*epic fanfare plays* Well, thanks to my computer's wireless capabilities coming back from the dead, I am now able to answer many of your reviews through PMing instead of filling up space here in the chapters. I will still answer my guest reviewers here since obviously I can't otherwise, and some of you who've signed in to review will probably be answered here as well as through PM if I feel like the answers to your questions would benefit other readers to see as well. But overall, this should be a space-saver. Woo! \o/

Speaking of my guest reviewers, though, I want to thank those of you who are polite, if not rather nice, in your reviews. I've had at least 3 flames for this story so far, and each of them was a guest reviewer. Gotta love those who are not only stupidly judgmental (seriously, they didn't get past Chapter 1, and that's if they even read it at all), but also don't have the guts to put their name next to their insult. Idiotic trolls better hope I never develop the means to fry their computers remotely for trolling. Internet civility will be 100% under my regime then! Mwahahahahaha!

*clears throat* Anyway! Review time!

My one guest reviewer first.

Still liking it: Hahahaha! I know, right? I'm so curious to see if someone actually did a crossover of Naruto and Sailor Moon, but at the same time, I'm WAY too scared to go look. Whatever you see cannot be unseen! XP

And for the rest of you who commented on the Virtual Storage Device, first of all, thank you for not flaming me about that. I know pretty much all of you said it seemed far-fetched or unrealistic, but at least you didn't get out your torches and pitchforks about it, especially since I've seen far worse ideas used in fanfics that no one seemed to flame about. But I digress. Yes, I realize it's a bit out there, and one reviewer suggested I describe it as "storage in energy form (like pokemon universe or star trek)"—thank you thor94 for that—and that's pretty much what I had in mind when I came up with it. The storage in energy form thing at least; I didn't really consider that Pokemon or Star Trek used it. So if it helps to think of it that way, then there you go. I just needed something for Naruto to keep his outfit in without carrying around a bag all the time, and his outfit isn't skin-tight like Superman's or Spiderman's. So wearing it under his normal clothes was out of the question. And when I asked my friend p13600d for ideas, he told me about The Flash's ring that stores his outfit by condensing it with some sort of gas, so the Virtual Storage Device is basically that idea except instead of a gas, it's energy and digital storage. Make sense? How I'm picturing this world is pretty high-tech (for any of you Mass Effect fans, it's near Mass Effect-level technology, just minus the space-exploration), so expect more strange, out-there ideas. This story is by no means hard science-fiction, and thus some things will just have to be taken as they are. But if any of you are nerdy scientists, I'm willing to listen to your explanations and possibly use them. I'm just a nerd—by no means a scientist. Just keep that in mind. :P

Thank you everyone who followed/faved, and especially those of you who reviewed! Still liking it, Zamrok, zaxadillo, bacon of doom (again, man, I love your name!), TheMagicManWithThePlan, Chewie Cookies (you're especially helpful!), Kauris Azurai, thor94, MYK-ON, nightwalker4eva, Samnamikaze23, ladygoddess8, divis5, and Haibara, I appreciate the positive feedback and that some of you gave me some things to think about. :) Now, to introduce the chapter!

This is the first day of school for our hero, and the introduction of everyone's favorite teme! *explosion of confetti* Hahaha! To be clear, I'm neither a fan of Sasuke, nor do I hate him, and I don't intentionally bash on any character. Honestly, I enjoy the stories where Sasuke's a jerk but still friends with Naruto more than the stories where Sasuke's one of the main antagonists. I do think he works well as a villain, but I like him better when he plays the role of Naruto's trolling older brother. :P Used properly, the Last Uchiha can be quite humorous. XD

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto. If I did, there's no way the series would be ending this year or anytime soon. The war would be, of course. I'm getting rather anxious for the extremely long fight to end. But the series wouldn't be ending by any means. Maybe it's for the best, though. It'd be kind of sad to see Naruto get run into the ground like DBZ did. Don't get me wrong, I really liked DBZ up through the Cell Games Arc, but to be frank, everything after Cell just kept getting weirder and not very good. Especially since pretty much everyone—including Gohan, who was the one to take down Cell—was reduced to being merely a battery for Goku to recharge him during all the fights. Kinda sad, really.

But I digress. Onto the chapter!

*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*

"There! Finally, it's finished!" the blue-haired mistress of gadgets declared as she stood triumphantly over her worktable, her latest accomplishment lying on it before her.

After three days of serious, hard work—and two sleepless nights—Hinata had finally finished a working prototype of the kinetic barriers system. Granted, the batteries she'd had to use to make the system lightweight enough for effective use in battle also made the system less durable and take longer to recharge the shields, and in addition, the system still needed a field test to determine its true effectiveness. But for the moment, the Hyuuga heiress figured it would work and that she could always make improvements over time.

There was really only one problem now: How could she get this to Naruto without him knowing that she knows his secret?

Hinata sighed at that thought, but decided she'd figure it out on her way to school. Packing up her finished project and making her way to her room, the bluenette finished getting ready for the day. She'd gotten up early to complete the kinetic barriers system, but had yet to get dressed or eat breakfast. In a few short minutes, Hinata emerged from her room wearing a lavender blouse, black skirt that reached her knees, and a pair of black, low-heeled shoes, and she went to the kitchen to eat her breakfast while she waited for Naruto to show up.

When Naruto and Hinata left the garden the night the Namikazes came to dinner at the Hyuuga mansion, they both decided that it would probably be for the best if they didn't hang out for the next three days before school started. They agreed that Neji should have time to cool off before he saw Naruto again, and as much as Hinata liked being around her blonde hero, she was wanting more time to work on the kinetic barriers project. So all through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Naruto and the Hyuuga heiress communicated only via text and during Hinata's short video game breaks where she played online with the whisker-faced boy. But neither one of them minded too much—they still got to talk to each other, and since their conversations started from the moment they were both awake and ended as soon as one of them fell asleep, by the end of the weekend, the two teens knew quite a bit more about each other and felt closer because of it.

And now since Hinata liked to walk to school rather than being driven there by George, she was waiting for Naruto, who had to pass by her house on his way to school anyway, to come get her so they could walk together.

