Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the original character mentioned.

Author Note: I would like to thank everyone who added this story to their favorites and follows as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.


Sasuke grunted. "I will read the next chapter."

Sero bobbed his head and handed the book to Sasuke. The black-haired teen grunted and flipped the page before glancing at Naruto. Don't give me that look. She clenched her jaws together and turned her head away from the male, only to be met with mismatch eyes.

"What?" Naruto asked, raising a single eyebrow at the boy. What is this guy's connection to me? She could guess that most of the people in the room were going to be her classmates, but not once during that video in the other chapter had she spotted him. The same went for Yaoyorozu but the girl seemed to be the type to visit her café.

This guy would never set foot in her workplace.

"I'm trying to figure out what happened between the two of you," Todoroki admitted. He furrowed his eyebrows together as Sasuke eyed them. "I can understand from the conversation that you and Uchiha were close but now it seemed like you resent him."

"Resent is a strong word," Naruto stated. He raised his eyebrow and the whiskered teen poked her tongue against her cheek before glancing at him. "It is more like I'm disappointed in him and I'm definitely angry with him. What he did to me isn't something that you can forget and resentment implies that I'm bitter. I'm not because I can and I will move on."

Todoroki frowned. "It doesn't seem like you moved on."

"I never said it was easy or immediate," Naruto retorted.

"Chapter 4," Sasuke read. His black eyes narrowed slightly at Todoroki and Naruto raised a single eyebrow at her childhood friend before glancing at Todoroki. The mismatch-haired boy raised an eyebrow at him.

"You know when most kids get their letters from their first choice, the last thing they plan to do is work their asses off."

Kaminari blinked and twisted his head to look at her. "Are you seriously going to do that if you are getting a letter from Yuuei? Aren't you nervous? Don't you want a day off?"

"Money makes the world go around and I don't see any point of reading that letter when I have work," Naruto answered, shrugging her shoulders. Aizawa and Narumi narrowed their eyes at her and shook their heads. "Besides, I never take a day off."

Narumi raised an eyebrow. "What about when you get sick?"

"I never get sick," Naruto answered, shrugging her shoulders. Bakugou and Midoriya bobbed their heads in agreement as did the other shinobi. "I have never had a sick day in my life but if I ever do get sick then yeah I will take the day off. I don't want to infect the customers or my colleagues."

That was absolutely selfish if you asked her.

Naruto put down the dirty plates and swirled her head at her boss. The woman held up the letter from Yuuei High with one hand while her other hand lay on her hips. A large frown played on her lips, her brown eyes looked at her with so much concern and confusion.

"Must she always butt in on my business?" Naruto grumbled, shaking her head. Now that I know she is going to do this, I'm going to make certain not to bring the letter with me. The whiskered teen grimaced while Hinata only shook her head. Naruto raised a single eyebrow at her best friend.

Hinata sighed. "Naruto-chan, you know your boss which means that you should have known that she would do this to you."

"I expected her to be nosey, I didn't expect her to go through my things," Naruto replied. Hinata hummed and bobbed her head while the whiskered teen leaned against the couch. "I swear to god that this is an invasion of privacy and if she isn't careful then I could sue her for this."

"Are you actually going to sue her?" Mitsuki asked.

The whiskered teen scowled. "No."

It almost touched her heart.

"You are a real softy, aren't you Uzumaki?" Jirou asked, knitting her eyebrows together. Everyone turned their heads around to look at the whiskered teen. Naruto only rolled her eyes and furiously shook her head, earning a little laugh from Hinata.

"Did you go through my stuff? Isn't this consider an invasion of privacy?" Naruto grumbled, dashing towards the young woman. Her white hands tried to reach up for the letter, only for the woman to stretch her hand even higher. Naruto raised her eyebrow at her boss, who knitted her eyebrows together and tilted her head.

"Why haven't you open it? I found it extremely weird that you haven't even talked about whether or not Yuuei High accepted you." Her boss darted her eyes to the customers behind the door. Their cheerful voices could even be heard from even behind the kitchen. "The kids coming in here are ether talking about their new high schools or about their colleges. They are not here working their asses off."

"Why wouldn't you open your letter?" Kirishima asked, knitting his eyebrows together. "I mean you could have open your letter at home so why are you going to wait that long to open your letter?"

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe I don't want to be late for work? I hate being late for work because that would mean I might get less money. Besides the result will be the same if I open before or after work."

"You were late for a meeting because you couldn't wake up," Sakura pointed out. Naruto's eyebrows twitched while Narumi eyed the two of them. The pink-haired teen folded her arms against her chest. "So why the hell are you being different now? There is no difference."

You think I'm going to tell you that I was actually awake and didn't have the energy to move from the bed. Naruto clenched her jaws together as the Third Hokage looked at her with concerned eyes. He was probably connecting the dots but she was never going to admit the problem.

"Maybe I don't have to go to work and listen to a certain someone demand another certain someone for dates," Naruto answered sweetly. Sakura flinched and then scowled while Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. "That makes a big difference to my mood because I won't be ignored or yelled at."

Sakura frowned. "Naruto, how many times must I—"

"You can apologize but I will decide when to accept it," Naruto retorted. "Right now I'm in no mood of listening to your half-ass apology."

"They don't have to pay the bills and rent because they have parents." The smile on the woman's face faded at her words and Naruto took it as an opportunity to snatch her letter back. She stuffed the letter back into the backpack before twisting her body to snap at her boss for taking her things.

Ojiro frowned and tilted his head. "Do you like to use the orphan card so that your boss stopped bugging you?"

"No, I like using it to remind her that high school is the least of my problems," Naruto explained with a fake smile playing on her lips. The boy bobbed his head while Todoroki regarded her with thoughtful eyes. "If I wanted her to stop bugging me then I would use it all the time.

She froze at the sight in front of her.

The smile that always played on the woman's face didn't radiate with happiness like it always did. Sadness poured out of the smile as brown eyes locked onto her. Naruto's throat tightened at the sight of the moistness in the woman's eyes.

"I keep forgetting you aren't like the other kids that works for me or the customers that comes into this cafe," her boss admitted. "It always escapes my mind that you are struggling to get by with things. Most kids will complain about how they don't have parents but not once did you ever complain about it."

Almost everyone in Konoha blinked and then stared at her with wide eyes. Oh now they realize that I never brought up the fact that I don't have parents.Sasuke stared at her for the longest time, lips opening and the whiskered teen gave him the middle finger.

He made it clear about his stance towards her and now that someone else pointed it out, didn't mean that he should apologize. He had too many years to apologize.

"Why didn't you complain about it?" Sakura asked, furrowing her eyebrows together. Ino bobbed her head while Shikamaru and the other boys regarded her with curious eyes. "I mean with the personality that you showed, it was actually weird that you never complained about it. I mean the other kids from the orphanage complained about it."

