Chapter 3: Survival exercise

A/N: Hey guys, I'm back on this story and you know what? I missed it. One of the biggest problems, that I also have with my second story, is that I so many Naruto stories that I overdosed and couldn't come up with anything without feeling like I have read it somewhere and stopping. To counter that I started to read a lot of fanfictions on other universes, which opened its own can of worms but less problematic than the first one. That combined with severe lack of motivation and insecurity leads me into really slow updates which I'm sure annoys you so once again "I'm sorry for the wait". Now that I think about it, my updates are as slow as Kakashi if he wrote a story. Oh joy, I'm Kakashi's equivalent…

P.S: I know that must be one of the least creative title ever but what would you have chosen in my place? (Seriously, I'm curious ^^ )

Disclaimer: See prologue.

"Dialogue"

"Thoughts"

'Mental dialogue'

"Bijuu (Great beast) dialogue/ demonic voice"

"Bijuu thoughts"

"jutsus"

The next morning Naruto was seen being his usual clown as the class stood near the border of a forest of Konoha. This was a normal setting for a normal day, which was exactly what bothered Ino. She didn't say a word about her conversation with her fellow blond. Partly because nobody will believe her when she still had trouble accepting what she discovered, and partly because the way he told her, no, warned her to not tell anyone frightened her more than she would admit. She didn't understand anything about the so-called dead last any longer. He still acted like an idiot right now but was it a mask he wore while his cold side laughed at how he fooled them or was the cold side a mask to intimidate others? Or perhaps both are masks and she never saw the real Naruto? She was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't notice the person standing next to her until she was roughly shaken.

"Wh-What?"

"Hello, anyone here Ino-pig?" Asked the voice of her once-friend-turned-rival-in-love.

"What do you want forehead?" She automatically shot back in irritation.

"Seeing if you didn't go insane, you've been staring at the idiot as soon as he arrived!" She whispered loudly, nobody apart from her in range to hear her.

"I did?" She blinked blankly.

"Are you ok?" The pink haired girl asked in barely hidden concern. Ino smiled internally as she saw once more that they were still friends of sorts despite their rivalry.

"Yes, I just had a lot to think about." This unknowingly caused Sakura's above then average imagination to run wild about what the blond boy may have done to make Ino that spaced out.

"What did this idiot do to you?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"Nothing important, I just wondered about his lack of reaction about your anonymous present yesterday."

"It's true it was weird he didn't say it was from him." Sakura wondered out loud, a hand resting on her chin. "He probably realised nobody will believe this lie." She concluded, bringing Ino to another conclusion of her own. One she didn't like at all.

"She's right, nobody would have believed the truth and I wouldn't even know that if I didn't confront him about the present. No, I wouldn't even know that if he acted the same way he does at the academy. I was fooled like the rest, me, the Yamanaka heiress… How he must have laughed when I told him it was useless to lie to me."

"Sakura." She called, interrupting her rival's rambling about how obvious it was that the present was from Sasuke. When she was sure to have her attention she continued. "Be careful out there."

"What do you mean?" The confusion was clear on her face.

"Just… Be careful, ok?" Ino was satisfied by her friend's unsure nod before Iruka arrived and demanded the class' attention.

"All right everyone, as I'm sure you remember the exercise you will participate in will last one week. In this time you will be noted on your preparation, by the way I'm glad all of you brought everything you needed." Iruka looked at the few students known for forgetting their equipment regularly, eliciting playful protests from them. "As I said you will be noted on how prepared you are, the application of any survival skills that were taught and your choice of emplacement in the zone you will be assigned in. You will be all given emergency rations to last one day. It must be noted that eating it will take points off your final mark in most cases as you will not always have food with you in a mission turned bad."

"But why give us the food if eating it will take some points?" One student asked.

"As the name suggests these are emergency rations and as such should only be eaten if you have no choice, in which case points won't be deducted by the chunin monitoring your pair." The teacher calmly answered before giving each pair their test zone on a crude map. When Naruto got the map of his pair's assigned zone he grinned as he once camped near it and knew a good spot to stay at. He blinked and the map was in the hands of his reluctant partner that motioned for him to follow her, she seemed irritated. The test began.

