"Naruto, you better get to school!" Jiraiya yelled from his desk, he was focused on his work, but he noticed that Naruto was already two minutes late for school. He sighed, he wasn't really good at this whole 'parent' thing, but Naruto had lived with him since his parents died when he was five. You'd imagine he would have gotten use to the life of a parent by now.

Naruto came down stairs, all dressed up in his school uniform, a backpack hanging off his shoulder.

"Sorry, I guess I lost track of him!" Naruto yelled, rushing out the door of their small house.

Jiraiya watched the kid go, sighing to himself as he turned back to his writings. However, his eyes trailed up to the picture of him and Naruto's parents when they were teenagers. He had been best friends with Minato, Naruto's father, and so he become Naruto's godfather.

He never expected them to die.

Then again, no one expects anyone to die. It just.. happens. And when it does, sometimes people are left with responsibilities.

"Like an over-enthusiastic teenaged boy," Jiraiya snorted.

Naruto jumped on the bus, shoving some money into the box before making his way to the very back seat. He pressed his forehead against the window, watching the buildings come and go from his sight.

"Nothing like living in Pennsylvania to cheer you up, right?"

The sarcastic remark made Naruto turn his head to see a familiar boy.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto called out in surprise, a giant smile appearing on his face. "I didn't see you at all!"

"Will you hush?" Shikamaru called back, rubbing his forehead. "Your yelling gives me headaches.."

"Oi, sorry Shikamaru," Naruto replied, more softly this time. The smile was still on the blond's face, though. "What'cha doing?"

"Being late to school, like you. My mom is literally going to kill me," Shikamaru mumbled, shaking his head. "Chouji had to stop at get a snack first, though." Shikamaru pointed his thumb to direct Naruto at Chouji, who just waved.

"Huh." Naruto shook his head. "Didn't see you guys at all."

"Well," Shikamaru began, standing up. "I don't have the time to explain the whole story on how we made it on this damn bus, Naruto. This is our stop. Time for school. How troublesome…"

The three boys exited the bus, and Naruto waved and smiled at the bus driver, who gave him a glare in return. Naruto didn't notice it, though. They ran down the long sidewalk and past the fountain to the main doors.

"See you, Naruto!" Chouji yelled as him and Shikamaru darted down the hallway. Naruto went the opposite way, entering his history class.

"You're late," Kakashi Hatake said when Naruto entered the classroom.

"And you're always late, Kakashi. So… Free pass?" Naruto suggested, giving Kakashi a thumbs up.

Kakashi sighed. "To your seat, Naruto. I was just about to begin my lesson."

"Alright." Naruto sat down in his chair, but his mind wasn't focused on the lesson. Instead, Naruto stared out the window.

"N-Naruto?"

Naruto's head snapped back to the front of him, where Hinata Hyuuga was sitting. There was a smile on her pale face, and she was blushing slightly. Naruto had always thought that Hinata was a little weird, but she was sweet, and so Naruto didn't have a problem with her.

"Hey, Hinata!" He said rather loudly, causing the shy girl's blush to get even redder. "You need something?"

"N-n-no, nevermind."

Hinata turned back around in her seat, leaving Naruto a little confused. He shrugged it off, though. That was just Hinata.

The school day seemed to go by fast, and Naruto figured it was because he day dreamed through all of his classes. Of course, that's what he did all the time and his grades were proof of that. Naruto knew that Jiraiya would be unhappy with his report card, so the blond boy just folded it up and threw it in the trash.

"Party at my place, Naruto," Temari said, shoving a invitation in his hands. "You can't come unless you bring Shikamaru."

"Why don't you just invite him yourself, Temari?" Naruto questioned, a little confused by her offer.

"Don't be an idiot, Shikamaru would never come unless someone forced him to. Someone like you. I know you want to come, you're always trying to be friends with everyone. So, deal?" Temari put her hands at her hips, awaiting an answer from the confused boy across from her.

"Uh, yeah sure. If I can bring him, I will."

"Don't come if he won't come!" Temari yelled back at him as she walked the opposite way.

Naruto turned around, hunting through the hallway for a certain genius. Of course, Naruto found him waiting by the vending machine with Chouji.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto called from down the hall, waving his hands at Shikamaru as he rushed over to the vending machine. "Guess what?"

