Enjoy this chapter!

'Thoughts'

"Technique/Demon/Bijuu" Talk

"Demon/Bijuu" Talk from inside

'Technique in head/Demon/Bijuu' Thoughts

Harem so far (help it expand by suggesting)

Hinata, Ino, Temari, Tenten

Chapter 3: Academy

It's been three years since Naruto learned about fuinjutsu and barrier ninjutsu. He studied it as much as he could understand while also training in his other aspects. He learned more wind techniques from Kyuubi and also trained in the taijutsu style Kyuubi taught him.

Naruto also tried to use fire techniques, and somehow was able to learn it pretty quickly. Kyuubi didn't know why we could, but he thought it was either from him being Naruto's tailed beast, or it was that demon's affinity. Speaking of that weird affinity, Naruto couldn't use it nor did he feel it inside of him which was strange to the fox.

But now, Naruto could use a good amount of wind and fire techniques. The fox was proud of him for making it so far and Naruto of course was extremely happy that he could do so much this early in his life.

Now, it was a week before the Academy started and Naruto had challenged Cat-sensei, thinking he was ready to finally take her mask off.

The two of them were standing in their training ground.

"Are you sure you're ready this time, Naruto?" Cat asked.

"Whether I'm ready or not doesn't matter, the Academy starts in a week and I need to take your mask off now," Naruto responded.

"Very well. Taijutsu and ninjutsu are allowed. I won't be using any ninjutsu, but you're free to do so," Cat told as she got into a fighting stance. Naruto nodded and did the same, but it was different from Cat's.

'Huh…? I didn't teach him that stance, did I?' Cat asked herself, but she didn't have much time to dwell on it as Naruto took off and rushed her. All Cat could do was block as Naruto jumped in the air and swiped down at her. Naruto pushed off of Cat's arm and quickly began making the Snake → Ram → Boar → Horse → Bird hand seals.

"Wind Release: Gale Palm!" Naruto exclaimed as he clasped his hands together, sending out a strong gale towards Cat. Cat covered her face with her arms, but was being pushed back. Naruto then gathered chakra in his mouth and turned it into oil while dividing it up.

Naruto quickly made the Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger hand seals. "Fire Release: Flame Bullet!" Naruto then spit out the oil in his mouth into the Gale Palm as it ignited. As the flame bullets were traveling through the Gale Palm that was still up, the fire began to grow bigger and didn't look like mere bullets anymore.

Cat was shocked at seeing this and stopped resisting the wind. She let it push her back and she rolled with the gale, avoiding the fire technique just barely.

After the Gale Palm was over and the Flame Bullet erupted against some unfortunate trees, Cat stood up and brushed herself off.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect you to do that," Cat admitted with a little chuckle.

Naruto smirked. "I've learned a lot of things, Cat-sensei, and I'll show you!" Naruto quickly made Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger hand seals.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" Naruto then spat out a fireball in the air and more fireballs surrounded it. He then controlled the fireballs and they landed around Cat, trapping her in a ring of fire. He then made the Snake → Dragon → Bird hand seals. "Wind Release: Sickle Weasel Technique!" Naruto set his arms back and swung them past each other. The air surrounding the ring of fire collided with each other before making a tornado and started consuming the flames as well. A second later and the fire tornado grew in size.

Naruto smirked, but then ducked as a kick flew by his head. He rolled forward and turned around to see Cat.

Naruto genuinely looked surprised to see her there and not in the tornado. His combination technique ended and he looked to see a severely cut up and burnt log in place of Cat.

"Woah… how'd you do that?!" Naruto asked as he looked back at Cat.

"It's a Body Replacement Technique… didn't I teach you that?" Cat asked as she slightly tilted her head. Naruto shook his head. "Oh, sorry… guess I forgot… well alright, quick lesson. Before you're struck by a harmful attack, you simply switch yourself out with something else."

"Really? Do you just feel it, or…?"

"It's kinda hard to explain… so let's see if you can do it yourself," Cat answered as she took out four shuriken. "Don't jump out of the way from these and see if you can pull it off. I won't be hitting any vital points in case you don't do it."

Naruto nodded and took a deep breath. Cat threw the four shuriken at him and right before they could hit him, he felt something tug at him. Naruto tugged back and right as the shuriken struck him, he switched out with a log. Naruto appeared on a tree branch and inspected himself.