*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*

Meanwhile, the blonde superhero in question, dressed in his usual attire with his bag slung over his shoulder, was walking toward the home of his blue-haired princess, resisting the urge to run there at his fastest pace to be near her quicker, and distracting himself by thinking over what transpired over the last three days at his home. Nothing too major had happened on the superhero side of things; he'd just done his usual routine of going out at night and tracking down and beating up bad guys before turning them in to the police. No strange creatures had emerged yet, but Kurama had warned Naruto to be on his guard as he suspected another major fight was about to happen soon. The whisker-faced boy agreed with the fox's suspicion.

On the non-superhero side of Naruto's life, however, the boy had discovered something very interesting.

When the Namikazes returned home from the Hyuuga mansion Thursday night, Kurama told his human partner about his strange discovery of the scuffed-front bookshelf. At first, Naruto didn't see what the big deal was, but the mutant fox wouldn't let the matter drop, claiming that his Instinct was practically screaming at him to find out more about the bookshelf. So late afternoon the next day when Tsunade was working at the hospital and Jiraiya was running errands, Naruto and Kurama went to investigate the mysterious bookshelf in the perverted author's study.

It only took the young hero a matter of minutes to find out the bookshelf slid backwards and to the side.

"Wow," Naruto had muttered in shock.

"How did you know moving a book would do that?" Kurama had questioned.

"I didn't. I've just seen that work in movies, but I didn't actually expect it to work now."

The two had then proceeded down the steps beyond the bookshelf and came to the metal door with its sophisticated locks on it, and the whisker-faced boy suggested they turn back since he had no idea how to get past the locks and didn't know what tampering with them might do. Kurama had reluctantly agreed and suggested that they get Hinata's help whenever they reached the point Naruto could tell her the truth about them.

The blonde teenager hoped that day would come soon for more reasons than just being able to break into his grandfather's secret basement room. He wanted to be able to share his secret with another person instead of just his sapient fox friend, and he really wanted Hinata to be that person. As weird as it might be with only knowing her for a week, Naruto felt he could trust the bluenette with his secret, and the idea of her helping him by coming up with shiny new gadgets for him to use in his fights was exciting to him.

But on the other side of the coin, there was the possibility that she would react badly to knowing he was the Kitsune Ninja. Sure, she had seemed truly impressed with the superhero who saved her life twice, but that didn't necessarily mean she would be happy to learn that her new friend was that hero. What if she was scared of how strong he was? Or that he was technically a mutant? What if she didn't want to have anything to do with him because she might end up a target of his enemies? What right did he have to risk her life just by associating with her?

His angst-filled thoughts kept him occupied even as George let him into the Hyuuga mansion and continued as he waited for Hinata in the foyer.

Lucky for him, his dark thoughts were shattered quickly by an angelic voice saying, "Naruto? Are you okay?"

The boy in question looked up to the source of the voice and saw Hinata standing there with a concerned expression on her face. "Oh hey, Nata!" he smiled at her. "I'm fine! How are you this morning?"

"I'm okay, but are you sure you are?" the bluenette asked while walking closer to him. "You looked rather unhappy about something."

"Oh, hehe," Naruto chuckled lightly as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm just nervous about being the new kid at school is all."

Hinata knew that wasn't true and not just because she could see it in his eyes. While she knew from her conversations with Naruto that he wasn't exactly thrilled about going back to school, she also knew that he was excited to meet their classmates and possibly make more friends. If he was nervous at all, it wasn't enough for him to even mention it.

Feeling bold, Hinata took Naruto's hand and looked up into his surprised, blue eyes. Her bold move caused her to stutter as she said, "P-Please d-don't lie to me." He was about to protest, but she cut him off. "I c-can tell when someone's lying, Naruto. E-Everyone in my family is trained to read people, and while I'm n-nowhere near as skilled at it as my little sister or especially Neji, I can st-still tell that what you just s-said isn't true." She looked down to the floor and squeezed his hand. "I w-won't ask you to tell me what's really wrong if you don't want to, b-but I want you to know that I'm here f-for you and that I want to h-help you with whatever's bothering you."

The blonde boy was speechless. The combination of Hinata not only catching him in a lie while saying she's trained to be able to tell when someone's lying—something about that was nagging at him in the back of his mind too—and telling him that she wants to help him surprised him greatly.

Grateful for her words and because he had missed her from three days without her, Naruto engulfed Hinata in a tight hug. "Thanks, Nata," he said quietly, still holding her, and he felt her return the embrace. "And I'm sorry for lying." Pulling back to look at her face, he told her, "I was just thinking about something depressing. I'll tell you about it later, okay?"

"Okay," the bluenette gave him her heart-melting smile and pulled out of the hug, but Naruto caught her hand and held onto it.

"Shall we go?" he asked with a foxy grin, and she nodded while blushing at the fact that he was holding her hand. He pulled her gently along with him as they made their way out of the mansion. When they reached the end of the driveway, Naruto thought of something and inquired, "Hey, Nata? Where's Neji at? Shouldn't he be heading to school too?"

"Oh, h-he left already. He has his own c-car, and he d-drives Hanabi to school too," Hinata explained.

"Ah," Naruto voiced in understanding. "Good to hear. I was wondering if I should be expecting another flying kick to the face." He chuckled dryly.

Hinata squeezed his hand and turned her gaze to the ground. "I'm really s-sorry he did that, N-Naruto."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Nata. You don't have to apologize for him, and it's not like he actually hurt me," the blonde said cheerfully.

Lavender eyes still focused on the ground flashed with a devious light as a thought occurred to the Hyuuga heiress. Keeping an innocent face, Hinata looked up at the whisker-faced boy and asked, "B-By the way, Naruto, how is it that you didn't get hurt?"

"What do you mean, Nata?" he asked in actual innocence.

"I mean, I've sparred against Neji before, and I've seen his spars against others. That kick should've at least bruised your face if not broken something," the bluenette told him.

