Hey everybody! These are a couple little tiny baby stories that I couldn't make bespoke chapters for. I'll keep updating this whenever I get ideas, so it'll be like a running story kinda. Enjoy!

Teacher

It was getting to the boring part of the day at the academy. Iruka finished up his lesson on the invention of shuriken. The students would first go out to lunch, and then return for a math lesson! "I'm really tempted to just skip it," Naruto said as he but into a sandwich.

"Why what's the big rush?" Sakura asked, "You'll just fall asleep anyway," the group chuckled in agreement.

"Let's make a bet Naruto," Ino reaches into her bag, "If you can stay awake through the whole lesson, I'll give you this coupon to Ichiraku," she held out a slip of paper.

Naruto squinted at it:

"1 free bowl of ramen."

"Alright, Ino," he stuck his hand out, "you've got a deal."

It had only been ten minutes into the lesson, and Naruto was already falling asleep. Ino giggled as she slid the coupon back into her backpack. 'No! I can't give up now. I have to see this through.'

'One track mind,' Kurama snorted at the sword's remark.

'Shut it, Nuibari. All you do is talk about how elegant you are.'

'Not true. Sometimes I talk about how inelegant you are.'

"Naruto!" Iruka called, "Would you care to solve the problem," he tapped his foot as the class giggled.

"Fine," he walked up to the board, "I could practically teach this stuff-ttebayo."

"Oh is that so, Naruto?" The boy finished the problem and nodded, "Well if it's so easy, then why don't you take over for the day? Here's the lesson plan," Iruka thrust a sheet of paper into Naruto's arms.

Naruto spent a couple of minutes reading, much to Iruka's surprise. He nodded and wrote two things on the board, "Hello, class, I'll be your replacement teacher, because Iruka-sensei is feeling lazy today," Iruka growled, "you can call me Naruto-sensei for today. Does anyone know how to solve this equation.

(x-4)6-10
x=3

A hand in the back shot up, "Sasuke. Can come down?" The boy jumped up and sauntered down the aisle. He stood and squinted at the problem for a moment, before writing down his answer, and turning around, walking proudly to his seat. "Sasuke that's wrong."

"No it isn't."

"The answer isn't four," Sasuke cocked his head at his new teacher, "Here. You didn't even show your work. Show me how you solved it."

Sasuke grumbled and trudged back to the board.

"Ah. I see where you went wrong. Did you forget PEMDAS?"

Sasuke cocked his head, "The what now?"

"Please excuse my dear aunt Sally?" The class broke from confusion with laughter. Even Iruka chuckled, "You never taught us that, Iruka-sensei?" He shook his head, "Alright then," Naruto wrote out PEMDAS on the board. He wrote the word first above the P, and last above the AS, "Please excuse my dear aunt Sally," Naruto spoke as he pointed to each letter, "Also called the order of operations," he began writing words under the letters, "Parenthesis, exponents, multiplication and division, and addition and subtraction."

The class just looked confused.

"This is the order to solve any equation. You do things in the parenthesis first, no matter what. Then you do exponents, which are the tiny numbers that go above," he wrote an example on the board, "then you do any multiplication or division; either can be done before the other. And finally you do addition or subtraction." He looked at the class and saw noticeable confusion, "Alright lemme show you. You see what Sasuke did..."

Iruka tuned out as Naruto gave the lesson. He really could teach this stuff. He was shocked. He still couldn't get a read on this kid. He sat back in his chair and chuckled. What a weirdo.

Knitting

"Wait so I-"

"No you're doing it wrong," Naruto was learning how to knit and Hinata was learning to sew. She was having an easier time of it, "Just make the slipknot again."

Naruto's face contorted in confusion, "What is that?" Hinata sighed, "This is so much harder than sewing. Oh whatever. I'm hungry," he grabbed Hinatas hand, "Let's go eat. I can't learn this on an empty stomach." He led her outside of the Hyūga compound.

"N-Naruto-kun slow down."

Perv

Naruto had made a habit of venturing to the hot springs after a school day. Especially when he was living in the shack. There was no way to bathe there, so the hot springs did the trick. Today was different. There was some kind of seal on the entrance to the hot springs. He saw a guy walk towards the entrance, before turning on a dime, "No I'll just bathe at home." Then he saw another guy do the same, then another. He put his hand through the entrance way and blacked out.

