To put it simply, Naruto had had the best, strangest week of his life, all thanks to his best friend. Who was currently a few feet in front of him leading him through the woods.

"Hard to imagine that last Friday I didn't even now you…"

As they moved through the woods all he could think about was how much everything has changed, like the first day back to school…


On his first day back, Naruto was immediately reminded that he always had hated school, and the fact he had to leave Moshiro at home only made it worse. He never had any idea why he found it so hard at school, but every time he went to class, he just found it so hard to focus! Like all his mind could do was wander. So like always, Naruto was sitting at the back of the class in the same chair he always does, trying not to draw attention to himself. But instead of napping, like he usually does, he decided to read the Fūinjutsu book, which was way more interesting then class anyway.

"What? It was NOT this hard at home…what's going on?"

Then all of a sudden he felt something…strange, like a warmth in his stomach spreading through his body then pulsing into his chair. Then as quickly as it came, it ended and he could almost feel a fog lift from his mind.

"What was that…what, what's that burning smell?"

He looked down and saw smoke leaking out from under his chair.

"AAAAA!"

Naruto yelled out as he fell of his chair and kicked it away from him, falling to the side.

"What did you do this time brat! Trying to start a fire now?"

Was all Naruto could hear as Daikoku marched up to him.

"No I swear, it wasn't me! All of a sudden the chair just…is that a-"

Before he could finish Daikoku yelled out "all right, everyone, early recess while I fix this… problem's mess."

For once the class wasn't that mad at Naruto, since early recess is still a win, but all he could think as he walked out of class was, "Was that a seal under my chair?"

With an early recess, it gave all the kids in his class a ton of time to hang with their friends. Most recess he would just go to the swing, but today he wanted to do a very un-Naruto thing…he wanted to READ. Kami, what's gotten into me?

So as everyone grouped up, Naruto headed to the shaded area at the corner of the field, a great place to be left alone and where the bigger kids in the class wouldn't find him. After sitting down, he pull out what was now one of his most prized possessions, not that he would tell anyone, and picked up where he left of in the Fūinjutsu book.

"Why was this so hard to do in class? This is a lot easier…and that thing under my chair looked a lot like a seal, what's up with that?"

As Naruto continued to read he thought he heard something moving through the bushes in front of him. After pausing and looking up, he felt himself being filed with dread. Standing not three feet from him was a very familiar white fox.

"Moshiro, what are you doing here!? You can't stay! If someone sees you they might…"

Naruto whispered as he rushed over to Moshiro to pick him up. Just as he got him in his arms, he heard something that made him freeze in place, "troublesome".

As Naruto turned toward the person that found him he tried to hide Moshiro behind his back as well as he could. Standing in front of him was one of the kids in his class. He had his spiky black hair in a ponytail on the back of his head that almost made it look like a pineapple. He had a grey short sleeved shirt on with dark brown pants. Fortunately Naruto recognized him because Daikoku kept yelling at him to stop napping in class, but it never did seem to stick.

"Heeeeey um…Shikamaru right? What you doing back here?" was all Naruto could think to say as he tried to slowly back towards the bushes, trying very hard to keep a squirming Moshiro behind him.

"Ya, I was just relaxing back here, but if you want this spot that's cool, I'll just be going this way…" One of Shikamaru's eyebrows inched up his forehead

"I now I'm going to regret asking this…but what do you have squirming behind you? Please tell me it's not Akamaru. Because if it is, I don't think Kiba will like the fact you took his dog."

Naruto was almost at the bushes, just a few more seconds…

"What? No no, it's nothing; I'll just leave you to your thing!"

Just as Naruto was about to reach home free, Moshiro had apparently had enough and leapt out of his hands landing to his side, in perfect view of Shikamaru. For what felt like an eternity, no one moved, then, someone broke the trance, as in Moshiro siting down and looking at both of them.

"Please don't tell anyone! Moshiro didn't do anything! But if they find him they will…" That was the moment Naruto realized what was going to happen to Moshiro if anyone found out about him , he saw what they would do…what Konoha always does with foxes, and they were going to do that to his best friend. So Naruto, being an 8 year old kid, did the only thing that made any sense at that moment. He closed his eyes and started to ball his eyes out.