"Woah! That was so cool!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin. He heard clapping and looked at Cat.

"Nice job, Naruto! Seems like you got it the first try!" Cat congratulated. Naruto nodded and pushed off the tree branch. As he landed on the ground, he rushed Cat. The two of them instantly engaged in a taijutsu battle and Naruto was trying to strike her in the most painful spots, but she kept on blocking him. Naruto went for a low kick and Cat jumped over, but then Naruto fully spun on his hand before launching at Cat with the same foot he tried to kick her with. Naruto's kick successfully hit Cat's stomach and forced her to fly back.

The Anbu kunoichi quickly did a back handspring and covered her stomach. 'Naruto's gotten a lot better. I think it's time to turn the tide now,' Cat thought as she stood up straight. She was about to rush Naruto, but he instead was on her once again.

Cat was forced to be defensive as she avoided or blocked Naruto's strikes. 'Damnit… I don't remember teaching him how to do this!'

Naruto went for a roundhouse kick and Cat leaned back to avoid it, but as she did she saw a bit of fire flicker off of the bottom of his sandal.

Cat did another back handspring to try and get some distance, but Naruto wouldn't let her.

He quickly made the Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake hand seals while gathering chakra in his mouth. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto blew out and caused great gusts of wind to launch straight at Cat. She didn't have enough time to react as she was blown away and was now in the air.

Naruto made the Snake → Ram → Boar → Horse → Bird hand seals and clasped his hands together before aiming them at the ground. "Wind Release: Gale Palm!" Naruto shot out a strong gale from his palms and was launched into the air. He took a second to correct himself to be aligned with Cat before doing the same hand seals and aiming his hands behind him. "Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

Naruto was sent flying towards Cat who had trouble trying to correct herself thanks to the Great Breakthrough technique.

The other wind technique finally stopped and Cat was about to correct herself when Naruto came flying at her and grabbed her mask. He took it off before landing and rolling away. Cat did a backflip before landing and felt around for her mask, only to realize it wasn't on her face.

"Hehe! I got your mask off, Cat-sensei!" Naruto announced as he proudly waved it in the air. Cat turned to look at him and her eyes widened as she saw her mask in Naruto's hands. Naruto had a foxy grin with his eyes closed, but once he opened them to look at Cat, he stopped waving the mask and stared at her face, mouth dropping slightly.

Cat had soft brown eyes and red lipstick which, in Naruto's opinion, made her look beautiful.

"Beautiful…" Naruto whispered, but Cat heard it and giggled as she lightly blushed.

"Why thank you…" Cat thanked as she stood in front of Naruto. He couldn't stop staring at her face as she grabbed her mask from him. "Well… I guess since you've seen my face, it's only right you get to know my name."

Naruto was brought out of his stupor as he shook his head and widely smiled. "Really?!"

"Yep. You did really well, my cute little Na-ru-to," Cat replied as she rubbed his hair, making him lightly blush.

"Let's reintroduce ourselves. Hello, I'm Yugao Uzuki," Cat introduced with a warm smile.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to meet you, Yugao!" Naruto introduced with a thumbs up and a grin.

Yugao couldn't help but giggle. "Okay, Naruto, this is a secret between you and me okay? You can call me my name when I'm not wearing my gear and mask on or if we're in private, but when I am and we're in public, you have to call me Cat, okay?"

"You got it!" Naruto responded with a wide smile.

"Great, now rest up. The Academy starts in a week and you need to decide what clothes you're going to wear," Yugao told the whiskered blonde.

"Ah! You're completely right! I forgot about clothes!" Naruto said as his hands rushed to his head. "Oh man… what am I gonna wear?!"

"Calm down, silly!" Yugao giggled as she lightly bopped Naruto's nose. "You'll figure it out, but for now, take a break."

Naruto nodded, and before Yugao disappeared, she kissed Naruto's forehead.

"Bye, Na-ru-to," Yugao whispered and she teleported away. Naruto was left there in surprise at the action. He smiled and quickly left the training ground to go rest.

It had almost been a week. Naruto visited the Sandaime Hokage to see if he could join and he permitted Naruto to join. Naruto received a note telling him his classroom number as well. The whiskered blonde also used his favor for Yugao.

