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Nothing But The Truth by Geishagrl

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Chapter notes:
Kay, so, I'm trying out another academy days fic. Hope it goes well this time. We'll eventually move on to the main cannon plot. Hopefully soon.

There's a lot of foreshadowing in this first chapter. See if you can pick up on it. I think I made it kind of obvious...or not. No, you're probably not going to get it. It's REALLY out there, so you're not going to pick up the real meaning of the secret until about the chunin exam arc. Hope you like it. If you don't, tell me what I'm doing wrong in a—you guessed it—review!
“The thing is, I used to like that; feeling special because I knew something no one else did. It's a kind of power, isn't it, knowing a secret? But lately I don't like it so much...knowing this.” —Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Not Your Average Cliché

I had once been told that I was born in a strange way. I was young. Maybe three? I can't remember. But after the old man told me that and refused to say any more I sort of gave up on getting the straight answer. I mean the answer to the question everyone asks themselves at some point—who am I? Where did I come from? What is my purpose? Something along those lines. It makes it harder when you don't have parents to ask.

I guess I had the old man, but he was more like an estranged grandpa who wasn't really related to me by blood—but then I wasn't too invested in the whole “blood ties” thing either, even as a kid. It takes a village to raise a child, and that's what happened. So I guess the whole village is my family if you want to put it like that. Still, I couldn't exactly go up to old lady Tatsu and ask her all those questions. And it didn't exactly help that not many people besides a couple of shifty Jounin I'd met and the old man knew much about my origins anyway. So I was sorta out of luck on that front...

But I wasn't too down about it. I was far too busy to be thinking about that stupid stuff anyway. 'Busy doing what?' you may ask? Well, it's a simple. My monthly allowance didn't amount to crap—Maybe enough to live on, but that was it. And I don't care what anyone else says, that's not living! It all started when old lady Tatsu ran out of apples for her apple pie. She seemed so upset about it that I couldn't just stand there and do nothing. It just so happened that I knew a tree with the best sort of apples growing on it—the kind I made myself.

I'd always had a bit of a green thumb ever since I could remember. In fact, according to the old man, it was more than just a green thumb—it was a kekki genkai. Whatever that means. Anyway, it wasn't that hard at all. I just felt the seeds in the ground, found the one I liked the best, and pulled. Then it would shoot right up out of the ground—easy. Well, maybe not at first. It took a long time for me to get them past the baby tree stage, and before that, I couldn't even get sprouts before I'd get so tired I felt like I was going to pass out. But practice makes perfect, and soon enough I could manage to pull up one eight foot tree in one go.

The old man was furious when he found out what I'd been doing, since apparently if I wasted too much 'chakra' I could die. It sure scared me straight, and though it didn't stop me from growing my own secret garden, I was much more careful about it—at least when I wasn't pressed for cash. In that case, I'd pull up a hundred trees if it meant I got to eat home made pie from old lady Tatsu as a reward for my apples.

She wasn't the only one I did favors for though. I did odd jobs for anyone who offered payment of some kind—deliveries, shop assistance, clean up jobs, fence painting, and especially gardening. If someone hired me to weed out a garden, those weeds never came back—they were probably too scared. Plus everyones' herbs and crops grew much more successfully after I was through with them. It was one of the only kinds of jobs I got payed real cash for—otherwise it was snacks, toys, or something else useful. It was a pretty sweet set up, but when I'd finally started to make a name for myself, the old man signed me up for the stupid ninja academy!

“When you graduate, you can keep doing the same thing you are now.” He frowned at me disapprovingly then, “But in the mean time, I want you to stop taking all the D rank missions from the Genin. Do you understand me, Tonbo?”

“Missions??” I cried angrily, “These aren't missions, they're chores! Why do I have to become a shinobi to do them?! Those stupid Genin should be thanking me!”

“Besides, when I do them, I actually do them right!” I crossed my arms, pouting, “The academy is stupid, and it makes stupid Genin! I don't want to be a stupid Genin!”

The old man sighed, and I caught that look in his wrinkly old eyes, calling him out on it shamelessly, “Ha! I knew it! You think they're stupid too! Haha!”

“Regardless of either our opinions...” He replied with exasperation in his voice, “one of those 'stupid Genin' could still come in here and kick your butt if I told them it was a C rank mission.”

Instead of feeling threatened and insulted like I should've, the warning actually gave me a warm fuzzy feeling and I looked at the old man with heartfelt eyes, “I'm worth a C rank mission...?”

“If you were a 'stupid Genin'...I'd make it an A rank.”