"P-p-please don't tell anyone…you know what they do to foxes and Moshiro is my best friend…please…"

Naruto was waiting for it, the moment Shikamaru would start yelling…and he would be alone again. But he didn't all he heard was a deep sigh and then the sound of something being put on the ground and…was he setting a game board?

When he opened his eyes he saw that yes, Shikamaru was indeed setting up a board game of some kind, Naruto had never been more confused in his life.

"What are you doing?" was all he could say, now way to confused to cry. Shikamaru sighed and never taking his eyes of the board, started talking.

"Troublesome, here I was wanting a nice relaxing break watching the clouds but there are none, so I decided to play Shogi with Choji, and he forgot to bring a snack. So that means you're going to play a few rounds with me."

For a few seconds the only thing happening was Shikamaru setting the board. All Naruto could think to say was, "…what?"

Shikamaru looked up from his now set board and looked at Moshiro, and then he looked Naruto in the eye.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, your fox… Moshiro was it?"

After Naruto nodded Shikamaru sighed and leaned back, before continuing.

"It's not like he's the Kyūbi or anything, and really, it would just be to troublesome to make a big deal about it, so would you just play a few rounds of Shogi until Choji comes back, and we'll call it even, sound good?"

For a second Naruto didn't know what to do, "not only does he not hate foxes, but he wants to play with me to?"

As Naruto moved to sit in front of Shikamaru he started to smile. When Naruto as sitting on the other side of the board, he started to rub the back of his head.

"Sounds great! I just have one question though…"

As one of Shikamaru's eyebrows started to rise Naruto looked down at the board and mumbled out. "What's Shogi?"

"…troublesome."


Choji always saw himself as a very relaxed person, always taking everything in stride, but this had him stumped. After having to run out to get his chips, and taking as much time as possible to get back to Shikamaru, because if there was one thing he hated doing when eating was thinking, and Kami, did Shogi make him think. He loved Shikamaru like a brother, but he hated that game. But those thoughts stopped as he headed around the tree and honestly had no idea what to do. Shikamaru was sitting across from one of their classmates…Naruto? Ya, that's it, only at this second he had a white fox napping on his head and honestly, Naruto looked like his head was going to pop off if he thought any harder. Shikamaru didn't seem nearly as districted as Naruto was, and smiled up at him.

"Ah Choji, good to see you could join us, I'm sure you know Naruto, and his friend sleeping on his head is Moshiro."

Naruto, realizing that Choji was there, turned and gave him a week smile.

"Hey Choji…sorry bout stealing your spot, I'll-" before Naruto could move a thought popped into his head.

"If Shikamaru plays with Naruto…then I won't have to!"

Choji raised his free had and waved him back down as he sat down as an observer, crossed his legs and opened his chips. A confused Naruto shot a look at Shikamaru, who sighed

"Choji is one of the least troublesome people I now, don't worry", He said as Choji offered Naruto a chip.

"He's fine with you playing…in fact, I would say he prefers it." He added until he threw a knowing smirk at Choji, before turning back to Naruto "and I am sorry to say but, tsumi."

Was all he said as he ended the game. Naruto's head instantly shot to the board, startling Moshiro awake.

"Dam! Rematch!"

As Shikamaru re set the board, Moshir looked straight at him and jumped of Naruto's head, never breaking eye contact. After sitting down in front of Choji, he stared throwing looks at his chips.

"As if I would give you some…was nice enough to give Naruto one. There's no way you would enjoy it."

He said as he lifted the chips away from the fox, as he was about to take a few more, a blur of movement shot in front of him…and his bag of chips where gone.

Choji slowly turned toward the fox, who was now on his other side. He was sitting there with his tail waving, with his chips bag in his mouth. Choji slowly stood, never breaking eye contact with that dammed fox until he was at his full height glaring down at Moshiro, and for a second all they did was stare at each other. Then Choji opened his mouth and threw gritted teeth growled.

"Give me back my CHIPS!"

Choji started to chase Moshiro around the small clearing, with Naruto and Shikamaru just trying to figure out what to do, at least until Moshiro jumped over the Shogi board. Realizing what was going to happen next, Shikamaru turned towards Choji's charging form and as fast as he was coming all Shikamaru was able to get out was, "not the board!" as Choji charged through it. In the next instant, the air was full of Shogi chips, and all Choji could hear from behind him was Naruto bursting into laughter, and a "troublesome" from Shikamaru.