How did he get here? He was standing in an open field along with a couple of other men, they all looked as confused as he felt. Seeing them reminded him, 'The hot springs!' He made his way back to see a group of two women walk in. He saw another man get bounced, and another woman walked in. Naruto walked around the corner. He had an idea.

A blonde haired woman with whisker marks rounded the corner. She was able to make it through the entrance easily. Naruto popped out from a smoke cloud and walked to the men's bath, 'What's going on here?'

He walked into he men's bath and saw some old man giggling and writing stuff down. He was sitting by the wall that connected to the women's bath, "Hey, what are you doing?"

The man jumped and turned around, "Um, nothing illegal, no, I'm just researching for one of my novels," he pulled out a copy of make out paradise, "What are you doing in here?"

"I just wanted to take a bath."

"Hm. Yeah right, how'd you get past my barrier?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

The man stared at Naruto for a minute, "Oh well, you earned it. I suppose I should introduce myself: I'm the great hermit of mount Myōboku, Jiraiya the Toad Sage! Do you want to join me?"

Naruto thought for a moment, "Yeah, sure why not," he waddled over to the man and they both started giggling, "By the way, my name's Naruto," Jiraiya's jaw dropped at the name, "Naruto Uzumaki!" He couldn't help but smile, "Hey what're you smiling about?"

"Oh it's nothing. Just some primo ladies over there."

Meal

Naruto and Hinata were sitting in her room on a cold winter day. There was nothing to do really, so Naruto was tossing a ball of yarn up into the air. Hinata's stomach growled and Naruto looked at her, "Are you hungry?" She nodded, "Let's go get something."

"Can we stay inside, Naruto-kun? It's just so cold out."

Naruto thought for a moment, "Come on, I'll make you something then," he grabbed her hand and dashed out the door.

"Na-Naruto-kun, slow down."

Naruto surveyed the available ingredients. He plopped some stuff on the counter, "Alright, I think I'll make a stir fry. You guys have all these veggies, so I figure I might as well use them-ttebayo," they both nodded.

As Naruto was preparing the meal Hanabi walked in. "Onee-san, what's Naruto doing."

"He's making something. Are you hungry?" The girl nodded, "Well then sit down," she pulled up a seat and sat by her sister, "Naruto, Hanabi would like some too."

"Oh. Alright, double the stir fry then," he added more vegetables and noodles to the wok.

After 20 or so minutes, the entire Hyūga clan had gathered in the kitchen. Hinata had offered all of them some food, and Naruto was making it. The boy was a well-oiled machine. He was only able to make 4-5 servings at a time. He would carefully cook each batch, quickly dump the exact necessary contents onto one of the plates, and then in the blink of an eye, cut more ingredients and place them into the pot. It was truly phenomenal to watch.

"Naruto-san," one of the branch members spoke after finishing his meal, "Where did you learn all of this?"

"I learned from one of the best chefs out there," he looked up as he reminisced about cooking with Itachi.

"And who would that be?"

"Shhh. It's a secret. I can't tell you," the family groaned, "Oh, and you don't have to call me Naruto-san, just Naruto works."

"I'll keep that in mind, just Naruto," they all shared a laugh. When the commotion dialed down, a loud growl could be heard from Naruto's stomach. The all stared and broke into laughter once more.
You're a Chūnin?
It was just another day at the academy for Naruto. For the other students, however, it was time to cram for the graduation exam. Naruto leaned back in his seat and inwardly chuckled at the panic ensuing in the room. Hinata, who was panicking herself, stopped and looked at the boy, "Naruto-kun, shouldn't you be studying?"

Naruto waved her off, "Pshh, it'll be easy-ttebayo. I'll be fine," he tensed up out of nowhere, "Iruka-sensei, may I use the bathroom?"

Iruka smirked. This boy just made a fatal error, "I don't know CAN you?"

"What are you on about. You're supposed to use 'may' in a sentence like that." Iruka lost his smirk, and stiffened. He let out a low growl, "Uhhh, Iruka-sensei?"

"JUST GO TO THE BATHROOM ALREADY!" The class collectively jumped, being broken from their intense studying. Iruka regained his composure and continued reading his book.

