Hey, I'm starting this on the same day that I put out chapter four. Aren't you happy!
Key:
"I am a spoken word! Mwa ha ha!"
'I am a thought. Hear me roar!'
"I am a written, coded or sign language word!"
"I am Kyuubi talking in Naruto's mind."
I am Kyuubi talking to Naruto outside of his mind.
I am Kyuubi's thoughts.
"I am Naruto talking in his mind."
I am Naruto talking to people with his mind and flashbacks.
(-)
Scroll V:
Year IV.
(-)
It had been a year since the revelation of the Kyuubi and Naruto's subsequent kidnapping, and their family had grown even closer.
Naruto had been let out of the hospital after a couple of weeks, and the fire had caused no lasting damage. Mizuki had been caught and privately tried on his acts. His execution had soon followed. Naruto had even learned to use his new Mind Call abilities (they had decided to call the thing Mind Call, as it was exactly that) some. But he couldn't use it all the time, as it took up a lot of chakra, and it was also only limited to a few people, so it was reserved for emergencies.
Naruto also visited the Kyuubi frequently, and made a deal with him. When he got his second tail, the Kyuubi would train him in Shinobi and Demon techniques.
He had told his family about what happened when he was kidnapped, and, as expected, they were furious at what the Hokage had tried to do. Even though he was as well, he had calmed them down, telling them that the old man had just been doing what he thought was right for the village. Hiashi had told him that though he understood, that didn't make what the Hokage had done right.
As he was exempt from the law, as it was about him, Naruto had told his friends about the Kyuubi. He had done it because they were friends, and they had always told him every thing, so he thought that he should do the same. Luckily, they understood, and had promised that they wouldn't tell a soul with out his express permission. Although they were wary of the Kyuubi, they understood that Naruto was not him. They had all thanked him for telling them, as it meant more coming for him then from them hearing it from some where else. It also explained a lot of their parents behavior towards him.
As the Kyuubi had said, Naruto's hair was almost completely green by now, and his eyes were completely red. His ears had started to become furry and move to the top of his head, and he had an almost fully grown tail. As it turned out, it was also green, with a white tip. His incisors had also grown greatly, and his senses were even more acute. This had lead him to learn Genjutsu as well as keep up his Taijutsu, so that he didn't have to put up with the glares or stares. His friends and family knew his true appearance.
The eight younger children were set to join the ninja academy soon, and the three older ones had moved up a year.
Hinata's family had even had a new addition. At the beginning of the year, she had had a little girl, which they named Hanabi. All the children treated her like a little sister.
Shortly before Hanabi was born, even though Hiashi tried to stop it, Neji had gotten the Caged Bird seal, as he was from the branch house. For a while, Neji had blamed Hinata, but they had managed to slap some sense into him. Literally. He was still a bit cold toward the Hyuuga's, but they were quickly bridging the gap.
On Naruto's birthday, his friends had revealed to him their knowledge of Morse code. He said that it was the best gift he had even gotten.
The day before their first day, they all met up in Naruto's forest to talk about it.
"So, do you think your ready?" Tenten asked, idly flipping a kunai as she relaxed on a branch of the tree in the middle of The Clearing.
"No." Sakura answered.
"Yosh! Don't be like that my friends, you all burn with the fires of youth, I know you can do it!" said Lee encouragingly. He was leaning on the trunk of the massive tree. They had managed to get him to calm down over the year, but only a little bit.
"Hey, Neji-kun," asked Ino, she was lying next to Shikamaru, staring at the clouds, "What do you think we can expect? I mean, you've been there before, so you should know."
Neji frowned. He was siting on the branch next to Tenten, reading a scroll. "Well Ino-chan, for us, it was mostly of an introduction, as it is only the first day after all."
"So they won't be testing us, right?" Naruto asked. He was the farthest up, casually hanging upside down from a branch above their heads.
"Right," Neji confirmed.
"So, when do we actually start learning stuff?" Kiba asked, rolling over from his position next to Shino, impatient as ever.
Hinata spoke up next. "Kiba-kun, I don't think they would do that to us immediately." she was siting next to her cousin.
"Hi-chan's right, some of the people are just starting their Shinobi training, so they have to go over the basics first." said Neji.
They were silent for a while, just enjoying each others company.
"Hi-chan, hows Ha-chan?" asked Shino. They had gotten the quiet boy to open up more around them, but he was still almost silent with strangers.
"Oh, she's doing great Shi-kun! She's just learning to crawl around now!" Hinata squealed. One way to get her excited was to ask her about her little sister.
"Really?" asked Chouji, curious. They had gotten him to stop munching on food when ever he was nervous, but he still brought along a snack just in case. He looked up from his position on the other side of Shikamaru, across from Ino. "I thought that they had to be older than she is for that to happen."
"No," Shikamaru said, "It can happen at any time, really. Just a lot of babies don't do it until their older."
Hinata sighed. "Ha-chan's doing great, but Kaa-san has been getting distant lately. She barely plays with me any more!"
"Has something happened?" Naruto asked.
"Not that I know of, but Kaa-san keeps disappearing for hours on end, and comes home late. She's also been ignoring us more."
"Any idea why?" asked Shikamaru.
