A/N: I am flattered. I can't believe I actually have 3 reviews! (I suck, I know, this is my first fic and I'm doing some experimentation) Thank you so much Kitsu Maharu for your reviews (yes, plural, as in one for each of my existing chapters)! I am so happy. I am so happy; I'm attempting to write the third chapter of my series in the same day it was published! Today is Saturday, June 03, 2006 and I'm looking forward to more reviews. So happy! By the way, I'm open to any suggestions to my story. I'm writing this as I go so any suggestion will be acknowledged unless it is a suggestion to change the desired pairing, Naru/Hina. I'm all ears people! Also, please tell me if I screw up on someone's name. I want to make it so you do not have to worry about spelling errors when it comes to the names. I want to make this story flow without you having to worry about grammar errors either so don't be afraid to point it out, even if it's small. If you try to reread a certain part, trying to find out what it means due to my screw-up, tell me so I can change it. I hate having to stop and say, "Hey, you screwed up here!" or "This isn't how it's supposed to be!" and try to correct it before moving on. Reviews are appreciated and Flames are used to cook my eggs and bacon. Enjoy the third installment of "Cheerfulness Incarnate."

Disclaimer: Everyone who thinks I own Naruto will receive a martini laden with rat poison. Enough said.

(Chapter Starts, One year after the end of the last chapter)

Naruto awoke with a start. The cause of the evil interruption of his sleep was an alarm clock made out of spare parts. He looked around to see his apartment. Nothing special, am I right? Wrong. The apartment is nearly empty, and the furniture that is already there are either cracked or broken to some degree. The Hokage gives him an allowance, but it's not all that big. Seeing that Naruto's apartment is already being paid for by the Hokage himself, he still needs to pay for the essentials including utilities, food and water. This usually would not be a problem if he was a normal person. The allowance would cover a normal person for a month and that person would still have enough to spend on something he/she wanted. Unfortunately, he is not normal; therefore, the village seems to make it their duty to cause him problems. Naruto, wanting to be strong enough to get away from the villagers, takes a 3 mile jog in the morning. He usually gets his groceries and other essentials in the mornings during this time. Naruto is generally overcharged for just about everything. Food, clothes, electronics, you name it; he pays about twice the normal price. Naruto is banned from about half of the stores in Konoha. The other stores either overcharge him or they don't really give him much of a choice of products. For example, the orange suit that he wears constantly was basically forced upon him due to the fact that the clothing store wouldn't sell anything else to him. In fact, the only store that he knows of that doesn't overcharge him is his favorite ramen stand; the same stand that he ate in a year ago with the Hokage.

This day, however, is not like the others. Hokage-oji-san, as Naruto kindly calls Sarutobi, was nice enough to enroll him into the ninja academy after noticing his interest in the ninja arts. Naruto dressed relatively quickly; excitement and anticipation filling every fiber of his being. In his rush, he remembered to lock the door; the consequences of not doing so still fresh in his mind.

Naruto jogged to the academy holding his materials in his backpack. The academy happened to be about a mile away from his apartment so Naruto still was able to get a small exercise in the morning. He wore the same mask he did a year ago; the one he made to hide the pain of the villagers scorn.

He stopped outside the academy to see it was nearly empty. He was extremely early. The only people present were a few teachers trying to get ready for the first day. He sat on the first thing he saw, which just so happened to be a small swing. He waited anxiously for the first bell.

(Later)

Naruto started out feeling ecstatic about starting school, but now, he wasn't so sure. The place on the swing, occupied by the young, orange-clad, blonde-haired boy was totally ignored. Each person that arrived at the school was a hit toward his well-prepared mask. Naruto was failing to maintain his smile as each child was dropped off by their parents, the parents wishing them good luck on the first day of school. The bell then rings, snapping Naruto out of his stupor and sending him running into the building, mask in place.

