Disclaimer: All respective characters and settings belong to their respective franchises.

Edited: 4/27/23

"Congratulations, Naruto."

It was the evening after Naruto had passed his evaluation, and Yoshinoya had been reserved for a party to celebrate the occasion. The sounds of popping confetti and clapping filled the restaurant, which was decked out in decorations that sparkled under the lights. A large buffet table that was laden with a number of dishes from Yoshinoya's menu stood in the corner overlooking the kitchen, where it would be the first thing one would see upon entering.

The range of guests was modest in attendance, including Teuchi and Ayame who were setting aside the now empty poppers. Bokomon, Piyomon, Iruka, Anko, Shikamaru, and a very hungry Chōji stealing glances at the spread of food, were standing opposite the counter. Across the aisle stood Oton and a very dour, very disinterested Masa sitting alone at a table.

In the middle of it all was Naruto, his arms folded over his puffed chest, nose upturned smugly, positively glowing as he began saying, "Thank you, thank you! Really, you're all too kind, but please, stay your felicitations, for as of now, the supreme genius that is I-"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, wishing in hindsight that he had brought a pair of earplugs.

"-Uzumaki Naruto, has only taken the first step in my underdog journey. All that remains, of course, is to breeze my way through the Academy; like the supreme genius that I am, and establish my place amongst the elite of our fair village, which will undoubtedly see a meteoric rise in my illustrious career, before rightfully claiming the seat of Hokage as per my destiny to be the greatest ninja of all time. Do not fret, my friends, for I shall remember you all in my magnanimous glory."

Shikamaru deadpanned, "Why don't you write a book?"

"When can we eat?" Chōji asked eagerly, wiping the drool trickling down his chin.

And just like that, Naruto's thunder and ego deflated with a sigh. "You can go ahead, Chōji," he said.

The Akimichi didn't wait for the others and instead stormed the buffet table, saying, "Don't mind if I do."

"And you!" Naruto pointed a finger at the faithless Shikamaru. "You're just jealous that I actually won my sparring match."

"Uh-huh, and I got a score of 98 on my written test," Shikamaru countered easily. "You didn't even have to win; you just had to put up a good enough fight."

"Hmph," Naruto huffed, turning away and snubbing him with a sharp turn of his head. "That just means I did better than you by a long shot."

Shikamaru sighed, not wanting to prolong an argument with the blonde knucklehead, and conceded with a dry, "Yeah, I guess you did."

"Damn right I did," Naruto replied smugly.

The party went on smoothly well into the early evening, with the guests seated at tables, eating, talking and relaxing. Naruto was seated with his three friends at a single table, eating a bowl of freshly cooked ramen next to Shikamaru, who was content with his steak and steamed marble potatoes. Sitting opposite them were Chōji and Piyomon, swamped by an assortment of their picks from the buffet and wolfing them down with hardly any restraint.

Naruto had already finished his third bowl of ramen when he suddenly heard a commotion at the entrance.

"Omago-sama, please wait-"

"Shut up! Where is he?!"

The young boy ran in and stopped just a meter away from the buffet table, fiercely darting his head left and right. "Hey! Where are you?" he exclaimed.

Naruto, who was in the middle of slurping up some noodles, turned his head slightly in the direction of the voice behind him, and from the corner of his eye, saw a kid that was maybe a year or two younger than him, wearing a yellow Konoha t-shirt, gray shorts with darker patches on the knees and the standard shinobi sandals. A long, blue scarf was wound around his neck that fluttered behind him. On his head was a dome shaped hat or helmet of sorts that had a hole at the top that allowed a patch of brown hair to stick out. The kid swiveled his attention to the guests, some already giving him looks back, with only the older ones recognizing who he was. "Hey!"

All other eyes flitted to the strange and rude boy that was now fully facing them, who proceeded to query in a loud, demanding voice, "Are any of you here Uzumaki Haruto?"

Naruto choked on the broth that he was finishing, having averted his attention from the younger boy and getting a face full of it as a consequence, with some entering his sinuses. He slammed his bowl down on the table, coughing up a storm as he tried reaching for a napkin, his eyes clamped tightly from the irritation. Piyomon kindly and helpfully handed him one.

Anko grinned in amusement, knowing that she was about to be in for a show as she took a swig of her beer, sitting opposite a nonplussed Iruka. "It's the Hokage's grandson," the man muttered.

"Yep," Anko replied simply. "This oughta be good."

The obvious misnaming drew some chuckles from Teuchi and Ayame, and the people that were still by the entrance. The man that had called out to the boy made way for and bowed to Hiruzen, with Kakashi close behind. "I apologize, Hokage-sama," he said.

Hiruzen sighed and shook his head, a thin smile lurking on his wizened features as he replied, "I should have expected this," and a rascally part of him did, "but it's quite alright, Ebisu. Tonight, we are celebrating not only the end of the evaluation, but the students that managed to pass admirably. Come, come, take a load off and join in." He leaned forward to whisper, "You might not have another opportunity for a good while."

Ebisu smiled timidly, rubbing the back of his neck, realizing that he had little choice but to comply. "Uh, thank you, sir," he said. "I will." If his superior was telling him to take a break, Ebisu certainly wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.

After his coughing fit had subsided, Naruto felt someone's eyes on him as he used the napkin to dry himself. He turned to his right and found the boy scowling at him. "Are you Uzumaki Haruto?"

Wiping away what was left of the broth staining his neck and jacket, the Uzumaki frowned back, snapping, "It's Naruto, you brat! Uzumaki Naruto."

Seriously, how could people keep getting his name wrong?

The boy didn't seem to care about the correction, pointing at him challengingly. "Whatever! Let's fight!"

"Hah?"

"You heard me!"

"Uh, yes I did, but no, I won't fight you."

"Why not?!"

"Why should I?"

"You have to fight me!" the boy insisted. "This is your party, right? So, there I was, minding my own business," Hiruzen, listening in, chuckled, as it had been another one of his grandson's attempts at ambushing him, "when my grandpa came home and asked me if I wanted to attend some dumb party for some dumb nobody I didn't even know," Naruto's brow twitched at the boy's audacity, "then he told me that it was for a really strong guy that passed the eva...evalu..."

"Evaluation?" Naruto supplied for him.

"Shut up!" the boy snapped. "Fight me now! Anyone who my grandfather says is strong must fight me, the great Sarutobi Konohamaru! The future Hokage!"

Naruto stared at the boy with the most blank expression he had ever made in his twelve years of life.

So that's what it feels like.

He spared Shikamaru a deeply apologetic grimace before facing the boy with disinterest. That's when he caught just some of what the brat had said. Sarutobi? Grandpa? His gaze went about the restaurant searchingly before finding Hiruzen, who was watching them from afar with an amused smile, sitting at the other end of the aisle with Kakashi and some other man he didn't know. "Look, kid, I don't know what the old man told you, but I am not going to fight you. You're right about one thing, though. This is my party, so why don't you just head on over to the buffet table and grab a bite to eat like everybody else, cool?"

"No! Fight me now, or-"

"Ah! Konohamaru-sama, they have chocolate banana popsicles here," Ebisu called out to him from said buffet table, pointing to a log of styrofoam that was plunged with a cluster of the confectionery, fresh from the freezer. He was holding a plate of hamburger steak and potato salad, as it wouldn't do for his young charge to have dessert before dinner. For him, Kakashi and Hiruzen, they were waiting for their order of shabu-shabu and sake.

