How's it goin' guys? Yeah, still trying to get back on a regular schedule here, but I don't know how long it will be until that actually happens. I'll also try to get the word count back up, as I have many good ideas for this section of the story, and even more interesting ideas later on. I can't wait till you see them all, as their bound to contain many twists and turns until the end... hopefully.
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Disclaimer: inset you own witty comment here about how I don't own Naruto, Nissan, or anything else that may be incorporated into this story besides the original plot lines and characters.
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Chapter 17: Back to School
Naruto stood in the field, his posture lax as he stared his opponent down. Blue eyes met orange, and neither party was willing to let the other one win. Naruto suddenly clenched his hand into a fist, anticipation getting to him as the seconds ticked by, turning slowly into minutes. Konjyoyaki, meanwhile, stood completely still, almost as if he were an ice statue. He didn't even blink as he looked down his student.
A gentle gust soon blew across the field, prompting the blonde to quickly jump into the air. That was the signal to begin. And it was a good thing he did, because not half a second later, Konjyoyaki was right there, sending a flurry of punches and kicks at Naruto, most of which were blocked of dodged.
However, a few managed to hit home, and before Naruto knew it, Konjyoyaki was above him, delivering a sharp ax-kick down on his head and sending him barreling down to the ground. Thanks to his training, however, the blonde was able to right himself in mid-air and land on his feet.
He didn't get very long to recover, though, before Konjyoyaki was on him again. He jumped back just in time as the cripple hit right where he was standing less than a second ago, cracking the earth a bit. With his one eye, Konjyoyaki looked up to his target, a silent message being transferred between them, before he lashed his hand out, an ice blade forming in his hand.
Naruto took a few steps back and unsealed his own blade, taking up a stance the man currently attacking him had taught him. This was his final test. This was where he put everything he had learned over the past few months against the man who had taught it to him. Of course, there were a few ground rules.
First off, Naruto could not use Kyuubi's chakra for anything but healing himself. Secondly, he could not use his curse technique. This was a test of raw skill. He could use his jutsu, though, but he had to be strategic about it. In return, Konjyoyaki could only move at sixty percent of his top speed and could only use his ice blade. All in all, Naruto thought that the conditions were fair enough.
Thanks to his heightened reflexes, Naruto was able to bring his wakizashi up and deflect the ice blade, but he was caught by surprise as Konjyoyaki used his remaining momentum to swing his foot at Naruto's hands, using enough force to nearly break them. Luckily, it didn't come to that. Unluckily, it sent his sword flying away from him.
"You need to keep a tighter grip," Konjyoyaki said idly as he swung his blade down in a wide arc. Naruto dodged by rolling to the side, then caught the follow up strike with his hand. It earned him a nasty gash, but also bought him some time.
Using the trick he learned, he channeled chakra through his blade's rope and sent it speeding towards Konjyoyaki. He wasn't a master of the skill in any sense of the word, but he liked to think he was at least proficient.
Konjyoyaki, sensing more than seeing the deadly blade coming, simply jumped over the blade and, using the leverage he had with his own sword on Naruto, spun the blonde around so his own blade impaled his back, all the while ripping his ice blade from his grip. Naruto didn't even wince.
Reaching back, he dislodged the serrated blade from himself and then flicked it to get some of the excess blood off. Slowly, his wounds closed shut, but his shirt was now ripped to shit and covered in blood. He had managed to keep his clothes in a relatively good condition up until now, but all that maintenance seemed to be wasted effort.
While he was studying himself, Naruto failed to realize that Konjyoyaki wasn't going to give him that much time to regain his bearings. Or any, for that matter. Almost immediately, he was on the offensive again, sending a spin kick straight into Naruto's head, sending him careening into a tree. He managed to position himself so the impact was less painful, though. He still landed in a small patch of weeds.
Undeterred, Konjyoyaki followed, leading with his blade. Naruto just barely managed to roll to the side and quickly lashed out with a few kicks before springing back up to his feet. He then followed up his assault by clashing blades once more.
Metal met ice as each force pushed back against each other. Despite his handicap, Konjyoyaki was still the stronger of the two and managed to push Naruto back. However, he soon let up, taking Naruto by surprise as he suddenly overbalanced.
Taking Naruto's head in his hand while still holding his blade, he brought it down to meet his knee. At impact, Naruto vanished in a cloud of smoke. It had seemed Konjyoyaki had anticipated this, though, as he didn't even bat an eyelash.
Hearing a faint whisper of "Rasengan," the cripple casually turned around and caught the hand holding a swirling blue ball that was aimed to drill him through. He glanced impassively into Naruto's glaring eyes as he drove the hand by the wrist down into the ground.
The energy stored in the ball exploded outward and scarred the ground with a deep crater. The power also blew Naruto back and sent him crashing into a tree. Konjyoyaki, meanwhile, gracefully landed on the ground after being blown back. As he righted himself, he turned to Naruto.
"Nice try, but you should know better than trying the same trick on me twice. Nonetheless, I would have to say you have proven yourself. You pass this test."
"Thanks," Naruto said as he slowly stood back up. His head was still spinning from the last couple of blows, and it was taking a bit to get his equilibrium back. He was slightly surprised as Konjyoyaki approached him and helped him to regain balance. "So what now?" he asked idly.
"Now?" Konjyoyaki repeated. "Now you can relax. I received word that Youkai Academy would be opening back up tomorrow, and your training is officially done." At hearing that, Naruto's eyes widened, slightly. He knew they had spent a lot of time training, but not enough that the school would be fully repaired. Even though he noticed this, Konjyoyaki continued on. "We have nothing more to do. You may spend the rest of the day however you wish. I will give you a ride in the morning, but until then, please leave me alone."
With that said, Konjyoyaki left to sort some things in his head out, leaving Naruto alone by their campsite. Considering he really had nothing better to do, he did a few more exercises before praying for the rest of the day. Even as he did these things, though, he could only think about Mizore.
/
Konjyoyaki was worried. That was highly unusual for the normally stoic and reserved man, but he wasn't willing to kid himself into believing everything would be okay. Now, considering that when he lost both his eye and arm he wasn't worried, or even when he awoke in this strange new world with unfamiliar faces staring over him, it would seem strange that anything worried the man. But there was something. Two somethings, to be exact.
The first was Mr. N. Konjyoyaki wouldn't lie to himself and say he wasn't even slightly afraid of the man. In fact, he was slightly terrified at the lengths he knew the man could and probably would be willing to go. It would mean that he would also have to be willing to go further than he wished, which was saying something. But that didn't worry him, just irked him.
What worried Konjyoyaki about Mr. N. was that he would need to be prepared for anything. He knew that the man would be waiting for him to slip up. When the time came, he would be forced to remain on guard indefinitely, or he would fail. The problem with that was, despite the fact that he didn't show it, Konjyoyaki's health was deteriorating little by little every day. By his own calculations, if he didn't constantly over exert himself, he had about two years left before the damage to his lungs became too much.
Quite frankly, he was amazed that he was still able to do all the things he was in his prime. He supposed that he would have to credit that to his... tou-san. Even in his mind, the word was filled with disdain. Mostly because the man had provided both the problem and the 'cure' at the same time. But that wasn't the point, because he also knew Mr. N. was looking for something. And he knew that it would take a while to find. Therefore, Konjyoyaki had a little time to rest. But, he still knew that the man would become more active even before his little 'project' was completed.
That brought about Konjyoyaki's second worry: Naruto. He would admit, the kid's progress in his training was impressive. It just wasn't enough. It had also taken six months to get to where he was at now, he didn't know if he would have even close to that same amount of time anytime soon, of before it was too late, for that matter.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that they would be hard pressed to beat Mr. N. the simple fact of the matter was that he had more time, more leverage, more knowledge on their activities, and probably more resources and help. They would need to get at least one of these to stand a chance at winning, and straight away Konjyoyaki knew that victory would lie within man-power, as that was the asset he could attain easiest.
He already knew who he would need to talk to for help, but he wanted to put that off for now. Approaching him would prompt Mr. N. to become more aggressive, and Naruto just wasn't ready. He also wanted to put off asking for help because he knew that something was expected of him in return, something Naruto could help him with, but he wanted to keep Naruto out of it for as long as possible. Simply, it was a game of biding time, and Konjyoyaki didn't have much. He needed to stop thinking for now to relieve some stress.
/
Naruto was awoken the next morning with Konjyoyaki nudging him in the side with his foot. Right away Naruto could tell that the man didn't get much sleep and had spent most of the night trying to clear his thoughts. The man may have tried to hide it, but Naruto could tell after spending so much time with him. It had happened before, after all. Turning his blue eyes away for a moment, Naruto saw the sun about a quarter way above the horizon.
