Me: I do not own Naruto~

Prejudice

"Kasumi-chan!" Naruto whined, digging his heels into the ground desperately. "This isn't necessary, I swear!"

Kasumi frowned at her blonde teammate, dragging him behind her with both hands gripping his left hand. Naruto was being stubborn, but Kasumi could be stubborn, too. "Of course it is," She said, exasperated. "We've been over this. Your current attire isn't at all suitable for a ninja!"

Contrary to popular expectations, being a ninja didn't always mean being able to hide in the shadows. That was normally left for infiltration missions or Anbu. The majority of shinobi, especially genin and chunin, were expected to be able to blend seamlessly into civilian crowds.

Kasumi, being endlessly pragmatic, had decided to do both, hence her casual outfit that just so happened to possess green, a key trait to blending in in the forests around Konohagakure, and black, a key trait for blending in anywhere else.

Sasuke, being arrogant and also intelligent, had chosen to do the former of the two, with sides of the latter. His attire was casual, trendy enough that no one would give it a second glance, and the blue was deep enough that it wasn't particularly conspicuous.

On the other hand, Naruto's outfit did neither of the two. It was true that the blonde had spectacular stealth skills, but that amount of orange seriously had to go before they ended up with the need to hide and his jumpsuit screamed 'here I am; come and kill us!'.

"There's nothing wrong with my jumpsuit!" Naruto insisted stringently, eyeing the approaching clothing store with horror. "It's awesome!"

Kasumi sighed and glanced over at her current ally. "Sasuke-san." Her strength was growing, but she'd rather not lug Naruto all the way to the store on her own.

"Hn." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's other arm, to the blonde's dismay, and began to tow him over to the nightmarish location. If there was anything that Kasumi and Sasuke agreed on, it was that Naruto's wardrobe needed to be changed.

"NOOO!" Naruto howled, kicking his legs and flailing as his teammates bodily hauled him over to the shop. This only ended up with him on his front, being yanked over the rough road. Both Kasumi and Sasuke ignored his squeals for them to let him go, and don't they dare touch his precious jumpsuit, and - ow! - the road was rough so they should really let him go!

They also paid no attention to the strange looks they were getting from everyone on the street who had looked over to try and determine what the loud yelling was all about. Well, Sasuke ignored the civilians with his customary haughty coldness, and Kasumi simply offered them a kind smile and went on her way.

"Right. Here we are." Halting in front of the ninja clothing store, Kasumi breathed a sigh of relief and let Naruto go at last, tucking a strand of platinum hair behind her ear. Sasuke carelessly dropped his part of the load, leading to Naruto collapsing face first in the middle of the road.

Shaking her head, Kasumi bent down and helped Naruto to his feet, raising an eyebrow at the pout firmly situated on the blonde's face. "Stop that, Naruto-san. I won't take away all of your orange, I promise." It was his signature look; she just needed to lessen the ratio of orange to everything else.

Naruto instantly brightened, while Sasuke gave her a look that clearly questioned her sanity. "Really, Kasumi-chan?!"

"Really." She said flatly and turned to walk into the store. "Come along now, and don't try to run away."

Naruto winced, immediately confirming her suspicion that he had been about to do just that. "But, Kasumi-chan... I really don't like this place."

Kasumi paused, frowning at the pain buried in her teammate's voice and the fall of his shoulders. She thought back to how she had first met Naruto four years ago and had the sudden notion that it wasn't that Naruto didn't like this place. It was this place that didn't like Naruto.

"Don't worry about it, Naruto-san." She smiled comfortingly, taking hold of his hand to his widened eyes. "Nothing bad will happen."

"But..." Indecision glimmered in cerulean eyes and Sasuke grunted, shoving Naruto lightly from his right. The Uchiha might not have the depth of knowledge that Kasumi had, but he knew Naruto about as well as she did, and that meant he was nowhere near oblivious to his struggles.

"Stop being stupid, dobe." He said bluntly. "You'll be fine."

... Which was about as close to reassurance as the Ice Prince could get.

"Shut up, teme! I'm not being stupid!" Naruto retorted, but he had relaxed and something like his usual grin was on his lips. He took a breath and faced the store, hand tightening on Kasumi's for a second. "Okay. I'm ready."

He sounded more like he was charging into a war rather than going shopping for clothes, she thought with an amused smile, but she would take it. "Alright. Come on." She didn't let go of Naruto's hand, but tugged lightly as she walked forward with smooth, graceful steps. Sasuke walked beside her, while Naruto followed them, hesitant but consenting.

