A/N: Hello. Back with an update. Finally. Getting out of the habit of writing sort of put me behind. Had to go back and read my own story to remember it, haha. I feel like I should just write out multiple versions of the story and then post whichever one I like best, but... wow would that be a lot more time consuming than it already is.

I don't own Naruto. Nor do I have fox ears and a fox tail. It would be cool if I did, though.

Chapter 8

At the Ninja Academy, different day

"Alright class, we're scheduled to do some training outside today," Iruka announced.

A lot of groans and protests were heard from several of the female students, as well as a few of the civilian-born male students. It was raining outside. Not very hard, but enough that they would be soaked and cold by the time the outdoor training was over.

"Noooo! That'll ruin my hair! It'll be all frizzy!" one girl complained loudly.

Naruko, who had managed to get a seat next to Hinata and Aburame Shino today, just sighed and rolled her eyes. Shino said, in his usual peculiar fashion, "It is foolish to complain. Why? Because we are training to be ninja. We need to be prepared to do missions in any weather. The academy will not change their decision for vain reasons like hair styles."

"Yeah. I understand how it's annoying to have wet clothes and hair, but it is something we should be prepared for," Naruko replied. "Plus I'm more excited to see how good everyone is and finally move around. I was getting tired of sitting still every day in class..." she added.

"I j-just hope w-we don't h-have t-to spar..." Hinata said worriedly. She had a lot of bad memories of sparring. She never enjoyed when her father made her fight her younger sister, Hanabi. Hinata could never bring herself to truly strike at Hanabi.

"Aw, come on Hinata, I like sparring. I'm sure you'll do fine!" Naruko said as they went outside, trying to encourage the Hyūga girl.

"Okay, class. We are doing taijutsu sparring sessions today. If it isn't your turn, then either watch from the sides or practice your shuriken and kunai throwing on the other side of the field. After the spars are done, I will see how all of you do with the throwing," Iruka declared, much to Naruko's delight and Hinata's despair.

"Alright, first match is Hinata versus Airi," announced Iruka.

"Oh, eww. I have to fight the lesbian with a crush on the monster fox," Airi sneered. "I don't know why you like that thing. That freak deserves to die already."

Upon hearing this, Naruko dropped her gaze to stare at the ground, her ears and tails drooping in sadness. She tried her best to remember what Anko always told her about not letting such comments get to her, but it was hard when she heard them so often and from so many people. 'I guess, to them, I am a freak...'

"D-don't talk about Naruko-chan like th-that!" Hinata responded angrily, face red from a mixture of anger and embarrassment. It was true that she had a crush on Naruko, but nobody was supposed to know about that! More importantly, Hinata didn't like seeing Naruko get depressed when people spoke badly about the kitsune girl. Hinata knew how that felt personally. Hinata resolved that she would do her best to prevent Naruko from having to deal with that whenever she could.

"Yeah, yeah. Why don't you stop me then!" Airi challenged tauntingly.

Iruka, seeing that the two were going to start fighting whether he called the match to begin or not, quickly said "Begin!" and moved out of the way. Before Airi even had a chance to react, she was on the ground with the angry Hyūga heiress glaring down at her, having suffered a painful strike to the chest. Airi stared up in shock at the normally quiet and docile Hyūga. Iruka quickly called the match in Hinata's favor, seeing the still hostile expression on Hinata's face when she looked at Airi. With a small huff, Hinata turned around and marched straight back to Naruko.

"Y-you w-were right, Naruko-chan. I-I kinda e-enjoyed that p-p-particular spar," Hinata said, blushing. Naruko surely knew how she felt now. How embarassing.

Naruko, however, was still oblivious. She had focused much more on the second half of what Airi had said than the first half. The kitsune girl put a halfhearted smile on her face and said, "Yeah, I knew you could do it, Hinata-chan."

Shino put a hand on Naruko's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't let what Airi-san said bother you, Naruko-san. Why? Because you have a good friend in Hinata-san. Plus, you do not seem like a bad person to me."

At this, Naruko finally relaxed a bit back to her normal self. "Thanks, both of you," Naruko said sincerely, giving them both a genuine smile this time, much to Hinata's relief.

Several unremarkable fights soon followed. Chōji and Shikamaru both defeated their civilian-born opponent, as did Ino and Sakura.

Kiba defeated Shino, as taijutsu was a specialty of the Inuzuka clan and a weakpoint for the Aburame clan, despite Shino's best efforts. It wasn't really close, but Shino was able to defend for longer than any of the others who had been defeated.

"Alright, I suppose that leaves Uchiha Sasuke versus Uzumaki Naruko," said Iruka, to much excitement from the class.

"Go Sasuke!" cheered Sakura enthusiastically. Many similar cheers were heard from the female students.

"You got this, Naruko-chan!" cheered Kiba and Chōji loudly.

"Why even bother to cheer for her, a girl has no chance against Sasuke. He's the top of our class." A random civilian-born boy said to them. Shikamaru just sighed at how troublesome this all was. 'I wouldn't be too sure if I were you,' he thought to himself.