"Why the hell should I complain about not having parents? That makes me sound like whiny little bitch," Naruto explained, shrugging her shoulders. The Third Hokage regarded her with a frown playing on his lips while Narumi narrowed her eyes at the adults. "Besides I'm not the first orphan and I definitely won't be the last."

Narumi regarded her. "But you have to talk about it, Uzumaki. You can't bottle up your feelings forever."

"What is there to talk about?" Naruto asked, raising her eyebrow at the woman. "A certain someone believed that the pain I felt is nothing compared to the pain they felt."

"Naruto—"

"Shut the hell up, Sasuke and don't even bother to apologize," Naruto growled. "You made your choice on the matter and made it clear to me that I don't understand your pain. Well guess what asshole! You don't understand my pain because…you fucking knew your parents! I didn't have that luxury!"

"Naruto, you were acting like you understood my pain!" He yelled back. "You act like it was the same thing! How the hell can you understand what it is like to know—"

"—And how the hell can you act like you understand mine?" Naruto yelled back. "I have been an orphan since the day I was born but you don't see me whining and complaining about it! You don't see me trying to avenge the monster that stole my parents from me! I let you and Mikoto-obaachan in but you couldn't do the same thing!"

"Naruto, the pain is—"

"I think the two of you need to discuss this late," Todoroki said calmly. "But the both of you are wrong. How can either of you measure your pain? Pain is still pain. Now can we return back to the book."

Both Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances before scowling.

Naruto stared out at the window, lips pressed into a tight smile at the sight of the smiling parents with their kids. "I can't complain or miss something that I never had, can I?"

No one seemed to understand how much she missed her parents.

You didn't even know your parents.

Sasuke's words faltered as he read the final line and everyone turned to look at her. Their eyes shone with sympathy and pity. This is the reason why I don't like talking about my childhood. It was not a big deal that she didn't know anything about her mother or father.

"It must hurt not to know them," Narumi commented. Naruto blinked and twisted her head around to stare at the white-haired woman, who stared at the screen. Her older self just stood there in the screen with a fake smile playing on her lips. "Your identity rests on them."

"It hurts but maybe it is better that I don't know them," Naruto commented, shrugging her shoulders. The smile playing on her lips stretched even wider as Sasuke looked away from her. "I could make up stories about them and that is better than what some people had."

Narumi nodded and stared at the Third Hokage. "Why haven't you told her about her parents? I know it sounds like you knew them so why are you keeping this young woman in the dark?"

"I was doing it to protect—"

"Protect her? You left her with emotional damage," Narumi retorted. The Third Hokage kept quiet as everyone from Konoha turned to look at the man. "Do you know how important it is for a child to know the truth? For Uzumaki, knowing her parents could help understand who they are. There is a void inside of her because she can't fill in the dots."

The Third Hokage looked at her like he wanted to know if that was the reason she wanted to know so badly and Naruto only bobbed her head. She didn't know her history except for the fact that the Fourth Hokage chose to seal the Kyuubi inside of her.

The cruel words spoken by Sasuke echoed in her ear as it always did whenever she thought of the family that was so cruelly taken away from her. It was so stupid of her to believe he could understand some depth of her pain. So stupid of her to think that maybe he did give a shit about her.

Bakugou narrowed his eyes at Sasuke before twisting his head to glare at her. "Why the hell do you call me the ass? It seems like that guy is an even bigger dick."

"Hey, don't call Sasuke-kun—"

"I'm not a blind little girl in love with him so you don't fucking talk, Bubblegum!" Bakugou snarled at Sakura. The pink-haired girl sweated and flinched while Naruto raised an eyebrow at the boy. "He is a big dick because you don't say that kind of shit to people!"

Naruto stared at him. "Blasty, you told Midoriya to commit suicide and that is why I call you an asshole. You and Sasuke are both dicks but I'm not going to compare who is the bigger ass."

"Katsuki!" Every single member of the Bakugou Family yelled. The blond-haired boy threw a feeble glare at her as his family members alongside the other people in the room began to scold him for his words. Naruto only tuned them out and closed her eyes as she waited for them to finish scolding him.

She was thankful of one thing about Sasuke's cruel words: it taught her that even her own fellow orphans could turn against her.

"Uchiha," Hinata said sweetly. A shiver of chill ran down Naruto's spine as pale, lavender eyes narrowed at Sasuke. The black-haired teen paused and kept his expression blank even though his hand trembled. "Once the whole book is over, we need to have a few words."

"Hyuga—"

"I tolerated you for Naruto-chan's sake," Hinata stated as Naruto blinked at this piece of information. Sasuke frowned and the blue-haired girl folded her arms against her chest. "I gave you a free pass on your behaviour because Naruto-chan cared about you, but you crossed the line. When you had no one, Naruto was there for you. Not Sakura, not Ino and definitely no one from the village."

Sasuke kept quiet while Naruto stared at her blue-haired friend, who seemed to be seething with rage.

"You didn't even have any foster parents?" Naruto kept quiet and this only fuelled her boss to fire more questions at her. "Didn't your parents have any relatives to take you in? Maybe friends? They couldn't possibly decide to just leave a child to fend for herself."

Narumi nodded and turned to look at the Third Hokage. "Was there anyone who could have taken in Uzumaki? Her parents must have had some family members. You mentioned her grandfather and his wife…but what about her grandmother?"

"I don't know anything about her grandmother," The Third Hokage admitted. "I don't know where she lived or any of those details. The only thing I know from her grandfather is that her grandmother was tempermental and that she was similar to Koharu and Tsunade. From what he told me, he could sleep with her but he couldn't marry her because she wouldn't be gentle to him."

Narumi's eyebrow twitched. "He sounds a lot like my son's father. Maybe that fling of his didn't want to become submissive or gentle because she isn't a doormat! If a man expects a woman to be gentle to only them then they had to do the same."

"The men in Konoha doesn't see it in that way," Naruto retorted. "That is why I have no plans ever to get married."

Sakura stared at her. "Naruto, you have to change your—"

"If I want to change my behaviour then I'm doing it for me," Naruto said flatly. "I'm not going to take your advice because neither you and Ino got the male of your dreams. Are the two of you even dating or are you still hung up on Sasuke?"

Shikamaru sighed. "They are still hung up on Sasuke because they keep comparing every male to him."

"My point exactly," Naruto said, bobbing her head.

Naruto could only shrug and offer a smile to her distressed boss. What was there for her to say? She didn't know anything about her parents, not even what their names were. She did know from the whispers in the orphanage that she hadn't always been brought up there. The matron made it clear to her about how grateful she should be to her for letting her be raised with the other kids.

