A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update. I was too hooked up with Naruto Shippuden that I forgot to write the next chapter. I hope that you guys will enjoy this! Some were confused with the past chapters so I hope that this would make the story clear and understandable. ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 20 – Naruto's Struggle

It was 6:00 in the morning and Sasuke just woke up. He entered the bathroom and took a quick shower. After having his shower, he ate his breakfast and left the house. He walked to school because it only takes a few minutes to get there. His parents insisted on taking him to school but Sasuke opposed this idea because it was childish and he can take care of himself. Besides, it would only burden his family because they have a lot work to do.

Sasuke took his time walking even though he can barely hide the excitement of seeing his plan in action. He was approaching the gate when he saw Neji and Shikamaru.

"Yo." Greet Neji. Sasuke nodded and they walked to the building.

"Hey, Sasuke. What if we watch in the AVR [A/N: AVR – Audio Visual Room] instead?" Shikamaru suggested as they walked up the stairs.

"I guess." Sasuke considered it.

"Besides, the classroom will be filled by our classmates and we won't enjoy the show." Neji agreed.

"But what are we going to tell the teachers? We can't skip homeroom." Shikamaru added.

"Let's just return before the teacher gets there." Sasuke said.

"Ok. I'll message the others to let them know." Neji took out his phone and they all headed to the AVR.

They opened the door and Sasuke turned on the airconditioning. Shikamaru sat on one of the seats while Neji was still busy with his phone. [A/N: The seats I mentioned looks like seats on a theatre. ^_^]

"Hey, Sasuke, wanna use the big screen to watch the show?" Neji asked.

"Sure. Go ahead." Sasuke observed the room. It was pretty spacious. Shikamaru was at the corner of the room, trying to hook up his laptop to the big screen's controls.

"Okay, finished. Now time to test it." Shikamaru turned on his laptop. While he was doing that, the door opened, revealing Lee, Shino, Kiba, Sai and Gaara. They all took a seat.

"This idea to use the theatre is great!" Lee grinned.

"Yeah. But aren't we abusing our authority, Sasuke?" Kiba asked.

"Hn. I don't really care." Sasuke sat down.

"Oh, well." Kiba sighed.

They all waited for Shikamaru to finish. The door opened, it was Choji with a large bag behind him.

"Choji, don't tell me that the contents of that bag…" Kiba wasn't able to finish his sentence when Choji grinned, meaning that what Kiba was thinking was right.

"SNACKS!" Choji grinned.

"I bet you used up your allowance." Neji rolled his eyes.

"Sorta. But it's okay cause today is a special day!" Choji sat down with the guys.

"It's not okay." Shikamaru said without glancing at them. "I'm sure that you'll borrow money from me so it's not okay."

"Oh, c'mon Shikamaru! We're buddies, right?" Choji smiled. Shikamaru just sighed and continued on what he's opened the bag and handed out snacks to everyone.

The screen flashed and an image of Naruto appeared on the big screen. Shikamaru smiled and sat down.

"Now all we have to do is wait for the victim to wake up." Sasuke smiled devilishly.

"I bet he's gonna be so mad." Gaara said.

"Yeah, that's for sure. Let's just pray that he'll forgive us." Kiba smiled.

"We are the worst friends ever." Neji also smiled devilishly and the others chuckled.

A few more minutes later, Naruto's alarm clock started ringing. Naruto tried to reach it to turn it off but to his surprise, he can't move his body. He thought that maybe, he was just dreaming, but soon after, he realized that this wasn't a dream. His eyes flashed open and found himself tied to the bed.

The guys were watching Naruto and they were laughing really hard.

"Darn it! Who did this to me?" Naruto struggled to get the ropes off him. The ropes weren't particularly tight but it's still hard to free himself. Naruto thought for a moment. "There's only one person who would dare do this…No, a certain group of people…" Naruto's eyes flashed with determination.

"Wow, the culprits are already known by the victim…" Choji munched on his snacks.

"Hmmm…knowing them, they'll probably set cameras in the house to watch my struggle…" Naruto considered the possibility and scanned the room for a camera.

"Darn…he's smart." Shikamaru laughed.

"There it is!" Naruto looked straight at the camera placed on his room's ceiling. He glared right at the camera and an evil smile appeared on his face. The guys can't help but smile back even if Naruto can't see them.

"Now, what are you going to do?" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke, everyone. You really want to challenge me, huh? Then I'll accept your challenge! You think I won't win? Well, think again. I'll prove to you guys that I AM GOING TO WIN!" and with that, Naruto returned to freeing himself.

"Then let's see what you can do, Naruto." Sasuke smirked.

After half an hour, Naruto finally freed himself from the ropes but the moment he stepped on the floor, a new challenge began. The floor had honey and Naruto slipped, face first. Now his whole body is completely covered with honey and when he touched his face, there was whipped cream and he instantly knew that they took a 'Santa' photo of him. Now he really needs a bath. He looked for his towel and dashed to the bathroom.

