fact, it impressed her. Akiko was finally being her true self, even if her true self was a bit of a bitch.

"Hi," Charlie said, lips curling up. "Looks like you got stuck with us for another year, huh?"

The redhead's eyes nearly bugged out of her head as the dark haired girl flopped into the open seat next to her and sighed. "Unfortunately." Akiko glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, and sighed. "There's nowhere else to sit, genius," she snapped, flushing a little.

Charlie's gaze swept the room- the girl was right. Behind her, Uchiha Sasuke was stewing to himself in the corner, while Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino were fighting over who got to sit next to him. In front of her, there were a few rows of nameless faces. To her side, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and another nameless face took up the middle bench. Behind them were Nara Shikamaru, half asleep, Akimichi Choji, and Inuzuka Kiba. There were a few other nameless characters in the seats behind them, though to her surprise Taro took up a seat there too. Had he been in the original anime?

"Looks like Mayu and Chiyoko got sent to a different class, huh?" Charlie voiced needlessly.

Akiko rolled her eyes. "They dropped out. They got such low marks in the last placement exam that they gave up." She tsk'ed. "Kind of pathetic."

"So cold," Charlie stage whispered to her blond friend, who giggled at her in response.

Before Akiko could yell at her, the class came to attention as their new sensei walked in the room. He smiled pleasantly at them as he approached the podium in unhurried steps. "Good morning, class," he greeted.

"Good morning, sensei," they all replied in kind. Charlie leaned her head on her netted fingers, grinning a little. She liked Iruka, he was a nice guy.

"My name is Umino Iruka, and I will be your new homeroom teacher for this year. Some of you may have met before, but for those that haven't, why don't we do introductions? State your name, one like, and one dislike, and your goal for the year. We'll start with Akutagawa Ryouichi. Go!"

The dark haired kid in the lower corner looked up as though he hadn't been paying attention. "Um, my name is Ryouichi. I like sleeping, and I don't like pickles... my goal is to, uh, pass?"

Charlie chuckled. Same, kid. The kids took their turn one-by-one, and eventually the spotlight landed on Naruto. Unsurprisingly, the blond stood up, proudly proclaiming, "I'm Naruto. I like instant ramen, and I dislike the three minutes you have to wait for it to cook! My goal is to graduate and eventually become Hokage!" He ignored the mutters of discontent as he sat down again.

Beside him, the redhead smiled. "My name is Charlie. I like learning. I dislike willful ignorance. My goal is to become strong enough to protect myself and my future teammates."

Akiko sighed boredly. "Akiko. I like training. I dislike people who look down on me. My goal is to be top kunoichi." One ice blue eye landed on Charlie, and she couldn't help but feel like she was being assessed.

So, she gave the girl her sweetest close-eyed smile. One that said, "If you want the crown, come and take it."

It intrigued her that the girl had said 'training'. She had definitely never been interested in that sort of thing before. Charlie couldn't help but wonder if that scene in Haruna's shop had had a stronger effect on her than she'd anticipated. She wondered if she wasn't the girl's new target to take down.

'Well that's fine,' Charlie thought, smile turning a smidge devious. 'Because I've been working harder too, Akiko.'

Once introductions were out of the way, the group went out to the field. "One thing we're going to focus on most this year is throwing. You already should have experience with this, but to assess you myself, I would like each of you to throw three shuriken and three kunai at the post. Who wants to go first?"

Charlie couldn't help the grimace that came over her face. Truthfully, she hadn't really practiced throwing all that much. She was no amateur, and she had done decently in the last placement exams, but it was a bit embarrassing to be average when just a few months before that Minato had successfully managed to get her a perfect score.

"You know, if you focus on the target, you usually get it every time," the man said in her mind. He had resurfaced from... wherever he went, a little while ago, and was watching quietly from the sidelines. She had gotten more adept at sensing when he was around, especially now that they shared chakra.

Charlie sweatdropped. 'Yeah, but I have performance anxiety,' she whined in response. He laughed, which didn't surprise her.

Sasuke went first, casually setting the bar at an extraordinary level for everyone coming after him. Naruto gave him a cross look as the boy returned to the group, to which Sasuke responded with an equally dirty look back.

"Do you not like him?" Charlie asked under her breath, curiosity getting the better of her.

Naruto shrugged offhandedly. "He always beat me whenever our classes were put together for taijutsu. I hate how much of a show-off he is," the boy said. His cheeks puffed, before a smug smile lifted them. "But since I'm stronger now, I can beat him, ya know."