"You sure you weren't abused?" Midoriya asked, knitting his eyebrows together.

Naruto grunted. "It doesn't matter anymore and I'm not going to talk about it. The matron and me no longer have a relationship so yeah I'm not abused."

"You know that there is nothing wrong with admitting about your past," Narumi commented. "No one will ever think less of you."

The blonde shrugged. "They might not think less about me but why bother talking about it? It is done and nothing could be changed about it. I can only look forward to the future or whatever bullshit that people like to say. Looking back at the past never helped anyone."

She didn't know what happened to the previous caretaker, but Naruto would like to think that maybe her previous caretaker was a kind old person like the Hokage had been to her.

"Is he really kind?" Narumi muttered under her breath. "Bastard is cruel to her."

He might be cruel but he is a hell lot better than the Matron and some of the villagers. Naruto curled her lips into a scowl and stared at the Third Hokage, who had a grimace playing on his lips. The whiskered teen glanced at Kakashi and raised an eyebrow at the slight paleness of her former teacher's skin.

"Uzumaki-san, do you remember anything about your previous caretaker?" Midoriya asked.

The whiskered teen shook her head. "I was a toddler so how could I remember anything? Can you remember anything from the age of two?"

Midoriya shook his head.

But she doubted the previous caretaker had been kind to her, almost everyone in Konoha treated her with hate and rudeness. They only seemed to care for her whenever they wanted something from her. Like a fool, Naruto never even noticed it.

Narumi's eyebrows twitched and she swirled her head at the adults in the other side of the room. Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma gulped before inching away from the woman while the Hokage stared at the furious woman. Tsunade only grunted and shook her head.

"What did an innocent child do to all of you?" Narumi demanded. Her voice was filled with a coldness and anger that brought a shiver of fear down Naruto's spine. "As adults and figures of law enforcement, you have a job of protecting an innocent child from everything. A child should have never feel like that!"

The Hokage took a deep breath. "Narumi-san, if you continue to read the book then certain things will make sense about her treatment. I'm not saying how Naruto-chan was treated was right but—"

"Nothing about what she experienced was right and nothing you could say could make up for what happened to her!" Narumi growled, throwing her hands up in the air. "Let me ask you a question and you answer me damn well: how would you like it if I showed you hate everyday? If the people around you show nothing but hate towards you? What will that do to your mind? You are lucky that this young lady is resilent."

"I understand what you are getting at but the circumstances are not easy—"

"Oh don't give excuses!" Narumi yelled. "You are the problem, not the solution! What the hell can she do? She is a powerless child but you are an adult! You had the power and you let this child suffer! In my eyes, you are monster and worse than any scrum I ever know!"

The Hokage kept quiet while Naruto knitted her eyebrows together. Why did this old lady care about what she went through? Even if she was a psychologist, she shouldn't give a damn about her childhood. It was done and she survived that childhood.

Naruto stiffened when she felt a pair of warm hands enveloping her. She blinked at the sight of her boss smiling warmly at her and the blue-eyed girl felt a burning sensation in her throat. Naruto might be fifteen but this was probably the first time someone gave her a hug. The Hokage had always been so busy with work and the matron hated her.

"You have never been hug!" Ashido cried, rushing out to give Naruto a hug. The whiskered teen inched further away and the blonde blinked when an ice wall separated her from the pink-skinned girl. Naruto glanced at Todoroki and he offered her a curt nod.

The whiskered teen inhaled and whispered. "Thank you."

"You are welcome," Todoroki answered quietly. Naruto offered him a slight smile and the mismatch-haired boy blinked before looking away from her. Did I do something weird? She must have done something weird because Sasuke was glaring at them.

She shook her head. "I have been hugged but it had been a long time since someone hugged me like that. The last person who hugged me was Mikoto-obaachan and well…that was it. I mean Hinata-chan hugs me too but it is different to get a hug from an adult."

Well it was different for her at the very least.

She had no idea on what to feel about this hug.

"I don't know who your parents are Naruto, but I am sure they are proud of you," her boss declared, running her hand through her hair. "I am sure that they are looking down on you with a smile on their faces."

The steady heartbeat of her boss echoed in Naruto's ears as she tried to regain control of the emotions bubbling up in her. No one brought up the idea her parents would be smiling down upon her. It was always the idea they hated her that came up whenever someone brought up her parents. The jinchuuriki didn't deserve to have parents that smile at the thought of her.

Several eyes widened at the term and Naruto wilted when everyone from Konoha and Japan gawked at her. Fuck my stupid mouth. She inhaled and exhaled as the people from Konoha glanced at her and then to Gaara. The red-haired teen offered her a frown while Narumi stared at her.

"What the hell is a jinchuuriki?" Kaminari asked.

Naruto inhaled and looked down at her hands. "A jinchuuriki is a human being that has a Bjuu sealed inside of them. Now I know all of you must be wondering…what the hell is a bjuu? Well they are monsters that are created entirely of chakra. There are 9 of them and each tail represents a number. I'm the Kyuubi jinchuuriki while Gaara is the Ichibi Jinchuuriki."

"Wait Naruto, how long have you been—"

"How long do you think, Sakura? Since I was born," Naruto retorted. Sakura flinched as everyone knitted their eyebrows together. "Why the hell do you think whenever we did missions that those old ladies were more harsh on me then you and Sasuke? Why do you think I was treated like crap? The Fourth Hokage decided that since my parents are dead, let the orphan become the jinchuuriki and get all the hate."

Narumi stared at her and then looked at all of them. "Is that why you have been treating her like that? Because you gave children like her and this young man, degrading names? Because you chose to put animals inside of them? What the fuck is wrong with all of you?"

"Akimoto-san, these beasts are dangerous!" The Third Hokage explained. "The Kyuubi destroyed half of the village and the Fourth had no choice but to—"

"—That is no excuse! Let me ask you one question and you answer me damn well, you old coot!" The old man gulped as Narumi picked up her bat from the floor and charged straight at him. "How would you feel if you were caged inside of someone? No matter how dangerous a beast is, any one with some brain will tell you if you don't harm the beast then it won't harm you! Are you fucking stupid?"

"Old Hag, I think we have to stop Grams or else Grams is going to hit him," Bakugou pointed out as Narumi raised the bat at the old man.

Masaru nodded. "It would be a good idea but…"

"…I don't feel like doing it," Mitsuki answered as Narumi smashed the bat against the old man. "I mean when I picture you or Izuku going through this then I get upset. Besides, the only person who could calm Mom down was Dad and he is dead. So really Sarutobi-san brought this upon himself but I hope he has a good doctor."

Naruto stared at him. "He is dead."

