Author Note: Ok As you know I don't own the Naruto verse. Hubby wanted me to post this so you could all read it and tell me what you think of it. He says see what you all say as to whether or not to continue this story. I have begun a second chapter but if you guys don't like it then there most likely won't be a third. And I'll take no reviews as a sign you don't like it. The more reviews I get the more likely I'll keep working on it. For my regular readers I love you guys and gals. You keep me at my keyboard and away from housework. Whoo Hoo. You guys are great.

A Different Reality

Eh? What Just Happened?

Namikaze Natsu Sukai sat in the academy classroom waiting for the day to begin. Sometimes working in the shadows for Jijii could be a lot of fun but other times it was just plain out boring. This latest assignment he'd given her was just one such example of the boring.

She was here, using her transformation skill, to make her seem to be a boy so Jijii could keep a closer eye on one of the students. Her transformation skill was a skill unique to herself. She didn't do henges like the normal shinobi did. Her henges were actual solid changes. What she pictured in her mind for herself is what she actually became. Unlike the normal henge she did not have to dedicate a part of her mind to holding that image once the transformation was completed either. She could transform herself and forget about it until it either began to hurt or it was time to drop it again.

Uchiha Sasuke. It was her job to guard him and make sure he was safe in the village. Jijii was sure no one from the village would knowingly hurt the brat like they had her. But then again he'd been sure they wouldn't hurt her either. So he'd asked her to keep an eye on Sasuke for him.

She also wrote out reports on him. Once a week she would fill in a report detailing everything he'd done that week and if he'd spoken who it was to and what he'd said. Even if all he'd said was "Hn"which was alot -in fact sometimes she really didn't think he could say anything else- you'd know it from her report. Maybe Itachi messing with his mind the way he had did something to his ability to actually speak and because he only ever said Hn or No no one knew he couldn't talk. Caveman Sasuke. Heehee.

At first she'd been excited to accept the mission. After all, what kid wasn't excited at the thought of maybe being able to make new friends their own age? Yeah. That was another reason why Jijii had given her this mission instead of someone else. She and Sasuke were the same age. Both of them were orphans who lived alone with no guardian or parental type to help keep them on an even keel or teach them anything about becoming an adult or a shinobi. Both of them being considered of too high a birth for adoption neither were ever eligible for it. Natsu, because of who her Tousan had been during his life as well as who had been her Kaasan, and Sasuke, because he was an Uchiha.

Natsu was the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and of Uzumaki Kushina known far and wide as the Whirling Red Death for her water based attacks that could and would kill anything in it's path. But although the Council of Konoha knew the identity of both her Kaasan and her Tousan they didn't understand the risk of her finding a good home didn't stop with just those two names. Yondaime's parents were a secret he held close to his breast lest they be hurt because of who he grew up to be. But they were just as well known as he was and that had overshadowed his early years just as his fame had overshadowed Natsu's. Her Grandmother was Tsunade of the Legendary Three and her Grandfather was Jiraiya another of the Legendary Three.

Kushina had turned out to have just as noteworthy of a linage when Jijii had checked into it. She was the only living child of a younger son of the present Daimyo of Water Country making her the granddaughter of the Daimyo and Natsu the great granddaughter of the man. Once again this brought Natsu into a position where she could become a political tool if she was given into the care of the wrong person.

For Sasuke, the story was different in that his ancestry was well known in Konoha. Everyone knew he was the scion of the Great Uchiha clan that had been massacred by his own older brother. They knew his brother had tormented him and then left him alive to live with the knowledge of what he'd done. Almost everyone wanted to take the boy in and raise him as a part of their own household but Sandaime said no. He said that as the last Uchiha in Konoha the temptation to misuse their position as his guardian to usurp power and privilege that was not their own was too great and would only cause the boy more harm than good. But the truth was Sarutobi had known the boy needed the help of the Yamanaka clan and knew there was no way he would be allowed to give him into their care by the council who would not see the small three member clan as being worthy of the raising of the Last Uchiha. So he determined that no one would be allowed to adopt Sasuke any more than anyone was allowed to adopt Natsu.

This was Sasuke's last year as an academy student though and Natsu was seeing a light at the end of what had been a very long tunnel. She could get out of this role she was playing and back to doing the job she loved for the only adult in Konoha who ever saw the real her. Today was their genin exam and luckily they were going in alphabetical order so she would be able to see how her target did before she took her own test in each area. This was a good thing for her because if he didn't pass a section of the test she could make sure she didn't either. She thought it was funny how everyone called him a genius like his brother, not realizing the insult they were giving him. After all, his brother had been such a genius, he'd snapped and killed his entire clan in just a few short hours. More than once she'd been tempted to punch some idiot who called him that but her natural humor would always assert itself and she'd walk away trying to contain her giggles instead. Because the truth was Sasuke was not a genius at all. He was smart but he never looked or listened beyond what he saw or heard. He never gave any thought to what might lie unseen or unspoken as a true genius would. To him, if he was told two plus two equaled three he believed it did even if he knew it really equaled four. His mind would simply forget what his own logic told him and accept the words given by someone else. Which probably explained why he believed that crap she'd heard his brother told him the night he'd slaughtered the clan.

His method of fighting was disgustingly simple to figure out and counter as well. He used a straight Uchiha based fighting style of ninjutsu and taijutsu. For him, there was no such thing as a straight Taijutsu battle which made him dangerous for the other academy students, most of whom did not know any ninjutsu other than the three tricks taught at the academy. Konoha did not have any families that specialized in water based attacks so countering the Uchiha fire based attacks was difficult and had indirectly led to the stuck-up belief the village had that the Uchiha's were the greatest of the clans next to the Hyuuga's. To beat him, all you really needed was a few good water jutsu though and an unorthodoxed method of taijutsu that allowed you to be where he least expected you to be. Natsu had both but humiliating the brat was not her job and so she pretended to be overwhelmed by his prowess every time they were paired for sparring.