The next thing he knew, something was dropped on his chest and he was told to go bathe. So, rubbing the remaining sleep from his eyes and giving a good stretch, the blonde hopped to his feet and did as instructed. After a good soak, he saw that the thing tossed onto his chest was a brand new uniform, shoes and tie included.
The blonde soon walked out from behind the trees, the red cloth of the tie visibly poking out from his pocket and his pendant in its place. He had his green blazer thrown over his shoulder and was carrying his old uniform under his left arm, thinking he might find a use for the scrap later. He found Konjyoyaki leaning against his car and received a nod from the one armed man before he was tossed a food bar before being told to get in the car.
The blonde obliged, shrugging on his blazer as he climbed into the orange vehicle, not really bothered by he man's passive-aggressiveness, having long grown used to it. In an unrelated topic, he had to admit Konjyoyaki was right, the colour really was starting to grow on him. He didn't fully buy the fact that the orange car was the first one he found that he could easily steal, but didn't really think any different of the man.
After hooking his belt and beginning to slowly eat his breakfast, Konjyoyaki climbed in, hooked his own belt, and started the car, the only sounds being the engine and the sound of loose gravel being shifted around by the tires. When they met paved road, though, it was only the engine and Naruto's occasional bites.
The two met no one on the country roads, and the scenery soon started to blend together. The car's environment soon became extremely monotonous, especially without Naruto's spread out bites to add variety to the interior once he had finished the bar. It soon became taking, he only reason the radio wasn't playing being the fact that neither man knew of it's existence. Naruto had once asked about the strange panel with knobs and display, but Konjyoyaki couldn't find anything about it in his manual, and wasn't willing to just 'start messing with shit', as Naruto had so eloquently put the first time. So, it came down to who would break the silence first.
It was, of course, Naruto, about half an hour after they had initially set off. While stopped at a red-light placed at a remote intersection, Naruto turned to his crippled teacher and asked the probing, "Hey, Kon?" he received a grunt in response as the light turned green and the man took his hand from the wheel and shifted to a higher gear after taking off before returning the appendage, prompting the blonde a seat over to continue. "I was wondering, back during the school festival, when you were singing," momentarily, Naruto noticed a slight grimace come to Konjyoyaki's face before he continued, "it sounded like you were p;acing hidden messages in the lyrics and trying to tell me something without actually coming out and saying it. Now, I'm not gonna' question why, since you got me and Mizore-chan together, but I want to know what you were trying to tell me."
Naruto could see Konjyoyaki smirk even before he was finished speaking, obviously finding something he had said amusing. "You know, not every message requires you to read between the lines. In fact, most of those lyrics you could take for face value." Naruto tilted his head slightly in a gesture for Konjyoyaki to continue. The man remained silent, though, concentrating as he once again shifted gears, the car drifting slightly at the higher speed. As he regained control, Konjyoyaki continued. "It's very simple, really. I've seen a lot in my life, and a lot has happened to me, as you know." Here, Konjyoyaki's smirk softened and turned bittersweet. "I've lost people whom I both respect and care for, whether they be dead, or just gone. I know that we're in for a tough battle when the enemy finally makes his move, and I'm being forced to work with you because you're the only ally I have right now that's actually worth shit."
Despite Konjyoyaki's slightly harsh words, the blonde had grown on him. During their time together, he had gotten to witness Naruto's tenacity full force, and had to admit he was impressed. He was definitely determined, and completed any task given to him with the best of his ability. The blonde still had his faults that got on his nerves, no doubt, but he still had a greater respect for the kid than before. That was why he didn't tell Naruto that he was dying.
He was sure that it wouldn't affect the blonde too much, hell, it might even relieve him, but Konjyoyaki wasn't willing to risk it. He didn't want to mess with the kid's head that way right now. He couldn't afford to. He needed Naruto to be in a healthy emotional and mental state at all times to preform at peak efficiency. He just couldn't risk it.
Beside him, he could hear Naruto grumble a bit. "Yeah, well, you don't have to be a jackass about it." Naruto never saw Konjyoyaki wistfully shake his head slightly, an amused smile on his face. All the blonde thought was that at least he had killed some time, and it wouldn't be that much longer to their destination. Or so he thought.
/
It was another hour before the car reached a familiar tunnel. By this time, the scenery had become a bit more residential, the various houses giving something for Naruto to look at to avoid being too bored. His eyes lit up at seeing the tunnel, though. He remembered it from the first time he had arrived at Youkai Academy. Of course, with that memory came the image of the bus driver. Naruto didn't say this often, but that dude was one crazy mofo. Even thinking about it sent his spine tingling.