Tomorrow was the day of the academy and Naruto was deciding on what to wear. He had on his bed an orange and blue jacket with orange pants next to it and blue open-toed sandals. He had a hand placed on his chin as he looked at the three pieces of clothing and a smile formed on his face as he considered wearing it.

"Naruto…" Kyuubi spoke. Naruto was alerted at Kyuubi using his actual name instead of 'Kit.' Something had to be up for the fox to use his actual name.

"Something wrong, Kyuubi?" Naruto asked.

"Yes… I know you're not considering wearing that when you attend the Academy…" Kyuubi responded.

"W-What?! What's wrong with this?! It's perfect for me!" Naruto said.

"What do you mean 'what's wrong with it?!' Everything's wrong with it! That shade of orange with the blue is horrendous! Are you trying to insult me and the color orange?!" Kyuubi questioned as he began pointing out the clothing's flaws.

"But… I think it looks fine! Plus, I want people to notice me, ya know? I don't wanna be looked over!" Naruto argued.

"People are bound to look over you with that hideous jacket and pants! They don't want to see that!"

Naruto scowled and groaned. "Fine… then what should I wear?"

"Wear the black and white outfit, that looks far better than this," Kyuubi answered with a smile. Naruto sighed and went over to his closet.

He returned and placed the clothing on the bed. He looked it over once and cocked an eyebrow at the outfit. "You sure this looks good?"

"I'm telling you, Kit, it looks far better than the orange outfit," Kyuubi reassured his Jinchuuriki.

"... Alright, if you say so…"

Tomorrow came rather quickly and Naruto was just now getting his clothes on as he was making breakfast. Once he got them on, he now focused on finishing making it.

Naruto was wearing a black headband with a white swirl on it. He had a white shirt underneath an open, hoodless, black cloak with rolled up sleeves and a white swirl on the back. He also had on black pants and black open-toed sandals on.

Naruto finished making his breakfast and carried it over to the table. As he sat down he instantly dug in.

"You ready for the first day at the Academy?" Kyuubi asked with a smirk.

"As ready as I'll ever be! Man, I just wanna hurry up and become a genin already! I can't wait to release you from your seal!" Naruto exclaimed.

Kyuubi chuckled. "So impatient… just wait, Kit, you'll release me eventually."

Naruto widely smiled as he continued eating. Once he was done, he cleaned up and left his apartment.

Naruto ran through the streets of Konoha, ignoring all of the glares and looks the villagers sent his way and keeping his smile on his face. He avoided random things thrown at him and a small mob that chased him. He made sure that nothing would ruin this day.

Naruto jumped on the side of a building and began running across it before jumping off of it and landing on a wooden post for only a second and jumped on top of a roof. Naruto could see the Academy in the distance and decided to pick up the pace.

The blonde made it to the Academy entrance and a grin was plastered on his face as he looked at the building in front of him. He ignored the other looks the kids gave him. They must've recognized that he's the kid their parents told them to stay away from.

Naruto took out the note and looked at it. 'My classroom is A-5… Alright!' He pocketed the note and walked into the Academy with the other kids.

As Naruto walked down the hallway, he looked around in hopes of finding his class. He soon found the classroom and grinned. Naruto ran over to the door and opened it. When he looked inside, he saw that there were only a few people in there.

Naruto saw a boy sitting near the front of the classroom with black, spiky hair. He was wearing a high-collared, navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with white arm warmers. Naruto had to take a minute to realize that was Sasuke Uchiha… and he was just brooding in the corner.

'What happened to him? He was more cheery last time I saw him,' Naruto thought as he took a seat near the middle of the classroom.

"The Uchiha Massacre happened… remember? You were coming back from training and saw the bodies near the Uchiha Compound," Kyuubi recalled.

'Oh that's right… was he a survivor of that…?' Naruto asked as he stared at the brooding child.

"Seems like it," Kyuubi responded with a sigh.

The classroom soon filled up with more and more students, but Naruto didn't notice as he decided to hang out with Kyuubi before class started.

"You don't have to be here, Kit," Kyuubi informed as he looked at Naruto sitting on his nose.

"There's nothing better to do out there other than wait," Naruto pointed out.

"You could try and talk to the other students," Kyuubi suggested with a light shrug.

