Last Time:

Sakura tapped her lip. "I suppose so. Fine, let's do it. But I'm picking the movie."

"Ah, that's not fair! You're going to make me watch some sappy chick flick," Naruto argued as Sakura got up and began to head upstairs.

"You're right, I am," Sakura confirmed. "It's called And My Heart Will Go On. You're going to love it."

"Sakura-chan," Naruto called as he stumbled up the steps after her. "Sakura-chan, listen to me."

"Good night Naruto-nii," Sakura sang as she headed into her room and shut the door.

Naruto sighed but smiled. "Oh well."

Opposites Attract: Chapter 39 – "nice to meet you cousin"

"Oh, there you are," Sasuke said as he looked up from his phone as a half-dead Naruto approached him. He chuckled at the sight of his face and tucked his phone away into his pocket before Naruto took a seat beside him on the bench. "How do you think you did?"

"Horribly," Naruto confessed as he sank in his seat. "I knew the entrance exam for Konoha City University was hard, but I didn't think it was impossible. What the hell kind of questions were those?"

"They're actually pretty standard for students of Konoha City Academy," Sasuke admitted and laughed at Naruto's shocked expression. "I'm sure you did fine, Hinata and I spent more than enough time studying with you. And Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina spent more than enough money on that cram school you were attending in preparation for this exam."

Naruto rolled his eyes before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his phone. "Yeah, well, I didn't expect a test like that. At this point, I'm just hoping I got a high enough score to be at least put on the waitlist." He turned his phone back on and waited for it to reboot. "What time is it?"

"Almost two," Sasuke answered. "I was supposed to pick up Sakura as soon as I was done but I didn't expect to be in there that long. By the time I get over to Konoha High, she'll be done for the day."

Naruto nodded. He didn't have any new messages or missed calls. He let out a heavy sigh and tucked his phone into his front pocket and leaned back against the bench. He propped his left arm up along the back and stretched his legs out in front of him.

"Nothing?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope," Naruto confirmed. "Oba-chan said they were supposed to be waking up any day now though so I just have to keep waiting."

"They'll wake up soon," Sasuke said confidently as he nudged Naruto. "Knowing Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina, there's no way they're going to let themselves rest that long. For all we know, as soon as they wake up, they're going to request to be discharged so they can get back to work."

Naruto snickered. "Yeah, you're right."

"Sasuke-kun? Naruto-kun?"

Naruto and Sasuke both looked behind them to see Hinata standing there with a group of female students, all of them standing back and whispering amongst themselves as they eyed Naruto and Sasuke.

"Oh, Hinata." Sasuke stood up and came around the back of the bench. "You're on break now, aren't you?"

"Ah," Hinata nodded, "I am. Did you just finish your entrance exam?"

"Yeah," Sasuke sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, "it took a lot longer than I originally anticipated but it wasn't too much, I guess."

Naruto got up and joined them. He stood there with one hand in his pocket and seemed a little livelier than he had been a second ago. "I love how you're so calm about all of this. You do realize that we just took an exam that lasted almost seven hours?"

"Please, don't remind me," Sasuke pleaded as he elbowed Naruto in the ribs, Hinata and the group of girls with her giggled at the two of them. "Well, we better get going. I have to pick up Sakura."

"All right. Tell Sakura-chan I said hi," Hinata said.

"I will," Sasuke assured her before giving her a quick hug. "I'll see you later," he said before hitting Naruto's forearm and beginning to walk away.

"See you around, Hinata," Naruto said before smiling at her and following Sasuke.

"See you around," Hinata repeated.

later that night: The Youth District – Cinema Circle

"What're you scowling about?" Sasuke questioned as he took a seat beside Naruto in the partially crowded movie theater. He handed off a jumbo tub of popcorn to Naruto and groaned when several of their friends doze in causing popcorn to spill out and get everywhere. "Impatient much?"

"So, what's wrong with you?" Shikamaru questioned before tossing a piece of popcorn in the air that Chouji skillfully caught.

"That's a bit of a loaded questions," Naruto answered, all his friends reacting in overdramatic fashion before pelting him with popcorn. He laughed at them before grabbing a fistful of popcorn and handing it back to Lee, Shino, and Chouji sitting behind Shikamaru, Sasuke, Sai, and himself. "It's a lot of things, really. Mainly Hinata."

"What happened with Hyuuga-san?" Lee questioned as he managed to snag some popcorn before Chouji dumped most of the popcorn into his own large container that he brought from home. "Are you two having trouble in your relationship?"

"We don't really have much of a relationship anymore," Naruto confessed. "We broke up a few weeks ago."

"Huh?" Shikamaru looked at Naruto before looking at Sasuke. "You knew?"

"Of course, I knew," Sasuke sounded offended. "She had a thing about how things ended between Naruto and Baji," Sasuke clarified, "and then with all that's happening now, Naruto thought it best to keep her at a distance."

"Ah," Lee hummed. "Quite the wise decision. There's no need in Hyuuga-san getting hurt in all of this."

"It's still sad though," Shino commented, all of Naruto's friends nodding in agreement. "You were through the roof when Hinata agreed to be your girlfriend and you were like a lovesick puppy for a solid month after your first kiss."

"Yeah, well," Naruto sighed and picked up his soda, "things happen. Where the hell is Kiba? The movie is starting soon and we're not going to be able to save his seat."