The redhead laughed a little. "We'll have to see, ne?"

"I will!" Naruto insisted. "Watch this!" Ryouichi barely got time to finish throwing his kunai before Naruto was sauntering his way to the front and shouldering him out of the way. "Prepare to be amazed!" he called to the group, who replied with groans.

In her peripheral, Charlie could see Sasuke rolling his eyes. She hummed thoughtfully, and found herself quietly picking her way over to him. She had a plan for keeping Sasuke in the village, and phase one of that plan was becoming his friend. As frigid a kid as he was, she could understand why he came to be that way, and more importantly, why he came to hate the village. But it wasn't advantageous for anyone for him to leave, and it would only end up hurting people.

Especially Itachi, whom she also had a plan for.

His coal black eyes narrowed as she came to his side, though he said nothing. He probably thought she was another member of his atrocious fan club. "Hi," she said simply.

Sasuke blinked at her, and looked away.

Charlie pouted. "Ooooi. You did pretty well at throwing, ya know?" she continued, flitting around to face him again when he turned away.

His eyebrow twitched. "So?"

"I was wondering if you'd help me," Charlie said, straightening her back and allowing her smile to fade a bit. If there was one way to bond with a kid like this, it was by doing something he actually liked doing.

"Why would I do that?" he grunted dismissively, and waved a hand. His dark gaze watched as Naruto landed a shuriken in the outer ring of the target.

Charlie sweatdropped. "Well, because I'll help you with taijutsu. And," she smiled conspiringly, leaning closer, "I'll protect you from Sakura-chan and Ino-chan if you do~"

That got his attention, though he was still frowning at her. "And how do I know you're not one of them." He said the last word with an appropriate level of disgust.

Charlie chuckled as her amber eyes landed on Naruto's fast approaching form. He had finished, and though he hadn't done as well as Sasuke, it was leaps and bounds better than it had been just a month or two prior.

The blond was scowling at her, and shouted in surprise as the girl grabbed him around the neck and gave him a noogie. Proudly, she proclaimed, "Because Naruto is the only person I love."

Sasuke's eyes bugged out a bit, and Naruto stilled under her, face flaming. "C-Charlie, y-y-y-" her friend stuttered awkwardly.

She ruffled the blond, spiky hair. "But seriously, Sasuke-kun. Think it over. Oh, and I should say... my last taijutsu match lasted less than half a minute, and I won." Charlie winked at him before dragging Naruto away.

When they were an appropriate distance away, Charlie let go of her friend, watching with amused eyes as he glared at her. "Charlie, what was that about, huh? Didn't I just say the guy was bad news?"

The girl couldn't help patting him on the head again. He was just too cute sometimes. "Naruto, just because you have a rivalry with someone doesn't mean they can't be your close friend, too. And besides," she smiled wide enough to show teeth, "isn't it better to learn from people who are more skilled than we are?"

Naruto's jaw dropped. "But he-"

"- Is most likely stronger than I am. And so I want to learn from him." She waved her hand nonchalantly. "Besides, doesn't he seem lonely to you?"

Cyan blue eyes flitted over to the dark haired boy, who was now being inundated with girls telling him how strong he was, how handsome. "...No."

Charlie couldn't help the frown that marred her features. "You can be surrounded by people and still be completely alone. Right?" Of all people, shouldn't you realize that?

Naruto didn't answer her, watching Sasuke with assessing eyes. He made a noncommittal hum, and the girl sighed, glancing away. Maybe on some subconscious level, he did know how lonely Sasuke was. But to him, to such a young kid who'd had no attention whatsoever before Charlie had appeared, he probably believed any attention was good attention. Even the misdirected kind.

The two would just have to get used to each other at some point.

When it was her turn to go, Charlie managed to get one star in the center, two midway in, one kunai midway in, and one on the outer edge. The other bounced harmlessly onto the ground, and she sighed, ducking forward to pick it up. She'd need to work harder.

Or... she glanced at Sasuke, who was watching with an analytical eye, and made sure to give him a sheepish 'see what I mean?' smile. The boy scowled and looked away as her expression morphed to a pout.

She'd definitely get him on her side yet.

Later that day, Charlie found herself donning the same too-fancy-for-her-blood dress and geta to attend kunoichi class. Leave it to the Academy to banish the girls from the first ever taijutsu class of the year.