"Yeah, and get told off because their parents told them to not talk to me? I'll pass," Naruto retorted as he huffed and closed his eyes.

"I think there might be one student who wouldn't mind talking to you."

"And who would that be?"

"The Hyuuga daughter: Hinata," Kyuubi responded. Naruto opened his eyes and scanned the room for this 'Hinata Hyuuga' that Kyuubi mentioned.

"She's behind you," Kyuubi informed. Naruto learned his head back and looked near the back to see a girl with short, dark blue hair and strange, lavender eyes. She was wearing a cream-colored jacket with fire symbols on both of the upper sleeves.

Naruto realized he was staring at her for too long when the girl blushed and looked away. He shook his head and faced forward.

'I think I've seen her before, but I dunno where!' Naruto thought as he scratched his head.

"When you were younger, you helped her when she was being bullied. You beat the bullies up pretty badly," Kyuubi answered. Naruto took a moment to remember and he smiled when he did.

'You're right, I did! I should definitely go talk to her, to see if she's alright!' Naruto thought as he got up. He made his way over to Hinata and took the seat next to her.

Hinata looked at the boy who sat next to her and her mouth was slightly open.

"Hey! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! You're Hinata, right?" Naruto greeted with a wide smile.

"Oh, u-um… y-yes, I-I'm Hinata. Hinata H-Hyuuga," Hinata stuttered with a small smile and red tinting her cheeks.

"What a surprise that you're in this class too, right? How are you after what happened that day, you didn't get bullied again, did you?" Naruto quizzed the Hyuuga daughter.

"O-Oh! N-No, I'm fine. T-Thank you for sticking up for me, I-I'm sorry for causing you s-so much t-trouble," Hinata apologized as she put her head down.

Naruto lost his smile to a frown as he saw her apologizing. He thought about what to do when he got an idea.

Naruto placed his hand on her head and rubbed it. Hinata shot her head up and looked at the whiskered blonde with wide eyes and a redder face.

"Don't apologize, Hinata! I'm glad I helped you when I could," Naruto stated with a foxy grin. He looked at his original spot and saw it got taken. He silently cursed at that, but he turned to Hinata.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" Naruto asked.

"O-Oh, n-not at all!" Hinata responded while shaking her head. Naruto gave her a small smile, and just then, a chuunin with brown hair in a ponytail and a scar on his nose entered the classroom.

"Alright! Everyone's here, yes?" He asked as he got to his desk and looked at all of his students. "Just to make sure, we'll do attendance. When I say your name, you say here."

Naruto sighed and rested his hand on his chin, tuning out his chunin teacher for a minute until his name was called.

Naruto could only replay the information about the different kekkei genkai he read in his book. He remembered the information about the Sharingan and how the Uchiha clan supposedly derived from Indra Otsusuki, meaning they were the ones to get the eyes. After remembering this, Naruto's eyes shot towards Sasuke.

'Sasuke's an Uchiha, he has to have the Sharingan, right?' Naruto assumed.

"Yes, but if he can use it proficiently is unknown," Kyuubi added.

Naruto slightly nodded and then remembered the Byakugan. The Hyuuga clan were the ones to inherit this doujutsu from the Otsutsuki clan, but it's said to come from Hamura Otsutsuki, Hagoromo's younger brother.

Naruto then looked at Hinata and stared into her eyes. 'They look weird, but I can't stop looking at them…' Naruto admitted as he closed his eyes.

"... Naruto Uzumaki?" The chuunin in the front called out.

Naruto lifted his head off of his hand and smiled brightly. "Here!"

"Alright. That's all for attendance. Now…" The chuunin teacher picked up a piece of chalk and began writing on the chalkboard. "My name is Iruka Umino. You may call me Iruka-sensei or Umino-sensei, whichever one you're comfortable with."

"To start off, we'll begin with math-" Before Iruka could finish his sentence, the whole class groaned. Iruka then scowled as he glared at his students. "What?! What's wrong?!"

"Math… are you serious right now?" A boy asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yeah, we're ninja, aren't we? We shouldn't be wasting our time doing math," a girl added.