Konohamaru froze upon hearing of his favorite treat, instantly forgetting about Haruto or whatever his name was, and ran to his sitter and tutor, finding an entire assortment of popsicles all propped on a log of styrofoam, which was placed on a wider tray. Some had a simple coating of chocolate, but others were topped with sprinkles, peanuts, coconut shavings, and crushed cookies. There was a mystified gleam in the young child's eye as he reached out for one, only for Ebisu to gently chide him.

"Dinner first before dessert, Omago-sama," the man told him, barring him with a hand. "Your mother will be angry when she comes home and finds out that you're not eating properly."

Konohamaru stiffened, then hung his head, pouting in disappointment. Ebisu was having none of it, knowing from experience that the lad would put on an act. "Come along now, sit next to the Hokage."

Leading him to their table, Ebisu had failed to catch Konohamaru's sleight of hand, having attached ninja wire on a popsicle and nabbing it with a tug. He hid his plunder behind him, but knowing that he couldn't hide it in his pocket, rode on the hope that nobody would catch on. This was dashed when his grandfather slipped a hand behind him and extricated it. Fearing that he would be exposed, Hiruzen instead kept the popsicle hidden from Ebisu with a wink. Konohamaru smiled gratefully at his grandfather before turning to his food. Having eaten at Yoshinoya before, the hamburger steak was his favorite, as it was what his parents would order him whenever they found time from their busy schedules as ANBU. Remembering his parents saddened him, even as he started eating, as they couldn't come along because of their patrol.

Noticing this, Hiruzen opted to distract him. "So, Konohamaru, how was your mock exam?"

"... it was okay," his grandson replied softly, insipidly picking at his steak.

"The proctor informed me that you narrowly passed," Hiruzen said. "Have you been studying?" He wouldn't normally pester his grandson on such matters, confident that the boy was in good hands with Ebisu, but…

Hiruzen sighed inwardly. The boy had been seeing less and less of his parents since the fallout of Mizuki's betrayal, compounded by Hyougamon's attack. And, in hindsight, he as well had been bogged down by the rise in workload. Soon enough, both Teuchi and Ayame arrived with their order, setting down the pot of broth and two separate platters of thinly sliced beef strips and vegetables.

Kakashi, his mask pulled down to eat, sensed a presence behind him, her warm, alcohol infused breath pressing against his neck. He sighed, "Don't talk to me."

Anko, beer in hand and perched atop the partition that bridged their seats, leaned in between him and Ebisu, replied, "Now, now, Cyclops, don't be such a sourpuss, it's a party, remember? How about after this, we have a girl's night out? We could do each other's nails,-"

"I hate you."

"-after that, get our hair done. I know this great place, you'll love it."

"You're dead to me."

"Shopping. I'm thinking, pink high heels, some eyeliner, foundation, a little blush right here-"

Kakashi clipped her middle and index fingers with his chopsticks before they could touch his cheek. "Are you done?"

"Oh come on, Kakashi, you know how it is," Anko reasoned, pulling her hand away. "What was I supposed to go with? I mean it could have been worse, right?"

"I'm sure you would have loved that," Kakashi replied drily.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ebisu needled curiously.

"Just something between me and buttercup over here, Ebisu," Anko answered with a wink, inching her head next to an annoyed Jōnin suggestively.

Misreading the room, Ebisu began to say to Kakashi, "Wait, aren't you-" and flinched when the man shot him a glare, "n-nevermind. Anyway, Mitarashi, I heard that you're going to be promoted."

Anko flashed him a peace sign, saying fecitiously, "Yep, all my hard work finally paid off. Tokubetsu Jōnin, baby!"

"Well, welcome aboard," Ebisu, her now fellow Tokubetsu Jōnin, complimented. He took a strip of beef from the platter and dipped it into the broth, then placed the cooked meat into his mouth. "So, Kakashi, I heard that you've been failing a few potential genin already."

"Yeah," Kakashi confirmed, resuming with his meal.

"Were they that bad?"

"...I just didn't feel that they were up to snuff, or had the right chemistry," Kakashi stated. "I want a team that's coherent and efficient. None of the bullshit."

"That's natural," Ebisu shrugged, and it indeed wasn't that uncommon for Jōnin to fail potential prospects that felt lacking or needed more prep. It depended on the quality of the crop. "Once they walk out those Academy doors with the headband, they're soldiers, but at the end of the day, they're still kids. Like we were. They're not ANBU like you're used to."

"I know," Kakashi agreed. "But the kind of team that I'm looking for is one that would work well together under pressure, especially when it matters, and go from there. It ain't pretty when you have to be the one pulling double or triple the weight."

"Then it's a toss up," Ebisu concluded.

"What about you?"

"Me?" the tutor flinched, shrinking back. "Konohamaru-sama's an entire team all on his own. I can hardly keep my wits with him already. Uh, n-no offense, sir."

"None taken," Hiruzen yielded empathetically, dipping his strip of beef in the broth. He glanced down at his grandson, who was now only picking at what was left of his food without eating, drowning out all other voices, his sadness replaced by boredom.

"I'm sure you could have better luck with a team than me," Kakashi disagreed. "You're competent and approachable. Good qualities to have for a sensei."

"Yeah, but what people wouldn't give to have their kids under you," Ebisu intoned enviously. "And it's not enough for an instructor to be amiable or easygoing. They have to be decisive and hard when needed. You fit the bill more than me.

Ebisu took a moment to sip his sake, then pointed at the Jōnin with a pinkie. "Remember Minazuki?"

"... Yeah," Kakashi didn't need to say who Minazuki Yūki was as he placed another strip of beef into his mouth.

"Last I heard, he retired after the last Chūnin Exam at Takigakure," Ebisu recounted. "He was good, hell of a shinobi if I've ever seen one, but not too remarkable. He had this odd habit, though. He'd send promising genin back to the Academy. The general assumption was that he wanted them to polish their skills more, or recommend them to teams that better suited them, but you know what I think? I think he had a complex. Lots of other guys suspected it, too."

"Wow," Anko scoffed, who was still listening in to Kakashi's chagrin as she remarked sarcastically, "We can be sure that totally didn't bite him in the end."

"Like I said, he retired after the last Chūnin Exam. Burnout. His last team? Taken out in the first round. Absolutely humiliated. Now he's just running his dad's old shop," Ebisu sighed. "But Minazuki isn't really a bad guy. I…guess he just hasn't been the same since…"

Hiruzen coughed after taking a sip of his own sake and the Tokubetsu Jōnin went quiet. Kakashi could see Ebisu's point, and he could admit to himself that his reasons were in a way personal, but beyond that, he simply wanted a team that could survive. The very last thing he wanted was a repeat of Obito and Rin. "I'll get the right team eventually. It's only a matter of time."

Ebisu cocked a brow, then shrugged his shoulders, deferring to the man's experience.

Anko sat back down on her seat, asking for more beer from Ayame. Bokomon was sitting next to her, having long finished his meal and checking a clipboard, flipping through some papers. Seated across from them was Masa, who was eating a simple bowl of rice and grilled sweet fish that wasn't on the buffet. Next to him, Iruka was also having a steak with marble potatoes, with a salad on the side, and a pint of beer to wash it all down.

The bandaged man sneaked a few subtle glances at Bokomon, who was supposed to be another Uzumaki if what Hiruzen had mentioned to him was true. " I just can't see it. He doesn't give off the aura typical of an Uzumaki. They always do. Even that boy had the spark in him. It could only be a cover, so who is he really?"

"So, you're one of the new instructors the old man hired," Anko called to him, wresting his attention. The slits did little to show his eyes clearly, but she knew he was now looking at her. The bandages around his mouth were adjusted to allow for food to go through, giving her a tiny glimpse of gnarled, dark skin, with tiny hints of surgery having been done. "Mitarashi Anko."

