Above is Naruto (13), who loves bothering his rival Sasuke.

Ohayo, minna! Enjoy! :)

When Our Tails Are Tied- Part Two: Life On The Inside- Section 3

Team Seven. Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and one Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto smiled like the idiot he wasn't, and Sakura fawned like the fangirl she was. Kakashi raised an eyebrow as Sasuke finished his introduction. "...Okay....Now then, Blondie?" Kakashi said.

Oh, this is too troublesome... Why can't I be on a team like Kiba's? Or be like Yin or something, Naruto thought in despair.

Naruto grinned in apparent excitement, repeatedly fiddling with his metal headband.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be Hokage!" he yelled happily....not. "I'm going to become Hokage so people will finally stop looking down on me and start to acknowledge me as a person! I'll be super powerful, and this time there's nothing that anyone can do about it! Beleive it!" he grinned.

Kakashi Hatake sweatdropped at the loud Genin, and sighed softly. "Uh, hobbies? Likes and dislikes?"

"Oh...um yeah! I like ramen, I like eating ramen, uh...I like being with Iruka-sensei ...um, hobbies?... Um, training, I guess? I dislike the three minutes you have to wait for ramen to cook, reading, a certain idiot, and Sasuke-teme," Naruto cheered inwardly as he saw the emo Sasuke Uchiha twitch slightly at the insult.

Naruto posed in a overly thoughtful position. "I feel like I'm forgetting something.....oh, yeah! I absolutely HATE TRAITORS!" He roared, with flames in his eyes.

The other two males of the newly formed Team 7 sighed at their hyperactive blonde teammate, while the pink head Sakura Haruno simply seethed silently.

Naruto nearly cried waterfalls, he absolutely hated this team Iruka gave him. This is cruel and unusual punishment for nothing... He had to go through his whole career with these...these...

Damn it, I can't call them insane cause I am too!

"I expect you guy's to be at training ground 7 bright and early tomorrow. Don't be late!" Kakashi smiled through his mask.

You should talk, Naruto thought.

"Oh....And I almost forgot. I highly suggest that you don't eat breakfast. You'll puke." he stated blandly, before raising his hand with a supposed smile. "Ja ne!"

The weird man then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"...I'm going home." Sasuke stated blandly, and stood up. Sakura quickly clambered up after him.

"Oh, maybe we could stop for something to eat before you go... It'll be our first date!" she squealed with hearts in her eyes. Naruto wanted to be violently sick.... or violently bash his head open on the rooftop tiles.

Sasuke stared at her for a couple of seconds before narrowing his dark eyes. "..........No." he deadpanned.

Naruto's mask slipped for a second, displaying an amused smirk at the deflated girl.

Ha! You call yourself a kunoichi? You look like a kicked puppy! You better get a good grip on reality, cause this guy's about to drop kick you right off the edge! Ha!

Sasuke eyed his teammates one more time, narrowing his eyes as Naruto's face quickly flickered between multiple emotions. Sasuke glared silently at them both and dropped of the edge of the roof, retreating to who knows where to brood in silence.

"You know, Sakura-chan," Naruto suggested happily, enduring the terrible pain it took to hear those words come out of his own mouth, "we can go get something to eat together to build up our teamwork!" he smiled dumbly.

Sakura turned her nose up in a huff. "No way! I'd rather die first!" she sneered and walked away, heading back to the safety of the stairs .

Whore....At least she'd die anyway...

Naruto wished he could shed the orange monstrosity that was part of his unwanted persona, and rip it into hideous orange confetti. Naruto walked to the opposite side of the building and slid down the wall into a dark alley.

Irritating, useless....grrr...infuriating piece of shit.... I'll kill him...

First the Hokage lets him get beaten to the point of insanity, then he takes away Naruto's free will to do anything but fake a smile... And now he's gone and made him a part of what's got to be the most useless team in history!

How does he expect us to survive with such a messed up team? A revenge driven emo, a psycho-sadist fangirl of the emo's, a mental veteran Cyclops, and an insane powerhouse demon with a defective seal? How does he ever expect it to work?! I-I...hate this! I can't take this, acting like I'm perfectly fine around these people, acting all happy and everything... I hate Konoha!

