Drifting

by AlphaDelta1001

Naruto is many things; troublesome, wild, unpredictable, adventurous, untamable, unique. But there's a benefit to being wild and unpredictable; no one has the faintest idea what you're going to do next. NarutoHarem

7. Graduation Arc - Team Up

NARUTO

Drifting

Team Up

From what Naruto could recall from the many hours leading up to his current predicament, he could say without a shadow of a doubt that it had been one of the greatest days of his life. His past three years of education in the academy, accompanied by great trials, errors and adventures inside and outside of the walls of Konohagakure, had all led him to this single moment.

The moment he realized the headband had been placed around his crown and had been tied by his incredibly pleased teacher was like almost every single one of his dreams coming true all at once. It was a memory and experience he would not soon forget and probably never will.

Thankfully Iruka had been there to calm him down from his emotional high and after getting him to stop jumping off of walls, reminded him that he still had a fair ways to go. Being the sensible character that he was, it took several deep breaths and a small talking to quell the boy's excitement. Everything after that was just a running blur.

Following the closing ceremony was a quick hop and skip to his personal training field to spend time with Tayuya, who had also gotten her headband from Anko in their own private ceremony. Working up a sweat and burning off their excitement from a fantabulous day of non-stop good news, they then headed off for a celebratory soiree over at the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

It had been a wicked evening for all of them. But what came after that came as a bit of a puzzle to young Naruto.

The jinchuriki last remembered falling asleep, exhausted from all the bounding around and partying he'd been doing all afternoon. For all he knew, he should have been in bed.

Why the heck was he standing on a shallow pool of perfectly reflecting water inside a massive sewer? Looking around in confusion, the blonde decided to explore this dark new environment and began following the tunnel to wherever it led.

In all his life Naruto had never seen a sewer system like this before. Not even the pipelines underneath the village were this huge and he'd been around all of them. It was a no-holds-barred life for a master prankster; he needed to be prepared to get his hands dirty in all senses of the word.

Still, this new, underground world perplexed him beyond belief. It didn't smell, it was quite clean and the water seemed pretty good… not that he wanted to drink it or anything. God no. The only depressing features inside this place were the poor lighting and the soulless walls of concrete surrounding him that didn't have any windows or ducts to provide any kind of filtration. It also didn't allow any natural radiance from the outside world.

"Someone should really think about sticking some fluorescent lights in here. It'll do wonders for this place," Naruto commented to himself, pointing towards the ceiling observantly before arriving at a sudden and unexpected blockage.

It wasn't an ordinary blockage either; it was a God damn massive set of iron gates standing in his way with an odd seal slapped over the lock-whoa… several stories up. Naruto shook his head once at the sight of the barrier and looked it over, wondering why someone would build something like this down here in a tunnel.

Curious, he walked closer and tried to peer into the darkness beyond the gates. The tunnel led into some sort of large chamber, but it was so dark inside he couldn't see a damn thing past the bars. Naturally the mystery of the gate and the room beyond beckoned the child forward, only to stop when he heard a low rumble followed by a booming, demonic voice.

"I was wondering when you were going to drop by."

Naruto blinked and looked up. The moment he did, he saw a pair of blood red eyes suddenly open up in the darkness and instantly lock onto him. Caught a little by surprise, the boy skittered back till he was able to get a good view of the pair of irises and the entity that they were attached to. The moment he put space between himself and the iron gates, light suddenly poured into the chamber and the prone form of a gargantuan orange fox emerged from the shadows.

The giant animal grunted drearily at the sight of his container, "Not too impressive considering you're still just a child, but certainly a change from my last two cells."

With the illumination provided for him, Naruto was able to see that the fox was about several times larger than a building. By his estimate… it was fucking enormous. A huge maw with rows of sharp, pointed canine teeth, with black around its eyes, huge arms folded in front of it where it was resting its head on and, if his eyes didn't deceive him, nine massive tails swishing about behind it. The sight was both jaw-dropping and a little bit terrifying, but Naruto wasn't scared one bit.

Instead of jumping in shock at the gigantic animal glaring down at him through the gates, Naruto merely smiled and pointed up at him.

"Cat!"

He saw the massive animal's orange fur bristle and expression visibly change to one of outrage, "I'M NOT A GOD DAMN CAT YOU BRAINDEAD FOOL!"

Naruto's clothes ruffled on the wind that came from the colossal beast shouting at him. Blinking after its outburst, the blonde beamed and raised an eyebrow, "You've got whiskers. Cats have whiskers. If you're not a cat then what are you?" Duh, a fox. But what the hell kind of fox had a head the size of one of the Hokage Monument faces and a body to match its canvas?

The animal grounded its teeth as it glared irritably down at the boy, "Are you honestly this stupid? Do you know who I am?"

Naruto shrugged. "Nope."

Wanting to slap himself in the face, the monster growled and fixed its best death glare on the kid staring cheerfully up at him. "I'm the great Kyuubi no Yoko, or what the people of your village like to call the Kyuubi or Demon Fox. Call me whatever you like."

"Oh," Naruto simply murmured, tilting his head as he got a better look at the gigantic creature, who continued to glare down at him impatiently.

So this was the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox; the same being that attacked his village all those years ago. Hm.

…

…

…

Hey… wait a minute!

Blinking and looking around, Naruto then quickly glanced back at the enormous beast with a questioning gaze, "How the heck am I talking to the Kyuubi? Where the heck am I?"

The fox growled to himself, "You really are a stupid one. We're inside your head."

"Inside… my head- ooohhh, wait. Now I get it," Naruto laughed and snapped his fingers, tapping his temple a few times before pointing back at the cage, "This whole thing is a dream. Yeah! That's it! It's just a really, really, REALLY bad dream. Damn. It must have been that omelet jiji put into the last bowl of ramen I had today. Man. I tell yah, that egg just didn't taste right. Uh-uh. I remember falling asleep and…" He babbled on.

As he listened in to the ramblings of the blonde standing underneath the veil of his shadow, the Kyuubi simply could not believe that his current container and jailer, the one he was sealed into by the Fourth Hokage himself, could be this dull witted. This complete ignorance and lack of understanding of his current situation could only be attributed to a couple of plausible things; either irreparable brain damage from being hit over the head one too many times or being terribly uninformed. Damn villagers.

Either way, of all the Uzumakis he'd encountered in his entire life and of all the remaining ones in the world, he had to be sealed into the most airheaded one.

Life was just one cruel, sick joke.

As Naruto drawled on, the fox groaned in annoyance before, after several minutes of nothing but drone noise, snapped, "Shut your mouth you pathetic human!" Stopping immediately on command, the jinchuriki looked back up at the demon in surprise. "Weak. Blind. Ignorant. You want to know the truth? I'll be more than happy to tell you. Just so that you understand the situation, yes; you are asleep. But this isn't some fairytale wonderland that your mind managed to concoct all on its own. No. This is real. Where we are… right now… we're inside your subconscious, inside your mind and body." He saw the kid blink in a deadpanned fashion, getting his scowl to tighten. "Hmph… figure it out for yourself."

Looking around a second time, Naruto wheeled back around and began pointing between himself, the fox, and then the chamber they were currently inside. "Okay. So… what you're saying is… we… you and I… we're inside my mind? Inside me. This…" He pointed around the tacky basement boiler room, "This place… all of this is inside my subconscious?" Nothing but silence emanated off of the large fox as its tails swished behind him impatiently. Blinking a few more times, Naruto thought on the new information for a little bit longer until his eyes widened to that of saucers and he pointed in disbelief at the entity once more, "No way… are you…?"

The fox grunted, "Have you finally caught up?"

"Whoa," Naruto breathed, staggering back while slapping the side of his head.

Shit. Now it all made sense. At the exact moment the penny dropped, the metaphorical projector inside his cranium started to play.

Everything in his young life leading up to this point, the villagers' unpleasantness towards him, the glares, the whispering behind his back, the segregation, the discontent at his presence, the loneliness… all of it started to come back to him all at once in one whopping big eye opener. With all of his memories from his earlier days being processed at light speed, Naruto was simply overwhelmed in a sea of information, revelations, and emotions.

It was then, after several moments of mind-numbing contemplation and close to collapsing at the full realization of his position, the boy then remembered the gate and its lock and looked straight up at it in alarm. Stumbling forward, he then lifted up his stomach, where he could see the tattoo he knew that he had there as clear as day. "So this is…" He turned his attention to the fox and pointed at his naval, "You're in here, aren't you? This is what this weird seal is for! It's for you!"

The fox growled unpleasantly, "That's a powerful fuinjutsu unlike any other. It's not some stupid summoning formula like you thought it was when you first laid eyes on it and tried to open it." Naruto blushed when he remembered that particular incident, yet remained quiet. "That seal across your stomach is what keeps me inside of your body and behind these bars, locked away from the rest of the world. It's a tight fit yes and it's a miserable place to be, but at least it beats my previous prison where I was bound and crucified on a ball of chakra suspended in a bottomless void."

Lowering his jacket, Naruto returned his arms to his sides and looked up at the fox strangely. "So… then… if you're sealed inside me… then that makes me your jinchuriki, doesn't it?"

"Yes…"

Falling silent for a bit, Naruto clicked his tongue, "Is this permanent?"

"If you want to continue living, yes," the fox replied, being graciously honest for the boy's benefit for once.

The blonde then frowned, "And this whole being brought into my subconscious-thing," He pointed around the room again, "What does this mean?"

"It just means that your mind tends to wander into places that you just don't expect it to," the Kyuubi said, a small smirk of anticipation growing on his face. "Oh, but this intrigues me greatly. You were able to enter this level of your subconscious without prior knowledge of any of this; information that both the Hokage and your entire village worked so hard to keep hidden from you. I wouldn't be surprised if you were to suddenly become upset over all of this secrecy, especially since it explains why you're hated so…"

Oh this was rich. What a perfect opportunity for some influence. If he could get this kid to throw a fit and rampage on the lowly mortals of his hometown, then maybe he could get some additional entertainment out of this boring world, and perhaps, if he was lucky…

"Meh," Naruto suddenly interrupted the fox's thoughts with a shrug, "It's no big deal."

The Kyuubi's jaw visibly dropped. "What?"

The blonde picked at his ear and flicked the wax off of his finger, "I'm sure Hokage-jiji had a good reason for not telling me. Maybe it was for my own good, to protect me or something, I don't know. If he didn't tell me, then he didn't tell me, so I'm not fussed."

Sure it was a pragmatic response, but what good would him throwing a tantrum in the middle of a sewer in his own mind do? He could beat up the walls and kick at the water, but all that would do was give him a pair of bloody knuckles and wet pants. It wouldn't solve anything in the long run.

The fox growled, "How can you take this so much in stride?"