It wasn't all bad though. Since they were now of the same class and year, Charlie got lumped in with all of the Rookie Nine females- an excellent chance to network. Plus, she could acquiesce that kunoichi class wasn't entirely useless. Sure, she had to ban Minato from listening in on certain lectures (Lord knew how embarrassing they were), and most of it was common sense ('don't eat weird mushrooms in the forest'), but there were certain aspects she could appreciate.

Like the lessons on espionage, which happened to be that day's topic.

Female shinobi were most commonly used for spying and seduction, it was just a fact. Perhaps it was a bit untoward, and perhaps it left a bad taste in her mouth- Charlie preferred to vanquish her enemies the old fashioned way- but Konoha deemed it necessary that she learn it. That all of the girls did. And it wasn't that it wasn't useful, per se, but... well, it was awkward.

Ugh.

Espionage was okay, though. It wasn't as disturbing, anyway.

Charlie chose to hole up next to Hinata almost immediately upon entering the small room, and gave the girl a smile as she sat down. Hinata made a nervous one back, pale eyes flighty and awkward. "Hi," the redhead greeted under her breath. One never knew when that woman would appear.

"H-Hello," Hinata managed, twisting her small fingers in her lap. She was cuter than she'd been in the anime, Charlie couldn't help but think. But she was just as weak-willed.

Freckled cheeks split into a grin. 'Not that I'd allow her to be for much longer, though.' Girls that pretty had no business being shy. "I'm Shimizu Charlie. What's your name?"

"Um, Hyuuga Hinata," the girl replied, softly again.

"Your kimono looks really pretty, Hinata-chan. It matches your hair," Charlie complimented. It truly did- the print was cream and lilacs, and obviously made of silk. It was probably worth more than her and Naruto's allowances for the next two months.

Hinata finally smiled a little, cheeks coloring. "T-Thanks, yours is pretty too."

Charlie opened her mouth, about to lay it on even thicker, when the door burst open. Her skin went from ruddy tan to stark white in a matter of seconds, and her back stiffened ramrod straight. 'T-That De-de-demon is here!' she thought frantically. Fighting to maintain an impassive face, she risked a single glance towards the door.

Lady Murakami was glaring at her. Oh, God.

There weren't many people that could strike fear into her the way that demon could. Murakami Kazu stood at 6'0", and probably weighed close to 250. She wore it well- it all went to her shoulders and hips, and made her look more Amazonian than anyone Charlie'd ever met. She had a rather ageless face that was set in a perpetual scowl, and dark purple hair pulled into a tight chignon. Oh, and she had the temper of a bull chasing a matadore.

"You were talking, Shimizu-san," Lady Murakami said, in a voice deceivingly smooth.

Sweat beaded on the back of Charlie's neck. "Y-Y-Y-Yes madame," she replied ('Ma'am is a bastardization of the word 'madame', and will not be used in my classroom, Shimizu-san.').

'Damn it! This lady has me sounding like Hinata!'

"Five pages on why a kunoichi never speaks out of turn." The woman glared at her as if daring her to raise an objection.

She wouldn't. The last time she raised an objection, she'd returned home nursing both a bruised ass and her bruised pride.

Instead, just as she was taught, Charlie simply nodded, schooling her features into a mask of indifference. 'She's the devil!'

"I believe that woman's been teaching since I was in school," Minato remarked, returning after feeling her emotional upheaval. "Kushina used to rant about her all the time."

'I can see why,' Charlie grumbled her reply. Lady Murakami walked silently (how did she do it silently? She was in wooden sandals...) to the podium at the front of the room, resting her hands on the wooden frame. Apparently she didn't need lecture notes when she'd been teaching for decades. "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, Lady Murakami," the class replied, like drones.

The tiniest smile cracked her porcelain facade. "It is nice to see you girls so close to graduation. I had my doubts about one- I mean some- of you." Her dark eyes flitted accusingly in the redhead's direction. "But alas, you're starting to resemble half-decent kunoichi. Congratulations." 'A-Alas?' "This year, we will be focusing on honing our skills in the arts of seduction and espionage. I had the good grace to leave the... more indelicate subjects for later, but no more. We will neither be focusing on bouquet arrangement nor poisons. That is behind us now."

'So last year wasn't the indelicate stuff?!' Charlie thought frantically. If she had to hear the word 'arousal' coming from that woman's lips one more time-!

"As has been outlined to you in the schedule given last year, this lesson is on espionage. I do hope you've practiced your silent walk, because we'll be working on that presently. If there's not any questions-" the class shook their heads frantically- "we will begin. Shimizu-san."