...how can you do it, Naruto? Are you done yet? How have I not ...killed them? I don't want to do this...the seal is stopping me but...how have I..

-Not killed yourself? How?

The thought is always in our mind...If you would allow me to help you...never again will it cross your mind. Nobody will ever bother us... ever again... Ever again?

A dark chuckle escaped Naruto's lips, but it was not his own. "All you have to do is say...YeS..." Naruto winced in pain as an insane smile twitched on his face, and the scars on his face burned more than ever. That pain shook him out of an unknown haze, and a part of him cursed to itself.

What is this? Who..w-where are you?

Dammit boy! I almost had you....

Dear Kami...I really am insane.

Naruto steadied himself against the brick wall of the small alley and his hand made it's way to his hair.

You're damn right you are, brat! I AM THE ALMIGHTY KYUUBI NO KITSUNE! Insanity is my SPECIALTY! And watching you're miserable life is the best show I've seen in eons! HAHAHAHA!

........um...

The fear has made you speechless I see, AHAHAHAHA!!! Don't worry, this terrifying power will be trying to take over your body only every minute of your life! HAHAHAHAHA!!! You'll give in eventually!

.. Don't worry about me, you ignorant ball of fluff! You're just another voice in my head that is getting pushed to the back of my mind...

WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME YOU INSUFFERABLE BRAT?! I'LL RIP YOU TO SHREDS YOU-

And...mute. Goodbye, Mr. Fluffy. That was some ego...

Naruto shook his head and pushed off from the alley wall. He quickly exited the alley, because he had some preparing to do.

__NARUTO__

Naruto watched quietly from the shade in the trees, his eyes going from left to right and again, following the lazy flick of the cat's tail.

The Genin team below him were not aware of him being there, and Naruto was fine with just that.

Shikamaru Nara sighed softly, a faint blush dusting his irritated face. "...Its not funny, Ino." he snapped, glaring at the giggling girl beside him.

The cat's tail flicked across his forehead again, and he glared at it lividly as it passed over his eyes before curling back up on top of the boys head to join the rest of the purring cat.

Tora the demon cat lay purring in absolute contempt on the head of the lazy genius, one of her paws wrapped happily around his spiky ponytail.

"Choji.... make it get off of me. Please..." he scowled.

Choji smirked, slipping his bag of potato chips back into his pocket. "I dunno Shikamaru... I think she's in love."

Ino snorted into her hand. Shikamaru huffed in annoyance from his seat on the ground, crossing his arms at his teammates who stood over him. "Its not funny!"

"Maybe this'll teach you not to fall asleep on the job!" Ino laughed. "We were chasing that cat all day and you fell asleep at your post. This is about our millionth time doing this mission. We spent all that time trying to send her your way to get her in your trap, and we were actually kind of hoping she would scratch your face off while you slept." she smirked.

"Well I guess she likes you because you're the only ninja who won't chase her." Choji supplied.

"For the last time, it's-"

"Too troublesome." Ino and Choji chorused. "Yeah, we know."

"Will someone please...GET THIS CAT OFF MY HEAD?!" Shikamaru raged.

"Nope."

"Definitely not. This is too priceless."

Shikamaru took a long, slow breath. "...Okay...." he closed his eyes. His eyes snapped open, and locked onto the trees above.

"If you would please....Naruto?" he asked semi-calmly.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as the other Team 10 members finally made notice of him.

Ino frowned. "The baka?"

Naruto jumped down from his perch in the trees, forcing himself to not look at Choji or Ino. He landed directly in front of the sitting ninja, crouched low.

"I couldn't even sense him...." Choji muttered.

Shikamaru sighed in relief, and locked eyes with Naruto. "Get. Rid of it. Please."

Naruto nodded, and exhaled slowly. Ino and Choji held their breath as Naruto reached out a tentative hand to the demon cat.

Tora stopped purring, and glared down the newcomer. There was no way was she ever moving from her newfound place on the nice smelling boy. Tora hissed loudly at the blonde, who snatched his hand back. Naruto's pupils grew larger as he bared his teeth at the cat in anger.