"The old man said to me ages ago that he was going to tell me about the seal on my stomach eventually, so what's wrong with finding out earlier ahead of time?" Dropping his hands back down, Naruto smiled up at the blank stare of the demon and tilted his head. "It sure as hell answers a lot of questions though. Now I know why all of the adults are so skittish around me."

Eyebrow raising a bit, the Kyuubi then gave the boy a puzzled stare. "So you're not upset?"

"Not a bit," Naruto shook his head, "Why would I be upset? Do you know how terrible being upset feels; it's bloody awful." He shrugged his shoulders slightly and breathed out a sigh, "Sure I can get upset, but I feel more liberated than anything else. Now that I know the truth about why people stay away from me… well… it feels pretty damn good. Nice doing business with you."

Oh sure, he was just hit with the biggest news of his generation and all he could do was smile and shrug it off like it didn't matter.

Was this normal? Probably not. Either he was suppressing his real emotions right down to the core or he had expected this the entire time and was honestly not surprised. Whatever the case, the young jinchuriki was doing exceedingly well in holding it all together.

It certainly had the Kyuubi's head in a spin.

After staring at the kid for a little while longer, the nine-tailed fox then frowned and lowered his head back onto his arms. "You really are a stupid fool."

"Hey. I act stupid because it's fun. I hate being ordinary like everybody else. Ordinary is boring," Naruto replied. He gazed curiously up at the demon, "Anyway, you seem like a nice enough guy so I'll keep in touch."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"This," Naruto said, gesturing around the room and then between them. "Since I'm stuck with you I may as well get to know you, right? I think I'm going to enjoy our time together if we're planning on doing this on a regular basis."

The boy's approach regarding him had the Kyuubi's frown deepen. "Don't make light of my strength boy. You're only deluding yourself if you think I will allow you treat me like some common house pet. I'm the nine-tailed demon fox; a living mass of malevolence and the most feared of all the biju. There's no way a powerful entity like me will be swayed by the likes of you."

Naruto giggled and saluted, "It's worth a shot though, right? I'll get you to see how awesome I am soon enough, big guy." He then turned around and began walking away, waving over his shoulder at the fox. "Well, I guess I'll see you when I see you… uhh…" Stopping on the water, the jinchuriki then looked back at the kitsune still sitting behind his gate. "Hey. What's your name?"

"I just told you, the Kyuubi no-"

"No, no, I meant your actual name. I'd hate to have to call you nine-tails all the time. It's kind of strange," Naruto said while rotating fully, where he saw a momentary look of surprise come across the demon's face before the fox turned away sharply. "Come on. Don't be like that…"

"Forget it," the Kyuubi snapped, closing his eyes.

Huffing, Naruto smiled and turned to stare back ahead of him, "Alright, if that's how you feel. It was nice meeting you, fur ball."

He heard the fox growl in response, which brought a wider grin to the boy's face.

Man… he couldn't wait for the next time he came here. Having someone else to talk to and get to know was a really refreshing change of pace, even if it was a colossal demon fox. Still, even with this mind-blowing discovery the boy felt that it was probably best not to go around telling everybody about it. That would just mean more trouble for him than he could handle, and he knew how to handle trouble. It's been his way of life since the very start.

Naruto opted to keep the information in a tight circle… and go to Hokage-jiji to ask him more about it later on.

The demon fox, the very being that attacked Konoha all those years ago, was sealed inside of him. No way was that not important…

OOO

Waking with a start, Naruto blinked away the spots from sitting up too quickly and stared through the darkness in awe. Looking around a few times and towards his bedroom window, the blonde then heard a low murmur and looked down to the bed beside him to see Tayuya sit up.

Clearly showing the signs of being woken up prematurely, the red haired musician blinked as her eyes were filled with the night sky outside the window beside her before looking up at the upright Naruto. Both taking in the other's haggard appearance, Tayuya reached up to rub her eye slowly before deciding to ask the question that was now bothering her.

"What's with all the noise, shithead? Bad dream?" the musician asked.

Letting out a yawn, Naruto shook his head, "Nah, just an inside body experience. Nothing to worry about."

Tayuya blinked, "Ngh… well… if you need to go to the bathroom, then could you do it a little bit quieter?"

"Sure thing," Naruto mumbled before looking back down at the girl. He then blinked when he remembered the incredibly strange dream he'd just had, "Oh yeah, I just found out that I'm the Kyuubi's jinchuriki."

Tayuya raised an eyebrow, staring at him silently for a moment before looking him up and down. After several seconds of careful study, she then turned to look back at him seriously… or as seriously as a tired girl with bags under her eyes could get in her position, "Really?"

"Yeah."

"No joke?"

"Nope."

"Are you going to grow an extra pair of ears and tails one day?"

"Probably not."

"Am I in danger?"

"Not at all."

"Then go back to sleep," Tayuya groaned, dropping her face down into her pillow to snuggle back into him.

Both she and Naruto had been sharing the same bedroom with each other for the past two years, every night either crashing in the separate beds they'd arranged for themselves or in the same one when they couldn't be bothered falling asleep in their respective areas. If she didn't have anything to worry about back when they first started this whole routine, then she didn't have anything to worry about now.

Even if the bedroom was filled with all sorts of crap like some common college dorm, with pillows, blankets and futons strewn all about the place from their continued desire to create the perfect den and the largest pillow fort ever conceived, it was still their sleeping area. It was more like a bear cave filled with mattresses than anything else and that's how it was between them; complete and absolute trust in one another.

Yawning again at being woken up so suddenly, Naruto slumped back down in the bed alongside his flat mate and the two went back to sleep.

XXX

The very next morning…

After waking up real early to get some extra training in before the Genin assignments at the end of the week, Naruto soon found himself trudging back to his apartment covered in all kinds of crap and reeking of sweat brought on from hours of performing backbreaking exercises. He'd practically spent the whole of dawn lugging all sorts of heavy stuff up and down the woodlands as well as pounding the crap out of a variety of inanimate objects ranging from boulders to tree logs, and experimenting with his signature jutsu on the same material. Burning chakra to come up with some new ways to use his Jet Hand in the most imaginative ways possible, contrary to popular belief, actually did make the boy sweat a little, since he was practically forcing himself to change its shape, direction and execution.

The mechanics of the original Jet Hand was simple; aim, slap and shoot the object. What Naruto wanted to do was control the release of his technique and transform it into something more complete; something he could produce, bend and supplement by his own free will and diversify his arsenal.

It was tough work, especially for someone with little to no talent like him, but he wasn't going to be let down by it. Not in the slightest. After all, he'd managed to pull this far through hard work, fighting smart and grit alone. All he needed to do was try a little harder, study up as much as he could on the material he needed, and bite through the storms standing in his way.

Speaking of which, he could use with some rain right about now but because it was a sunny forecast for the next couple of weeks he decided to hit the showers at home and make his own rain.

"A nice… hot… refreshing… shower," Naruto repeated out loud to himself, picking his ear as he ascended the stairs to his apartment. By the time he threw open the front door, shut it behind him and made his way across to the bathroom he was so focused on his intention to clean himself up, SO looking forward to a good scrub down, that he completely forgot about the fact that he wasn't living alone in his apartment anymore and hadn't been for the last two years.

That reality hit him the moment he threw open the door and found himself staring at a wet and naked Tayuya just stepping out of the shower and reaching for a towel. What then occurred was a complete worry free moment of both parties just staring blankly at each other before both their faces turned red and all hell broke loose. Tayuya shrieked and Naruto gave a startled yelp before slamming the door shut just as several dull thuds impacted against it.

"SHITHEAD!"

"I'm sorry, Tayuya-chan!" Naruto shouted desperately. "I had no idea you were in there! I swear!" He then blinked when he recalled the thuds. "And where the hell did you get kunai from? I don't remember keeping any in the bathroom."

"My uniform is in here you dumbass! Or were you so focused in staring at me that you didn't notice?"

Red as a tomato, the blonde sputtered fearfully, "I honestly don't know how to answer that question. Yes?" Kami, he didn't want to die at the hands of his flat mate at the tender age of twelve. His classmates would just laugh at him.

"Hmph. Pervert," Tayuya muttered, managing to cool herself down enough to dismiss the event and continue on with the task of drying herself. Though still flustered, which Naruto picked up through her prickly tone of voice, she was still able to change to a more suitable topic while he was still within earshot. "It's I.D photo day. I wanted to make myself look good before heading over to the administration office to have my picture taken."

Reminded of today's schedule, Naruto smiled over his shoulder while continuing to lean against the door. "Have you given any thought to the pose you want to take? It is a file photo after all, so it's pretty much guaranteed that it's going to be put in your permanent record."

"No, not really. But… now that you mention it, I'm kind of thinking along the lines of a profile shot with a cool smile and my hair blowing in the wind. What about you?"

"War paint," Naruto said without hesitation, bringing his hands up to draw a metaphorical banner headline in front of him, "Tons of it. I want to strike fear and awe into the hearts of my enemies and friends when they start doing research on me; a white glaze with red tribal flames."

Tayuya laughed at this, grunting as she was now in the process of getting dressed. "Wouldn't that take you hours to have done and even more to pull off properly? And secondly, wouldn't that also just scare the living daylights out of everyone, if not make you look like a complete jackass?"

Scratching his head, Naruto reviewed his idea. "Hmm… yeah… perhaps you're right." He scrapped the concept and moved on to Plan B. Being Uzumaki Naruto, it was most likely a given that he had a Plan B. "Okay then, how about this; back turned, hand on goggles and an over-the-shoulder shot with leaves drifting across in the background? That seems pretty badass and with my face I'll definitely be able to pull it off."

"That actually sounds really cool." A click from the door's lock sounded, signaling Naruto to step away and allow Tayuya to come out at her leisure. Dressed in her khaki battle dress with a white musical note stitched to her back, black spandex shorts and sandals, the kunoichi was pretty much all set and ready to go, except for the fact she was still toweling her hair. She also still appeared a little razzed from the earlier incident, if the red in her cheeks and embarrassed scowl was of any indication. "Might take a bit of doing. How are you going to get leaves to float by while you're looking over your shoulder?"

Naruto grinned and placed his hands together in a ram seal. "Easy. By using the new jutsu I recently came up with."

"New jutsu?" Tayuya raised an eyebrow. "You were able to come up with one just this morning."

"Yup."

"Damn, shithead. Are you sure you're not like, super talented or something, because I swear to God you're kind of giving the impression that you are."

"No, I just knuckle down harder than the ordinary person would." Naruto replied, forming a couple more hand seals before ending on the rooster. He then folded his arms and looked off to the side. "Well… what do you think?"

For a full minute the pair just stood in place, watching and waiting in anticipation. After seeing Naruto flip through hand signs and finish, Tayuya immediately knew right then and there that he had just performed his new jutsu and waited expectantly for the results. Initially she wanted to speak out against using it indoors for fear of destroying the apartment should it yield a catastrophic outcome, but after a full minute went by and nothing happened, the redhead looked at the jinchuriki questioningly.