"Masa," the bandaged man responded softly, the kunoichi not detecting the slightest break in the man's tone of voice.

"So, how are you finding the Academy?"

Masa shrugged. "It's alright. This isn't exactly my first time teaching."

"So, you were an instructor?"

"In my early days as a Chūnin before my promotion," Masa said, gulping down some sake. "So, I was placed in Physical Education."

Anko huffed. "Well, the experience certainly makes you a step up from the last guy."

Bokomon looked up from his clipboard and reached his hand out. "I'm Junichiro. Pleased to be working with you, Masa-han."

"Likewise," Masa reciprocated the handshake and immediately took note of the diminutive man's…nails? Claws? "You'll be in General Studies, correct?"

"Yes," Bokomon confirmed. "So, how are you liking this party?"

Masa swept his gaze over the restaurant. "...A rather modest function if I've ever seen one. Which suits me just fine."

"Same," Bokomon said, slipping his clipboard into his knapsack. "I was never one for wild parties myself."

The three of them had been speaking in code.

So you're him, huh? How's your cover?

Adequate, so I'm not complaining.

Then we shouldn't have a problem. But don't think we won't be keeping an eye on you.

So long as you cooperate, you should be fine. How are you finding Konoha?

…Bearable, but it could always be worse.

Of course. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

They weren't privy to the finer details, and were under no liberty to pry, but the man was reportedly a political refugee that was granted asylum by Hiruzen after being under Oton's care for months. The man's identity, if he even had one, was strictly classified and known only to the former two.

Not my business. The kunoichi thought. At least for now. She had used a snake to keep an eye on the blonde earlier, and the details painted a picture of someone that had a grudge against Konoha. The final round of the "spar" was a life and death bout that the kid lucked out on. For what reason, she didn't know and didn't care for, but this "Masa" was someone she would have no issue with disposing of if ordered to. If she even could, as the man had been holding back tremendously judging from her snake's precise monitoring of the fight. If she was being generous, he was standing on the upper tier of S-Rank.

In the wee hours of the evening after the party petered out, Naruto and company were standing outside the restaurant bidding each of the departing guests farewell.

"See you at the gym, Naruto," Chōji called loudly, waving as he and Shikamaru were walking back to their homes together.

Naruto waved back, a sigh escaping him. He looked up at the sky, the stars peeking out as the lights of the village were beginning to subside. Anko, standing behind him, placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, Short Man, how was your first real party?"

Naruto turned to reply, when the kunoichi's words struck him; his party. His first real party. He soon found himself smiling from ear to ear. He wouldn't say that he had never dreamed of having one. His birthdays were often spent alone in his room doing his own thing or eating at Ichiraku's, but to have an actual party in his name for having accomplished something worthwhile; even if it did boil down to reentering school, filled him with a profound euphoria he had seldom, if ever, experienced.

"It was great!" he exclaimed brightly.

Anko smiled genuinely, moments like these sobering that the boy was still just that; a boy. One who hadn't been through the best of childhoods. She patted him on the back. "Welp, see 'ya around, kid."

"Yeah, see 'ya," Naruto said with a wave. "Oh! I heard about your promotion. Congratulations."

The kunoichi walked past him to leave, glancing at him over her shoulder as she ruffled the top of Piyomon's head. "Thanks. I'm gonna be busy for a while, so we probably won't be seeing much of each other."

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement. "So, you're a Jōnin now?"

"Tokubetsu Jōnin," Anko amended. "It's a rank between Chūnin and full Jōnin that specialize in very specific fields. Namely, my job at the Department. Parts of my new duties will consist of teaching newbies the ropes and heading my own interrogations. I'll also be working under the ANBU in their newly sanctioned IT Division."

"IT Division?"

"IT stands for Information Technology. That means she's part of the team that monitors and secures the village's online activity," Bokomon provided, him and the kunoichi sharing a furtive look. It'll also help us monitor for any suspicious Digimon activity. We still haven't been able to pinpoint what method Hyougamon used to come here. If we can zero in on how or where, we might be able to close it off or use it as a clue to Etemon. "Which means you need to be more careful when you're on the computer."

"You don't need to tell me that," Naruto whined with a pout. With that, Anko walked away until her form vanished into the darkness of the street.

"Hey!"

"Hm?" All eyes darted to the door, seeing the Hokage and his tiny retinue - including his brat of a grandson - exiting the establishment. Konohamaru ran ahead of them, stopping just short of crashing into the blonde, who backed away a step.

"Uzumaki Boruto-!"

"NARUTO!" The Uzumaki snapped, in total disbelief that someone else had called him by that cursed excuse of a name. "NA!RU!TO! Get that through your coconut head, you shitty brat!"

"Coconut head?" Konohamaru echoed softly, the incredulity painted on his face twisting into an indignant scowl. "Who are you calling a coconut head, buttface?!"

"Buttface?!"

"That's what you look like, buttface! " Konohamaru insisted, sticking his tongue out. "You're a buttface! A buttface! A stupid buttface!

Watching the two descend into exchanging insults, Hiruzen let out an exasperated sigh. Kakashi, by his right, couldn't help but ask in a whisper, "Should I?"

Hiruzen, resigned, shook his head.

Konohamaru snarled, "Fight me! If I'm ever going to beat my grandpa and become Hokage, I need to beat strong guys like you."

Naruto huffed, waving a hand dismissively. "Feh, fat chance. I know you can't beat me, what makes you think you have any hope with the old man?"

"Shut up!" Konohamaru barked. "I-"

"I'm out," Naruto scoffed, lightly flicking his fingers in disinterest as he turned to Bokomon and Piyomon. "Let's go home, guys."

Konohamaru ground his teeth, fuming over being refused. He then grinned, hooking his hands on his hips. "Oh, I get it. You're scared."

Masa, who was behind Kakashi, inwardly scoffed. The boy stood no chance.

Naruto stopped, having only taken three steps. His head and shoulders fell, belting out a hefty sigh. He knew that this wasn't worth it, hell, it could hardly qualify as a footnote in the day he just had, yet he turned heel and marched up to the boy. Creeping up close, Konohamaru slowly had to raise his head for how tall and imposing the blonde was at full height. It was there that his resolve faltered when their eyes met, a fierce blue piercing into his own.

The esteemed grandson of the Hokage failed to reign in the tremor in his tone as he continued to goad with, "S-So, are you ready to lose?"

"Go ahead," Naruto replied simply, indifference clearly written on his face.

Konohamaru's demeanor lit up triumphantly. Leaping two paces back, he rotated his arm in a counterclockwise direction to warm himself up. "When I'm through with you, you'll be on your knees, begging for mercy from me, the great Konohamaru." With a battle cry, he shot forward, readying back a punch.

The Uzumaki evaded with a simple sidestep, letting the fist whisk past him to strike air. With Konohamaru having entered his range, stumbling from having missed, his hand flew to grab a fistful of the boy's shirt. With little effort, the blonde tossed him upward. Konohamaru yelped out in alarm as he soared for a good two and a half meters until gravity asserted itself, leaving him helpless in freefall.

Ebisu's jaw couldn't have dropped lower, about to jump in when the Hokage stopped him with a gesture of his hand.

Naruto raised a flat palm up, catching the boy by his foot and balancing him on it. Konohamaru wobbled, breathing choppily, trying and failing to collect his bearings, everything having proceeded too fast for his mind to catch up.

"You give up?" Naruto goaded him, and it was there that the panicked lad snapped back to his senses, attempting to disengage when the Uzumaki clasped the boy's foot tightly at the last second, causing him to tip over. Konohamaru could do nothing as he fell backwards until he was left to hang upside-down, only to then be unceremoniously dropped like a stone.