Naruko waved her tails around excitedly behind her, ready for a good fight. Sasuke, meanwhile, stood haughtily across from her, certain in his victory.

"Begin!" announced Iruka as he jumped to the side.

Sasuke quickly charged Naruko and delivered a swift and strong punch to her face, knocking her on her back. Confident he had won, he hopped backwards with a confident "hmph."

But to Sasuke surprise, and the shock of many of the spectators, Naruko sat up laughing gleefully before standing up. Her lip was a bit bloody, but she seemed otherwise fine.

"Hehehe, you're pretty good. This will be fun," she told Sasuke. The young Uchiha smirked in response. 'Interesting. She got up from that. She may be worth my time after all,' Sasuke thought before dropping into his fighting stance again.

Turning to the instructor, Naruko asked, "Hey Iruka-sensei, since he's pretty good can I let loose just a little bit? Pretty please?" She gave him her best, cutest expression that she could manage. Iruka nodded hesitantly, "I guess, just a little bit, and only because Sasuke is so skilled."

"Yaaay!" the kitsune girl cheered excitedly as she adjusted her shirt to expose the front of her left shoulder. On it was a spiral shaped seal with the number 1 inside the center. She quickly bit her thumb to draw blood and drew a 2 over the top of the 1 with her blood. The 1 faded away and the 2 seemed to become a part of the seal in its place. Meanwhile a faint red glow of chakra surrounded her entire body, much to Sasuke's interest, and the shock of most of the students. Even more surprising was the brighter red orb that started at her feet and quickly swirled around her, working its way up to her head, leaving her chakra glowing more brightly than it had been before. After a moment, it faded away, leaving her looking the same as before, but everyone could tell a difference. The air around them felt heavier and warmer, somehow. Naruko just stood there staring at Sasuke, swishing her tails side to side excitedly. "Now we can play for real!"

Sasuke smirked in response. "Interesting. You put some type of seal on yourself for training. Maybe you'll actually give me a workout."

Sakura was infuriated by this exchange. 'Shannaro! I won't lose to her! So Sasuke is interested in strong girls? I refuse to lose him to her!' raged inner-Saukra.

"What the hell was that?" asked one of the civilian-born students. "Like a little light show is going to let her win against Sasuke-kun!" shouted another girl. Shikamaru face-palmed at their stupidity. "Troublesome," he muttered.

Naruko smiled cheerfully before charging Sasuke and punching at his stomach so quickly that he barely managed to block it in time. Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise at her speed before narrowing in concentration. He dropped low to try and sweep her legs, but Naruko casually hopped over the sweep and kicked at his face. Sasuke grabbed her foot and tossed her away, but she just did a handspring back onto her feet, landing almost silently.

Sasuke got up and charged her, aiming a punch at her chest but only grazing her shoulder as she spun out of the way. As she spun, she let the tip of her tail smack hard into his back, making him stumble forward and faceplant into the ground.

"Uff," groaned Sasuke as he stood back up, charging at her and kicking her in the stomach, catching her off-guard at the speed of his recovery. Naruko grunted in pain and stumbled back a few feet, but managed to keep on her feet and block his follow up punch just in time.

They both punched at each other's face at the same time. Naruko chose to dodge, while Sasuke caught her punch with his free hand. Naruko replied by headbutting him, making them both stumble backwards from the force of the impact.

"If you think I'm going to let you win, you are sorely mistaken," Sasuke told Naruko, frustrated that he was unable to get the upper hand against the vixen.

Naruko stuck her tongue out at him and pulled down an eyelid, "Like I need you to let me win, teme. I'll do it all on my own whether you want me to or not." With that said, she turned her back to him, spreading her tails and bracing herself for his inevitable charge, listening closely for him to move. She would annoy him and bait him in like this, so that he wouldn't be prepared for her counter.

Sasuke's eye twitched in annoyance at what he saw as a disrespectful gesture. "Dobe! Turn around and face me! What kind of fool turns their back on their opponent!?"

Naruko let out a yawn and stretched her arms above her head tauntingly, refusing to reply with words. In anger, Sasuke charged at her, preparing to punch the back of her head. Quick as a flash, Naruko dodged out of the way and slapped him hard in the face with one tail, breaking his nose with a loud crack. The other two tails connected with his torso, bruising him and knocking him to the ground. With that, she sat down on his chest quickly, pinning him down.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruko!" Iruka declared. "Sakura, go fetch the med-nin in the nurse's office to patch Sasuke up," ordered Iruka. Sakura, who was in shock at witnessing Sasuke's defeat, ran off to do so.

Naruko stood up off of Sasuke and offered him a hand up. "That was a good match, lots of fun," Naruko told him. He begrudgingly accepted her hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet. "Hmph," Sasuke said, somewhat sulkily, storming off without saying anything else to get patched up.

"Whoa! She beat Sasuke? What the hell?! He was always easily the top of the class at practical lessons!" One boy shouted in shock.