"No, you're not ninja, you're trying to become ninja. There's a difference. But, fine, since everyone thinks that math isn't worth it, we'll move onto our first shinobi lesson: taijutsu. Everyone, we're going to the front of the school, let's go!" Iruka ordered as he left the classroom. Everyone cheered as they jumped up from their seats and followed Iruka to the front of the school. Naruto took his time getting up.

'I get that this is boring… but isn't this necessary regardless?' Naruto asked as he watched the kids rush to meet Iruka.

"You're all brats who think being a shinobi is only about learning cool techniques, you think they'd care about math?" Kyuubi answered. Naruto sighed as his head dropped down.

'I guess you're right…' Naruto agreed. He was about to walk off, but then noticed Hinata was still sitting down.

"You alright, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Huh?!" Hinata yelped as she looked around and met Naruto's eyes. "O-Oh… y-yes… I'm fine…"

Naruto could see that she was nervous about something, it was probably the sudden taijutsu lesson.

"You're worried about the taijutsu lesson, right?" Naruto guessed with a small smirk.

"Y-Yes…" Hinata confirmed as she put her head down. Naruto walked up to her and rubbed her head.

"You don't have to worry, I'll be there to support you, believe it!" Naruto told the Hyuuga daughter with a grin and a thumbs up. Hinata couldn't help but smile and blush at the gesture.

"Right!"

Naruto and Hinata made it to the front of the school and joined the line where the other kids were.

"Alright, since you guys seem to be impatient about learning shinobi lessons, that's what we'll be prioritizing over general studies. What we're doing now is taijutsu spars. This will let me know how each one of you fights and if you need help or improvements. Now, these matchups are randomized and you will fight fairly. First matchup…"

Naruto watched in boredom as the kids fought each other. The one thought he had in his mind was: they all needed to train more. As he analyzed the fights, if you can even call them that, he thought about what the kids could have done, shouldn't have done, and what they need to work on.

But overall, the kids were just throwing random punches and kicks. There were some intriguing fights, but nothing that piqued Naruto's interest. Most of the clan kids did, but that was all, the civilian kids didn't bring anything interesting to the table, like Sakura Haruno for example. In Naruto's opinion, she is cute, but that's all she has going for her and yet she somehow tied with Ino Yamanaka, a clan kid. Naruto expected Ino to wipe the floor with her, but his expectations were a tad too high it seemed.

Choji and Shikamaru's fight ended as soon as it started with Shikamaru forfeiting because Choji didn't want to hurt him. Naruto could kind of see why Shikamaru did that and respected it.

"Hinata Hyuuga versus Ayano Takenaka," Iruka announced as he looked up from his clipboard. Hinata put her hands to her chest as her eyes widened. Naruto put his hand on her head and rubbed it.

"You'll do fine, Hinata, believe it!" Naruto encouraged her with his foxy grin. Hinata stated at him for a minute in surprise before shaking it off and smiling at him.

"Right!" Hinata moved up to the large, white circle and stood in front of Iruka. Her opponent, another girl with long, brown hair and dark green eyes took her place across from Hinata.

"Hinata, you can fight without your Byakugan, right?" Iruka asked as he looked at the Hyuuga daughter.

Hinata looked back at him. "Yes, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka smiled at that. "Good. Then let the spar… begin!"

Ayano rushed Hinata and went for a right punch but Hinata deflected it and hit her chest with her right palm. The girl coughed up a bit of saliva and staggered back as she held her chest. Hinata took the chance to rush the girl and hit her chest again, but sent her flying out of the circle.

"Hinata wins!" Iruka announced and wrote something on the clipboard. Hinata smiled as she went back to Naruto.

"Good job, Hinata, you owned her!" Naruto praised her as he rubbed her head. Hinata blushed as she received the compliment.

"T-Thank you, N-Naruto," Hinata whispered, unconsciously leaning into his touch.

"Final match: Naruto versus Sasuke," Iruka said as he looked up at the line of kids. The two boys who were to spar next made it up in front of Iruka, facing each other. Naruto didn't know why, but he felt like he could beat Sasuke without even trying.

"Destroy him, Sasuke!" A voice that sounded like Ino's shouted.

"You can do it Sasuke, beat him up!" Sakura added. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed in annoyance as the girls began cheering for Sasuke. He looked to the side and saw that Hinata wasn't cheering for Sasuke, which made him inwardly smile.