He landed just shy of his crown before he was flat on his back, becoming winded that he let out a cough.

"Omago-sama!" Ebisu ran to his tutee, not bothering if the Hokage was to object or not. He knelt down, checking the stunned Konohamaru and saw that nothing seemed serious, allowing him to gently elevate his young ward's upper body. Konohamaru coughed a few more times, his eyes closed tightly as he rode out the pain. Outraged, the Tokubetsu Jōnin looked up in the Uzumaki's direction to shoot him a castigating glare. "Y-You hoodlum! Do you have any idea what you've just done?"

"Giving the kid what he asked for?" Naruto answered with a shrug, his hands on his hips.

"You-How dare you!" Ebisu shot an expectant look at the Hokage. "Sir, are you not going to say anything?"

Hiruzen stood motionless, his hands clasped behind him, his gaze shifting between both boys. "Are you alright, Konohamaru?"

His grandson was frozen as he seemed to be collecting himself, purely rattled that someone had actually dared to go through with laying a hand on him, and right in front of his grandfather no less. He was the one who instigated it, of course, but he had expected that the older kid, like earlier, would back out.

The same as everyone else would do whenever he acted out of turn or misbehaved. None of his peers, let alone adults other than his parents or grandfather, had ever dared to reprimand him. He had been inwardly taken aback that the blonde even took his bait at all, and to be dispatched in such a nonchalant manner, he now knew that his grandfather hadn't misspoke when he mentioned attending the party of a particularly strong student, insisting that he be taken along.

Ebisu was having none of it. "Apologize now, you punk! Apologize now or you'll be-" Konohamaru upper body jolted, sitting up, startling him. "O-Omago-sama?"

Konohamaru climbed to his feet, followed by his tutor, and stood motionless with a thoughtful expression. He looked up to once more lock eyes with the blonde, but said nothing. Hiruzen observed his grandson's body language, and became curious when he spotted the expression on his face. It wasn't that of hostility, nor enmity, but awe.

Pure, unfiltered, awe.

Naruto sighed, finding nothing else to do and turned to leave with his friends. It would be four days before classes started again, and he needed to be ready. "I'll see you at school, Jii-chan." He shot one last look at a cowed Konohamaru. "The next time you pick a fight, try to actually get your punches to hit, moron."

"M-Moron?!" Ebisu echoed in umbrage. "Do you even need to be reminded who you're talking to?!"

"A snot-nosed brat too big for his britches," Naruto retorted without missing a beat. "Like I care that he's the old man's grandson. He asked for a fight, so I gave it to him."

Konohamaru gaped even more in incredulity from hearing this.

Unlike Ebisu, who could only bristle indignantly at such impertinence. "Hmph, like I expected much from a delinquent. I know of you, Uzumaki Naruto. The village troublemaker, a good for nothing scoundrel. An ingrate such as yourself is stupendously fortunate to even be welcomed back into the Academy. I have half a mind to have you expelled!"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before," Naruto scoffed in return. "You got a problem with me, man? Get in line. Let's go, guys." And with that, the three left without any further hindrance.

"Well, that could have gone better," Kakashi remarked sardonically.

Masa could only grin behind his bandages. Looks like he does have the spark. After they too moved to leave, and Konohamaru and Ebisu were a good distance ahead, he felt the need to ask, "Are you satisfied, Sarutobi?"

"..." Hiruzen bore him a look from the corner of his eye.

"It certainly isn't my business, but hearing the wording your grandson used, well…" They rounded a corner, letting them lag a bit further behind. "You could have left him at home. Telling him about it was one thing, but to mention that it was being held for someone strong, well, that's where I'm curious."

Hiruzen didn't immediately respond, leaving Kakashi to do so. "I had no prior idea that bringing your grandkid to have a good time could ever be so layered. How such norms have changed."

Masa ignored the sarcastic quip. "What reason would you have for them to meet in such a manner, Sarutobi? Can you at least tell me?"

For the remainder of the night, Hiruzen would have wanted to be left to his own thoughts, brooding over the coming resumption of classes, or to simply relax with a nice cup of tea before bed. He shot Masa with a mild look of annoyance.

The bandaged man persisted. "Could it be politics? Mayhaps, insurance?"

Hiruzen chewed on the answer. "Konohamaru has become used to the treatment that comes from living under mine and that of his parents' shadows. He's enjoyed knowing that no one other than his family can so much as raise their tone against him. Yet, he also resents that the people around him only do so because of his status, making it difficult for him to socialize and make genuine friends."

Masa huffed. "Oh, come now. Truly? Even Daimyō had carefully handpicked playmates."

"Is it so hard to believe?" Hiruzen shrugged. "Introducing him to Naruto-kun, who has had no such compunctions, would serve to temper this spoiled side of him, and perhaps cause him to be more open to others." Hiruzen sighed, groaning, "If nothing else, as a proper distraction before he really ends up hurting himself."

"...Disciplining him would have worked just as well," Masa countered.

Hiruzen slowly aimed a hard look at the man, replying strongly with, "I'm sure." He quickened his stride to gain on Ebisu and his grandson, leaving Masa with Kakashi.

The former ANBU Captain shrugged. "Ignoring the fact that the position's still occupied, there's a reason why he thought twice of placing you in charge of guidance counseling."

Masa inwardly sighed. Perhaps he was the very last person people should be taking advice from on child rearing.

Four days later…

He walked up to the open gates of the Academy, a hand in his pocket, with the other holding a knapsack slung over his shoulder, his arrival epitomized by a gust of wind kicking up the dry soil. He swept his gaze over the grounds, seeing a number of students already milling about, a few of them stealing glances from who they could only describe as a shady looking kid that was wearing a black uniform jacket and orange pants, a pair of green goggles drawn over his forehead. On his right bicep was a red armband emblazoned with the symbol of his clan. An orange circular swirl pattern.

He looked every bit the delinquent they instinctively knew him to be. His sharp eyes traveled to the school itself, standing proud as always under the beaming sunlight.

He took a short breath to steel himself. Today was the day that things would change. Today was the day that he would demolish the very foundations this school's paltry walls stood on and leave his mark for those to follow.

Today was the day for his…revenge.

First order of business, take over the school. Next, assemble his own gang. Then, work their way up until all of Konoha would come to know and fear the name-

"This isn't a delinquent shōnen manga, and there aren't any roving gangs around Konoha; that we know of, and you're not about to throw down with the other students during class hours while the teacher is conveniently absent," Bokomon, dressed in a simple white button-up undershirt with his pink haramaki exposed and a pair of black shorts, listed off flatly. Held under his arm was a thick folder stuffed with papers. "You want to get physical? Wait until it's time for PE."

Naruto bristled, stomping his feet and throwing his arms down. "Spoil my fun, why don't 'ya!" he snapped back.

"Just go to class already," Bokomon said with a sigh.

In Naruto's classroom…

"Hey, did you hear about it?"

"Hm? Heard what?"

"We got a new teacher."

"Dumbass, we got a whole ton of new teachers. Did your brain rot while school was out?"

"The fuck you say?!"

Yamanaka Ino sighed, drowning out the noise, letting her mind wander as lazily surveyed the classroom, seeing some familiar faces, leaving others that may or may not have managed with how early it still was. By a rough estimate, she figured only a good 60% of their class alone were able to pass and be allowed back into the program. Jury was out on how the other classes fared, though she wouldn't put it past the possibility for it to be marginally lower. Out of the entire school, theirs was the highest concentration of clan heirs. Even if by some small chance that one was to fail, there was always an apprenticeship, but that was two years too long. Fortunately for her, she passed with flying colors. As expected of someone of her keen pedigree, but this was only to be the first step in her journey to becoming one of Konoha's foremost kunoichi. It wasn't a matter of wanting to make her clan proud, but that she already was the pride and joy of her father as his one and only daughter and heir.