"Doesn't mean he can't feel pain," Mitsuki replied as Narumi continued to hit the Third with her makeshift bat. Kakash and Asuma inched towards the white-haired woman and then inched away when the woman pointed the makeshift bat at them. "Never get between Mom and her target."

Once Narumi was done yelling and hitting the Third Hokage, Sasuke resumed reading the book.

"Why do you think that?" Naruto asked; sadness leaked out of her tone.

Her boss smiled. "Because they have an amazing daughter."

All the thoughts running through her head went away at those words. All Naruto could do was just stare at the smiling woman, opening and closing her mouth to find the words to articulate how nice it was to hear those words. Maybe she was wrong. People could be actually good to her without wanting something. They could be honest about…

"If I had lived in a place that gave me a degrading name then you can bet your ass that I would think like that," Narumi growled as she smacked the unconscious Third Hokage. "Once this whole thing is over, I'm giving all of you a seminar about kindness, respect and being a fucking good person."

Choji frowned and leaned closer to Shikamaru. "Are you certain that Naruto isn't related to her? She sounds really similar to Naruto whenever she gets angry and they do look similar."

"Do you realize if they are related then the Third Hokage is going to experience a second death?" Shikamaru whispered back, sneaking a glance at her. "It will be a blood bath because imagine how much more terrible her reaction will be."

"Oi you two, I can hear you!" Naruto retorted.

The two males held their hands up and offered her an apologetic smile. She rolled her eyes at them and snuck a glance at Narumi. Well I can see some similarities between us but couldn't it be coincidence? She knitted her eyebrows and shook her head.

"You work for her and she is saying those words to make sure you take a break. She says these words that you want to hear so badly because she knows it will only make you work even harder." A dark, feminine voice echoed in her mind. Naruto clenched her hands into a tight ball of fist. "Why would a stranger be nice to us? Our own teammate stopped being nice when you failed to bring him back. She called you useless."

Shikamaru froze and then twisted his head around to stare at Sakura. "Sakura, you called Naruto useless? She was in the hospital for a whole week because of what Sasuke did!"

"Sakura," Naruto blinked as Sasuke's voice turned icy cold. "Did you call Naruto useless after what I did? Did you tell her those exact words?"

Sakura flinched. "I was upset and I know it wasn't nice of me but—"

"Sakura, shut up because you were the useless one!" Sasuke growled. Naruto raised a single eyebrow as her former teammate glared at her. "You never think of what your words do, do you? First it was the orphan comment and then you told Naruto that? Do you have any idea of what you did?"

Naruto narrowed her eyes at him. "Look Bastard, what Sakura did was terrible but what you did was even worse! You hurt me a 1000 times more than Sakura! You are my best friend and you threw me away! For a second, I actually believed that our friendship meant something to you! That our shared history could sway you but you showed me my value!"

"Naruto…"

"You were my best friend Sasuke but I don't know what the hell we were to each other," Naruto commented, shaking her head. "I knew it was a long shot because Sakura failed and you liked her more than you ever—"

Shikamaru coughed. "Um Naruto, if I knew Sakura had more of a chance to sway him then I wouldn't pick you."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked. "Didn't you say that even Sakura couldn't persuade him?"

"Naruto, there are three reasons that I chose you to come along," Shikamaru pointed out. The whiskered teen raised an eyebrow and the male darted his eyes at Sasuke. "One reason is because you are the better fighter. The second reason was because of your shared history and well the third reason…I will let you figure it out."

Naruto stared at him. "Why can't you tell me?"

"Because you are dense about these things," Shikamaru answered. "And I doubt you will believe me unless a certain someone will admit it himself."

Hinata narrowed her eyes at Shikamaru while Bakugou glared at the male before directing the glare at Sasuke. What the hell am I missing? And why is Blasty glaring at Sasuke? She knitted her eyebrows together and scratched her head while Sakura curled her lips into a frown.

Naruto forced herself to smile at her confused boss as the cruel words of her teammate echoed in her mind.

People always wanted something from her. They never wanted to get to know Naruto Uzumaki, the orphan little girl. They wanted to use the attention-seeking part of her for their own good.

No one cared about her.

"Uzumaki-san, I know you are stubborn and god knows I was stubborn when I was your age but I am advising you that you give therapy a shot," Narumi declared. "That schema of yours is dangerous and I know it is difficult to change but you are going to become prejudice and I know you know what it feels like when someone judge you."

Naruto sighed. "Look if we really think about it, isn't this one big therapy session? You learn about my actions and whatever thoughts I have about myself and you are trying to change my behaviour through the power of talking."

"Naruto has a point," Kurenai pointed out. "This is basically a long therapy session for her."

I mean all of you are trying to get me to change my thinking process but I don't understand why it matters to this woman. She knitted her eyebrows together as everyone else bobbed their heads in agreement. If this was a therapy session for her then what about the others?

The sound of the ocean roaring and the feel of the water crashing down on a person's leg should make a person happy, but Naruto could only just stare at it with blank eyes. All around her were happy couples frolicking through the sands, not having a care in the world. From behind her, she could hear parents cheering their children up at the thought of school starting again.

All Naruto could do was finger her letter.

"Just open the damn letter," Bakugou retorted. "It is getting pretty obvious to everyone that you are going to get in! I want to know why the hell are my parents are in here and why the fucking hell the Old Crone is here."

Yaoyorozu eyed him. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"You got a problem?" Bakugou retorted. Yaoyorozu wrinkled her nose and bobbed her head while Naruto only shook her head at the two of them. She needs to get used to it. The whiskered teen sighed and Bakugou rolled his eyes. "Then deal with it because not even the Old Hag and the shitty old man can change my behaviour."

Masaru groaned. "If any one of you can get him to stop swearing throughout the whole book then I will pay you a lot of money."

"Sorry but even I think that it is impossible," Naruto said dryly. "Getting Bakugou to stop swearing is like getting me to stop eating ramen once a week…that is impossible."

A sigh escaped from her lips and Naruto turned around to stuff her letter into the bag. Blue eyes grew slightly large at the sight of Izuku jogging towards her, a bright cheerful smile playing on his lips. Was it too late for her to escape? She really wasn't in the mood to put on a smile and act like everything was fine with her.

"Then don't pretend," Kirishima said. "You don't have to force yourself to smile."

Naruto stared at him. "Can you actually throw your bad mood at someone who looks like an adorable puppy?"

"U-Uzumaki-san?" Izuku stuttered. The whiskered teen blinked as the green-haired boy flushed a light shade of red. Mineta glared at Izuku and Naruto raised her fist at him before looking back at Izuku. "What part of me screams puppy?"

"Everything," Naruto answered.

"Hi Naruto-san!"

