Disclaimer: The owners of Naruto do not live in the underworld. They aren't zombies. They probably don't have zombie friends. They are not on the brink of insanity (I hope). They probably don't think that the English voices in Naruto sound like people are on drugs. And since I live in the underworld, am a zombie, have zombie friends, and think that the English voices in Naruto sound like people are on drugs, can you deduce if I own Naruto? I hope you can. Anything else that isn't copyrighted to someone/something else is owned by me. Happy deducing.

Well, this is my first Naruto fanfiction. It'll probably be centered around certain characters a bit, depending on who I decide to center around. The story'll probably end up centered around one character more later on though, once I've decided who. The story with be sort of in an alternate universe, although not quite. As for the pairings…well, I don't really want to say them here. I want them to be a surprise. However, I guess I can say that most of the pairings will be popular ones. And there will be some pairings in which I can't choose between (no yaoi though). This story is still a bit rocky (meaning, I've still not decided whether to continue writing it and making it a long story). So, I'd appreciate comments and reviews. Thanks, and please read below.

Please Read Before Starting the Story: The characters will be in living in Konohana, as usual. However, there are a few changes. Chakra is a new discovery. Therefore, Konohana is not a shinobi village. Also, Konohana is a bit more modern in some aspects. It has computers, but no guns or video games. The characters look the way they do in Naruto Part II of the manga. Sasuke's parents are not dead. There is no "branch house" and "main house" in the Hyuuga family, so, Neji has no seal. Naruto's mother is alive. Since the students' histories are a bit different, they may not act exactly the way they do in the anime/manga. The students in Konohana go to normal schools (the academy, high school, university) and learn normal things (like math, science, ect.). Or at least, they used to…



Chapter One - Arrivals

It was silent. Nobody said a word. Tension hung in the air, thick as fur. The only sounds were the rustlings of the restaurant. All was quiet…

"HEY GUYS!" Yamanaka Ino ran into the restaurant and went up to the table. She paused. "What's going on? You guys look like you're having a staring contest."

"I'm not," Nara Shikamaru said. "They are." He nodded towards Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji. The two teens were locked in an intense staring contest, neither one looking away.

"Hi Ino," Sasuke said, not looking up. The veins around Neji's eyes bulged a little as he struggled to not blink. He was so concentrated in staring that he didn't even greet Ino.

"How rude," Ino huffed. "What, are you too good for me, Neji?"

"Hi…" Neji said in a barely distinguished voice, his stare intensifying. Ino sat down next to Sasuke and leaned across the table towards Shikamaru.

"Tense, huh?" she whispered. Shikamaru shrugged. "How long have they been at it?" Ino asked.

"They started about three minutes ago," Shikamaru replied.

"Wow, that long?" Ino looked back at the other guys. Their eyes were watering and twitching.

"Neji's going to win," Shikamaru said in a definite tone. Ino looked confusedly at him. She couldn't tell who was winning because both boys' eyes were twitching wildly and watering. However a few seconds later, Sasuke blinked.

"I win," Neji said smugly, satisfied.

"Damn," Sasuke swore. He gripped his glass of water angrily.

"It's okay Sasuke," Ino said, patting said boy on the arm. "You'll win next time." Neji smirked.

"I don't think so," he said. Sasuke glared at him.

"Shut up Neji," the Uchiha growled. Shikamaru spoke up before Neji could retort.

"Can we just order now?" The other boys glared at each other one last time before shrugging. Ino smiled.

"You guys haven't ordered yet? Great!"

"What was the point of asking that question when you already knew the answer?" Shikamaru asked, looking bored.

"Shut up, Shikamaru."

"Whatever…" Shikamaru called a waitress over. "I'd like the tempura udon."

"Ebi sushi for me!" Ino told the waitress.

"Beef steak," Neji said.

"Fried chicken with baked potatoes on rice," Sasuke ordered.

"So!" Ino began, after the waitress had left. "Are you guys excited about university? I can't wait to get there tomorrow!"

"Too troublesome," Shikamaru commented.

"Not really," Sasuke said, in answer to Ino's question.

"It's just university," Neji stated.

"What do you mean, just?" Ino exclaimed incredulously. "We get to crash with someone! And university's bound to be more fun than high school."

"That's a matter of opinion," Shikamaru said.

"Oh, shut up," Ino growled. "The only thing you think is fun is shougi."

"Not necessarily."

"Anyways," Ino continued, "we'll be on our own! No parents!"

"That's the part I'm looking forward to," Sasuke said.

"It would be nice to not have Hiashi-sama around for a change," Neji admitted.

"I think that getting away from my mom is the best part," Shikamaru commented.

"You are so whipped," Ino said to him. Shikamaru shrugged.

"She's my mom; what can I do?"

"I don't know," Ino said. Shikamaru sighed.

"Have you guys received your timetables yet?" Neji asked. Everyone shook their heads.

"It's strange, seeing as we start school the day after tomorrow," Sasuke said. Ino nodded.

"Yeah! I mean like, I want to know what classes I'm having!"

"Your friend's arriving tomorrow, right?" Shikamaru asked.

"Huh? Oh, you mean Sakura?" Shikamaru nodded. Ino smiled. "Oh yeah, she is! I chant' wait for you guys to meet her! I hope that she and I get to be roommates."

"I highly doubt that," Neji said. "There's going to be a lot of people in the school."

"Like hell," Sasuke commented. "A bunch of losers and dweebs. I hope I don't have to live with one."

"Well, I have to go," Shikamaru said. "It's getting late."

"It's 9:00, Shikamaru," Ino said disbelievingly.

"I go to sleep at 10," the Nara said. "See you guys tomorrow."

"Bye," everyone replied.

"Man, he sleeps so early," Ino sighed.

"He sleeps a lot," Sasuke amended. "I usually sleep at 11:30, but I'll probably go to bed at 10:30 today since I have to get up early tomorrow."

"Really? I'm going at 12:00 pm tomorrow," Ino said.

"11:00 am," Neji stated for himself.

"Lucky," Sasuke commented. "My dad says that I have to go at 9:00 am tomorrow."

"Poor you," Ino said sympathetically. The three chatted a bit more before finishing off their dinners.

"Well, bye guys, see you tomorrow!" Ino said.

"See ya," the other two replied. Everyone left.

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Shikamaru looked at his watch. It was 12:55 pm. Five minutes before the briefing in the auditorium started. He couldn't find Ino, Sasuke, or Neji anywhere. Just then, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Shikamaru turned around. He could make out Neji's shape in the darkness.

"Hey," he said. "Where are Ino and Sasuke?"

"No idea," Neji answered. "Wait…I think I see them coming." Shikamaru couldn't see Ino or Sasuke anywhere, but Neji's eyes were better than him at seeing in the dark. But then, Neji's eyes were better than anyone at seeing in anything.

"Hey! Guys!" Shikamaru heard Ino's voice call. So Neji was right. Ino and Sasuke approached them moments later.

"Why are you guys so late?" Shikamaru asked. All four found seats as Sasuke replied,

"Well, I was on my way here twenty minutes ago, but Ino saw me and dragged me all the way to the swimming pool-"

"It's so big!" Ino cut in excitedly.

"-and then we got lost on the way here," Sasuke finished.

"I can't believe that they still haven't given us our timetables," Neji said. "We don't even know which dorm we're staying in."

"Maybe they're giving them out here," Shikamaru commented.

"Shh! The briefing's starting!" Ino said.

"Welcome to the University of Shinobi Arts," the person on the stage said. "This is not a new, normal university, like you all expected. We will not be teaching average mathematics, arts, languages, and other things. You may all be wondering why you have not received your timetables yet." Everyone started muttering at this. "Quiet!" the person barked. "This is because there is one last test each and everyone one of you have to take today. You will be accepted if you pass. If you fail, however…you will be transferred to the University of Konohana. Please line up in front of one of the five doors on the left and right to take the test. Everyone started talking at once.

"That was sudden," Ino said, blinking. "And short."

"This is going to take a while," Shikamaru sighed. "There are at least a thousand students in here and only ten doors total. That's a hundred students to each door. Even if it only took five minutes for each student, it would take at least a bit over eight hours to finish the tests."

"Wow," Ino said, getting into a line quickly. Since all four friends had been sitting at the far right end of the auditorium, they were some of the first to get into line.

"At least we'll know if we've passed sooner," Sasuke said. Surprisingly, Ino was up in a few minutes.

"That was quick," Neji commented. Then, it was Shikamaru's turn. He walked into the room, which contained a table, computer, chair, and two adults.

"Please sit down and put this on," said the one sitting in front of the computer. She handed him a helmet-like contraption that had wires connecting it to the computer. Shikamaru did as he was told. After a few seconds, the computer beeped. "Passed," the person said. "Please wait in that courtyard." She pointed at the door beside her. Shikamaru was surprised, but went. He emerged outside in a very large area surrounded by a fence. Shikamaru could see dejected-looking students leaving through another door.

"Shikamaru!" Ino ran over to him. "You passed too?"

"Obviously," Shikamaru answered. "That was a weird test."

"Yeah!" Ino agreed. "I mean, what was with the helmet thing?" Sasuke came out from the door, into the courtyard. "Yay! You passed too!" Ino cried happily.

"…" Sasuke blinked. "…yeah." Ino cheered. Then, she cheered again when she saw Neji coming towards them.

"We all passed!"

"That was hardly a test," Neji said, frowning. All four friends head a sniffle, and turned towards the "rejected" door. A rather hideous-looking boy with huge eyebrows was sobbing.

"It's okay Lee," his friend said, patting him awkwardly.

"But I wanted to be in Gai-sensei's class!" Lee wailed. Ino winced.

"What a pussy," Sasuke said.

"Judging by the rate the teachers are going, this'll probably take about two hours." Everyone looked at Shikamaru.

"Seriously?" Sasuke asked. Shikamaru nodded. "Aw man…"

About two hours later…

The speaker came out and announced that the tests were done.

"Finally!" Ino sighed.

"Took them long enough," Sasuke grumbled.

"That was a pretty long wait," Neji agreed.

"They had over a thousand students," Shikamaru reminded the others. Just then, the teacher spoke.

"As you all may already know, everyone here passed. Those that failed were sent home. Not surprisingly, only fort-one of you passed." Ino's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. That was it! All the other students also looked shocked. "Earlier," the adult continued, "we said that we did not teach average mathematics, sciences, arts, whatever." She paused. "We lied."

"What!" someone yelled. Everyone began muttering.

"Quiet!" the teacher shouted. "Yes. We lied. In fact, we do not teach math, science, or academics period. Many of you may have thought that our university's name was some cute, random thing we made up. Well, let me tell you all: it's not. Before everyone starts bombarding questions at me, let me ask you: have all of you heard of the new discovery of chakra?" Nearly everyone nodded, although some did hesitantly. "Good. Although this has been kept from the public, discoveries have shown that many…unusual things can be done or created with chakra. For example…if you may demonstrate, Kakashi-san." A man with floppy white hair and a mask covering three-fourths of his face stepped up beside the woman.

"Of course, Kurenai-san." He made weird gestures with his hands and spoke. "Kage Bunshin no Justu!" A complete clone of the man appeared next to him. Many people gasped. Some girls shrieked.

"Cool!" someone yelled. Kakashi smiled. Not that anyone could see it, of course.

"This is called a shadow clone," he said, pointing at his double.

"Hey!" his clone said indignantly.

"It speaks!" a girl shrieked.

"Of course it does," Kakashi said impatiently. "It wouldn't be a complete clone if it didn't look, speak, sound, and act like me now, would it?" He turned to the clone. "Shadow clones are very easy to get rid of, however. A simple punch would suffice…like this!" With those words, Kakashi punched the double. It disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"That's amazing…" Neji said quietly.

"There are many things one can do with chakra," Kurenai said. Everyone stared in awe. "Everybody here has chakra. This was why we had each and everyone one of you put on this." Kurenai held up the strange helmet contraption. "With this, we could tell whether you had enough chakra."

"Enough chakra?" somebody asked.

"Yes," Kurenai said. "Everyone has chakra. However, most people don't have enough chakra to do anything with it. All of you do, though. This is why we've gathered you all here. This is the University of Shinobi Arts. We are going to make you all into shinobi." There was a silence as everyone processed the information.

"Cool!" a person yelled again.

"Hang on," someone else said. "What if we don't want to be shinobi?" Kurenai blinked, then shrugged.

"Then leave," she said. "However, becoming a shinobi is honorable. You can protect yourself, the village, everyone else, and make lots of money. It's probably better than becoming a swordsman or a samurai." Kurenai paused. "Well, line up over there for your information sheets. If you have any questions, ask your homeroom teacher. If you wish to not attend the school, please inform Kakashi-san."

"This is so weird," Ino said as the friends got their timetables.

"This is more exciting than I expected," Shikamaru commented.

"Wow, you actually think something's exciting, Shikamaru!" Ino exclaimed disbelievingly. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"No, I said that this was more exciting. Which means that it can still be boring. And it is. But it's still a bit interesting."

"Ugh, you're no fun Shikamaru," Ino complained.

"I never said I was," Shikamaru replied. Ino growled.

"Who are your roommates?" Sasuke broke in.