"...Oh...crap! Need an excuse!" Naruto thought in a mild panic. But as he opened his mouth to make up something, he remembered her saying, "I c-can tell when someone's lying, Naruto," and he immediately shut his mouth again. He racked his brain for a way to answer her without lying while also not telling her the truth, and if that wasn't hard enough, there was still something about what Hinata said that was nagging at the back of his mind. Something about it was important, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Hinata watched her blonde crush struggle with how to answer her for a few minutes while wondering if the boy knew he'd been silent for all that time, and she was about to let him off the hook when she heard someone call out to them from up ahead. The blonde and bluenette looked up to see Kiba standing by Shino near a tree in the schoolyard. The red-tattooed boy waved to them and shouted again. Hinata called and waved back, not missing for a second the small sigh of relief coming from Naruto shortly before he returned the greeting to Kiba as well, but she pretended not to notice.

As the two approached Kiba and Shino, the dog-lover noticed their entwined hands, and a mischievous grin crossed his face. "Hey, Naruto! Did you decide you couldn't wait any longer to ask Hinata to be your girlfriend?" he teased.

"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "What're you talking about, Kiba?" The Inuzuka just pointed to Naruto and Hinata's joined hands, and the blush the Hyuuga girl had from Kiba's question deepened. The blonde hero, however, just shrugged and said with a chuckle, "No, we're not going out yet. I just felt like holding my beautiful friend's hand, and she didn't seem to mind."

"I guess not since she hasn't let go yet either," Kiba pointed out, causing Hinata to "EEP!" in shock as she took her hand from Naruto's and hid both her hands behind her back while keeping her gaze focused on the ground.

"Kiba!" the blonde whined with a pout. "Why'd you have to do that? I was enjoying that, ya know!"

The fang-tattooed boy scoffed lightly. "If you enjoy holding her hand so much, why don't you two just start dating already?"

"I've only been here for two weeks, ya know, and known her for only half that time!" Naruto protested. "I'm not gonna scare her off by moving too fast!"

"Oh please! She's clearly okay with the idea, so why don't you—"

"Why don't you both be quiet before you cause Hinata to faint?" Shino interrupted Kiba in his usual monotone as he pointed to the Hyuuga heiress whose face was so red she was practically glowing, and she was beginning to sway on her feet.

Naruto shook her shoulder gently, and Hinata took a deep breath to push back the darkness that was starting to cloud her vision. Feeling better, she managed to stutter, "C-Can we discuss s-something else b-besides N-Naruto's and my r-relationship now p-please?"

"Sure, Hinata," Kiba replied with a light laugh. "I was just playing with you guys anyway."

"You should be aware, though," Shino began, "that Ino has already started the rumor that you two are a couple."

Hinata gasped while Naruto sighed. "I don't get it. She was all over me at the mall. Why would she tell everyone I was someone else's boyfriend?"

"Well, this is just a guess, but I'd say it was because you told her she was a bad friend when she was being mean to Hinata," Kiba suggested. "So the rumor's either revenge or Ino's twisted way of making things up to Hinata."

"Huh?" was all Naruto could say.

"It's either revenge because such a rumor could ruin your relationship before it even starts, or Ino making amends to Hinata because Ino thinks it could get you guys together sooner," Shino explained. "However, another logical possibility is that Ino spread this rumor simply because she loves to gossip."

"Well, yeah. There's that too," Kiba conceded.

"Whatever the case is," Naruto began in an irked tone, "she just made our lives more difficult than they needed to be, ya know. Personally, I couldn't give a crap less what people think—whatever goes on between me and Hinata is our business and no one else's. But I'd still prefer to not have everything broadcast to everyone whether what's being said is true or not."

Hinata let out a sad sigh, and all three boys turned to her. "Indeed. And unfortunately for me, there are a couple of people whom I do have to be concerned over what they think for my own sake."

"Let me guess. Neji and your dad, right?" Naruto inquired.

"Yes," the bluenette nodded. "Neji most likely knows now, and by the end of the day, Father will too. No doubt Neji will lash out at you too for this, Naruto, and my father will probably forbid me from associating with you if he thinks you really went behind his back and started dating me without his permission."

The blonde sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "Well, I'm not worried about Neji. I've been looking for an excuse to beat the tar out of him anyway. But as for your dad, I'll go with you after school to clear things up with him."

"Thank you, Naruto," Hinata said with a small smile.

"No problem," he smiled back at her. Then his smile turned into a thoughtful frown. "But ya know, there's something I don't get. What is it with girls' fathers wanting you to ask permission to date their daughters first? No girl has to come ask a guy's mother if she can date the guy, so what the heck's with us having to ask the father of the girl?"

"Tell me about it," Kiba replied as he folded his arms. "I get that dads are typically real protective of their daughters, but meeting the guy your daughter wants to date doesn't exactly prevent her from dating jerks."

"Indeed. Typically, the sort of guys who seek to have their fun and leave a young lady heartbroken are the ones who refuse to meet the girl's father in the first place. And if they do end up meeting the father, most can actually be charming enough that the father accepts them without ever suspecting that he shouldn't." Everyone just stared at Shino as he finished speaking, and after a moment of awkward silence, the bug enthusiast asked, "What?"

Kiba spoke up first. "Dang, Shino. I didn't expect you to know anything about dating stuff."

The hooded boy turned to his tattooed friend and inquired, "And why is that?"

"Well, it's just...um...I've never even seen you with a girl," Kiba replied hesitantly. "Besides Hinata anyway, and she's just our friend."

"Do you find me incapable of acquiring a girlfriend?" Shino asked, his voice still not showing any hint of emotion, although his eyebrows were drawn closer together—the equivalent of a small frown for the Aburame.

"No, no!" Kiba waved his hands in front of him nervously. His silent friend really scared him sometimes. "I didn't say that!"

"I have had my share of girlfriends, Kiba. Just because I was discreet in my relationships doesn't mean they don't exist." And with that, Shino walked off toward the school building.

After a second's stunned silence, the Inuzuka ran off after his hooded friend, shouting, "Hey! Wait up, Shino! I wanna hear about these secret girlfriends!"