Naruto started to waddle down the hall. The urge to go to the bathroom intensifying. Mizuki smirked from around the corner, 'My hidden jutsu: Intense Urge to Urinate must have worked,' he thought, 'Maybe come up with a better name in the future,' he also thought.

As Naruto walked out of the bathroom, he scratched his head, "That's weird. I could have sworn I had to pee," he shrugged, "No big deal I guess." As he continued to walk to his class, he narrowly dodged Mizuki, who came barreling around the corner. "Oh, uh, hey Mizuki-sensei. Sorry about that."

The man smiled and patted Naruto on the shoulder, "Oh, no need for that, Naruto. I accept you for who you are, and would never discriminate against you."

"Uhh... ok? I should... get back to class," Naruto stayed as he nudged the man's arm from his shoulder.

"I accept you so much, in fact, that I'm willing to give you a special offer."

"Oh?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.

"I notice you sleeping everyday in class, so it'll probably be hard for you to pass the test," Naruto rolled his eyes inwardly, "So I wanted to tell you about alternative test."

Naruto tilted his head, "Whaaa-what the hell are you talking about?"

"If you can learn one jutsu from the sacred scroll of seals, then you automatically pass," Mizuki said with a smile.

"Okay, so who's going to be there to graduate me?"

"It'll just be me."

"Let's go ask Iruka-sensei about it- or better yet- the Hokage!" Naruto raised a finger and smiled.

Mizuki pursed his lips and bent over so Naruto and him were face to face. He expelled a tiny bit of KI for intimidation, "That would be a very, very bad idea, Naruto. If they know you found out about it, you would be expelled."

Naruto tried to stifle a laugh, but was unable. He broke into a laughing fit and doubled over. He fell to the ground and tried to hold onto it. Mizuki scowled and rapped his foot on the ground, releasing more KI, "What's the matter, Naruto?" Naruto just kept laughing. He had broke into full out hysterics.

After his laughing subsided, he stood up and faced Mizuki. He had to look away to stifle his laughter. After he regained composure, he looked back at Mizuki, releasing a far more potent wave of KI. Mizuki fell back and his eyes shot open in horror, "There is one thing I hate, Mizuki. I don't like vegetables, cockiness, or bullies. The only thing I hate is traitors." He stepped towards Mizuki. Who was frozen in place. Naruto stopped and began to laugh again, "Did you pee yourself?" Naruto could barely ask through hysterical laughter. Mizuki scrambled to his feet and sprinted out of the building. 'Some chūnin,' Naruto thought as he rolled around from laughter.

Question

Hinata and Naruto were taking Bolt for a walk. Hinata decided to break the silence, "Naruto-kun, may I ask you something?"

"Sure thing, shoot," he gave her a smile.

"Why did you say you loved me? During the chūnin exams."

He looked at her skeptically, "I didn't say I loved you then," she tilted her head, "I just said 'I think I feel the same as you'," Hinata looked down sullenly, "To be honest, I didn't really know what I was feeling. I kinda just went with my gut."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... I didn't really think about what I was saying. I didn't want to overthink it-ttebayo. I just said what my heart was saying."

Kurama rolled his eyes, 'Sappier than a maple tree.'

Hinata smiled at that, "Just what I'd expect from you," she leaned her head on his arm.

"Well it wasn't exactly like we were strangers. We had basically spent our entire lives with each other until that point. Shouldn't be that surprising."

She nodded, "Yeah, you're right. I guess I just didn't expect a 12 year old boy to understand love. Heck, I don't even think I understood it. When did you figure it out?"

"That I loved you?" She nodded, "Well it was when I was looking at the cinnamon bun," she tilted her head. Naruto noticed her confusion and continued, "When I saw it, it reminded me how much you like cinnamon buns. You always seem way happier when you're just around cinnamon buns."

"Soooo..."

"Well it's the same thing for me with ramen. I love ramen."

Hinata giggled, "Loving a person is different than loving a food, Naruto-kun."

"Not so fast. Let me finish," she motioned forward with her hand, "Well when I'm having ramen, I'm very happy. When I'm not having ramen, all I'm thinking about is having ramen. It makes me upset that I'm not eating ramen."