Now all she needed to do was endure a few more months in this dump and she'll be home free to lead the glamorous life of a mercenary.

"Ne, Ino, did you hear about the new-"

"Hah, yes," Ino interrupted with a huff and a lazy roll of her eyes, stooping down on her desk. "This new teacher that's such a hot topic is Naruto's uncle, I heard."

"Yeah, and I heard he passed, too," the girl, Minami, counted among Ino's gossip circle, mumbled in a low tone. "A lot of the other students are crying foul. Like, where did the guy even come from? Naruto never once mentioned having family, and all of a sudden he has an uncle."

Ino sucked in her lips. "Who cares if he does have family? What seems to be the more pressing issue is that with the school having reinforced its standards, does someone like Naruto even have what it takes to make the cut?"

"Exactly," Minami agreed.

"And, yet, Shikamaru and Chōji told me that Naruto did pass on his own," Ino refuted, her lips curling into a grin at reading Minami's body language. "Not as roundly as I have, but still adequate."

"And you believe those doofuses?" Minami said with a scoff. "I know you three are close, but they're the class knuckleheads along with Naruto."

"Please, even they wouldn't cover for that idiot if that was the case," Ino scoffed in turn, making a flicking gesture with her hand, the other now cradling her head. "Can you imagine?"

Minami took a moment to reply circumspectly, "Yeah, I guess. But this is Naruto we're talking about. He's dumber than a box of rocks. He's the dead last for a reason."

Ino shrugged, "Meh, that's his problem."

Not long after, Inuzuka Kiba entered the classroom with a pronounced swagger, swaying his arms and clapping loudly to sound off his arrival. He wagged his eyebrows confidently at some of the girls, whose reactions fluctuated between unimpressed to annoyed. He marched up to his usual seat and fell back like a king returning to his throne, propping his feet up on his desk, elbows splayed against the desk behind him, an eager Akamaru wrapt snugly within his jacket.

"I see you're doing well," Aburame Shino, calmly sitting next to him, remarked.

"What can I say?" Kiba licked the tip of his pinkie and slicked it against his eyebrow. "I'm unstoppable."

Akamaru barked.

"Hey, who did most of the work again?" Kiba carped. "You spent the last month and a half on your ass stuffing yourself. Hell yeah I'm gonna gloat."

His ninken partner barked again.

"Yeah? Well, same to you."

"I am in complete awe of your tenacity against the odds," Shino remarked sarcastically.

"Bite my head off," Kiba shot back. "You should be counting your own blessings, bug boy."

Shino didn't deign to sally such a gibe, other than with a sidelong glance.

"So," Kiba clicked his tongue, whirling his head around. "Any stragglers?"

"Oh, you know," Shino started. "There's our fellow clan heirs, then there's Haruno, Yamazaki, Shigeno, you can add Moriyama into the mix as well."

"What about Kanda and his stooges? They here yet?"

"... Held back for another year."

"All of them? Why?"

"Kanda was cheating during his written exam. He was getting answers from Kōza and Ichiro, who were hiding behind the row he was seated."

"So?"

"They were caught."

"Ah."

Shino thought more for a moment. "Uzumaki passed, too."

Kiba absently nodded, right until his mind processed it and his head snapped to the Aburame. "Hah?! Naruto passed?!"

"Yes," Shino, focused on reading from his scroll, idly confirmed. "A list was posted on the bulletin board, and his name was counted among our class. Didn't you read it on your way here?"

"That retard would have better luck cleaning out the kennels at our compound," Kiba remarked pointedly. "And no way he could've cheated his way in. It's a mistake. It's gotta be."

Akamaru barked loudly in agreement.

"Perhaps we judged him too soon," Shino posed his opinion in his usual monotone.

Kiba, in a rare moment of acuity, plainly spelled out, "He barely knows what chakra is. Chakra. That's like wanting to become an artist and not even knowing what a goddamn pencil is. Really, I'm surprised he stuck around this long."

"Well, there's always apprenticeship."

"Psh, charity cases," Kiba retorted, throwing his head back against his folded arms. "My cousin Mitsui's a Chūnin, and he got saddled with this lame-o. Total lost cause. Ended up dropping out."

"Do you expect the same of Naruto?"

Kiba snorted, "I expect him to pick up trash for a living, but that'd be cruel to the trash."

Shino fought back a sigh. During the time before and after his evaluation, his father had put him through an intense and meticulous review of the curriculum, not that he wouldn't have done so on his own, nor was there cause for the Aburame patriarch to worry over his son's education, as Shino had done the due diligence of weeding through the sabotage earlier than most. When tasked to explain himself as to why he hadn't said anything sooner, Shino had been under the impression that it was a secret test before making genin.

He would forever remember the sight of his father, Shibi, so beside himself with shock that the man's sunglasses fell to the floor.

After being given a stern talking to by his parental unit over something so ridiculous, he was directed to train with his Kikaichū in a general forest area.

And what else would he find by mere chance but Spike Gym, standing proudly like the fortress it was. Having come across such a secured and well fortified building, he decided then and there was a better time than any to hone his skills in espionage and stealth.

Why? Because of the numerous security seals in place that seemed tailormade for Aburame. He first had his insects find and go through any and all viable openings, only for them to immediately fall down dead, drained of their chakra. He always kept count of the insects he would lose; 12 in total, but that only spurred him to further circumvent such obstacles as part of his training. Once he started something, he finished it out of habit.

This task occupied him for an entire week, and after much planning and repeated attempts, he had found a way in. The logistics made it so that he could only have one insect at a time make their way through the plumbing. Doing this allowed him to map out the pipes, and after patiently trudging through passageway after passageway, it was only a matter of slipping through the right one. On top of that, one of his theories proved correct, that the seals functioned not unlike a barrier or bug zapper, which meant his drone was free to move about within the confines of the gym. As a precaution, he refrained them from making contact with the floor and walls. In a single day, he had gathered all that he needed, sating his initial curiosity, only to open up an even greater curiosity over Naruto's new and odd circumstances. He was even present on the day the young Uzumaki opened the heavy double doors. There was no way that any normal person, much less a shinobi ameliorated by the enhancements of chakra, could reach such a level of strength in just a short period, never mind taking their age into account. Not least of all with the kind of training Naruto was put through.

His teachers knew he was there the whole time, of course (along with one other), but they didn't seem to mind.

Questions atop of questions piled up the more he threaded through the information, but it was obvious that Naruto was far from a conventional civilian. A bloodline, then? He couldn't rightly rule out…and that was when he was flooded with the sudden urge to eat his kikaichū by the handful.

Even as a young boy, he would read history books to help pass the time, or study up for exams, and while he had developed enough of a sense that not everything in Konoha's records could be entirely fact based or truthful, he had a general purview of events that dated back to the village's founding. A simple cursory review of his old and current material, including those found in his father's study, netted him mentions of an Uzumaki Clan as being one of the foundational figures in Konohagakure's century long standing. But, what set them apart from the other noble clans was not only their revolutionary breakthroughs in Fūinjutsu, but also as a sister clan to the illustrious Senju.

One critical detail that tied certain pieces of the puzzle together was the fall of Uzushiogakure, the clan reportedly such a potential threat to those not allied to Konoha (at least at the time), that it led to the other four elemental nations to wage a successful campaign that decimated them.

Could Naruto possibly be a surviving member of the clan that was under the village's protection?