Hinata and Naruto just blinked in surprise as they watched the two go. "Nata?" Naruto began.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Your friends are weird."

Hinata giggled. "You know you're included in that, right?"

Naruto laughed as well. "I figured as much," he grinned at her. As the two started walking toward the school building, the hero's face grew serious again, and he asked, "So, Nata, how do you want to handle this rumor?"

The bluenette looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean, Naruto?"

"I mean, are we outright denying it if anyone asks, or are we just letting them think what they want, or what?" he replied.

"W-Well, that d-depends... A-Are you asking me t-to be your g-girlfriend?" she inquired shyly as her face turned red.

"Like this? No way!" Naruto stated. "When I ask you that, I'm gonna make it special and not just because of some rumor. But at the same time, I don't really want to deny it to everyone now, ya know?"

Even as her blush darkened, Hinata smiled happily at the boy, especially noting that he said "when" rather than "if", and she replied, "Aw, that's s-so sweet of you, N-Naruto." Giggling at his blush, she told him, "I say w-we just l-let everyone think w-what they want. Th-The only one I'm worried a-about is my f-father."

"Right. But we'll take care of that after school," he assured her. "For now," he paused to hold open the door for her, "we should just get our schedules and get through the day."

"Y-Yup. And I h-hope we have the same c-classes together."

"We should. When I registered for school sometime last week, I asked if I could have the same schedule as you so you could show me around," Naruto grinned at his blue-haired friend.

"R-Really?" Hinata smiled happily. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

The blonde shrugged. "Eh, I kinda forgot. I tend to mind-dump anything and everything that has to do with school, ya know. Probably why I suck at it. Hehe."

They shared a laugh as they walked to the principal's office, ignoring the whispers from the other students that Naruto didn't need his enhanced hearing to know they were about him and his blue-haired friend.

*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*

Minutes later, Naruto and Hinata were sitting in their first class together. The bell had rung, but the teacher was nowhere in sight. And there were only three students in the room—Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura.

When the blonde hero had inquired about this, Sakura, who was wearing a red T-shirt and black shorts and sitting in the desk in front of Hinata, answered him before Hinata could. "Oh, this is normal for Kakashi-sensei. He'll show up about ten minutes before the bell rings for our next class," she explained with a frustrated sigh.

"Seriously?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Yup," the pinkette replied, folding her arms and leaning back in her chair. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that's why they made Study Hall the first hour class for everyone. I heard from some older students that Kakashi-sensei has always been late for the first hour class, so they had to make that time be something pointless for the teachers so they didn't have to fire him. Still, it's so irresponsible of him to be so late!"

"Sakura, maybe there's something Kakashi-sensei has to do every morning that we don't know anything about," Hinata suggested, giving her teacher the benefit of the doubt.

Her pink-haired friend just scoffed, though. "Then he shouldn't be a teacher! They're supposed to teach us responsibility, and he's not doing a good job there!"

Naruto chuckled, earning himself a glare from Sakura, and he smiled to placate her as he said, "Well, it's just Study Hall, right? At least this way we can do whatever we want without a teacher breathing down our necks, ya know?"

Sakura seemed to consider the whisker-faced boy's words for a moment before responding with, "Yeah, I guess I can't argue with that." Then she turned around to better see Naruto and Hinata. "By the way, you guys, I'm really sorry about Ino spreading that rumor. I tried to stop her, but when she hears something she considers to be good gossip, there's really no stopping her mouth."

"I heard that, Billboard Brow!" Ino, dressed in a purple blouse and blue-jeans, shouted from the doorway.

"Of course you did, Ino-pig! You hear everything you're not supposed to and then some!" Sakura yelled back at her platinum-blonde friend, who was walking toward her.

"I didn't see you complaining when I caught that bit of gossip about Sasuke liking you and spread it around, Forehead!" Ino practically screamed as she got in Sakura's face.

"Yeah?! Well, considering how that ended up, I wish you'd kept your big mouth shut, Porker!" the pinkette screamed right back.

"Girls! Girls! You're both pretty!" Naruto interjected with a nervous laugh in an attempt to make the horrible screaming stop. Sometimes better-than-average hearing can really suck.

Both girls turned and glared at him angrily, but before they could start shouting at him, Hinata came to his rescue. "Please, guys, don't fight! It's only the first day!" she pleaded, and Naruto was beyond grateful for the Hyuuga girl's ability to say what she needed to without resorting to an insane volume.

Ino and Sakura looked at Hinata for a second before glancing at each other and then turning their backs on each other with a huff. The blonde girl then sat in the desk behind Naruto. The young hero and Hyuuga heiress sighed in relief until...

"So how have you been, cutie?" Ino said sweetly as she leaned over with her elbows on her desk and her hands supporting her head.

Naruto sat up and turned enough in his seat to look back at Ino. "Who, me?" he asked, hoping it somehow wasn't him who she was talking to, but knowing the girl wouldn't say something like that to Hinata and definitely not Sakura. And unfortunately, they were the only other people in the room.

"Of course you, silly!" Ino giggled at him. "You are the cutest one in the room besides me after all!"

The boy sweat-dropped, although he was still mildly flattered—he was a normal teenage guy after all, and she was a pretty girl. But Hinata was prettier, and seeing her frown, Naruto said, "Well, uh, thanks I guess, Ino. But even if we're the cutest in the room, we're not the most attractive, ya know."

Upon hearing that, all three girls looked at him, and Ino asked, "What do you mean, Naruto? Who's the most attractive then?"

"Hinata obviously!" the boy declared while grinning foxily at the aforementioned girl, who was blushing darkly.

Only momentarily fazed, Ino quickly recovered and smiled slyly. "Oh really? So my little rumor about you two is true then, huh?"

But Naruto was prepared for that. "That Hinata and I are dating? No, that's not true. Yet." He gave Ino a pointed look. "But I've already told you that I like her, so I'm not quite sure why you're still flirting with me."

Ino sat back in her seat and shrugged with her hands up at either side of her with her palms facing upward. "What can I say, Naruto? You're a good-looking guy. Can't blame a girl for trying."