Meanwhile, Naruko walked over to Iruka. She had a question in mind. "Umm, sensei? Do you think I need to put my seal back to how it was, or is it okay to stay like this? I know why I need it but I still don't want to seal away more than I have to... I hate how it makes my body feel so slow and heavy..." Naruko asked quietly so that her classmates couldn't overhear. Iruka sighed and replied, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to spar anyone other than maybe Sasuke as you are now, but I think it's fine for everything except sparring. I'll try not to put you against any of the lower-ranked students until your control is better. If you do have to spar against a less skilled opponent, I expect you to apply the seal back fully. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. Thanks Iruka-sensei!" Naruko replied happily and ran off to join Hinata.

"W-wow y-you're so strong N-naruko-chan," Hinata praised the happy redhead. Naruko gave her a silly smile with her tails waving around excitedly in reply. "Yeah! I'm awesome like that!" Naruko declared, a little boastfully.

"Hmph, you sure are full of yourself, aren't you bitch?" asked Airi angrily from a safe distance and surrounded by her friends.

"What, do you want me to lie, Airi-baka? Sorry but that's not in my nature. I tell it like it is," Naruko replied bluntly. Naruko then realized what she had been called. "Oh, and I'm not a dog, I'm a kitsune. I'm not a bitch. The correct term is vixen. Vixen!" Naruko said adamantly, waving her arms around a bit wildly when she said vixen, trying to put as much emphasis on the word as possible.

"Like we care, monster bitch!" one of Airi's posse yelled angrily in reply.

"GAHH! I just told you! That's the wrong term!" Naruko replied, pulling on her hair in frustration. Shino put his hand on Naruko's shoulder. "You should ignore them. Why? Because they are saying that on purpose to upset you," The bug-loving boy told the frustrated girl.

Naruko sighed and tried to calm herself down. She knew the boy was right, but she really wanted to be called by the correct term, damn it!

A short time later

"Alright, now that we're all back, line up for shuriken training. Show me what you can do when your name is called," Iruka instructed the class. Sasuke had finally returned, having been healed by the med-nin from the beating he received at the hands of Naruko.

Lined up in front of the class were straw dummies with wooden bulls-eye targets attached to them. The academy students took turns throwing a mix of kunai and shuriken at the dummies; five of each. Sasuke went first and hit all of his shuriken and kunai directly on the bullseye of a target, while throwing them all at once. "Hmph," Sasuke said smugly, satisfied with his performance, much to the delight of his female classmates.

"Sasuke is the coolest!" declared Sakura, as she fangirled, as usual.

Hinata did well too, hitting half the targets on the bulls-eye, and the other half on the innermost ring. Ino and Sakura, however, did somewhat worse, hitting all the targets but in pretty much random spots. Chōji and Shino did only a little better than Sakura and Ino, just getting slightly closer to the center.

Airi whiffed half the targets and only barely hit the ones she did hit, much to her embarrassment.

Kiba and Shikamaru did almost as well as Hinata, by hitting the targets mostly on the innermost ring with one bulls-eye each.

Finally, it was Naruko's turn. She lined up, took careful aim... and threw her shuriken and kunai... through all of the targets, breaking them to pieces. Her projectiles sailed through the straw dummies and finally came to a stop when they hit the wall behind the targets, burying themselves into the stone wall with a loud clang.

Everyone stared, wide-eyed, at Naruko, as she rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Ehehe, I guess I threw them just a little bit harder than I meant to...?" Naruko explained nervously.

"... A little bit, she says..." muttered Kiba, awe-struck by the embarrassed kitsune.

"I thought throwing them at a fourth of my strength would be okay!" she yelled back at Kiba, blushing brightly from embarrassment at her error. At this comment, everyone face-faulted and thought something along the lines of 'Only a fourth? Is she serious?!'

Iruka cleared his throat to try and dispel the awkward moment. "Well Naruko, it looks like you're about as accurate as Hinata, at any rate. Half of them passed through the bulls-eye, and the other half went through the innermost ring. Just... try not to destroy the equipment next time, okay?" he said as he rubbed his face, feeling suddenly tired.

"Yes sir, Iruka-sensei," Naruko answered, still a bit embarrassed, but happy with her accuracy.

A/N: Sakura isn't going to be as hostile with Naruko as I first thought. I was originally going to have her take the role my minor OC, Airi, took last chapter of having a cousin involved in the alleyway incident and being Naruko's first kill. But I switched at the last second, so Sakura will feel more rivalry than hate now. That makes the original team 7 more viable than my previous plans would have allowed. My thoughts on pairings haven't changed, though. This chapter, and maybe one or two more, also serves as a bit of a test how Naruko would fit in with various teams for me.

Also, I feel like I could have made this chapter longer, but my ideas were running dry and I didn't want to force it too much. Plus I wanted to update sooner rather than later.

Responses to reviews:

Thunderclaw03: Oh believe me, foxes and/or kitsune will show up in this story. I've yet to work out full details, but it will play a part.

PinkiePieParty122894: Yeah, Naruko has it rough, sadly. Blame the fanfic's author! Lynch him for bullying the cute kitsune girl! Oh wait... shit. ;-;

Otaku of Anime: Iruka probably won't be as central, but he has his part to play in helping Naruko. My version of Anko fills the role Iruka did in the original series, at least a little bit. More will be revealed in time. :P