"Why did they think it was a good idea to pair me with the idiot of the class?" Sakura's ranting never stopped since the beginning of the test, and Naruto's attempt to talk to her all failed so he followed silently. "Is it to teach me to resist torture?"

"Ouch. That would have stung more if she actually knew what torture is, but still…" Sadly Sakura's irritation caused a similar reaction from his adoptive father.

"Will this useless pink haired brat just shut up? I'm trying to relax here! Son, punch her!" The fox yelled in fury, making Naruto sweat-drop internally.

'Um… No?'

"A slap then, anything to make her shut up!" Naruto sighed, drawing Sakura's annoyed attention.

"Do you have something to say dead last?"

"Actually yeah, I've been around those parts so I know a good place to set up camp." He answered calmly with a small smile, a big contrast to his 'normal' personality which surprised Sakura.

"He must be trying to act cool, as if that'll work when Sasuke-kun is the coolest!"

"Let's see your choice then, but it better be good." Naruto's smile stayed the same as he led her into a small clearing a little distance away from the nearby river. It's size giving them enough place for a two people camp and made it difficult to find without actively looking for it as a map would dismiss it.

"So, what do you think?"

"It seems good enough, but I would prefer to be next to the river." She insisted, a bit irritated the dead last actually found a good camp point before her.

"That wouldn't be a good idea…" The glare he received prompted him to develop his thoughts. "Water points naturally attracts animals."

"Which makes it a good spot to find food." Sakura interrupted.

"Yes, predators like those spots." He answered with a way too cheery voice for her likings. "Not only that but if we had enemy shinobi on our tail it would be the most obvious spot to find us at. Here we are not too close to the river so we won't attract unwanted attention but still close enough to get water and hunt easily. Is this spot still not to your liking?" He asked innocently at the end, making Sakura shake her head while she tried to comprehend what happened to Naruto. As they made their tents they decided what they'll do next. Naruto was charged of making traps, as he assured her on his prankster's honour that he could make some good ones, while Sakura was going to pick up comestible plants as she didn't trust Naruto for this. It was starting to get dark when Sakura came back with a sack full of various plants, feeling rather good of herself, when she saw Naruto preparing their campfire with a stack of wood next to him.

"Where are the traps?" She asked cautiously, ready to hit him if he ditched his assignment.

"Done and placed a long time ago, I was going to check them after this. I already marked their emplacement on the map. And you, how did it go?"

"There were no problems, I know my stuff." She scoffed as she emptied the content of her bag. Naruto stared at the various plants before sighing.

"You never looked how the plants looked in real life did you?"

"Are you saying that I don't know what I'm doing?" She asked angrily with her fist raised however she was surprised to see him completely calm.

"One of the most common comestible plant around here, one of the first ones in our academic books, have a cousin that looks nearly exactly the same. The problem is that it's poisonous, and you have a majority of this poisonous variant in your bag."

"You're lying, there is no such plant." She exclaimed angrily. As if she would let the dead-last act as if he knew more than her, who has the best academic marks in the class.

"It is not in the academy's books to test students and teach them to learn outside school too."

"And how would you know about it? And by the way, they wouldn't poison students."

"I never said it was deadly." He answered in the same overly cheerful tone he used earlier, which she suspected he used to disturb her. "It will only cause you awful itchiness all over your body for a few hours. And as for how I know… I read about them and was once forced to eat them."

"You actually studied something? And why would you eat poisonous plants?"

"First: very funny. Second: When you are starving in the forest you will eat anything, even when its lightly poisoned."

'Thought in my case Tou-san negates most poisons so it was completely safe.' He thought happily. Sakura was staring at him in confusion before silently separating the poisonous plants from the comestible ones. After building a rudimentary campfire Naruto checked the traps and came back with a single rabbit, which he immediately started to prepare to cook it. Sakura stayed silent during this and Naruto was prepared to spend a silent night so was surprised when she asked something.

"What?"

"I said: Do I know you?"

"Well I would hope so, since we are in the same class and, well, you are talking to me right now." He said with a small grin.

"That's not what I mean and you know it! Did I meet you before the academy?"

"It's not impossible we met in the streets once or twice, why?" He asked, hoping she will leave it at that. Hope that was destroyed as she took a thoughtful expression.