"Troublesome woman," Naruto heard a male voice say from behind him before he could respond to Ino. Turning to the source, the whisker-faced hero saw a boy with brown hair tied in a gravity-defying, pineapple-looking ponytail, and he was wearing a gray shirt with a light blue, short-sleeved jacket over it and light brown jeans, which he currently had his hands stuffed into the pockets. Standing next to him was a heavy-set boy with brown, spiky hair that reached his mid-back, and there was a red swirl tattoo on each of his cheeks. He wore a red T-shirt with the kanji for "food" on the front and gray pants and was snacking on a bag of chips.

"Haven't you caused Hinata and the new kid enough problems with that troublesome rumor you started?" the ponytailed boy said to the platinum blonde.

"Oh, shut up, Shikamaru," Ino grumbled at him while crossing her arms. "That rumor hasn't done anything to them."

"Yet," Shikamaru retorted with a meaningful look which made Ino pout as she turned her face away from him. The boy then moved his attention to Naruto and held out his hand. "Name's Shikamaru, and this is my friend Choji. Sorry about the trouble our friend Ino caused."

The blonde boy shook the offered hand and then shook Choji's hand as well. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm Naruto. And don't worry about it. Hinata and I don't care about some rumor."

Shikamaru nodded as he sat in the seat next to Naruto, and Choji sat behind Shikamaru. "That's good to hear," the ponytailed boy began. "But you know about her cousin Neji, right? He won't be too happy if he thinks this rumor's true."

"Ah, I'm not worried about him," Naruto replied with a dismissive wave of his hand, which made Shikamaru raise an eyebrow.

"If you say so," he said skeptically, and the blonde boy next to him just smirked in response.

Looking to change the subject, Choji spoke up. "So, Naruto. How're you liking Konoha so far?"

Grinning, the young hero answered, "Are you kidding? This place is great! So much better than the stupid small town I came from! Lots more to do, an excellent ramen shop, and the best part of it all is the greatest girl ever lives here!"

Hinata blushed at that last comment while Shikamaru, Sakura, and Ino smirked knowingly. "Oh really? Don't tell me Ino's flirting succeeded in distorting your sense of reality," Shikamaru joked.

But Naruto didn't quite catch that he was joking and protested, "No! I was talking about Hinata!" And of course, such an open declaration in front of four other people caused the poor Hyuuga girl to go out like a light. The blonde-haired boy had turned to face the bluenette just in time to see her slump down on her desk in an unconscious heap. "Ah, man!" the boy pouted.

The rest of them sweat-dropped, and Shikamaru face-palmed as well. "Troublesome," he grumbled.

"I thought she got over her fainting habit," Sakura commented as she turned in her seat and adjusted Hinata to be in a more comfortable position.

"This is the third time since I've met her that she's fainted," Naruto told them bluntly.

Sakura blinked at him. "You kept count?"

"Well, it's not like it was hard. I might suck at math, but I can count to three, ya know!" Naruto huffed a little indignantly.

Ino giggled behind him. "Naruto, I don't think Forehead was insulting you. We didn't know you suck at math. I think she was just wondering why you'd kept count at all."

"Oh...right," Naruto sweat-dropped. Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, he attempted to divert attention away from himself by asking, "So how often does she normally do this anyway?"

"Honestly? She hasn't fainted in a couple of years. At least not that we've seen," Sakura answered.

"Yeah, I think the last time I saw her faint was when we were thirteen. I made some comment about a guy checking her out while we were at the pool, and when she saw that he was, that was it," Ino added with a giggle.

"If I remember right, she nearly drowned because she was in the water at the time," Shikamaru recalled matter-of-factly.

"Mm," Ino hummed with a nod. "I think that was when she started getting over that fainting habit."

"Almost drowning will do that to you," Choji threw in.

Naruto didn't like hearing about some guy checking out Hinata, and he liked even less hearing about how she almost drowned because of her tendency to faint. "I need to watch what I say and do. I don't want her fainting at a bad time like that, especially because I did something careless," he thought to himself, but otherwise said nothing.

Eventually, the conversation moved on when Choji asked Naruto about that ramen restaurant he mentioned, and the blonde hero found out the heavy-set boy enjoyed eating there too. When he wasn't eating at his family's restaurant, that is, and that's how Naruto found out Choji's family owned their own restaurant Yakiniku Q.

From there, Naruto learned about the rest of the people sitting around him—Shikamaru's family were caretakers of a large section of the forest surrounding Konoha, Ino's family owned a flower shop while her dad also worked as a psychiatrist, and Sakura's dad was a businessman while her mother worked as a nurse in the hospital. In return, Naruto told his new friends about his own family and explained—when asked if his whisker-marks were family tattoos like the Inuzuka red fangs or the Akimichi swirls—that they were strange birthmarks.

By the time he was asked about his whisker-marks, Hinata had woken up and found Kiba sitting behind her and Shino was on her other side. And Naruto, catching the bluenette's eye as he said they were birthmarks, remembered again about Hinata saying she could tell when someone's lying.

"What is it about that that keeps bugging me?!" Naruto screamed mentally in frustration.

Before he could dwell on it much longer, however, the rest of the class drifted in followed by their teacher, a man with gravity-defying, silver hair that hid his left eye completely from view. He wore a white facemask that covered the entire lower half of his face including his nose, a white shirt, and a black tie with matching pants. Naruto thought the mask odd, but decided he'd ask Hinata about it later if he remembered to.

"Good morning, class," the teacher said lazily as he put his briefcase on his desk.

"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," the class echoed mechanically in response.

"I trust you all had a good summer?" Kakashi asked and received a few nods or murmurs in the affirmative. "Good. Now, I believe we have a new student joining us this year." He looked at Naruto and gestured to the boy. "If you would, please, come up here and introduce yourself?"

"Sure!" Naruto replied cheerfully, rising from his seat. He made his way to the front of the class and faced his peers.

"Okay, please tell us your name and a little about yourself," Kakashi instructed.

"Um, alright, but like what?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, such as what are your likes, what are your dislikes, do you have any goals for the future... That sort of thing," the teacher answered in the same lazy tone.