Naruto's clawed fingers snatched the not so innocent cat off of Shika's head, and threw it at Choji. Choji was prepared, and caught the angry furball in a net of ninja wire. Choji hurriedly tied the ends of the net together, and snatched his hands away.

Naruto stood, and him and Shikamaru sent each other silent understandings.

"I hate cats..." Naruto muttered, and jumped up into the trees again.

Shikamaru sighed softly in relief, thank Kami that insane cat was not going to use his head as a pillow.

"What the hell was that?!" Ino screeched, and the short silence was broken.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her. "That...was Naruto."

Choji snorted. "No duh, genius."

Ino turned red. "No, I mean why was he here! Where is the rest of his team? How come we couldn't sense that idiot!?"

Shikamaru got to his feet, dusting off his pants legs. "His team has the day off. Besides, what makes you so sure that he's an idiot?"

"What makes you so sure that he isn't?" Ino snapped.

Shikamaru tilted his head thoughtfully. "Because..... I know him."

"Yeah, everyone knows him. Loudmouth, wears orange, stamina freak with no parents, we all went to school with him. Remember?" Choji cut in.

Shikamaru's eyes hardened. "I do know him. More than anyone else in the village even, because I actually stopped to try and get to know him."

Ino looked incredulous. "So you're actually friends with that baka?!"

He huffed in annoyance. "N-Not exactly... More like we tolerate each other, because I stopped to watch what he does sometimes.... and everything he does, it's all so... unnatural..."

"What you mean unnatural?"

Shikamaru looked put out for a second before he huffed again. "I...I don't know exactly..."

Ino smirked. "So then you don't know him. 'More than anyone in the village', yeah right..." she scoffed.

Shikamaru bristled. "You think you know him well enough then, huh?"

Ino crossed her arms. "Yeah. I mean, I spent how many years in the same class as him? So yes, pretty well enough, I think." She smirked.

"Oh yeah? What's his favorite color?" he challenged.

"Orange." she answered without hesitation.

"Wrong!" he barked. Ino opened her mouth, but he cut her off. "Its blue, the same color as his eyes. He'd sit and stare at the sky longer than I would! How old is he?"

"The same as us, twelve." she snapped.

"Wrong! He's fourteen, he's failed the exam three times. When's his birthday, Ino?" Shikamaru glared.

Ino opened her mouth, then closed it again with a frown. Shikamaru shook his head.

"Its October 10th." he stated. Shikamaru gazed sadly at his two teammates. "This mission is over... I'm going home. You guys are pretty sick, y'know..."

Shikamaru turned and started making his way out of the forest. He paused after a few steps, turning his head. He glared at Ino from the corner of his eye.

"Oh.... but you've been in the same class.... for how many years?" he mocked.

_NARUTO_

Cold black eyes glared into a pair of icy blue ones from across the room. The blue eyes held not one ounce of emotion as they stared blankly back.

Sasuke glared at his weird orange wearing comrade. Just a while ago they were both downstairs eating dinner with the bridge builder's family, and Naruto was acting as idiotic as usual. Sasuke had barely noticed it, but as the two climbed up the staircase to their (begrudgingly) shared room, Naruto had gotten quieter.

His loudly exclaimed epiphanies of ramen faded into silence, his smile slipped a bit, and even his stomping on the hard wooden stairs switched into him softly padding to the room. Maybe he was finally getting tired.... Thank Kami for that.

Sasuke had immediately gone to his futon on one side of the room, and Naruto (gracefully) faceplanted onto his own. Sasuke dragged his futon out of the middle of the floor and over to the wall where the moonlight reached.

Sasuke pulled off his blue shirt to reveal a white tank underneath. Across the room, Naruto yawned and pushed himself onto his back so he wasn't laying flat on his face. Sasuke payed him no attention, and sat with his back pressed against the wall behind him.

The full moon was displayed beautifully through the open window on the other boy's side of the room, flanked by an amazing showcase of shining stars. Sasuke gazed absentmindedly outside the window, the bright moon and cool air filling his senses. He could hear the sounds of night grow louder, and the soft breathing of himself and his roommate.