The other kids in the class began to trickle in, including her partner in this assignment. Hyuuga Hinata took her seat next to Natsu and using facial expressions and body language asked how the night had gone. She told her what Sasuke had done the previous day from after school until he'd finally gone to bed for the night and she'd turned the watch over to another of their group.

"So are we going to pass this time?"

"I think so. He's definitely learned what he needs to know to easily pass this simple exam."

"Yeah but we both know he's an idiot."

"Hai. He's too literal to understand the best don't flaunt it." Natsu sighed. "Just don't forget to keep your henge active. If any word of your true eyes gets back to your clan then there's no telling what will happen."

"I know. I have it tied to my spirit energy instead of my chakra so it should be fine. Just don't let yours slip either. Sarutobi-sama said he'd get us both placed on the Teme's team if we do pass."

"Kuso. I was hoping we'd be done if he passed."

Hinata giggled. "No such luck. We have to stay with him until he reaches a point where he can defend himself against anyone who comes for him."

Natsu made a face and swore again. "That damn Teme. He'll never be able to defend himself that well. He's too engrossed in his revenge to ever learn to pay attention."

"Hai but you know there is a silver lining to all this."

"Eh?"

"He isn't what the council wants him to be." Natsu just looked at her waiting for the so called gentle girl to continue."He's sterile for one, gay for a second, and he won't ever get the sharingan. His optic nerves are too weak."

"How do you know he's gay?"

"I watched him when he wasn't aware of it. He really likes to watch your alter doing your kata for taijutsu class. And I do mean, really likes to watch you."

"Ewww. That's just gross, Hinata."

Hinata giggled again. "Just because your maturity is delayed doesn't mean his is. In this world we live in you know we mature faster than normal people do."

"Yeah but." Natsu was flabbergasted. "Still that's just. . . disgusting."

In his office Sarutobi was watching his two undercover students talking without words and since they'd worked the language out between the three of them, he was able to follow their dialogue. He was currently laughing at the shock and disgust being displayed by his favorite village child. Natsu was such an innocent still for all that she'd already killed multiple times. What Hinata had said about Natsu have a delayed maturity was nothing more than the truth. Natsu, due either to her natural genes or the Fox she imprisoned, would not reach true puberty until she was around fifteen or so. She knew the difference between boys and girls but it didn't affect her like other kids her age. While they all were beginning to look for a mate she looked only for a friend.

However, the news Hinata had given her as to the Uchiha boy's leanings and sterility were quite interesting. His never gaining the Sharingan however really meant very little. He was still at risk since the potential for it was carried in his genes and could be passed to the next generation through him. But if the boy were really gay he would never consent to breeding a child willingly. And if he were actually sterile it would never happen even if he did consent. If his little Uchiha could not fire a live round then it really didn't matter who was on the range. There wouldn't be any more Uchiha's from his line.

Sarutobi pondered how to best test this without the council finding out. Because one thing he was sure of and that was the council's reaction to his condition. They would first off subject the boy to being treated as a labrat to try and fix whatever was wrong that made it impossible for him to gain the sharingan and then to fix his sterility issue. Then he'd be sent for psychological training to reverse his interest in his own sex over the opposite sex. Sarutobi knew the interest in boys was more than likely due more to the trauma of being chased everywhere by silly little girls who's Kaasan's had told them of his position and the fame they could bring their family if they caught his interest. However, he frowned, he also didn't like what Hinata had said about the boy watching his Natsu like that either. Even if the character the Uchiha thought he was watching didn't exist Sarutobi didn't like it one bit. That was still his pseudo-granddaughter and damned if that boy was good enough for her. Come to think of it, in his eyes there wasn't anyone good enough for his two little pseudo-granddaughters.

Hiashi knocked a particular code on his office door and Sarutobi bade him to enter. He often came by whenever he could shake his council to check up on Hinata. To him, she was and always would be his daughter. He loved her dearly and it was only a wish to see her safe that had led him to such drastic measures as casting her out. Though he also loved Hanabi, Hinata was his princess and always would be. She was her Kaasan's daughter and in his eyes much better than Hanabi ever would be, though Hanabi did make the clan council happier with her quick and easy grasp of the Hyuuga fighting style. The fact that she wasn't afraid to use the seal on the branch members also pleased the council though Hiashi had beat the girl for actually killing a helpless three year old just because the child tripped.

It had been three days before Hanabi could move without pain from the thrashing Hiashi had subjected her to and when she had recovered he'd called her into his office and told her point blank that if she ever killed another member of their family he would have her branded herself and take a new wife for the purpose of breeding a new heir. He would not promote a murderer to head of the clan status. Hanabi had protested that her actions were justified since the clumsy child had broken her vase.

He had told her point blank the child was three and the vase had been much too heavy for such a young child to safely carry and regardless of that the child was the only offspring her parents would ever have and had nearly died being born. He had then informed the cocky girl of how many things she had broken as a clumsy three year old and asked if any of those items were worth her life.

The talk hadn't done a lot of good until Hanabi had whined to the council about it. She'd been informed by the council of the truth of her Tousan's words. He was the head of the clan and that meant if he chose to brand her there wasn't a thing the council could do about it. They had matter of factly told Hanabi that they would be pleased if Hiashi would consent to taking another wife and trying again for an heir as they really felt a male heir would be better for athe clan than a female anyway. After that, Hanabi had grown a fear of using the handsigns to activate anyone's seal whenever he was around though he was always aware of when she wished to use it and he would give her a cold stare that dared her to defy him. Even when he wasn't there someone from the clan council was and they would give her an eager look that practically begged her to do it. She just knew they'd tell him and she'd get the brand.