A bell rang as Sasuke pushed open the door and held it open for them. She directed a grateful smile at him, and Naruto grumbled something about arrogant bastards, to Sasuke's smirk. The owner, a grey-haired old man with a friendly smile, came to greet them.

"Ah, welcome to Hotaru's Outfits! What can I do for... you...?" He trailed off abruptly as he caught sight of Naruto, and without warning, his formerly warm expression hardened. "I'm sorry, but that... boy cannot shop here. Please leave at -"

He cut himself off at Kasumi's frosty smile. Her brown eyes darkening to cold sienna - because she had felt Naruto's flinch backwards, and this was her teammate, and who did this man think he was?! - she said, "Excuse me, but perhaps you might wish to reconsider."

Polite, civilized words, but she caught his eye and soundlessly reminded him that she was a kunoichi, and here, there was only Naruto and Sasuke. The boy he had just insulted and hurt, and the teammate of said boy whose eyes glimmered cold obsidian.

And in her eyes was the knowledge that if he were to suffer a mysterious death, then there would be nobody who would bother to testify that he hadn't, in fact, tried to attack the trio of genin with a rusty pair of scissors, and they had had no choice but to kill him in self-defense.

Perhaps that was a bit extreme for the situation, but Kasumi was not going to let this blind, prejudiced old man hurt her teammate like this. Regardless, just that hint of a threat was enough to get him sweating, face paling.

The owner gulped hard, and glanced frightfully at the Uchiha Heir. He had once been a part of the Konoha Military Police Force, surely he would...! But, no, the last Uchiha gazed back at him with clear disdain and arrogant disinterest with the merest touch of anger. To this boy, he was nothing less than an ant that he hadn't decided whether or not to crush.

The old man's shoulders fell, and he had no choice back to look back at the innocent-looking girl with the cordial smile and alarming eyes. "A-Ah. You're right, of course, Miss. Feel free to browse my shop."

Kasumi's smile widened, "Perfect. I'm so happy we were able to come to an agreement." She inclined her head in 'respect' and 'gratitude', and proceeded to drag a frozen Naruto deeper in the store.

Sasuke followed his teammates, hands in his pockets, but not before he flicked a single, telling look at the pale store owner. He wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but he did know that this moron had ridiculed and hurt his teammate, and Sasuke wasn't about to stand for that.

The old man paled another shade and took a step back, terrified eyes wide, but Sasuke had already turned his back, dismissing him effortlessly in favor of finding his team.

Orange

"K-Kasumi-chan..." Naruto really wasn't sure what to say. No one had ever done something like that for him... he had always been alone in facing the glares and the abuse and the blame. "I-I... you didn't have to do that for me."

But, oh, Naruto couldn't help but be overjoyed that she had. Even the teme had showed his support, albeit in a silent way, but Naruto had never truly had... anything, anything at all, like that. He felt like jumping out of his skin with delight.

The look the kunoichi saw fit to toss him a look that was equal parts affectionately indulgent and exasperatingly scolding. "Don't be ridiculous, Naruto-san. I wanted to do that for you." She said without hesitating, and this time, he couldn't help the wide grin that broke over his face.

Before he could respond -and he didn't really know how to respond to such an overwhelming statement, to be completely honest - Kasumi switched gears with ease. "Now, do you know what size you are?"

"Uh... umm..." Naruto scratched the back of his sheepishly. He had never had any real reason to find out; it wasn't like he ever actually went shopping. "Small... maybe?"

"Hn." Sasuke announced his presence, strolling up to them all cool-like, smirking condescendingly, "Dobe."

Naruto scowled darkly, "Teme!"

"Dead-last."

"Bastard!"

"Loser."

"Assho -"

"Boys!" Kasumi cut in sharply, hands on hips, and uh-oh, Naruto knew that look of 'you-are-going-to-pay-for-slowly-leaching-away-my-sanity-and-patience-later'. He shuffled backward, shoulders hunched, and kept a careful eye for pointy senbon. Off to the side, Sasuke scoffed and turned his head, but shut his mouth, and that was what pretty much counted as capitulation from the teme.

She ran a critical eye over Naruto, who felt like squirming. "Small, definitely." She muttered, already glancing around at all of the racks of clothing that surrounded them. "Hmm... you two sit over there and no arguing please." She requested absently, gesturing to a nearby bench.