Sweating profusely, the girl got to her feet, sidling between desks to the front of the class. For some-odd reason, she was always picked to go first.

"And go."

With a grimace, she walked across the tiled floor, wincing at every creak and clack. How was one supposed to walk silently in these?! She'd done everything that Lady Murakami had said in the handout, she knew it!

A hand on her shoulder halted her progress. "While it is obvious that Shimizu-san has read the schedule, she has not practiced her walk. As you can see, you could still hear her. And so." Lady Murakami's disturbingly large hands turned her to the other side. "A slight, and yet not unnatural, bend in the knee." She bent. "Arms, moving subtly with the same-side leg." She moved. "Landing on the front part of the foot first, and the heel second." She took another step. "Shifting weight just so so as to make the next step-" she stepped again, and to her surprise, it actually was silent, "- perfectly silent. Do you see?"

Charlie nodded again.

"Then do it again, and this time, do not mess up."

Charlie grimaced, and did it again. Thankfully, she did not mess up, though from the sweat building on her skin, it was a difficult endeavor.

"You did adequately," Lady Murakami said once she'd reached the other end of the classroom. It was about the closest she came to saying someone did 'well'. "However, there is a single problem you must correct."

Charlie blinked at her.

"Your face!" the woman finished, almost exasperated. "It looks as though you've swallowed something foul!"

'Ohhhh.' Charlie's expression blanked.

"Yamanaka Ino," Lady Murakami said, giving the redhead a small shove towards her seat. Hazel eyes glanced up to where Hinata sat waiting for her, and she couldn't help but make a face.

The blue-haired girl thinned her lips to hide a smile.

Training with Kakashi had become an almost daily thing.

It had taken a lot of time for the silver-haired man to warm up to her again following her confession that night, but he seemed to be more willing to work with her now. She could never forget his face the day he got back from his mission with Asuma and met up with them on their usual Friday schedule. He'd looked at her like she'd personally offended him.

Perhaps she had. And she felt guilty for not telling him for a long time, though it had probably been better that she hadn't shown her cards so early into knowing him. She couldn't say she regretted how things turned out, no matter how distrustfully he looked at her the weeks after. The point was, he continued training them, and eventually, the hard feelings were pushed into the recesses of his mind.

She must've had a way at worming herself into his heart.

Eventually, Kakashi realized that training once a week wasn't going to be enough for the two little powerhouses. Charlie had grown bored with waiting in between sessions, and Naruto was restless enough as it was with his endless pool of chakra. So, barring any missions he had to go on, the trio met as often as they could. Charlie was quite happy with this arrangement- after all, she had begun to feel stagnated.

And so that evening, the three met again in the usual training grounds. Naruto was especially cross today, mostly because (in his words) 'that bastard ruined my day', and pouted as he kicked at a dirt clod.

Kakashi, who was remarkably only a half hour late, raised his visible eyebrow. "Someone looks sullen today," he teased, hands on his hips. His book was, for once, set deep in his back pocket.

"Our new class has some more... interesting people in it," Charlie explained after Naruto shot the man a nasty look. She rolled out her shoulders in preparation for whatever Kakashi had to throw at them that day, steadfastly ignoring the ache that had been building for weeks anyway.

'Isn't it a rule that you're supposed to have breaks in between workout days?' the girl thought. Naruto, sensing that she had begun stretching, made another disgruntled noise and began doing the same. At least he knew proper procedure when he saw it, now.

"If only we had the luxury of time," Minato replied.

He had a point. Not that Kakashi was aware of it, but the events described in the manga were going to start in under a year. It left little time for prep work. Charlie's only hope was to keep with Kakashi's killer training regimen and hope she'd be adequately prepared by the time teams were assigned.

"So, let's review what we've done so far. Both of you have ~eh~ handling of waterwalking, but you're solid on treewalking, finally-" Kakashi ignored their words of protest as he continued, "- and we've started on the bunshin, though we've pushed back learning the shunshin. As for taijutsu, I would say it's safe to move beyond the Academy style and try to study or develop your own naturally. And lastly... both of you are absolutely abhorrent at genjutsu." His tone fell flat on the last sentence.

Charlie sweatdropped as Naruto turned to her. "Charlie, what's 'abhorrent' mean?"

She gave him a close-eyed smile that was calm on the surface (minus the tears streaming down her cheeks). "Ah, it means we're really, really bad," she said gently.