After a long while, something began to bother Sasuke. It was subtle, but something was definitely different, and making his instinct to pull a kunai fire up. Sasuke snapped out of his daze, and then he noticed it.

Naruto was not asleep after all.

Naruto's bright blue eyes almost glowed in the moonlight, blankly staring at the Uchiha from across the dark room. He lay on his back, head hung limply to the side.

Sasuke immediately bristled. What was this creep doing, just staring at him like that? "What's your problem, dobe?" he snapped. Naruto didn't move, he didn't even blink. This angered Sasuke even further.

"What kind of creep are you, watching people in the middle of the night?! What's your problem, huh?" he growled. Naruto didn't respond, continuing to stare at Sasuke with a cold, dead look in his eyes.

Sasuke's glare lessened a bit, and Naruto continued to watch him, unblinking.

Sasuke leaned forward, looking closer at the boy. Maybe he was dead....? Sasuke inwardly cringed at the thought as his emotions torward the problem changed. Maybe he should check on him...

Sasuke crawled forward out of his futon and towards the unresponsive blonde. Now only a few feet away from him, Sasuke saw Naruto's blue eyes flick upward, staring at him moving closer. Sasuke's irritation raged forward again.

"Hey, Dobe! Answer when people are talking to you!" he growled. Naruto looked up at him silently.

Sasuke's irritation met its peak, and he snapped out a hand to hit Naruto on his forehead. Before his hand reached it's target however, Naruto's hand reached up and blocked it.

Naruto's eyes flashed a mean red in the darkness and Sasuke faltered, his wrist screaming in protest to the death grip Naruto suddenly had around it. Naruto's red eyes flashed again, and to Sasuke's horror, his air supply was abruptly cut off. Sasuke's vision went black, then was engulfed in red.

His head now pounding, Sasuke sucked in huge amounts of air, blinking the brightness out of his eyes. As it cleared, he noticed that Naruto was gone. The room was empty, the window still wide open. He was alone.

Sasuke raised his shaking hand, blood streaming from large claw marks cut into his pale flesh. Sasuke's other hand found its way to his throat, where he could already feel a bruise forming around it.

Seeing his own blood in such amounts brought up bad memories, and Sasuke felt nauseated. Couple that up with his sudden splitting headache, and you've got one choked up Uchiha. Sasuke's vision blurred way past normal standards, but not blinding him. The sudden loss of vision startled the boy, who reeled backwards and lost his balance.

Just as he was about to make contact with the floor, a wave of coldness rushed up past Sasuke's body- what was that, water?- and completely engulfed him.

Darkness surrounded the terrified boy, who couldn't even tell if his eyes were open anymore.... No... No, they were still open. Sasuke floated without gravity in the darkness, eyes wide in terror.

W-Why can't I move?, Sasuke's thoughts echoed in the void. Sasuke screwed his eyes shut. I...can't breath!

A quiet chuckle echoed all around him, and Sasuke snapped his eyes open.

N-Naruto!

A few feet away from Sasuke floated Naruto. Naruto looked at Sasuke with a slightly amused expression, slitted red iridescent eyes alight with fascination. Sasuke couldn't speak, but tried to get his message out through his eyes.

Please...

The blonde tilted his head to the side, as if he could really hear him. Then, somehow, Naruto spoke clearly underneath the water.

"Oh, how wonderful. I haven't seen an Uchiha in ages.... Sweet, sweet revenge. This is perfect..." Naruto started to laugh, and Sasuke just about wanted to strangle him. Now was not the time for.... Whatever the blonde was doing.

Naruto squinted his eyes playfully at the Uchiha. "Hey...." he frowned mockingly. "Can you.... Breath? Like, at all?" Naruto's face broke into an insane smile. "No?"

Sasuke closed his eyes again. What type of twisted genjutsu could this possibly be? No way could this possibly be real... Nope. Nope. Nope.

"Hey!"

Sasuke reopened his eyes by pure reflex, and saw complete darkness. Where did that creepy Naruto go? Sasuke realized that he could move again, precious oxygen returning to him. How the hell had he not passed out a while ago?

"Hey, hey! What the hell are you doing, you damn idiot!?"

Sasuke whirled around in the mass of air, somehow still floating. Naruto stood a few feet away, just like before. Only this Naruto looked different.