The guys didn't install a camera in the bathroom so they had to wait for him to finish bathing. He took 10 minutes to completely wash off the honey and whipcream. He went to his room to look for his uniform, careful to avoid the honey on the floor. His uniform was nowhere in sight. He searched for it around the house and finally found it under the bed. He quickly dressed himself and checked his bag to see if there was anything missing. When he was sure that he has everything inside the bag, he went to the door to get his shoes, but they were missing. He checked the bathroom, his room, the kitchen and the living room. He thought that his shoes are well hidden, just like his uniform but what he didn't know was, the uniform was merely a trick because his shoes aren't that well hidden like he thinks they are. He gazed at the foot of his couch and grinned when he realized that those were his shoes hidden there. He looked at his watch and saw that there was a minute left before classes start. His only chance to win the bet is if Sir Iruka reached their classroom late because classes won't start without their teacher and if he reached there before the teacher, it's still technically his win. With that ray of hope, he dashed out of the house, full speed ahead.

Meanwhile, at school, the guys quickly took their stuff out of the room and headed to the classroom.

"Let's just hope that our plan proceeds smoothly." Neji said, running with the guys to the classroom which wasn't far from the theatre.

They reached the room but before they entered, they fixed themselves first. After all, they do hold quite a reputation in the school. They sat down as if nothing happened but Neji noticed that Hinata was not in the room.

"Hey, do you know where Hinata is? It's almost time for class and she's still not here." Neji asked the guys.

"I don't know, but Sakura, Temari, Tenten and Ino aren't here as well." Sai mentioned.

"Wait, I have a hunch. I'm not sure if it's true but we'll just have to wait." Sasuke was suspicious but they decided to wait.

It was already 5 minutes past 7:30. Sir Iruka is late and that rarely happens. The guys were getting nervous because Naruto has a chance to win. Five more minutes passed and there's still no sign of Sir Iruka or the girls mentioned earlier. The door slid open. They looked, hoping that it's their teacher but to their disappointment, it's none other than Naruto Uzumaki.

"Darn! He beat us!" Neji smirked.

"Hn. Lucky." Sasuke smirked as well. Watching as Naruto appoached his seat. He was heavily panting and sweating.

"What do you think happened?" asked Sai.

"You said you had a hunch, Sasuke. What is it?" Choji inquired.

Sasuke was about to answer when the door opened, revealing Sir Iruka and the and the guys looked at Sasuke.

"You don't mean…" Sai was pretty sure that Sasuke's answer is 'hn'.

"Hn. They're responsible." Sasuke sighed.

The guys looked at the girls but they just winked and the guys can't help but sigh. Sir Iruka ordered the class to sit down.

"Sorry for being late. These girls asked me to help out with some work but I have this feeling that they were just buying some time. But I won't ask anything about that matter." Sir Iruka smiled at Hinata. Hinata smiled back.

It was lunch time and Naruto and the guys went to the rooftop but the girls went with them.

"It was a perfect plan. If only we took the girls into consideration." Shikamaru sighed.

"I bet you thought that we won't interfere." Ino stuck her tongue out.

"But since when did you know?" Sai asked.

"Just this morning." Tenten smiled.

"Huh?" The guys said in unison.

"Hinata was looking for you guys when she went to the AVR. She saw the video of Naruto's struggle and decided to help." Ino explained.

"And since we're very good friends, we decided to help out too. Besides, ganging up on him isn't nice." Tenten added.

"Hinata was the one who thought of stalling Sir Iruka until Naruto got to school. And we had Temari as a look out for Naruto's arrival." Sakura smiled.

"Geez…I'm so happy that you helped me." Naruto smiled. He looked at Hinata and hugged her. "Thank you, Hinata! You're a life saver!"

"It's no big deal." Hinata was as red as a tomato.

"Hey, what about our hug?" Ino winked. Naruto smiled and hugged all of the girls.

"You were very mean!" Naruto yelled at the guys.

"Yeah, we are. But you can never stay mad at us cause we're like your family!" Kiba laughed and ruffled Naruto's hair. They all laughed.

"But you guys have to clean my house!" Naruto said.

"Yeah. I guess. It was our fault so we'll have to clean it." Shikamaru agreed.

"Then we'll help too!" Ino volunteered.

"Sure! I don't mind!" Naruto accepted.

"Sasuke, you'll have to treat us!" Naruto smirked.

"Hn. Sure." Sasuke continued to eat.

"Yay!" The girls cheered together. The guys laughed. Sasuke even had a faint smile on his face.

After school, they all went for ramen and Choji finished 10 bowls all by himself. They had fun laughing and Sasuke seemed to have fun as well. When it was time to pay, Kiba noticed Sasuke's wallet was filled with cash.

"Hmmm? You've anticipated your loss?" Kiba whispered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Sasuke smiled and payed.

After eating, they went to Naruto's house. It was so messy. It took them an hour just to finish cleaning but they still had fun in doing so. It was already getting late and the guys decided to be kind enough to take the girls home safely. Sai went with his girlfriend, Ino. Shikamaru and Choji went with Tenten. Gaara went with his sister, Temari. Since Sakura's and Hinata's house were in the same diretion, they decided to go together. Neji, Sasuke, Shino and Lee accompanied them. Naruto had work to do so he went to a separate direction.

"Man, what a fun, tiring and unforgettable day this is!" Naruto smiled while heading to work.

How was it?

Please review! Thanks a lot! ^_^

I'll work hard on the next chapter!