Author's Notes

Hey ya'll! Here's a new chapter for you folks! We're slowly getting closer and closer to when the juicy stuff will start to happen! Yes, I am excited for the education arc to end. Big plans planned for Naruto and the rest of the fox gang as well as the rookies in this fic, really depends on how this all goes to be honest. That's all I really have to say, other than that the Mizuki incident will not happen, maybe. You'll know what happens to that bastard next chapter maybe.

So, let's jump right into the story shall we?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, which belongs to Kishimoto and do not own Nox, which belongs to Westwood and EA. Sad face.

Arc One: Ninja 101

Chapter Five – Education Once More

-Hidden Leaf Village, Kitsune Sanctuary-

It has been a whole week since they moved to Konoha. The families have been slowly but surely getting used to the atmosphere of the human colony, although, they are all still wary of them. Quite a few things have happened as they were establishing their own wild settlement out here deep in the forest, some ways away from the den of the humans, so the foxes won't be disturbed. One of the things is that they have erected a magical security barrier just like back home, so no possible spy or other shinobi or ape could detect their village that is now completely blended in with the nature here. The second, is the kits decided to name themselves as the Kitsune Seven, since they have been sticking together like glue for some time now. Everybody agreed on the name, the one who initiated it being Naruto, while the one who named it was Yozu. The last thing is that our hero has been talking with his parents about opening his own alchemy shop, since he's been obsessed with making potions and magic ever since that class at the ninja school to which they thought it would be a good idea, although they needed to speak to the hokage first. Though, his mother and father were pretty worried about him so Inari said that she would be keeping an eye on him if anything bad happens or if the kit needs help.

Today, is the day that the purple eyed kit will start the ninja academy. It's strange, he and his best friends will have to spend four years before they become actual genin, even though they already did tons of training back home at the ninja school. He's guessing that there would be some extra material to learn, which would be quite interesting to see. There's not knowing what to expect from this institution for ninja-in-training. As Naruto made his way down the stairs of the new house they moved to, he instantly smelled breakfast, which made his mouth water slightly. Making his way to the dining room, he was greeted with smiles from his parents, to which he returned as he sat on his chair and began to eat, making his eyes glitter with gold as usual.

"This is amazing kaa-chan! Your cooking is as awesome as ever!" The multi-colour haired kit complimented as he finished his breakfast as fast as lightning soon after.

"Thank you kit, you know I always try my best" Inari smiled at her son as he put the plate into the sink, before going back upstairs to wash up and dress for the academy that's starting soon.

"How do you think today's day at the academy will go?" Kurama asked as he witnessed Inari's worried expression.

"I don't know… just hope nothing bad happens on his first day amongst the humans, and… not get into big trouble" The goddess confessed.

"Don't worry Inari-hime, just remember that he has his friends and us if he needs any support" The great sage soothed his wife, as he kissed her cheek.

"I guess you're right Kurama-kun…" Inari sighed.

-Ninja Academy-

Naruto was wondering through the crowd of other kids that were entering the academy, excited about their studies to become ninja. He was disguised in his human form, wearing just a simple white t-shirt with a small symbol of a golden dragon on the top right corner, and basic red shorts. As usual, he protested about putting on shoes or socks since they were very uncomfortable. Anyone looking at him would think that he's just the usual civilian, although, these clothes are really not his forte. He prefers kimonos, the more old-fashioned wear. The multi-haired kit's mother said it was for his own protection, and thus he agreed. He sighed and shook his head. He's extremely nervous, not knowing what to expect. So far, everything seems to be normal. During the week when they were settling in, his mother taught all the kits how to hide their fox-scent. It was very important as dogs would sniff them out otherwise, especially since the Inuzuka clan resides here.

"You okay bud?" Kinua came out of nowhere, making the purple eyed kit jump.

"Y-Yeah, just nervous" Naruto responded.

"You were zoned out dude" The vampiric kitsune in his human form disguise pointed out.

"Thinking about a few things, that's all" The multi-hair coloured kit explained.

"I see, well come on, the others are already waiting inside for us!" Kinua said as he dragged the purple eyed kit along.

"H-Hey! I can walk myself! Wait up Kinua!" Naruto shouted as they ran through the academy gates.