"I think you might have an addiction."

He held up a finger, "But the same would go for you. Whenever we could talk or hang out, I would have a lot of fun. When we weren't, I was thinking about stuff we had done in the past or plans we had. I had the same feelings for you as I did for ramen. So I was pretty sure I loved you."

"Your mind is so crazy. You do stuff like that a lot."

"Hm?"

"You'll figure something out when you're inspired by something completely unrelated. Like that time you solved the puzzle cube because the clock was broken."

Naruto smiled and snapped, "Riiiight. You spent so long readjusting the seconds hand, so I figured I was focusing too hard on the unimportant stuff."

She laughed, "You have a beautiful mind, you cute little cinnamon bun."

"Hey that's your nickname-ttebayo!"

"Well, when I'm eating a cinnamon bun I'm really happy. When I'm not, I'm thinking about eating a cinnamon bun."

Naruto filled in the blanks and tilted his head back, "Ohhhhh. You are very clever, my cute, little, miso char siu ramen."

Hinata couldn't hold back a laugh, "Maybe we can find a different food."

"Nope. I've already decided," Bolt barked up at him, "See. He likes it too."

Weird Old Man

"Little children shouldn't be so far from the village," an old man spoke up.

"Hey, that's no way to talk to the future hokage. I'm the strongest ninja in the village-ttebayo." Naruto looked up at the man and squinted. He was carrying a large sack and a whip, "Uhh... I don't recognise you old guy... are you from the village?"

The man closed his eyes and smiled, "In a way, yes. Would you like some rice?"

Naruto stuck his tongue out and waved his hand, "No thanks. I'm not supposed to take things from strangers, Danzō-tousan said so," Naruto crossed his arms, "Besides, I don't like rice."

The man frowned, "Well that's sad: rice is one of my favorites!" He smiled.

"Hm. What about ramen?"

The man thought for a moment, "I don't think I've ever had it."

"WHAAAAT?!" The man covered his ears as Naruto screamed, "Well come on, let's go get some," he grabbed the man's wrist, "come on you won't regret it-ttebayo!"

"Excuse me, boy," Naruto looked up at the man. They were now sitting in Ichiraku ramen, "What is your name, child?" The man asked.

"Again, I'm not supposed to tell strangers my name."

"Well I wouldn't say we're strangers still. You dragged me all the way over here," he gave a laugh, "Besides, we're in the middle of the village in broad daylight. If I tried anything, some villagers would step in to stop it."

"Don't be so sure of that," the chef spoke up, "There are only a few people who would step in," he paused before adding something quickly, "for whatever reason."

"Hm," the old rice man scratched his chin, "That is strange. You seem like a nice enough boy," he said with a smile. "I will promise you two things: I will not do anything fishy, and I will protect you from the ire of the people around you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Seems like a pretty lofty promise... what's the catch?"

"Tell me your name. And my promise will be complete."

"Tell me yours first."

"My father says to not tell my name to strangers," the man giggled and Naruto smirked.

Naruto held out a hand, "Naruto Uzumaki! Now tell me yours."

"My name is Inari," the man shook Naruto's hand.

"Food's ready," the chef said as he placed the bowls in front of the two customers.

"Itadakimasu!" The both exclaimed as the broke their chopsticks.

After a few seconds of eating Inari looked up from his bowl, "Hey Naruto," the boy looked up, "You said you didn't like rice, right?" Naruto nodded.

The man broke out into uncontrollable laughter. Naruto tilted his head at the man. His laughing slowed and he pointed at Naruto, "So then why are you eating it?"

Naruto flinched and slowly turned his head.

He noticed that, instead of a bowl of miso char siu ramen, a completely full bowl of white rice sat in front of him. He noticed that his mouth was full of the rice as well.

He coughed out the contents in his mouth and sprouted a tickmark, "Hey, old man, what's with this? I ordered ramen!" Naruto pointed to the bowl.

He blinked, and the bowl transformed back into the original dish.

Naruto's mouth flew open, "But I... I thought-"

"HEY TAKE IT EASY YOU BRAT," Ayame shouted, pointing at Naruto.

"I SWEAR IT WAS JUST RICE-TTEBAYO!"