"I remember now… One day as I walked back from the market with my mother I saw a blond boy lying in a dark alleyway. I gave him food… It was you wasn't it?"

"Three bread rolls, that's what you gave me." He simply answered, deciding that it was useless to try to hide something she figured out.

"Is that… Is that why you ask me out on dates nearly every day? Because I gave you food?" Her disbelief made him chuckle.

"When you give food to a starving person, kindness to someone who had nearly none before, you end up giving this person more than that. You gave me hope, made me remember that not everyone hated me and that I also deserved to find some happiness. You basically helped me not to break when I was in the gutter, literally." The seriousness in which he said it caught Sakura off guard. Never had she seen the blond boy act or talk like that and she was lost, was this Naruto the real one? Then she remembered the warning Ino gave her before the test: Be careful.

"What have you done to Ino?" She asked warily.

"What do you mean?" He said in honest confusion.

"She told me to be careful just before the exam and since she was lost in thoughts while staring at you…"

"Could be she's developing a small crush and is confused about her feelings?" He tried but the stern glare he received made him sigh in defeat. "She may have warned me to not do anything stupid to you, and I may have shown a bit of my more serious side… which may have scared her a little since it's, you know, different from the clowning act I give at the academy." Sakura stared blankly at her as she processed the information. Firstly: Ino threatened someone for her sake. It shows she clearly considers her as a friend, and it was nice to see she didn't truly lose someone she cared for because of their rivalry. Secondly: Naruto only acted like a clown, which means he is skilled enough to infiltrate a place and hide his abilities. Lastly, and not the most reassuring: He scared, to some extent, Ino. With what he revealed about acting in the academy and the sudden and disturbing change with his more serious side, made sense.

"Why do you act like a clown then? From what you said you shouldn't be the dead last." That drew another chuckle, though this one was dry.

"Never noticed how nearly every adults glare at me in the village? A select few civilians don't, and while they are more ninjas that don't most of them hates me for a reason I don't even know. Even in the academy Iruka-sensei is the only one who treats me fairly despite not being fond of me. The other teachers hates my guts and tries their best to put me down. Now imagine what they would try to do if I showed any kind of progress in school."

"He's… right." Sakura realised in shock. "A lot of time teachers just threw him out of class for no good reasons when we were going to view an important subject. Iruka-sensei is the only exception to that." No words were exchanged between them after that, and Naruto was happy to let her process what he revealed to her. As he readied himself to sleep he noticed there were no sign of the chunin that was supposed to look after them, he never showed up.

'I have a bad feeling, what do you think dad?'

"That the chunin assigned to guard you hid his hatred good enough to be given this task but the occasion to leave you alone was too tempting. I would advise to stay alert in case of an attack."

'In other words, just a regular day. Goodnight dad.'

"You do realise that you come every night in your mindscape to see me as you sleep so saying 'goodnight' is stupid?"

'It's the thought that counts!'

"If you say so." Kurama replied with a smirk but he couldn't shake off the feeling that his adopted son will suffer another hurdle soon.

It was now six days since the beginning of the survival exercise and Naruto could honestly say he loved it. For one he has showed his normal and more serious side to Sakura and while it took some time, she got used to it. After that they got to learn a bit more of each other, mostly Sakura rediscovering Naruto, and she even apologised for how she previously treated him. In return Naruto did his best to convince Sakura to regain the close friendship she had with Ino, he even begrudgingly told her that it didn't mean she had to let go of her crush for the Uchiha. While he wouldn't say they became friends they were at least friendly acquaintances, and that meant a lot to him. However all wasn't perfect and the chunin assigned to watch them came the second day before disappearing several hours each day. A feeling of danger became more and more present to Naruto as time passed and it is only the morning of the sixth day that he discovered why. That morning Sakura was woken up rather rudely by Naruto, and while she would normally unleash her righteous fury upon the one who woke her, the look of utter panic on his face as he rapidly packed his bag stopped her.

"What is happening?"

"Wolves." Came the short answer accompanied by several howls. "A lot of wolves. Pack the strict necessary and follow me back at the village." She didn't even bother to answer as she started to pack her own bag and got dressed as fast as possible. It was only a short time until they heard another howl, much closer this time.

