A/N: Yeah, I'm updating pretty fast right now. I don't really know why other than the fact that I've been kind bored of reading fan fiction myself and am finding myself really enjoying making a story and having other people enjoy it. But whatever, as long as everyone else is happy, so am I. And thanks for reviewing guys. I appreciate it.

Disclaimer: Naruto is being kept out of my possession for the benefit of the series, so I don't actually own any of this stuff.

Naruto sighed as he rested in the tree. It really hadn't been all that great of a day. Sure he graduated, and sure his friends celebrated his birthday, but nothing else seemed to go well. Especially his parents who apparently thought he was a spoiled brat.

'They didn't even say anything about me passing' he thought angrily as he looked down at the headband in his hands. It had the standard metal plate with the Konoha symbol carved into it. The only difference between it and the ones most others had was that he had switched the blue fabric attached to the plate out immediately for a dark orange one. The only thing left now was where to put it.

The red head shrugged and put it back in his bag. 'I can always do it later.' He thought and leaned back into the tree before truly looking at the situation with his parents.

'I can't really believe they know so little about me.' He thought angrily. 'I mean, I should've known, but still! They are my parents! I can understand the not noticing me as much after they finished training me as much as was possible in controlling the Kyuubi's chakra, I didn't make much of an effort to reconnect with them after that hellish training.'

At the last thought he frowned. The training he had gone through really hadn't been fun for him. And to top it off, they didn't even train him in any ninja techniques! No, they just taught him how to punch and dodge.

At this point Naruto couldn't help put hate his parents. 'What right do they have to this to me?! Me! After everything they've done to me! They have none! They don't even deserve to call me their son!' Naruto shouted in his mind before taking several deep breaths to calm himself.

'Just calm down.' He told himself. 'They can't do anything if you don't show back up, right? Yeah. They can't. So I'll just stay away from home for the rest of the week. Let myself calm down and sort things out.' He nodded to himself at that. 'Yeah, I'll come back after the test."

He looked up at the sky and noticed how high the moon was up in the sky. 'Shit. It's got to be like midnight right about now. I have to wake up early tomorrow!'

With that last thought Naruto leaned even farther back into the tree and went to sleep.

The next day Naruto woke up with the sun shining right onto his face. Grumbling, Naruto tried to roll away from the sun only to fall off his branch. He screamed as he fell down into the water far below.

For a second, he felt relief at his fall being stopped. That relief quickly went away as he realized the water was more like ice. Screaming again, he jumped out of the water trying to get to shore as fast as he could.

Dripping wet, he looked back to the tree. "Stupid fucking tree." He mumbled to himself, "Couldn't be in a normal fucking spot for trees like, oh I don't know, maybe a freaking forest."

Finishing his rant, he looked up at the sky only to recoil in shock. He was late.

He was never late.

He sighed. This was not turning out to be a good day. He could only hope it would get better. Hurrying off, he arrived at the training ground he and his friends' had agreed to meet at.

Itachi was the first to notice him walk out of the trees. "A little late are we Naruto?" He asked in his monotone voice. Naruto gritted his teeth. He didn't mean to be late.

"Yeah Naruto," Akira chimed in,"I thought you hated to be late. Yet here you are. Two whole hours late! We had to start training without you."

Naruto teeth were grinding at this point. He wanted to shout at them that this hadn't been his most ideal morning, but he held back. Instead he took several deep breathes before smiling at the two.

"Oh well. What are you going to do? Sometimes you just get lost on the road of life."

Everything seemed to stop. The birds stopped chirping, the animals moving. Heck, even the wind stopped! Naruto was given incredulous looks by his friends.

He sighed. 'It wasn't that bad, was it?' He thought to himself.

Itachi seemed to recover faster from that shock to the system then Akira and tried to move on like it never happened. "So what's the real reason you're late?"

Naruto sighed. Leave to Itachi to know it wasn't that simple.

"I spent the night in the tree. Apparently my parents think I'm spoiled and were going to tell me this morning that I can't just do whatever anymore. I'd have to tell them everything."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Akira asked, seeming to have finally recovered from Naruto's statement.

"It wouldn't be if they actually cared and weren't just doing it out of the obligation to being parents."

Akira mouthed an oh. Silence fell over the three of them. Not an awkward one mind you, but a peaceful silence. Surprisingly, it was Itachi that broke it first.

"Want to spar today?" He questioned Naruto.

Naruto shook his head. "Nah, I actually planned to work with your gift today."

Itachi raised his eyebrow a little at that. "You already have something to practice with it?"

Naruto just smiled and shook his head again. Itachi sighed. Leave it to his friend to go into something with no knowledge of how to do it.

"What did you get him anyway?" Akira asked.

Naruto didn't even bother to answer before turning away. "I'm going to a different clearing to train with it. I'll see you guys at Ichiraku at lunch to start figuring out how to pass Mizuki's test, alright?"

Itachi gave a curt nod while Akira glared at him. Apparently she was pissed at him for not even dignifying her question with a response.

"Hey! Where do you get off think-" she was cut off from her lecture by a gust of wind and the disappearance of the recipient of said lecture. She stood, shocked for a minute before she decided to get back at him at lunch. Nodding to herself, she stalked off for her own training.

Itachi sighed to himself again, something he realized he had been doing a lot lately, and shook his head at how his friends acted. They were too childish for him, really. But thinking on it, he couldn't help but smile at the sense of normalcy they seemed to bring him.

Naruto felt sore. It truly had been a long day. His rude awakening that morning did not help either. After their morning practice, the three of them had gone and talked over Mizuki's test. They decided they would rather get it done earlier rather than later and so planned to so it the next night. Afterwards everyone went their separate ways. Itachi's father had wanted him for something, Akira went to work at one of the many ninja stores in Konoha, and Naruto ended up sneaking back home in the hope of not seeing his parents but still getting his notes from his room.

He had almost done it too. He was literally just closing the gate to the property when his mother noticed him as she came home from shopping. As soon as she called for him he ran, not bothering to see if she was following him. He just didn't want to deal with her and his father right now. He was still pissed at them.

Naruto slid down the trunk of the tree to his normal perch and sighed. 'No way she followed me here...right?'

Earlier at the house

Kushina sighed as she watched Naruto run away. She had been surprised that morning when she hadn't seen him. She thought he would be there seeing how late he got to the house, but alas, she was wrong. She just couldn't understand him, especially lately. He had always separated himself from the family, but the past year or so it had only gotten worse. She couldn't really understand it and hoped it was just a phase.

Once she walked in the house however she forgot the whole line of thought at seeing Natsumi working on her sealing.

She smiled. She just couldn't help it around the twins. They had this aura around them that drew you to them. As she passed Natsumi to put the groceries away, she couldn't help wonder what could have possibly made her sad earlier.

Yeah, shorter chapter, but whatever. And to those of you who mentioned about the plot because, I'm assuming, of the chapter title. That title was just kind ironic because there doesn't seem to be a plot really. And from my author note, I meant to say interactions. I have a plot and certain things I'd like to do, but I always welcome ideas as for something to do.