The blond gaped. "Kakashi-sensei!" he croaked painfully.

"So~" the jounin said as though he didn't notice their ire, "we're going to work on dispelling genjutsu today. Class, who can tell me what a genjutsu is?" Charlie's hand shot up, and he glared at her. "Not you."

Naruto scowled. "You could've just said 'Naruto', then," the kid muttered. "It's something about illusions? Maybe?"

"Half point!" Kakashi called obnoxiously. "Genjutsu is indeed a category of illusion techniques which causes the victim to see visions of things that aren't there without realizing it. The opponent directs their chakra towards the victim's nervous system, causing them to see or experience things that aren't real. As I highly doubt either of you are going to be professionals in a field such as this-" cue more angry words, "-we'll learn how to realize you're in one, and dispell it."

Charlie's legs trembled in excitement. Something useful! Yes! Beside her, Naruto crossed his arms. "When are we ever gonna be in a genjutsu, anyway? Sounds booooring," he said, frowning. He was more of an action sort of kid, after all.

Kakashi's eyebrow raised a hair, staring at the kid. "Well, you're in one right now," he informed.

The two students' eyes widened, and they glanced around wildly. How- when had he- wh-

"Couldn't tell?" Kakashi continued, and Charlie could just feel the smug grin he wore. "It's that subtle. But I'm not lying to you~"

Charlie frowned. Nothing felt off at all, nothing besides- "The grass isn't moving anymore," she realized, glancing down at her feet. The wind had been ruffling it against her ankles, but now they seemed frozen. "And- in fact, there's no breeze at all."

"Correct!" Kakashi said. "Well done. This is the most subtle of genjutsus there is- one in which everything is normal, even though it isn't. In reality, your opponent could be doing anything with you right now. Believe me you, this was the most innocent you may come across. In other genjutsus, the victim is tortured. For obvious reasons I won't be demonstrating that here today, buuuuuut-" he leaned closer, face darkening, "let this be a lesson to you. Even here, you should be on your guard. You two have been conked out for almost five minutes now."

Charlie clenched her fists, appropriately freaked out. Kakashi was right; how could she begin to go forth into this world as blind as she was? The man could've been about to kill them, and she would've been none the wiser.

It was one thing to be book smart. It was quite another to be street smart.

Naruto, sweat beading on his forehead, was also freaking out. "HOW DO WE GET OUT, KAKASHI-SENSEI?!"

The jounin chuckled, giving them an eye smile. "Today's lesson is on the genjutsu negation technique- called 'genjutsu kai'. It's simple: all you do is form the tiger seal- like this- and stop the chakra flow in your body. Then, flare it, and if you do it strongly enough it should dispell the genjutsu."

Charlie frowned pensively, fingers falling into the tiger seal and eyes closing in concentration. How did one 'stop the flow of chakra'? 'Minato?'

No response. Her brow ticked; it looked like there was another way to tell that she was in a genjutsu. If her body was technically 'asleep', or something close, he probably couldn't communicate to her this way. Alas, she would be figuring out this problem herself.

She felt for his chakra in her veins, and as was its wont, it roared to greet her like a still pond raising into a tsunami. 'Concentrate, concentrate,' she thought. 'You need to calm down.'

But reigning in such a powerful force is not easy. It wanted to be used, was chomping at the bit to do so. She'd have to expel a large amount of it before the day's end, it appeared.

"Sometimes, it helps to hum a single note under your breath to concentrate, or focus on a single point with your eyes. Both of you have annoyingly large pools of chakra, so controlling it completely is going to take more time," Kakashi voiced casually.

The redheaded girl's eyebrows furrowed in the center and, unbidden, she fell into the same habits she used to meditate in the mornings. It had felt different ever since she'd gained access to Minato's chakra, but it still worked well to help her calm down. Chakra hummed in her ears like a hive of worker bees, and yet, slowly, it mellowed again. A still, silent pond of water again.

Stopping it in its tracks was not a simple matter either, and from the sounds of Naruto's gruff muttering, she was not the only one having difficulty. It took long minutes before she felt comfortable enough to try to flare her chakra. She allowed energy to burst within her, felt it rush along muscles and through veins like warmth and ice.

When she opened her eyes again, she was on the ground. Beside her, Naruto was still prostrate on the ground, a trail of drool leading down his cheek.

She got on her hands and knees, still feeling a little strange from that 'exercise', and glanced upwards. Kakashi crossed his arms over his broad chest, seeming to grin at her. "Again," he said.