"Oh my god, I forgot about that!" Ino excitedly opened her sheet. "Oh my god!" She started jumping up and down.

"What?" Shikamaru asked.

"Sakura!" Ino shrieked. "I got Sakura! She passed! Wait…that means that she's here!" Ino started looking around wildly, and spotted someone with pink hair looking around. "Sakura!"

"How embarrassing," Neji mumbled as some people looked their way.

"OH MY GOD! INO!" The girl with pink hair ran towards them.

"SAKURA!" Ino screamed, hugging the other girl tightly.

"INO!" Sakura screamed back, doing the same.

"…troublesome women," Shikamaru sighed. He noticed Sasuke looking at Sakura rather intently.

"I haven't seen you in such a long time, big forehead girl!" Ino cried happily.

"Same here, Ino-pig!" Sakura exclaimed.

"…and they're best friends?" Shikamaru asked, voicing the exact thoughts of the two speechless boys beside him.

"Oh yeah!" Ino turned around. "Guys, this is Sakura-chan," she introduced. "Sakura, this is Shikamaru, Sasuke-kun, and Neji."

"Hi!" Sakura said, smiling. "Ino's told me all about her boyfriends."

"Likewise," Sasuke said. "And we're not her boyfriends."

"Forehead girl!" Ino grumbled. Sakura giggled. "Well, anyway," Ino continued. "You guys never told me who your roommates are!"

"That's because you never gave us a chance too," Shikamaru muttered. He checked his paper. "Neji."

"Some guy called Uzumaki Naruto," Sasuke said, looking at his sheet. "Never heard of him. I hope he's not too lame." Suddenly, someone yelled.

"Heeeeeey! Who here is Uchiha Sasuke!"

"What the-" Sasuke said, turning around. He saw a blond, messy-haired boy jumping up and down, looking around. "I am," Sasuke said, frowning. "What do you want?" The boy looked at Sasuke. His eyes widened.

"Ahhhh!" he yelled. "This can't be happening! You're my roommate!"

"Hey," Sakura said suddenly. "You're that guy that kept on yelling 'cool!'."

"What!" Sasuke shouted. "You mean I have to live with this dweeb!"

"Who're you calling dweeb!" the boy yelled. "You know who you're talking to? Uzumaki Naruto!"

"…who?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uzumaki N-"

"He was being sarcastic," Shikamaru interrupted.

"I know th-…what!"

"Ha, I can't believe you're named fish-cake," Ino snickered.

"What's your name then!"

"Yamanaka Ino!"

"Ha! So what? You're pig!"

"Grr…WHAT DID YOU SAY!" Ino roared. Naruto shrunk.

"Um…um…uh…"

"What a loser," Sasuke sighed.

"You got that right," Sakura said, looking distastefully at Naruto. The boy blushed slightly upon seeing Sakura.

"Why did you act like you knew me, anyway?" Sasuke asked.

"Cause I have to walk past your mansion every time I go to school! I always see you come out!" Naruto yelled, pointing.

"I don't live in a mansion," Sasuke scoffed.

"I think he means the Uchiha district," Neji commented, finally speaking up. "Your house if pretty far into the district, so there would be no way he could've seen you walk out of your house."

"WHAT! You even have a district named after you!"

"It's his clan's district dummy!" Ino yelled. "Sheesh."

"Rich kids are always snobby jerks!" Naruto proclaimed.

"I'm not that rich," Sasuke growled. "I don't even know you, and you start making up things about me!"

"I walk past your house every day twice and you've never even noticed me!"

"Why would I notice some random kid that has nothing to do with me just because he walks past the district! And you don't walk past my house!"

"Whatever!"

"Could you two stop?" Shikamaru asked tiredly.

"He started it!" Sasuke and Naruto shouted, pointing at each other.

"I don't care who did, just stop."

"Who do you think you are!" Naruto yelled.

"Shikamaru," Shikamaru answered. "I'm going to look at my dorm." With that, he took his things and left.

"I'm going too," Neji decided, and made his leave.

"Yeah, come on Sakura," Ino said. "I feel sorry for you Sasuke." The two girls exited. Sasuke sighed.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped. See ya dobe." He left. Naruto stood there alone for a few seconds. Then…

"Hey!"



Well, there it is! Chapter one. Sorry if it was boring or something. My serious/angst/whatever fics usually start out light-humored, so yeah…

Btw, the line button's not working, so that's why the author notes aren't separated by lines.

I'd appreciate it if you would review! Thanks!

PS. This story will not have InoxSasuke. Just to let you all know.