"No."
They all 'Hmm'ed in thought, then fell quiet again.
"Let's talk about something else," said Shikamaru, "Grown ups are too troublesome."
"But what should we talk about?" Ino asked.
"How bout we talk about the academy some more?" asked Shino.
"Sure." Chouji answered.
"Is any one else nervous about it?"
"Yeah."
"A ton."
More silence.
"Hey, Naru-kun, how do you think that the youthful people will react to you? I mean, we, with our burning flames of youth, were startled when we saw your scars and found out that you were blind and mute. What do you think the youthful teachers and kids will do?" asked Lee, curious
Naruto smirked. "How about we play a prank on them?"
The others smirk. Anyone watching would have gotten chills down their spines from those smirks. After all, they weren't known as 'Kohona's Phantom Pranksters' for nothing. Fortunately, no one was watching.
(-)
The next day, the children were all dropped off at the academy by their families. Neji, Lee, and Tenten headed on to the second year classes, as Naruto, Chouji, Hinata, Ino, Kiba, Sakura, Shikamaru and Shino headed off to first.
Once there, they all found seats together in the back, and sitting down, they talked in the little bit of time before class started. Soon, the other students enter, and then the teacher came in. The class quieted down and the teacher started the attendance. They only listened to their own names.
"Aburame, Shino?"
"Here."
"Akimichi, Chouji?"
"Here!"
"Haruno, Sakura?"
"Here!"
"Hyuuga, Hinata?"
"H-here!"
"Inuzuka, Kiba?"
"Here!" "Arf!"
"Nara, Shikamaru?"
"Here."
"Uzumaki, Naruto?"
Naruto raised his hand. When the teacher didn't hear him answer, he looked up. When he saw what Naruto was wearing, he sneered.
"Uzumaki-san, I have to ask you to take take that scarf off your face." he said.
The others snickered. Naruto raised a hand up and slowly unwound the scarf off his face.
Every one but his friends gasped when it finally fell. Naruto opened his eyes and looked in the teachers direction. When his eyes met Naruto's blank orbs, he flinched, but continued on.
"T-thank you, Uzu-uzumaki-san." he looked back at his list. Naruto smirked.
"Yamanaka, Ino?"
"Here!"
Then, trying to ignore the whispers and the demon boys scared face, the teacher continued on with class.
(-)
"Did you see his face?" Kiba snickered. The others laughed.
"Did you see the other kids faces?" asked Ino, laughing.
"It was hilarious." said Naruto. "After he saw, he stuttered all over the place and tried to avoid looking at me. The other kids tried to talk to them selves with out me hearing. Big chance of that!"
"One kid even said 'That guy must be using a Genjutsu, theres no way they could be real!'" announced Chouji.
"Why would any one even do that! That's so ridiculous!" said Tenten.
"At our lunch, every one was trying to discreetly look at us. It must have gotten around that we came in together this morning." Neji added.
"Gossipers are unyouthful!" cried Lee. He was ignored.
"One person even asked me if I had done that to you because you annoyed me! As if!" Tenten told Naruto.
"Well, you are a weapons mistress." said Sakura.
"And you do have a short temper!" Ino teased.
"Ino-chan!" Tenten cried, chasing her.
"See what I mean?" Ino asked, running away from Tenten.
They watched the chase for a moment, then turned back to their discussion.
"So," asked Shikamaru, "Learn anything new?" he directed his question at Neji and Lee, as he already new what had happened in his class.
"Not really." responded Lee.
"We didn't either." said Kiba.
"Hey guys, in celebration, do you want to go out for food? It's on me!" The Hokage gave Naruto an allowance each month for doing a 'great service' to their village (housing the Kyuubi) and his parents had been rich. So he was one of the richest people in Kohona. Maybe even the richest.
"Food?" asked Chouji, always hungry. "Sure!"
The others voiced their agreements, and, after calling Tenten and Ino over, they left.
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1/25/07- 5:26 pm: Hi! Aren't you happy that I got two chapters out in one day? Enjoy!
Also, you can vote for a pairing once each chapter, and for every chapter, I'll count it as one vote.
Voting results:
Vote:
Naruto/Harem-9
Naruto/Hinata-7
Naruto/Temari-5
Naruto/Haku-Female-3 Male-1
Naruto/Gaara-2
Naruto/Ino-2
Naruto/Neji-1
Naruto/Sakura-1
Naruto/Shikamaru-1
Naruto/Shino-1
Naruto/Tenten-1
NoYoai-4
If their not with Naruto, who should they be with?
Shikamaru/Temari-1
Thanks for reviewing: MissNaye (Thanks.); hoyt; garthjax (He will, but only with certain people. Also, Naruto already knows sign language.); anon (Yes! Another Harem vote!); neko-in-tears (very good points); adsf (Yes! More Harem votes!); SurvivalHorror (Yes, no, no, maybe. I need suggestions on the weapon. There might be yoai. I'm leaning towards something where Naruto and his friends are all together.); Vargulf; blackdrag; Adlerauge; scienceboy; reikage-sama -lord spirit shadow- aka eight-winged chimera aka shimera riku -chimera master-; 678yui-julie-and-kiki-kitten; Mr.Shooter.