Characters belong to Kishimoto-san.

Chapter 5: My Name is Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto!

The three Sand siblings followed the pink-haired girl, Sakura, over to the English department building.

They entered one of the rooms—room seven—and were confronted with a crowd of curious eyes staring at them. Whispers filled the room and Kankuro could make out some of them.

"So they're the foreigners?"

"Oh, look, I think they're the Sunagakure kids."

"No way, you mean the Kazekage's children?"

"They kind of look funny. Especially that boy in the front."

"Yeah, what's that on his face?"

Kankuro ignored them and turned to the front of the room, where the whiteboard was. There was only a simple message on the board: Please take a seat.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" a loud voice called out, breaking the drone of hushed whispers. The Sunagakure citizens watched as a very familiar boy made his way over, his school uniform put on rather sloppily.

Sakura gave him a strained smile. "Hello, Naruto."

Kankuro exchanged glances with his siblings. So this was Uzumaki Naruto. He looked like the loud, obnoxious, reckless type, but also the one who was always late for everything. Kankuro's guess was confirmed by Sakura's next statement.

"I'm surprised you got here on time."

"Hey, I can be on time, dattebayo!" Naruto protested. "But hey, aren't those the Sunagakure people from back at the hotel?"

Kankuro narrowed his eyes at him. This rude boy was getting on his nerves again. Temari saw his movement and put her hand out in warning.

"Don't cause any trouble," Temari said under her breath. "Gaara's still here."

Kankuro nodded slightly.

"Yeah, we are," Kankuro said, addressing Naruto's question. "Sorry about earlier, though. Let's just forget about it and start again, yeah? I'm Kankuro, by the way."

Kankuro offered his hand and Naruto shook it a bit too enthusiastically.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" The blond said. "That's a name you'd better remember-ttebayo! I'm going to be Hokage one day!"

There was a scoff. "Say that after you pass all your classes."

It was another familiar face, Uchiha Sasuke. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke was dressed neatly in his school uniform, with his shirt tucked in.

"Hey, I'm not dumb, you know!" Naruto argued. "I'll be Hokage one day! Just you wait, Sasuke!"

Sasuke ignored him and made his way to a seat at the far end of the room, by the window.

Naruto frowned and followed him over. "Hey, are you ignoring me again-ttebayo?"

Sakura laughed nervously. "Sorry, that was Uchiha Sasuke-kun."

"We know," Gaara said. "We met him that day, too. He's from the Uchiha family, isn't he?"

Sakura nodded. "Anyways, it seems Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet, but it does say to just sit down, so why don't we find somewhere to sit?"

By the way Sakura kept glancing over in Sasuke's direction, Kankuro knew she wanted to sit next to him but was polite enough not to boldly leave her guests alone. Kankuro figured it wouldn't hurt to sit next to him, especially since Uzumaki Naruto had already taken a seat next to him. Before he could say anything however, his sister beat him to it.

"Why don't we sit over there?" Temari suggested, gesturing towards the row behind Sasuke. Sakura looked almost too excited and Kankuro smirked.

"I'll take the seat by the window," Kankuro said, claiming the spot before Sakura could sit there.

Temari rolled her eyes, knowing all too well what Kankuro was doing: he was having his revenge, albeit using a pretty immature tactic. Temari took a seat next to him, with Gaara on the other side, forcing Sakura to sit next to Naruto in the row in front of them. The bell rang, signifying the start of class, but there was no teacher in sight.

"Shouldn't Kakashi-sensei be here by now?" Naruto whined.

Sakura looked worried. "You don't think something happened, do you?"

"Unlikely," Kankuro said, surveying the room. He discovered how only the freshmen and the exchange students had quieted down. All the upperclassmen were still talking. They looked as if the bell hadn't just rung.

"The teacher is most likely always late," Temari observed and Kankuro nodded in agreement.

"What kind of teacher is late, though?" Kankuro said. "Back in Suna, everyone was always on time. We got punished if we were late, including the teachers. Geez, Konoha citizens must be slacking off. No wonder Konohagakure ranks lower than Sunagakure when it comes to academics."