Naruto and Ayame continued to argue as Inari-sama laughed hysterically. The two hotheads directed their attention to the laughing man. A foxy grin stretched his face. Naruto and Ayame also noticed the full bowl of rice sitting in front of the man, "You know, chef, you make some damn good rice!"

The man and Naruto walked to the outskirts of town.

"Hey that was a pretty good prank you pulled, rice guy," Naruto notes with a grin.

"I've been told I'm quite tricky," he said as he giggled, "Now, I promised you something, didn't I?" A fox pranced out from the forest and leapt atop the man's shoulder.

"Woaaah! That's awesome," Naruto's eyes sparkled as he marvelled at the man.

"This will be my protection, my gift to you," the fox ran down the man's arm and leapt towards Naruto. It nuzzled up against Naruto and Inari laughed, "You know, that's a good omen. If the foxes of the forest like you, you will have good fortune for life. And the opposite goes for if they don't," Inari said in a fake scolding tone.

"So I get this fox? As like a pet?"

"You get this fox, as well as all of the other fixes in the land of fire," Naruto's jaw dropped, "All you have to do is think to yourself, 'Inari-sama, grant me your protection blank-fold'."

Naruto cocked his head at the man, "What does 'blank-fold' mean?"

"Replace blank with a number. 'Blah blah blah protection five-fold' if you want five foxes," Naruto tilted his head back.

"I'm starting to think you're no ordinary old guy."

Inari laughed, "That's one way to put it. Does the name Inari-sama sound familiar to you?"

Naruto scratched his cheek, "Not... no not really."

Inari beckoned over his shoulder, "Well that's the name of the kami no kitsune."

Naruto shrugged, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I feel like you can put the pieces together eventually."

"Hmph. Whatever. Wish you would just tell me."

"Well now that wouldn't be fun. Think of it as a prank I'm playing on you."

Naruto gave another Hmph, followed by a yawn.

"Oh, are you tired, Naruto-chan?"

"Hey! What's with the -chan? That's supposed to be for little girls!"

Inari laughed, "No not necessarily," a large poof of smoke spawned out of nowhere. After it cleared, a large fox appeared, "Hop on my back. I'll take you home."

Naruto squinted skeptically. He shrugged and obliged.

Inari-sama stopped somewhere on the outskirts of town. He shook Naruto off his back to wake him up.

"OOMPF," Naruto scrambled to get up, "What's the big idea, fox guy?"

Inari nodded his head towards the shrine, "If you would like to continue to summon foxes, bring some rice up by this shrine and eat with me once every few weeks."

"And what happens if I don't?"

"You remember what happens to people who the foxes don't like, right?" Naruto gulped, "It's unwise to test me," Naruto nodded as he climbed back into the fox once again. "Now. I need directions."

Hinata awoke to hear familiar sounds coming from the kitchen, "Naruto-kun, why are you cooking so early?"

"Oh I'm," he paused and looked around, "it's for a friend."

Hinata raised an eyebrow as Naruto continued to cook. He threw the food into a bento, grabbed plate of eggs and toast, and dashed out the door. He would do the once every few weeks, and Hinata has no idea why. She knew it wasn't any of her business, but she was curious.

She decided, after a couple minutes, to try to follow Naruto. Over the years, Hinata had become pretty good at stalk- tracking Naruto.

She sat on a nearby branch as she watched Naruto eat. He was sitting, leaning against some sort of shrine. The bento of rice sat next to the boy

Hinata hopped down in front of the boy. He gave her a bright smile and put his plate down, "I was wondering when you'd come down," Hinata stiffened, blushed, and gave an awkward smile.

"What are you out here for?" She asked as she sat down next to him.

"This is the shrine to Inari-sama. I try to bring an offering every couple weeks," he picked up his plate and began to eat, "He likes rice. And company."

Hinata smiled sweetly, "Aww. That's cute," Naruto gave a fake scowl, "But, um, Naruto-kun," Hinata looked at his plate, "I thought you didn't like rice."

"Yeah, you're right. That's why I made eggs for myself," he shoveled a bite into his mouth.

"So then why are you eating the rice?"

Naruto's eyes shot open as he looked down. He plate was filled with rice. He spit out the mouthful and smirked, 'Tricky old man.'