A/N: Okay, I'm back to normal now that it's the weekend again. I'm sorry my last chapter took so long, but I was trying to make a longer chapter. I'm also sorry that you can't get too much information on me. Once I get the confidence, I'll update my profile. Anyway, I'm glad that you guys liked my sixth chapter, even if I thought it sucked. Here are my review responses! I love doing this.

Samurai-lapin: I'm glad you like it. Like I said, I love responding to people who actually put in the effort to review. It's kind of like rewarding a person's words with more words for them if you think about it. This is basically like a conversation that is sustained as long as I keep up the story.

Underdark Ranger: OH, okay, I get it. Thanks for your response. I've been seeing this everywhere without knowing what it means.

Dragon Man 180: Naruto might find out the secret of his family sometime in later chapters, but I'm not planning for him to find out anytime soon. My next shot would be to get him to graduate from the academy. By the way, GREAT IDEA! I was thinking about a different target though.

Yared: Glad you like it. What exactly made you laugh, may I ask?

I like reviews even if it's only one. I dance for reviews. (Imagine a chibi me dancing)

Anyway, enjoy the seventh installment of "Cheerfulness Incarnate"

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Anyone who says so will have to consult my friend Tommy, the ferocious black tiger. Come on, I dare you to say I own Naruto.

(Chapter starts)

Naruto came back to school the next day, slightly cheerful due to his day off. He was also still laughing about the elaborate trick he pulled on Iruka. It still surprised him that he couldn't detect a simple genjutsu technique but it worked to his advantage. "Maybe that's why he became a school teacher instead of a full –fledged shinobi." Naruto thought as he walked into class. As soon as he walked in he was greeted by a visibly annoyed Iruka. He chuckled slightly as he took his seat at the back of the room.

The lesson proceeded as usual. Everyone was paying some sort of attention, save for a few. Naruto's prediction about the lesson was correct as he laid his head down and dozed off. Shikamaru joined him soon after realizing that the lesson was too troublesome. Both of them were yelled at during the lesson numerous times, Naruto acting stupid after he was woken each time then slipping back into a slumber and Shikamaru not responding to the chalkboard erasers thrown at him. The bell rang, waking both with a start as they filed out of the room.

Naruto went to his usual spot, the swing, to see two figures looking at him. One of them was his lazy classmate and the other was dressed in a high-collared jacket. Naruto instantly reinforced his disguise and walked over.

"Hey guys! What's up?"

"Okay, Naruto, explain" was the only response to his greeting.

"Explain?" Naruto asked, clearly confused, on the outside. On the inside, he was sweating buckets, running in circles panicking, muttering words around the lines of, "Oh God, please don't tell me they figured it out!"

"We know you're smarter than you look. That genjutsu yesterday was the last thing we needed to know. It was just too troublesome to do anything about it, especially since you weren't there."

Naruto still looked confused while on the inside, his nervousness had increased tenfold. His words contradicted his thoughts as he spoke again.

"Huh? What do you mean, Shikamaru-san?"

"I mean, you're hiding something, and we want to know what. If you don't want to tell us, it's fine. It will probably be too troublesome to try to wrench it out of you." Shikamaru left and Naruto inwardly let out a sigh of relief.

"Naruto" Naruto was then reminded of another presence as he turned and saw Shino.

"Hai, Shino-san?"

"Don't overdo things."

Naruto was slightly confused as Shino turned and started to walk back to the class. Naruto then outwardly sighed as he finally was able to sit on his swing.

(POV change, during the confrontation)

Sakura and Ino were talking by another tree as they watched Shikamaru and Shino talk to Naruto.

"What are they talking about?" Ino asked.

"How should I know?" Sakura replied shortly.

"Better yet, why are the laziest student and the quietest student talking to Naruto?"

"Now, that is a question. I don't really know."

"I mean, what would they talk to him about? Naruto is just a cheerful, naïve, idiot who likes to pull pranks and get into trouble. He's not anything special. It's not all that surprising to see him without any friends."

"Isn't Hinata-san Naruto's friend? He does have a friend, but he only has one. I wonder what his problem is."

"You don't need to look very hard. Naruto is the easiest person to read. If he has a problem, you can basically read it off of his face. I mean, right now, it's obvious that Naruto is confused about something.

They looked over to see Naruto's obviously confused expression.

"He's probably going to be killed on his first mission; especially because of his loud voice and equally loud clothes." Sakura said. She looked over to see Ino's affirmative nod. They saw Shino and Shikamaru walk away and Naruto sat on his swing with a relieved expression. They both thought the same thing.

"What did they talk about?"

(POV change, Scene change)

Back in the classroom, Naruto glared at Iruka. Everyone was presenting their projects and he knew what would happen. Naruto would be skipped over and someone would point out that he was excluded and demand that he present something. Then, as promised, it happened.

"Yamanaka Ino, your turn. Present your project."

She got up with her poster and started to present her project to the class. Naruto spaced out, already aware of the information that she was giving. After she was done, Naruto was forced back into reality as Kiba's voice filled the air.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei! Naruto didn't present yet. It's not fair to make us present and not him." Kiba said with annoyance in his voice. The class shouted agreements as Iruka looked up at Naruto with an apologetic expression. This surprised Naruto extremely as Naruto gazed back, confusion clouding his eyes.

"Alright then, Naruto, can you present anything?" Iruka expected him to stay down but was visually surprised as Naruto got up with nothing in hand. He walked to the front of the room and drew in a breath, as if to speak. The students present sat on the edge of their seats since no one knew about Naruto's family. The breath, to them, seemed to stretch on to eternity as they waited in anticipation. Iruka was still in a mild state of shock. The breath ended to have Naruto say one statement.

"What's a family?" Naruto asked with a smile and a questioning expression.

Nobody could answer him. All of the people present had at least had a family for some amount of time.Most of the students still had their families.Some people's families were killed or they died of natural causes, but they at least have memories of a family. People stared with their jaws on the table as Naruto stood in front of the classroom. The class hadn't been this shocked since the first day when Naruto revealed his first secret. That one question giving the reason why he couldn't give a presentation, but that question raised so many others.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. The bell knocked everyone out of their stupor, but by the time they tried to ask questions, all they could see in front of them was a dust cloud shaped like the blonde boy.

The students searched all afternoon, determined to find Naruto and ask him what he meant. That question obviously baffled the students and only four people did not help in the search. Shikamaru was sitting at the base of a tree with Chouji at his side, looking up to the sky. Shino went home after the bell, and Hinata went home under the escort of a Hyuuga Branch member, thinking about Naruto's response. Naruto smirked as he hid up inside a tree, holding his hands in the seal of the Bird.

When everyone left, Shikamaru stood and walked to the next tree and looked up. He then said one sentence. Chouji only looked confused as Shikamaru stood and walked only about 5 feet.

"You can come out now, Naruto."

Naruto jumped down, scaring the heck out of Chouji. He then looked at the two boys, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Thanks, Shikamaru-san" Naruto said with an embarrassed chuckle. He then turned and vanished from sight. Chouji could only stare in confusion as Shikamaru smirked.

The next day, the school day proceeded as always, save for one small exception. Naruto had a couple few more friends that day as Hinata, Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji were seen eating lunch together. Also, Naruto visibly looked more cheerful that day.

(End chapter)

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. I would have connected this to the last one, but I was too tired to do so. Anyway, the next chapter will feature a time jump of 4 years. I hope you liked the chapter. I sure did. Please review. I like reviews a lot. Have a nice day everybody!

-omegaguardian