And with that—knowing full well I'd been handled—I was sold into the shinobi profession for life. Probably one of the dumbest decisions of my life, based on idiotic nine-year-old principles and a wild determination to be a huge pain in the ass for anyone who crossed me—but what can I say? I was young and ambitious with no earthly idea of the hardships to come in the future. I was young, happy, and utterly naïve. Ignorance was literally my bliss...and I miss those days.

On the day of the entrance ceremony, I got dressed in some puffy black shorts, and a red, sleeveless, wrap shirt, secured by a thickly braided black drawstring tied in a messy knot to the side, leaving the remaining length to dangle past my waist freely. As usual, I would forgo the shoes completely. I'd never worn them a day in my life, and I wasn't going to start then either. They made me feel oddly naked because I couldn't feel the ground, or the earth beneath my feet. It was uncomfortable and confining, not to mention it made me more jumpy than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. It was like a part of me was cut off when I couldn't feel that good dusty dirt between my toes.

Old lady Tatsu stopped me on the way and thoughtfully offered me a bento which I gratefully accepted with an enthusiastic smile and respectful bow to which she just laughed and waved me off as I voiced my gratitude, “It's about time you started going to school. You should be with other children your age instead of working so hard on your own.”

I huffed, frowning, “Well, the boss says I have to be a Genin if I want to keep working...but he didn't say I couldn't bring you anymore apples!”

“Well aren't you a sly little thing?” The old lady giggled happily as I grinned at her proudly with my hands on my hips, “They're the sweetest apples I've ever tasted! You never did tell me where you get them.”

I put my fingers to my lips and beamed, “It's a secret!”

With that, I was off again with a wave of farewell over my shoulder as I ran down the street. I met several more of my regulars on the way, each of them with a wish of good luck, or even better—a special surprise for my first day at school. If I'd known that everyone would be so excited about it, I would've gone to the academy much sooner. As it was, I was entering pretty late in the game—a year late, in fact—so the old man stuck me in a group that was one year younger than me. Needless to say, I wasn't too enthused about the idea—or any of it for that matter—but the support of everyone else made me feel more confident.

I wasn't actually too great at making friends—well, friends my age that is. Old lady Tatsu? Old man Teuchi at the ramen shop, his daughter Ayame, or lady Yamanaka at the flower shop? They were easy to talk to, and they liked me since I always helped them out—like making deliveries for Teuchi when Ayame was sick, and for lady Yamanaka with prepaid deliveries at the cemetery; She hated to go for various valid reasons, and her daughter refused because it, quote unquote, “creeps me out.” It was precisely because of people like Ino that I didn't get along with kids my age...but I was just going to have to make the most of it.

Ino wasn't really that bad though. She made friends so easily that I even envied her a bit. Actually, I might even say I admired her. It still didn't stop me from teasing her though. She liked to make a habit of pretending she didn't know me, but I wasn't too fond of being ignored.

So when I saw her before the ceremony, standing in front of her parents with a bubbly flock of girls around her already I couldn't help running over and tackling her with a flying surprise hug, exclaiming her pet name loudly “Ii-chaaaan!!” consequentially earning us both the blank stares of her new comrades. Her cheeks burned with rage and embarrassment, but mostly rage, I think. Ergo, my mission was accomplished.

“Heeeh? Is that Bo-chan?” Lady Yamanaka beamed at me while her husband sent me a curious smile. He was one of the few who knew of my green thumb, though he never said so out loud; he'd always invite me to come look at the flowers in the nursery, and I could never really help myself when it came to pretty flowers. I always wanted to see what they looked like after they bloomed. It was the curiosity that got me. I guess everybody wins except for the cat...?

“Hello again!” I beamed back at her and released the fuming, struggling girl in my grasp to speak with the adults, “Is Ii-chan enrolling in the academy?”

“That's right.” Inoichi answered for his wife, his friendly smile fading slightly when he asked, “But what are you doing here Bo-chan? Are you still running errands for lady Tatsu?”

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly as I heard Ino deny any and all relations to me to her little group of friends, and replied, “Well, I promised I'd still bring her my apples, but I probably won't be able to make anymore deliveries for a while...Old man Hokage said I have to enroll this year if I want to keep doing favors for everyone, and stop taking missions from the Genin...whatever that means, hehehe!”

I didn't miss the way Inoichi raised his brows in shock, but lady Yamanaka exclaimed happily, “Oh, that's wonderful! Maybe the two of you will be in the same class?”