Naruto didn't feel like having to endure the damn teme for much longer, but his vibrant dislike for shopping won over. Grumbling to himself, he plopped himself down on the bench, and to his surprise, the teme actually walked over and sat next to him. Granted, it was with his arms crossed, but still.

Hey... maybe the teme hated shopping as much as he did? But... that would mean Naruto had something in common with Sasuke. Naruto thought about that for a moment, before shuddering violently. Bad thoughts, bad thoughts, go away.

Returning his attention to Kasumi, a nice, safe topic, Naruto's mouth fell open, his eyes budging out. His female teammate was flipping through the racks of clothing with a speed and professionalism that Naruto had the feeling he would never achieve. She was muttering to herself, and grabbing what looked to Naruto like random hangers of clothing and throwing them on a close chair.

There was already a small mountain of clothes. Naruto saw peaks of black and dark blue, and to his relief, bright orange. It had been his color since childhood and, while Naruto did understand what Kasumi and Sasuke were telling him when it came to bright colors and ninjas, he still loved orange and wanted to wear it.

But then, Kasumi had never broken a promise to him yet. Naruto grinned at the thought, still real giddy at the memory of what had happened not five minutes ago. Yeah, his team was awesome. Even if it was teme.

Sometime later, Kasumi finally appeared to finish and spun around to smile at her teammates. "Okay, Naruto-san, go into the dressing room and try those on please." She waved a hand towards the veritable mountain of clothing. "Throw out those you don't like and show me those that you do."

"Okay!" Grinning brightly, Naruto jumped up and snagged the whole bundle of clothes. Darting into the changing room and locking the door, he began to try them on. Somehow, he wasn't surprised when it turned out he liked most of them. Kasumi, bloodline or not, had always seemed a little supernatural in how she knew exactly what he liked.

When he had asked her once why, back in the Academy, when she'd bought him a set of classic ninja weapons like she knew that Naruto had trouble getting them cause a lot of the shop owners were like this one, Kasumi had simply smiled and said she paid attention to small details and stuff like that.

He had been somewhat dazed at the time, because not only had she remembered his birthday and gotten him a gift, she had apparently also dropped a hint or two to their classmates which resulted in an epic birthday party - they snuck out of school and went to eat Ichiraku Ramen and got scolded for it later, but Naruto still fondly remembered it as the best birthday he had ever had - but Naruto was pretty sure that was when he decided that Kasumi-chan was really, really smart.

His teammate was working with him on the whole paying attention and observation stuff, but Naruto was still near certain that he would never be able to figure out all the stuff that Kasumi did. He figured that was okay though, because she was his teammate and she would tell him what he needed to know.

Naruto glanced in the provided mirror and blinked at himself, dressed in a black shirt with an orange spiral in the middle and black pants. "Neh, Kasumi-chan?" He called out.

"What is it?"

She had told him to throw away what he didn't like and buy what he did, but... "I can't decide which ones I want." Naruto had never really had a choice when it came to what he wore and now that he did, he didn't know what to do.

He swore he could hear her smile in her voice, "Then how about you buy all of them?"

Naruto hesitated; previous experiences had taught him to be stingy with his money. "But... wouldn't that be expensive?"

"It should be below 70,000 ryo." And they had all gotten paid for their A-rank mission, so money honestly shouldn't be a problem.

But, still, Naruto hesitated. Most of the times, what he ended up paying was a lot higher than that for far less clothing. He didn't like the prejudice, but then that was why he wanted to become Hokage and have everyone acknowledge him!

"If you're worried about the store owner, I'm sure we can reason something out." Yup, Naruto thought, sweatdropping, sometimes, he seriously thought Kasumi-chan could read his mind. "And, if you buy everything that you need now, we won't need to go shopping for clothes again for a long time."

Away went all of his doubts. "Got it!" Grinning, he quickly changed back into his jumpsuit and grabbed the stuff he liked. Flinging open the door and jumping out, he found his teammates sitting on the bench, Sasuke smirking faintly and Kasumi smiling serenely.

"Ready for checkout?" She asked kindly, rising to her feet.

"Yeah!" Steeling himself, Naruto made his way to the checkout, flanked by his teammates. Like he thought, the shitty old man tried to up the price to 100, 000 yen, but before Naruto could protest indignantly, he was gently pushed aside by the kunoichi.

And then, to Naruto's awe, Kasumi somehow talked the bigoted old man into returning the price to normal and lowering it to 60,000. Naruto had the feeling it was the senbon that his teammate kept rolling around her fingers and the lazily spinning Sharingan of his other teammate.