Thinking back on it now, Naruto still had a huge smile on his face.

"That was a pretty great recess, and they're pretty cool once you get to know them. Every day since then I play Shogi with them and I still can't beat Shikamaru! But at least now he hast to think a bit before he goes, like that weird thing he does with his hands…must be some kind of Jitsu! When I beat him I'll make him tell me!"

Naruto thought as he fallowed Moshiro, re adjusting his backpack as he went. It was how he got Moshiro around without anyone seeing him and his Fūinjutsu book, which reminded him of something.

"I wonder why the chair I sit in every day has that seal under it? None of the others do, and I always find it hard to focus when I sit on them. Well, no one notices when I break the seal. All I have to do is break the circle of the seal. Rookie mistake."

Naruto gained a huge smile as he thought about it.

"Must be some super-secret ninja test! That might explain what happened earlier today…"


"-and on that note, class enjoy your weekend and see you all Monday!" Daikoku said as he walked out of the class room, throwing a quick glance to the back of the class where a certain blond haired student and his two new friends where siting.

Shikamaru was flanked by Choji and Naruto, and as he started to pack up he looked over at Naruto's backpack and sighed. "Troublesome. I can't believe you keep bringing your friend to school in you backpack, you know what they will do to both of you if they find him?"

Naruto looked down at his bag, sighed and rubbed his eyes before responding. "You think I don't know that? No matter what I do, he manages to get out if I leave him at my place! At this point I think it's safer just to know where he is all the time rather than risk it that someone will find him on the way to me."

"It is troublesome how every Recess he seems to find his way to you."

"Yeah, well it's not like they do random bag searches, so there's really nothing that could go wrong."

Just as the words left his mouth, an Anbu, a member of the elite special forces of Konoha, walked into the room. The only thing that separated him from any other Anbu was that his mask was panted with the design of a dog on it and that he had white hair. As he scanned the room, even though he could not see his eyes, Naruto could almost feel them stop on him. "Damn you Kami…"

The walk up to the Hokage's office was the hardest thing he had ever done… especially with the precious cargo that was in his backpack. "Don't worry Moshiro, no matter what happens I'll protect you!"

He probably would have made a break for it to, if the Anbu wasn't leading him there in person.

"All he said was 'the Hokage wishes to speak with you', then waited for me to fallow! I didn't even have a chance to let Moshiro make his way home alone!"

Just before the door to the Hokage's office opened a weird thought popped into his head.

"Why does this guy smell familiar?"

Sitting behind the only desk in the room writing something on a scroll, was one of the most dangerous ninja alive, known to most as 'The God of Shinobi', the Hokage of Konoha, Hiruzen. But Naruto new him by a very different name.

"Hey Gramps!"

Naruto said with a huge grin on his face as he walked over and sat in front of the only chair in front of his desk, putting his backpack between his legs. Finishing his scroll, he rolled it up and smiled kindly down at Naruto.

"How did the talk with the other village go?"

For a second, Hiruzen's smiled turned into a slight frown.

"Not as well as I would have liked, but in the grand scale of things, it could have gone worse."

But almost as quickly as it left, his smile returned, but now with a twinkle in his eyes.

"But enough about me! I've been very busy and I'm sorry it took me so long to talk with you. I hope you're enjoying the academy?"

"It wasn't so great to start with… but I made two friends this week, Shikamaru and Choji. They're a little strange, but fun to hang out with. Shikamaru is even teaching me Shogi! I even got close to beating him a few times, but he keeps doing this weird thing with his hands…says it helps him think, I think it's a Jitsu!"

Hiruzen's eyes opened in shock.

"You almost beat the son of the clan head of the Nara Clan in a game of Shogi?"

"Yeah…so?"

With a shake of is head a smile returned to his face.

"If there is one thing I can say about you Naruto, it's that I never do know what to expect. Take this for example." Hiruzen said as he pointed down at the scroll he was writing on. "This is a complaint from a mother about how her son and his two friends where attacked by a blond haired demon with whiskers in the woods."

For less than a second, and if Naruto didn't know him so well he would have missed it, Gramp's eyes gained a dangerous gleam as he read the word 'Demon', but before he could think on it, he looked up and locked eyes with Naruto.