When Sarutobi had heard of the incident he'd questioned Hiashi about it and the man showed genuine sadness and fear. He didn't want to brand his daughter but he would also act in the best interest of his clan. If his heir could not be trusted to show compassion to her family, than she did not deserve to be the heir. Being proud of becoming the Heir in the place of her sister was one thing but to be so arrogant as to think she had the right to just randomly kill little children was something else entirely. She needed to learn patience and tolerance and if threats were all she could understand, then he would threaten her until she learned. And this was the basis for why he liked Hinata better than he did Hanabi.

Hinata, he had never needed to threaten. She had always understood everyone in that compound was her family. She had always treated every single person with the same generosity of spirit that she wished to be shown. She had cared for all of them whether they were old or young, main branch or secondary, simple minded or prodigy, sickly or healthy. It didn't matter to Hinata. They were, when all was said and done, her family and she would protect them and care for them until she had nothing left to give.

Hanabi was the exact opposite. She cared only for those she saw as her equal or better. And that was only those who sat on the council or her Tousan.

"Maybe it would be best if, after Hinata is gone from the academy, you enrolled Hanabi. I believe it would benefit her to be around other clan children for a while. Maybe if a few of them knock her on her butt a few times, she'll realize what she hasn't had the chance to see yet," said Sarutobi.

"I am thinking about it but the council will never agree to having the sole heir become an actual shinobi. She would only be allowed to attend if they had the promise that she would not be allowed to take the headband."

"That can be arranged. You are right about not wishing to have an heir who is nothing more than a murderer but for her to truly understand why she can not just do as she wishes first she must learn she is not as highly born as she thinks she is. There is actually a girl in this village that outstrips all our ranks."

"Natsu?"

"Hai. Her linage is noble beyond any other shinobi."

"Someday you will explain that to me."

Sarutobi laughed. "Since you do not have a male to pair her with, I will tell you but it goes no further than this office." He waited for the nod of agreement and when it was given he continued. "Her Otousan was Minato as you know. Her grandmother on that side is Tsunade who as you know is related to the Fire Daimyo, though the connection is old and thin. Then there is Natsu's Kaasan. Uzumaki Kushina was the Granddaughter of the Water Daimyo, making Natsu his great granddaughter and if that man ever gets one look at Natsu he will know instantly who she is. Our claim to her is only stronger than his because she was born here making her an automatic citizen of the Fire Country. Her standing in the Water Nation is actually higher than it is here in the Fire Country because her claim to the throne in Water is closer than her claim to the Fire throne."

"So even though we call Hinata a princess the real princess is her best friend and housemate?"

"Hai. That's why I am so very protective of the girl as well. She is just too high born for anyone to discover in this village. Yet at the same time there is no safer place for her either. Because she is related to the Fire Daimyo I can't turn her over to the Water Daimyo and that's even if she wasn't the vessel for the demon. For the same reason she wouldn't be able to live with the Fire Daimyo and his family either. She has more enemies just because she was born than I can count and I can count pretty damn high."

Hiashi shook his head still trying to absorb it all. Finally he said, "You know, when I brought you Hinata to keep safe I thought I was handing you the toughest problem you would ever have to handle. But now I can see she is a walk in the park compared to her friend." A few minutes of silence went by with the two men watching the orb on Sarutobi's desk. Mizuki and Iruka had just entered the classroom. Muttering Hiashi said, "Something is off with that white haired teacher."

"Hai. Our favorite two girls have seen it too and they have a plan to find out what his deal is. I don't know the whole plan but they'll let me know as soon as they figure him out."

"I don't envy you, my friend, having to shelter both these girls but what happens after the exams? I want Hinata to be safe."

"They will be placed on a team with the Uchiha Brat but I might as well tell you what Hinata told Natsu this morning about the boy." Sarutobi proceeded to tell Hiashi what he had learned and Hiashi agreed to check the kids eyes himself, snorting over the information about the boys other issues.

"I don't think we need to let the full council or indeed anyone else on the council know of these issues. Maybe we will get lucky and, as cruel as it sounds, the boy will die in combat before his so called potential can be realized."

"Hai. It does sound cruel but the life he'd be subjected to if this information gets out would be much worse I think. So maybe it would be for the best. Sometimes I think it would be for the best even if he did manage to activate his bloodline. The git is nowhere near the genius the council touts him as being and all it does is make him arrogant which will endanger everyone associated with him."

"Yeah well, the council wants him passed today regardless of how he actually does on the exam. They have already talked to Hatake and told him he will become the instructor for the Uchiha and that he will pass the team he is given regardless of whether or not they can actually perform as a team."

"Oh that must have made Kakashi delirious."

"You know that man is almost as good at hiding what he really thinks as any Hyuuga but he does it differently than we do. We strive for expressionless expressions while he goes to the other extreme. He shows you the opposite of what he thinks but it was clear he was anything but happy with the council for them daring to tell him how to treat young genin hopefuls."

"Well, he would be. He's been in the field enough to know giving a child an automatic pass is a recipe for getting them back as a pile of ash or a head in a scroll. He knows this request of the council will endanger not only the Uchiha but also the team he's placed on."

"I tried to tell the council the same thing but Danzo and his cronies said it would be up to Kakashi to keep the team in the village until such a time as the Uchiha activates his bloodline and learns to use it anyway. And since it has not activated yet then it obviously would do no good to keep the boy in the academy for another term. Better to put him on a team and have the only other person with the eye to teach him how to activate it. They think of it as a toy Sasuke simply doesn't know how to get out of the box it came in."

"Hm. I see trouble down the line for Kakashi then." Sarutobi chuckled. "In fact, he's about to get more trouble than I think he's ever known."

"Why's that?"

"I plan for Hinata and Natsu, as Naruto, to be on Sasuke's team. Hinata is just as high born as Sasuke which will force Kakashi not to ignore her and Naruto has gained a reputation as a prankster unrivaled in the history of this village. If he ignores Naruto, Kakashi will have a lot of very uncomfortable incidents to live through."