Naruto plastered a smile on her face and hid the Yuuei letter behind her back, as her classmate continued to jog towards her. Pure joy radiated through his green eyes almost making her wonder why he seemed so happy to see her. She might be the only person not to bully him for not having a Quirk but there was no reason to smile.

"I like your presence Uzumaki-san," Izuku admitted. Naruto blinked and knitted her eyebrows together as the green-haired teen bobbed his head. "And the fact that you don't try to bully me, well that is kind of nice. I really want to be your friend."

Naruto stared at him. "You want to be friends with me because I don't bully you?"

"And you are nice but there is no reason for us not to be friends," Izuku pointed out. "You only need an excuse not to be friends with someone."

The blonde frowned. "I never acted like a friend to you."

"I know but that doesn't mean I don't want to be friends with you," he reminded her. The whiskered teen knitted her eyebrows together as the green-haired boy continued to stare at her. "Even though you haven't tried to be my friend, you haven't done anything harsh to make me not want to be your friend."

Well she would give him that.

It wasn't even like she tried to be his friend.

"Hi Midoriya," Naruto greeted; she kept her tone light and easy. "What brings you here to the beach?"

The boy smiled nervously and took a seat right beside her. "I-I decided to take a jog. What about you? I thought you were too busy working to spend any time outside."

"You sure you weren't stalking her because if my classmate looked as fine as—"

"Finish that sentence and your face will explode," Bakugou threatened. Naruto blinked and raised a single eyebrow at the boy but her classmate only rolled her eyes and gave her the middle finger. Jeez, you can't be nice without being an asshole. She inhaled and exhaled.

Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line and stared at the crashing waves. I always use that excuse whenever I want to escape from our classmates. In the nearly three years she has been here, not once did she allow herself to hang out with her classmates. They weren't actually interested in her as a person. They seemed more interested to know her as the new girl.

"The boys just want to get in your pants."

Naruto blinked and blinked before swirling her head at Bakugou. Her classmate threw a glare at her future self before looking back at her with a scowl playing on his lips. He has got to be kidding me! She glanced at Midoriya and the boy flushed a light shade of pink before bobbing his head.

Sasuke eyed her. "Naruto, did you actually believe that none of the—"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know? I was one of the guys in the Academy!" Naruto reminded Sasuke. She threw her hands up in the air and looked at her skipping buddies. "Guys, do you honestly believe that there will be males that would want—"

"—To get in your pants? Yup," Shikamaru stated. "Guys rarely think with their head upstairs but you know that. Kankuro has been staring at your boobs for the past few chapters."

"Not cool man!" Kankuro yelled.

Sasuke's eyebrows twitched and Naruto groaned. I knew that but what part of me screams attractive? She covered her face and then blinked when a hand patted her shoulders. She sighed at the sight of Hinata patting her back with an amused smile.

"You are enjoying this, aren't you Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

Hinata hummed. "It is enjoyable but I think I will enjoy it even more if this book shows that you are developing feelings for someone."

"…You want to tease me like I tease you," Naruto said. Her friend smiled even wider and bobbed her head, which earned a little groan from the whiskered teen. She furiously shook her head. "Well that isn't going to happen because my heart is made out of ice."

"You want to bet, Naruto-chan?" Hinata asked quietly as her eyes darted around the males before looking back at her. "If you are right then I won't tease you and I will tell Kiba-kun my feelings but if you are wrong…then I want you to flirt with him a little and tease him just a little."

The whiskered teen eyed her. "I made a monster, didn't I?"

"You rubbed off on me."

They wanted to know what her Quirk was, not whether she actually wanted to eat some burgers or not.

"My boss wanted me to leave my shift early so that I could spend some time with friends."

Midoriya frowned, his dark eyebrows knitted together and green eyes focused on her. She ignored his confused gaze. Everyone knew she didn't have friends in school. Every attempt her classmates made of getting to know her was always met with resistance and excuse. Work needed to be done. Bills needed to get paid. Oh, there was that homework she forgot to hand in.

"Even though you made those excuses, it didn't stop them from trying to get to know you," Midoriya pointed out to them. "And yeah a lot of them just wanted to get to know you because you are new or about your Quirk, but some of the girls were really genuine about their offer."

Bakugou grunted. "Yeah, they saw you like the school idol."

"How the hell was I the school idol?" Naruto demanded, throwing her hands up in the air. "I might have good grades and yeah those teachers annoyed me to do sports competition but that is the only thing about me that is idol-like. No way was I nice and I'm definitely not popular."

"If being nice was the only criteria then Sasuke wouldn't be considered the Academy idol," Shikamaru observed.

Naruto stared at him. "Let's be fair here, Shikamaru…only the girls considered him to be the idol."

She made a thousand of excuses not to hang out with her classmates that at one point they finally got the message.

The old Naruto would have jump in for any opportunity to hang out with her classmates and make some more friends. Risks of making friends would never cross her mind. But after what happened with her teammates, she decided to harden her heart and just never get too close to anyone.

Hinata frowned and closed her eyes before rubbing Naruto's back. She narrowed her eyes at Sasuke and Sakura. The whiskered teen only shook her head. It isn't worth it. Her best friend should be focusing on other things then at those two.

"You shouldn't compare us to them," Asui commented, shaking her head. Her green eyes fixated on her before moving to the others. "People can betray you but you won't make any friends if you are scared. We won't hurt you like they did."

Naruto sighed. "People always end up hurting you and to go through that again…no thank you."

"Naruto, I'm really—"

"Don't Sakura," she said coldly. "You are only apologizing because your image is on the line here. What you did is something that I can't easily forgive. No matter how many times you scream the word sorry, I won't ever forgive you for what happened."

"Naruto-san, what is behind your back?" Midoriya leaned backwards, green eyes shone with curiosity as he tried to see what she was hiding behind her back. The temptation to snap at him was on the tip of her tongue, but there was something about Midoriya that made her stop.

"What made you stop?" Kaminari asked.

Naruto stared at him. "Let the bastard finish reading and we can find out."

Maybe it was the fact he didn't have much luck when it came to people.

She took a deep breath and showed him the letter. Green eyes darted from the letter to her and his white teeth nibbled his lips, telling Naruto he wanted to ask her why she hadn't open it. She doubted he would even understand the reason she kept putting off opening the damn letter. It wasn't even like it could do much to her.

Naruto didn't even care about getting into Yuuei High.

"Your actions says otherwise," Todoroki pointed out. "If you didn't care then you would open it without a care in the world."

Naruto stared at him. "You think you got me all figured out, Pretty Boy?"

"Why do you call me Pretty Boy?" Todoroki asked, knitting his eyebrows together. Naruto blinked and then frowned as the boy's hand reached out to his scar. "And no, I'm still trying to figure you out, Uzumaki but your action contradict your thought."