"Well?"

Naruto, smile dropping, looked back at her in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Tayuya looked up and down the corridor they were in before shrugging. "Didn't you just use your new jutsu?"

"Yeah. What? Can't you see it?" Naruto asked, gesturing to himself. "I'm using it right now. Take a good look." He then turned his head to the other side…

…and that's when Tayuya finally noticed.

She more or less felt it before she saw it; a light breeze that had previously been coming in from the direction of the kitchen before suddenly changing directions and starting to blow the other way. At first she thought one of them had left a window open in one of the other rooms or switched on the air-con, but after seeing Naruto rotate his body a few times and feel the direction of the wind change to match the angle of each of his poses, at the same time blowing a few leaves passed them so that they framed the jinchuriki's statuette forms, Tayuya quickly figured out what his new technique was.

The look she wore on her face upon realization was a cross between incredulous and confused. "This is your new jutsu?"

"Uh-huh," Naruto said proudly, his hair and clothes gently ruffled by the light gust as he turned on his heel once again, striking a 'cool guy' pose with his chin propped comfortably in his hand. He gave the girl one of his most dashing grins, which brought on a new shade of scarlet to Tayuya's cheeks when she got a full-blown flash of his handsome visage. "What do you think?"

"You took the concept of the directional changes in your Jet Hand ability and applied it to your entire body so that you could manipulate the airspace of your environment, right?" Tayuya said, earning another nod from the blonde.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

Tayuya grinned and lowered her towel from her hair. "That's awesome. What else can you do with it?"

Blinking a couple of times, Naruto then gave his close friend a sheepish grin and ran his hand through his spiky hair uneasily. "Actually… this is all I can manage right now." He saw the girl give him a deadpanned stare at his answer and struck another pose. "But don't worry! It's a work-in-progress. I call it Eiyū no Kaze (Hero's Wind); a technique that automatically allows me to bend wind in different directions and make my victory poses look more awesome then what they already are."

And that was it.

Tayuya sweatdropped, "And you gave it a name?" The primary function of the jutsu made no sense to her whatsoever, with the exception of only one thing. She smiled warmly at the blonde and shook her head in amusement. "Geez. Only you'd ever come up with a silly and pointless technique like that."

"Hey! It's not pointless," Naruto replied tersely, turning again so that the wind changed vectors and blew his locks in the opposite direction he was now facing. "Look at how amazing I look. No matter what pose I try the wind changes and moves in the optimal direction to produce the best effect. Can't you see how badass that is?"

This warranted an odd look from the girl when she saw him rotate several more times and the direction of wind change with every adjustment, even once blowing in the direction of her face. While the breeze was cool and pleasant it did spark another question of interest that was really starting to bug her at this point. "How do you get the wind to change every time you move?"

It was an inquiry that had Naruto stop for a moment and contemplate in momentary silence. After several seconds of head scratching, he then gave her a blank stare and shrugged. "I don't know. It just happens." He allowed himself to relax, releasing his hold of the technique so that the winds finally died down.

Tayuya rolled her eyes at the cluelessness of his own creation. "Well, once you figure out how to upgrade your technique from its useless default setting, let me know."

"Will do," Naruto murmured with a salute at she marched passed before pointing toward the lavatory. "Are you done using the bathroom now?"

"I need to wait a bit for my hair to dry off first. Knock yourself out."

"Sweet. Thanks," Naruto chirped, stepping into the washroom for his previously intended shower. Whether be it hot or cold, either way it was going to be a glorious experience after such a tumultuous morning…

OOO

After a quick breakfast, which saw both Naruto and Tayuya making plans for the day and the week ahead of them, the pair soon found themselves standing before the Third Hokage in the Shinobi Registration Office of the Administration Building. With the jinchuriki looking incredibly pleased with himself and his roommate appearing just as cheerful, the pair stood at ease, side-by-side and waited patiently for the village leader to finish reading through the documents they had just handed to him.

It had been pretty smooth sailing for them since leaving the apartment. They'd managed to fill in all the empty spaces in the documents given to them by their teachers and had their photos taken without a fuss. This being their first and possibly only chance to get their profile documentations right, you could say they were more than a little bit excited after seeing the Third lay both sheets down and rest his eyes upon them.

"So? So? Is everything alright, Hokage-jiji?" Naruto asked.

"Did we fill in everything correctly? Because if we didn't we can just redo them," Tayuya also said while raising a hand meekly.

Hiruzen chuckled. "No need to fret you two. All the information you've written down checks out and you've managed to cover all of the essentials. I don't see anything needless or out of place, even in your hobbies and interests." He saw the pair give each other expressions of relief and fist-bumped each other, before picking up one of their sheets. "However, I do have one little query I wish to address with you."

"What's that, oji-san?" Naruto asked.

"How were you able to get leaves to blow passed you in the background?" Hiruzen asked, turning the document around and showing off Naruto's picture, which consisted of him with his back turned and looking over his shoulder with his characteristic grin, and hair blowing in the wind. The lighting of the photo was also well done and the quality was outstanding. "I find it hard to believe that a gust of wind carrying foliage from some nearby trees just happened to hit you the moment the photographer took your picture. Did you set this up?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly while Tayuya gave him a look and smile that said 'you lovable bastard.' "Of course I did. What kind of trickster do you think I am that I wouldn't take advantage of a situation like that?"

The Third turned the document back around and looked at the photo in amusement. "This is a registration form sighting you as a shinobi of a hidden village; not a resume for a production company that requires a cover photo."

"A photo's a photo. Don't question my artistic vision and my imaginative way of thinking, jiji," Naruto said while folding his arms and looking away with a pout. "I worked hard all morning trying to come up with the best cool-guy pose and now everyone has something to say about it. The lighting in a photograph looks so much better when you angle your head properly."

Tayuya giggled at his off-handed response. "Sometimes you try too hard, shithead."

The boy grinned back at her. "I'm known village-wide for trying hard, Tayuya-chan."

"Even going overboard?"

"That too, but I consider it as a sort of charm point. Nothing to be ashamed of."

"In any case," Hiruzen exclaimed while clearing his throat, "You two did well in filling in your forms and handing them to me on time. I assume that you were also given instructions regarding your full Genin transitions from your teachers?" He saw the two of them nod, which brought a smile to his face. "Then I will see the pair of you later. Let me know if there are any problems."

Meeting over, the two newly registered Genin bowed to the old man before taking their leave, each carrying a notable spring in their step and a smile on their face. Their expressions and strides were just another way of saying that they were glad that the whole exam ordeal and registering to become actual shinobi of Konohagakure was now over. From here on out, it was a one way road to becoming the best shinobi they could possibly be, and they were sure looking forward to their very first missions outside of this place.

As they marched their way down the stairs and out of the halls of the Hokage tower, the two kids quickly locked into conversation, with Tayuya starting off by nudging her companion in the side as he brought his hands up behind his head. "Do you still intend to live up to your earlier plans of traveling, shithead?"

"Sure do," Naruto replied with a wide grin. "Once I get a decent batch of missions under my belt, I think I'll hit the road and go visit some of the other villages and see what's up."

Tayuya, smiling warmly at the boy, saddled up to him and bumped her head against his shoulder playfully. "Mind if I tag along when you decide to go on your little adventure across the continent?"

Naruto nodded brightly, "Of course. I'd love for you to come along, Tayuya-chan." He then grinned mischievously in her direction and nudged the red head in the side. "But I warn you, it's going to be a long and dangerous journey."

"Ha! Danger, shithead?" Tayuya cackled while giving him her own devious grin. "I am the danger! I'll follow you wherever you go… every step of the way."

"Well then Ms Danger, you're going to have to tread real carefully from now on. The road I walk might get a little bit bumpy along the-OOF!" Before he could finish, Naruto was unexpectedly interrupted by something small and fast moving head butting him in the gut. He nearly fell back onto the stairs he and Tayuya were just about to step off, but was able to keep his balance and glare down at the culprit. "Damn it! What the hell?"

It felt like a cannonball had tried to take him out, but was actually just a kid wearing a helmet who had accidentally ran into the jinchuriki while attempting to charge up the stairs. He ended up bowling himself over as a result. Now the boy was sitting up on the ground and looking around in a bit of a daze, wondering what kind of wall had stopped him.

"Wh-What? What happened?"

"You got knocked on your ass, runt. That's what happened," Tayuya said with a chuckle, looking down at the confused kid with an amused smirk, "Watch where you're going next time, otherwise you might run into an actual wall."

As well as the helmet, the strange boy was also wearing a yellow shirt with the Konoha symbol on it, a long blue scarf, and grey shorts. His bewildered gaze eventually fell onto the pair standing in front of him, to which the adolescent then jabbed a finger up at Naruto accusingly, "You! YOU!"

"YES! ME!" Naruto shouted back, looking around at the odd looks he was getting from nearby shinobi wandering the tower's ground floor before glancing at Tayuya. "WHY ARE WE SHOUTING?!" The redhead winced at the volume in his voice and picked at her ear. "Oh… sorry."

"Assassin! Agent of the Hokage! His most trusted guard!" the little boy yelled again and leapt to his feet, taking a superior stand against the pair of now even more confused looking Genin. It was kind of hard to be intimidating when you were about half the height of the people you were threatening. "Gramps knew that I was coming for him and sent two of his top agents to stop me! Well! You may have successfully blocked my path, but know that I will not be deterred so easily!" The boy then pulled out a shuriken from his pocket and held it at them as if brandishing a knife. "Now let me through or I will cut you down like the-"

"Oh please!" Naruto rolled his eyes and snatched the metal star out of the boy's hand. He then tossed it out the nearest window and began walking away, quickly followed by a thoroughly amused Tayuya. "And here I thought I was full of it."

"You are full of it, Naruto-kun. That's why everybody loves you so much," his red haired friend laughed, walking on even as they were being stared after by their flabbergasted 'attacker'.

"I am quite the charmer, aren't I?"

"Yes. And that, right there, proves my point," Tayuya replied, jabbing him in the shoulder blade, "Hotshot."

"HEY!" the boy shouted, stopping the pair in their tracks and catching Naruto's attention. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"No." Tayuya replied flatly. "Should we?"

"I'm the Hokage's grandson!" the boy pointed at them. "Apologize to me!"

Blinking in surprise at the revelation of his identity, both Naruto and Tayuya looked at each other before glancing back at the kid.

So… this runt with the cheap headgear and missing a tooth was the great village leader's honorable grandson, the one they'd heard tossed about on several occasions. Sure they'd picked up that the Third had relatives hiding inside of the village somewhere, but the pair had not seen any of them, so placing a face to a face and a name to a name wouldn't have struck with them without the relative actually identifying themselves.