I think the way Ino's head turned to stare at me with slight horror may have given her whiplash, but I still grinned at her slyly, “I hope so! We're going to become so much closer!”

I was cracking up inside at the look on the other girl's face, and the support from her mother just about melted my heart. The amused smirk on Inoichi's face suggested he knew my true motives though. After all, there is no one more skillful at mortifying a daughter than her own father. Behind the amusement, however, was a face I couldn't read. He was a member of the interrogation squad, after all. He was trained to keep a poker face...but it was still a poker face. And poker faces are meant to conceal something...I just couldn't tell what. It so was frustrating, because reading people was one of the things I was supposed to be good at. I almost felt cheated.

I wasn't too put out about it though. After all, it was my first day of school, and I was too preoccupied trying to sit still and not to fall asleep during the old man's speech at the entrance ceremony—which was surprisingly easy, since I was sitting next to Ino and her family. Poking fun at the other girl was too amusing to pass up. She'd grumble insults under her breath like 'kiss up' or 'freak,' but it only made it funnier to me since I knew I was getting under her skin. I wasn't trying to be mean though...I was trying to get her attention. Being by her side made me feel included, if only to be included as a nuisance. Besides, the Yamanakas were the only people I'd met at the congregation so far that I was especially familiar with. And with the exception of Ino for the most part, they'd always been kind to me. I really did hope we'd be in the same class together.

When the long, boring speech was over, and the instructors started calling names, in the throng of the crowd, I felt a hand touch my shoulder firmly. It was old and wizened, and I knew instantly it was the old Hokage. I spun around and gave him my best determined smirk, my hands on my hips, and I boasted, “Just watch, Old Man, I'm gonna graduate in one year! And when I do, you owe me a billion ryo!”

“Will I?” He returned my smirk with an amused one, “Well, we'll just have to wait and see. I'll be monitoring your grades carefully in the mean time.”

I stuck my tongue out, “There's going to be grades?? I thought this was supposed to be training!”

“Of course there's grades. How else would your teachers know who needs more training than others?” He reasoned logically and I pouted since I knew he was right.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever...” I kicked at the dust at my feet, crossing my arms over my chest stubbornly, “I'll still be the best. You'll see.”

“I suppose I will.” He agreed with another smile but then caught my shoulder again before I could run off, “But before you begin, I need you to make me a promise.”

I focused on him curiously then, turning back and questioning, “What kind of promise?”

He led me by the shoulder, walking side by side with the much shorter me at a leisurely pace until we were standing by an old tree swing in the school yard. He stared up at the statues of the four hokages, carved painstakingly into the cliff side, with a tranquil look in his eye and told me, “A long time ago, this village was created by a man who wished for peace.”

He pointed at the proud, stern faced effigy on the far left and asked me, “Do you know who that man was?”

“...The First Hokage?” I questioned, somewhat clueless at to where the conversation was going.

“That's right.” He nodded, his face going completely serious as he looked away from the mountain and turned his gaze upon me, “And that man had a very special gift. Just like you.”

I blinked in honest surprise, looking over both my shoulders conspiratorially before I held up my thumb, pointing at it and hissing quietly, “You mean this??”

His serious face faltered for a moment and he almost smiled before repeating once again, “Yes. That's right.”

But all humor left him when he bent down to look me seriously in the eyes, “Tonbo. Promise me that you will not use your gift while you are at the academy.”

My brows furrowed and I frowned indignantly. We'd had discussions before about using my green thumb in moderation and keeping it a close knit secret, but never with this much intensity. I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. It made no sense, “Why not?”

“Because it's dangerous.” he stressed the word, gripping my shoulder once again and shocking me with the tension in his gravely old voice.

Once the shock of the admission wore off, however, I made a face and scoffed, “No it's not! I grow apples for old lady Tatsu! I help make the sick flowers in Mr. Yamanaka's nursery get stronger! How is that dangerous? !”

The old man looked at me with sympathetic eyes and told me quietly, “Because, Tonbo. Though you are young and your intentions are innocent, there are others who are not so innocent, whose intentions only lie in darkness...If word reaches them that a child exists with Senju Hashirama's pure wood release technique, they will find you, and they will take you away—one way or another.”

My argumentative attitude slipped away almost instantly at his words, replaced with a cold sick feeling creeping into my stomach and up into my chest. A strange sound I recognized as fear worked its way into my voice then as I questioned feebly, “...What will happen to me then?”

He frowned solemnly, hesitating slightly before replying softly, “I don't know...and I believe it would be best not to find out.”