Hiashi smiled and then laughed. "Hai. The girls will make his life hell on earth if he tries to dance for the Uchiha only. But if I were you I would make it clear to Hatake that he needs to watch out for Natsu with the revelation of Sasuke's leanings. We do not want anything to happen that would have Natsu going primal on the team. Not that she would be alone in her actions if she did. I know my Hinata-hime well enough to know she would be right there with Natsu helping hold the Uchiha down for the punishment."

The two men fell silent as they watched the class of genin hopefuls take their exam. They saw that Sasuke barely answered a third of the questions on his written exam but the ball wasn't clear enough to show if his answers were correct or not. What both men knew was there weren't enough answers on that paper to give him a high ranking score.

Iruka collected the tests and handed them off to another to be graded after hiding the identification of each students name on the tests. This way the grading teacher would have no idea which test belonged to which student and would have to mark them fairly. The jutsu he used to hide the names on the tests was a new one of his own design and could not be broken by anyone else.

The students went out for the field exam. The field exam was a test of their stealth capabilities as well as their ability to lay a trap field to catch or evade an enemy. As Naruto was the well-known Prankster King of Konoha, he had to do outstandingly well in this test. It would do him no good to merely do as well as Sasuke did and no better. Both men were nearly hysterical watching the events of the testing unfold.

At first, the instructors had sent only one person after each student until it was Naruto's turn. Then the instructors had started a game of rock, paper, scissors to see who would be his guinea pig for the event. What was hilarious was no one wanted to do the job. Naruto and his classmates all stood there blinking as the instructors argued and the game of rock, paper, scissors degenerated into a brawl between those who had already lost. The only Sensei explicitly forbidden from being his tester for the event was Iruka and that was because he could always catch the mischief making blond. But what upset the other instructors wasn't that they knew they wouldn't catch the kid. It was the type of traps he was known to lay for those who pursued him. None of them wanted to be caught in his prank trap and all of them knew they would be.

Most of his classmates were laughing at the hysterics of their instructors and sitting on the grass as if this were the greatest show they'd ever seen. One of the students was eating while another was sleeping but most were glued to the show. Finally Iruka selected five of the brawlers to be Naruto's testers much to their dismay. They were practically in tears when they saw the grin on Naruto.

Naruto was given a five minute head start and that, both Sarutobi and Hiashi knew, was more than enough time. While Naruto was laying out his traps, those who had been selected to test him were quivering as they plotted how best to track the dynamo and bring him down with the least amount of humiliation to themselves in the process. Hinata looked towards the sky and made a few gestures that looked like nothing more than random twitches but she was actually telling Sarutobi to watch Naruto because Natsu had designed a new series of prank traps for this event. Sarutobi told Hiashi what Hinata had said and both men smirked as they turned their attention away from the students.

When the five minutes were up the instructors had to be coerced into entering the woods after the orange wearing genin. It was only a reminder of how many other traps they were giving the boy time to set that had them running in a panic stricken mob for the treeline. Though the instructors moved cautiously through the shadows of the trees they were all caught one by one in traps Naruto had cleverly hidden in plain sight.

One instructor had been caught in a honey trap of the traditional design. He was covered from head to toe in tree sap mixed with flower pollen and a hive of bees released in his vicinity. The bees did what came naturally and chased him out of the woods, stinging him the whole way. A second instructor came flying out of the woods a few minutes later screaming about being chased by ghosts and other unnatural spirits. Clearly he'd gotten caught in a genjutsu trap but what was astounding was the fact that the more he screamed the more chicken feathers he sprouted. Iruka, having a difficult time hiding his amusement, finally knocked the poor man out when he actually started sprouting a beak where his mouth and nose were and his arms began to resemble the short stubby wings of a chicken.

The third instructor was caught in a water trap that had him swimming in bright neon pink ink. The pond he thought he had to swim across was really only a small puddle no longer than the length and no wider than double the width of an adult Naruto had created using a water jutsu. It was no deeper than was needed to occasionally cause the water to splash over the back of the person laying in it as they went through the motions of swimming. Their genjutsu encumbered mind simply did not register the hits of their hands and feet against the earth. He'd stripped down to his boxers after putting his clothes into a storage scroll had proceeded to enter the "pond" But the ingeniousness of the trap was that the more he swam the farther he seemed to be from a shore. The poor man had doomed himself the second he'd stepped into the inky water.

The fourth instructor simply found herself pinned in the ground after having run a gauntlet of emotionally triggered traps. She'd wandered into his most traditional trap, a barrage of kunai flying from multiple directions while carefully herding her in a specific direction. From there she had fallen for a rope colored to resemble a specific type of snake and filled with enough chakra to seem to writhe as if launching itself at her. With her, unknown to Naruto, fear of snakes this had prompted her to run directly into his third trap which was a simple pit trap. As soon as she fell into the trap one hundred little balls had exploded and showered her with all different sorts of things. From skunk musk to paint to perfume the woman was a walking mess. Some of the balls had contained feathers and confetti which clung to wherever a wet spot was created but the other balls. Even parts of the balls themselves stuck to her since they were made from small strips of cloth or leather. Since she was crying hysterically the mess was even on her face but physically she was unharmed. The final part of that trap had released a number of kunai to pin her via her clothing to the earth of the pit trap. She was so upset she simply didn't have the mental ability to get herself free as a rope of roots wrapped around her waist and secured her in a standing position.

The final instructor was aware of the failing of his compatriots as each of their screams had let him know of their failing. Well, except for the guy swimming in the pink ink. He was still trying to reach a shore.