"Ah! Okay!" Naruto nodded with a grin and looked back at his classmates. "Well, first off, my name is Naruto Namikaze! I like ramen, video games, and my new best friend Hinata! I dislike arrogant jerks and people who judge others based on appearances. My goal is..." he paused to think for a moment, glancing at Hinata as he did so, and continued, "to protect every person I care about and always help them when they need it!"

A few giggled at his odd-sounding goal or at his blatant declaration of affection for Hinata, and some just rolled their eyes at him. But there were a few—namely the friends he made prior to the beginning of class as well as Hinata—who smiled at him encouragingly. And as far as Naruto was concerned, they were the only people who mattered, especially Hinata.

"Well, that's rather interesting, Naruto," Kakashi said simply. He wasn't being sarcastic, but the boy's goal did surprise him a bit. "He seems quite different from most of the other students," he mused. But then suddenly, he remembered something that made his visible eye widen, and slightly yelling, "Wait, Naruto!" he stopped Naruto in his tracks before the young hero had made even three steps away from the teacher's desk.

Turning around, Naruto asked, "What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei?" and he was a little frightened by the intense gaze the teacher was leveling at him.

"Did you say your last name is Namikaze?" Kakashi inquired in a deceptively calm voice.

"Uh...yeah? Why, what are you—"

Naruto was cut off by Kakashi suddenly standing right in front of him. "When did he move?!"

"You wouldn't happen to be related to Jiraiya Namikaze by any chance, would you?" Kakashi asked while leering over the poor boy with a disturbing gleam in his eye.

The young hero cringed, leaning back a bit to create some distance, and his classmates, especially Hinata, were getting a little concerned about what their teacher was doing. "Um, y-y-yeah. H-He's my g-grandpa," Naruto stuttered out in true Nervous Hinata fashion.

"His grandson, eh?" Kakashi mumbled almost inaudibly before suddenly gripping the boy's shoulders and practically shouting, "So you have access to his latest work! You must tell me how the next story goes! When is it coming out?! Can you get me an advanced copy?!" He shook Naruto a little with each question, dazing the poor boy to the point there were virtually swirls in his eyes.

Recovering quickly, Naruto's eye twitched, and he yelled, "You actually read that perverted crap?!"

"'Perverted'?" Kakashi repeated questioningly as he released the boy. Pulling a copy of Icha Icha Paradise out of his pocket, he held it in both hands in front of himself, and with a gleeful, yet scary light in his eye, he proclaimed, "These wonderful masterpieces of literature are far more than a collection of sensual sex scenes! Why, they each have a gripping storyline that keeps their readers on the edge of their seats, always wanting to know more! They're filled with action, romance, suspense—"

"It's just porn with a story!" the blonde boy cut in, waving his arms angrily. "You wanna get the next pervy book from my grandpa, ask him yourself!"

Kakashi adopted a thoughtful expression with his left elbow in his right hand and his left hand rubbing his chin. "Very well, Naruto. Tell your grandparents I want to meet with them tomorrow after school."

"Ugh...Fine," Naruto groaned. He was about to ask if he could return to his seat when the bell rang, and his classmates started making their way out of the room. Some of them chuckled at the poor blonde's expense.

Hinata, however, walked up to him with an encouraging smile. Taking his hand, she asked, "Shall we go to our next class?"

Naruto nodded with a foxy grin on his face.

*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*

After a short stop to their lockers, the would-be couple made their way down the hall to their next class, which was history, and as Naruto was about to enter the classroom, he was roughly shoved out of the way. The suddenness of the action caught the hero completely off guard, causing him to land on the floor despite all his superhuman abilities.

"Out of my way, dobe," said the offending person impassively.

Hinata helped Naruto up off the floor while he glared at the person who shoved him and ignored the other students staring—some snickering—at him. He mumbled out a "Thanks" to the bluenette just before he marched into the room and up to the rude person.

Said person had black hair that stuck out straight out toward the back of his head while his bangs framed his face. He had black eyes, pale skin, and wore a black T-shirt and black pants. The blonde hero also noticed pretty much every girl except for Hinata was sitting around the boy and staring at him like a bunch of swooning fangirls.

As Naruto glared down at the boy, he thought, "Wonder if he's got enough black going on."

"What do you want, dobe?" the black-haired boy asked curtly.

"To know why you're such a rude ass, teme," Naruto retorted.

With a derisive scoff, the other boy growled, "Get out of my face, dobe, before I have to show you firsthand why no one here messes with me."

"Ooooo! I'm really shaking now!" the blonde shot back sarcastically and mock shivered.

The dark-eyed boy stood up from his seat, and Hinata came up behind Naruto and quickly grabbed his arm. "N-Naruto, l-let's just take our seats, okay? Y-You don't want to get in a fight your first day."

The hero looked back at the indigo-haired beauty, and her lavender gaze managed to calm him down. He smiled at her and said, "Yeah, you're right, Nata."

"Hmph. Have to be saved by your woman, huh? What a loser!" the rude boy gave Naruto a smug smirk.

"Listen here, teme. I'll take your ass on any time. You'd have to actually be a threat in order for anyone to have to save me from you," Naruto growled. Then he added with a smirk of his own, "And ya know, it's lucky for you all these girls like you 'cause I know any other guy wouldn't get away with a sexist comment like what you just said." And with that, he took Hinata's hand and led her over to the other side of the room where they sat next to each other.

"Whatever," the raven-haired young man grumbled as he sat back down in his seat. His fangirls glared at Naruto briefly before they turned all their attention back on their dark prince.

"Who the heck is that guy?" the hero asked his blue-haired friend in a low voice.

Hinata sighed. "That's Sasuke Uchiha. He's kind of the most popular guy in school. He's also Sakura's ex-boyfriend."

"Huh. Gotta wonder why so many girls would flock to such a jerk," Naruto remarked with a glare in Sasuke's direction.

"Indeed," Hinata replied solemnly. "And Sakura's still in love with him too."

"Why?" the blonde asked, turning back to look at her.