"Where is the chunin grading us?" She asked in panic.

"He could take a piss for all that I care right now. Move it!" He exclaimed as he grabbed her arm so that she follows him. They ran as fast as they could, not bothering with stealth when they were already hunted down, but the wolves kept getting closer.

"Naruto, the chunin…" Kurama started.

'I know, ok. That's the reason why the chunin disappeared several hours a day, to make wildlife eat me!'

"You won't be able to outrun them."

'I know, and she is going to be killed because she was unlucky enough to be paired with me… Like hell I'll accept that!'

"Kit…" Naruto turned toward Sakura.

"We won't be able to make it. Run as fast as you can toward the village while I provide a distraction." His voice was calm and monotone, and a small part of him wondered if being near Raven helped him perfect this.

"What? I won't let you play the bait!" She protested, not believing she would just let one of her classmate put himself in danger and possibly die. While heart-warming it wasn't the time for that.

"It wasn't up to discussion, if you attempt to follow me I'll throw kunais at you." He threatened while channelling his inner Anko. It worked perfectly as Sakura nodded with a pale face and he reminded himself to thank Anko for the few lessons in intimidation she gave him. He suddenly changed direction to run diagonally towards the wolves while making as much noise as possible.

"Come here you mutts!" He shouted as he saw the first wolves. "I heard Naruto is delicious this time of the year!" The wolves did decide to charge him but he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. They targeted him far too quickly to be a mere coincidence. Sakura could only stare at his rapidly disappearing back as she ran back to the village, not believing he actually risked his life to save hers. A chunin suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Due to dangerous circumstances the exercise has been cancelled and all students brought back to the academy." She let out a breath of relief, they were safe.

"I am far from safe. Really, really far from safe" Naruto thought as he could smell the wolves coming closer. His instinct shouted at him to jump to the left and he obeyed, narrowly dodging a claw swipe but halting his run. He was surrounded by slightly bigger than normal grey wolves, with the Alpha being the biggest one. It was a pack of sixteen wolves, eight adults and eight juveniles. If that wasn't suspicious enough then their creepy clouded eyes were a dead giveaway that the situation wasn't normal.

"That fuc… They're under a genjutsu to attack you. They won't rest, eat or drink until you are dead so find a way to go back to the village even if you have to use all your chakra!" Kurama ordered as his concern leaked in his voice. Naruto stood still when he heard this, took a deep breath before he answered.

"No."

"What? It's not the time to play tough, they'll slaughter you!" Naruto however, wasn't listening and thought back to a lesson Iruka gave on genjutsu. More specifically the easiest ways to dispel them.

'Say dad… the two most common and easy way to dispel genjutsu is channelling our own chakra through our system or have another do it for us, right?' He asked as he rapidly climbed as far up a tree as he could, just out of reach of the wolves.

"Don't even think about it!"

'But dad, I can't let them die because somebody put them in a genjutsu to harm me. They are in a similar situation than you told me you were in when you attacked the village.'

"Fine! But you will need to channel enough chakra to break the genjutsu done by a chunin, be careful that your chakra doesn't overload their pathways, actually insert your chakra in them and adapt your chakra to them so as to not harm them. Think you can do that? No you don't, so bye bye and better luck next time. Now the better way for you to escape would be…"

'I'm going to try.' Naruto stated firmly, much to Kurama's disbelief.

"You can't be serious. Even if you manage to break one of them from the genjutsu, they are sixteen of them. Not to mention the one you free might follow this group and continue to attack and you're not listening are you?" The great fox asked as Naruto concentrated on gathering his chakra in his hands.

'Sorry dad, but I can't let them in this state.' He jumped as far as he could, landing on a surprised wolf in the back, the both of them tumbling on the ground before separating themselves.

"I don't want to harm them." Naruto thought as he concentrated even more on his chakra he and the wolf charged each other. "They are just victims that didn't ask for what is happening to them. Just like Kurama, just like me. I don't want to harm them." He slid under the leaping wolf. "I won't harm them, no matter what!" He struck its belly, hoping it will work. To Kurama's disbelief, Naruto's wish to dispel the genjutsu the wolves were underneath without harming them transferred itself to his chakra somehow. While not perfect as the wolf still yelped in pain, Naruto's chakra didn't harm anything in the animal as it travelled through it like a shock wave. Not even a sore muscle to accompany the momentary pain of the wolf, the boy's chakra connected with the animal's own chakra perfectly.