This didn't make them shoddy detectives. Oh no. It just meant that they were a bit outside of the loop or didn't care that much.

Naruto smiled. "No can do."

The boy's jaw dropped, "What?!"

"If you want an apology from me, you'll have to earn it," Naruto simply said and, with a wave over his shoulder, began to head off with Tayuya in tow. "From the way you were just shouting at us and acting so rudely, I just don't feel like giving you one right now."

The pair soon left the tower, leaving a stunned Konohamaru behind. He stared after the pair for several moments, just wondering what the hell just went on between him and them.

Did they just shrug him off after knocking him over?

Nobody did that, not even the ninja instructed to look after him. Every person he'd run into in the village always addressed him with respect and whenever he had an accident, there was always someone there to help him and ask if he was okay. After having this happen to him over a thousand times already with people also apologizing for causing him some small form of grief, it was kind of a new experience for him that someone would just walk into him, knock him over, and not even bother addressing him with any kind of esteem whatsoever.

Replaying the scene in his head several more times, Konohamaru then frowned and, with his mind made up, ran after them. "No one treats me like that! Those two aren't getting off that easily!"

He wanted to find out who they were and make them pay for looking down on him.

OOO

"How else are you going to improve your Jet Hand ability, shithead? Make it more powerful?" Tayuya asked her companion as they strolled down the street towards their favorite ramen shop for a celebratory meal.

Naruto scratched his chin in thought and looked over at her. "I've considered it, but being the strongest shinobi isn't just about coming up with the biggest landscape reducing fart that can be seen for miles around. No. Real shinobi use attacks with more subtlety to them."

The musician giggled at that response. "Funny, I never pegged you for the subtle type."

"Have you seen my journal? Or better yet, have you seen my pinup wall?" She probably has, considering they've been sharing the same room for the past two years. "Every single one of the pranks I've executed inside of this village has been done through careful planning and near perfect stealth. You can't get any more subtle than that."

"Yeah, and standing on a nearby rooftop shouting at the top of my lungs 'I did it' immediately after the punch line says ninja right there."

"Hey. Somebody's gotta take the blame," Naruto shrugged. "Besides, I live for the fallout, Tayuya-chan. I bask in the glorious admiration of my fans and accept their praises with open arms. It's what makes me more hardcore than anyone else in this place and I'm damn proud of it."

Tayuya rolled her eyes and shook her head in amusement. "I'm really looking forward to the day you become the most wanted man in the world. You'll be laughing and dancing down streets everywhere you go."

"Oh yeah? And where will you be?"

"Behind you, taking photographs while watching you make an ass of yourself," the girl laughed, also earning one from her friend when they finally arrived at the square where Ichiraku's Ramen stood proudly in sight. The pair felt their stomachs growl in anticipation of a good meal. "Man, it's been a while."

"First round's on me," Naruto stated, thumbing his chest. "We're officially Genin now. Time to celebrate." It was a proposal that neither one of them could refuse.

However, just as they were about to wander over to the bar for a good spot of lunch, a disturbance in the air stopped Naruto in his tracks and his feet sifted uneasily when he extended his senses outwards. Tayuya looked back in surprise when she saw her roommate pause, but was quick to determine what was troubling him from his eyes glancing over his shoulder.

"A tail?" Tayuya asked seriously.

"Yeah. We've had one for a while now," Naruto replied before smiling across at the redhead. "Want to see what's up?"

"Sure. Sounds like fun," the musician grinned.

Slapping his hands together, a huge cloud of white smoke suddenly exploded around the pair and, thanks to Naruto's habit of going a bit overboard, filled up the entire street. Villagers hacked when the enormous wall of fumes hit them and covered the whole area, preventing anyone from moving or doing anything until the plume lifted, leaving behind an utterly bewildered crowd.

In the midst of the chaos, both Naruto and Tayuya had vanished from sight, leaving the person who had been following them utterly baffled.

"W-Where… did they go?" Konohamaru asked from safe inside his impenetrable, protective fortress, or in layman's terms, the cardboard box painted to match the color of a rock he was using as a disguise. After managing to hack away the white smoke that had seeped in through the holes, he tried to fix his metaphorical crosshairs back onto his targets, only to find them gone. This had him sweating bullets and looking around wearily, wondering where the heck they could have gotten too.

It wasn't that big of a mystery. With only two eyeholes poked into the side of the box, this left plenty of blind spots to be exploited. It was an opportunity Naruto and Tayuya capitalized on. Using the massive smoke screen as cover, the pair had simply strolled around and stopped on either side of the suspicious looking box sitting just outside of the alleyway. They then stood with their hands on their hips glaring down at the item and tapping their feet impatiently.

"What the heck is this?" Naruto asked, mostly to himself.

"I believe this is what they call a 'disguise', shithead," Tayuya said, kicking the side of the box a couple of times, which scuttled away a bit and ended up walking into the jinchuriki's leg.

"If it's a disguise then it's a pretty shitty one," the blonde said straight out with a tick in his expression. "Hey! Dumbass wearing the box! Rocks aren't square!"

Hearing the voice, the 'rock' abruptly turned to face him. Realizing it had been found out the box was eventually thrown off to reveal the kid that he and Tayuya had bumped into at the Hokage tower. The flustered youngster glared angrily up at the jinchuriki as he smirked at the now identified tagalong.

"Why were you following us?" Naruto asked, folding his arms.

"A-ha!" the boy suddenly shouted again, startling the two teens. "I was right all along! You two are secret agents of the Hokage. Being able to see through my disguise so easily is proof of that?"

"You're wearing a cardboard box, painted to look like a rock, sitting on the side of the road, with two eyeholes poked into the front," Tayuya read in a robotic voice before scowling at the brat when he turned to face her. "In what universe is that an effective disguise and second of all, why in the world did you think it would work?"

"Simple! It blends into the environment!" the boy declared.

The post-graduate Genin deadpanned. "No it doesn't," Naruto and Tayuya said at the same time.

"Well… it could use with some adjustments," the boy mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and kicking at the ground in a dejected manner. After a few seconds of silence passed, he eventually kicked up his resolve again and pointed accusingly up at the blonde standing in front of him. "Anyway, I'm not here to play games! I'm here for you!"

"Me?" What on earth could this bratty kid want with him? "Why?"

"Simple! You caught me trying to sneak up to my grandfather's office and stopped me from completing a very important mission! You disarmed me with no effort whatsoever and looked down at me like I was nothing." Normally this would have sparked outrage, but contrary to theory, a smirk came upon the young boy mouthing off at the jinchuriki. "That means you're strong."

Naruto blinked. "Umm… okay. Sure. I'm strong." He shrugged. "But what does that have to do with you following us?"

The kid grinned. "I've decided that I want you to train me, boss!"

A momentary silence drifted over the area, but when it eventually passed and the two Genin were able to fully process his response, Tayuya snorted back laughter and Naruto nearly face-faulted. "What? Who decided this? Why the heck would I want to train you? And what's with the 'boss' thing? Why'd you call me that?"

"I called you boss because you're going to be training me, and I've decided on you because you look strong," the boy stated with a grin. "You're the first person who didn't refer to me as 'Honorable Grandson,' and what's more, you didn't apologize to me back there when you knocked me over. That puts you up a notch in my book."

Tayuya giggled hysterically, holding her sides as she looked down at the kid smiling up at Naruto as if he were his idol. "Oh, this is gold."

Blushing at his friend laughing her ass off at his expense, Naruto glared down at the kid to see him still gazing up at him hopefully. "That's real nice and all, kid, but first of all, I don't even know your name. It'll be kind of hard training you if I don't know what to call you."

"My name is Konohamaru Sarutobi," the boy identified, but then looked down at his feet with a solemn gaze. "Well… I'm supposed to be called Konohamaru, but everyone just calls me 'Honorable Grandson.' My name is easy enough to remember, but people only see me as the grandson of the Third Hokage. Nobody ever calls me by my name or looks at me for being me… only for what my grandfather is."

Naruto frowned a little and glanced across at Tayuya, whom he had the exact same expression of seriousness on her face as the two of them thought about what the kid said to them.

It was only natural that people wanted to be recognized, not just for their skills, talents and accomplishments, but as individuals with thoughts and feelings of their own. The people in this world were social animals, always eager to communicate, always eager to show off and always looking for attention. This boy standing before them must have gotten tired of being labeled as something that had been forged by his grandfather and wanted nothing more than to be just a normal kid like all the others.

Naruto understood this. He'd sought acknowledgement as a person and wanted the villagers to recognize his existence and not look away from him when he passed them on the streets. This boy was like him in a way. The only difference between them was that while the kid was starting off from the top, he himself started out life at the bottom of the food chain.

Tayuya also struggled through a lot of her early life after being left alone in the cold with no one to acknowledge or to take care of her. That was until she met Naruto. He pulled her out of the gutter and gave her a new purpose. His kindness instilled a belief in her that she could get more out of life by living for something or for someone, and had since been setting herself numerous goals to reach, giving herself purpose.

For that reason Tayuya smiled up at the jinchuriki and nodded down towards the boy still standing between them and looking at his feet. Acknowledging her gesture, Naruto smirked and looked back at the Hokage's grandson and clicked his fingers to get the youngster to glance up at him.

"Okay then," Naruto answered with a smile, "I'll help you out. Although… I'm not really sure if there's anything I can actually teach you." He scratched his head thoughtfully before folding his arms. "Do you know any of the academy techniques like Henge, Bunshin or Kawarimi?"

Konohamaru shook his head but then smiled when he realized Naruto was going to teach him something.

Seeing his expression brighten had the jinchuriki chuckle. "Good. That means we can start off with something simple." He then laced his fingers together and stretched his arms above his head. After limbering up, Naruto then formed a hand seal that Tayuya had never seen him use before, crossing the two fingers of his left with the fingers of his right, forming a plus sign in front of him. "I think this is a good enough time for me to get some practice with this."

"What the hell kind of sign is that, shithead?" Tayuya asked in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Something new. You're gonna love it," Naruto smirked before concentrating. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

The area was once again filled with white puffs of smoke bursting up around the trio, signifying the execution of a technique. Konohamaru and Tayuya did well in waving away the excess fumes and when the veil eventually cleared, their jaws dropped when they saw standing around them a swath of Naruto doppelgangers. No joke.

When there had previously been one, there now stood six.

The real one placed his hands on his hips and acknowledged each and every one of the clones as they stretched and got used to their newly created forms. "Awesome… it actually works." He then pointed at them and then down at Konohamaru. "Take him around the village and show him the ropes. I think the Henge is the perfect thing for him to start off with."