"You can fight without the Sharingan, right Sasuke?" Iruka asked the Uchiha. Sasuke nodded as his eyes remained on Naruto.

"Okay, let the spar… begin!" Iruka backed up as Sasuke made the first move.

He instantly went for Naruto's face, but the whiskered blonde blocked it with one arm. Naruto shoved Sasuke back and rushed the Uchiha. He went for an overhead punch and when Sasuke went to block it, Naruto purposely missed and planted his hand on the ground. Using the momentum, the whiskered blonde kicked off the ground and slammed his heel on Sasuke's head, sending the Uchiha's face into the ground.

Naruto finished the motion and jumped back. 'Maybe I should go on the defensive to give him a chance…' Naruto thought as he waited for the Uchiha to get up.

Sasuke picked his head up and glared at Naruto while gritting his teeth. Naruto put his hands in his pockets which made Sasuke even angrier.

'He's not even taking me seriously!' Sasuke thought. 'I'll show him that's a mistake!'

The Uchiha charged at the whiskered blonde and began throwing punches. Naruto didn't bother taking his hands out of his pockets and unknowingly had a bored expression on his face. Sasuke's eyes widened and he screamed as he threw a punch, aimed straight for Naruto's face, but Naruto shoved it out of the way with his right arm and uppercutted Sasuke with his left.

Sasuke flew back and landed on his ass. He rubbed his chin as he glared at Naruto.

Naruto sighed as he shifted his weight to one leg. 'It's time to end this.'

Sasuke shot up and charged at Naruto. He jumped up and tried to roundhouse kick him, but the blonde blocked it easily. Naruto then grabbed his leg and spun around before throwing him out of the circle.

"Alright, that's enough. Naruto wins," Iruka announced as he wrote something on the clipboard. No one cheered for Naruto, but instead stared at him in disbelief. The boy looked at Hinata who was smiling and he smiled back. He was about to move but then he heard the Uchiha gruff.

"Come on and make the unison sign so we can move on," Iruka told the two boys. Naruto nodded and met Sasuke in the middle of the circle. He put his two fingers down and Sasuke stared at them with a glare before looking up at Naruto.

The whiskered blonde was secretly making hand seals with his pocketed hand for a technique he came up with, with the help of Kyuubi.

'Fire Release: Scorching Limbs!' Naruto thought as the hand in his pocket started turning into black ash with fiery cracks in it. Naruto's shoes also flared up a bit of fire as Sasuke's hand went straight for Naruto's neck.

Naruto's other hand that was forming the unison sign quickly slapped Sasuke's hand away and struck his forehead, making him stumble back. Naruto then did a high kick and struck Sasuke's cheek.

As the foot that kicked Sasuke came down touched the ground, Naruto spun on that foot and kicked Sasuke's chest with his other foot, sending him flying and tumbling against the ground.

"W-NARUTO!" Iruka shouted at the whiskered blonde as his fire technique went away. The boy looked at Iruka with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei, but you did see Sasuke go for my neck, right? It looked like he was trying to kill me!" Naruto explained his actions. Iruka sighed before shaking his head.

"... Whatever… Everyone go back inside so we can get started on the next shinobi lesson," Iruka instructed. The kids made their way back inside in silence and shock at Naruto beating Sasuke.

Iruka watched as Naruto and Hinata stayed behind a bit before walking into the Academy chatting with each other.

The chuunin's attention then went to the Uchiha as he was now sitting up, rubbing his cheek and forehead. Iruka went over to him and crouched down, holding a hand out to the boy.

"You need some help?" Iruka offered with a small smile. Sasuke scoffed and slapped the hand away before getting up on his own and walking towards the Academy. Iruka sighed as he watched the boy go inside. The teacher's mind instantly went back to when Naruto defended himself against Sasuke's sudden attack.

'That was definitely some form of nintaijutsu Naruto used… but when did he learn it…?' Iruka asked himself before standing up. 'Oh well… it's not worth dwelling on right now, I have kids to teach.'

After the kids were seated back into the classroom and Iruka reorganized his papers, he moved onto the next lesson which went more into depth of taijutsu. As the boring lesson about it droned on, Naruto hung out with Kyuubi.

"You have a bad habit of coming here during lessons, you know…" Kyuubi pointed out.