The wind stopped.

Naruto was grumbling again on their way home.

"Maaan, it took me an hour to get out of Kakashi-sensei's genjutsu the first time! How'd it only take you ten minutes?!" he cried, lacing his fingers behind his head. His features were pinched as they continued down the dimly lit street.

Charlie didn't mind the dark of the night, nor did she mind how quiet it was. In fact, it was rather tranquil. What she did mind, however... "How come you're whining so much?" she said, and smirked a little as he whirled on her.

His wide, too-blue eyes shone surprise. "Huh?"

"You're whining. You only whine about food and not getting to hang out with me. And you've had both. So what's up, buttercup?" She was relatively proud of her deductive skills when it came to Naruto. She knew very well by now what his baseline personality was- exuberant optimism with a smidge of cautious vulnerability. Any deviations were worrisome.

Naruto frowned. "Nothin'," he grunted, lowering his arms to his pockets with a small pout.

Charlie mimicked his expression, and grabbed his elbow to slow him as he'd started to walk faster. "Naru-chan," she said again, more steel in her voice. She forced him around to look at her. "I spend almost every waking minute with you. I know when something is bothering you. You almost never complain like this."

His lips quirked to the side. "I dunno, it's just annoying, I guess," he mumbled under his breath.

"What is?"

"You... making friends," he said eventually. He chanced a glance at her confused expression.

Naruto was mad that she was making friends? Charlie blinked; why would he-

"You're still upset that I talked to Sasuke-kun today, aren't you." It wasn't a question.

The blond ruffled his hair in irritation. "I-I mean yeah, kinda! It's just-" he made a frustrated noise. "I don't want- I don't want to..."

Charlie found herself smiling a little. She grabbed him into a hug, ignoring the words of discontent he threw at her. "You know you're my bestest friend, right?" A hesitant nod on her shoulder. "And you know you always will be, right?" He didn't answer, though he did press further into her neck. She tightened her arms around his middle. "It's okay to make new friends as long as you remember the ones you already have. Nothing has changed."

"B-But Sasuke-teme isn't nice! He always tries to one-up me!"

"Maybe he thinks that you're not nice, given that you call him 'teme'," Charlie replied sternly, feeling him stiffen in her arms. "Sasuke-kun is a reserved person, not necessarily a bad person. I think if you really tried, you two could be friends."

"I don't want to be friends with him. Why do you?"

"Because I can tell when people are alone in the dark," the redhead said. Naruto pulled away to stare at her. "And that doesn't mean he's a charity case. That doesn't mean you were, either. I just-" she looked away hesitantly. "I just don't like when people are in pain. Especially when they're good people. Especially when they're people I want to have around me."

Naruto got a strangely serious expression on his face, and for a split instant, he was the spitting image of his father. Then, he sighed, relaxing his shoulders. "Fine. If you're really so sure about that-" she glared, "-guy. I guess- I guess I can try to talk to him."

Charlie grinned a little as he pulled her into a hug of his own volition. Sometimes, things just work out.

nashmeira: Riiight I've been setting up for the main storyline for what feels like forever but it's cool, I like Academy times. I haven't decided if Charlie should learn the Hiraishin or not, it feels kind of corny to have her learn it but at the same time it would be abundantly useful. I don't want her to become the 'Second Flash', y'know? Anyway, thanks for the review and support, hope you liked this chapter!

Lyrigami: It's so Danzou to pull something like that. Ugh hate him. I love Kakashi tho, but our poor OC just wants to be accepted ;_;. And yes, I feel like she would definitely feel some sort of chakra exhaustion, since they're both kind of 'sharing' it. I don't think Minato would be able to control the chakra unless he was in control of her body, but that would be kinda cool, ne?! Anyway, I feel like he's still kind of reeling over the fact that Obito was the one behind the Kyuubi attack, and I have a feeling he's very much disappointed in him. Some good angst for some chapters in the future, huh? Thanks for your review and continued support!

vyoom: Thank you for your kind words! Dialogue is my go-to since I feel like it makes the story progress faster.

wisteria hysteria: Thank you for your kind words and support! I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)

WendyLeaf: Thanks dude! I figured despite how much I like to read them I could never write one of the usual OC fics one sees on here, so I'm glad you're liking this! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thank you for your support!

Guest: Thank you! Hope you liked the chapter, sorry it took so long to update for some reason I had a hard time writing this!