Sure he had the blonde hair and (thankfully, Sasuke noted) blue eyes, but the eyes were slit like the others, and he didn't seem as insane.

Naruto growled in anger. "Damn Uchiha brat! Get the hell out of my head! How dare you lure him out, do y'know how long it took to push that bastard back into his emo corner, you egotistical, psycotic- wait, how'd you get in here?"

Sasuke gaped at the blonde. "You're not Naruto." he said.

The blonde scoffed. "No... Your Naruto... is not Naruto." he said smartly.

Sasuke was at a loss for words. Almost. "W-Wait a second! Why are you acting like a complete-"

"Psychopath? Yeah, its best that you don't find out." Naruto shrugged. "As for you, you should get out to the real world. I know for a fact that I can't leave, so I'm kicking you out lest you be stuck here to piss me off forever. Ja ne!"

Sasuke shook his head, holding up his arms. "Hold on.... Where are we? Get stuck where?"

Naruto groaned, the sound echoing as he facepalmed. "Does it matter? Kami, you ask a lot of questions. You really don't need to know. Now you need to leave."

"I can't leave! I don't even know how I got here! We need to find our way out together."

Naruto gave a dry laugh. "I've been here almost forever. If its one thing I learned, I ain't gettin' out of here any sooner, even with your help."

Naruto looked around the room as if sensing something. Sasuke saw nothing.

Naruto sighed, muttering things Sasuke couldn't make out.

"Sasuke." Naruto's tone demanded Sasuke's attention. "Look, Its almost daylight. I've got three things to tell you, and you better listen well cause I don't have enough time to repeat anything. Ok?"

Sasuke nodded, still confused.

"One, don't you ever tell anyone about this. Not our baka-sensei, not the Hokage, don't even tell your reflection, because I will find out, and it won't be pretty. Two, on the outside, the real world, or whatever the hell you want to call it-"

Sasuke's frustration grew. What was he talking about?

"- if you see me with red eyes like the one you met before, under any circumstances, in any and all situations- RUN. If you stay, it is more than likely that you will die."

Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. "You got that down, Uchiha?"

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, his headache spiking in pain. "What.. What was the third thing?"

Naruto flashed him a grin. "Don't let Kakashi know about those eyes you've got there."

And with that, Naruto flashed forward and gave the Uchiha a push, sending him sprawling backwards into the nothingness.

Sasuke awoke with a gasp and a muffled cry of surprise, eyes moving wildly around but not seeing. Panic rose up in the boy, his vision was gone, still as unfocused as when he first got that headache.

Sasuke started breathing heavily. His arms found each other as he used one to find the other injured one. Sasuke felt his pale hands move shakily to inspect his arms.

No claw marks.... No blood.

Sasuke hissed quietly in pain, his brain feeling like it was being stabbed from multiple angles with a giant sword. The pain intensified as Sasuke was engulfed in an excruciating white light and then-

The pain dulled. The white went away. Sasuke let out a relieved huff of awe as he saw everything at once.

He was back in the bridge builder's house, the soft light of dawn filtering in through the still open window. The wind was barely blowing, but Sasuke saw the dust in the air moving as if it were in a hurricane. Even through all of that, Sasuke could see out of the window, beyond it even. The trees outside were dancing in the morning breeze, and he could see each and every leaf moving in sync, some tearing away and into the breeze where he could still see it.

Sasuke made an unintelligible sound in the back of his throat, and he launched himself out of his futon to his pack on the other side of the room.

His pale hands trembled as he fumbled with the clasps on the pouches, forgetting the fact that he should be injured. Finally getting the pouch open, Sasuke quickly reached his hand inside, his hand wrapping around the ice cold metal.

He pulled out a kunai, his eyes narrowing slightly as it glinted in the pale light. The boys reflection in the blade looked just as amazed as he did.

The Uchiha Prince smirked in victory, then looked crestfallen. Instead of his usual obsidion black orbs, the blade reflected a blood red iris, with two black tomoes around each pupil. The Sharingan.

_NARUTO_

Naruto could see his own breath frosting in front of his nose as he stood back to back with Sasuke.