"Can ya blame me? I already know this stuff… it's annoying having to hear it again," Naruto replied.

"And whose fault is that for skipping ahead?" Kyuubi asked with a smirk.

"Hey! I didn't know I'd be skipping all of this stuff by studying!" Naruto defended as he shot up. The fox couldn't help but chuckle.

"Only four years of the same things over and over again until you graduate," Kyuubi brought up.

Naruto loudly groaned. "Man, this is gonna take forever! I should just graduate right now!"

"Listen to Cat, Kit, she recommended you the four years, so you're going to do the four years."

"Yeah, but it's a 'recommendation' for a reason, isn't it, Kyuubi?" Naruto retorted as he crossed his arms.

"Do not try to get smart with me, Kit. A recommendation is a recommendation and not a suggestion. A recommendation is suggesting something to be the best course of action, a suggestion is an idea put forward for consideration," Kyuubi explained in his best sage-voice possible. Naruto could only huff at that. "If you're so bored, why not practice some techniques?"

Naruto relaxed his face as he thought about it. "I mean… I guess I could do that."

"Alright, since I'm feeling generous, I'm going to teach you a fire technique that covers all ranges, so follow closely," Kyuubi told as he sat up. Naruto watched his hands closely as Kyuubi began.

The fox made the Rat → Ox → Dog → Horse → Monkey → Boar → Tiger hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction!" Kyuubi sucked in and then blew fire from his mouth.

Naruto watched in amazement as the fire stretched out a long distance and he could still feel the intense heat the giant flame was giving off.

Kyuubi stopped blowing and looked at the whiskered blonde. "Now, the way to do this is to simply convert the chakra within you to fire before using this technique."

"Really…? That's it…?" Naruto asked with a cocked eyebrow. Kyuubi nodded and Naruto stepped up.

He then went on to make the Rat → Ox → Dog → Horse → Monkey → Boar → Tiger hand seals as he converted his chakra to fire. "Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction!" Naruto sucked in and blew out a small flame that went a short distance. It had the heat intensity, just not the distance nor the size.

Naruto stopped blowing and looked confused while Kyuubi chuckled. He whipped his head at the fox. "Hey! Why are you laughing?!"

"I forgot to tell you that you should probably have some chakra built up in your mouth to make the distance go farther. Also, you should build up more chakra to make the flame bigger."

Naruto lowly growled as he quickly turned around and tried it again, this time he built up a lot of chakra in his body and a bit of it in his mouth as he blew. The flame went a longer distance than the first time and it was noticeably bigger. He stopped blowing to celebrate.

"Sweet! I easily got that technique down!" Naruto exclaimed with a foxy grin.

"Now pay attention or else you'll get called on," Kyuubi told. Naruto groaned, but listened to his fox friend.

Naruto blinked and he looked up to see Iruka writing something on the board. Which class was this again? It was taijutsu, right?

"Naruto, what is required to use taijutsu?" Iruka randomly asked as he finished writing something on the board. Everyone turned to look at him.

The whiskered blonde's eyes widened at the sudden question. The boy read the board and saw that Iruka was explaining the two kinds of chakra and didn't get to the part he asked Naruto.

"Physical and mental energies are required," Naruto answered.

"Good job," Iruka complimented as he gave Naruto a curt head nod before turning to the board and explaining further on what Naruto said.

Naruto rested his head on his hand and tried to listen to the lesson, but simply couldn't.

Naruto woke up to someone lightly pushing him. He opened an eye and saw Hinata next to him.

"Oh! Y-You're awake!" Hinata yelped as she backed up.

Naruto opened both eyes and stretched as he let out a yawn. He looked around the room and saw that no one else was in there besides him and Hinata.

"W-Where'd everyone go?!" Naruto asked as he shot up.

"C-Class ended a while ago… we finished the basics of taijutsu lesson and went over some of the basic taijutsu styles… you slept through the whole thing…" Hinata informed the blonde. Naruto groaned and he sat down.

"And no one bothered to wake me up…?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"I-I'm sorry! I would've woken you up… but…" Hinata blushed as she averted her eyes and her voice was but a whisper. "... Y-You looked so p-peaceful when you s-slept. I-I d-didn't want to w-wake you u-up…"

Naruto looked at the blushing girl next to him for a moment before smiling and rubbing her head. She looked up at him.