Of course, he also remembered meeting Tsukune on that bus. It was still funny at how awkward the boy was, and remembering how he scared the brunette. And to think, all he wanted at the time was a friend. Oh well, he had them now. That was what counted, right? Of course it was. So, it was with a contented, nostalgic smile on his face that the car pulled into the tunnel.
All the flashing and swirling lights caught Naruto off guard, as lost in his memories as he was. He didn't show any outward signs of shock, however, besides a slight widening of the eyes and his back straightening a bit. After seeing this once, it was a lot easier to take in.
Before long, a white light was visible and growing rapidly. Konjyoyaki put more pressure on the accelerator, blasting the car faster towards the brilliant light and out of the tunnel. Naruto was forced to squint his eyes from the shock and when they opened again, he saw the familiar grey, dead trees that marked the Youkai Academy woods.
He was about to thank Konjyoyaki for the ride and get out of the car before he realized that the man hadn't stopped yet. Instead, he made a sharp right turn into the wood, the car pitching forward as he did so. Naruto's head almost smashed into the dashboard, put he managed to stop he momentum by placing his hand on the surface, refusing to let go afterwards, forgetting about the 'holy shit' handles, as he had dubbed them after Konjyoyaki explained their use straight from the book.
"What the fuck?" the blonde yelled out as the orange car swerved dangerously around trees. Konjyoyaki's face remained impassive as he violently jerked the wheel sideways, sending the car into a spin before it was facing the way it came. With that, he calmly turned off the engine and got out of the car. A few seconds of staring forward like a zombie and white-knuckled gripping of the dashboard later, Naruto followed, a bit more aggressively. "Hey, what the hell was that?" he shouted, wanting to know what possessed the man to cause him and drive so the blonde's life flashed before his eyes.
Konjyoyaki just dug through the trunk before he retrieved a duffel bag and tossed it to the surprised blonde. "That's yours," was all he said before getting out a tarp and closing the trunk. Naruto just stared, bag in hand, as Konjyoyaki spread the blue material over his car and secured it down. That down, the man looked back, seeing Naruto not moving. "What are you doing? Go to the academy, get your schedule, and meet up with your friends. I'll see you later, but I have things to do now." Naruto stared a few seconds longer before just letting it go. He would probably never now what that was about, and probably didn't want to, for that matter. With that, he flung his bag over his shoulder and started off in the direction of the school.
/
It was easy enough to navigate his way through the woods, he was a shinobi, after all, but it was as annoying as hell. The main reason for that was that Naruto didn't even know where he was starting from, thanks to a certain cripple who probably learned to drive from an asshole bus driver who shouldn't be on the road in the first place. In short, the blonde didn't know what fucking direction to go in.
Though, thanks to the previously state skills Naruto had been honing, he soon got a good feel for which direction to go in. closing his eyes and focusing, he could soon here the faint sounds of other students making their way around the school. What's more, he could also feel people in that direction. Konjyoyaki had only touched on energy sensing during their training, stating it would be a waste to focus on a skill the blonde would neither master nor truly use regularly. It seemed what he was taught was enough, though.
So, now with his destination located, Naruto made off in that direction, not really bothering to get there as fast as he could. Of course, with his recent speed increase, Naruto had lost any previous gauge of his speed he had had was now gone. The blonde pretty much flew through the woods, bursting out of the trees and startling a small group of students talking nearby. Naruto watched them run off, idly making a note to himself. "Okay, need to work on going a bit slower."
That out of the way, Naruto just walked along as if nothing had happened. He went a bit wide-eyed at seeing the school when he came to it, though. It was definitely larger and it looked like this design was a bit more extravagant than before. In the end, it was still a glorified cathedral in architectural sense.
Naruto's shock soon passed and he carried on to the office to get his schedule like most of the other people who hadn't found their friends yet. As he was walking along, the blonde saw a flash of colour out of the corner of his eye. He stopped in his tracks and turned to fully look at the person who caught his attention. A smirk soon formed on his face as he made his way to the unsuspecting individual.
/
Mizore was just walking along, looking for her friends among the crowd of students. It was a seemingly impossible task, considering just how many people around her there were, but she wouldn't give up. Among all of her friends, there was one in particular that she wanted to see, however.