I wholeheartedly agreed, but that still left the question, “Then...what should I do?”

“Exactly as I said.” He replied, “Promise to let no one know of your gift unless you become strong enough to protect it, and your home.”

But...it's not that easy. How could I just stop doing something that was a part of me? If I was going to become a shinobi, then I was going to have to use it at some point or another, right? Like the first hokage. I stared up at the likeness forlornly, a hundred questions in my eyes. I wished he were still alive and not mouldering away in some fancy crypt. Then maybe I would have my answers. Maybe even a teacher. A guide. But what's dead is dead...and it should stay dead.

Sensing the tension in my silence, the old man looked up at the first hokage as well and told me reflectively, “That man was known as the god of shinobi...do you think you can become like him one day?”

I tore my gaze away from the statue to stare at him with wide eyes as I considered it, then grinned and replied, “When I do, you owe me one billion ryo, Old Man. I'll keep that promise.”

He smiled back, his eyes shining with something unknown beneath their hooded lids, and he answered decisively with, “I'll start saving up.”

I grinned, and turned to go, but halted when I saw the empty court yard. I then rounded on the old man with irritation, “Why'd you have to talk for so long?! Now I don't know which...class...”

I trailed off as he led my by the shoulder once more and gave me a look, “You think I don't know exactly what class you're in? I let your sensei know about your abilities, so he'll be my eyes and ears when I'm not around, got it? No pulling any funny stuff.”

“Geeze! I'm not stupid, Old Man!” I sent him a similar look, “I already said I won't, so I won't!”

“We'll see.” He replied skeptically and I glared at him as he slid open the door to a classroom. I made a face as everyone's attention turned to us as the old man walked me down and sat me next to the only person who wasn't openly staring—he was asleep.

The sensei paused in his lecture to say, “Thank you, Hokage-sama.”

He nodded to the younger man and replied dubiously with a knowing look on his face, “Good luck...”

What he knew, and what the sensei needed luck for, I wasn't sure, but he got this overworked look on his face that actually made me feel sort of sorry for him. I couldn't say why though...When the Old Man left, however, the look on the Sensei's face changed into one of strict authority, and his eyes darted to me as he addressed the class, “For future reference, though I'll make an exception the first time, I don't accept tardiness in my class. Is that understood, everyone?”

“Yes, Iruka-sensei!” The whole class, minus the sleeping guy and me, replied.

I frowned indignantly and stood, “But I wasn't late! It was—”

“No excuses!” 'Iruka-sensei' cut me off, and the class giggled at me mockingly.

Defeated, I sunk down low in my seat, scowling and not feeling sorry for the guy at all now. There was a loud snore from the kid beside me and I narrowed my sharp, dark eyes in exasperation. Coupled with that, and the giggling from Ino and her new crewmates, I felt great. Oooh yes...today was turning out to be awesome so far. I think I sunk even lower in my seat.

Halfway through the lecture, the snoring boy beside me decided to grace the world with his presence and yawned loudly, drawing glances at us from other students. Thankfully, Iruka-sensei didn't notice, but he would if they boy didn't stop looking around blearily and asking, “Heeeh? Wa's goin' on?”

I slid my notes across the conjoined row of wooden desks curtly with one finger and replied quickly and quietly, “Take it. They're the supplies we need to bring tomorrow.”

“Huh?” He looked at me as if just noticing my existence and replied with slightly blushed cheeks, “Uh...yeah. Thanks....Um, who are you?”

I looked away from what Iruka-sensei was writing on the board to regard him with a raised brow. Taking in his appearance, I noticed he had bright blue eyes that I was kind of jealous of. Mine were a dark murky brown, and his hair was this blindingly bright blond—another thing that kind of made me jealous. My hair was pure inky black that grew past my mid back in a V shape with long strands of bangs that framed my tan face—all together kind of plain in my opinion. His own skin had a regular pink complexion, but I noticed some odd marks on his cheeks, and I frowned a little, replying warily, “I'm Tonbo.”

“Eh?” He sent me a confused look, “Like a dragonfly?”

I couldn't help but grin. I loved dragonflies with a passion. When I had free time, I would go down by the water to skip stones and try to catch them, but they were always too fast. They symbolized victory, after all—always flying forwards, never backwards. There was even one embroidered on my shirt in gold thread from Old Lady Tatsu and I pointed it out to the boy, “That's right.”

He seemed caught off guard by my friendly response and strangely suspicious at first, but he eventually grinned back even wider than me and pointed to himself, “I'm Uzumaki Naruto!”