"That shouldn't be possible, and definitely not on his first try! While it is common for a human to dispel a genjutsu put on another human their chakra doesn't actually connect to the other. It takes years even to geniuses to be able to adapt their chakra to connect with their target, not even including the difference between species, when Naruto did it, albeit for a second, purely instinctively? Just what is going on?" Naruto got up as fast as he could before dodging another claw swipe from another wolf. Taking advantage of his unbalanced position the attacking wolf pounced at Naruto who prepared himself for pain but was surprise when the first wolf he freed collided with the other one. The opportunity was too big to pass and he channelled chakra into the second wolf, freeing him with slightly less pain. The fourteen other wolves surrounded them and growled. Two other growls surprisingly answered them: the two freed wolves stood at each side of Naruto as they faced the pack.

"Seems like I have help, thanks." He told the two wolves with a smile.

Then they attacked as one. It wasn't a heroic battle where the opponents were dodging with grace the blows of their enemy endlessly. It was a chaotic and savage melee full of sweat, saliva and blood. Mostly Naruto's blood. Naruto charged toward a wolf that jumped at him while his two canine allies droved off two other wolves away. However as Naruto applied chakra to his third wolf he felt a sharp pain in his back as another wolf tore his clothes and dug his claws in his flesh. He screamed in pain as he turned around to strike the offender with his chakra as one of the freed wolves pinned him down. Four wolves were freed, twelve to go. It continued in a similar pattern for a few minutes: dodge, try to strike a wolf who will dodge most of the time, free those pinned down by his temporary allies, get hit and bloodied by some other strikes, get healed by Kurama and repeat. Soon all the wolves were freed... all but one. The alpha let out a loud roar that made the other wolves back off and surround him and Naruto. The blond boy didn't need to be a genius to understand what the biggest wolf wanted: a duel. He stood ready in a basic academic stance except his hands were opened, palms facing his opponent while the alpha stood close to the ground as he growled. The wolf suddenly jumped toward Naruto faster than the boy expected from a wolf and he couldn't totally dodge the claw swipe that hit his left shoulder. Again he let out a small scream of pain as his flesh got torn. Naruto tried to strike back with his right hand but the alpha not only dodged the attempt, but also bit the arm and used this to throw the boy into a tree hard enough to slightly break the bark. Following the warning of his tenant, Naruto rolled over as the wolf tried to claw his face out. The fight lasted a few more minutes in a similar pattern, Naruto trying to land a single hit and the alpha destroying him. Yet no matter how many times he got sent down, Naruto rose up. No matter how many wounds he suffered they healed quickly. This seemingly angered the hypnotised wolf as its prey still dared to stand before him after taking away his pack, and he decided to make it pay. To Kurama's astonishment, the alpha's chakra spiked as he jumped toward Naruto and spun faster and faster. The wolf was using a jutsu.

"Dodge!" Naruto heard his adoptive father shout in panic. He barely managed to dodge the deadly drill that the alpha became, and it was lucky as the attack struck a tree and passed through it. The boy stared in disbelief at the tree that now fell down near him. The alpha suddenly jumped from behind the tree and managed to bite Naruto left shoulder. Despite the searing pain the young boy managed to strike the wolf back with his chakra. The alpha stood still a moment before letting go, the fight was over. Naruto won. And now the boy was on his knees, clothes tattered and dried blood all other him as Kurama finished healing his wounds while scolding him for his recklessness. The wolves surrounded the blond once again but this time without any hostile intent. Naruto looked with a small smile at the first wolf he freed, recognisable because of his lighter fur colour, licked the dried blood clean.

"Thank you." He said as he tried to get up shakily before falling however the second wolf he freed stopped his fall. He managed to get up the second time but was heavily limping and used the helpful wolf as a crutch. As he slowly limped towards the village the wolves came to him one by one as Kurama healed him. Each wolf rubbed themselves or licked Naruto in thanks as the boy walked straighter because of his tenant's healing. They followed him until he was close enough to the village's walls and then retreated slowly into the forest. Naruto waved at them before making his way to the village's gates, feeling lighter than ever before even at full health.