(Scene Change, In the Classroom)

He saw Naruto sitting anxiously in his seat, looking forward to the lesson that was to come. Naruto then sat up, as he spotted a medium-sized man walk in. He was dressed in a standard chuunin jacket and a pair of pants. Attached to the pants was a standard weapons pouch and the jacket had a few scrolls in the part of the jacket that was designed for scrolls. He was tan-skinned with a scar across his face starting under his right eye, going across the nose and ending in the middle of his left cheek. He carried a stack of papers and a clipboard which he placed on his table. He picked up the clipboard, scanning the classroom. Iruka attracted everyone's attention with a single word.

"QUIET!"

Everyone instantly went silent. Iruka then marked his clipboard as he called out the names of the children.

"An Akamichi, an Aburame, a Haruno, a Hyuuga, an Inuzuka, a Nara, an Uchiha, an Uzumaki, and a Yamanaka. This is an interesting group of kids we have here. The Hyuuga will be very interesting. The Uchiha will definitely be a good one. The Uzumaki will definitely be a burden; I really need to watch the demon child." Iruka thought as he scanned the room. The one who caught his eye was a boy with a bright orange outfit and a hair color to match. He was annoyed just looking at him, but he decided not to pick on him, yet. He smiled as he thought of the things he could do to the "demon spawn"

"Okay, class. Open your books to page three and take notes as I give you the main points."

He started his lecture on disguises and masks while watching Naruto carefully. As soon as Iruka saw him space out, he called on him.

"Uzumaki! What is the most efficient way to hide your identity?" Iruka asked, picking him out of the crowd. The rest of the class was probably as uninterested as he was but Iruka picked him to see what he was capable of.

"Ano… Uh…" Naruto stammered, unable to give an answer.

"Okay, then, would you mind reading the third paragraph on page four?" Iruka asked, deciding to pick on him some more.

"Um… Uh… Iruka-sensei, I, uh…" Naruto replied nervously. "I-I can't really…um…" Naruto then mumbled indistinctly.

The students nearby heard his response and stared at him, thinking along the lines of, "You can't what!"

"What was that Naruto?" Iruka asked with an evil smile.

"I-I c-can't r-r-read." Naruto replied sullenly.

Half of the class stared at him in disbelief while the other half burst into peals of laughter. Iruka happened to join the side that laughed heartily at his misfortune, knowing full well that he couldn't learn how to read at home.

Naruto sunk into his seat as everyone either regained their composure or snapped out of their stupor.

Iruka, still laughing, asked Sakura to answer the question. "Haruno, can you please answer for our foolish friend?"

Sakura answered promptly with great precision of her words. "The most efficient way to disguise your identity is to take up a different personality than your own. This is explained in the section you identified, Iruka-sensei."

(POV change, a little later)

He could still hear the snickers of half of his classmates and he can still feel the disbelieving stares of the others. He was about to burst as the bell rang signaling the start of break. Naruto rushed out of the room, unable to bear such embarrassment. He then thought of Sakura's words as he rushed towards the front door, "The most efficient way to disguise your identity is to take up a different personality than your own."

"A different personality than your own; I think that will actually work!" Naruto thought as he ran towards the grassy field outside the school.

"This is going to be a long day" He thought as he burst through the door, the sound of laughter still ringing in his ears.

(End Chapter)

Translations:

Iruka-sensei: Teacher Iruka. The –sensei honorific is given to people with professions such as teacher or writer. Iruka is a teacher therefore the children automatically refer to him as –sensei.

(End Translations)

A/N: If you're wondering why Iruka's a prick; he's one because he hasn't known Naruto for very long. I believe that Iruka hated Naruto's guts before he looked past the "demon" to see the kind little boy. This story is based on the Naruto storyline even if it is AU. Anyway, this is probably the longest chapter I've written so far and I am finishing this at 12:07 AM, Sunday, June 04, 2006. I hope you like it because I sure do. I like the reviews, review please!