"You got it boss," one of the clones saluted before hurrying off along with the others. One stayed behind to pat Konohamaru on the shoulder to get him to snap out of it. When the boy did, he nodded dumbly at his harrier before following after the squad of copies. Soon enough, Naruto and Tayuya were the only ones left in the area.

Letting out a yawn, Naruto grinned at the still gawking red head and waved for her to follow. "Come on, I'm starving. Let's get some ramen already." He was about to head off, but stopped when he saw his friend wasn't budging an inch. "Hey. What's wrong, T-Tayuya-chan?"

The girl pointed at him in amazement. "Since when could you use the Bunshin no Jutsu? I thought you flunked that exam." Not only that, but how the hell was he able to make so many.

Realizing her stupor, the jinchuriki gave her a lighthearted chuckle. "Oh that's right. You didn't know I could do that. To be honest I didn't know I could do it myself. That was the first time I used that technique." Naruto smiled at her, "It's called Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. I got it from the big-ass scroll that Mizuki swiped a couple of nights ago."

"Kage Bunshin?" Tayuya blinked. "That's… really… incredible."

"Yeah. It says that I can create living, breathing, solid copies with the technique and not illusions like with the conventional one," Naruto exclaimed before slipping his hands into his pockets and giving a sly smirk. "Guess that bumps me up a couple more pegs, huh?"

"But… isn't that technique dangerous?" the girl asked, pointing down the road Konohamaru and the entourage of copies had disappeared down. "You got it from the Scroll of Seals, right? That makes it a kinjutsu."

"It says it's dangerous because it divides up the chakra of the user evenly between each clone created and it can supposedly kill you if used too many times, since it takes a big chunk out of your reserves," Naruto said but then shrugged. "Honestly though, I'm feeling fine. It didn't take anything out of me and I've still got plenty of energy to spare."

Hearing what it took to execute that technique had the red head stare at the jinchuriki for a good, long while. But after processing the information and seeing that Naruto was still alive and well, shining with the same magnificence he always did, Tayuya then breathed out a sigh and rubbed her eye. She gave the kid an amused smirk. "I forgot that you were a stamina freak. Guess this makes up for your lack of a Bunshin no Jutsu, eh?"

"Damn straight." Naruto replied before reaching out and grabbing the girl's hand. Tayuya responded with a light blush and squeezed back when he started pulling her along. "Come on. Let's have lunch."

It was mind-blowing discovery that Naruto waved off so easily. While anyone else would have been left staggered and asking thousands of questions, particularly the nearby villagers who had just been watching, it was no skin off of the jinchuriki's teeth. For some strange reason the jutsu just came naturally to him. He didn't even need that much practice with it and was able to successfully perform it.

Something told him that it was made for him, but that was a discussion for another time.

Though he was certain to test it out more in the future, today he just didn't feel like doing anything else, and simply wanted to hang out with Tayuya and have a good time with her. Plus it was ramen hour; the most important time of the day. There was no way in hell he was skipping it.

"Yo, oji-san!" Naruto exclaimed, taking a seat at the serving desk alongside Tayuya and raising a hand to the chef. "Two miso here!"

"Coming right up, Naruto," Teuchi exclaimed, immediately pulling out two baskets of freshly cooked noodles from the pot and two bowls. The clacking of knives against a chopping board told everyone in the stall that the food was being made right there, which brought smiles to the young customers.

"Would you guys like anything to drink?" Ayame asked, looking between the pair smiling comfortably where they were.

"I'll have some green tea please," Tayuya spoke.

"Same. We'll split a pot."

The waitress giggled as she pulled out a couple of cups and moved to start boiling the water. "You two are in an awfully chipper mood today. Did something good happen?"

"You could say that," Tayuya replied with a shrug.

"We just got through with filling in all our paperwork to become Genin and had our official profile photos taken today," Naruto stated proudly. He grabbed his jacket and adjusted the zipper on it all cool style and grinned up at the manager's daughter across the counter. "You're looking at two new shinobi of Konohagakure, Ayame-neechan."

"Wow. Good work you guys," Ayame congratulated, fishing out serviettes while looking between the couple. "I assume team assignments are coming up at the end of the week. Do you think you'll be placed on the same squad together?"

Tayuya took on a bit of a disappointed look and glanced over at her companion. "Probably not. Naruto-kun was a full time academy student from beginning to end, whereas I started half-way through the first year in an apprenticeship. I'm probably going to continue it for the rest of my career as a Genin until I get promoted or, if I'm lucky, I might actually get put into a team myself, but not with any of the students from Naruto's group."

"You'll probably be teamed up with other apprentices then," Ayame stated helpfully, pouring the now boiled water from the steel kettle into the serving jug and sliding it between the two kids. "Your teachers might fashion three of you into a group and sign you up with a new instructor to lead you guys. Konoha has a very efficient way with handling all of its shinobi, so you should have no problems finding your way onto a squad."

"That's good then," Tayuya sighed, giving a smile as she poured herself a cup. "That means I don't have to worry about going the profession track alone."

"Teamwork is very important," Naruto said, propping his head on his hand as his friend filled his cup. "Iruka-sensei drilled that idea into our heads every day for the entire year. You wouldn't believe how many hours he spent talking about how shinobi operated, how the ranking system worked and everything related to the chain of command. Man… I just hope I'm put onto a team I like."

"Damn straight," Tayuya exclaimed. The pair knocked glasses together and sipped, enjoying the third-wheel company of Ayame making sure they had everything they needed before their ramen eventually came to them. Rubbing their hands together eagerly, both the jinchuriki and his red-haired companion pulled up their chopsticks and prepared to dig in. "After being stuck with Anko this whole time, man does it feel liberating to finally get the headband and move on."

"Aww, did you really hate our time together that much, Tayuya-chan?"

The red head froze immediately upon hearing that voice and went ramrod straight. The moment she did, a pair of delicate fingers curled around her cheek and she was pulled into the collar bone of one Mitarashi Anko, who propped her chin on her shoulder and licked her lips sensuously. The appearance of the purple haired kunoichi with the trench coat and fishnet bodysuit had Naruto, who was in the middle of slurping up ramen, choke on his noodles and pound at his chest furiously in shock.

"That's so mean, my little red riding hood," Anko whined, rubbing her cheek against the girl as she mock-played out her heartbreak in the most sickeningly sweet tone she could muster. "You were such an excellent student too. I was going to recommend you to Shikaku to have you drafted into the ANBU course, but after hearing how relieved you were at finally being put onto a team away from me, it just makes me want to cry." A mischievous grin crossed her lips.

Tayuya stiffly looked at the woman resting her head against her and smiled nervously, the corner of her mouth twitching as sweat threatened to break from her forehead. "N-No sensei… it's nothing like that at all. You must have misheard me."

"I did?" Anko gasped, looking the girl in the eyes slyly and making it impossible for her to sit still. "Well, please, enlighten me. Didn't you just say it was liberating to finally get the forehead protector and move on? Is that what you said?"

"W-W-What I meant to say was…" Tayuya stuttered, her eyes darting around and desperately trying to think up the best response she could. God damn it, this was nerve rattling. If she said the wrong thing, this crazy woman was going to send snakes after her again. "Was that… uhh." Gulping, the musician then settled on the only answer she knew would save her life. "I'm… really looking forward to be placed onto a team with you as our instructor… sensei."

She felt like driving a knife through her stomach.

Even Naruto had to admit that took a lot of cojones to say.

Anko, raising her eyebrow at the girl's very nervous response, watched her sweat for the next few seconds before suddenly grinning and wrapping her arms around the timid kunoichi like she was her little sister. "Oh, I'm just messing with you, red. You did well." She patted her on the cap, with Tayuya looking as though she was about to pass out. "Out of all the students I've had under my wing, you were by far the most talented. I couldn't have asked for anyone else."

Laughing nervously, Tayuya took in a few deep breaths to compose herself as she was hugged and showered with loving affection by the eccentric woman. As terrifying as her situation was, she was still able to bring up a normal smile that wasn't forced in any way… probably. "Thank you… Anko-sensei."

"Hey chef! A bowl of miso and two more for the little munchkins here! On me!"

"Three number ones coming up," Teuchi replied pleasantly.

What followed after that was a very loud and boisterous lunch as the three dined away together. The uneasiness that had previously appeared between Anko, Tayuya and Naruto lifted from them around the second serving of ramen, and by the third bowl the trio, including the two newly graduated Genin, could say that they had a great time.

It was a fantastic way to kick off the end of their academy years and celebrate their advancement into shinobihood.

XXX

A week later…

As per the usual route, after waking up early that morning to get some additional training in with Tayuya, Naruto soon found himself up in the academy building sitting quietly in his homeroom, middle row, center, alongside dozens of his other fellow graduates. Thanks to all the excitement that had been bottled up inside him all week, the jinchuriki had barely been able to keep still and had sought any and all means of physical exercise in an attempt to put a dampener on his accelerator.

While the events involving Konohamaru did divert his attention for a brief period of time, it was nothing too consequential. He learned later on, through a rather strange phenomenon of memory relapse of his clones dispelling, that his doppelgangers and the kid had gotten into all sorts of trouble that day. Following a little run in with the grandson's guardian Ebisu, Konohamaru then decided he no longer wanted Naruto as a teacher, but as a rival.

They both wanted the throne that was the Hokage's seat, a challenge Naruto gladly accepted.

He was a good kid with a spirit that managed to add even more NOS to Naruto's. The prospect of another challenger in the race to the top revved the jinchuriki and made him even more determined to get stronger.

This explained why he was more cheerful today than usual and had been one of the first to arrive in class that morning to oversee the timely arrival of the others.

Naruto was unable to stop his legs from bouncing along the floor as he looked around at all the familiar faces ready and waiting for the day ahead. While some like Sasuke and Shino passed the time by keeping to themselves and sitting quietly, Choji and Shikamaru kept their persons occupied through conversation, as did many of the other students. It was basically same-old, same-old around the room, which gave the jinchuriki plenty of time to meditate on his own thoughts, unless someone decided to drop by and say hi.

"Let's see," Naruto thought, holding up his fingers and deciding to make a summary for himself, "Not counting the jutsu I learned in the academy and the material from my personal bag of tricks, I have a total of two: Jet Hand and Shadow Clone Jutsu."

It was reassuring for him to know that he did in fact have techniques he could fall back on if push came to shove. On their own they packed a hell of a punch, but now it was all a matter of working on them, making them stronger, faster, and coming up with new and creative ideas on how to execute them. The possibilities were endless.

He could think on them now and practice with them later, but all he was doing at this time was cutting down on minutes.

"Hmm… I wonder what Tayuya-chan is doing right now?" Naruto thought aloud to himself, gazing up towards the ceiling in thought. "She was supposed to meet up with Anko-sensei today. Perhaps some of the Jonin really are going to bring their apprentices together to form a team?"