Naruto. She had thought about him everyday since the school had been closed down, remembering their first kiss and the night they had become a couple constantly. It didn't help that her mother was constantly going on about how the wedding was going to be wonderful and how she couldn't wait.
Regardless, Mizore was hoping that Naruto would ask her to marry him. The two may have started out as just friends, but now she felt such a stronger connection to him. But for now, she just wanted to see him again. That alone fueled her search in looking for the blonde. Maybe she would find Zetsu and he could help her.
That would have to be put on hold, though, as suddenly her eyes were covered, seeing only darkness. The girl stiffened, preparing to floor the person who was touching her, when she heard a voice and stopped. "Guess who. I know it's been a while, but maybe this will help jog your memory." with that, Mizore felt the person turn her around, remove her lollipop, and kiss her passionately, the hands now gone but her eyes still closed.
As the kiss ended, a smile came to her face and she opened her deep blue eyes. "Naruto-kun," she said happily. The blonde matched her happiness with a cheeky grin.
"Who were you expecting?" his question was answered by another kiss, Mizore throwing her arms around his neck and shoving her tongue into his mouth. Naruto reciprocated by placing his hands on her hips and using his own tongue. While it was true neither had ever done this before, they were to happy to care.
The couple's blissful moment was ruined by another familiar voice. "Hey, get a room why don't you?" the two removed their heads from one another to look at who had spoken, only to see Zetsu. The disguised, twin-toned man was leaning against a nearby tree, his arms crossed over his chest.
The green-haired man pushed off from the tree and approached his two friends. "Hey, haven't seen you in a while, Zetsu," said Naruto, trying to make idle talk as Mizore playfully snatched her candy back. The man shrugged.
"I took the liberty of exploring the world a little more. There's some pretty interesting stuff here." Mizore didn't say anything, knowing that this was a talk between two people from a different world entirely. It was sometimes hard to remember that. "So, I heard Konjyoyaki-san was training you. How did that go?"
"As well as you expect." as he said that, Naruto put his arm around Mizore's shoulder, prompting the girl the rest her head on his arm. "So, what do you guys say we find the others? Tsukune's probably praying for some relief in one form or another right about now." Naruto received agreement on both ends and soon the three were off.
/
As Naruto predicted, Tsukune was in trouble. Not that it was much of a surprise. Then again, most males at the school would envy him right now, and probably would kill him for his place. Hell, people had tried to kill him for that very reason. As of that moment, Tsukune was being fought over by Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari. Suddenly, the youngest one switched her attention from grabbing Tsukune's leg to groping Moka's breasts, causing most males watching to blush and get perverted ideas. Naruto, Mizore, and Zetsu all shook their heads in amusement and started towards their friends, the latter hanging back behind the other two.
Tsukune was having trouble breathing. For a while now, his friends had been fighting over him. He had only arrived minutes ago before he was seemingly tracked down and attacked. Kurumu had immediately attached him to her marvelous bust while Yukari began to claw at his leg like a lonely kitten. Moka had been pulling him back from the blue-haired succubus, but then something happened and he was fully caught captive in the marshmallows that were Kurumu's boobs.
Blackness was slowly encroaching on the edges of his vision, and most of the rest was obstructed by yellow, but out of the small percentage that wasn't, Tsukune thought he saw several figure approaching him. Of course, he could just be delusional from the lack of oxygen. He didn't really know.
Luckily for Tsukune, or his health, at least, he wasn't hallucinating. There were actually people coming for him. He realized this when he heard a cool, quiet voice that he remembered after all this time. "Hey, you trying to kill him or something Kurumu? I thought the idea was to sleep with him first." Kurumu turned around, releasing Tsukune and allowing the boy to breath, looking for who had spoken to her along with Moka and Yukari. They were pleasantly surprised to find Mizore and two more of their friends.
"Mizore-chan," said Kurumu happily, walking towards her friend, the others behind her, though Tsukune was a little cautious in case he was grabbed again. "I see you found Naruto and Zetsu." As she said this, she regarded both in turn with her eyes. Suddenly, an idea came to her as a smirk formed on her face. She leaned in close to the taller girl and whispered to her, making sure to be loud enough for the others to hear. "So, what about you? Have you and Naru-kun slept together yet?"
Both Naruto and Mizore blushed a bit at the question, knowing the implications of what was being asked. While it was true they had technically slept together, it wasn't in the way Kurumu meant. "N-not exactly," Mizore stuttered out quickly.
