Author's note : Hey, hope y'all are having a good day. Here's the new chapter, sorry for taking so long!

Disclaimer : Joker-chan no own Naruto desu~ See how bad my Japanese is? There you have it, I don't own Naruto. Just the plot of this story, ne?

Inherited Will of Fire

It's a Monday morning, so the students have to go to the academy. Sakura is no exception, but like a small portion of the student body she trains before going to the academy. She either trains in a forest or goes for a morning jog before going to get breakfast at a Dango shop and meeting with a ninja by the name of Anko Mitarashi and her best friend Ino Yamanaka.

That was her every day schedule for the morning.

Today however, just as she was heading towards the shop she was suddenly dragged off by none other than Naruto Uzumaki who didn't even notice her confused frown as he continued babbling about a prank he wanted to do.

Shisui, her ghost friend, being one to just go with the flow merely followed the eccentric blond as he dragged off Sakura.

'Where did Naruto even come from?' Sakura could only wonder as she was dragged off to an apartment complex.

"I have the things in here." Naruto informed walking up the stairs.

"I see."

"And I cleaned up the place just for you, dattebayo!" He exclaimed with a grin stopping in front of one of the doors and opening it.

"Pardon the intrusion." Sakura mumbled politely as she stepped inside.

At first glance the apartment did seem clean, but if one looked closely they'd notice that most of the stuff were either shoved under Naruto's bed or in his closet. 'I'll have to stop by one day to clean.' She mentally noted.

"Here." Naruto said holding out two spray cans for her, one pink and one green.

"What are we going to do?" Sakura asked tilting hear head to the side.

"We're going to decorate those boring brown fences in the village." Naruto said with a mischievous grin holding up his own two cans, one yellow and the other blue.

"Won't we get in trouble?"

"Not if we don't get caught."

Sakura glanced at Shisui who merely shrugged, "Might be some good evading training." He stated.

Sakura let out a defeated sigh. "I'll follow your lead then Naruto."

Naruto grinned. "Don't worry, they won't be able to catch us!"

They did catch the two. Rather easily may Sakura add. Hilariously in Shisui's opinion.

Sakura could only lower her head down in shame as she stood in front of her class tied up with Naruto by a rope with Iruka scolding them.

"How many times to I have to tell you to stop causing problems for people Naruto? A ninja shouldn't be doing such things!"

"It's not like we hurt them or anything, dattebayo!" Naruto loudly whispered in defiance also looking down in shame.

"And you Sakura! I expected this from Naruto, but never would I have imagined something like this from you. To think I thought you were a good influence for Naruto, but it seems I'm clearly mistaken."

Sakura flinched at the disappointed tone, if there was one thing she hated it was disappointing someone, she wanted to always reach people's expectations, not reach bellow it.

"H-hai, I'm sorry Iruka-sensei." Sakura mumbled in apology.

"I'll have to tell your parents about this."

Sakura's eyes widened. No, Iruka can't do that! Especially not now that she's slowly but surely fixing the bonds between herself and her parents. If they hear about this, then things would surely go back to the way they were up until two days ago. Sakura couldn't let that happen.

"Sakura-chan had nothing to do with it, I was the one who forced her!" Naruto immediately yelled in Sakura's defense.

Iruka stayed quiet for a moment before looking at the girl who was still looking down in shame, "Is that true?"

'Say yes!'

It would be easy to do that, huh? But she couldn't let Naruto take on the punishment for both their actions. She's not the type to not own up to her own actions, so with a nervous gulp she shook her head.

"I was in on the whole thing Iruka-sensei. Naruto didn't force me at all." She said in a clear tone looking up to face her teacher, a slight glint of defiance in her eyes. "I'll take any punishment for my actions."

"Sakura-chan..."

"Alright then, I'll let you two off easy this time. After the academy you two will have to clean up your mess, is that clear?"

"Hai." Both Sakura and Naruto chorused.

"Get to your seats."

It wasn't long after that event that lunch came around, the usual routine was that Sakura would try to ask Shikamaru to join her and Naruto for lunch only to be dragged off by the latter who didn't want Sakura forgetting about him. That was before Yota...happened.

So today Sakura stood her ground making Naruto confused. Sakura always complied to his selfishly childish whims after all. However Sakura merely motioned him to wait as she quietly woke Shikamaru up.

"What do you want?" The lazy boy grumbled rubbing his eyes tiredly, recently he had begun training in his clan techniques after all, and controlling shadows was not an easy feat.

"I wanted to extend an invitation to eat together with Naruto, Ino-chan, Chouji-kun and I." Sakura awkwardly said, she can't be overly familiar or else it would seem suspicious. And she knew that Shikamaru was smarter than he let on.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru yawned as he stood up and began walking away.

Taking that as a yes (much to Naruto's confusion), Sakura followed Shikamaru while Naruto followed Sakura. They made an odd trio consisting of a prankster, a serious academic and the lazy boy. Even Iruka and Mizuki sent them an odd look as they passed by them on the way to Ino and Chouji's class.

Opening the door to the mostly empty class the trio walked in, their attention immediately drawn to a one-sided argument between a blonde girl, Ino, and a chubby boy, Chouji.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you shouldn't let them walk over you like that! Shikamaru and I won't always be there to defend you, so you have to learn to stand up for yourself too!"

Chouji frowned. "But I don't like fighting."

Sakura smiled slightly at Chouji's pacifist nature, "Ino-chan!" She called interrupting the argument.

Surprised, Ino turned towards Sakura, "Sakura! I thought you were sick or something since you didn't show up in the morning!" She grinned making her way to her flower completely forgetting about the lecture she was giving.

Sakura sent Chouji a discreet wink making the boy realize that she had interrupted on purpose. He sent her a shyly thankful smile to which she only shrugged at as Shikamaru motioned Chouji to come down, much to the chubby boy's surprise. Usually they ate together in the classroom near the window to look at the clouds.

"Ino-chan, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend Naruto." Sakura said once Ino was in front of her.

"This troublemaker? I've heard about him before, but who knew he kinda looked like me?" Ino asked, to Naruto it seemed like she was being a bit snobbish, but everyone else knew she was just teasing. "You're not trying to replace me, are you Sakura?"

"No way!" Sakura denied with a giggle.

"Looks like this is turning out great." Shisui noted with a grin of his own, happy that Sakura was getting the hang of socializing.

"I was wondering if we could all eat together today?"

"With these two?" Ino asked motioning to Shikamaru and Chouji with a confused look.

"Is that a problem?" Sakura asked with a worried look.

"No, no, just surprised. You usually don't go out of your way like this." Ino explained.

"Oh..well," glancing shyly at the two who sent her inquiring looks she answered. "I just wanted to make new friends, and they s-seemed nice."

"T-that sounds nice." Chouji spoke up much to Ino and Shikamaru's surprise, "I-I mean I-I'd like for all of u-us to b-be f-friends..." he trailed off.

Shikamaru sighed. "I guess as long as we can have a view of the clouds."

"I guess if Sakura-chan wants to." Naruto agreed, though secretly he hoped he could make new friends as well.

"Then I guess it's settled, huh?" Ino grinned. "Any place in mind Sakura-chan?"

Sakura smiled. "I know the perfect-"

"Arf!"

And suddenly Sakura was staring at the ceiling with a dazed look as a white puppy licked her cheeks.

"Akamaru, what are you doing?!" A familiar voice yelled.

"Oi, get your mutt off of her!" Both Ino and Naruto yelled at the boy.

Sakura couldn't help but giggling. "It's alright, Akamaru here's a good boy." She informed as she patted Akamaru on the head sitting up.

Kiba observed quietly as Sakura stood up hugging Akamaru to herself with a fond smile. "That's odd, Akamaru usually doesn't like strangers." He noted with a questioning look directed at Sakura.

Sakura however shrugged, she herself didn't know why Akamaru took such a quick liking to her.

"Maybe Akamaru still has his memories?" Shisui guessed.

Eyes slightly widening Sakura looked down at a happy Akamaru. "You remembered...?" She whispered.

"Arf!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Guys, break will be over if we keep chatting." Shikamaru informed.

"Then, would you two like to join us?" Sakura asked Kiba.

"Really?!" He excitedly asked before coughing. "I mean, yeah sure, why not? Akamaru seems like he likes you anyways." He coolly said making Sakura and Ino giggle at his try to be cool.

Sakura led the group to a forest clearing. "Is this okay?" She asked as the others looked around.

"This place..." Naruto trailed off with a frown.

"Kinda seems familiar." Kiba finishes.

"There's a lot of forests in the village, so that isn't surprising." Shikamaru said, even though he himself couldn't help but feel an odd sense of deja vu.

It isn't long after that the group immediately clicks. Shikamaru laying against the tree contently watching Chouji, Naruto and Kiba play after declining their offer to join in. Sakura and Ino laying near Shikamaru as well while playing with Akamaru who was pleased at the attention he was getting.

Shikamaru lazily looked up at the sky filled with countless clouds, a lazy smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 'I can get used to this.' Was his last thought before he closed his eyes for a nap.

That day the whole group decided to skip classes to just hang out despite knowing that they'll get in trouble with their parents.

And Shisui caught a Hyuuga girl spying on them. He'll have to tell Sakura about it later.

"Don't you two have to go clean up as punishment?" Shikamaru suddenly asked once he, Sakura and Naruto reached the empty academy in order to pack their stuff.

Naruto and Sakura shared a panicked look. "We gotta go!" Both yelled grabbing their bags and running away leaving dirt behind.

"Hey, where did Naruto and Sakura-chan go?" Chouji asked walking up to Shikamaru.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru shrugged with an amused look, before noticing that Ino was missing. "Where's Ino?"

"Said she had to have a talk with Kiba about something." Chouji shrugged.

Both can guess that it had something to do with not tainting a certain cherry blossom.

