Chapter 3: Neutrality is Hard

Naruto patted the foxes that were around him in the secret training spot he found when he was younger. He decided to camp out for the summer there and had told the Old Man Hokage where he would be. It was early morning, and the dew covered leaves shined brightly from the large streaks of sunlight coming from the east. It was a good morning and the start of the second year. Naruto was excited and decided to run all the way to the academy. Before he could go, one of the younger foxes yipped at him looking like he wanted to go. Naruto thought about it and decided to take her with him. After letting the fox kit get comfy in his orange jumpsuit, he took off towards the academy. After a while, he was suddenly stopped by Ino. "Hey Naruto! You ready for this year?"

"Heck yeah I am, believe it!" the blonde responded to his fellow blonde. He started running past and continuing onwards towards the academy after saying he'll meet Ino there. Outside the gates of the academy, he almost ran into Sakura.

"Dumbass!" Sakura yelled while punching him in his head, "how many times do I have to tell you to watch where you're running!" Naruto was sitting on the ground rubbing the lump that was now forming on his head from the punch. "Idiot," she said with exasperation.

"Sorry Sakura. I was really excited today!" Naruto explained sheepishly. The kit nuzzled it's way to an opening, poking it's head out and looking around curiously. Sakura saw this.

"Why did you bring one of the foxes?"

Naruto shrugged, "she wanted to come."

Sakura sighed in exasperation and left it at that. "Anyways, you ready for the new year?" she asked, helping the blonde up off the ground.

"Yeah," Naruto said excitedly, "and I managed to get new books and kunai too!" He showed her the inside of his custom ninja pouch that matched hers. She looked through her own and frowned.

"You think you can find me some to practice with, the others got damaged and lost and I'm down to 4 kunai and 5 shuriken," she showed him how empty it was, as well as the medical supplies that seemed fully stocked.

Naruto nodded, "only if you can get me more medical supplies. I kinda ran out around a week ago due to my training, hehe." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Sakura nodded as well and was about to say something but her breath hitched when she saw Sasuke.

She seemed to hesitate for a second but made up her mind and waved at Sasuke, calling him over. "Sasuke! H-how was your summer? Did you get stronger?"

He nodded, "yeah, Mother has been training me to get my accuracy up when using shuriken. I am able to hit academy level targets 100% of the time. What about you two, any stronger?"

Naruto nodded as Sakura blushed in the presence of Sasuke. "Yeah! I've spent the past six months in my secret spot training. I bet I'm better than you now, belive it!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

Sakura chuckled, "and I've been reading more into chakra theory. Honestly I wanted to ask our sensei if a few of my ideas can be implemented safely, especially for our friends." She turned to Naruto, "Plus I think I've found a better way to focus your yang chakra and turn it into yin chakra so you can focus while studying without having to be in trouble."

Naruto smiled at that, but then frowned. "Okay... but I'm not stopping my pranks. I've finally been able to outrun the ANBU squad that is always sent after me and they've been getting more clever in their approach. Honestly I enjoyed the training my pranks have been getting me." Though what he left unsaid was he also enjoyed getting a small revenge against those who hated him.

Sakura sighed once again in exasperation. It seems that's all she does when it comes to Naruto. Sasuke smirked a bit. "Maybe I should pull a prank with you, see who gets caught by ANBU first." Sasuke said jokingly. Naruto beamed at that while Sakura blanched at the though of Sasuke wearing an orange jumpsuit and pulling pranks with Naruto. She shuddered.

"Then I challenge you to a prank off this year, believe it!" Naruto pointed at Sasuke. "We do a prank once a week together and run. The first one caught by ANBU loses. The one with the most wins gets a free meal paid by the other."

Sasuke smirked, "Okay then, you're on."

Sakura was not going to allow this. Visions of orange jumpsuit Sasuke with a goofy grin on his face made her shudder while Naruto challenged Sasuke. "Oh no you don't. I will not have you two ruining your future careers as ninja by making enemies of the ANBU over a stupid competition," Sakura stated firmly.

Sasuke smirked however, "I'll only make enemies if I get caught. I plan on never getting caught."