When Team 7 finally walked out of that store to meet up with their sensei, Naruto was damn certain that they didn't need to practice their intimidation factor. He was also a little surprised that his grin hadn't split his face yet.

"Oi, dobe." Sasuke said as they made their way to the bridge.

"Yeah?" He was too happy to muster up any annoyance at the teme.

"Why did that store owner hate you so much?"

It was a clearly offhand, curious question. But Naruto found himself freezing up, grasping for a satisfactory answer. "Umm... uhh..." What had Kasumi-chan said? The best lie held a grain of truth in it.

"I stole something from him when I was a kid!" He blurted out, staring down at the road. He didn't have to fake a shamed expression onto his face, because he had stolen out of necessity before; it just wasn't why the store owner actually hated him.

There was a beat of silence. Naruto didn't dare look at either of his teammates, afraid of what he would see. And then,

"Naruto-san, you know how to steal?" Kasumi asked, and to his absolute bewilderment, he thought he might have heard an undertone of admiration in her voice.

Naruto's head snapped up to look at her. "Uhh... yeah?" He replied uncertainly.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Sasuke demanded, and Naruto sincerely had no idea what was going on now, because the teme sounded grudgingly approving as well.

"I, err, thought that you guys would be upset to find out?" It came out as a question, rather than a statement.

"Why?" Kasumi blinked at him, looking truly confused as to how Naruto came to that conclusion.

"When I stole, I was always scolded for it." Naruto mumbled painstakingly.

He caught his teammates exchanging an exasperated look and wondered at it, feeling like he was missing something. "Naruto-san," Kasumi sighed gently, "for ninja, being able to steal is a very useful talent. Neither Sasuke-san nor I have any experience with it, so to know that you do have experience with it means our team is stronger than before."

"Oh!" Naruto had never thought of it that way before. "Is knowing how to steal that helpful?" All the adults had merely shouted and scolded him for it before.

"Hn. We're ninja, dobe." Sasuke said coolly. "That means sometimes we're tasked with retrieving an item without being noticed. That means stealing."

"So... it's a good thing?" Dubious, hopeful, Naruto glanced at Kasumi.

Her smile was tender. "It is."

Naruto grinned, perking up. Yeah, there was no doubt about it. His team was the best!

Sand

A few hours later, Naruto wasn't nearly so happy. He gritted his teeth, staring at the two strangers in front of him. The guy had some strange mummy wrapping carried around on his back and even stranger make-up on his face. The girl had golden blonde hair in four ponytails and a giant fan on her back.

All very strange, but Naruto was more concerned with the little boy the make-up guy was holding onto. "Konohamaru!" Damn it, the day's worth of missions was over and his teammates had wandered off to do their own thing. Konohamaru and his friends had showed up with a cloud of smoke - that they almost choked on -, asking to play ninja.

They had been playing tag, Naruto had been it, and he had been chasing the others around Konoha. Just their luck that Konohamaru had bumped into the weird mummy guy, and now, he had to deal with this! What the hell gave these bastards the right to wander around snatching little boys out of the street anyways?

"That hurt, you little piece of shit!" The guy snarled at Konohamaru who whimpered.

"Don't, we'll get yelled at later." The girl warned her companion.

Naruto was straight-up pissed. "Hey Fatass! Let go of him!" He yelled furiously, ready to simply beat his ass.

"Let's play a little before the boss comes." The guy smiled creepily at Konohamaru, completely ignoring Naruto.

"Bastard!" Naruto shouted, snapping his hands up in a familiar jutsu. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five clones formed with a poof of smoke and charged forward with loud war cries.

The guy only smirked and the Naruto in front caught a twitch of his finger. A second later, all of the Narutos were slipping on the ground and smacking into the concrete, dispelling in poofs of smoke. Naruto jerked his head slightly at the sudden influx of information and frowned. What the hell was that?

"Oh, Leaf genin are weak." The guy commented scornfully.

Naruto scowled, narrowing his eyes. Who did this guy think he was, insulting his village and his friends?!

"Konohamaru-chan!" Moegi and Udon called out fearfully.

"Let go of me..." He gasped weakly, hanging limply from the make-up guy's hold.

"Hey! You fat pig!" Naruto hollered, pointing a rude finger at the duo. "If you don't let him go, I'll make you pay! Fatass! Idiot!" Fleetingly, Naruto wished for his team's support, but shooed the thought away. He had to get Konohamaru back!