Kurumu just grinned though. "Oh, calm down, you know I'm just playing." With that, she let out a soft chuckle. With that over, the group began to drift apart a little, the girls circling around one another and the guys doing the same.
"So," Tsukune began slowly, "How have you guys been?" Naruto and Zetsu shared a small, unseen glace, and the moment their eyes met, they agreed that they wouldn't tell the brunette things he didn't need to know.
"You know, fucked some shit up, killed a few people, stuff like that," Naruto said with a shrug. Deep down, Tsukune knew he should be disturbed both by what was said and how it was so causally talked about, but he didn't really expect much else from the blonde. And he didn't regret befriending him. He may be some homicidal, immortal, ninja monster thing, but that wasn't really the point. With that sorted out, he turned to Zetsu.
Sensing it was his turn, the twin-toned man replied simply with, "I visited a few countries."
The brunette waited for more, and when it didn't come, he prodded a bit. "Such as...?"
Zetsu just shrugged. "All I'll say is don't stray to far from Japan. This world is fucked up." Tsukune and Naruto just sweat-dropped.
/
Eventually, the friends had to depart and find their home rooms. Those who hadn't yet gotten their schedules went to get them and find out where they needed to go in the first place. Naruto finally got his after a long wait in line and quickly headed to the first room number printed on the paper.
Truthfully, he was hoping he wasn't too late. He didn't really want to make that bad of a first impression and have the teacher hounding him for the rest of the year. He was also hoping that he had a friend in home room. But, really, he just wanted it to be Mizore. The reason was obvious enough, he was dating the girl, after all, and hadn't seen his love for six months. It was hard on him, truly, and he really wanted to catch up.
Another, more strange, thing he was hoping for was to have Konjyoyaki as a teacher. Half a year ago, he would have wanted as little to do with the man as possible, regardless of his disposition of him. All the problems that surrounded Naruto to begin with, and Konjyoyaki seemed to want to instigate something with the root of the problem almost. If he was honest, Naruto was actually willing to forget about the man who caused him to come here. Sure, he wanted revenge for Haku, but if it meant Mizore would be in danger, he would forget all about it. But besides that, Naruto had learned something about Konjyoyaki. He was human, he had emotions, and he cared about people. The man could try to hide that all he wished, but Naruto knew the truth.
That was besides the point, though. The blonde knew hoping never helped. Jashin-sama no longer had any pull in the plains of existence besides his own. Only through his followers could he actually have any semblance of a presence elsewhere. What happened happened, and only through actions could one affect the outcome. With that in mind, Naruto opened the door and entered the classroom.
He sighed as he crossed the threshold and took two steps, then stopped. He blinked and then just stared into the room, his face a blank mask. Pretty soon, the other occupants turned to look at him. A staring match ensued, and pretty soon, all participants were grinning. One of the ones already in the room soon got up and quickly approached the blonde.
"Naruto-kun," called out Mizore excitedly. Naruto reciprocated as he embraced her in a hug, almost giddy with happiness, though managing to keep cool, even as Mizore reached up to place a quick peck on his cheek. That was when the blonde noticed something. Before he left, he and Mizore were almost the same height, him being slightly taller. Now he was definitely a few inches higher than her, almost Tsukune's height, actually.
Speaking of the by, he was smiling at him from a desk near the window, Moka Kurumu, and Yukari all sitting near him. Even Zetsu was there, standing in a corner, a smirk on his face. Looking back towards the front of the room, Naruto saw Nekonome, the newspaper club supervisor. She had an amused smirk on her face, and let the little display go on. Konjyoyaki was missing, but that was something the blonde could easily live with.
Everyone was soon asked to take a seat as the feline-like woman began the same speech as last year about this being a monster school. Naruto sat with his friends, making sure to be next to Mizore. "Looks like the whole gangs back together, eh?" he whispered. But, despite his current good mood, Naruto knew deep down that this year would be filled with more shit than the last.
/
So this is out a bit later than I wanted. What can I say, I was busy playing Fable 3. It's awesome, and I highly recommend it. That aside, I was busy with other pursuits as well. I finally got a job. Yeah, I'm a tutor. Not the most lucrative expenditure, but hey, it pays nine dollars an hour. Nonetheless, this hopefully won't interfere with my stories too much. So, stay tuned, as next chapter, problems quickly arise for Naruto and the gang. This has been another chapter by your fellow author, Acolyte of Truth, totaling 5,846 words!