Surprised guards stopped him at the village's entrance and sent someone warn Iruka and Anko that Naruto was here. The former because the teacher was frantically looking for the blond and the latter because it was now well known in the shinobi force that the T&I specialist treats him like a little brother. And it was easier to tell her outright than have her extract information concerning him. From the moment Anko heard that Naruto was at the gates in tattered clothes covered in blood to her arrival to said gates the messenger would swear she broke most shinobi speed records.

"What the hell happened to you?" She exclaimed when she saw his sorry state, though the smile he sported eased her worry somewhat as it wasn't faked. Akabi rushed out of her sleeve and proceeded to observe his body for any injury the kyubi might have left.

"Wolves, lots of them."

"Where are the fuckers?" A dark aura seemed to surround her while she took a kunai and Akabi let out a threatening hiss towards the forest.

"Hey, it wasn't their fault. They were under a genjutsu." Everyone around Anko froze at the sheer amount of killing intent that was leaking from her and her snake.

"We are going to see the Hokage." She stated and Naruto could only shakily nod as he felt Akabi coiling around him like a scarf. She grabbed him and used a shunshin to bring them to the Hokage's manor as fast as possible. It was in front of the leader of the village, and surprisingly Iruka, who guessed that Anko would get to Naruto faster and bring him here, that the blond boy described what happened. When he finished the adults in the room stayed silent. Anko seething in rage, Hiruzen had anger and sadness in equal part while Iruka was angry at his fellow chunin and impressed by his blond student. Contrary to a lot of the ninja population, Iruka's dislike of Naruto wasn't because of the kyubi. Yes, he hated the beast but knew the boy didn't ask to have it sealed inside him. However with Naruto clowning around in class, diminishing his chances to become a genin, and his pranking tendencies made the teacher dislike the boy. After kindly asking Naruto to stay with Raven and Akabi outside the office, the Hokage stared at the other occupants of the room.

"I want you two to work together to find and interrogate the one responsible. If he did it willingly you are allowed to show our... disapprobation of his actions." He ordered coldly and Iruka barely contained a shudder as it was rare for their leader to talk like that. He also didn't miss the sadistic smile of Anko that, if he wasn't equally angry toward the unknown chunin, would have raised in him some pity for the receiver of her anger.

"It will be our greatest pleasure, Hokage-sama." She stated and Iruka could only nod in agreement as no one messes with his students, no matter who the student was, and got away with it. No one. However he got surprised by what Anko, The Anko terror of the T&I department, said next. "I make a request for adoption of Uzumaki Naruto." The young teacher could only see determination in her eyes and that surprised him as he didn't know she was that close to his student. Yet he also heard a hint of desperation in her voice, shattering some belief he had on the seemingly untouchable woman next to him. Hiruzen sighed sadly.

"Unfortunately I can't make that happen."

"Why?" Her anger was clear.

"The council."

"You are the Hokage yes or no!" She started to shout. "I know the civilians gained more power since the kyubi's attack but you are still our leader. Not only that but he was attacked by a chunin so that should be enough reasons to override their disapproval of a ninja taking care of him!"

"I wish it was the case, but it isn't as long as the culprit isn't found. I trust Naruto when he said the wolves were under a genjutsu and targeted him, but he is only an academy student. You can guess what they will say if we use that to try and pass your adoption request. However if the culprit is caught..."

"Then you would be able to override any of their decisions as Naruto would become a civilian 'specifically targeted by shinobi forces' since it wouldn't be the first attack."

"Yes, or at least of the attacks that we could prove." The old leader confirmed, igniting a fire in Anko.

Shortly after they were allowed out of their leader's office and greeted to the sight, unfamiliar only to Iruka, of Naruto sitting on Akabi next to the Hokage's secretary in silence. The two adults escorted Naruto back to his apartment where Iruka left to prepare for next day's lesson, but not before firmly stating that the blond boy that the boy could take the day to rest. That night Anko slept on the same bed as Naruto, hugging him protectively as they often do when nightmares plagued them.