-Classroom-

Kinua slid the door open and ran inside, with Naruto coming in from behind. They slowed down and decided to walk all the way to the back, where all the purple eyed kit's friends are sitting and chatting to each other. They took their seats on the right side with the window. It was a fairly simple classroom, basically similar to the one back at ninja school. A walkway up in the middle, desks split to the left and right sides, a giant blackboard on the wall and a desk in the centre at the bottom stacked with a few papers. There were a lot of other human kids here, all chatting about exciting things. However, he did not notice a red-haired girl that took one curious glance at him. Once he was finished with the sightseeing, he decided to join in the conversations of his disguised friends.

It has been about fifteen minutes so far, with everyone getting impatient. All of a sudden, the door slides open and in came a man wearing a green vest, with a headband with the leaf symbol engraved on it, and a scar going across his face. From behind came another, with the same outfit although he has light blue hair.

"Sorry I'm late everyone. My name is Iruka Umino, and I will be your instructor for these four years and this, is my assistant Mizuki. Now, it seems that there is a lot of you that decided to sign up for this semester, and I hope that you enjoy your time here. Anyways, before we get to the lessons of the day, let us do some basic introductions starting from the right-hand side" Iruka introduced and explained. One by one, some of the students decided to stand up, some only saying their name, and the others saying their likes, dislikes hobbies or dreams. Next up, a student with pink hair and outfit stood up and decided to introduce herself.

"My name is Sakura Haruno" She introduced herself as she sat back down. After one other student introduced themselves, another just lazily laid there on the table.

"Shikamaru Nara…" He lazily said and went back to sleep.

"So troublesome, and here I am being compared to that…" Taida whispered as he shook his head in disapproval.

"I guess you two are… kind of different from each other" Tereki whispered to him, making the lazy kitsune sigh again in annoyance.

"My name is Choji Akimichi, I hope that we can all be friends" The chubby boy introduced himself while munching on some chips, before sitting back down.

"You two will definitely get along well Yozu" Kinua whispered to him through a snicker.

"Who knows? Maybe we will" The jolly kitsune whispered back with a smile.

"H-Hinata Hyuuga" A shy girl bowed to everyone before sitting back down.

"What a shy one, maybe we'll change that personality at some point, eh Ichigo?" Kana whispered to her.

"Yeah, she definitely has potential to be strong" Ichigo analysed.

"My name is Shino Aburame, if you see any insects flying around, they are mine. So please, don't kill them" He introduced himself as he sat back down. Some students shuddered at that thought, except for the young kitsune.

"I'm Hikari Uzumaki-Namikaze! And I dream… to become the first female hokage!" She declared and pointed to herself with a confident smile, as she sat back down. Some of the boys in the class tried their best not to laugh, although, since she noticed, has given a death stare to some of them, which made the brave ones cower slightly.

"Such confidence, I like her" Ichigo whispered with a grin.

"Hey oh! I'm Kiba Inuzuka, and this is my partner Akamaru! I aim to become the next clan head, and the top dog of this class!" He declared with the same confidence as he sat back down.

"Mutts…" Kinua whisper snorted as all the disguised kitsune nodded their heads in unison, while the purple eyed kit had no answer to give. He wants to treat all equally.

"My name, is Ino Yamanaka!" She introduced herself as she sat back down.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I don't like many things, except for training. So, make sure you stay out of my way" The boy introduced himself as he sat back down with a smirk. Some of the girls in the class gained blushes on their faces, before they snapped back to reality.

"Tch, Emo" Taida whispered.

"This gives me terrible flashbacks back in ninja school…" Naruto whispered with a shiver as Kinua lightly chuckled as he also remembered his friend's trouble with fangirls.

After a little more students introduced themselves, it was time that the kits decided that they would only reveal their first names. This is for their own safety, as to not create dissonance in the Leaf.

"My name is Naruto, and my dream is to surpass my parents. I hope that we can all be friends" Naruto introduced himself as he bowed respectfully and sat back down.

"Kinua! Friend and rival to Naruto! You mess with my friends; you'll regret it!" He introduced himself with a grin as he sat back down.

"My name is Tereki, I hope that we can all be friends at some point" She bowed respectfully also as she sat back down.

"Tch, so troublesome… my name is Taida, maybe we can get along, I haven't decided yet" He sat back down with a yawn and a look of annoyance. Shikamaru looked at him in curiosity.