The final guy left chasing Naruto gulped and moved even more cautiously than he had been before trying his hardest not to get caught by the tricky boy. He really didn't give a damn any more about catching the Prankster King. He just wanted to survive until the test was called without getting caught himself. He already knew damn good and well this kid outstripped him by far when it came to traps and evasion. He wasn't too proud to admit a twelve year old could out prank him. Why did Iruka have to select him for this? He whimpered in fear knowing he wouldn't get out of this place without something going wrong. He almost sat down where he was and just gave up but he knew that would be as bad for his reputation as getting caught by the Prankster King. Actually, it would be worse since his comrades would be seen as having been braver than he was. So he kept moving onward. Finally everything had gone haywire for him. His ears couldn't hear anything anymore and he couldn't feel anything either for all that his skin felt hyper sensitive to him. He knew he had messed up and stumbled into a trap. The only one of his five senses that was still working was his eyesight. Quickly he brought his hands together in the universal sign to disperse a genjutsu only to trigger another trap. Five hundred orange clad clones poofed into being around his location. The poor man started trembling. How the hell had the boy managed to lay a trap that was triggered by someone trying to dispel a genjutsu? He just knew this wasn't the end of this. To his horror, he heard the words he dreaded and saw two hundred and fifty of the clones turn into naked women while the other two hundred and fifty turned into Greek gods of Lore and began to strip off their orange jumpsuits, growiing in size as they did so. The poor instructor was terrified and gibbering as all the now disrobed and sexy clones began cooing and calling for him to join them in their various acts of a naughty nature. Some of the male clones began to move towards the poor man who was now bleeding from his nose and eyes as well as his ears. The guy's eyes rolled up in his head as the first of the clones made contact with him and he slumped to the forest floor out for the count. The clones poofed out of existence and Naruto walked out of the woods two hundred yards away from where the guy lay unconscious. He hadn't even been in the area and that made Sarutobi wonder just how he had laid that last trap, while admitting that a few of those instructors were going to require therapy with Inoichi before they could go back to work again. Especially that last one as the clone that had made contact with him had been one of the male clones.

Iruka smirked at the blond and asked if they needed to go rescue anyone. Naruto nodded and told him about the guy who had fallen to the mixed harem orgy, causing Iruka to first blanch and then get very red in the face. Before Iruka could say anything he told him about the guy swimming in a puddle of bright pink ink and the woman trapped in a pit trap. He told him to plug his nose before rescuing her though since she stunk now. Iruka had just groaned and shook his head before admitting that Naruto was still the best in the field.

Other instructors were selected to rescue the trapped Sensei but wouldn't go until Naruto had assured them the traps had all been triggered now and they'd be safe. Though doubtful of the boys honesty in the matter, they had gamely trooped off to find their fellows only to be proven correct as more traps had been triggered on them as they attempted the rescues. Screams of NARUTO could be heard coming from the location of every one of the fallen instructors to which Naruto and, surprisingly to the other students, Hinata just snickered. The rescuer foiling traps, as Naruto deemed them, claimed another four victims before they were disarmed and the fallen Sensei were pulled from the forest.

The first one to make it out of the woods with his fellow had stormed over to Naruto intent on beating the crap out of him for lying. "You said there were no other traps, you little Shit," he bellowed.

"And you believed me. You're a chunnin shinobi. You should know better than to take anything at face value especially as I wasn't the only person being tested today but I do appreciate your help in testing my latest design."

"Latest design?" questioned Iruka.

"Hai. I thought it wasn't such a good idea to have traps that just catch an initial victim before being played out. So I have been working on traps that will catch anyone who comes to their rescue as well. The rescuer traps are multi layered and capable of catching the rescuer from any direction they approach the victim from. He just proved it works." Naruto smirked at Iruka while the other instructor glowered.

Another instructor shook her head and said, "If that boy doesn't pass today I think I'm gonna quit this job. I definitely don't want to have to go through this again next time."

"Hell even if he doesn't pass I might just make so that he does anyway. That kid is too much for us," cried another sensei.

Sarutobi and Hiashi were embarrassed but having the time of their life listening to the comments coming from the poor victims of his genius. Both Hiashi and Sarutobi knew there had never been, and more than likely never would be, anyone better when it came to traps and pranks than Natsu.

Needless to say Naruto took first place in the field testing. Hinata had come in third behind Chouji who had managed to evade capture even though his traps did not catch his pursuer. Her trap had caught the pursuer but she had still not been able to make it out of the field before the timer went off and so she had been considered caught.

Next was target practice and the watching men noticed both Hinata and Natsu narrowed their eyes at the chunnin who was setting up the targets. Mizuki was in charge of the targets for this test and he was determined to see Naruto fail the event. He set Naruto's target stands a good ten feet further down range from everyone else's and made his actual point scoring targets a good twenty five percent smaller than the other students. Both Naruto and Hinata decided that even if they didn't find out what this guy's issue was he was getting pranked tonight.

Luckily Mizuki wasn't the only instructor on the range calling out the score as each student threw their weapons so Naruto did get each point he earned and decent weapons to throw. Mizuki had tried to call a neck shot as a chin shot which was a non-scoring hit but one of the other instructors had loudly corrected him and called it as it was without looking to see who's shot it had been. That event though had upped the level of the prank the two girls would pull on the idiot instructor though and both Hiashi and Sarutobi were beginning to get nervous. They knew if Mizuki kept picking on Naruto, he was unlikely to survive the humiliation the girls would subject him to with his sanity intact.

Sarutobi said, "I'll give him credit for guts. He is deliberately pissing off the number one prankster in the village with a full working knowledge of just how Natsu gets even with those she feels wronged her."

"He's either very brave or very stupid," agreed Hiashi. "Not even I would attempt to sabotage her the way he is. Do you see the way some of the other Sensei are looking at him?"

"Hai. It's clear they want to know what he's doing as well. They keep looking from him to Naruto and I know damn good and well that's fear on their faces."

"Hai. I agree. They know Naruto will not let this slide." They watched as the scores from the weapons testing were compiled and the children were herded back inside for the results of their paper test. Iruka released the genjutsu he had placed over the tests allowing each students name to show on their paper. Naruto had done better than he had intended to do but he'd forgotten about his mission because the questions were so very simple to him. Hinata had done the same and both children flushed in embarrassment as they were listed first for their division on the paper exam.