"Oh, Kiba-kun?" Lee repeated before pointing towards the back corner of the theater. "He's back there."

"Back there? Why would he be back there?" Shikamaru questioned before they all turned to look.

Sure enough, sitting in the back right corner of the movie theater was Kiba and sitting beside him was Tamaki. Everyone stared, dumbfounded. Naruto was the first to snap out of it and pull out his phone. He snapped a quick picture of the two of them before sending it to their group chat and adding "enjoy your date" with the picture.

It sent and they all stared at Kiba, anxiously awaiting his reaction to the message. And they got it too. He pulled out his phone as soon as the message was sent and when he saw the picture, his eyes widen and immediately found his group of friends several rows in front of him on the other side of the theater.

"I wonder when that happened?" Naruto questioned as they all looked away to give Tamaki and Kiba their privacy.

"About two weeks ago," Sai answered. "I went to the school to drop off something for Ino and saw Tamaki and Kiba making out underneath a set of stairs."

"And you're just now telling us?" Sasuke questioned.

Sai smiled. "It slipped my mind."

"Nothing slips your mind," Naruto argued.

Sai thought for a moment. "I suppose you're right."

Naruto gave up before reaching over his head for the bucket of popcorn back. Once it was in his hands, he brought it back into his lap and he, Sasuke, and Shikamaru ate from it. The lights went down, and everyone settled into their seats.

Partway through the movie though, Naruto was beginning to lose the fight with his bladder thanks to the large soda he'd been sipping on for most of the movie. Sasuke always told him not to get a large soda because he'd always have to run out halfway through, but Naruto was determined to win. He wasn't winning tonight.

He slipped out of the theater and made his way to the bathroom. He went to the first urinal he saw and relieved himself. He let out a sigh of relief and cracked his neck. He heard the door open followed by a cluster of voice.

"Lock the door."

That got Naruto's attention. He shook twice and zipped up his pants. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the six young adult men standing behind him all had red hair.

"Well, I have to say, it's nice to finally meet you, Cousin," the one standing in front said with a smirk. He was the tallest of them with medium length hair with long bangs, his hair spiked up in the back. "Allow me to formally introduce myself, I'm Uzumaki Haruka, but you can call me Haru."

"Haru, huh?" Naruto repeated before walking over to the sink and beginning to wash his hands. "Here to see a movie?"

"Something like that." Haru leaned against the sink near where Naruto washed his hands. "Uncle Kyosuke's pretty pissed off, you know that, right? I mean, he got all of us together the other night and just went on and on about how you interrupted his and Aunt Kaori's dinner. You know, that's a pretty sacred night for the two of them? Their date nights, I mean?"

"Is it?" Naruto sounded curious. "Well, I guess I'll have to apologize to them for interrupting them when I see them again."

"You do that," Haru urged and watched as Naruto flicked some water off of his hands before heading over to the paper towel dispenser. "You here to see Cradle? It's supposed to be a damn good movie from what I heard."

"It's pretty good," Naruto answered as he dried his hands. "Do you have a message for me from Grandpa Kyosuke?"

"You bet," Haru answered. He snapped his fingers and the rest of them rushed Naruto.

The largest of the group grabbed Naruto and slammed him into the wall. Naruto coughed before elbowing him in his spin a few times. One of them attempted to punch Naruto but he managed to tilt his head out of the way in time before he got a bloody nose. Naruto elbowed the largest one in the spin again and this time he let go.

Before the largest one could back away far enough, Naruto grabbed him by his hair and kneed him in the nose. He was caught off guard by a right hook to the jaw before he was headbutted in the chin. He stumbled back and put his arms up as the rest began to punch and kick at him. He gritted his teeth as they punched him in the ribs and kicked at his knees and legs.

Suddenly, they all stopped and when Naruto removed his arms, he was immediately met with Haru's fist breaking his nose. Haru landed punch after punch against Naruto before Naruto tackled him into the linoleum. Naruto straddled him and managed to land a few punches before he was pulled off.

Haru groaned and held his jaw as he got up. "You know how to pack a punch after all. Almost reminds me of Kushina's punches from when I was little."

"Who do you think taught me how to fight?" Naruto said before stomping on the guy holding his right arm's foot. When his arm was released, he managed to hit the guy holding his left arm, but he was punched in the gut by a fourth. He groaned, the force of the punch knocking him to his knees.

"Get him up," Haru ordered and they immediately picked him back up again. Haru punched Naruto in the face again, blood splattering onto the shirt of one of the men. He chuckled before lifting Naruto's face, his eye beginning to swell and a cut above his eye gushing blood. "Uncle Kyosuke isn't afraid of someone like you and to be quite honest, he doesn't have to be. This is just the beginning, Little Cousin."

Haru let Naruto's face fall before he landed an uppercut. He landed punch after punch on his face and stomach until he was satisfied. He grabbed Naruto by his hair to lift his face and saw Naruto had passed out. "Poor kid, I guess Kushina didn't train him properly." He sucked his teeth and let go of Naruto's hair, his head dropping again. "All right, let's go."

They dropped Naruto onto the floor and snickered at the sight of him bloody and beaten. Haru snapped a quick picture before tucking his phone away.

"See you around," Haru said before leaving.

To Be Continued…