"Hey, that's not true-ttebayo!" Naruto shouted. "You can't just say that 'cause our school's not as strict on rules as yours!"

"Calm down, Naruto," Sasuke said, looking bored. Kankuro noted how Sasuke's bored expression was different from Shikamaru's. Shikamaru just looked bored, as if everything took too much effort; on the other hand, Sasuke's bored expression was one of cold disinterest.

"Well, aren't you loud." The boy in front of Naruto turned around. He had pale skin and black hair, and a blank expression on his face. It was almost like Gaara and Sasuke's, except not as cold and calculating. "Don't you know it's because of students like you that Konohagakure is ranked lower?"

Naruto frowned. "Who're you?"

The boy smiled, but Kankuro noticed how it wasn't a friendly sort of smile. "I don't like you. You're very loud and annoying, and the first day has barely started."

Naruto got up out of his seat. "What was that? Who's loud and annoying? You're the one who just entered this conversation! And for the record, I'm very smart, just so you know, dattebayo!"

The boy shrugged. "We'll see about that."

"Hey, you wanna fight?" Naruto yelled. He stood up on top of his chair. "My name's Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto! And I'm gonna be Hokage one day-ttebayo! None of you guys can stop me! You all better remember that name!"

Kankuro grinned. The kid was amusing. He saw Sakura burying her head in her heads, her face flushed red from embarrassment, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Uzumaki Naruto seems like an energetic person," Temari said, raising an eyebrow at the scene.

"He's like a little kid," Kankuro corrected. "He even talks like one."

"No matter what you think of him, we still must protect him," Gaara stated.

"Yeah, we know, Gaara," Kankuro said. "What do we do about that other kid, though? The Uchiha."

Gaara shook his head. "Don't mess with him. He's part of the Uchiha family here, the ones in charge of Konohagakure's police."

"Oh," Temari said. "That explains why he seemed so skilled with that stick of his yesterday."

"I'll bet I could take him on, though," Kankuro boasted. Uchiha Sasuke didn't look like much. In Kankuro's eyes, he was just a kid trying to mimic adults.

"We've been learning to fight for ages," Kankuro continued. "Someone like him wouldn't even be able to compare."

"Not necessarily," Temari said. "You obviously don't know anything about the Uchiha family."

"The Uchiha is one of Konohagakure's oldest families," Gaara clarified. "They own the police, and often their members are elite warriors."

"Yeah, but how good can they be?" Kankuro said. "It's not like a Uchiha has ever been Hokage. On the other hand, our family's been Kazekage for years."

"Kankuro, if you think about it, Gaara's the same age as him and Gaara fights better than you," Temari reasoned. "It wouldn't be so far-fetched to say Uchiha Sasuke fights as well as you, if not better."

Kankuro shrugged. He saw how Uchiha Sasuke had turned slightly in their direction when they had started talking. No doubt the younger boy had heard every word.

"Everyone, please quiet down!" A boy announced as he stood in the front. He had ash-gray hair tied back in a ponytail and round glasses on his face. Unexpectedly, most of the class obeyed him, except for a certain blond idiot. The gray-haired boy looked over to Naruto, who was still standing defiantly on his chair.

"Please get down from there, Naruto," the boy said.

Naruto sat back down, shooting glares at the boy seated in front of him.

The boy at the front of the room introduced himself. "My name is Yakushi Kabuto. I've been asked by Kakashi-sensei to take attendance for this class as he is running late."

There were murmurs throughout the classroom and Kabuto adjusted his glasses.

"As the upperclassmen already know, Kakashi-sensei has a tendency to be late to every class," Kabuto explained. "He assigns different seniors every week to take attendance."

"You're a senior?" Naruto interrupted, standing up again. "You don't look like one, dattebayo."

"Sit down, Naruto!" Sakura hissed, pulling him back down.

"Yes, Naruto, I am a senior," Kabuto said calmly, "And you are obviously a freshman. For homeroom, Kakashi-sensei doesn't really have any rules. Just make sure to stay in here until the bell rings, and to be on time for attendance every day. Any questions?"