Dammit! Typical for this to happen the first time I leave the village...

Naruto held two kunai blades at the ready, narrowed eyes trying to track the enemy. Sasuke's pale white hands were held up, ready to make any necessary hand seals and his newly awakened dojutsu activated, watching for possible movement.

They waited with bated breath until finally-

"There!" Sasuke flipped through hand seals, and produced a huge ball of fire aimed towards the enemy. Naruto brought up his weapon to block a barrage of senbon aimed for his jugular. Sasuke hissed in pain as a few senbon pierced his chest.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw the upcoming attack, and before he knew it, he dashed forward-

Naruto let out an undiluted cry of rage, as Sasuke hunched over in pain.

"Really, teme?! Why the hell would you do that!!!" Naruto screeched, catching the Uchiha before he fell.

Damn it...Yet another person who took the blow for me...

Sasuke ground his teeth together in a pained grimace. "S-Shut up and f-fight, dobe..." he growled, the red of his eyes draining away to the black of before.

Naruto could feel his six scars burning as if they wanted to melt his face off as his anger grew to a dangerously high standpoint.

Sasuke shuddered. His eyes scrunched up as if he were confused. "R-Red eyes..." he breathed.

And it was in that one moment that the world went black for the both of them.

_NARUTO_

Sakura sweatdropped as Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other with enough force to crush mountains.

"Uh... Kakashi-sensei....s-should we do something about these two?.." she asked uncertainly.

Kakashi, who had just arrived, smiled behind his book with an almost undetectable twitch. "~Maa. They'll be fine. A little rivalry is healthy for them both." he chuckled nervously. Dear Kami, they were gonna kill each other... Its best for him to leave while he can.

Kakashi snapped his Icha closed with a smile, gaining his three student's attention. "You know what... I forgot. I've got someplace to be right about now, so... our missions are canceled today!" he said cheerfully.

The three genin stared him down with a deadpan look.

Kakashi started sweating bullets. "I've also just realized that I really need to leave right now. Don't want to be late, heh heh..." he laughed awkwardly.

Before his blonde student had even begun to scream at him for being a liar, he had already shunshined away.

Dammit! You damn perverted hermit!

Naruto started on his angry unheard rant, but stopped when it came to his attention that the rest of his team had dissapeared in that short amount of time, leaving him completely alone.

Ah, well that's just mean of them. The emo avoiding being alone with me because I scared him shitless, and his little flower following behind. How fucking pathetic... Ah, well. Might as well go and see Iruka.

Naruto sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, turning briskly and walking in the direction of the Academy.

I wonder what he did to get that seal on him? Either he turned traitor or...

Naruto rounded a corner, subconciosly making no noise in his efforts. Nah. He's just a Chuunin, probably overheard something he wasn't supposed to, and they caught him... Or maybe he heard something he didn't like, and tried to defect?

Naruto frowned, and continued down the completely empty sidewalk shortcut that wasn't used much. He, of course, used the shortcut quite frequently when escaping the drunken villagers. He drummed his fingers against his left leg through his pants pocket.

...And of course the only way to really get to this guy would be to expell a lot of chakra. I could send out my chakra until I shatter his seal, Or I could just piss him off to the point where he demolishes it himself...

Naruto froze in the middle of the street, cutting his thoughts short. He was getting the feeling that he was being followed, because the seal had slowly activated, sending small smiles twitching onto his face. The closest proximity that they could be to have the seal reacting to such an amount, would be....

Directly behind him.

Naruto whirled around with an angry face.

"HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU- huh?" his yell was cut short as the stupidity of the situation struck him head on.

Ugh. Konohamaru.... Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

Apparently the seal decided to slip right then, y'know, just for kicks. Before he could stop himself, Naruto said with a deadpan expression, "Who the hell do you think would fall for that, there aren't any giant cubed boulders anywhere in this village you dimwit."

The painted cardboard box at his feet shuffled a bit, before it went up in a balst of smoke.

Naruto frowned, but watched with and amused glint in his eyes as three kids exited the smoke, coughing and gasping for oxygen.

"Oh, I think we used too much gunpowder..." the girl groaned.