'We can definitely get along well' The lazy Nara thought to himself.

"Hey everyone! Yozu here! Let's all be friends!" He smiled as the jolly kitsune in disguise sat back down.

"Hi all! I'm Ichigo, and this is my friend Kana! We are both aspiring to be awesome kenjutsu masters!" Both girls grinned as they both sat down. At last the introductions were over, and Iruka decided to speak.

"That's great! You all are unique in your own ways, now, who in here has had ninja training before?" The instructor asked as quite a lot of students, including the kitsune in disguise raised their hands. Most of those were mostly the students from the most prominent ninja clans especially.

"Anyone who has had ninja training, please follow me outside, those without, Mizuki will lead you to a much safer spot to watch" Iruka explained as everyone followed their new sensei out into the academy training ground.

'This is just like the ninja school all over again' Naruto thought to himself with a sigh as he talked with his friends.

After this, the purple eyed kit was getting massive Déjà vu as he was reminded of the ninja school all over again. They had to be tested their skills once more with an underwhelming ninjutsu test where it was to show off the basic academy three. Him and the rest of the kitsune seven passed it with flying colours. The rest of the human students however, some only barely managed at least one clone or some not at all since they had poor chakra control. The red haired one intrigued him; She couldn't use the normal clone techniques because of her extreme chakra reserves, instead she had to resort to using shadow clones. If he remembers correctly, the clan with the most chakra reserves that is allied with Konoha is the Uzumaki clan, which states why she has the red vibrant hair. To be fair, he finds it kind of pretty. Unfortunately, its her humanity that makes his instincts scream at him not to trust her. She still looks fun to hang out with though…

Most of the clan kids managed all the jutsu with some sort of success, except that some of the civilian ones struggled more. Forgetting to mention, they also had a small extra test to break out of a genjutsu, which was a piece of cake since it was a measly D to E-rank. The next test was the one and only shuriken and kunai throwing test, where they had to hit the bullseye and some vital points of the dummy. As usual, he and his kitsune team zoomed through it since they had a year of training before they came here. Most of the human clan kids did pretty well, especially that Uchiha one. Seems like he's got some attention from his fangirls. Naruto shivered at the thought, he didn't want that happening again. It was a nightmare back in ninja school, there's no way he would want a repeat of this again. No way.

"You've been out of it for quite some time Naruto, what's up?" Taida asked as he walked up to him.

"Just thinking about a few things, you know? All of this feels familiar right? Getting real big flashbacks from a year ago" Naruto explained, while the lazy kitsune in disguise nodded his head.

"You're right, it's troublesome, though I hate how similar all of this is. Déjà vu all over again am I right?" Taida sighed with a smile.

"Hey, you there! With the multi-coloured hair!" A feral voice sounded not too far off. The two turned around, look, and behold, the Inuzuka kid was making his way towards the kits.

'Oh god, please no… I don't want this kind of attention now, especially from humans! This is only my first day here! Why…' The purple eyed kit panicked slightly in his thoughts as the dog kid was now right in front of him.

"You must be one of the new kids here that arrived at the village here recently… Akamaru says you smell kind of strange" The kid with the feral look pointed out.

"Kiba, right?" Naruto asked.

"The one and only! My partner on my head is Akamaru!" Kiba confirmed with a grin on his face.

"So, how exactly do I smell? Kind of rude of you to say that" The multi-haired kit in disguise said.

"Oh, I didn't mean it in a rude way man! Sorry if that sentence rubbed you off the wrong way, I was just curious. You smell like a human, but at the same time not… is that normal where you come from?" The feral boy curiously asked.

"Yeah… I guess" Naruto awkwardly half-lied.

"Where we come from, we are always around animals so, that's what you must be smelling mate!" Kinua came out of nowhere, instantly coming up with a perfectly believable story to which the human pet owner believed.

"Oh, that's pretty neat! You guys must be from a village where they tame wild animals! That's awesome! See you guys around later!" Kiba smiled as he ran back towards his group of friends.

The young vampiric kitsune sighed, "That was a close one, why the hell did you do that dude?! You nearly exposed us!"

"I'm sorry okay, I just don't like lying to people" Naruto whispered back.

"You're pretty soft my guy" Kinua pointed out as he nudged the purple eyed kit.

