A tired sigh was expelled from Naruto's body as he slowly rocked back and forth on one the local playground's swings. From there he could see most of his classmates play after a day of learning at the academy.

Normally he would join them in the fun, but he couldn't find it in him at the moment. Despite his best efforts, he missed class and now had to figure out how to avoid the consequences that would assuredly arise when that knowledge reaches his parents.

"So now you're skipping class now, Naruto?"

Snapped out of his thoughts by those mocking words, Naruto soon found himself face to face with Sakura.

First you fall asleep and now you don't show up… For the son of the Hokage, you sure aren't being a good role model," she jeered.

Naruto shot his pink-haired classmate an annoyed look. "I was helping someone. Besides, those things wouldn't happen if it wasn't for Sensei making class so boring most of the time."

"He's got a point," Shikamaru agreed. "Paper tests, taijutsu training, team training… The whole thing's a drag."

"I don't think class is boring you, Shikamaru; I think you're just lazy," Ino derided.

"You say that like its not obvious," Kiba laughed.

"You're not exactly in a position to insult others yourself, Kiba. How many times did Iruka Sensei keep you after class?" Ino retorted.

Kiba's cheeks grew red with embarrassment. He couldn't come up with a response to that fact.

Naruto meanwhile turned shifted his attention to Sasuke and asked, "Hey, Sasuke, you always get good grades; how do you stay up during the boring lessons?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to answer but was immediately cut off by Sakura.

"Unlike you, Sasuke realizes the importance of staying awake in class," she said.

Naruto and Sasuke shot the young, pink-haired girl looks of disbelief.

"Um… Yeah," Sasuke awkwardly scratched the back of his head, recalling what he was about to say. "Anyway, it's really-"

The young Uchiha was once again cut off, this time by a pair of hands wrapping themselves around him.

"Wow, that was a desperate way to compliment Sasuke," Ino calmly chided.

"She's got a point there…" Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"W-Who are you calling desperate?!" Sakura argued. "I'm not the one throwing myself at Sasuke."

"Yeah, about that…" Sasuke cheeks slightly grew red with embarrassment as he glanced down his captor's arms.

"INO!"

Ino turned around and was greeted with a dozen angry glares from her female classmates. It was the usual banter between the female half of their class.

"Get your hands off of Sasuke!"

"He's not yours!"

"Notice me, Sasuke!"

A tired sigh slipped through Sasuke's lips. He quickly slipped out of Ino's embrace and approached Naruto.

"I'm heading home…" he said.

Naruto nodded his head. "Right…"

The young Uchiha jumped towards a nearby fence and propelled himself forward, quickly disappearing from sight. Naruto didn't even need to look back at his female classmates to know that they were disappointed once again.

"Must be nice to have every girl in class completely obsessed with you..." Naruto thought aloud.

"I don't get why some people would want that…" Shikamaru yawned. "Having a bunch of girls that invade your personal space all the time; sounds like such a drag."

"I don't know, it looks like it'd be great," Choji admired.

"Trust me, it'd be a real pain," Shikamaru assured him.

Naruto glanced towards the sandbox. Sitting there was the one girl he knew that didn't gush over Sasuke: Hinata.

Glad not every girl in class is like that.

Right after that thought, Hinata looked up and met eyes with Naruto. He couldn't really understand why, but there was something about her eyes that he was drawn to.

Suddenly, Hinata averted her gaze and continued to construct her sandcastle.

Again…?

Naruto never really understand why she suddenly had trouble looking him in the eye sometime after they first met. It was as cofounding to him as the why he was sometimes drawn to her eyes.

Shrugging the thoughts off, Naruto briefly swung back and forth until-

"No one has talked to me yet."

"Whoa!"

Startled by the sudden voice, Naruto found himself instinctively diving towards the sandbox. He expelled the large quantity of sand that had filled his mouth and looked back to swings to find-

"Shino?!"

Lurking right next to the swing he was on was the classmate he considered very creepy.

"…How long where you standing there, Shino?" Kiba asked.

Naruto could hear how disturbed Kiba was, a feeling he whole-heartedly agreed with.

"I've been here the whole time," he answered in his usual monotone voice.

There was only one thing on Naruto's mind in regards to the scenario. That's super creepy…

"That's super creepy," Ino flatly stated.

"It's not creepy. This is a public space and as such, I'm allowed to stand wherever I want," Shino replied.

"Doesn't mean that you have to lurk around like a ghost."

"I'm not lurking around. I'm just standing here."

"Seriously…?" Ino muttered.