The Hyuuga heiress shrugged. "I have no idea. Their relationship is basically they get together, date for a couple of weeks, he tells her she's annoying, they have a huge fight, break up, then sometime later they get together again, and repeat. I've asked Sakura why she keeps going through this pattern with him, especially when her biggest complaint is how emotionally distant he can be, but she never really answers me."

"Wow. That's just..." Naruto trailed off with a hand over his face.

"Stupid?" Hinata suggested as an end to his statement, and he nodded.

While Hinata was telling Naruto about Sakura and Sasuke's relationship, the teacher was walking back into the room. The tan-skinned man with his brown hair tied up in a ponytail, a scar that went across the bridge of his nose, and dressed in a long-sleeved, blue shirt with black slacks had stepped out at the end of the Study Hall hour to get a cup of coffee from the teacher's lounge. And when he came back into the room, he stopped in surprise upon seeing the spiky, blonde hair of Konoha High's newest student.

"It can't be him, can it?" the man wondered as he made his way to his desk while still staring at the student in question. Catching sight of the teenager's blue eyes, the teacher thought, "Definitely looks like him, but the whisker-marks are new..."

Just as he was about to say something to the student, the boy glanced in his direction and did a double-take before jumping up from his desk, shouting, "Iruka-sensei?! Is that you?!"

"Yup, it's him," the teacher thought with a chuckle at the blonde boy's exuberant reaction. "Good to see you again, Naruto," he said warmly while putting down his coffee and walking around the desk. "I almost didn't recognize you."

Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I kinda grew a bit since I last saw you, huh?"

Leaning against his desk, Iruka let out a big laugh and said, "'A bit'?! I'll say! You were the shortest one out of all your classmates! A shrimp!"

"Hey!" Naruto mock pouted. Then he flexed his right arm with his left hand on his right bicep. "I'm not a shrimp anymore! I grew up big and strong!" He and Iruka both laughed at that.

Hinata watched the exchange between her friend and her teacher along with the other students, and the bluenette couldn't help but notice the way some of the girls were looking at Naruto when their attention was called to his physical appearance. He may have annoyed their precious Sasuke, but none of them could deny the blue-eyed boy was tall and well-built. Not dark and mysterious like the Uchiha, but still handsome in his own right. And the Hyuuga heiress wasn't happy about any possible competition for her blonde hero.

Finally noticing the class was staring, Iruka's laughter died away, and he cleared his throat. "Sorry about that class. I'd like you to meet our new student Naruto Namikaze. I was his teacher several years ago when I worked at Hajime Elementary." Looking at the whisker-faced teen, the teacher told him, "You may sit now, Naruto, but I'd like to catch up with you sometime after school if you have the time."

"Sure! Maybe you can treat me to ramen just like old times!" Naruto suggested with a cheeky grin as he sat back down in his chair.

Iruka shook his head while smiling at Naruto's antics before he launched into the first history lesson of the school year. Meanwhile Hinata whispered to her superhuman friend, asking him about his apparent close relationship with their history teacher. Naruto explained that since he didn't have many friends in school, he would often hang out in the classroom during recess. Playing outside all alone is no fun, after all. And since Naruto's mother worked in the elementary school as well, the boy was familiar with his mother's coworkers, the other teachers. So when little Naruto started third grade—Iruka taught third and fourth grade—he already knew Iruka a little bit, and as soon as the young teacher asked the boy why he never went outside to play with the other kids, Iruka immediately felt a connection to the boy because he was unable to make friends as well when he was a kid.

The two formed a bond based on that common factor, and pretty soon, they were practically brothers. Even after Naruto moved on to the fifth grade, Iruka still received visits from his high-spirited little brother during recess breaks.

Naruto's parents became friends with Iruka as well, grateful that one of their son's teachers took such an interest in their child enough to become his friend when his peers treated him like an outcast. The young teacher became like one of the Namikaze family.

Unfortunately, though, the friendship faded into the background as Naruto moved on to middle school and Iruka got a better teaching job in Konoha. They had kept in touch somewhat, but for the most part the two hadn't talked in quite awhile. And Naruto for one was glad to have his surrogate older brother back, even if he was kind of boring him to tears right now with his lecture. Hinata just smiled at her hero, happy that he was able to reunite with an old friend.

When class was over, Naruto waited for everyone to leave and asked Hinata to wait for him outside the classroom. A thought had occurred to him during the lesson that made it imperative that he speak to Iruka as soon as possible, but all he told his blue-haired friend was that he had to talk with the teacher about something private. Not wanting to pry, Hinata agreed to wait for him and followed the last student out the door.

"Iruka-sensei, I need to talk to you," Naruto said once he and the teacher were alone.

Hearing the serious tone, Iruka replied, "Sure, Naruto. Is something wrong?"

"Well...kinda," the boy began. "See, it's about these marks on my face..."

"Oh yeah. I was going to ask you about them. Are they tattoos?" the teacher inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh, you could say that... But I've been telling everyone they're birthmarks, and since you're the only one who's seen me without them..." he trailed off and shifted his feet awkwardly.

"Ah, I see. You don't want me to mention that to anyone," Iruka stated, and the boy nodded. "Alright, Naruto. I don't quite get why, but I see no reason to tell anyone differently." He smiled kindly and patted his old friend on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei," Naruto returned the smile in gratitude.

"No problem, Naruto. Now you better hurry to your next class!" he advised as his smile turned to a grin.

"Right! See you later, Sensei!" the boy shouted while jogging out the door. He met up with Hinata outside and took her hand as she—with a blush on her face—led him to their next class.

*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*

The next two classes proceeded without much incident. Naruto met the science teacher, Anko Mitarashi, a woman with purple hair, a sadistic sense of humor, and a weird obsession with snakes—even for a science teacher—as evidenced by the various displays of taxidermy snakes around the room as well as a couple of live snakes in a cage. And the first time Naruto started to drift off in her class, he was suddenly brought to full attention as a pencil embedded itself point-first next to his head in the desk. Anko-sensei then proceeded to imply with a disturbing smirk that any student sleeping in her class was destined to become snake food when she was done using them for target practice. Considering what she was able to do with that pencil, Naruto didn't doubt her words and vowed to himself to barely even blink in her class.