"Come on Kinua, let him be him" Tereki said.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop teasing him" The young vampiric kitsune sighed.

After this conversation, it was the final test. Which of course, was a taijutsu tournament. Boys vs boys, girls vs girls… you get the drill. Most of the fights underwhelming as usual, especially when the civilian kids were facing off against each other. The clan kids however, they were another story. Especially the Uchiha kid and the Uzumaki girl as he watched them face off against different opponents. Even though he's interested in the Uchiha clan slightly, he can't really bring himself to trust them. That clan for some reason always seemed shady to him… his father once told him a story how he was forced through the use of the dojutsu known as the Sharingan by a guy called Madara Uchiha to fight against Hashirama Senju. Kurama barely managed to escape from getting sealed inside a human being known as Uzumaki Mito. No wonder his father despises humans and doesn't trust them either.

As Naruto was watching the fights, he was becoming intrigued in the way the Uzumaki girl fights. It was like she was dancing around her opponent, who was one of the other clan kids. Ino he believed her name was? Yeah, that Uzumaki girl, if he remembered correctly was Hikari, she was toying with the Uchiha fangirl. That made his lip curve up into a slight smirk. In the end, it was the Uzumaki and Uchiha that won. The next one up was…

"Naruto and Kinua, please come up to the arena" Iruka said, as the two looked at each other, and smirked.

"Well, well… how convenient! That brings back some memories doesn't it Naruto? This time I won't be holding back! What does our score stand up to right now?" Kinua asked.

"Wasn't it twenty-seven to thirty?" Naruto responded with a smirk as they both were coming up to the small, marked sparring arena, right in the middle.

"Now please make the seal of confrontation you two" Iruka said as they both did what they were told before jumping away to their sides of the arena, getting into their fighting stances. Kinua into his crescent moon stance, while Naruto activated the vampirism spell, muttering in some unknown language while casting some strange hand signs that nobody ever seen before. Kiba tried to point out that he was copying his clans style, although, Hikari proved him wrong by describing how different they are, which made the dog boy slap himself for not noticing earlier. Naruto's style requires great flexibility and mobility, which is why he is crouched so low to the ground. His attacks also are based on going in right for the kill.

'They're rearing to go' Iruka thought with a smile.

"Alright, Naruto vs Kinua, begin!" The academy instructor declared as the two dashed off.

From then, it was a clash of two powerful (in their own right) styles. With the purple eyed kit trying to catch Kinua off-guard, while the young vampiric kitsune was trying his best to knock his rival off-balance so he can strike him down while always being on the close calls of the strikes from Naruto. Everyone were on the edge of their seats, especially the humans, since they have never seen anyone fight like this before. It was a fight full of passion. The Uchiha kid, who is known as Sasuke, narrowed his eyes, watching extremely closely. However, the Uzumaki girl, known as Hikari, was watching with truly wide eyes as she witnessed the fight, especially the multi-hair coloured kit. He's the one that's inspiring her to get stronger, in which she will. A shy Hyuuga watched in the background with adoring eyes as she watched the strong shinobi-in-training fight it out, wishing she could be just like them.

At the end of the fight, it was a draw as they met their final blows head on, making them be almost knocked out. They were both exhausted, though happy as they got to have a true rematch. However, the poor kits did not realise that they were also going to have their own fan club soon enough. A split between the Sasuke and the Naruto-Kinua fangirl club.

"The fight is concluded to be a draw, now please make the seal of reconciliation" Iruka said with a smile as the two kits helped each other up, before making the seal. This got a round of applause from the ninja-in-training, before the two kits made their way back to the group and watched the rest of the fights. Luckily, Naruto brought a potion of healing, which he gave one to Kinua who nodded with a thanks as they drank, healing their injuries and restoring their stamina. After this, they watched the fights between the other kits. After the taijutsu spar tournament, which of course in the finals he had to face the human known as Sasuke and won against him. Let's just say that raven haired kid became slightly bitter at his loss. Oh, and Tereki beat Hikari, that's also something to keep in mind, although luckily the Uzumaki did not really care about winning or losing.