There was something about how he spoke and his matter-of-fact tone that irritated Ino.

Hope I don't end up on a team with him when I graduate… Kiba silently pleaded.

"You know it's getting late. Probably best that we head home," Ino suggested.

"So you decide to go home just when I get a line a dialogue?" Shino questioned.

"Urgh!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he considered Ino's suggestion.

Yeah, I'm in no rush to get back…

He began to wonder what he could do to pass the time until he heard a loud roar. He looked down and gently rubbed his pleading stomach.

It was then when he realized he could kill two birds with one stone. "That's it!"

…

"More please!" Naruto and Choji announced in unison.

"I said we should go home and yet we're at Ichiraku…" Ino sighed.

"Something you suggested when I finally got some dialogue," Shino said.

Ino shot an annoyed glare at her classmate. She could feel her patience with him wearing thin.

"Don't blame me. I just said that I can't go home without a bowl of Ichiraku and you guys followed," Naruto pointed out.

Ino exchanged a knowing glance with Shikamaru and Choji. "Well, I know why I'm here."

She then directed a knowing smile at Hinata. "And I know why I certain someone is here."

Hinata meekly averted her gaze.

"But I don't know why the other three are here," Ino concluded.

"I just don't want to go home yet," Sakura answered. "My parents keep trying to have "the boy" talk with me."

"At 6?" Ino marveled.

"'For future reference', they say," Sakura sighed.

"Why's there need to be a talk about it? Boys are simple," Kiba said.

"You said it, not us," Ino chuckled.

"You pretty much gave her that one," Shikamaru pointed out.

"But you also got Ino to call Sasuke 'simple'," Naruto snickered.

"Uh…" Ino groaned at her mistake. "He's the exception!"

"We know. Sasuke is the best, there is no one better, blah, blah blah," Kiba mocked. "Just wait. Soon, I'll be the top dog in class."

"You?" Sakura snickered. "Naruto has a better chance than you and he's pretty much hopeless right now."

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed. "I have as much of a chance as anyone!"

"You can't even do the transformation jutsu right," Kiba argued. "How do you keep accidently adding a fox tail to everyone you transform into."

"Urk-! Well, at least I'm not lazy enough to take tests!" Naruto shot back.

"I won't refute that point," Shikamaru calmly agreed.

"Or spend all day obsessing over someone," Naruto continued.

"Jealous that you're not that popular?" Ino jeered.

"As far as I'm concern I have a better chance than a lot of people in our class!"

Naruto slammed the bar with his fist, causing his next order of ramen to fly up and land on his head; naturally leading to him rolling along the ground, screaming over the burning sensation.

His classmates laughed at the spectacle barring Hinata. Though initially worried, she soon grew curious over the reactions of the other patrons of the small restaurant. Fear rested on the other customers faces before they slowly backed out of Ichiraku.

She had seen similar reactions in regards to whatever Naruto was currently doing before and wondered why.

…

That evening, Minato continued his daily duty of reading through a plethora of different documents; some were mission requests made out to the village while others were forms regarding the local facilities.

He thought that would be the only stressful thing he would have to deal with that night, unaware that something much more would appear before him signaled by a knock on his office door.

"Come in," he said.

The door opened and in walked a familiar half bandaged face.

"Danzō. What do I owe the pleasure?"

The seemingly frail old man stopped in front of the Hokage's desk and suddenly produced an envelope in his right hand.

"I believe this is yours," Danzō said.

Minato reached for the envelope and opened it.

"Everything the Hokage receives is important to the village," Danzō continued.

"Yes…" Minato agreed.

"And yet, this specific document, whatever it may be, was delivered late. In fact, if I hadn't brought it to you, then who knows when it would fall into the Hokage's hands, if at all."

"I understand."

"But do you understand why you received something important so late in the day?"

Minato remained silent.

"I've heard your son disrupted a vital part of the village's day-to-day operations by impersonating you," Danzō explained. "I don't think I need to explain to you how damaging such an interruption could be, let alone the idea of someone impersonating the Hokage."

"I understand, Danzō. I'll talk to Naruto about it as soon as I can," Minato assured him.

"But will that be enough? This isn't the first time your son has caused trouble for the village."

"I would appreciate if you didn't compare what was most likely an unintended side effect of an innocent act to something he had no control of when he was younger," Minato requested with a stern tone.

Instead of replying right away, Danzō turned and walked towards the exit. "A Hokage shouldn't show such bias when it comes to the village's well-being."

The elder was soon gone, leaving Minato alone with his thoughts.