"It's okay, Hinata, I probably would've known the material anyway," Naruto said, forgiving Hinata easily. "Also… thanks for staying here with me."

Hinata's blush grew more red as she put her head back down.

'Aww she's so cute when she's red!' Naruto thought with a foxy grin.

"Stop teasing the poor girl and go home," Kyuubi spoke, making Naruto glare.

He then sighed and stopped rubbing Hinata's head. "Alright Hinata, let's go home."

Hinata, a bit sad he stopped rubbing her head and much to her chagrin, nodded as they stood up and left the building.

The two of them began talking on their way home. Naruto was leading Hinata to her clan compound without her even knowing as she was enjoying herself talking to her crush and getting to know him better.

It took them a bit, but they got to the Hyuuga Compound and Hinata was honestly surprised Naruto led her home without her giving him directions or even noticing.

"Well, see ya later, Hinata!" Naruto said as he gave her his signature foxy grin.

"B-Bye, Naruto! S-See you tomorrow." Hinata entered the gates of her compound and Naruto was left alone. His grin turned into a smile as he ran towards a building and began roof-hopping to his apartment.

Time passed and Naruto hadn't learned a single new thing from the Academy yet. It had been five months since he first started and Iruka went over stuff he already knew.

But, he did get something good out of it. He made Sasuke even more pissed and broodier because he couldn't beat the whiskered blonde whenever they fought and he also became really good friends with Hinata. The two of them would mostly hang out after the Academy and would mindlessly walk around, going wherever the wind would take them.

The two of them would sometimes spar and Naruto would beat her, but Hinata would get some wins under her belt. Although… Naruto learned the hard way to NEVER call Hinata chubby. That was no-go.

Naruto and Hinata were sitting by a tree in one of the parks. It was dark out and they were both enjoying each other's company with a small picnic in between them.

They finished their food, which mostly consisted of sweets, and Hinata ate the most out of the two. Naruto noticed this.

Naruto grabbed the last cinnamon roll and closed his eyes while whiting the sweet treat.

"I guess I should call you 'Chubby' from now on with how many sweets you ate. You almost ate all of them! I'm impressed," Naruto stated.

"Kit… open your eyes…" Kyuubi spoke. Naruto did so and almost choked on the snack as Hinata was staring into his soul.

Naruto swallowed and stared back at Hinata, worried for his life. "Uh… H-Hinata! W-What are you doing…?"

Hinata got even closer as her face turned into an angry one. "Naruto, could you repeat that? I think I misheard something come out of your mouth."

Naruto quickly realized he fucked up calling her chubby, and couldn't take it back.

"H-Hinata! I-It was an accident, uh-s-slip of the tongue! Y-Yeah!" Naruto defended himself as he set the treat down.

"Slip of the tongue huh? Well since we're going by that… I guess I can accidentally severely hurt you, no?" Hinata said in a serious tone as her Byakugan was activated, scaring Naruto even more. Naruto screamed and ducked as Hinata tried to use her Gentle Fist on him, but instead blew a hole through the tree, making it fall over. Naruto scrambled to his feet and ran away from the area as fast as he could.

"Come back, Naruto. You have to pay for what you said." Hinata shouted as she gave chase.

"Would sorry be enough?!" He asked as he ran up the side of a building.

"No. Sorry won't cut it for this occasion," Hinata stated. She jumped high in the air and was about to land on the roof. Naruto didn't waste another second and ran away, a scary Hyuuga ex-heiress chasing after him late in the night because of what he said.

The only reason she didn't kill him was because when she caught up to him, they tripped and she accidentally kissed him which caused her to madly blush and faint. Naruto was, thankfully, saved for another day.

But other than that, Hinata was starting to come out of her shy shell around him and didn't stutter. She was now comfortable around him and he the same.

Now, Naruto was sleeping before the class started and Hinata walked up to him. She placed a cinnamon roll in front of him and tapped his shoulder, eating her own. Naruto picked his head up and saw the cinnamon roll in front of him. He smiled as he picked it up and unwrapped it before eating it.

"Thanks, Hinata," Naruto replied tiredly. Hinata giggled and she took her seat next to him. Naruto couldn't help but replay the giggle in his head, it was so adorable.

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