Naruto raised his hand and Kankuro was surprised to see the boy had some self-restraint. "But then, when will Kakashi-sensei be here?"

"Whenever I feel like it."

A man with silver hair stood by the doorway, nearly all his face hidden by a mask. He held a book in one hand, and waved at his students with the other. He smiled apologetically at them, or what Kankuro assumed would have been a smile, if he had been able to see the teacher's expression underneath the mask.

"Sorry, I'm late," Kakashi said, nodding for Kabuto to take a seat among his peers. "I had some things to do this morning. It's the first day of school after all."

"Half the period is already over-ttebayo!" Naruto complained. "What did you have to do that took you that long?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, was it?" Kakashi said, looking at the file in his hand. "It seems you were quite the troublemaker back in junior high."

"Hey, it's not my fault the teachers don't get me, dattebayo!" Naruto said, standing up for the third time. Kankuro wondered if he even had the ability to sit still for ten minutes.

"It wasn't my fault their teaching styles were so boring! How does anyone expect me to just stare at books all day?"

"That's kind of the point of school," Kankuro said, rolling his eyes. He realized he had spoken aloud when he felt the eyes of the Konohagakure students on him.

"You must be one of the Wind country exchange students," Kakashi said. "The Kazekage's oldest son Kankuro, correct?"

Kankuro nodded his head. "Yes, sir."

There were snickers and stifled laughter in the room. Kankuro frowned. What was so funny? He looked around the room and everyone avoided their gazes nervously. Growing up as the Kazekage's son, Kankuro had never had it easy when making friends at school. Everyone was always jealous or scared of him. It seemed even coming to a foreign country would not solve that.

"Anyways, let's get attendance done with for today," Kakashi said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

After Kakashi had taken attendance, the room was once again filled with chatter. Except Kankuro noticed that half the conversations were about him and his siblings.

"What was so funny?" Kankuro demanded. "Why were they all laughing at me just now?"

Temari shrugged, just as clueless. The two of them turned to Gaara, who merely stared back impassively. Gaara was a lot like Sasuke, Kankuro realized.

"Sorry about their behavior," Sakura said. "We're not so big on tradition and rules here in Konohagakure. I think the other students just found it funny you addressed Kakashi-sensei as 'sir'. Usually, a simple 'yes' will do."

"Oh." Kankuro shook his head. "It's just like I said; you guys have no manners here. Back in Sunaga—"

"Yes, yes, they know," Temari interrupted impatiently. "You don't have to tell them again."

"Hey, what're your names again?" Naruto asked, butting himself into their conversation.

"Kankuro, Temari, Gaara."

Naruto nodded. "Are all three of you freshmen this year? Is it true you're the Kazekage's children?"

"Yes, we are the Kazekage's children," Gaara said.

"That's so cool, dattebayo. That means one of you guys will be the next Kazekage, right? Hey, let's be friends! 'Cause I'm going to be Hokage one day!"

Kankuro resisted the urge to strangle him. He was getting tired of listening to Naruto talking about becoming Hokage. Kankuro doubted such a thing would ever happen, anyway. The Hokage was a title awarded to one who could run the city of Konohagakure as well as protect the daimyo of Fire. While Kankuro admitted Naruto most likely could learn the fighting skills necessary, the boy surely wasn't smart enough to pass the academic exams needed. In contrast, Gaara looked stunned at Naruto's comment.

"You…want to be friends?" Gaara asked cautiously. Kankuro exchanged looks with Temari. This was new behavior from Gaara.

Naruto nodded his head excitedly. "Yeah, that's right! Imagine that: the future Hokage and Kazekage as best friends!"

Gaara blinked at him. "Are you not scared of me?"

Naruto looked at him, puzzled. "Scared? Why would I be scared of you, dattebayo?"

Gaara shook his head. "Never mind."

He accepted Naruto's offered hand stiffly, as if unsure of what to do. "I will become friends with you, Uzumaki Naruto."