"Neither will I, believe it!" the blonde Uzumaki stated with conviction. He then looked thoughtful, "but how will we determine a winner if we don't get caught?"

Sasuke pondered that as they walked to their classroom. When they entered he stated simply, "We make a rendezvous point, where we go once we lose the ANBU following us, and the person who makes it there first wins regardless of whether the other get's caught or not. That said, since the goal is to not get caught, it would be bad to be caught after making it to a rendezvous point, so if the ANBU find us there, then the one who they were following will automatically lose no matter if they made it first or not."

Naruto nodded in agreement to those rules when he sat down next to Sakura. Ino came in shortly after and immediately sat next to Sasuke. Sakura frowned at that but didn't say anything. Instead she turned to Naruto. "Anyways, I found texts on chakra manipulation. The beginning states that in order to properly mold chakra, you need to combine yin and yang energies to form it. Clearly more yang energy would lead to yang chakra. So I have several ideas." Sakura brought out a scroll with notes all over it. "First, I suggest simply molding as much yang chakra as you can early in the morning and expelling it as much as you can. This has the supposed added benefit of expanding your chakra coils and chakra reserves. Second, I suggest making yin chakra before class and allowing it to spread throughout your body. I don't know the affect of this," Sakura look a bit sheepish when she said that, "but I think it should produce a calming effect in the body."

Shikamaru, who was already in class with his head down, suddenly sat up slouching, injecting himself in the conversations. "That second one won't work because Naruto has far too much yang energy and has poor chakra control. It would require near perfect control, something he just doesn't have. The first one would also require chakra control but it's more feasible for him."

Sakura frowned with that assessment. "Well, my last suggestion is that maybe you just meditate in your spot a hour a day before the academy," Sakura said.

"I agree with Sakura. Meditating would have the extra benefit of increasing your chakra control especially if you do the leaf exercise we learned at the end of the year," Shikamaru said lazily. Naruto nodded thoughtfully. At this moment, before Naruto can respond, a new teacher walks in with a new assistant.

"Hello," the chunin with a scar over his nose, "my name is Iruka Umino. This is my assistant, Mizuki." He points to a man with shoulder length silver hair. Iruka scans the classroom, taking attandence. Mizuki does the same but stops and glares briefly at Naruto before returning to his neutral demeanor. Only Sakura caught the glare. Iruka showed no change in his happy demeanor. He starts giving a lesson. Most students eyes glaze over at the incredibly boring lecture on history. Naruto fought the longest before he to succumb to sleep.

His last thoughts was, 'man, this is going to be a long year.'

During lunch Sasuke and Naruto wondered off to discuss the first prank challenge. Kiba followed them and quickly came in on the challenge. Sakura and Ino discussed clothes and how to modify the latest designs to be combat ready, while Sakura was playing a quick warm-up match with Choji. Shikamaru was thinking. Or sleeping. Honestly no one had any idea the difference.

While this was going on Mizuki was taking his lunch break in the forests near the walls when he heard a rustling. He quickly drew and threw his fuma shuriken, a large four starred shuriken the size of a male torso, at the potential threat. A silver haired man with glasses dropped to the ground with his hands up "Woah, woah! It's me."

"Oh," Mizuki sat back down and resumed eating his bento his fiancé made, "it's you Kabuto. What's the news from Lord Orochimaru?"

"Hehe, well," Kabuto dusted himself off, "Lord Orochimaru has a test for you that should be easy. If you bring him the Scroll of Sealing he'll give you power beyond your wildest dreams." Kabuto smirked as Mizuki looked greedily at the thought of that, "If you do it without getting caught, you'll be sent back to be a spy for him like me and to be able to join the vanguard of a invasion whenever he decides the time is right. Imagine being able to kill that fool of a friend you have." Mizuki was lost in a daydream of him being powerful and killing Iruka while having a harem of girls. "Now," Kabuto pushed his glasses up his nose, "you have 3 years to complete this task. Do not fail Lord Orochimaru, or he'll send an assassin that will kill you slowly."

Mizuki gulps at that last part, "no need to worry, Lord Orochimaru will have it before three years is up." Kabuto leaves and Mizuki waits before finishing up his bento and leaving as well.

Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, and Akamaru were hiding in different spots, each with a stopwatch. A member of the council, someone who hated Naruto unbeknownst to the other two. As he entered his clothing shop, several paint bombs went off painting the designer clothes a chaotic mess of orange, blues, and reds. It took several seconds for the ANBU to show up, and only a few more seconds to spot the group running in different directions. The six ANBUs split into teams of 2 and chased the fleeing academy students. Kiba and Akamaru were caught 35 seconds into the chase by Hawk and Boar masked ANBU. Kiba severely overestimated his capabilities and didn't have any traps set along a path he was taking. Sasuke was caught nearly 5 minutes into the chase, having exhausted his traps along the pathway and unable to escape the pursuing Cat and Fox ANBUs despite giving them a good run for their money across town. Even at one point passing through the empty academy where he was caught exiting one of the back doors after he thought he used a clone technique to escape his pursuers. Naruto lasted the longest, after he was caught by Dog and Tiger. His chase lasted a full half hour in a large chase throughout Konoha. Naruto had prepped multiple routes of traps and used them all. By the time Dog and Tiger caught up with him, they were a sticky, colorful mess.

They were all brought before the Hokage, who had a very angry and colorful councilman, a bemused Hokage, a neutral Mikoto, and a laughing Tsume. As the three students entered, Naruto immediately smiled so brightly while screaming at the top of his lungs, "HEY OLD MAN, YOU GOT THAT HAT READY FOR ME?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi chuckled at that before showing a serious face. "Naurto, Sasuke, Kiba," Akamaru yipped from the jacket of Kiba angrily, "and of course Akamaru, do you thr- I mean four, have any idea what you did." He said it more of a serious statement rather than a question.

Naruto beamed at the adults, "Of course, I won our prank race!" Naruto said smugly.

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the group, so Kiba explained, "Naruto came up with a competition where we make a prank together and try to evade capture. The longest evader wins."

The councilman and Mikoto scowled at that. Sasuke piped in, sensing his mother was angry, "We use it for training evasion and infiltration." Everyone was shocked at that.

"Yep!" Naruto nodded enthusiastically, "I came up with it to help us train. If we can out smart the ANBU then we can out smart anyone." Tsume was the first to recover by howling with laughter.

"Man, pup, that's the best shit I've heard this day." Tsume was trying to calm down from laughing. The ANBU were all sweat dropping.

Hiruzen coughed to get everyone's attention. "Be that as it may, you caused at least 750,000 ryo worth of damages, and ruined a shop of an 'important' member of the council." Everyone heard the air quotes in Hiruzen's voice. "So, we now have to think of some way for you to pay him back."

Naruto grinned, "Oh I can think of some more pranks to pay him back with." Tsume howled with laughter, while Mikoto tried her best to hide her grin. The councilman glared openly at the boy.

Sarutobi merely nodded, "while that does sound tempting Naruto, I think I'll just have you spend the rest of the weekend cleaning the store. Alongside the others."

The councilman interrupted at that point, "what about the monetary compensation?"

Hiruzen sighed, "Tsume, Mikoto, the Inizukas and Uchihas will pay a fine of 100,000 ryo each for damages."

Mikoto nodded at that while Tsume continued grinning, "Hell, if I'm getting this much entertainment then it's worth every ryo."

After everything was squared away, the two mothers took their children home berating them mildly. Especially Tsume who was berating Kiba for being stupid enough to get caught first. Hiruzen waited until only Naruto and his ANBU were left in the office. He sighed. "You know Naruto, stuff like this will hurt you in the long run."

Naruto puffed his cheeks out, "well he shouldn't have refuse my money and called me a parentless reject."

Sarutobi suddenly looked older. "Naruto my boy. I get that it's not fair how they treat you, but you shouldn't stoop to their level..."

Naruto interrupted, "I'm not, I'm stooping to MY level."

"Then please do me a favor," Sarutobi looked at his successor's kid with sadness, "please don't go overboard." Naruto nodded to that. "Now go my boy, I have blasted paperwork to do, and you cleaning to do."

Naruto shouted as he left, "I'll be back for that hat later Old Man! Believe it" Hiruzen chuckled as he went back to doing paperwork.