Decaying Leaves

Chapter 1

This was just an idea I had swimming about in my noggin' don't know if I will continue it though. And the reason I don't put my stories in the cross-over sections is because; let's be honest with ourselves here, not many people go to that section.

The Kage of every hidden village starred up at the massive spherical object in the sky. It was large enough to completely block out the moon and still fill what was left of the visible sky with a horrifying red hue.

The blond haired Hokage held a small bundle in his arms. Inside was a small newborn, peach skin, blond hair, tiny little whisker markings on the cheeks; needless to say, a pretty cute kid.

"Are you sure about this?" The Mizukage asked with a combination of great concern, but even greater urgency.

The Tsuchikage was in the middle of performing hand signs. "Who cares if he is or not. We don't have a choice. You saw what that thing did to the tailed beasts. This is the only choice we have." He and the other village leaders finished their preparations.

The Hokage looked down at the sleeping child; a single tear fell from his eye and landed on the boy's forehead. "I am so sorry." He whispered before placing the child gently on a flat, stone, alter. With a heavy sigh, the young adult went through his own hand signs just as a massive fleshy appendage tore it's way through the forest and made for the small group; it's intentions much worse then what could ever be humanly possible.

With the ceremony's preparations complete; a blinding white light erupted from the baby's stomach and the fleshy appendage was quickly absorbed into the light. Several others from the immediate surrounds were also sucked into the beam coming from the boy's stomach; all of them coming from the massive entity hanging in the night sky.

When all of the flesh tentacles were finally within the boy; the mass started to slowly sink down to the Earth below. A deafeningly low groan let nearly the entire nation know of the being's displeasure of the situation. The light coming out of the boy grew larger and larger until it completely enveloped the massive being and changed the red sky to to a brilliant white. A pure form that would be the last thing the monster from the sky would, hopefully, ever see for quiet some time.

The blinding light suddenly vanished along with the massive entity; the sky was once again dark and filled with the stars that have and always will be there. With the ritual complete an old man with long spiky white hair made his presence known by quickly leaping over to the stone structure and scooping the now crying child into his arms. Without say a word, the man left just as quickly as he had arrived. Leaving the boy there any longer would only create more problems.

Before completely leaving the clearing; Jiraiya looked back at the corpse of the now dead Hokage and let a heavy sigh escape his lips.

"The deed is done." The old sage said with a heavy heart as he entered the Hokage's office.

"I see." Sarutobi said while sitting in the chair that used to be occupied by someone so much younger than him just a few hours ago. It felt like it was only minutes ago that he was standing in front of the very desk he was sitting at and was seeing that too-happy a smile that blond man always flashed. It felt like only seconds ago that said blond man resigned as village leader and gave the position back to the older man; just so he could perform his duty as a soldier of the Hidden Leave Village.

"What do we do with him." The sage asked while holding out the once again sleeping baby. He was on no mood to deal with the child. Just looking at him brought back painful memories. It was almost a guarantee that Jiraiya was going to spend the next few months drowning his sorrow in booze and women; more so then usual.

"We will do as the last Hokage stated." The Hokage said while taking the baby and cradling him gently in his arms. He ooked down at his sleeping form and fought back tears. That man may be gone; but Sarutobi knew deep down in the smallest corner of his heart, that this small child would one day become something great. An amazing gift had just been given to him; it was up to the Hokage and the every single citizen of the village to insure that gift would be used in the pursuit of peace between the nations, not the dark horrors that could oh so easily be created from it.

"If he is anything like his father; that brat will probably want to become a ninja." The toad sage said while leaning his back against the desk; even the sight of the small bundle was too much for him.

"And if he is anything like his mother; there will be nothing either of us can do to stop him." Sarutobi said with a solemn smile.