Naruto looked down on them. "Uh...what are you doing, Ko?"

The three kids jumped. Konohamaru looked up with a surprised look. "Ah! Boss!"

Ko grinned up at him, the girl looked at him in suspicion, and the other boy wiped at his nose.

Konohamaru's grin grew even bigger. "Did you see what we did earlier, huh boss? I betcha didn't even see us coming!"

Well I can say that it was an unexpected surprise... Besides- "-it needs work."

Naruto wanted to slap a hand over his mouth. He couldn't afford to let the seal act up at all around Konohamaru, he might go back and tell the old man Hokage that something was up, and he'd be done for.

Ko blinked, before continuing to smile. He turned to the other two kids. "You hear that guys? Boss says we're making progress!"

Naruto sighed in relief. Thank Kami for reality's natural filter: optimism.

"Who are you guys anyway?" Naruto asked.

The girl pushed Konohamaru to the side roughly, and he sent her a withering glare. "I'm Moegi..." she batted her eyelashes. "I'm the prettiest, most deadly-est kunoichi in all of Konoha!" she smiled, flashing a peace sign. This sparked something in Naruto. He had to admit, that was kind of adorable.

His eyes drifted past the girl, where Ko was making a large 'X' with both his arms, shaking his head rapidly. The other boy was holding up a huge sign that said "Don't fall for it, She's evil incarnate". Naruto sweatdropped.

By the time she had turned around, Ko was whistling with his arms behind his head, and the other boy was looking down at his shoes with sudden amazement.

Naruto gestured to the other boy. "What about you?"

The boy looked surprised before speaking in a stuffy voice. "Oh.... I'm Udon. I'm smart." he used his sleeve to wipe his runny nose.

.....That's it? Points for....originality, I guess?

Naruto laughed awkwardly. "Is that so?"

Konohamaru shoved his way back to the front. "So, boss? Now that you've seen what we can do, can you 'play ninja' with us now? You promised us that you would!" he pleaded with large eyes.

Well, at least I got him to start acting like it was a game around others... I don't want anyone hurting him if they knew I was the one training him...

"A ninja playing ninja? How childish can you get Naruto?"

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin. "WHEN THE HELL DID YOU GET HERE?!?"

Sakura bristled. "You shouldn't swear in front of a lady! Baka!"

Konohamaru glared at her. Naruto dropped his head with an uncertain laugh. "Ano, you're right Sakura-chan...." I'm so sorry Moegi-chan. Please forgive me for swearing in your presence.

"Hey, hey boss..." Ko staged whispered. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Is she your....y'know?" Ko held out his pinky finger.

Naruto recoiled as if he had been burned. He wanted to throw up. No no no no no no no no no no no no no....

Naruto rapidly shook his head, eyes wide. "Nuh uh, no, nope, NO. NO."

Konohamaru sighed in relief. "Oh, okay. That's good..." he started whispering again. "Because her forehead.... is gigantic.."

Naruto held back a laugh. Oh you poor child.... Rest in pieces.

The humor was short lived as Sakura rounded on him instead. "NARUTO!! You're dead!"

WHAT THE HELL DID I DO?!

Sakura then proceeded to pummel him into the ground. Naruto curled up in a way that would protect his organs and his manhood, quite used to this already. Moegi and Udon stood back, not knowing what to do. Konohamaru though, he stepped forward.

"Hey! You better leave him alone! I can see why Boss doesn't like you now, and it doesn't help that you're already butt ugly!" he yelled.

Sakura froze mid-punch, and Naruto took that time to warn his fellow comrade. "Ko... Run!!!" he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

By the time he looked up, Ko had already hightailed it out of there, with Sakura right on his heels. Moegi and Udon chased after them both, yelling at their friend to run faster.

Naruto gathered his wits and jumped to his feet, ready to run after them all, but froze as an unknown heat washed over him. It traveled all over, sending a hot feeling of fire trailing through all of his whiskers, and it shot a bad feeling down his spine. Naruto gave a full body shiver and pitched forward.

....I don't know what that was.... But I have to get to Konohamaru.. And quick. Something...

"...Something's about to happen." Naruto realized. He took off after the kids in a frantic burst of speed.