"You're going to get tested for ADHD?" Shikamaru guessed, causing Chouji to cough out a laugh.

"Well, no… But, you two are coming with me to Temari's party tonight!" Naruto said, a huge crooked smile on his face.

"And why would we do that?" Chouji intervened, pulling out the BBQ chips from the vending machine. Shikamaru nodded in agreement to Chouji's question.

"Because… It's a party, Chouji. That means free food."

"I'm in," Chouji said immediately.

"I'm not. No way in hell am I go to that violent woman's party," Shikamaru stated, walking towards the front entrance.

"Oi, Chouji," Naruto started, leaning over to whisper into Chouji's ear. "Temari said if Shikamaru doesn't go, then we can't go. That means no free food. And you know Temari is rich and has all those personal chef people, right?" Naruto nudged Chouji with his elbow.

"Pick us up at 8, we'll both be there, even if I have to kill Shikamaru and bring his dead body instead," Chouji replied, running to catch up with his friend.

"Yes!" Naruto yelled, throwing his hands up. "It's party time!"

Naruto and Chouji were leaning against Naruto's truck, both of them having a beer in their hands, and then Chouji having a bunch of food in the back of the truck. Naruto fiddled around with his drink, trying to ignore the awkwardness of the two of them randomly being here. It was obvious they didn't belong. Popular kids were stripping their clothes and jumping into the lake, others were chilling by the bonfire.

Naruto looked up when he saw Shikamaru heading his way, a look of boredom on the kid's face, like usual.

"Enjoying the party, Shika?" Naruto asked with slight enthusiasm. It was obvious him and Temari had a thing for each other. Temari was just a little more obvious than Shikamaru, who thought all woman were troublesome.

"I suppose…" Shikamaru answered, but then quickly changed the subject. "Hinata was looking for you. She had something to ask you, but she went into the forest with some creepers. Maybe you should go find her."

"Huh? Why would Hinata be looking for me?" Naruto pointed at himself, a look of astonishment on his face.

"Who knows? But it's not polite to leave a woman waiting," Shikamaru said, waving Naruto off.

Naruto sighed, he supposed that he would go looking for Hinata. It wasn't like he was doing anything else productive. Naruto headed into the forest where Shikamaru said she'd gone, but it was so dark that Naruto honestly had no clue where he was going. He stumbled around for a few minutes, before realizing that Hinata was no where to be found.

He was starting to head back when he heard her scream. Naruto froze, his eyes darting around.

"Hinata…?" Naruto whispered softly into the darkness.

Another scream.

This time, Naruto was able to pin point where it was coming from and he sprinted in that direction. He dodged the trees and the rocks, trying to run as fast as he could. When he got a little closer, he could hear her shouts and cries.

Naruto finally stumbled into a small field, and his eyes grew wide.

"Oh, Naruto? Want in on the fun?" Saiko asked, his arm holding Hinata against the tree. "We were just going to give Hyuuga here the fun of her life." Saiko and his two minions laughed, roughly shoving Hinata to the ground.

"How dare you.." Naruto whispered, his eyes not moving from Hinata, who was sobbing on the ground.

"What did you say, Uzimaki?" Saiko said with a threatening voice as him and his minions corned in on Naruto.

"How dare you touch Hinata!" Naruto screamed, his fist coming in contact with Saiko's face. Saiko went flying into the tree across the field, but Naruto was too angry to notice. He turned on Saiko's minions, who were lunging at him.

Naruto slammed the first one into the ground, and then shoved his knee into the second one's gut. Just like Saiko, his friend went flying. Naruto ran to Hinata, who was staring at him in amazement.

"Naruto… I didn't know you were so strong," Hinata said, her mouth agape. "I've only ever seen someone punch so hard that they sent the other person literally flying in movies…"

Naruto's brow furrowed as he tried to understand what she was talking about, but it all became clear when he looked up. Saiko was laying against a tree, on the other side of the field, and the field was at least a football field long.

"Whoa…" Was all that came out of Naruto's mouth.

Please review if you see something that I can do to help make the story better. Or if you just want to leave your opinion. Thank you. (: