CHAPTER 2: OF PRANKS AND PRINCESSES
People of Konoha were once again piqued. Even civilians could see the unrest in their shinobi. And though most of them didn't know the reason behind it, they can guess. It wasn't that hard, really.
Naruto was sitting on the second last desk of his class, smirking and completely ignoring Iruka-sensei's lesson. Even though he couldn't see the result of his latest successful project, the hushed noises coming from outside of school walls were music to his ears. It's fine. I will see them after school. No worries.
He knew exactly what was happening. He had seen it happen way too many times. Half of the Hyuga police would be searching for him in all his frequent visiting places, and of course school was not on the upper half of that list.
Then they would finally come here and try to arrest him. Try, because first, they had no evidence against him this time, and second, they won't get an arrest warrant without some evidence. But he won't resist, much. After all, he does want a reason to get out of this godforsaken lesson.
He smirked wider, and Iruka-sensei started feeling a little uneasy. God knows you never ignore your instincts – usually, to leave the immediate vicinity – when he smiles like that.
But this time his instincts weren't telling him to run, they were just telling him that something chaotic was gonna happen. So, he continued his lecture, but kept his senses sharp.
All of a sudden, Naruto's smirk vanished and he sat straighter, the image of an innocent academy student – which everyone knew was fake. Really, everyone. Iruka-sensei frowned but continued his lecture like he was never distracted. Just a couple of seconds later, he picked up sounds coming from the hall way. Sounds of boots. Someone was coming. Chaos? Likely.
Right on cue, the door opened and in came four members of Hyuga police. Even though Naruto looked as confused as anyone else in the room, inside he was snickering, everything was according to the plan.
One of them wore dark grey uniform and other three wore an almost-black grey, which Naruto knew were Levels #3 and #2 respectively. Hyuga police displayed rank using their uniforms – the lighter the shade, the more powerful and skilled the policeman. There was one head of the police, the General who wore all white. Naruto didn't know what other ranks were. So, he just called them Levels, with Level #1 all black – rookies.
Naruto was proud to admit that he was never caught by a rookie, ever. Even Level #2 caught him rarely, on their lucky days. But, Level #3 knew what they were doing. And even Naruto knew not to mess with anyone on Level #5 or #6. Good thing they weren't many in numbers, or in streets for that matter.
The first Hyuga to enter the classroom stepped forward – he was the leader, according to the uniform and personal experience (he had caught Naruto a couple of times in the past) – and looked straight at Naruto.
"Naruto Uzumaki. Do you know what happened today at the Uchiha compound?" the leader asked Naruto emotionlessly, but someone who knew Hyugas really well – Naruto – could hear the masked irritation in his voice.
So, he obediently answered, "No, why? What happened?" He frowned in confusion, knowing he would only be increasing his irritation.
This was how every conversation between Naruto and any Hyuga started whenever they came after him. They would ask him if he knew what happened to the unfortunate (not always) person/place that was the victim of his latest prank and he would give the same answer. Word to word. Every damn time.
"Where were you last night?" the leader asked him.
"At Ichiraku's," he answered truthfully. By now he was laughing so much in his head that his eyes were giving him away. But his expression didn't change much – he had too much practice for that, and they wouldn't arrest him just by saying, 'your eyes show smugness. That means you are the culprit.' That wouldn't count for evidence.
"When?" Leader asked further, knowing pretty well the boy was just playing them.
"Around 8:30, for almost one hour," Naruto answered truthfully.
"And after that?" Leader asked further.
"Then I went for a stroll in the park and then home," Naruto responded omitting the quick and very slight – very, very slight – detour he took between the two activities.
Of course, the said detour was to the Uchiha district, or at least its outskirts as the idiots had most of the water supplies on the outskirts of the district, but no one needed to know that.
"You went straight to your home after your 'stroll', right?" Leader asked in a tone that practically spelled he was not buying it one bit.
Well, he sure learns from experience. Idiot believed him the first two times he was on Naruto's trail. Naruto shrugged internally, and nodded his head as innocently as he dared. Not that they could arrest him on the count of facial expressions.
"I'm sorry, but does this discussion have to happen here?" Iruka intervened before the Hyuga leader could continue his interrogation. His students were getting more interested than they ever are inside the classroom.
"I apologize for intruding, sensei. We will try to wrap it up as soon as we could," Leader said sincerely to Iruka-sensei and faced Naruto again.
"Get up, Uzumaki," Leader smirked and that led Naruto to instantly go through last night thoroughly to remember if he left any trails, because there sure as hell wasn't any evidence, "you are under arrest."
The leader's giddiness could be felt by everyone in the room, even though his face never gave a thing away.
"On what charges?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Vandalizing public property and breaking and entering private property," Leader responded smugly.
"And what did I, pray tell, vandalize?" Naruto asked in the same tone. And frolicking about on the borders of private property was not breaking and entering.
"Uchiha water supplies," Leader replied confidently.
"Where is the evidence?" Naruto asked patiently, confident that there was none.
"You were seen around the Uchiha grounds by our patrols at night," Leader told him, smirking.
"And that's your evidence? There were a lot of people there last night," Naruto said, bored. "There was even a patrol squad of yours, as you said. How do I know you are not framing me? It won't be the first time, either."
It was a subtle jab, and he knew no one in the classroom except the police would pick it up. He set up his prank while there was a Hyuga Police squad patrolling at the scene. And all the evidence they could gather against him was of his presence. Three Hyuga's eye twitched almost unnoticeably – the leader was way too experienced with Naruto to react to his jabs anymore (at least until they are subtle).
"So, you admit you were there," Leader trapped him happily – well, as happy as a stuck up Hyuga can ever be – ignoring anything else he said.
"Yeah, I was. I just told you I was strolling in the park last night after dinner. Uchiha compound kinda comes along the route from there to home. Go check a map," Naruto commented offhandedly.
"Yes, the longer route. And last time I checked, you were known to take shortcuts for everything," Leader bit out arrogantly.
"That's not the case when I am going home, pal. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not there until the last moment possible," Naruto told the leader airily, ignoring the reason behind the fact.
"Doesn't matter. I have your arrest warrant and you are coming with us now," Leader almost growled. Naruto really could take their emotions out of the box like no other.
"Fine. But show me the warrant first," Naruto stood up from his seat, walked up to the Hyuga squad and held out his hand. Afterall, he does want to get out of this stuffy classroom.
From a distance the sight would have been… amusing – four fully grown men losing their minds (not that it was that apparent, mind you) because of a kid that didn't reach even up to their waist who was still maintaining his cool (apparently).
He checked the warrant carefully, though this time he would have gone with them even if it was fake. The original documents by the Hyuga Police had three stamps – each one exactly on top of other. It was really, really hard to see due to finesse of the higher ups but thankfully he had better senses – thus, eyes – than average.
Even Naruto discovered it by accident. He was almost six at the time and had recently been given a small rundown apartment by Jiji when a squad of Hyuga Police broke into and tried to arrest him. It was one of the rare times when he really was falsely accused. He tried to resist but then an ANBU suddenly appeared from nowhere in his defense. He asked for the arrest warrant and examined it. Naruto thought he saw something red flashing from inside the ANBU's mask, but he chalked it up as his imagination. The ANBU declared the warrant to be fake.
The squad left him without much convincing from the ANBU and Naruto followed them. They threw the fake warrant in a garbage bin and went back to the tower. Naruto found it and kept it for future reference.
It took Naruto more than three months to plan a prank big enough to get an original arrest warrant for him and figure out a way to differentiate between real and fake.
"Yup, it's real," Naruto said, handing the warrant back to the leader. "Let's go, then, get this over with," and went out of the classroom door, both hands behind his head, Hyuga squad trailing behind him.
...
Naruto sat on a chair too big for him, head resting sideways on one folded hand on the table, tapping the fingers of his other hand to kill time.
If he knew he would be so bored out here today or it would take so long today, he would have pranked the Uchihas some other day. Apparently, the big boss or something was coming for inspection. And the bastards just have to bring him to the Headquarters. Couldn't they have taken him to any of the other towers? For god's sake, there are four more! But no, they just have to bring him to the fucking Headquarters when they couldn't even spare a trained interrogator for him. They sent some Level #2 or #3 idiot to interrogate him. It was like toying with a stupid ten-year-old (never mind if he himself is just seven and a half). He was almost offended – the last three times he actually was interrogated, that was by someone of Level #4.
Well, at least he got to see some Uchihas before the school ended. And boy, was that hilarious. Pink really was a complimentary colour for them. And especially with that pissed expression. He couldn't wait to wander around the district as soon as he gets out. If a few pink heads were this great, imagine a whole crowd of them. And get this, he even saw two or three ANBU in the shadows with pink hair. Not so much for stealth, but damn if it didn't make them at least look great – so great. God, even thinking about it make him giggle so much.
Fortunately, he was out of that one-way mirror room, so he knew no one was watching him. At least not without cheating by using their freaky eyes. Who knows, they may even charge him (rightfully, though) if they saw him like this. If they can make an arrest warrant for him just for being in the vicinity of crime – hours before the it even happened, mind you – they can do anything.
Oh, that reminded him Sasuke-teme skipped school today. Heh. Got him, too.