If that were the case, Naruto was sure Tayuya would tell him about it at the end of the day. He just needed to be patient and ride through his schedule first.

"Lost in thought?" a voice spoke up beside Naruto, who turned to see Shikamaru Nara standing beside him with his hands in his pockets. The jinchuriki noted the boy was wearing his headband around his arm. "That's new."

"Hey, Shikamaru. Surprised to see you're not taking a nap," Naruto also noted with a smirk. "That's new."

The Nara rolled his shoulder tiredly, "I would like to, but everyone's making so much noise it's impossible to get any shut eye."

"Normally that wouldn't be a problem for you," Naruto said, leaning back in his seat with his hands behind his head. "Maybe you're tense because nobody knows what's actually going to happen with this team assignment thing. I mean… are they going to let us choose what teams we're gonna be on or are the teachers going to decide for us?"

"It's probably going to be the latter," the boy answered, sliding into a seat in the row across from the jinchuriki. "Think about it; if we were given the choice of who we wanted to be on a team with, wouldn't they have mentioned it in the registration forms or at the graduation ceremony?"

Naruto squinted in his usual, fox-like manner and looked ahead of him thoughtfully. "Hmm, yeah. I guess they would have."

"Maybe it'll turn out to be one of those lucky draws from the hat or something," Shikamaru shrugged, before swinging his legs up onto his desk and throwing his hands behind him. "Either way, it doesn't matter to me. I have absolutely no problem with being partnered up with anybody in this class. As long as it doesn't involve a lot of work, then I'm cool with it."

"I sometimes wonder how you even survived the academy," Naruto murmured, staring oddly at the Nara who looked ready to nod out right where he was lying.

Shikamaru yawned in response, "By doing the bare minimum, Naruto. The bare minimum." Typical slacker attitude, just what you'd expect from a master of the art. There were of course several other students in the class that fell under the same character, chief among which included Choji and Naruto himself. But that was all old news that was better left for the books. The main thing was that a lot of them had changed drastically since the days they were kids and skipping school, even though Shikamaru looked as though he hadn't grown one bit. "I see you've still got your goggles with you."

"Oh yeah," Naruto chuckled, grabbing the pair hanging around his neck and pulling on them. "These things have been pretty useful to me. I'm hanging onto them." He didn't know when he would need them again, but it was better to have them and not use them, then not to have them when something serious came up. "Don't suppose you're thinking of changing your wardrobe?"

"No way. Too much effort," Shikamaru replied. "This look suits me best."

"Yeah… the easy, just rolled out of bed look." Obviously his classmate would pick a combination of clothes that were the simplest to put on and didn't require any effort or forethought. Naruto just rolled his eyes in amusement and went on to thinking again.

"You guys seem excited," Kiba exclaimed, coming to standing next to Naruto and lean against the desk elevated behind the jinchuriki, who looked up to see the Inuzuka grinning down at him. The boy with the white pup nestled comfortably in his jacket looked between the pair chatting away across from one another. "Wondering what teams you're gonna be put on?"

"Not really," Shikamaru replied.

"Sort of," Naruto said with a smile, propping his arm on the table. "I'm not fussed as long as we get to go on missions real soon."

"Same," Kiba chuckled before pointing to himself. "Just so you know Naruto, if we're put on the same team together, I'm the Alpha! The pack leader. Got it?"

"Ha! Isn't the pack leader supposed to be the strongest in the group?" Naruto asked with a shit-eating grin. "I bet I can kick your ass no problem, dog boy."

The feral looking teen leaned in with a grin. "We'll see about that, slacker."

"Would you guys keep it down? You're making a racket," came another voice from the side. When Kiba and Naruto looked, they saw Sasuke sitting down the row with his fingers laced together and his glare fixed on both of them. He seemed pretty irked, but that wasn't saying much since his expression always looked like that. "Take your pissing contest outside if you can't do it quietly."

The two teens smirked at the dark-haired one two seats away, deciding to reel him into their conversation as well since he seemed so willing to jab at them. "I know you're just as eager to decide who the strongest in the group is too, Sasuke," Kiba exclaimed.

"Not just in taijutsu, but all around ninjutsu as well," Naruto added.

The Uchiha grunted and closed his eyes. "That debate seems kind of pointless, don't you think? We already know who the best in the class is, and you're both looking at him." It was hard to hide the cocky smirk he sprouted upon saying this, the sight of which instantly brought out the competitive natures of the two delinquents gunning it out with each other nearby.

"Oh yeah? Want to test that title out, Mister Prodigy?" Kiba asked while holding a fist up, a bark emanating from Akamaru in support of his partner.

"I knocked your arrogant ass around the past several times in class, teme. I can do it again," Naruto also exclaimed challengingly.

While the three had their intense stand-off in the corner, Shikamaru shook his head at the absurdity of the scene before going back to napping.

"What a troublesome bunch," the boy thought before giving a yawn. He chose to block out the little show going on beside him, getting comfortable in his seat at around the same time Sakura and Ino suddenly decided to come charging through the door, out of breath and looking ragged from an apparent race to get to the academy first.

Naruto glanced up when he heard the scramble at the top entrance. When he spotted the two girls, he saw Sakura look down towards his level, smile sweetly and start fast-walking towards them. The blonde responded with a grin and a wave towards the approaching kunoichi. "Hey, Sakura-chan! How's it going?"

"Yeah, hi Naruto," Sakura replied carelessly before suddenly bolting right toward their row and bowling over both Kiba and Naruto, with the latter having his face shoved into the table when the girl jumped on top of him, "Good morning Sasuke-kun! Can I sit next to you?" She leapfrogged the stunned blonde and took a seat right beside the genius even before receiving any form of consent.

Kiba, knocked on his ass, glared up at the pink haired girl while Naruto remained pasted to his desk. "Damn it, Sakura! We were having a man-to-man confrontation!"

The girl stuck her tongue out at the Inuzuka. "Well, tough. You guys can hang out later." Her mood then did a complete 180 and she gazed affectionately towards the Uchiha next to her.

Sasuke meanwhile, grunted indignantly. "Whatever."

Brimming with fake tears at having his face slammed into his desk from the ever exuberant Sakura Haruno, Naruto managed to lift himself up and rub his chin painfully. "Ow… what the hell?" He saw Kiba sit up next to him and, while the pair looked across to see Sakura fawning over the Uchiha along with several other girls out to steal the seat from her, the pair leaned in to each other to whisper, "I thought that if you were at least nice to girls they'd be nice back and start liking you. What's up with that?"

Kiba shrugged, "I don't know dude. I don't get girls either." Take that as wisdom from a man who had a tough-as-nails older sister and an equally terrifying mother in the same household.

The pair just watched oddly as Sakura started her own feud in the middle row with the other girls, which slowly turned into quite an entertaining performance when Naruto and Kiba saw the various tick marks forming on Sasuke's head as he sat in the center of the proverbial super storm. The two classmates then settled on the obvious karma of their reality that if something bad happened to them, then something good was bound to happen in kind.

Sasuke's suffering would be their compensation for being knocked on their butts seconds earlier.

OOO

Unbeknownst to all of the kids in the recently graduated academy group, their classroom was currently being monitored by the all-seeing-eye of one Hiruzen Sarutobi, who, along with the handful of Jonin captains that would be taking on teams this year, were currently in conference over some of the more prospective Genin of the batch. With everyone gathered including the notoriously late Hatake Kakashi, the would-be squad leaders looked on in amusement at the sight of Uchiha Sasuke being flocked by his fan club.

"He seems rather popular," Hayama, a man with brown hair in a ponytail and a scar on the side of his mouth exclaimed, earning chuckles all around.

"No doubt about that," Asuma Sarutobi also commented, nodding towards the crystal ball in the center of the Hokage's desk. "So that's the most promising student, Sasuke Uchiha? Correct?"

"That's right," Hiruzen replied, looking up at the collection of instructors gathered in front of him. "Out of all the students in the class he's got the highest marks in all areas; an excellent prodigy. On top of that he's incredibly perceptive and exceptionally talented for his age. Even his teachers said that his combat skills alone measure up to that of a Chunin's."

"Now that indeed is a promising student," Kurenai commented with a smile.

Kakashi, who had been standing quietly beside the desk and looking at the orb intently, saw the ball's view slowly maneuver around and land on the familiar face of one Naruto Uzumaki, who was laughing boisterously alongside Kiba. After watching him and his companion for a few minutes, the Jonin smiled underneath his mask and nodded towards it, "What about this one?"

"Naruto Uzumaki?" Hiruzen murmured, a smile appearing on his own face, "Ah yes, the most interesting student."

A Jonin wrapped in bandages looked up towards the village leader, "Isn't he the one that single-handedly brought down two enemy kunoichi and Mizuki in one night?"

"The same kunoichi that attacked him two years ago, mind you," Kakashi added before looking towards the elder. "What do we have to say about him?"

"Though his character says otherwise, Naruto is also an incredible prospect," Hiruzen stated, lacing his fingers together and breathing evenly on his pipe. "His grades vary above average, yet his experiences outside of the academy tell a different story. He's a fast kinesthetic learner and Iruka has mentioned time and again that of all the students he's taught, Naruto's skill in combat is the most diverse, and that he's also the swiftest and fittest in the group. His fighting prowess actually surpasses Sasuke's."

Asuma and Kurenai looked up in surprise, whereas the other Jonin around them started to stir over the student tied for number one of the group. "No kidding…"

OOO

Following the arrival of Iruka Umino to the class, any and all tussles that had been taking place prior were quickly suppressed and all students scattered around the room retired to their seats. Through determination and pure strength of will, Sakura had managed to win her place beside Sasuke from the other girls, mostly for the fact that she was already in the seat beside him by the time their academy instructor came around. So in the end, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all ended up sitting together in the same row, with the jinchuriki leaning on his desk with an excited grin in play, Sakura beaming happily with rosy red cheeks, and Sasuke looking more annoyed than he had ever been in his life.

It was probably thanks to the whole ordeal he had to sit through leading up to this moment.

"From this day forward, all of you are officially recognized as shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato," Iruka began with a smile on his face and clipboard in hand as he looked around at all the expectant faces in his class. "As such, the tasks, trials and responsibilities of a shinobi have now been placed upon your shoulders, and you will all be expected to carry out missions to the best of your abilities for both your home and for your comrades. To get here you have faced great tests and hardships, but know that all of that was just the beginning. From here on out things are only going to get tougher and the trials, more difficult."

"Awesome," Naruto whispered eagerly, his feet rocking from heel to toe as he sat listening to the words of his sensei.

