Hi! Thanks for the reviews to those who sent them. I'm still pondering how I'll put the pairings in, but I'll think of something. After all, I'm thinking this up as I go.

But enough of my ranting! On with the new chapter!

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. So is my dignity.

Chapter 3

"Uzumaki Naruto! Wake up!"

The boy in question woke with a start, blinked a few times and yawned. Iruka sighed. Not only was Naruto going to be in his class for three and a half more years (Or even more if he failed the exam), the boy did nothing but sleep. And try to run off when he wasn't looking, something which made the whole class laugh.

The only odd thing was in tests, he proved to be quite average, surprising the chuunin. In fact, he was neither really good at anything, nor was he terrible at anything either. He just blended in with the crowd, his blond hair, whiskers and his pranks only giving him away. The most memorable involving his house, red paint, glitter, glue and an angry bull. It took him weeks to clean the mess up and he still shivered at the mere mention of it. (1)

Then again, reasoned Iruka to himself, the kid was brought up harshly because the villagers thought that he was the demon fox. Only a few people knew that Naruto and Kyuubi were different entities.

Banishing these thoughts for a moment, he said to the class, "As I was saying, before SOMEONE decided to take a nap, something is going to happen in a few days. Does anyone know what?"

At once a voice answered, "The Hidden Cloud village and the Leaf are going to sign a peace treaty."

"Thank you, Haruno-san. Like Sakura has mentioned, the two villages have decided to come to an agreement with each other and…"

Naruto blocked the rest out and then thought… of worst-case scenarios. 'In a few days time, the Cloud leader is going to try to kidnap Hinata-chan. What if Hokage-jiisan accidentally kills that guy? What if he kills her this time? What if… What the hell is so funny?' A confused yet irked Naruto glared daggers at a chibi Kyuubi in his mind, who was sniggering in the background.

"Hinata-chan? Since when did you start calling her that?" He asked slyly. "And since when did you worry so much?"

'… Shut up! It just came out, alright? It was a fluke, I swear! I don't have a crush on anyone!'

"Kit, keep in mind that I can read your thoughts," he retorted flatly. "If you weren't so infatuated with the pink haired girl, you might've noticed that she had a crush on you since you were around nine or so. I don't know what she sees in you though; she must've been in a permanent genjutsu or something."

'Urusai! (2) Bastard fox…'

"Idiotic brat."

'Act your age, dammit!'

"Can't make me. Aren't you supposed to respect your elders?" The chibi fox then proceeded to stick his tongue out and blow a raspberry.

'Y'know what? I liked you better when you were a grumpy bastard. At least you knew when to shut up.'

"Fine then. I guess you don't want to catch that Cloud ninja. And to think I was going to tell you how to…"

'No! What are your demands! I'll do it, just tell me what!'

"Nothing. It's just fun messing with your mind. You're way too easy." The Kyuubi then began to tell him what to do. Gradually Naruto began to show his trademark foxy smile at what he was hearing. He was going to make the ninja wish he never tried to kidnap Hinata.

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"The coast is clear, Gashira-sama."

A figure silently climbed the walls surrounding the Hyuuga compound. He knew that if the mission succeeded, he would be considered a hero. Looking around, he found the place to be unguarded. Hah! The Konoha ninjas truly were pathetic! Actually believing the treaty was real! To think that the Cloud village would back off when they were so close to gaining Konoha!

He scanned for the room the target was supposed to be sleeping in. Success! He found the outline of a small child and she was unprotected to boot!

The now smug ninja then landed into the grounds… then tripped on a wire. A circle of leaves surrounded him, and then fell away.

"What the-"

He was cut off by a bucket filled with honey dropped onto his head. Cursing the troublemaker who made this prank, he attempted to pull the bucket off… and failed. The perpetrator appeared to have added glue into this mixture. Thoroughly angry at this, he took out a kunai and sawed the blasted thing apart. Staggering in an almost drunken-looking state, the shinobi tripped onto yet another wire, setting off arsenals of water balloons. The figure slashed blindly at the approaching objects, mistaking them for shuriken and kunai. When the balloons burst angry fire ants flew out, bent to inflict pain onto the poor man. The honey wasn't helping much, either.

Finally, when the ninja thought things couldn't get possibly any worse, a final trap was set off, where kunai pinned him to the wall. To top it off, rabid squirrels (3) began to attack him, something he was terrified of since he was nine.

"ALRIGHT! I SURRENDER! JUST GET ME OUT OF THIS ACCURSED PLACE!" he screamed.

At once jounin, ANBU and chuunin surrounded him. Even the Hokage appeared.

A jounin then said, "You are under arrest for attempting to infiltrate the Hyuuga compound. How do you plead?"

"I'M GUILTY! JUST GET ME AWAY FROM THE SQUIRRELS!"

The Konoha ninjas looked at each other and burst into laughter. One managed to stop laughing long enough to do the seal of the ram and dispel what was revealed to be a genjutsu. Instantly, the rabid squirrels disappeared.

The Hokage then asked, "Kumo no Kuni no shinobi Gashira (4), do you deny that the treaty was false?"

No longer hysterical, he replied, "No. We just wanted to take the Hyuuga girl for her eyes. Please send me to jail or something, anywhere as long as it doesn't involve… those things."

The Hokage complied and sent him to Ibiki for interrogation.

The Hyuuga head, Hiashi, approached the Sandaime. "Hokage-sama, I heard the screams. What happened?"

The Hokage chuckled. "A very helpful person tipped me off that someone was going to kidnap your daughter. It seems that the same person caught him with a combination of traps and genjutsu. Be aware that there could be leftover traps near your household, Hiashi-san."

'Naruto… You are becoming more and more interesting by the day…' He thought as he headed towards his office.

Meanwhile, in his apartment, (as it was the month when he didn't sleep in the Forest of Death) Naruto was having a sneezing fit. 'Either someone has been talking about me quite a few times, or I've got a cold. Thanks for the great plan though, Kyuubi-sensei. Using the Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (5) mixed with your chakra and traps was hilarious.'

"Think nothing of it. It was funny watching the guy screaming his head off thanks to the genjutsu."

'Great! This means that Neji still has his father and Hinata-chan is safe!'

"Aha! How do you explain calling the girl with the –chan suffix again!Admit it, you like the girl!"

Naruto flushed. 'That's… not true! I don't love her or anything! She's just a friend… Yeah, I'll go with that, a… friend.'

"Kit, your lying is as appalling as Kakashi. I am definitely going to teach you the art of bullshitting tonight. Now go to sleep, you had your fun but we're still going to train at four in the morning."

The Kyuubi vessel groaned. Even after a year, he was never going to get used to waking before dawn.

'You're just trying to kill me because I called you a bastard, aren't you?'

The fox just laughed as a response.

Notes!

(1) No really, don't ask about it. Even I don't want to know what prank he pulled.

(2) I think this means "Shut up" or something very similar.

(3) I have no idea where this comes from. I have an obsession with squirrels, alright!

(4) That's roughly translated as "Land of clouds head shinobi". It's the guy who got killed by Hiashi.

(5) Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique) The genjutsu Kakashi uses on Sakura to give the illusion that Sasuke was dead.

That's about it. The next chapter probably will include the other 'Rookie Nine'!

...I think.

To the people that tell me update faster, I'm doing the best I can. I'm trying for both quantity and quality, and hurrying this up makes chapters shorter and duller.

P.S: Please review! Reviews fuel my happiness and will to write more:3