Speaking of school, if his estimations are correct, lunch break would be over by now, and his class would be going over target practice by now. Man, he didn't mean to miss that. He thought he would be back by lunch break and then would enjoy target practice and taijutsu. But now he missed target practice and who knows when the idiots will send him back.
Gah! I'm so bored. And the lock of the door clicked open.
Hoping for some divine intervention – but knowing it is just some other stinking Hyuga – he turned his head toward the door. His eyes fell on the person standing on the door almost three feet lower than where they were supposed to.
A flash of recognition went through him when he saw a girl his own age with those pretty eyes that he saw more than two years ago. He grinned widely.
She turned around to close the door and subtly pushed a finger to his lips, wanting to silence him before he could even say a hello. He got the message and his grin dropped, genuine confusion marring his face.
She turned and made her way to him, and stopped a foot away from him. He turned his stool toward her and tilted his head, wanting an explanation for keeping quiet.
She just bowed slightly to him and (re)introduced herself, "Hello, my name is Hinata Hyuga."
"Uh, Naruto Uzumaki…?" it came out more of a question. Did she not remember him? He sure does. Somehow, it wasn't so surprising or unexpected but it hurt all the same.
"Pleasure to meet you, Uzumaki-san. I heard you were waiting here for the paperwork to be done so you can go," she politely inquired in the same soft voice he still remembered.
"Yeah… something about His Majesty stopping by or whatever," he said with an eye roll, annoyance clear on his face.
"His Majesty?" her eyes sparkled with amusement though her face was as stoic as ever.
"Well, the way they went all uptight – even more so than usual – and red carpeting the whole place and have you seen the rookies? They look like they are on pins and needles, y'know. It's like a King or something is descending upon the poor Headquarter," he explained, exaggerating what he saw before in the corridors. There wasn't a red carpet but it wasn't like one couldn't imagine it with the way everyone was behaving.
Her lips quirked up just a tiny bit and he wondered what it would take to make her laugh out loud. Well, challenge accepted.
"That's certainly an… unusual way to address Father," she said and both her eyebrows rose just a bit.
"Well, it wouldn't be once I get out of this torture chamber," she arced an eyebrow at this, "wait, father?" he asked once the complete sentence registered in his mind.
"Yes. 'His Majesty' as you put it is my Father," she answered with a nod.
"Whoa. So, are you like, a princess or something?" he asked in awe, eyes wide with childlike sparkle.
"Or something, maybe. I am the heiress to the clan," she said and this time her amusement did leak into her words.
"Awesome. I never knew we had a princess in our village, y'know. I can't wait to I tell everyone I met you. They will be so jealous," Naruto cackled somewhat deviously.
She waited for a moment for him to stop and was about to burst his bubble of her not being a 'princess' when he cut her off with his own question, "why did you come here for anyway? I doubt it's just to talk to me and help me survive through this boredom."
That reminded her, "You are correct. I came here to tell you that you are free to go and all the paperwork about you being falsely charged is done."
"Oh, really!? Why didn't you say so sooner?" he jumped off the stool and hurriedly clasped his shoes which he had previously loosened to relax. "It's almost time for the taijutsu classes, y'know. I already missed the target practice, too."
He darted toward the door and she stepped aside to make way for him, "I didn't know you were in the Ninja Academy."
He stopped a few feet from the door and turned to her, "Oh yeah, I have been in the Academy for almost two years now. I'm gonna become the strongest ninja and the next Hokage. You better watch out, Princess." He put both his hands on his hips and gave the biggest grin to her.
He expected her to laugh or snort at him like others – she did forget him after all – but she just said, "Good luck for your dreams, then, Uzumaki-san."
He was stunned for a moment but then grinned at her – smaller and softer than before.
"Oh, I just remembered. Can I ask you something personal?" Hinata asked suddenly.
"Yeah, sure. Shoot," he just shrugged.
"Are you, by any chance, from the Uzumaki clan?" she asked curiously.
"Uzumaki clan?" he blinked stupidly.
"It's almost extinct now but there are a few direct descendants of the clan alive," she told him.
"Oh… um. I don't know. Sorry," he answered her absently, his mind still trying to wrap around what she just told him.
Forget Academy, he is going to the Hokage Tower the moment he is out of this stinking HQ. Jiji have some answers to give. He will be late for taijutsu anyway.
"Uh, okay. Sorry I gotta go," he said quickly and hurried to open the door not looking back if Princess have anything else to say.
As the door opened, he remembered something and turned back toward her, one hand still on the knob. Something told him not to ask it directly, "Have we met before, Princess?"
There – the amusement was back in her eyes, "I don't know. Were you really falsely charged?"
It took him a second to understand and when he did, he just smiled broadly – giving his 'foxy grin' as others call it – and went out with a cheery, "See ya."
They both got their answers regardless.