"Hey, you're annoying," The guy said flatly. "Basically... I hate midgets. Especially younger ones that are rude... makes me want to kill them."

"Wha...?!" Naruto gaped openly at the weirdo. Jeez, he was worse than teme! By his side, Moegi sniffed, tears rolling down her cheeks, while Udon tried to keep himself from crying, albeit without much success.

"Oh, well... I'm not involved." The girl sighed to herself.

"YOU BASTARD!" Naruto roared, fist itching to pound that guy's face in.

"Well, after this one, I'll take care of the other annoying midget!" He turned to Konohamaru and raised a fist. Naruto's eyes widened and he tensed. He wouldn't...!

The bastard swung his fist and Naruto clenched his jaw. He would! Damn him! "Hey!" He screamed, running forward with a kunai in his hand, but damn it, he wouldn't make it in time -!

A smacking sound echoed in the air, and a stone fell to the ground as the bastard hissed and drew back. Sweeping by, Naruto managed to grab Konohamaru safely in his arms and jump back to Moegi and Udon.

"Hey!" The fatass cried out, grabbing his bruised hand.

"What are you bastards doing in our village?" A familiar, arrogant voice said, and Naruto glanced up to see Sasuke crouching on a tree not far away, tossing two stones in his hand. The blonde scowled at seeing the Uchiha being all cool and smug again but couldn't help but feeling just a little, teeny-tiny bit relieved that he was here.

It was nice to know that he wasn't facing these jerks all by himself, even if it was with teme at his side. Together, they certainly wouldn't have any trouble with these assholes.

Next time:

Both Kankuro and the blonde kunoichi paled, while Gaara showed no reaction. "You... you're not going to report us, are you?" She asked, sounding scared and desperate both.

Me: Okay! We're finally getting into the Chunin Exams! Reviews~

starrat: Great!~ Here's the next one, hope you enjoy!

Anime hotty lover. 18: Yes, yes he is. Here ya go, thanks for the lovely review!

ShikiUploadz: Hmm... are you talking about the percentage that you take up? Lolz, thanks for the review, hun! Siscon or not.

Arcana The Wolf: Maybe, maybe not. :P. Lolz, Hiroshi doesn't get pissed because it's his beloved sister that springs it on him. Were he to find out that Naruto and Sasuke were involved though... thanks for the review!

lostfeather1: ;D, hmm, probably! Kasumi's sky like that. I'm so happy you enjoyed that chapter, sweetie! Chunin Exams are starting... dun, dun, dun! Thanks for the review!

Rosy Fire: Why, thank you! No, no, you haven't forgotten a Naruto arc, hun. I just thought that I might as well make well on Kasumi's promise to herself from the Wave Arc. Thanks for the review, hun!

rinievermillion: Oh yes, though normal overprotective brothers don't quite choke their sister's teammates... well, maybe they do. Well, that chapter was rather obvious to us, poor Naruto and Sasuke were clueless. Thanks for the review, dear!

Animepleasegood: Aww... thank you so much! Sasuke is terribly arrogant, but he might be mellowing out. Maybe. Haku's death was horrible to write, but yes, Kasumi did need that little push. They aren't quite at that age when Hiroshi can justify warning the boys off from Kasumi dating wise, but we're getting there! Orochimaru, that guy is creepy. We'll see what happens, ;D, thanks for the beautifully long review!

wookie. cookie: Oh yes. Poor Naruto and Sasuke, :3. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

kksambo: :o. Thank you so much for your kind words! Increasing Sasuke's crush on her... I'll work on it! ;D, Gaara... well, he's coming up! Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!

the shadow of nature: More OCs, neh? Maybe in the future... since, we already have five just from the Fumei Clan. Thanks for the review, hun!

TheQueenofGoodbyes: Lolz, I'm happy that you liked it! Thanks for the review!

Bella-swan11: Yup, the meeting between Naruto and Sasuke and Hiroshi would have happened eventually! Thanks for the review, sweetie!

Nikita: No worries! Hmm, I think it might have been both. Hiroshi's overprotective and insightful like that, XD. Sasuke... well, he's certainly being affected by Kasumi. So is Naruto for that matter. Lolz, that's why we have fanfiction! You're very welcome and thank you for the lovely review, dear!

MylaUchiha: Thank you very much!

Me: Kyaa! So many reviews! Thank you all! Hmm... check out my blog and review some more? Lolz~

Question: What animal does Kasumi remind you of?