Since he is being honest with me then I will explain it to him. She darted her eyes to Hinata and raised an eyebrow when her best friend curled her lips into a smile. Why was her best friend smiling like that? That was definitely not a very good smile if you asked her.

It seemed like Hinata-chan got it in her head that she was now winning the bet.

"I will explain to you why I called you Pretty Boy but don't get the wrong idea like a certain someone here," Naruto said quietly as her eyes flickered to her smiling friend. Todoroki blinked and bobbed his head. "You are attractive, plan and simple. That is why I called you a Pretty Boy."

He blinked. "In what way am I—"

"—I explained it to you," the whiskered teen reminded him as she looked away from him. She kept her expression blank as Sasuke regarded her and Todoroki with narrowed eyes. "If you want someone to compliment you more then go to Sakura or Ino because I answered your question."

Todoroki frowned. "But you are the one that called me Pretty Boy."

Damn it, he got her there.

"I got the letter this morning before I left for work," Naruto admitted. "I should probably have left it at home but I knew that I probably wouldn't even look for it, if I left it there. So I brought it with me to work but my noisy boss couldn't stop herself from snooping through my things. She finds the damn letter and tells me that my shift is over and I should find out if I got in or not."

Midoriya nodded. "Why haven't you open it?"

She shrugged and blinked when she caught sight of Nejire and her friends running towards the water with smiles on their faces. Well most of them. The guy that looked like Sasuke seemed too nervous to go anywhere near the water.

"Great, we now know what it will look like if Sasuke gets nervous," Kiba said, smacking his hand against his fist. He glanced at Naruto. "Did Sasuke ever get nervous?"

"You think Sasuke will show he is nervous to the world?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "He has too much pride to admit that he can get nervous. I once tried to get him to admit that he has an unhealthy attachment to his brother—"

"—I don't have an unhealthy attachment," Sasuke growled.

Naruto stared at him. "You wanted me to help you break up his relationship with Izumi because you didn't like her! It was his relationship and he really liked her!"

"She wasn't good enough for him," Sasuke declared.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "I pray to Kami that you never have a daughter because god knows that your daughter will have a difficult time dating. You will probably scare the poor guy or worse…stalk them."

"You are the last person that should be scared about not entering Yuuei High," Midoirya declared; his timid voice brought her attention back to him. He smiled encouragingly at her and Naruto stopped herself from correcting his thoughts that she was terrified to enter Yuuei.

He didn't deserve to know she was more than confident in passing the exams.

"Well what else was I supposed to think if you haven't opened the envelope?" Midoriya asked.

Naruto paused. "…You have got a point."

"I don't know what your Quirk is, but I know you did well," Midoriya declared. " You have one of the best grades in school and you have always been saving me from Kacchan's mean words."

Shino frowned. "There is no correlation between those two things."

"It is being supportive," Kiba pointed out as Akamaru barked at him. "You should try it some time."

The bug user's eyebrows twitched and the male observed. "And you should try listening to other people's opinion because you aren't the only member in the team."

Kiba scowled and Akamaru barked as Shino pushed his glasses upwards. Poor Hinata-chan. Naruto shook her head and stared at Hinata. Her best friend only sighed and shook her head. It seemed like after three years, her best friend was now finally getting irritated of the antics of her two teammates.

It is only because no one wants to stand up against that asshole. Naruto clasped her hands together and stared out at the ocean. If those words spill out then it meant she was opening up to him. It meant trust and the risk of allowing herself to get hurt again. She couldn't take the risk not when the consequence kept playing in her head at night.

Sasuke paused and then swirled his head at her. His black eyes shone with no emotion and the whiskered teen only bobbed her head at the silent question running through his mind. What you did makes it difficult for me to keep myself together. She doubt that he could understand it but the flinch told her everything.

"Was it worth it?" Naruto asked. Everyone blinked as the whiskered teen stared hard at him. "Was your training with Orochimaru worth all of this? Because you are really no better than Itachi. You don't look at me with regret because you know damn well what you did was horrible."

"You continued the fight—"

"—Because I wanted you back in the village with me and Hinata!" Naruto yelled. Narumi flickered her eyes between them as the whiskered teen glared at him. "I know Itachi fucked you up but you fucked me up even worse than him! You were my friend! My brother in everything but blood and you did this! I didn't want to see you destroy yourself!"

Sasuke clenched his jaws. "Dobe, I never saw you as my sister and I would do it again. You think it was fucking easy to do that shit? But I had to do it because you are so stubborn! You never leave me alone, no matter how shitty I acted to you! What the hell did I have to do to get you to leave me alone?"

"I knew it!" Naruto yelled. "You said all of those horrible things! You nearly tried to kill me because you don't want me to get close to you! Tell me Asshole, why the hell did you push me away? Sakura too? I am your friend! We have known each other since we were six! And you wanted to get rid of our friendship because what—"

"—You were making me forget my damn goals!" Sasuke yelled back. "You were always smiling and you reminded me of those happier times! But then you know what I will remember? Itachi and what he could do to you! I didn't have enough hate to get the power to kill him."

Naruto stared at him. "You kill him then what next? Tell me Sasuke, what the hell do you think will happen next? You think I will forgive you and act like nothing happened! You ruined my perception on friendships! You promised me that you would never abandon me and guess what you did, you ass? You abandoned me just like how Itachi abandoned you!"

Narumi stared at her and then to Sasuke. "You tried to kill her—"

"Oi Old Lady, Sasuke wasn't in the right mindset—"

"Both of you listened to me!" Narumi yelled. Naruto froze and felt her ears being forced upwards and her mouth being sewn shut by the old lady. "Don't make excuses for him! Because what happened to you is in no way excusable! Everything makes sense between the two of you! And you, young man! Do you have any sense of what you did? Murder isn't easy and taking revenge—"

"—Um Akimoto-san, can we please finish the book?" Midoriya asked. "You can rant at the two of them after we are done with the book."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

Midoriya might be innocent but he didn't actually like her.

"I-I know I should have said this to you earlier but it never seemed like a good time," Midoriya admitted. He offered her a weak smile as his green eyes focused on her. "But thank you for believing in me when everyone else didn't believe in me. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have gotten into Yuuei High."

"Wait how did you get in if you don't have a Quirk?" Kirishima asked.

Bakugou scowled. "He might have gotten into the General department or the support course."

"It sounds like Izuku-kun got into the heroic department," Narumi pointed out with a frown. "But how could you get in without a Quirk? I have met your father once and I'm certain that he didn't come from the same country as Naruto and the others.

Izuku sweated. "Maybe I have a Quirk but because of my weak body, I couldn't activate it?"