The likelihood of it was evident enough through logical deduction and gave way to more theories churning inside his perceptive mind. That being said, he wasn't about to jump to any solid conclusions. Why? Because frankly, he wasn't that nosy enough to dwell on it for too long lest his own priorities fell to the wayside. He finished his training, next to learning more about Naruto and the village's history, along with attaining information that could prove useful in the foreseeable future.

"I'm sure," Shino replied neutrally.

"Damn right you're sure," Kiba stated pompously, to which Shino could only ruminate on the advantages of sunglasses as he rolled his eyes.

Shikamaru was relaxing by his seat, still riding the soreness of his body after being subjected to five sets of fifty reps in squats the previous two days. While this menu would normally be doable for them, the suit served to add further strain, ensuring that they were an exhausted sweaty mess not long after had the suit not kept them clean. By the time he and Chōji left for their homes, they had to support each other as they could only waddle awkwardly down the beaten street, but not before being treated to a post workout feast consisting of bear sashimi, teriyaki chicken in broccoli, black rice, vegetable salad with cottage cheese, and watermelon cherry smoothies mixed with whey protein powder. Naruto completed his own menu by starting much earlier, as his reps and sets numbered in the triple digits with the added weight of a 500 kg barbell.

No one in their age group had any right to be that strong, and a part of him was worried that it might just stir the competitive pot, so to speak, if Naruto were to go all out at some point; which he knew to be soon, giving way to a whole litany of headaches. "How are your legs, Chōji?"

Munching on a protein bar, his rotund friend answered, "Pretty good. Warm baths, resting and eating right to help me recover. Which means," he sighed dejectedly, "I'm on the wagon. Less junk food and more tuna, egg whites, and chicken. Suits me just fine, mind you, but you know how my cravings go."

The Nara heir let out a hefty breath, "Troublesome. I couldn't even get out of bed the day after." He clicked his tongue, slumping down on his desk. "Can't believe we have to put up with this bullshit from now on. Is it even worth it?"

Chōji shrugged, chewing into his protein bar. "At least the food's good. Plus, this is all to get stronger, remember?"

"Don't remind me," Shikamaru bemoaned as his gaze lazily flitted to the door. "Oh, here we go."

In walked Naruto, slipping in without ceremony as he made his way to the row where Shikamaru and Chōji were. As he did, he cut a curious glance to his classmates already present, who didn't seem to care or notice him, other than one or two who did, the expressions they held dithering on whether or not it was really him they were seeing. He held back a snort and the urge to announce himself, feigning disinterest.

When he sat down, he leaned forward to his two friends with an impish smile. "Hey."

"..."

"Hey."

Shikamaru rolled his head to face away from him without a word.

Naruto shifted his focus to Chōji. "Hey."

"Hey," the rotund boy responded more agreeably, tossing him a protein bar.

Naruto caught it and tore open the wrapper. "Thanks." He bit into the treat, chewing as he added, "So, anything I missed?"

"Not much," Chōji answered, "just a bunch of us getting back into the swing of things."

"Anybody here yet?"

"Kiba, Shino-"

"I mean those who matter."

"-Ino-"

"Those who actually matter."

"You mean your man crush, Sasuke?" Shikamaru chimed in lazily, and smirked when he heard the blonde splutter.

"He-!" Naruto bristled, before bringing his hands up. "You know what, not even gonna walk into that."

"Just so you know, he's not fond of chocolate."

"I did not ask," Naruto muttered under his breath curtly. "What about Sakura?"

"Twotimer."

"Shut up!" Naruto muttered testily, raking his gaze over the classroom to affirm that the two were presently absent. "Guess they're not here yet."

"Obsessed~…" Shikamaru crooned.

"Shut!" Naruto snapped, drawing a finger at him.

"Well hello there, handsooOOOH MY GOD, it's you!" A familiar voice, reeling back in an exaggerated display of disgust. "Sorry, honest mistake."

Without turning his head, he addressed the Yamanaka heiress hovering over him from the preceding row, a hand hooked on her hip while balancing herself on the other. "It's all good. At least you had the decency to apologize."

Ino snorted at him sassing her back, propping herself down on the desk. "What's with the new look?"

Naruto tried playing it cool, running his hands over his trimmed hair, his lips pursed. "Thought I needed an update."

"He's just trying to impress his crush," Shikamaru said from his slump.

"Sakura?" Ino asked with a curious arch of her brow.

"Sas-"

"Yes!" Naruto piped up, smacking Shikamaru on the head. "Sakura. My crush. The girl that I am trying to impress. That is who we are referring to, and no one else in particular." He stole a heated glance from the lazy boy.

"Right," Ino intoned flatly, indicating that she didn't buy it one bit. "She's not here yet."

"That much is obvious," Naruto rolled his eyes. "So why are you here?"

"Because I passed, dweeb," Ino replied archly. "Rather admirably if I do say so. Perfect marks on both the written and physical." She loomed closer down to him, a shit-eating grin stretching across her features, "What about you?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" Naruto pointed out rather acutely, tugging at the hem of his jacket, to which Ino inwardly admitted looked stylish on him. "I earned my place here like everyone else. Uzumaki Naruto is not going to end up in the gutter, and you can be sure that I won't be dead last."

"Well, you're certainly not the kind to lie or cheat, at least not flawlessly," Ino conceded, having read his body language. "But to not be dead last? I'll believe it when I see it."

"And you will!" Naruto declared confidently.

More minutes passed as even more students gradually filed in, with a head count from Naruto yielding eighteen in total before Iruka arrived. He gave Sasuke a glance that was beneath the latter's notice, or simply didn't care. Seeing Sakura was what made him perk up, until he recalled what Ino had told him. Were his feelings for her genuine? Was there something of actual substance to what was simply a crush? In all the years he had known…seen Sakura, he truly did not know a thing of significance about her, and he had a feeling that the girl would punch his lights out first before she was to share anything personal with him.

Maybe he could try to get to know her? Or at least not act like he was stalking her. He winced when he harkened back to all the times he came off as being just. Okay, maybe he needed to lay off for a while and sort out his own priorities first.

The first step was to pay attention in class, rubbing his forehead from the chalk Iruka shot at him.

"Naruto, can you please tell the class what tenketsu points are?" Iruka asked tensely, irritated over bad habits returning.

Naruto took a moment to think before standing up, many grinning expectantly in anticipation for him to bumble through the recitation. "Tenketsu points are the nodes located all over our chakra circulatory system, which are 361 in total. These nodes can be considered the openings to which we can channel chakra, usually from our arms and legs, to help enhance our performance. We can expel chakra from other points, but that would require finer control."

The room fell silent when the blonde sat back down, including Iruka, who hid how impressed he was. "Very good. Now then, take out your textbooks on…"

Words couldn't begin to describe the satisfaction he felt from feeling his classmates' eyes on him.

No way that's Naruto.

It's an impostor, a fake. That rat must've paid someone to fill in for him.

After class, we corner them and break their henge. No way is Naruto not gonna get expelled for this.

Naruto's smile fell, twitching in irritation from what he was hearing. They weren't even trying to be subtle. He threw a heated glance over his shoulder at the ones conspiring, prompting them into silence and cheaply feigning innocence. Ino bit back a chortle, herself seated at the row behind. From the corner of her own eye, the girl that was next to her had been stealing glances from the Uzumaki since she arrived, with more frequency and intensity than usual for some reason. The Yamanaka heiress belted out a sigh through her nostrils. The poor dear could probably do better, but who was she to judge?