The sound came from my general direction, and because Iruka-sensei already seemed to hate me for some reason, he paused in what he was writing on the board and sent a glare at us—which we both flinched at. I grabbed Naruto's shoulder and we both sunk down pretty low in our seats, almost as if it were a barrier between us and him. His eyes narrowed a little more but eventually he turned and resumed the scribbling with the stern command, “No talking.”

We turned to look at each other and I sighed in relief, whispering breathlessly, “That was close. Be quieter next time, Naruto-kun.”

He nodded quickly, then scowled and grumbled, “That Iruka-sensei is a real boring guy. I fell asleep as soon as he started talking.”

“Well,” I reasoned, silently thinking the same thing, “I heard the first day is always boring...”

He shrugged as we slouched lower in our seats, covertly speaking amongst ourselves, “I wouldn't know. I've always gotten kicked out too soon to tell.”

“You were kicked out??” I questioned him, surprised. I noticed subtly that he had a strange way of speaking very quickly with a speech quirk at the end of most sentences. It was mildly amusing.

He grinned in response as if it were something to be proud of and answered, holding up three fingers, “Three times! None of these wimpy sensei can handle my awesome pranks! Iruka-sensei is the only one left, hehehe...”

I frowned though, the thought occurring to me, “But what if Iruka-sensei kicks you out too...? Will you still be able to graduate from the academy and become a shinobi if you don't have a sensei...?”

He stopped snickering to himself then, and his face went blank for a moment—obviously he hadn't considered it. But when the thought passed from me to him his face started to go a little pale and a sheen of sweat developed on his brow as if he were sick. It was then that he grabbed the notes of supplies I had passed him on the desk and he went over it feverishly with his eyes, silently freaking out before he turned to me with a desperate plea, “Holy crud, Tonbo-chan! You have to help me out! I don't even know where to get any of this stuff, much less pay for it!”

“Um...” I plucked the supplies list out of his clenched fingers carefully, going over it one more time before replying awkwardly, “I might be able to call in a couple of favors...for me, but I don't know about you.”

Looking into those poor puppy dog eyes as the hope left them was like actually going up and kicking the poor thing though, so I added quickly, “But maybe I could manage something...? I'm not sure. You'll have to come with me on my rounds.”

“Rounds?” He questioned, confused.

I shrugged slightly, “I help out around the village for extra cash and stuff...”

“You know...” I explained further as he stared at me with a dumbfounded look, “Chores? Deliveries? Odd jobs? A lot of people owe me, and my monthly allowance sucks, so I have to find some way to get by. It's sort of my job.”

He blinked at me, “People actually pay you for that?”

I sized him up for a moment before shrugging once again, “More or less. Tell you what, meet me tomorrow at the playground at six in the morning, and I'll see what I can do about getting us those supplies. We've got one day off, so we better not waste it. Sound good?”

Slowly, a grin broke out across his face, even wider than the last one and he replied, “Sure! Thanks a lot Tonbo-chan!”

The corner of my mouth lilted up slightly into a half smile in response and I told him, “Everyone calls me Bo. Just remember, after this, you owe me too. And don't be late. Got it, Naruto-kun?”

“Got it!” He nodded happily.

'Well, there's another one to add to the IOU list...' I thought to myself dubiously before absentmindedly copping down what Iruka-sensei had on the board. But that's when another thought occurred to me...and I looked up from my paper to observe my classmates critically. If someone like Naruto needed my help, who's to say other kids my age didn't? Come to think of it, lots of kids in my class had the look of clan kids like Ino. I slowly started to grin. If I could get some serious IOU's from them now and call in the favors say...maybe ten years down the road when they're all big and famous...hehehe

“I'm going to be rich!” I exclaimed, excitedly throwing my hands up in the air and jumping out of my seat without thinking. Consequentially, it drew the simultaneous attention and alarm of everyone around me. This time it wasn't just a few giggles—it was full blown laughter. I mean, honestly, who does something that random in the middle of a boring lecture? Apparently, me. I don't think I could've sunk down any lower in my seat than I did then.

The top of my head was barely visible, but I think Iruka-sensei might have had x-ray vision, “Is there something you'd like to explain to the class, Tonbo?”

I peaked over the top of the desk with eyes full of regret, but with the look the sensei was giving me it seemed that he was actually expecting me to reply. I stood slowly, and, again, without thinking, I admitted, stumbling over my words as I went, “I've...um...got a rare form of...uhh...tourettes?”