"You know that seal will not hold forever." Jiraiya stated coldly. "That moron." He choked suddenly. "Coming up with something so complex so quickly." He bit his bottom lip hard to try and stop the inevitable. "If he had only put a little more time into it; it would be complete and would have worked." He slammed his fist into the desk hard enough to make his knuckles bleed. "You fucking idiot!" He shouted as tears streamed down his old and wrinkled face. "It was all a fucking waste you thrice damned moron!"

Sarutobi let the toad sage cry. There was no shame in it. No reason to reprimand the old man. To be honest, there really wasn't much keeping himself from breaking down right there. The probably that he refused to see as a problem; was that he would always get close to the ninja he lead, more so then the villagers just by proxy.

He would get to know them; there personalities, their dreams. Sarutobi would bond with them; bond too deeply. He would see them less as soldiers of the village, and more as his own children. Whenever he lost one of his own; the old man would take it hard, harder then most leaders ever would. But as the Hokage he had to remain strong, only letting his tears flow freely for a very short time before his duties forced his heart to harden once again.

But now, this very night; Sarutobi could not keep it in any longer. Loosing someone he considered a son, reinforced with all of the other children he lost this night; broke the man. He nearly collapsed into his arm chair before letting his own tears flow freely. The room was nearly silent with the silence only being broken by the odd hiccup or sob.

After a good long cry; Sarutobi looked down at the baby to see two large blue orbs staring back at him in confusion. A soft sad smile formed on his wrinkled lips as he held the child close.

"No matter what happens." He said gently to the baby. "I can guarantee that you will meet people that will see through what is inside you. You will face many, many hardships, but these people will be with you through the thick of it all. And you will become great as this village watches you grow. You will be protected by it's wall; and will grow to protect it as well." He said while standing up and walking over to the window. He pointed a finger out and the baby's eye followed and looked out at the peaceful village sprawled before him.

"But you must stay in the light." Sarutobi nearly begged. "You must fight the darkness as much as hard as you can, no matter how easy it will be to succumb to it." He looked down at the baby, still looking out the window.

"Can you promise me that?" He asked with a slight chuckle. "Can you promise me that, Naruto?"

For the next few years, the Hokage's words rang true. Naruto grew up in not the best conditions, but he powered through it. The nasty glares, the abusive words. He looked right past them with a massive goofy smile. He did as he was told by the Hokage; fought the darkness that would start to spread through his heart and force light to take it's place.

Both old men were right too; the young lad wanted to become a ninja. But not just any ninja; Naruto wanted to become the Hokage. To be recognized by the village and to protect the people that he held dear, even if it was only the old man at the ramen stand, his daughter and the old man Hokage.

The instant the little boy was old enough, he joined the ninja academy. The Hokage allowed it the instant Naruto asked, without a hint of hesitation. Sure a large number of villager and council members disagreed. But Sarutobi ruled with his heart, not just his head. He knew that what was sealed inside Naruto was dangerous; the only problem though was that he did not now how it would be or when the seal would become weak enough for it to finally have some sort of influence on the boy.

That was why he allowed to join the academy almost instantly. Naruto would interact with children his own age without parental interference, children that would not know what he had inside him. Sarutobi knew that some parents would tell their children to avoid the boy, but since when did kids actually listen to their parents?

Everyday after class, Naruto would rush over to the Hokage's tower and would barge into Sarutobi's office to tell the old man about his day; even if he was in the middle of an important meeting. It happened so often that many dignitaries and village representatives thought Naruto was actually Sarutobi's grandson. This would only bring a smile to the old man's face.

Naruto would confess to the pranks he would pull with the other school boys. Complain about all the icky girls and would even tell him about how great his teacher was. The Hokage knew that assigning Iruka to his class was a great idea.

Unfortunately, for Naruto; on the day of his graduation, something happened.

"Open your eyes." Iruka said; his joy forcing him past the pain he felt in his left shoulder. The fuuma shuriken that Mizuki had thrown really dug deep when it hit. Iruka knew he would be out of commission for a few days just from the amount of blood he had already lost.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see his smiling teacher. It took him a moment to see the goggles on the young man's head and another to realize his headband was wrapped around his own forehead.

Without saying a word, Naruto jumped onto Iruka and wrapped him up in a giant, back breaking hug all while laughing like an idiot.

"That hurts." Iruka laughed while hugging his favorite student back.

After the jubilation were finally over; the two walked over to Mizuki's limp form, the other ninja that Sarutobi had sent after Naruto were finally starting to arrive. The old man himself included.

Seeing Mizuki's form and the headband on Naruto's head told enough of the story that he needed, but he felt like making Naruto's day even better. "What happened here?" He asked in full Hokage mode.

Before either could say anything; Sarutobi held a hand up for silence. "I want you to give me a report in my office as soon as we get everything cleared up here." He said looking directly at Naruto, who was looking pretty darn confused. "What is the problem? You are a ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves correct?"

Naruto stood tall with a smile and gave a salute before quickly relaxing and letting loose a chuckle when he saw the old man smile.

"What should we do with him?" Inuzuka Tsume asked while tapping Mizuki's unconscious body with her foot.

"What we always do to traitors." Nara Shikaku said in a very uncharacteristic tone while pulling out a simple kunai knife. He looked over at the Hokage, who gave a nod.

All watch as the blade was driven directly into the traitor's chest. Shikaku quickly applied more pressure to insure that the heart had been penetrated. He then tore the headband off of the dead man's body before breaking the metal plate in half and tossing it back onto the corpse.

Iruka knew that usually it was the one that fought a traitor to have the honor of ending their life; but forcing Naruto to kill while being watched in such a way would probably not have been a good idea in any way. Yes, he was now an officially trained assassin, but that did not mean that he had to be forced to enjoy killing.

With the deed done; everyone prepared to go back to their every day lives. Or they would have if Mizuki's body had not suddenly begun to start convulsing wildly.

Iruka instinctively drew a weapon with his uninjured arm while standing in between Naruto and the twitching corpse.

As his corpse convulsed, the skin start to peel back and become flayed. Hair was sucked into his skull as the bones his feet fused together and lengthed become long and misshapen with each having a different number of different length toes. The heel bone became a small peg-like extension running almost parallel to the deformed feet

His body arched upwards as his neck was stretched to the point of the skin tearing free from the shoulders. His mouth ripped open into a frozen hollow scream as his arms slowly migrated to his rib cage, becoming thin and spindly and were absorbed up to the elbow inside him. With a horrible ripping sound; two extra arms suddenly burst out of the back of the corpse's shoulders; each with a hand frozen open with a a massively large blades of bone protruding from the palm of each.

His torso become incredibly thin as his organs were quickly deconstructed and reformed into pure muscle while being moved to the arms and legs. The muscle tissue of his face was completely exposed with his bottom jaw broken completely in two.

The body suddenly stopped moving and laid completely motionless for a moment.

"Wh-" Yamanaka Inoichi began when the creature that was once Mizuki suddenly sprang to life and quickly got to it's feet in a horrifying and sporadic manner. Everyone jumped back and prepared for a fight.

The creature looked over at the group of ninja while gurgling. It's hunched form causing it's horrific design to look that much more terrifying. It then looked to it's other side and saw Iruka standing in front of Naruto.

With a loud, gurgling roar, the creature charged forward towards the instructor with a surprising amount of speed. It's disfigured feet carrying its heavy from with incredible ease while the monster swung it's scythe-like blades back and forth.

Without missing a beat, the jonin quickly threw their respective weapons to halt the creature. Only for it to completely ignore the bladed weapons piercing it's body. They clearly impacted it's form, but the creature showed absolutely no concern and continued it's charge.

Sarutobi was in the middle of making a few hand signs when the creature finally approached Iruka, blades drawn back and ready to kill.

Naruto looked on in fear. Everything happened so fast that he hadn't realized just how injured Iruka was. The monster would easily kill him in his current state. So Naruto did the one thing he could do. He shoved his beloved teacher out of the way and prepared to be cut apart with a look of pure determination etched onto his young face.

Both of the monster's blade came down at the boy. The Hokage just finished the seals and was about to perform his technique. Unfortunately it would be too late. Or so he thought.

The blades of the creature came to a complete stop mere millimeters away from the young boy's face. Naruto looked up at the creature with complete shock. Not missing a beat, the monster quickly turned from Naruto and prepared to swipe at Iruka once again.

"Stop!" Naruto shouted before jumping in front of the attack once again. And, just like before, the creature halted it's attack before making contact with Naruto.

Seeing that the man with the scar on his nose was not an easy target; the monster turned it's attention to the next closest target. Old man Hokage.

"I said stop!" Naruto shouted right as the creature made for the Hokage.

To everyone's surprise; the creature came to a complete halt. It stopped moving all together with only the low gurgling coming from it's throat and the odd twitch to help keep it standing on it's disfigured feet.

Everyone else had stopped moving too, waiting for the beast to attack once again. Only, it did not. It did nothing but stand there. It's frozen face betrayed no visible signs of emotion. It was almost as id the thing had completely forgotten everyone was standing there and was just existing as it was.

Naruto blinked and suddenly thousands of images flashed before his mind. Words, images, songs, emotions; all suddenly invaded his brain. Vast skylines and dark cramped corridors of steel. Icy landscapes and arid deserts. Peace and chaos. Light and dark. Night and day. It was almost like he was recieving memories from countless other entities. But there was always one thing in common with every single image.

Death. Blood. Corpses. Bodies horribly broken and mutilated. Bodies twisting, fusing, forming into terrifying abominations with no other purpose but to kill. To kill everything living. To make more of themselves.

"Make us whole." He mouthed wordlessly as he looked up to see the other ninja slowly get closer to the creature.

"What happened to Mizuki." Inoichi wondered out loud.

"It was me." Naruto spoke; away from the crowd. His facial expression was one of shock and terror as the ninja turned their attention to the boy.

He suddenly grasped his head in pain as more images and sounds flashed through his mind.

"Well then, what is it?" Tsume asked while poking at the nearly motionless monster with a very long stick.

Still holding his head; Naruto responded. "The beginning. But also the end." He threw his head back as the pain in it grew stronger.

Sarutobi quickly dashed to the lady and gripped his jacket; tearing it open. The seal on the boy's belly was changing. Alien symbols replaced certain parts while the spiral was able to remain.

The creature that had been sealed inside so many years ago had finally gained an understanding of it's cage. And was not going to remain quiet any longer.

After a moment or two, Naruto let go of his head and stared forward. "I know what I can do." He stated.

"I can bring back the dead." He looked over at the creature, then to everyone else. "I have a lot to tell you." He told the Hokage, his voice had trouble hiding the childlike glee he had.

Sarutobi sent a quick glance to everyone else who promptly left with such speed that Naruto wasn't even sure they had moved at all. Now it was just him, the Hokage, and the creature.

"Explain." Sarutobi said in, what Naruto called, his 'Hokage-voice'.

Naruto cleared his throat and stood the same way Iruka did when preparing to give a lesson. "Whatever is sealed inside me has shown me a lot of things. Most of which are just plain weird and make no sense, but do tell a story of what it is and an do."

Naruto placed a hand on his own chest. "According to this thing. I am something called a 'Marker' a statue that is able to create a field that can reaimate the dead into things like that thing there." He pointed to the still standing monster.

"Why?" Sarutobi asked.

"I don't know. It just does. I just do. I have that field. It's permanent, and there is nothing I can do to remove it. So anything that is around me that is dead will change into something like that monster. But because I have the creator of them inside me; I can control them."

"What are they for? What do they do?" Sarutobi was now much more invested in Naruto's words. While still horrible to think of his children turning into grotesque monster; the thought of a never ending and undying army would mean that the village would no longer ever be at risk.

"Make more." Naruto stated with a more terror stricken look. "They exist only to make more of themselves."

"So." Sarutobi said with a sigh. "They are made from corpses and they live to reproduce, using corpses."

"Yeah." Naruto said with a slow nod. "They were made specifically to kill and make more. One makes a corpse, it comes back as another, both kill; more and more die and with every dingle death. A new one is created."

"That is less then happy news." Sarutobi stated.

"But I can control them." Naruto stated again in a very rushed manner. He was trying to hide it, but Naruto was scared of his new abilities. Not just because he was now a living nightmare factory, but also of how everyone around him would react. The thought of his few friends suddenly being too scared to be around him hurt the boy like nothing ever had before. He could not imagine what a real example would feel like.

"Watch." He then looked at the monster. "Move closer."

The creature looked at him for a moment before taking a few very wide steps to be closer to the boy. When it was just a step away, the creature stopped and went stayed still.

"See." Naruto said while looking at the old Hokage with unbridled hope in his large blue eyes. "I can make sure that they aren't dangerous to the village." He looked down. "Please don't kill me." He whimpered in a terrifying display of weakness.

Sarutobi was taken back by Naruto's words and bent down to be at eye level with the boy. "Why in the world would I have you killed, Naruto? Yes, your new power is terrifying and could lead to terrible, terrible things." He gently held the boy's shoulders. "But I have seen you grow. I have seen what kind of person you are and the kind of man you will grow into. I know you can control this power and keep the village safe."

He looked up at the moon and let out a sigh. "Why don't you head home." He gave Naruto a smile. "Try to avoid the seedier parts of the city on the way. The less undead you make, the better. For now. At least until we can determine what will happen to them."

The old man looked at the standing monster. "What to do with it now?"

"I think I'll call this kind: a Slasher." Naruto said with pride.

Sarutobi gave the lad a blank stare.

"You know. Cuz of it's blades? It slashes." He tried to explain while embarrassed. He coughed before speaking again. "It has to be within close distance to more or else I can't control it that well. The further this things get, the harder it is to directly control them and prevent them from making more of themselves."

"Have it stay with you then." Sarutobi ordered. "Think of it as a guard for your home.

"But what about tomorrow? I have to go to the academy to meet my future sensei.

"We can't risk it going out of control. You'll just have to bring it with you." The Hokage stated.

Naruto nodded in understanding and looked up at the Slasher. The creature appeared to pay the boy no mind at all. "Follow me." Naruto ordered before waving bye to the old man and making his way home.

The creature followed. Walking appeared to not be a natural thing for it as it had to swing it's long arms above itself to counterbalance it's own weight with every step.

Naruto was very careful as he walked home. He was very happy that it was so late; meant he'd encounter almost nobody that wasn't a ninja. Unfortunately, however, his companion did not make the walk an easy one.

Every single time it would notice something living; be it a cat, a mouse, or anything else, it would growl and attempt to kill it. Forcing Naruto to order it to stop every single time.

"There has got to be an easier way of doing this." He mumbled to himself while physically holding onto a piece of torn cloth still attached to the Slasher.

Eventually the pair made it to Naruto's apartment. The creature stood in the middle of the living room and stood still. Naruto watched it for a moment before finally going to the bathroom and taking a shower.

When he got out, the monster was still standing there. No signs of having moved or anything. Naruto sat down on his old couch after getting his nightwear own and gave the Slasher a nice hard look.

The monster showed no sign of even being slightly aware of Naruto's look. "No killing." He said. The creature looked at him. "No wandering away." The monster continued to give the boy the same frozen look. "Follow every order I give."

With that, he stood up and went straight to bed. It had been a long day and he was more then ready for it to be over.

As he laid in his small bed; Naruto could hear the low gurgles his horrific creation made as well as the occasional step it would take to keep itself balanced. Naruto sighed as he ran scenario after scenario through his mind of how tomorrow would go.

He rolled over and looked at the headband Iruka had given him. He really would rather keep it then be forced to give it back and get a new one. Maybe he could work something out.

With that thought on his mind, Naruto finally allowed sleep to claim him.

Now, you would think, with Naruto asleep that the monster in his home would go on a rampage. But that was not the case.

It had no real mind, or at least not one that humans could fully understand. It wanted, no needed, to kill. To make more of it's kind. So that it could finally be made complete with it's Marker. It's living Marker. Something that had never happened in the eons that it's kind had existed.

A normal Marker only gave two orders. Kill and converge. That was all it's kind knew. That is all they were for. But this living Marker gave other orders. Orders that completely defied their kind's very genetic programming. The signal to kill was still being broadcasted from the living body, but the same body demanded the creature not to kill.

Confusion. That was the only thing the creature felt. It would comply with both orders. While defying them both.

In the very early hours of the night. A new signal was suddenly being broadcasted from the living Marker's form. Protect. Defend. Insure the safety of the living Marker above all else. Any hostile actions must be met with death. The creature and it's future kind will obey.

Naruto woke up with a throbbing headache. All through his sleep, the boy was tormented with the same flashing images and words. But with odd symbols added to the mix just to make things interesting.

He slowly climbed out of bed and got dressed and ready for his last official day the ninja training academy. He opened his bedroom door to see the Slasher still standing there. He quickly got dressed and hesitantly opened his front door.

When he stepped outside, the monster followed. Surprising Naruto since the boy had not given it the order to follow him.

It was much harder for the young ninja to hide the creature this time around. He was forced to push it into an alley at least a half dozen times just out of straight paranoia about it being seen.

He somehow made it to the academy without getting seen and was even so early that no one had really shown up yet. He and the Slasher ran to Iruka's class room; which was thankfully still empty and closed the door behind them so fast that the sound of it slamming echoed through the academy halls.

He quickly fell into a seat at the very back of the class; the Slasher stood at the very front of the classroom. Naruto stared hard at the monster once again; thinking hard.

"How am I going to hide you?" He asked allowed, even though he knew the creature could not respond. Only, to the Uzumaki's surprise, it did. The creature looked around the room a bit before noticing a loose ceiling panel. It stumbled over until it was directly underneath it. The Slasher bent it's knees before jumping straight up into the panel, pushing it aside and clambering up into the roof.

Naruto could hear the sounds of it's claws and raw flesh scraping against wood as it crawled over until it was directly above him. The room fell silent with only the very muffled sounds of the Slasher's growls and gurgles being barely audible.

Naruto was impressed with what the monster had done, but was still nervous about it being caught in a room full of ninja. But then again, they were trained on how to detect living bodies, not the dead.

Eventually, the other students started to arrive and either take their seats or stand around and chat. Naruto focused on every single student that walked in; checking for any sign that they might be even the smallest bit alerted to the Slasher's presence.

Fortunately he saw none.

"Isn't that Naruto sitting next to your seat?" Ino teased Hinata when the two plus Sakura walked into the classroom.

"I winder what he's doing there." Sakura said while gently elbowing Hinata's side. "He looks so lonely up there. Maybe someone should go keep him some company." She chided her friend.

"I think I will." Ino said while puffing her chest out before taking a step in the boy's direction. A hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned her head to see a pair of icy cold eyes glaring at her through midnight blue bangs.

"No." Was the only thing Hinata said before stepping past the blond girl and walking up to where Naruto was sitting.

Hinata was a kind person. Always has been and always will be. Just as long as no body does anything to Naruto. She stuck her claim on the boy since day one of the academy and every single girl knew it. If any even showed the slightest interest in the boy, the young Hyuga would quickly set them straight with a few choice words.

Hinata remembered very vividly Naruto saved her from some bullies. She remembered him being beaten just to protect her. His look of initial determination and his expressions of pain forever etched in her young mind. She hated that pained expression of his. She hated it more then anything else.

As she was hauled away by her caretakers back home; the young Hyuga watched the little limping Naruto give her his famous smile. From that day forward, Hinata swore to herself that she would be the person he could depend on. She would be the one to hold him straight on his path and prevent him from wandering.

As she grew through the years; her initially shy personality changed. She was still the same kind girl and she had refused to take up the snobbish rich personality the rest of her family seemed to have. She had grown more confident her own abilities and was more then able to stand up for herself and what she believed to be right.

It also did not hurt that she developed an interest in the male anatomy too. More specifically Naruto's. And more of an interest then most would think healthy.

"Naruto?" She said as she approached the boy's seat. He did not show any sign of hearing the girl.

"Naruto?" She repeated herself. Again, no reaction. His eyes continued to flicker from student to student all the utmost focus drawn on his face. Hinata looked back at her friends, who were both giving big thumbs up at the girl.

A thought ran through the young Hyuga's mind and a terrifyingly wicked expression slowly drew across her face. With a bit of focus and chakra, the veins around Hinata's eyes became enlarged and visible as her bloodline ability; the Byakugan was activated.

Her expression became more and more perverse as she stared directly at Naruto for quiet a while.

"Wow," Sakura said, impressed. "She's doing that here?"

"The girl knows what she wants." Ino said with a chuckle. "I wonder what his looks like."

Sakura just raised an eyebrow before taking a small red book out and began to read.

"Naruto. Are you there?" Hinata asked while getting closer to the boy and deactivating her x-ray eyes.

"Wha?" He nearly shouted while almost falling out of his seat. "Oh," He said while holding his chest; his racing heart trying to calm itself. "It's you Hinata." He flashed her the smile the girl fell in love with. "What do ya' need?"

"Well." She looked away with a slight blush. "I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind if I sat down."

"Of course not." He said with a smile; completely forgetting about the monster hanging just a few feet above his head.

"Do you have any idea who you will be paired up with?" Hinata asked the blond while taking her seat.

"For what?" He asked in honest confusion.

'Oh Naruto.' Hinata mentally sighed. "We are being put into teams of three today and being assigned our jonin instructors."

"Oh yeah. I knew that." He crossed his arms. "I was just making sure you knew." He lied.

Hinata just gave smile while looking like she did not believe a word he said. "Is something wrong?"

"N-no. Nothing at all. Why do you ask?" He asked while trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.

Hinata gave the boy a look. "Are you trying to hide something from me Naruto?" She asked in a tone not unlike a knowing mother.

"N-no." He stuttered while trying to smile his way out of the situation.

Hinata leaned in a bit closer to the boy. "You know you can't hide anything from a Hyuga, Naruto. If you tell me, I'll treat you to something nice." She looked directly into his eyes. A bit of red showed on her normally pristine face. She was trying really hard to insinuate at least a few things to the boy in a desperate attempt to have him notice her feelings and desires.

No luck though.

"You don't play fair." He pouted at his friend. He looked around to make sure no one was listening before blocking the view of his mouth with his hand. "I promise to tell you later. But you have to promise not to freak out too badly." He whispered.

"I promise." Hinata responded. She knew Naruto was thinking he would get a free meal of his favorite Ichiraku ramen. However, the young Hyuga had much more adult things in mind. She let out a single perverse giggle before looking forward at the sound of Iruka walking into the classroom.

Everyone took their seat and the room fell mostly silent.

"Today." Iruka started. "Is the very last day that you all will be my students..." And he went off on a lecture-like speech that started to bore the class. "...Today you will receive your teams and instructors. Today will be the last day you all will be children. Today will be the day you all become ninja!"