The next day Naruto was on his way to the academy despite what Iruka told him. He was feeling well after all and had no wounds to show so, despite being a bit tired, no reasons not to go to the academy. It was on his usual way to the academy, which was nearly entirely made of dark alleyways, that he found Ino and Sakura talking. He saw them in the middle of a small alleyway he often used to go to the academy and, thanks to his enhanced senses, he heard a few words of their conversations. Words like 'friend', 'regret' and unfortunately, but sadly not surprisingly, 'Sasuke-kun'. Seeing as they both knew of his mask, he decided to have some fun and stuck to the shadows as he went closer.

"So I would really want to go back to how we were before. I missed having you as a friend." Sakura admitted sheepishly. Ino stared wide eyed, only blinking a few times, and the silence was too embarrassing for the pink haired girl. "Say something..." She nearly whined.

"I'm sorry." Ino snapped out of her trance. "I was just wondering where this sudden change comes from. You were the one that declared we weren't friends but rivals after all." This caused Sakura to sigh.

"Someone talked some sense into me."

"Someone? Oh please don't tell me it's..."

"Hello ladies, great day isn't it?" Naruto interrupted, grinning like a maniac when he saw them literally jump in fright.

"Naruto!" They both shouted in anger, which only made him chuckle.

"Yep, that's me."

"Don't ever scare us like that again." Sakura warned.

"But Sakura-chan, I was just walking down this alley. It's not my fault you couldn't see my bright orange jumpsuit wearing self." His grin stayed.

"Never. Again." She stated threateningly.

"Or what? You're going to hit me again? I'm so scared." He shot back sarcastically, shutting Sakura up.

"Sorry about that." She apologised with her head down. Naruto sighed at the sight.

"I already told you I didn't care and that you were forgiven a long time ago."

"What is going on?" Ino finally exclaimed, making both fellow students turn towards her.

"Well, I just came to say hello. You didn't expected us to spend six days without talking, right?" Naruto asked her curiously.

"No." She admitted. "But I didn't expect you two to be on friendly terms. Or you not playing the clown for that matter." Naruto groaned.

"Remember what I told you about Sakura?" A nod. "She remembered, and I kind of dropped the mask around her since it was only a matter of time before you told her about it."

"In the six days I happen to have re-evaluated my opinion of Naruto." Ino nodded, having expected this since she too changed her opinion on her fellow blond when she learned he wore a mask and it was only after one encounter. "And Naruto, allow me to properly thank you for protecting me from the wolves. It was brave of you."

"It was nothing, really..." He denied embarrassed. Ino was deathly pale.

"You mean the wolf pack that ended the exam were unto you?" Sakura and Naruto both explained what happened, Naruto deliberately diminishing his actions, only for Sakura to correct him. Ino was impressed and grateful, feelings she shared to the boy.

"No, you shouldn't thank me for that, really. By the way you shouldn't talk about this to anyone, and keep my mask a secret too."

"Why do you play the clown anyway? From what I heard you shouldn't be the dead-last so why forcing yourself in this position?" Ino asked. Naruto knew she was stubborn and capable to ask that again in front of the class, compromising his school mask and that wouldn't sit well with him.

"Two reasons: It is good training and with how disliked I am by most of Konoha's population, including the ninja part and most of our teachers, I don't want to see how far they'll go to sabotage my chances to become a shinobi. Well, sabotage more anyway. Either way, just act like you always did when you dealt with me please. See ya." He finished as he left before they could form any answer. Fortunately for him both girls would comply to his request, unfortunately they also agreed with each other that they will find out more about him. As such it was a normal day at the academy, except that Iruka dragged Naruto to a secluded space to give him an earful about his presence here when he should be resting, and the rare subtle glances Ino and Sakura threw his way... Yeah things were getting, as a lazy genius classmate of his would say: Troublesome. At least things couldn't become worse, right. Right?