Iruka beamed up at his students. "Now you are only Genin; first level ninja. As with every other year all of you will be grouped into three-man squads, each of which will be led by a Jonin; an elite ninja. The Jonin assigned to your team will become both your squad leader and your new teacher. You will follow your sensei's instructions to the latter in order to successfully complete any and all missions given. I wish you all the best for your future as shinobi and kunoichi of our village." He gave his speech a brief moment of pause to allow all the information to sink in, before raising the clipboard he was holding up and clearing his throat, "I will begin announcing the squads that will be formed for the duration of your career as Genin."

This statement immediately had everyone's attention locked onto him.

One by one, name by name, the teams were listed off of Iruka's clipboard as the man went over the sheet provided to him by the Third. The Chunin had something of a satisfied grin on his face as he announced each name in turn, with each announcement accompanied by either an affirmative 'yes', a groan of dismay, or a small whoop of delight. His smile seemed to grow in conjunction with every groan he was able to pick up, so it was safe to say that the scar-faced man was enjoying his position as God over his soon to be former students.

This instilled the belief in Iruka that the next trials his class was sure to face would be their next, greatest challenge, one he was looking forward to seeing the results of.

The homeroom teacher than arrived at the next set of names, "Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Your instructor will be Hatake Kakashi."

"Cha!" Sakura cheered, before turning in her seat and giving Ino the 'V' sign, "Take that, Ino-pig!"

The blonde haired girl with blue eyes and wearing the purple uniform glared back with her teeth bared, "Lucky call. How in the world did you end up on that team?"

"Don't know," Sakura replied smugly while shrugging. "The power of love? It is the strongest force in the universe. I'll let you think on it a little." After seeing her rival attempt to bore a hole into her with her glare, the pink haired girl then turned her attention to the stoic as ever Uchiha and sided up a little bit closer to him. "We're on the same squad. Isn't that great, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hmph…" the boy grunted back before smirking across at the blonde he could see returning the sentiment. "Looks like I'll be getting my rematch sooner than I think."

Naruto chuckled, "Looking forward to it," he replied, turning back toward the front of the class. "I'm totally cool with this."

Iruka smiled when he heard the blonde's response and nodded proudly, before glancing back down at his list. While all this was going on, a couple rows behind Naruto to his right the blonde failed to notice the disappointed gaze he was receiving from one Hinata Hyuuga. The blue haired girl wearing the light brown jumper gave a sad frown as she glanced down at the boy in orange, feeling a little bit let down at missing her best chance of getting closer to him.

"I won't be with Naruto then," the girl thought, breathing a heavy sigh.

"Next, Team 8 will be consisting of Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. Your instructor and team leader is Yuhi Kurenai," Iruka said loud enough for the above three to hear, looking up to see the squad listed nod or smirk in acknowledgement. He then moved on, "Because Team 9 is being used for a different team we needed to move on to the next number. Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji, you three are on Team 10 and your Jonin captain is Sarutobi Asuma."

Ino groaned and slammed her head on her desk. Choji, who was sitting beside her and munching on a packet of chips, looked toward her in surprise. "Hey, you okay, Ino?"

"I'm fine," the girl groaned back, her voice muffled by her face being pressed into her desk.

"And that's it for team assignments," Iruka concluded, folding his clipboard under his arm and clicking his pen, "You will be meeting your Jonin instructors here after lunch. Until then I suggest you all get together with your teammates, get to know them and… well… have fun. Good luck to all of you." With that sorted, Iruka took one last look at the class for that hour before turning heel and taking his leave.

Once the door closed behind him, students left and right started to move, either heading on over to meet up with their teammates or leaving individually. Sasuke remained in his seat for the time being, waiting for the rest of the class to move out of his way so that he could make his own march over to the door without distraction. This gave Sakura several moments of quiet time with him that she enjoyed in every possible manner, beaming at him with a light coloring in her cheeks.

"He's so cool," Sakura thought happily, until she was rudely interrupted from her daydreaming session by a light thump on her desk. When the pinkette looked ahead of her, the kunoichi gave a startled yelp when she saw Naruto squatting on top of the desk and grinning right in her face. "What the hell?!"

"Hey Sakura-chan. Want to hang out and have lunch together?" the blonde asked cheerfully.

The girl frowned at him, "Why in the world would I want to have lunch with you?"

"Well… since we're in the same group I just thought that maybe we could talk and get to know each other a little better, you know?" Naruto replied good-naturedly before turning to Sasuke to see him staring at them with one eye. "What do you think, Sasuke?"

Giving the cheerful runt some moments of consideration, the raven haired boy grunted and closed his eyes, "Whatever. Anything's fine with me."

"Sweet," Naruto chirped before grinning back at Sakura, who appeared a little surprised at the Uchiha actually agreeing with the class clown. "So… where can we go eat?"

"How about having lunch with me, shithead?!" a familiar voice suddenly shouted from the class entrance.

The loud voice accompanied by the profanity at the end had every single individual in the room turn in the direction of the call, where everyone saw a girl around their age with redish-pink hair they had never seen before, standing inside the frame. Wearing a khaki battle dress with spandex shorts, a cap and the Konoha headband wrapped around it, the girl made her presence known all around by stepping fully into view with her hands resting comfortably on her hips.

Kiba's eyes went a little wide as he looked the cute newcomer up and down. "Who is that?"

Almost every boy's jaw dropped when they saw the beautiful girl standing in plain sight of them, whereas every other girl in the class stared at her either with suspicion or confusion. Was this person here for their Sasuke-kun? Was she an older Genin here to make fun of them or was she a surprise candidate? Who was she?

And who was this 'shithead' she was calling? No way was it someone in their…

"Tayuya-chan!" Naruto waved back from his spot on the desk, seeing the musician giggle before dashing over to him. "What are you doing here? I thought you were meeting up with Anko-sensei today?"

"Already did. Turns out we were right when we thought that all the individual Genin graduates under apprenticeships would be put together on a single team with a new instructor," Tayuya exclaimed while thumbing herself in the chest. "You're looking at the first member of the new Team 9."

"Wow! That's awesome!" Naruto said, dropping down from the desk to stand in front of her. "Iruka-sensei mentioned that Team 9 was being used by another group. So it's your squad."

"Oh yeah," Tayuya replied, latching onto his arm and hugging him tightly, "I'm so psyched right now. This is going to be awesome!"

"Whoa, yeah, I can tell," Naruto chuckled, feeling how tightly his limb was being squeezed by the girl's surprisingly powerful arms. It was almost like she was trying to pop his left out of its socket, "So who's your teacher? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it's not Anko-sensei, seeing as how happy you are."

The musician shook her head. "No, we got some guy named Genma. He's going to be picking us up outside the academy gates after lunch, so we figured we could all stick together and get to know each other before that. Since we don't know much about the other members of our group, I think it's a good idea." She gestured towards the door, "My team's waiting outside if you want to meet them."

"Sure. I'd love to," Naruto grinned back.

As the two laughed and spoke fondly of how thrilled they were to finally be put onto teams, everyone in the class was looking toward them flabbergasted. While those who knew who Naruto was looked like gaping fish, those who knew the jinchuriki personally from the past or had spent the most time with him face to face were simply blown away at the sudden turn of events. Shikamaru was staring with an open jaw, Choji had stopped eating mid-chew, and Kiba, Ino and Sakura were looking at the boy with owlish expressions in play. Even Sasuke was staring with visible disbelief.

"Okay… what the hell? Why is a girl latching onto the class clown like he's her boyfriend?" Ino asked, rubbing her eyes to see if she was hallucinating. Nope. She wasn't. There was in fact a girl, a really beautiful, flesh and bones girl hanging off of Naruto's arm and gazing up at him like he was her whole world.

It was an indisputable observation. The red head that had just entered their class and flocked to Naruto's side was honestly drop-dead gorgeous.

Meanwhile, one other person in the class who was completely beside herself or fretting with concern was in fact the Hyuuga up in the back row. Hands held together worryingly, the young kunoichi gazed towards her idol and his visitor quietly with shimmering eyes, "W-Who is this person?" Hinata thought while pressing her hands to her chest. "I've… never seen her before. Is she a relative of Naruto-kun's… or… or…"

Tayuya, after sharing pleasantries with her flat mate, then turned her attention to Sasuke and Sakura, whom she could see were still staring at them incredulously. "Why doesn't your team come with us? We can have lunch together."

"Great idea," Naruto replied, also looking at the aforementioned pair. "Hey guys, we got ourselves a table!"

"R-Right," Sakura murmured, all the while still trying to come to terms with the fact that a girl was, in front of the entire class, associating with Naruto in a more than 'just good friends' manner.

OOO

After Tayuya led Naruto and his team outside to meet up with hers, the two groups then decided to head somewhere quiet to eat, away from everybody else. While it was a pain trying to drag some of the others to the appropriate spot, seeing as that Sasuke wanted to be alone more than anything else, they eventually succeeded in picking out an area to sit around. Finding a tree with a good clearing nearest the path running through the academy grounds, the two squads converged and, in a word, mingled.

Being the most social of them, Naruto had taken to speaking with Tayuya's teammates along with the Uchiha. There was apparently a great diversity of Genin in this generation, seeing as that his friend had been paired up with two very different looking people. One of them was a boy with short black hair that went over his left eye, wearing a white full body jumpsuit, with grey shin guards, blue sandals, white gloves, and a long blue scarf. The third member of the team was a girl with light blonde, slightly messy hair tied into a ponytail, was wearing swirl-tinted glasses, dark pants, and a light purple, oversized jumper.

They seemed nice enough, even the boy in the figure-hugging suit who was currently making tea for all of them… with a tea set he had 'conveniently' brought along with him, while his companion sat pleasantly beside him with a content smile on her face. Yeah, they looked like a couple of oddballs, but what sane village didn't have its fair share of characters? As long as Tayuya was happy with this team there was absolutely no reason Naruto couldn't be happy for her.

He liked meeting new faces anyway.

"So, how does it feel to finally be recognized as shinobi of the hidden leaf village?" Naruto asked, tilting his head at the pair, "Pretty hardcore, huh?"

The girl in glasses glanced at him with a start, having not expected to be asked a question so suddenly. "Oh? Umm… y-yeah. Pretty hardcore."

Naruto's grin widened, "It might take some getting used to, but I'm definitely looking forward to the missions." He scratched his head, "I wonder what kind of assignments our new sensei will have for us."

"Who knows?" the girl shrugged, "I tried asking my old teacher about it, but he said for me to wait until graduation. Ugh. It's got me so frustrated thinking about it."

"Perhaps… some tea will soothe the soul of the lovely young lady," the boy with dark hair brewing the refreshments said in a slow, calm voice as he passed a steaming cup to the girl in glasses. The blonde haired kunoichi looked up at him in surprise as the young man smiled fondly in her direction, "Food and drink made with love are always best served warm. Please…"

"Oh… th-thank you, Kaede-kun," the young girl exclaimed.

He then passed cups to the two boys, both Naruto and Sasuke looking down at his offering curiously, "I made enough for everyone here. Have as much as you like."

"Sweet. Thanks," Naruto laughed, taking the tea from Tayuya's teammate gleefully.

The Uchiha also took his with a pleasant nod, "Thank you." He caught a whiff of the tea's heavenly aroma, which nearly had his heart race at how delectable it appeared, "Hm… smells good."

Unable to wait and most eager to try the refreshments, Naruto, Sasuke and the glasses wearing kunoichi all took a sip at the exact same time…

…

…

And paled a split second later at what they felt roll onto their tongues. Recoiling in horror, both Naruto and Sasuke painfully swallowed whatever it was in their mouths whereas the kunoichi sitting beside them froze in shock. All three of them then held their tea cups and plates out at arm's length, looking at them with suspicion and disgust while the boy, now identified as Kaede, sat beside them and waited eagerly for their responses.

"Well? What do you think?" he asked cheerfully.

"W-What do we think… uhh…?" the girl murmured, a nervous smile tugging on her lips. "Well…"

"Uhh… how should we put this?" Sasuke also murmured, trying to ignore the bitter taste of what could only be described as fish oil on his tongue while trying to come up with the right words to gently tell the tea maker that…

"It sucks," Naruto said straight out without hesitation, not wanting to keep his fellow Genin waiting for a half-baked review from the other two. They might as well tell the poor guy the truth. The tea he put his heart into making for them was just plain awful. All three of them then saw Kaede flinch at the reply and glance back at them in surprise.

"Y-You…" the Genin stammered. "Don't… like the tea?"

When he got three lifeless stares in response, it pretty much gave him his answer.

In the blink of an eye, the boy was suddenly on his feet and, finding a tree standing several meters away from where the two groups were sitting, leant against it in a manner similar to the main protagonist of a romantic comedy after being dumped. The fact that violins could be heard all around and a proverbial raincloud appeared to hover over him only served to magnify his despair.

"I am a failure…" Kaede muttered.

Naruto and Sasuke sweat dropped at the sight of him before turning to look at the girl beside them, who was also staring quite oddly.

"Does he… get out much?" Naruto asked.

"I honestly don't know," the kunoichi sighed before smiling apprehensively towards the pair, "It's okay though. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Are you sure about that?" Sasuke asked with concern, raising an eyebrow when he saw the storm cloud over the boy's head only worsen and start to hail.

"Absolutely," the still slightly shell-shocked kunoichi chirped, setting her tea down and pushing her glasses back up her nose. She smiled towards the teen in orange across from her and extended a hand out to him, "I'm Shiho by the way. I believe I already mentioned Kaede-kun."

"Naruto," the jinchuriki replied with a grin before nodding toward the Uchiha quietly eating beside him. "This guy's name is Sasuke. It's nice to meet you, Shiho-chan."

"It's nice to meet you too."

While Sasuke and the others communed on their end, with Kaede rejoining them soon after getting over his crippling brush with disappointment, Sakura, who had managed to pull Tayuya to the other side of the tree for a sit down, was in the midst of having a very interesting conversation of her own.

The pink haired girl continued looking between the red haired girl and Naruto as they ate silently for the first few minutes, paying little attention to the four-person conference and just focusing on her current problem…

Trying to figure out how Naruto knew this girl who seemed so incredibly attached to him.

"How long have you known Naruto for?" Sakura asked curiously with a raised eyebrow. "I've never seen you in the village before… and I don't think I ever saw him hanging out with anyone else besides himself." It was a basic question and one she could pull without much strain. Seeing as that she had always been parading around Sasuke, she never paid any mind to the biggest delinquent and slacker of the class, so she was kind of out of the loop.

The musician chuckled. "I've known shithead for quite some time now," Tayuya exclaimed, taking a big bite of her dango stick. "I'd say about… two years…"

"That's another thing; why are you calling him shithead if he's your friend?" Sakura asked with a strange look. "That seems like a very harsh nickname to give someone."

"I think it suits him. What? You got a problem with it?" Tayuya asked.

"N-No… not really," the pink haired girl said hastily, shaking her head. "It does sound a little odd though."

"So does Tayuya-chan," the musician shook her head. "I really didn't like how he called me that the first time we met since it sounded so weird, but it's kind of grown on me. I call him shithead for the exact same reason because he doesn't mind it… and because he's got a 'punch first' personality and doesn't think ahead that often. He really has a habit of jumping into things without considering his actions first."

"Yeah. You can say that again," Sakura exclaimed, finally finding some common ground with the red haired newcomer. "Naruto's a complete moron. He doesn't think about anything other than fighting, making noise and causing trouble for people. I'm telling you, he's nothing like Sasuke-kun."

"No, he's not," Tayuya replied before giving the girl a very real, very warm smile that radiated with sincerity, "He's better than him."

Sakura's mouth dropped open, "Uh… come again?"

Tayuya chuckled after she consumed her second dango stick and quickly moved on to give her response further detail. "Oh, don't get me wrong. Your other teammate looks cool and all, but from the way he marches around with his hands in his pockets and not giving a shit about anything, tells me he's not really the sociable type of person. It's kind of hard to talk to someone when they just flat-out ignore everything you have to say, you know?"

"B-But," Sakura attempted to respond, shaking her head a little to glare back at her. "What are you talking about? Sasuke-kun is awesome." She began counting on her fingers, "He's intelligent, sharp, handsome, talented, great at ninjutsu, and better at everything that Naruto is good at."

"Except for fighting," Tayuya chuckled before shrugging, "Talking to people… connecting with people… AND making people happy." She nodded towards the four-way on the other side of the tree when she heard Shiho giggle and Kaede laugh, "Right there's proof of that. Hell, he even managed to get tall, dark and emo to come out here with him to eat."

"Alright, sure, but you're missing the bigger picture," Sakura said with a groan of annoyance. She just didn't see the appeal behind the blonde and why this girl liked him so much yet. All she wanted to do was support Sasuke in this contest since the red head seemed to be shooting down everything she was saying. In an effort to perhaps get this seemingly misguided girl on the path to the 'good stuff', she decided to go on the attack. "If you've known him for as long as you say you have then you should see it too. The guy's not normal. Naruto acts like an animal, he sleeps in class, he's rude to his teachers, he pulls pranks on people and makes their lives miserable, and he's always picking fights. It's annoying. And I think I know the main reason why."

Tayuya was about to take a bite out of her dango when she heard that and she stopped. She then looked at the girl next to her to see her smile smugly.

"Because he wasn't raised right. He doesn't have a mother or father to teach him right from wrong. If I acted anything like him, my parents would ground me for months, but because he doesn't have any, he can do whatever he wants without worrying about being punished or scolded. That's why he acts so selfish, arrogant and bratty," Sakura exclaimed with a shake of her head. "He's lucky being all alone with no parents to tell him what to do. That's why he always causes trouble for everyone, see? He's just a dumb, ignorant, irresponsible delinquent trying to get attention. He never does anything good…"

The girl was suddenly interrupted from her tirade when her collar was grabbed from the front and she was violently pulled towards Tayuya, who slammed her forehead against hers in a rough head butt. When Sakura recovered from the tug and looked at the girl through a throbbing skull, she recoiled in shock when she saw the look of anger on the red head's face.

A dark, killer shadow falling across her eyes, Tayuya narrowed her most intense glare on the pink haired girl and bared her teeth, "Don't you dare say another word."

"W-Wha?"

"What do you know about being alone? Having no parents? Huh? How about living on the streets? Being abandoned by your loved ones? Having to beg and fight in order to survive without anyone to support you?" Tayuya said in a low, threatening voice. "Sure, it sucks to be scolded by a father or mother, but that's nothing compared to what Naruto-kun has felt his entire life. Consider yourself lucky that you do have parents to admonish you, to love you and to look out for you. Naruto-kun has nobody."

Sakura gulped, eyes and body trembling as she listened to the words being hissed to her.

"And for your information pinky, there's plenty of good in him, more good than in anyone I've ever met," Tayuya replied before shoving the girl away and going back to her lunch. The musician grunted as Sakura hurriedly tried to regain her sense of balance from the killing intent she had just been bombarded with at close range. Before Tayuya could finish her dango, she paused and looked up with a pissed expression still in plain sight. "You wanted to talk to me alone, right; to find out how Naruto-kun knows me and how I know him?"

Sakura nodded, at the same time trying to stop her body from trembling like a leaf.

Tayuya glanced over at her, "I was abandoned by my parents. I lived on the streets for months, sleeping out in the cold, living on my own, begging for food… not knowing what to do. When the day eventually came where I thought I was going to die… when I thought my life was going to end… Naruto-kun saved me." She finished the dumpling and chucked the stick into the box, closing it. "Think about that when you guys are out on a mission together, because the only person you can count on if you're ever in any trouble is the person standing right next to you."

Getting up, the musician went around and rejoined the rest of their team. She saddled up beside Naruto and quickly reverted back to her previously composed self, leaving a stunned Sakura to meditate on her thoughts.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Author's Note: Well, here's another chapter come and gone, and I hope everyone enjoyed it.

There were a few things I wanted to cover with this chapter, one of them being Naruto first meeting the Kyuubi and, being himself, has a nice friendly chat with it. I'm surprised he didn't meet up with it sooner in the original story, but it just shows how strong the seal was (I guess). Naruto screwing with it in this story weakened it and allowed him to make a connection with the Kyuubi much earlier. It also esstablishes the immediate relationship between the two; the Kyuubi still being hostile toward humans and Naruto being the approachable and friendly youngster that he is, who just wants to be friends with him.

I also wanted to power past the Konohamaru meeting thing, since that's all rince and repeat (not really worth writing again), Naruto learning the Kage Bunshin, since I've already mentioned he has a fuck-ton more chakra than before so even for a first time can produce a few clones (only about half a dozen at this stage), and I got rid of all the unnecessary garbage from the original story that I just didn't approve (Naruto bashing, the NaruSasu kiss bleagh, and the Naruto bathroom nonsense). Beating up the character and making piss-fart jokes is not how you write a story. No. Just no.

Then there was also the team assignments. There are really so many ways I could have done the squads, but for the story I've written, I wanted to keep the original teams how they were. I have some good ideas I want to try out, and I needed to keep the team how it was to do it. I'm sure you'll enjoy the direction I take the story from here later on, because it gets WAY better.

I also wanted to do something about Sakura, because there is that stage where she eventually warms up to Naruto, but she still needs to get past that part where she viewed him as an annoying kid. By straight up telling her what Naruto's life was like instead of leaving it cryptic like Sasuke did in the original is probably the best way to hasten that change in her character and get the girl to see how dreadful she was to him (a wake-up call if you will) and get her to grow and change to become a better person. Tayuya stepping up to defend Naruto was a nice touch and would certainly knock some sense into her.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading this. More to come. :)