"Now you wouldn't know anything about that, would you Naruto?"

Naruto could literally feel all the color drain from his face as he tried to think of something smart to say to get out of this and of course, was coming up blank.

"I-I didn't attack them! I was just trying to get them to stop hurting Moshiro! They just ran-."

Realising what he said, he threw his hands over his mouth, and with a knowing smile Hiruzen said.

"And who is Moshiro Naruto?"

Realizing what he said, and where he was and what was between his legs. He looked up at the Hokage…no, Gramps. He always did what he could for Naruto, when the orphanage kicked him out, he got him a house. Whenever there was a problem, he would do what he could and at the end of the day, he trusted him with his life, and he knew what he had to do.

"He's my best friend."

Naruto reached down and opened his backpack. The moment the bag was open there was a blur of movement until a very nervous fox was sitting on his lap, trying to appear as small as possible.

For a second no one moved, and then Hiruzen sighed, rubbing his eyebrows.

"Of course of all of the people in Konoha, it had to be you who would befriend a fox. I swear Naruto, is it your life's mission to make things complicated for me?"

Naruto sheepishly smiled as he pet Moshiro.

"So you're not mad?"

Taking his hand off his eyebrow, his face became very serious.

"Naruto, I am the Hokage of Konoha and look after everyone who lives hear and they are all precious to me. But even so, you have found a way into my heart and I want you to know, you can always come to me and I will do what I can."

As was talking, Moshiro began looking around the room, before finally locking on to the Hokage. Jumping out of Naruto's hands, with one jump he landed on one of the only parts of the desk not covered in paper, now just within arm's reach of Hiruzen, he sat down and stared intently at him, waiting for the Hokage to come to him. Hiruzen slowly extended his arm until his hand was only a foot away, letting Moshiro close the distance. After a few tentative sniffs and looking back at Naruto, he walked up and rubbed his head against Hiruzen's hand.

"So what happens now?" Naruto said from his seat.

Hiruzen looked up while still petting Moshiro. He rubbed his bearded chin with his other hand.

"I have to think on this, but for now I need you to keep him hidden. But come back Sunday, and I will have a plan by then." Taking a quick look at the clock he looked back at Naruto and continued. "I believe I have held you here long enough. Go and enjoy your weekend."

As Moshiro jumped back into his backpack Naruto put it on his back and smiled one of his true and honest smiles. "Thanks Gramps for…helping Moshiro and thanks again for letting me go to the academy!"

As Naruto walked to the door Hiruzen called out.

"That's good; just remember it can be hard work to become a ninja and that you have to focus on the class."

Pausing at the door Naruto turned and with a smile on his face he responded.

"That reminds me! I figured out the secret test!"

Shaking his head with a smile Hiruzen said, "And what secret test are you referring to?"

"Well, the hidden seal under my seat of course!"

Hiruzen's smile vanished, and Naruto could swear the temperature in the room dropped like a stone. He could feel a cold shiver run down his spine.

"What seal are you talking about Naruto?"

"Um…" Naruto mumbled out, now very nervous. "The one under my seat? None of the other seats have it so l figured it was a test for me... but it was making it hard to focus..."

After a second a smile returned to Hiruzen's face, but it still felt cold in the office.

"Good work Naruto, I will make sure to explain it when I see you Sunday. But for now I am sorry and must go as I just remembered I have something I need to do."

Naruto hurried to the park after that with Moshiro still hidden in his bag, still nervous and confused over what just happened.


'That was strange… I must have done the test wrong or something...'

Naruto thought as he wandered behind Moshiro.

'Well at least Hiruzen liked Moshiro! Looks like everything is going to work out-.'

Then he noticed Moshiro frozen in front of him, shivering in fear. Just ahead of them, hidden in the shadows, was a man. He couldn't make out who he was, but glinting on his forehead in the last light of the day, was a Konoha head guard and a Kunai in his hand.


What is going to happen now? Find out next time!

Thanks everyone for all of your love it means a lot to me to see all of you following it and sorry about the delay, had a couple of hard spots in this chapter just making sure it flowed and worked with everything else.

Also planning to put a vote on my page: should Sasuke be good in this story, or bad? Having a hard time deciding so was wondering if you guys could give thoughts.

Send me a review about your thoughts or ideas on the story so far, always love to hear from you.