"That is a possibility," Narumi commented, shaking her head. Naruto frowned and stared at Izuku with furrowed eyebrows together. Maybe he used his brains and build up some strength? But it would be odd for him to get that strong without any training.

Something was not adding up.

Naruto blinked and blinked, her mouth opened and closed as she processed what he just told her. It had been ten months since it happened. Ten long months since their teacher and fellow classmates were told off for not believing in him. Not once did Midoriya bring it up. She thought he forgotten all about it.

She certainly did.

Why was he thanking her? Did he think she was going to become his friend if he said those words? Because it would take a whole lot more than that for her to decide to become friends with someone like him. She didn't trust him. There had to be an ulterior motive for why he was thanking her.

"I have no ulterior motive!" Midoriya reassured her. Bakugou looked at her with eyes that told her that her classmate thought she was being ridiculous for doubting Midoriya. Sorry if I don't have the same faith in humanity that you have. She rolled her eyes and exhaled.

"The problem is with me, not you," Naruto stated. "And my unresolved issues with the bastard over there."

She just couldn't think of any.

"What do you want from me, Midoriya?"

Green eyes flashed with confusion at her words and he looked almost a little bit hurt at her accusation. She should feel guilty for accusing him of wanting things from her, but Naruto had been used before by people she thought were her friends.

If you really were my friend then you would have tried harder to bring Sasuke-kun back.

"Did you know that he nearly tried to kill her? Or were you ignorant of what happened to her?" Narumi asked as Sakura's voice filled the room. Sakura gulped and kept quiet, which only made the white-haired woman's eyebrows twitched. "Answer me! You are 15-years-old so act like one! Now tell me did you say that?"

"I did and I apologize but I was an—"

"No excuse," Narumi said with cold eyes. Her blue eyes darkened and the woman narrowed her eyes at her. "She went through something traumatic and instead of comforting her, you went and do this! What does that say to you?"

Sakura clenched her jaws. "She wasn't responding to anything and looked so sorry that I thought—"

"—You thought what? That saying those words would snap her out of it?" Narumi said icily. Sakura flinched and bobbed her head as Hinata narrowed her eyes at her. "Those kind of words would make her condition even worse because that was trauma for her! Do you have any idea of how powerful words can be? Wars have been started because of them!"

"Then what could I have said that everything was going to be alright?" Sakura demanded. "Everything was not alright and instead of trying to reassure me—"

"—How the hell could she reassure you?" Todoroki asked, raising an eyebrow. Naruto blinked as the mismatch-haired boy narrowed his eyes at the girl. "She was the one who nearly died. That was her best friend so shouldn't you have been the one comforting her? She is human too."

Naruto just stared at him with wide eyes while Hinata regarded him with thoughtful eyes.

Sakura-chan didn't even care that Sasuke nearly killed her.

Our bond? It means nothing to me. Why should I care about someone like you? You are so irritating with that stupid smile on your face.

Sasuke made her believe that those countless dinners they had in her favourite ramen stand and all those training sessions meant something to them. She should have known better when it came to Sasuke. The kind kid that treated her like another human being died the day his whole family was murdered.

Narumi clenched her jaws together and threw a glare at the Third and Tsunade. "Do you people have no consideration to mental health? You have a boy that nearly killed his best friend and a girl who is struggling to trust people? Where the fuck does your funding go? And don't say school because clearly the girls aren't smart."

"Oi!" Naruto yelled. "Hinata-chan is smart."

"It's a miracle then," Narumi drawled before glaring at the two of them. "You are a village filled with soldiers and yet you have no idea of how to care for your own children!"

Tsunade frowned. "I have done research but there are no way to operate the brain—"

"You don't have to operate the brain!" Narumi pointed out. "Sometimes having an objective ear listen to them helps! Someone guiding them and listening to their problems help! They need someone to help them cope with their symptoms and if that doesn't work then we send them to the doctor if we think that they need it!"

Sarutobi eyed her. "We have been dealing with it—"

"—Fine?" Narumi rolled her eyes. "And my grandson is an angel! Everything that has happened so far is because you never taken into account the mental strain of a job! Tell me how good are your shinobi with taking care and maintaining their relationship with their children and in their relationship with their partner! How many turned to alcohol and drugs?"

The Hokage kept quiet and the woman shook her head.

"I don't want anything, Naruto-san." Midoriya declared; his timid voice broke her out of her thought. He stared at her with confusion, green eyes trying to search for any reason she might think he wanted something from her.

She just avoided his eyes and opened the letter, hoping it would be enough to draw his attention away from her. Blue eyes flashed with confusion when a small metal object fell down from the envelope. The area around her became quiet and dimly Naruto realized that the Nejire and her friends were now staring at them.

"That might be because of Elf Boy," Bakugou retorted. Everyone stared at each other before glancing at Naruto and then bobbed their heads at him. If I didn't know Nejire and her friends weren't the type to stalk then I would think they were following me. She sighed and shook her head.

Midoriya pressed the button of the projector, probably realizing she was never going to take the next step forward.

"Finally, we are going to find out what they have to say!" Kaminari said, throwing his hands up in the air. "You were taking too long to find out."

"Listen up, Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto forced herself to look at the projection as crowds of people began to swam in around her. Whispers broke out and phones were brought out as Present Mic made his appearance. "You have been accepted into Yuuei High!"

Bakugou stared at her. "Told you that you would get in, Whiskers."

"You know if you keep acting like that then I can see how you might end up getting a girlfriend," Naruto commented. The boy scowled and the blonde curled her lips into a smile. "Don't be embarrassed, Blasty! I'm sure that there is a girl out there that will truly love your personality."

"I'm not embarrassed!"

Naruto smiled even wider. "Who knew that under all that needles, is just soft boy that wants to be loved!"

"Whiskers!"

Cheers broke out from all around her and Naruto just blinked at the excitement coming from the crowds of strangers.

"You knock yourself out of the park by having the highest score in the practical exam in all of Yuuei High's history," the man yelled. Whispers broke out at those words and Naruto frowned when her future seniors beamed at her. "Your written paper was good but nothing like your practical exam. You even went the extra mile and sent an injured person to the nurse. Recovery girl wants to thank you for your efforts since it is rare for students to go this far. Anyways, congratulation!"

Bakugou stared at her. "Since you have clones and experience, I won't question how the fuck that you beat me but I'm going to take the top spot from you."

"You can have it," Naruto retorted, shrugging her shoulders. "But you know that there are other people in that school, so don't be disappointed when you realize that you are not better than everyone in that school."

Narumi sighed. "Please don't say that, Uzumaki. My grandson has a fragile ego."

"Old Crone!"

She got in.

She actually got in.

She got in.

Todoroki hummed and stared at her. "You seem to be happy to get in so does that mean I was still wrong to believe that you don't care about getting in."