After the tests were over, they had a thirty-minute break where the kitsune seven stood a little ways away from the humans and hung out at least a few meters in the woods. Once the bell rung, they were called back into the classroom, where they studied the history of Konoha. Most of the students groaned, except for a few, Naruto and Tereki being one of them. Since they were new here in this village, of course they were interested. It was pretty interesting; The hokage, the warring states era, clans… everything was just, war and such. He expected as much, this is one of the great five nations after all. Ah, the fight between Hashirama and Madara… that's the story that father told Naruto, at least the vague parts of it, since Kurama couldn't remember what happened afterwards because he was being controlled by the Sharingan. However, now he knows. Only just a tad bit, his small bubble of hatred for humans using his father like that raised slightly.

After the academy finished for the day, they went to check on the results, to which his friends patted him on his back for being on top of the class. It was not until the group of disguised kitsune exited the safety walls of the building that they all heard the screams that the purple eyed kit and vampiric kit feared.

"Crap… now I know why you hate fangirls Naruto" Kinua winced at the volume.

"Yeah, no kidding… looks like the nightmare has followed me all the way from the school to the academy" Naruto sighed heavily.

"Well, until we lose them… should I say it? Bitches… we won't be able to come back to the settlement, got it guys?" The vampiric kit said as his best friend and rival agreed with a nod.

"Good luck, make sure you two come back alive alright?" Taida replied as they both nodded.

"Don't tell mother I swore! She'll kill me for using that sort of language!" Kinua shouted as he ran off with Naruto.

"Don't worry… we won't!" Kana shouted back with a laugh.

"Should we head back?" Ichigo asked.

"Sure, as long as we don't get noticed" The lazy kitsune in disguise answered before they all vanished.

-A Few Hours Later, Kitsune Sanctuary, Kitsune Family House-

When Naruto arrived home, he was panting like crazy. Running from all those fangirls of his surely gave him a good workout in the end. Dropping to the floor exhausted, he laid there for a few minutes, before barely making his way to the couch to rest. When the purple eyed kit's parents came out of the kitchen, one of them snickered good-heartedly while the other had a worried look on their face.

"Naruto-kun, you okay?" Inari came up to the kit and stroked his hair to make him feel better, while giving him some water to drink, to which the said kit thanked his mother.

"Chased by human fangirls… it was, frightening" Naruto managed to get out.

Kurama sighed as he rubbed his temples "This is going to become a headache"

"Yeah, looks like the nightmare from ninja school followed us here" The goddess sighed also.

"I think, me and Kinua should've held back in our taijutsu spar test…" The purple-eyed kit rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it kit! I know you just only wanted to make us proud, and we are!" The red head ruffled the multi-hair coloured kit's hair, who pouted at the action, which made the parents smile with the kit returning his own soon after.

"Kaa-chan, Tou-chan, did you know that I'm at the top of the class?" Naruto told them while his parents widened their eyes at this news, then grinned.

"That's amazing kit! On the first day and already at the top? We're so proud of you son!" Inari said as she hugged him.

"Yeah, we knew you could do it!" Kurama said as he hugged him soon afterwards.

"Also, any news on the alchemy shop that I want to start?" Naruto asked with hopeful eyes.

"You know… the hokage thought it would be an awesome idea to have an alchemist, especially if the potions you have ideas for will be made for the ninja society" Kurama grinned, while the purple-eyed kit cheered.

"I'll become the best alchemist in the world! Watch me!" Naruto grinned back, while his parents nodded.

"That's the attitude we want to see! Make us proud kit!" Kurama smiled.

End of Chapter

Hey guys, sorry for the late update! Uni is just right around the corner, and I have my job as well. The only time I have to write right now I believe is the weekends and maybe a bit in the evening after work. So uh, but thanks for the support anyways! You guys continue to be as awesome as ever! Anyways, next chapter will be the graduation, I just want to get to the juicy stuff now. The only thing that troubles me now is how the Mizuki part is going to work out, I have the time to figure that out, or maybe it won't be included at all. Don't worry, I already have a base idea of what the teams are gonna be, and their senseis. Some of them will be the canon stuff, some not. Rookie nine will obviously be canon.

Anyways, let's see the reviews!

Review Corner:

volcasiron30: It will be hopefully interesting.

End Of Review Corner

Well, I guess I'll see you all in the next chapter!

Ideas for this story are appreciated

A constructive review would be nice, so I could improve my writing

Follows and Favourites fuels my desire to write (Even though I'll do it anyways, cause it's fun)

Flames will be completely ignored

And keep on reading!

Ja Ne!