Sasuke had failed to pass the written portion since his name had not been visible to the grader and his paper was incomplete. Of the questions he had bothered to answer, three of them were incorrect. It was those three incorrect answers that had led to his failure to pass the test. He was pissed beyond belief and had angrily demanded to know the meaning of the class dobe doing better than he had.

Iruka cooly informed him that if he were going to imitate the laziest student in the class and not complete his exams then how could he expect to finish first. The Uchiha spouted off about how he hadn't needed to waste his time answering stupid written questions in all the time he'd been attending this school before and what did Iruka mean by implying anything to the contrary now?

Three different sets of eyes narrowed at that and one set of them belonged to a pink haired girl who was usually to be found hanging on his every word. To her, the written word was not worthless or a waste of time and for her idol to say it was, was the equivalent of saying she herself was worthless since that was the area she normally shone brightest.

"I need to have my secretary remind me to go over every single written test that boy has ever taken," snarled Sarutobi. "I swear if they actually passed that kid off as knowing more than he really does, some heads are going to roll."

"I know they have. One of the Sensei in each year has been paid extra by Danzo to make sure the Uchiha does not fail important exams and since being the Rookie of the Year means so much to the Brat because it was Itachi's rank, the Sensei alters his papers to give him the highest scores in the class."

"And you said nothing of this before to me because. . ."

"I thought you knew. Otherwise I would have. Our line of work is dangerous enough without having ignorant children going out there."

Sarutobi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He nodded slowly and reopened his eyes. "Next time tell me anyway whether you think I know or not. Sasuke may be a spoilt brat but he does not deserve this fate the council has set him up for."

Hiashi nodded and they watched as the kids were released for lunch. Sasuke tried to pick a fight with Naruto in the school yard but Naruto wasn't biting. "Hn. Dobe," Sasuke sneered as he slammed his shoulder into Naruto's side shoving the orange clad boy out of his way.

"I'm sorry you think so little of yourself after only the results of a single written test which even you must acknowledge you didn't even try to pass," was Naruto sad statement. "But you really don't need to call yourself a deadlast Sasuke. I'm sure your other results from the rest of the tests will pull you closer to the middle of the class."

Other children standing around snickered as the insult was neatly turned back on Sasuke. The Uchiha turned red in the face and went to charge Naruto in order to force the fight but Naruto calmly turned away without appearing to even notice him. Naruto took Hinata by the arm and led her off to the shade of their favorite eating spot. Slowly Shikamaru and Chouji fell into step behind the pair and Shino made his way to the tree with it's single swing as well. Sasuke was neatly blocked from continuing his unprovoked attack against Naruto by the wall of his friends. Kiba joined them as did Ino. The kids snickered at Sasuke's disappointing show in the rankings so far. Although Ino didn't really like how they were talking about the last Uchiha, she did feel he deserved to fail the written test since he hadn't even tried to pass it. Her interest in Sasuke was based on the belief that he was the best looking boy of her year and as, in her opinion she was the best looking of the girls, it was only right that the two of them should be an item. She didn't like his personality but in a popularity contest personalities took a back seat to image.

In Sarutobi's office, Hiashi and Sarutobi were discussing how much to tell Kakashi about the dynamics of his genin team. Just as the lunch bell rang calling all the kids back into the building for their final two exams, they agreed to discuss the matter with the girls before they said anything to Kakashi one way or the other.

A small mouse appeared in the office while the kids were slowly being called from the class for the final test. The mouse was Hinata's summon creature and she used it to get messages to the Hokage from both herself and Natsu whenever the girls could not personally come deliver the message.

The note was simple and short. "Be ready to personally judge taijutsu match-up, Uchiha vs. Uzumaki. Uchiha to use ninjutsu. Uzumaki to fail if he retaliates. Mizuki plot. Natsu suspects traitor." Sarutobi showed it to Hiashi and both men nodded men knew when it came to traitors, Natsu was never wrong. If she said someone was a traitor then they were.

But what was more disturbing was the information that Sasuke would be allowed to use his fire based ninjutsu during an indoor taijutsu spar in a room full of spectators. Both men decided Hinata was correct to be concerned and left for the academy dojo after a brief stop to pick up Ibiki. Sarutobi showed Ibiki the note from Hinata and watched as a "working grin" crept over the scarred man's countenance.

The trio showed up in the dojo just in time to see Naruto enter from the ninjutsu testing room. Sasuke was waiting for him on the mat and the trio of men listened as Mizuki explained the rules. They knew he had already spoken to Sasuke letting the Uchiha boy know that the rules he gave to Naruto did not apply to himself. The other students who had already been tested were filling the stands that were in a semi-circle around the taijutsu mat. Naruto had given a quick nod when he noticed the three men and stepped into the ring. A barely perceptible nod had assured the pseudo-boy of the reason for their being there. Mizuki had yet to notice them as they were at the back of the room behind the set of bleachers the rest of the kids sat on.

Naruto fell into his opening stance and watched as Sasuke smirked. "Payback, Dobe," he sneered. He launched a quick attack intended to quickly send Naruto out of the ring from the flurry of his rapid kicks to the center of his gravity. The attack was so pitiful Naruto just sidestepped it and watched as the Uchiha propelled himself across the white line. Mizuki somehow managed not to see Sasuke's feet outside the ring causing the students who had seen it to growl as the Uchiha smirked and deliberately re-entered the ring. Once again he threw himself into an attack against Naruto. His right fist was sent towards Naruto's head while his left headed for a punch to the gut and Naruto parried both strikes by a simple bending of his torso but he made no strikes of his own, determined to give the Brat every chance to win the bout. Sasuke grew even more angry since that was his second attack that had failed to even make contact with the dobe.

He plowed into the space where Naruto had been only to take a nosedive into the mat just like he had in the schoolyard. As Sasuke picked himself up off the mat his anger was clear to be seen by everyone. He quickly flashed through the handsigns for his Katon jutsu and released a fireball towards his enemy. It was cancelled just as quickly by Sarutobi who simply appeared at the edge of the mat and waved a single hand towards the fireball. In a voice devoid of any warmth, the old man announced, "Uchiha Sasuke is disqualified from this event. He has not only stepped outside the ring," he pointed to Sasuke's feet which were clearly once again across the white line. "But he has used an illegal move as described when Naruto entered the room for his taijutsu test. This was to be a pure Taijutsu exam with no ninjutsu allowed. Furthermore, Uchiha Sasuke will be assessed an extra penalty for endangering the welfare of his fellow students with the use of the illegal move. He shall place out as the deadlast in this event for his mistaken belief that the rules do not apply to him."

Mizuki stared open mouthed as Sarutobi announced his decision. Never before had the Hokage interfered in a genin graduation exam to this extent but he was also afraid of what else the Hokage knew since he had no idea of how long the Hokage had actually been in the dojo. He recovered his composure as the last of his students came through the door for her taijutsu testing. Yamanaka Ino was paired against a girl who had tied with her sparring partner early that day and warned against using either ninjutsu or her family jutsu in the match lest she share Sasuke's punishment.

Sasuke was in shock. The Dobe had won by default because Sasuke was lied to. Mizuki had been told him he would gain extra points if he proved himself capable of using a higher level of ninjutsu than what he'd shown in the ninjutsu testing. But clearly Mizuki had lied. But now what was he supposed to do? He had failed to pass the written exam and now he was deadlast for the taijutsu as well. The trap and evasion stealth testing he had not only not managed to capture the Sensei sent to capture him but he'd been caught by the Sensei as well before he could leave the field. He would not admit that meant he had failed the exam even though the Iruka-Sensei had told him he had. Iruka was a fair instructor and he would not say a student passed something they did not in fact pass.

The only two tests he knew he had passed were the ninjutsu exam where he hadn't garnered any extra points for himself and the weapons test which he knew he had placed near the top of the exam. But were those two exams enough to get him passed? He wasn't sure. The students were told to return to their classroom until the scores from all five fields could be compiled and those who had passed could receive their headbands.

Sasuke walked back to the classroom ignoring the other students. Mizuki walked next to him and slipped a note into the sulky boy's pocket as he did so. He was sure no one saw him pass the note and though he knew Sasuke was arrogant and prideful he really didn't think the boy would be so obvious as to attempt to read the note in a classroom full of other kids. Yet he did so.

Ibiki had followed the Sandaime to where the Sensei were compiling the scores and figuring the class rankings. The Sensei were quite shocked at the poor showing of the Uchiha child, as they all saw him, but Iruka would not budge. He insisted those were truly the scores the boy had earned in the different events and regretfully he did not earn enough points to actually pass the exam. Those Sensei who had been paid by Danzo to see to it the Uchiha never failed at anything gulped nervously as now their negligence caught up with them. They knew Danzo did not take excuses but how could they have foreseen this type of event? Everyone had always loved the Uchiha and no one had been willing to hurt the boy even if the pain was a fleeting thing or indirect.

"But Iruka," exclaimed one of the bought and paid for teachers. "We can't fail him. It will crush his spirit if he doesn't pass. He's just had a bad day. We all know these tests are tests he has mastered and passed before throughout his time here as a student."

Several other teachers nodded their agreement thinking the man had come up with a very logical argument to get the Uchiha through the exam. But Iruka shook his head. "Iie. I will not give him a mark he has not earned. He is not going into a job where he's going to be sitting behind a desk. He is a ninja or trying to become one. If he can not pass these simple tests there is no way he can survive in the field. Besides which, it is not only his life you lay on the line each time he is allowed to take on a mission outside the village. You also risk the lives of his teammates and his jounin-sensei. That is unacceptable. He will stay for another term just as Mitarashi Mia and Ami will stay another term. You don't get a do-over in the field because you are having a bad day so no student should get one here either. This is real life. Not fantasy."

Sarutobi was proud of Iruka for standing his ground and he understood exactly why those other teachers were eager for the Uchiha to be passed. The paid off Sensei tried another tactic and the argument dragged on. Iruka stood firm. Finally Sarutobi nodded to Ibiki who signaled his team. Those teachers who'd argued with Iruka over Sasuke's standing where hauled out of the room and taken to interrogation to see just how far they had failed Sasuke and if there were any other students they had messed with while they were supposed to be fair and impartial.

Hiashi meanwhile had followed the kids back to their classroom. Hinata had greeted him with a quick shy smile totally in character with how her class saw her and he had used the Natsu/Hinata language to tell her how proud he was of her and Natsu both for keeping their cool as well as their covers. Both girls smirked briefly and stole a glance towards Sasuke. Their smirks turned to frowns immediately as they saw him reading something cupped in his hand. Both girls checked to be sure Hiashi had also made note of Sasuke's behavior and again he nodded to them.

Then Iruka came back into the classroom. At his heels were Mizuki and Sarutobi. While Mizuki took his place handing out the headbands to happy students, Sarutobi walked over to stand next to Hiashi near the door. Using the hidden language of the girls as best he could since he wasn't as proficient in it as they all were, Hiashi told Sarutobi about Sasuke's note and Sarutobi nodded to the girls telling them to follow the boy.

The whole class was surprised when Sasuke was not announced as having passed. Several just sat in their seats in open mouthed disbelief. To go from being the rookie of the year to not even passing the final exam was just too shocking for their minds to handle. Finally Ino stood up and yelled, "Iruka-Sensei. What about Sasuke-kun? You forgot to call his name."

"No I didn't, Ino. Sasuke did not pass. Maybe if he'd paid more attention to the rules and actually finished some of the tests then he would have but since he decided to play around, he did not pass." He waited for the outcry from the various members of the Uchiha fanclub to die down before he continued. "Now I am aware you will all be wondering who came out on top in both the male and female categories and who is the all around deadlast of the class. Well, as of today's five areas of testing it is my pleasure to announce that for the boys the Rookie of the Year title goes to Uzumaki Naruto who was unrivaled in three areas of the testing. For the girls the winner of Top Kunoichi goes to Hyuuga Hinata for being the top placer in three fields amongst the girls." The class applauded their new best of the class students, some still reeling from it not being their precious Sasuke-kun but others just as happy to see him dethroned.

"The all around Deadlast of the class is," Here he interrupted himself to turn red and throw an eraser that somehow magically appeared in his hand at a pineapple haired boy who was sleeping at his desk. "SHIKAMARU! Wake up this instant." The last of his shout died off just as the eraser impacted with the person sitting behind Shikamaru, who had somehow evaded the incoming eraser without even bothering to raise his head. This prompted another eraser to come flying in the lazy boy's direction as the students around Shikamaru scrambled to get out of range. Ten dirty erasers later a gentle snore came from the laziest boy in the class who's seat was now ringed in a white inch thick ring of chalk dust.

Hiashi leaned in toward Sarutobi to ask where all the erasers had come from. "I know for a fact there were only three on the ledge of the chalkboard itself and they are all still there as you can see."

Sarutobi shrugged and said, "That is a mystery no one has figured out yet. For some reason Iruka always seems to have some handy for throwing at sleeping children."

"Anyway," Iruka said with slumped shoulders and total disgust, "The Deadlast of the this years class is Rip Van Wrinkle over there." The children, most of whom had no idea who Rip Van Wrinkle was, still snickered knowing that Shikamaru was the deadlast. They also knew him well enough to know he was only the deadlast because he didn't care enough to bother showing off what he knew. In each test he'd done just enough to pass and not one thing extra.

"Those of you who passed, Congratulations. I will see you on Monday to hand out your team assignments and explain a little bit about your new duties as genin of the Leaf Village. Now, I believe your parents are waiting to escort you home. For those of you who did not pass, you have the following week off and I suggest you spend some time in study and practice."

The children filed out of the classroom, some of them showing signs of massive disappointment while others were practically jumping for joy. But for Uchiha Sasuke there was only shocked disbelief. He simply could not believe he had failed. He had always passed everything before. Sure, he knew his test papers were sometimes not the same ones he'd filled in when he'd been given the test but he hadn't really given it any thought after the Councilman had told him that he would receive a little bit of aid like that from time to time. He'd simply taken the false tests home and studied them waiting until the next time he was tested. Over the years he'd forgotten about that and had just stopped studying for written exams period knowing someone would see to it his written evaluations were always passed. This allowed him more time for studying and practicing his family style of combat. Since he had no one to teach him the style he had to learn it on his own from the scrolls his family had left behind and that took too much time to waste studying dry lesson books on useless information such as what he was tested on at the academy.

And it was true that he was not as good at the trap and evasion tests as Naruto was. Hell, no one in the village compared to Naruto in that field. Nor would anyone ever compare to the Prankster King. It took a lot of skill to earn a title like that and just the mention of someone turning the Prankster King loose on you was enough to bring most Jounin to their knees in horror and tears.

He'd heard rumors of how even Anbu were known to make themselves scarce when a call came in to apprehend the Prankster King. According to the rumors they used to call in a sick call, what ever that was, until the Anbu Commander had caught on and told them to find The Prankster first then go get cleared for duty. What Sasuke didn't know was that Anbu had worked in Prankster chases as part of their way of initiating newbies into their ranks and as part of the punishment routine. Heck the Commander had even been known to call on Naruto to prank a new recruit for him.

But for Sasuke the only thing he was interested in was that he knew Naruto was going to win that event hands down. So he hadn't even bothered trying to get good at it. What was the use of wasting time practicing skills you knew someone else would always outshine your own efforts in? Especially since he thought Naruto and his pranks were not only juvenile but also useless to a real ninja.

His field of interest had always been his family style of combat and he truly was good at the Uchiha taijutsu ninjutsu combination. He had truly thought Mizuki had told the truth when he'd said Sasuke would be allowed to use the full range of his family style. But the Sensei had lied. And that led to the final issue on his mind. Could he trust the man now?

Mizuki had slipped Sasuke a note telling him there was another test he would be allowed to partake in since the Hokage hadn't known of the special conditions set for Sasuke's taijutsu spar. It sounded reasonable, given everything else the council had done for him over his years at the academy but still why hadn't the Hokage known about the other special condition?

Mizuki met him at the gate of his compound and explained the special test was to steal a specific scroll from a hidden and heavily trapped room in the Hokage tower. If he could steal the scroll without setting off an alarm and then make his way into the woods and to an old abandoned shack, he would pass the test and be allowed to graduate with the rest of his class. He was not allowed to open the scroll but this test was designed to show that he did have the necessary skills to infiltrate and evade guards while stealing something important from an enemy.

He would also have to show his ability to read a map and follow instructions which is what would make up for his having failed to pass the written examination. The fact that he was not allowed to open the scroll was a test of his loyalty to his village and would restore the honor he had supposedly lost by using ninjutsu in a taijutsu fight. Mizuki told Sasuke that when he arrived at the shack he would be met by Danzo and himself. Danzo would be representing the council and there to make sure Sasuke had followed the rules so the council could overrule the Hokage and see to it that his accumulated points for this extra exam were applied to his overall final grade. Mizuki would be there representing the school to make sure said points were added to the overall grade allowing Sasuke to actually pass.

Sasuke grunted his agreement. It made sense. Of course, he would be given a second chance to prove himself. He wasn't a deadlast loser of a nobody. He was an Uchiha and they were always given the best of chances. Entering his family compound he made himself a pita and tomato sandwich while he waited for darkness to fall. He had no doubt in his own ability. He would succeed in this because he was sure it would not be as difficult as it sounded. He was an academy student. Not a real thief. Therefore, he was sure the traps wouldn't be that hard to evade. Nor would the guards really try to catch him.