"You are right," Naruto muttered. "But that doesn't mean you have me figure out!"

He nodded. "But the book is going to help me figure you out."

"Why do you want to figure me out?" The whiskered teen asked, knitting her eyebrows together. She tilted her head to the side as the mismatch-haired boy regarded her. "We only just met each other."

Todoroki looked at her. "Because you remind me of someone I know and you are very interesting."

The whiskered teen blinked and then accepted his answer. It make sense. If she was curious about someone then she would want to read about them too, but what was their connection to each other? Was he going to be her classmate? Most likely.

If Midoriya got into Yuuei High then that probably meant that she was going to be classmates with everyone else in the room.

"We are going to see each other often! I will show you the whole place around? How many points did you get?" Naruto felt a headache forming as Nejire pushed through the crowds and tackled her to the ground, earning raised eyebrows from Izuku. The blond-haired girl just stiffened her shoulders, uncertain on how to feel about the contact.

"Naruto-san, who is this?" Midoriya stuttered as Nejire continued to throw questions at her. Naruto craned her neck, blue eyes searching for one of her seniors to save her from this sudden attack. Blue eyes locked on the indigo eyes of the Sasuke's look alike and the boy looked away.

Ino sighed. "How on Earth can you have so many guys wanting you and not notice?"

"Because I don't automatically think every guy is after me," Naruto retorted with a raised eyebrow. The platinum blond-haired girl narrowed her eyes at her and the whiskered teen offered a smile. "What? You thought you were hot enough to make Neji look at you."

Ino frowned. "How did…Shikamaru! Choji!"

"We had to tell her," Shikamaru explained, covering up his laugh with a cough. Asuma snorted and shook his head while everyone knitted their eyes at her. "Naruto said that strategy you created was going to work on, someone who was straight-laced and serious."

"I can't believe that you tried to seduce Neji!" Naruto said, shaking her head. "Bastard will never even look at you."

Ino narrowed her eyes. "I'm hot enough for him to look! I dress well! And I certainly had better grades then you when it came to that aspect of work."

"Neji isn't stupid and he never thought with his dick," the whiskered teen retorted, rolling her eyes at Ino. Hinata hummed and bobbed her head as the whiskered teen shook her head. "Besides, your strategy for seduction was to release your hair and say some cutesy words. Also your point on grades are moot because I didn't try. Point is: your strategy doesn't work!"

"Then let me see you seduce someone!" Ino demanded. "If you are so certain then why don't you seduce someone in the room."

Naruto stared at her. "No time for that and it will be so obvious because you demanded it."

It was the blond-haired boy that saved her.

"Nejire, I think Uzumaki-san needs time to process that she pass the exam," Mirio said, pushing through the crowds of people. The boy yanked the girl away from Naruto, allowing her to breath from the assault that took place. He flashed her a smile.

The smile didn't even waver when Naruto didn't return it back to him.

"I don't think I can keep smiling if someone doesn't smile back at me," Uraraka commented. "Mirio-san has some ability to smile, doesn't he?"

Aizawa bobbed his head. "He has a certain charisma that allows him to continue on even when someone is not being friendly."

"Who are these people?" Midoriya cried.

"The senpais that are going to take Uzumaki-san in!" Nejire declared. "You never answered my question about those whiskers marks! Are they real? Can I touch them? Tamaki thinks they…"

"Does she ever stop to breath?" Shikamaru asked, letting out a groan before looking back at Naruto. "She is probably a very troublesome woman to deal with and I hanged out with you! If I didn't know you, I would have thought you copied her traits."

The whiskered teen smiled. "You want me to go back to asking you a thousand questions? Because it sounds like you almost missed it, Shikamaru-kun!"

"You are in trouble now, Shikamaru," Choji observed as Naruto narrowed her eyes at him. "Naruto only adds -kun to your name when you make her angry."

"If I promise not to say that again then will you not give me a scolding?"

"I'm not going to give you a scolding now," Naruto smiled as Shikamaru paled. "I'm going to give you one when we are done with the book. You see Shikamaru, did you find the fact that I asked about your opinions on the floating clouds to be annoying? Or when you offered me suggestions on how to improve my prank on Ino?"

Ino narrowed her eyes. "You helped her!"

"Why wouldn't I? It was fun," Shikamaru observed. "And you were being cruel to Choji. Why wouldn't I help Naruto and make sure that none of the teachers figure out it was her?"

Ino scowled.

Naruto just tuned everything out as she stared at the smiling crowd surrounding her. Midoriya beamed at her as Nejire resumed pulling her cheeks, puffing her cheeks when she saw those whiskers marks were nothing but birthmarks. Strangers, she didn't even know, smiled softly at her and shouted their congratulations to her. She dimly could hear her senior promising to show her around the school, telling her that she was going to enjoy Yuuei High.

"Well we are going to find out if you enjoy Yuuei," Narumi commented, shaking her head at them. She glanced at the teens before looking at the adults with narrowed eyes. "Hopefully the next chapter is an improvement because I really don't want to use my bat on you."

The Hokage eyed her. "Naruto, I hope that the next chapter is better."

"You are saying that because you are now terrified of the bat," Naruto commented. "Besides this is in the near future so how am I supposed to promise you that it is better? You should pray to god."

The Hokage grimaced.

There was only one conclusion Naruto could come up with.

Maybe not everyone wanted something from her, but Naruto would never trust the words and smiles of the people around her.

It would be a mockery to the naïve little girl that got betrayed by the boy she saw as her brother.

Sasuke faltered at those last words and Naruto felt her eyebrows twitched. Oh once this book is over, I'm going to punch him and yell at him even more! She couldn't do it now when it seemed like there were still so many other chapters for the to read.

"That was the end of the chapter," Sasuke said, clearing his throat. "Who wants to read the next chapter?"

Hinata waved her hand. "I will do it, Uchiha."


A/N: So that is the end of the chapter. How did you find the interaction between the characters? Dabi is probably not going to come in but Mikoto is still up in the air. For anyone curious to know why Narumi didn't get suspicious about Naruto's grandfather then the simple answer is that Narumi wouldn't automatically presume that was Souta. For all she knew, Naruto's grandfather was a widow and had gotten remarried.

Also if I wrote down every reaction to certain news then it would deter from the reading. There are certain things that will be expanded upon during the period between them reading Nirvana and Guardian. Now here are a few questions for you:

Q1: How do you think the characters will react at the developing relationship between Naruto and Todoroki? Especially the two characters themselves.

Q2: Do you think Narumi is right to say that the Third Hokage was the problem?

Q3: What do you think of the interaction between Naruto and Todoroki in this chapter?

Please do tell me of your thoughts on this chapter and your thoughts of the rewrite.