The following class was language and literature taught by Asuma Sarutobi. Naruto was surprised to learn they were being taught by the son of the Land of Fire's current President, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and even more surprised that the teacher didn't have any bodyguards around him. But Hinata explained that it was because the school was considered relatively safe and that there was a security detail watching the school, especially because the President's grandson attended Konoha Junior High, which was right next door to the high school. The young hero shrugged off his surprise and accepted the explanation.

And in the end, he thought Asuma-sensei was pretty cool. He joked with his students and didn't give too much work on the first day. Naruto's only real complaint was the cigarette smell emanating from the man. It wreaked havoc on the poor boy's enhanced sense of smell. But he did his best to hide his displeasure and decided he'd need to find some way of dealing with the smell before class the next day.

Finally, it was lunch time, and Naruto's stomach growled loudly in anticipation of food. The boy was practically a bottomless pit for food normally, but there was something about waking up early in the morning—which the hero proclaimed was inhuman, cruel, and evil—and then having to work his brain for four hours—also inhuman, cruel, and evil—before getting lunch that made his stomach especially empty. Hinata giggled as Naruto, on their way to the cafeteria, gave her a melodramatic speech about how he just knew his stomach turned into some sort of vacuum and was tearing him apart from the inside.

"Oi, I'm serious, Nata! It's taking all my strength just to make it to the cafeteria!" he exclaimed rather dramatically when she wouldn't stop giggling at him.

"I'm sorry, Naruto!" the heiress said between giggles. "You're just so cute when you're being dramatic!" Instantly, she clapped a hand over her mouth and a huge blush took over her face. She was mortified by what had just slipped out of her mouth.

Meanwhile Naruto blushed slightly at her calling him cute, but that didn't stop a sly grin from appearing on his face. Leaning in close, he told her in a low voice, "And you're just so cute when you're embarrassed." He chuckled at first, and then full-on laughed as Hinata attempted to glare at him. It lasted only a few seconds before she descended into laughter with him.

They reached the cafeteria and got their food, which they were both delighted that the cafeteria was serving zenzai that day, and they were even happier to find out that they both considered zenzai to be their second favorite food. Naruto and Hinata could only smile at finding yet another similarity between them.

The would-be couple decided to take their lunch outside to the schoolyard where most of the other kids went to eat during nice-weather days like today, and they sat next to each other at a picnic table. Sakura, Ino, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji soon joined Naruto and Hinata as well.

It was a rather pleasant lunch period. Naruto talked with his new friends and really felt accepted by them, and for someone who spent most of his life being treated like an outcast by his peers because they considered him weird and a troublemaker, the feeling of finally having friends was indescribable. The blonde teen looked at the blue-haired heiress beside him and smiled happily.

"It's all thanks to her. If I hadn't become friends with Hinata, I probably would've ended up with the same reputation here that I had in Hajime," Naruto thought to himself while he continued to smile at Hinata. "I would've resorted to my usual habits of pranking, and most likely would've been thought of as a weirdo as well. They might've accepted me eventually, but Hinata made it happen sooner. And she was the first to accept me. She really is my best friend." His thoughts led him to impulsively throw an arm around Hinata, and he gave her a quick hug. The other two girls at the table 'aww'd' at the sudden action while the guys either rolled their eyes or chuckled—or in Shino's case, raised an eyebrow. Hinata, while blushing, asked if Naruto was all right, and the boy in question just laughed it off and said he was just having a really good first day of school. They all saw the pink tinge on his face, though, that told them it was a bit more than that.

But nobody pressed him about it, and everyone continued to eat their lunch in peace. That is until a shout ripped through the pleasant scene, and recognizing the voice, Naruto groaned in irritation.

"NAMIKAZE!"

*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*

And done!

This one got away from me a bit. I'll have to continue the day in the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed this first part, though. And before anyone asks, yes, I replaced "Hokage" with "President". Since this is an AU without chakra and where ninjas were a thing of the far distant past (more of a myth than anything), I couldn't find a logical reason to have the leader of the Land of Fire have the title that means Fire Shadow. Just didn't quite make sense for a modern-world-type setting, but maybe some of you disagree. Meh. If it helps, Hiruzen is still essentially Hokage when it comes to what political/military power he has. Basically, like the Hokage, each President of the Land of Fire is chosen by their predecessor and voted in by the Civilian Council and the top commanders in the military. The President has absolute authority once voted in, though. Make sense? Hope so. I'm not one for government and political crap. If it doesn't make sense now, perhaps it will in the story as we go along. *shrug*

And what I said about the Last Uchiha being humorous? Yeah, it might take a few chapters. Gotta build up the relationship between him and Naruto before the real trolling fun to begin. :P

Now, I have an art challenge for any of you who enjoy drawing and would like a small project. I would very much like a cover picture for each of my stories here on FF dot net and would be ever so grateful to any of you willing to give it a shot. Just show it to me on Deviant Art—my name's the same there as it is here. I don't really have anything to offer in return other than crediting you for the picture...well, I guess I could take a request for an omake or something if any of you would accept something to read in exchange for a picture. But know that I do not write lemons, anything yoai/yuri, or where Naruto is paired with someone other than Hinata. Those things just aren't me. I'd draw the pictures myself, but I have a really hard time finding the motivation necessary to draw anything. And p13600d, I'm really sorry, dude. I will get around to drawing that cover picture for your newest story eventually. Like I said, though, it takes a lot of motivation for me to draw anything. It will get done eventually!

So yeah. If any of you wants to be super special awesome, show me what you can draw for any of my stories and let me know on Deviant Art. :)

And now, I'm gonna end with a grammar joke just because I want to. XD

What's the difference between a cat and a comma?

One has claws at the end of its paws, and one is a pause at the end of a clause.

Hahahaha! Until next time! ^_^ And in the future, I'm never giving myself a deadline again! Caused me to procrastinate... -.-'