Later that day Hinata walks home feeling sad.

'Why didn't I ask to join them?' She wondered to herself recalling how badly she wanted to eat with Naruto and the others.

But she was too scared they would think she's weird and say no.

Naruto and Sakura drowned out Iruka yelling at them for being delinquents and playing hooky as they scrubbed the graffiti off of the fences.

"Do I really have to clean this?" Naruto suddenly asked looking at the writings of how he'll become Hokage written on the fence.

"Yes." Iruka bluntly said before he continued his lecture.

"This sucks." Naruto pouted but complied anyways, if only to make sure Sakura doesn't start nagging too. Don't get him wrong, Sakura-chan is awesome but she can be quite a nag.

"Iruka-sensei, don't you have to grade our tests?" Sakura asked.

"I already did."

"You're a good teacher."

"Flattery won't make me let you two off." Iruka informed crossing his arms. "Although it does get you two some ramen when you're done."

Naruto grinned increasing his speed while Sakura smiled at Iruka's tsundere behavior.

"You two seem happy." Yoshino Nara, the mother of Shikamaru Nara, states as she looks at Chouji and Shikamaru. Okay, Chouji seemed happy. Shikamaru was as lazy as usual. But since Chouji's happy, Shikamaru surely is as well, deep inside anyways.

"We made some new friends today auntie." Chouji says with a small grin.

"Is that so? I'd like to meet them."

"Mom..." Shikamaru groaned.

"What? I want to see who you two hang out with." Yoshino argued.

"Me too." Shikaku suddenly spoke up entering the dining room. "It's rare for you two to willingly talk to anyone aside from Ino." He explained the silent question.

"My mom and dad will probably want to too." Chouji thoughtfully said.

"Then it's settled! I'll talk with them and we can work out when. Make sure to inform your friends."

"How troublesome."

Iruka slurped on his noodles as he and his two students chatted with one another. "Come to think of it, why did you even go along with Naruto's prank Sakura?" He asked directing his gaze to Sakura.

Sakura blinked at him, a thoughtful look spreading on her face. "I guess it seemed like fun." She shrugged.

'To think that my currently number one ranked student is secretly a prankster.'

"Knock that goofy smile off." Hana Inuzuka, the older sister of Kiba says poking Kiba's forehead with a chopstick. "It's creepy."

"Shut up, ya old hag!" Kiba replies as he chewed on his food.

"Come on now you two, be civil." Tsume Inuzuka, the mother of these two and head of the Inuzuka clan, chides her two children before leaning in closer to her youngest. "So what's got you so happy as a dog that just got a juicy meat?"

"Nothing!"

"I bet he has a crush." Hana says with a sly smile.

"I don't! I just made some friends today, right boy?"

"Arf!"

"That's a surprise." Hana says, though secretly she's happy for her little brother.

"Who would be crazy enough to put up with you?" Tsume mockingly asks before shrugging. "It doesn't matter, just don't go doing stupid things with your friend."

"Does skipping class to play ninja count?" Kiba nervously asks.

"Did your teachers caught you?"

"No."

"Then no, it isn't stupid."

'What kind of logic is that?'

'After all a ninja must be able to hide and evade their enemies. It's good training I suppose. Besides, knowing Kiba he wouldn't be able to sit still anyways, so it's good that he's doing something productive. I guess his new friends aren't bad pups.' Tsume thinks to herself as Hana changes the topic.

"What? There was a girl spying on us?" Sakura asks as she sets up her targets in order to practice her Shurikenjutsu, an art Shisui wants her to perfect for some odd reason.

"Yeah, she clearly belongs to the Hyuga clan." Shisui informs.

"My age, Hyuuga clan, female...oh. You're talking about Hinata? Who knew she would stalk us for no reason?" Sakura wondered.

"Hinata? She's the heiress of the Hyuga clan, isn't she? She was involved in the Hyuga affair."

"Hyuga affair?"

"Oh, right you don't know about that, do you?"

"Nope."

"Well if you manage to hit all your targets at in the middle I'll tell you the story."

Sakura nodded, she felt more enthusiastic now that she has a challenge.

Chapter End.

A/N : Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter. Next chapter will probably focus on something other than the academy.

Questions :

1. Which ninja do you respect the most?

2. If you can choose anyone to become Hokage who would it be and why?

My answers :

1. Rock Lee. There isn't any ninja that I respect more than him. He can't use Ninjutsu nor Genjutsu, only Taijutsu. And look how hard-working he is. It just brings me to tears, because I love his character. I wish that they would have made another series where he's the main character. In my opinion he's the one who taught me never to give up and that training pays off. He taught be that even if I don't have everything handed out to me, with enough dedication I can reach my goals. For that, he will always have a special place in my heart. Always.

2. Anko. Imagine the hilarious craziness and madness that would follow. Or I would choose Sakura. 'Cause she's kind of qualified to become Hokage, well at least during Shippuden considering she was Tsunade's apprentice and would surely know her way around being a Hokage.