Omake:

Ramen chef Ichirku Teuchi is a man who prided himself in being hard to surprise. Civilians in a shinobi village where naturally hard to surprise due to regularly see men and women capable to do incredible feats, of course but Teuchi liked to think he saw a lot of crazy things in his life and was even harder to surprise. So hard to surprise that the last thing that caught him totally off-guard was when a gigantic nine tailed fox appeared out of thin air to destroy the village. It didn't mean he wasn't slightly surprised then and there, like the container of said giant fox being dragged in his shop starving by his daughter, but he was sure nothing could catch him off-guard any longer. Of course the second being to prove him wrong will be the fox's container, his best customer and nearly part of the family Uzumaki Naruto. Him, and a cat. Not just any cat mind you but the bane of all fresh genin Tora. No, it wasn't the cat's presence since Naruto came with her a few times, and from what he told his daughter and him the cat led him to their bins when he was five and as such was the cause of their meeting so he had no problem with her. No, it wasn't the bowl of ramen placed in front of Tora either as the Inuzuka clan is well known to give their dogs human food too, and it wasn't the first time Naruto did the same for Tora. What made his eyes widen comically and his mouth open stupidly in shock was that the cat was seating on the counter with its hind legs crossed underneath her, and she used chopstick with her right front paw. It had to be Naruto, there is no way any cat will just learn good table manner and actually be able to apply them. No even then it didn't make sense. He may believe that Naruto can and will do incredible things as a ninja, which he already applied in a few harmless pranks but there was no way he could teach a cat that. It just isn't possible. No, not at all.

"Old man?" Naruto asked, but the ramen chef gave no answer. He turned toward his animal companion. "I think we broke him." Tora turned her head toward him and nodded. "I don't have any regrets thought, you?" This time she shook her head and seemed to join Naruto's mischievous grin with one of her own. No, she didn't regret the hours of training it took to master this at all. Not if it was to spend more enjoyable time with her human friend and have a good laugh as a result. Truly, some humans were good. It was only a matter of finding them.

Chapter finished and I think it is the one I rewrote the most as of yet. Not only that but a lot of thoughts had to be put into what I would do with this story. As I were, I was writing this story blind and with my arms tied behind my back because I had nothing. Not a goal, even less of a story line, and a lot of scattered ideas. However recently I had one idea that will influence the story and drastically changed Naruto. And I realised that despite my original wish to keep characters close to canon took its suitcase and left the more I wrote the story. The things that changes without us realising it... The fight wasn't how I thought it will turn up but it was the most rewritten part of this chapter and this is the best I got out of it.

I apologise again for the really slow updates and thank you all for reading my story and your support. It really is nice to see familiar names coming up in the reviews since the first version of this story and I think it is important that I make this promise again: I will never abandon a story. I will always end it a way or another, even if it isn't an end I originally wanted. I am always disappointed when I read a good story to realise it was abandoned and as such will not do the same (Note that I am not blaming the writers that abandon their stories as they are many reasons for one to do that in their lives).

On another note I decided to make Sakura and Ino friends again, isn't that wonderful? I always found it annoying in canon that Sakura would end their friendship with Ino who, if I remember correctly, is one of her, if not her first friend she had. Not only that but Ino helped her when she was bullied. And she ended that because they liked the same guy? Before someone makes the argument that they are still kids and it is easy to make and lose friends over stupid reasons, (sometimes even when we are older unfortunately) I also saw similar situations in real life and it actually doesn't take much for them to be friends again. Also it is funny to see that in my first version of this story (for those that remember) Ino knew nothing about Naruto at this point. In rewriting the gift part in the previous chapter it struck me as odd that Ino wouldn't notice Naruto's lack of reaction to the gift seeing that Ino and Sakura are often seen together even in canon, so it isn't normal I didn't think she wouldn't notice anything the first time. Thing I rectified in this different version of my story. A virtual cookie to those who understood the stupid joke.

Also, my first attempt at an omake! I just had this scene in my mind for a while now and it wouldn't get out of my head. I find it amazing and frightening what my brain can come up with.

Finally, the wolves: They will appear again. I don't think you need to be told what the jutsu the alpha used was. For those who think it isn't possible... the Inuzuka is a feral clan working with ninja dog, in my eyes they are trying to get closer to feral animals like wolves. In my eyes they are trying to imitate them, which explains how they came up with the Shikyaku no jutsu or Ninja art of beast mimicry: All-Fours jutsu (yeah, I also prefer the Japanese name, less of a mouthful): this technique is making them more feral, and the name say it all. It's only my theory but since they seem to imitate beasts then it isn't that far of a stretch to think that some animals can use some jutsus themselves.

As always I hope you enjoyed and see you next chapter ^^