At lunch time, the students dispersed, some staying to chat and eat while others went out. Naruto rummaged through his knapsack, bringing out three bento boxes that were large enough that they must have taken much of the space inside. Chōji took out his own lunch that was roughly equal in size, if not bigger. Only Shikamaru's was the more modest of the two.

Naruto opened the first one, revealing two brown rice onigiri with sweet potatoes. He opened the second one, which had a vegetable salad consisting of broccoli, red cabbages, asparagus, cucumbers, sliced egg whites, thin tempe slices and garnished with cottage cheese. The third were three large slices of grilled tuna. With the activation of his healing factor came the rise of his metabolism, necessitating him to put away a surplus of calories and nutrients to help his body to properly recover, lest he burn muscle mass to compensate. Had he skimped or ate less than what he needed, it would have hampered the pace of his training tremendously. In the beginning, he was required to consume a higher ratio of carbs to sufficiently bulk up, offsetting his malnutrition, but the more his body developed, Oton increasingly placed focus on protein.

"Oh? Sweet!" Chōji chirped. He picked up one of his own bento and showed the contents to Naruto. "A grilled chicken breast for one of your tuna."

"Deal," Naruto agreed, the two of them trading a slice each. "You want some salad, Shikamaru?"

The Nara heir shook his head in refusal, partaking in the chicken and egg salad sandwiches his mother made as part of the diet Oton placed him on. "Give me an onigiri."

Naruto shrugged, having more than enough carbs with the salad. " Itadakimasu!" He sounded off before digging in, taking a hefty bite of his grilled tuna and munching on his remaining onigiri, crooning in delight at the mix of flavors in his mouth. "So good~!"

"Aw, now isn't that cute?"

The blonde looked up from his meal, a piece of asparagus sticking out of his lips, seeing Kiba smugly looking down at him with a toothy grin, baring his canines. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Naruto blinked, chewing his food down before replying, "Eating?"

"No," Kiba pointed a finger at the blonde. "I mean, what the hell are you doing here? Who says you could come back?"

Naruto's expression furrowed. "Uh, the Hokage? Since I passed my evaluation?"

"You? Pass? As if, smartass," Kiba scoffed. "A failure like you can't even cheat to save his life. The Hokage must have gone completely senile to let you in. That's the only explanation."

Naruto frowned, just barely rising to the bait had he not gone back to eating. Kiba idly traced his gaze down on the blonde's lunch, and instead of junk like he was expecting, his eyes widened when he recognized them as the kind for bodybuilding. He should know, as his older sister, Hana, had placed him on the same high protein and low carb diet, bulking him up ahead of his peers. "The hell are you playing at, Naruto? Since when did a turd like you ever eat this stuff?"

"After I started training," the blonde answered easily. "Why?"

It was there that Kiba hesitated, looking more annoyed than anything, not wholly willing to denounce the kind of food Hana would have him eat. Then again, it wasn't exactly his meal that he was dissing. "You seriously think that shit is gonna do anything for you?"

"... Isn't that what eating this stuff is for?"

"Please," Kiba scoffed, now having some momentum. "You're just gonna be another fatass like Tubby over here." Chōji twitched, glowering at the Inuzuka from the corner of his eye. "And what "training"? Did you pick up a fitness magazine from the trash? You pop a squat once and you're suddenly a tough guy? You don't know jack shit about proper form, how many reps you need to do, the hours you need to put in. No way you know how to do any of that without fucking yourself up."

"I think I kinda do," Naruto proclaimed calmly as he kept on eating.

Kiba's expression faltered slightly at not getting the reaction he wanted. An idea then slipped past his mind. He gestured for Akamaru to leap out of his jacket, with the pup eagerly doing so, nearly landing directly on top of Naruto's lunch had the boy not acted quickly.

"Hey!"

"The hell?!"

Akamaru sniggered as he strutted across the desk, threatening to contaminate Shikamaru and Chōji's lunches as well had they not moved theirs out of the way.

"Kiba," the Akimichi heir angrily seethed from his seat, a vein popping on his temple, tenuously keeping his grip from breaking apart his chopsticks. "I'm gonna tell you this once, and only once. Put that mutt of yours on a leash before he even thinks of getting his grubby paws on our food, or I will!"

"The fuck you say, porky?!" Kiba snapped in outrage. Nobody insulted Akamaru to his face like that, especially when a leash was involved. The air around them began to rise in pressure, one boy staring down the other hatefully.

Shikamaru quickly thrusted an arm against a fuming Chōji. "Save it for PE," he said in a warning tone, himself glaring at the young Inuzuka.

Naruto had remained calm throughout the exchange, more focused on checking his meal for dog hair, before setting his bento back down to continue eating, rendering the young Inuzuka's attempts to rile him up null. "What's your menu?"

"Hm?" Kiba blinked at the question, grabbing hold of a returning Akamaru. "My menu? Like I'd tell a poser like you what I eat."

"I said your menu."

It took a moment for Kiba to get what the blonde was referring to. The way he intoned it…

"Sit-ups, pull-ups, every kind of calisthenic you can think of," he answered almost reflexively. "Our clan's jutsu-wait a minute! Why am I even telling you this? Fuck off!"

"You fuck off," Shikamaru told him as he finished his sandwich.

"You don't use free weights?" Naruto continued unabated.

"... No, I don't," Kiba found himself answering again. "I wear a weighted vest." He could at least reveal that much as a brag, grinning snidely at the blonde.

"Fifty kilograms?"

"No I-" Kiba blinked. "Y-Yeah, that's…right. So what if it is?"

Naruto hummed in thought. "Your average should be around…a hundred reps within…thirty sets. But you put in a little extra when you feel like it. Mm, you don't drink soda that often, and when you do, you first leave it out in the open or shake out the carbon dioxide to avoid bloating."

"The fu-?!" A gobsmacked Kiba reeled. "Have you been spying on me?!"

"Just a lucky guess," Naruto replied with a cheeky grin. "Plus, I can smell some cola on your jacket. By the way, why are you wearing that jacket, and with the hood up?"

"Dude? Your orange jacket would like a word," Kiba retorted.

"It's 70 degrees out and you're layered like hell," Naruto countered with an arched brow. "At least I knew when to wear a shirt."

"Up yours, asswipe," Kiba bit back, flashing him a middle finger. "Like I give a shit what you think. I wear what I want. And don't think we're done here."

"Hm?"

"You and me," Kiba declared, thumping at his chest. "When PE rolls around, you're mine."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, moving to finish up his lunch. "Sure."

Kiba blinked through his confident expression, finding the blonde's subdued, practically casual response unexpected. Naruto would normally chomp at the bit against any challenge, believing every time that he had a chance. His taijutsu record was below average and his technique atrociously telegraphed that anyone remotely above his skill level; which was practically everyone else in their class, could knock him around like they would a training dummy. Even a competent enough third year could render him an even bigger joke than he already was or ever will be. "I said, we're gonna duke it out."

"Yeah, you did."

"Bash each other's brains out!"

Naruto made a face. "I already said yes."

"Man-to-man!"

"What else do you want me to say?" Naruto asked in genuine confusion, finding Kiba's persistence off-putting.

Kiba growled, "By the time I'm done with you, you're gonna wish you didn't come back!" With that, he sharply turned to storm back to his desk, with Akamaru once again hitching a ride in his jacket, blowing the trio a raspberry.

"Asshole," Chōji muttered, wolfing down the rest of his lunch, not having fully calmed down.

"No arguments from me," Shikamaru seconded, putting away his now empty bento back into his bag.

"Forget him," Naruto said as he was rummaging through his knapsack again, pulling out three vacuum flasks and placing them on the desk for each of them. "Nothing like some protein smoothies to wash it all down."

"Ugh, I think I'm gonna throw up," Shikamaru groaned, taking a flask reluctantly.

"More for me, then," Naruto chirped, believing that the Nara heir had simply too much to eat, him and Chōji downing theirs immediately.

"Ah, screw it," Shikamaru amended, unscrewing the cap as he threw caution to the wind, having drunk such a vile concoction before courtesy of his mother, her idea of healthy food and drink anything but palatable. That was until he took a cautious, tiny sip from the flask and his eyes lit up. It was good. Not overly sweet, and with a mellow, fruity aftertaste. He found it easy to drink with every gulp before placing it down half full.

"Well?" Naruto prodded with a knowing glance.

"Better than the gunk my mom made," Shikamaru admitted, licking his lips. "What's in it?"

"Soy pulp, no fat milk, avocados, bananas, ground walnuts and whey protein powder," Naruto answered. "What kind of smoothies does your mom make?"

"That was only one time," Shikamaru admitted. "I threatened to quit school if she made me drink any more."

"Was it that bad?" Naruto asked. "What did she make it out of?"

"Raw eggs, steamed chicken, steak, broccoli-"

"Wait a minute, what?" Naruto whipped his head to the other boy. "Did I hear that right? Please tell me your mom just made that up in a fit of temporary insanity."

"Unfortunately for the both of us, smoothies like that exist, and whether or not you can hold it down depends on how much you hate yourself. Konoha Monthly has an entire column dedicated to the craziest, sickest recipes imaginable that I doubt even a quarter are fit for human consumption. That's where my old lady got the idea. There's even one that uses a whole squid, uncooked."

"That's so gross," Naruto shuddered in disgust.

Chōji shook his head; such a waste of perfectly good food.

After lunch, the entire class poured out into the field for PE, where a bandaged Masa was waiting. The new instructor's appearance naturally drew a lot of attention, but no one dared to comment.

"Moriyama!"

"Here!"

"Machida!"

"Here!"

"Hyūga!"

"H-Here…"

Masa looked up to catch a glimpse of the Hyūga heiress ducking between the Yamanaka heiress and Haruno girl, playing with the hem of her jacket. A hand on his hip, Masa held his clipboard aloft with the other, shaking it idly as he scanned the students. Half of these kids don't even look like they belong here. Indeed, reading the body languages of some in the class, there was an unmistakable shadow of apprehension under their anticipation, probably jitters left from the evaluation, coupled with the fear that the Academy's heightened standards might prove more challenging.

The bandaged instructor was very willing to prove such fears right.

"Nara!"

Shikamaru sighed, signaling lazily, "Here."

Masa frowned under his bandages, already not liking the boy's attitude. "Inuzuka!"

"Here!" Kiba sounded more confidently, standing ramrod straight, earning an approving nod from the man.

"Akimichi!"

"Here."

"Uchiha!"

"Here."

"Yamanaka!"

"Here~."

"...Uzumaki!"

"Here!" Naruto called out loudly, practically yelling.

Masa nodded all the same. "Haruno!"

"Here."

With that done, Masa proceeded to announce, "You all have an hour to do warm-ups. You worms are going to need it."

" Warm-up?"

This triggered a signal in Naruto's brain.

Every day. Without fail. Oton would have him do warm-ups. Only once did he not abide by this routine, earning him a punch to the face, which was the same for any infraction he made no matter how slight or trivial.

He did not like getting punched in the face.

Running on autopilot, he took a long steady intake of air through his nostrils, exhaling through his mouth, his chest rising and falling in a practiced rhythm of five times. First, he grabbed his wrist with his other hand, curling the free appendage into a fist. Ten rotations to the left, and ten to the right. He repeated this with the other. Next, standing perfectly ramrod straight, feet dug firmly on the ground, legs packed tightly, his arms slowly reached down towards his hamstrings. He kept going until his head was flushed against his knees, wrapping his arms around his legs securely, making himself an interesting sight to his classmates who caught what he was doing.

From his peripherals, still in the midst of his breathing exercise, Sasuke blinked his eyes wide, bearing the Uzumaki a glance. " That's…"

Masa was seeing it, as well. " A perfect hamstring stretch. You have to be flexible as hell to pull that off."

Counting down to a minute, Naruto released his hold and righted himself without breaking poise to take another deep breath to refill his lungs. He next slowly raised his leg up. Higher, higher, until his foot was pointing to the sky in an upright position.

" Shiko?" Masa knew that to be the oldest form of training that sumo practitioners do. It could be applied just as well to any workout to build one's core. The Uzumaki was doing it perfectly still, without the use of an anchor. " Repetition breeds mastery. Seiko must have had him build his core strength from day one."

Sasuke kept staring gauntly at what he was seeing, forgetting about his own routine, as did the others.

After another countdown, Naruto slammed his leg down to the ground, the force of the impact rattling those nearby, his knees bent low that his feet were now far apart in a squatting position. He fluidly repeated this with his other leg without shifting to adjust.

Kiba and Akamaru, who were doing their usual routine of squats, broke stride when they heard it.

And felt it.

Their backs to the blonde, they turned to the source of the vibration and witnessed Naruto in the midst of his routine, if they could even call it that. Akamaru's fur stood on end, taking a step back from the intimidating pressure the Uzumaki was exuding. Kiba could only gape at the boy he had challenged, hardly believing what he was witnessing.

Soon, more and more found themselves drawn to the sight, with Naruto wholly ignorant of the attention he was garnering, a serene and focused expression on his visage as he was completely engrossed in his warm-up.

The field seemed to descend into pindrop silence, an indescribable tension floating over them, and it was not long that they realized the cicadas had stopped humming. The majority of the class could only stand frozen, transfixed, the follicles on the back of their necks prickling from the air becoming crisp. The only ones unaffected by this ambient tension were Masa, Shikamaru, Chōji and Shino, though the latter could feel his kikaichū trembling under his skin.

Masa peered down at his watch, seeing that a full hour had passed. With a word, he called an end to the warm-up, and it took another moment for many of the students to snap back to their senses, the lot of them expressing shock that they had been entranced for that remainder.

"Osu…" Naruto muttered after releasing the breath that he had been holding, relaxing his form to stand upright, hands hooked on his hips. "Phew! Feels good, feels loose. Welp, I'm ready when you…guys…are…"

Whipping his head around, his gaze darted to the many gobsmacked looks pointed his way, prompting him to ask, "What?"

"' What?' He says…" went through their collective thoughts. All except Sasuke's, whose mind was now clouded.

Uzumaki Naruto.

It was a name that he never paid much heed to, much less the boy to which it belonged. Little more than an annoyance and an embarrassing pest, who was always playing up this nonsensical rivalry between them that he did not have the patience nor lack of sense to entertain. The Uzumaki was a non-entity in the whirlwind that was his life, someone he wouldn't care if they keeled over at any day from their own ineptitude.

That warm-up routine was anything but, however, knowing excellent form when he saw it.

No, that wasn't right. Not even he could pull off a hamstring stretch to that extent, least of all a single, stationary squat, close to an hour, and without breaking form or focus. He could match that time, but by then, he would already be showing strain. Naruto hadn't broken a single drop of sweat.

That was nothing.

He fought back the impulse to repeat that sentence in his head, unsure if he was referring to himself or the Uzumaki. Hanging his head, it was then that he caught the state his hands were in.

Both were shaking, clenched so tightly the knuckles were bone white.

Author's Notes: So, funny thing about rereading this chapter after I posted it, I neglected to add Iruka sitting next to Masa after aforementioning him sitting opposite Anko and Bokomon. This wasn't anything on my part really, only that...who were we talking about again?