There was more laughter, even from Naruto, and Iruka-sensei gave me a look that made me stiffen up like a plank of wood and I added quickly, “I'm also a compulsive liar.”

“That's good to know.” He narrowed his eyes with a mixture of exasperation and annoyance. He then addressed the class, “Speaking of personal introductions, I'm not cruel, so I'll spare you the kind of embarrassment your classmate just demonstrated. Today you'll be introducing yourselves with a measure of your skill.”

Apparently I wasn't the only one who wasn't excited at the news as I dropped back down in my seat, defeated. I frowned, grumbling to myself gloomily as the rest of the class groaned accordingly, “What skill?”

It was true. Besides my abilities—which I still hadn't mastered—I truly had no clue about how the ninja arts worked. I wasn't like those clan kids who had been in training ever since they could walk. Sure, I could run at a pretty decent speed from all those deliveries I'd made, sure, I could pull a tree out of the ground, and sure I had a pretty good endurance from working out in the sun all the time, but none it mattered. When it all came down to it, I couldn't use my abilities, and I was at the bottom of the food chain. Iruka-sensei had made that very clear.

Being a shinobi hadn't been the original plan—not by a long shot.

When I told Naruto as much as we were all marching down the hall to the training grounds, he seemed surprised, “You don't want to be a shinobi?? Then why are you here???”

“I'm starting to wonder the same thing...” I grumbled to myself, then spoke up so he could hear, “I made a deal with that old man. He owes me a billion ryo if I get better than the first Hokage, so that's what I'm going to do.”

“Eh? Me too, me too!” Naruto agreed, grinning, “I'm going to surpass all of them! I'll be hokage one day, you'll see.”

I gave him a strange look, “Why would you wanna be hokage? All it is is a bunch of boring paper work.”

“But,” He sent me a similar look, as if I were the strange one, giving me the textbook definition, “Everyone respects the hokage. He's the strongest in the village. Who doesn't wanna be hokage?”

“Well,” I crossed my arms as I walked and sent him a crooked smile, “if you really wanna be the hokage, more power to you. But that means you're going to have to get stronger than me, and that just ain't gonna happen. I want my one billion ryo, so I'm going to become the god of shinobi, and nothing's going to get in my way. Not even you, Naruto-kun...unless you think you can take me.”

His frown slowly morphed into a grin and he returned competitively, “There's no way I'll lose to you!”

I narrowed my eyes with a smirk, and answered lightly before walking ahead, “We'll see.”

He responded by strutting passed me, to which I retaliated by full out sprinting ahead of him, sticking my tongue out over my shoulder as I did so. The look on his face was priceless before he took off after me, shouting, “HEY! Get back here!”

Maybe the prospect of friends wasn't as far off as I had originally thought...

“Okay, you won't be graded on this,” Iruka-sensei explained with a smile, “but everyone is different when it comes to the scale of development. This exercise is just to find out where everyone is at so I can proceed with lessons...”

“...So we'll start with a basic clone jutsu.”

I stared at him helplessly, then looked to Naruto and asked hurriedly, “Quick, tell me, how do you do that?”

He sent me a similarly panicked expression and admitted, “Hell if I know!”

I gave him a dry look and thought to myself, 'Great choice in friends, Bo. Nice job.' I sighed and looked up at the unrelenting sun. Usually I liked the heat, but today it was just annoying me. Sighing once again I walked away from Naruto to pad over to a nice, non crowded, shady looking tree where I could still watch the proceedings in peace.

Iruka-sensei took a look at his clipboard and announced, “Umm, first up is...Uchiha Sasuke. Go ahead and give it a shot.”

I flinched as a loud squealing assaulted my ears, and actually scowled at Ino and her friends as they started cheering—for lack of a better word—for the bozo. Speaking of said bozo, I hadn't even gotten a look at him yet. But when he stepped out of the crowd, eying everyone haughtily, I recognized him immediately as a clan kid—probably one of the big ones. Uchiha, was it? Sounded familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it...

I wasn't really into running jobs for the clans anyway, besides the more modest ones like Yamanaka, that is, maybe the Akimichi, possibly the Inuzuka—who had a lot of rambunctious dogs who liked to be walked, though I frequently found them to be much more trouble than they were worth...Other clans were more secretive. They either preferred their dirty work done by their own, or a professional hireling of their choosing. I imagined, in their minds, nine-year-old vigilantes belonged at their petty little lemonade stands...But I was trying to run a business here!

As such, I held a little resentment for those stuck up bastards...okay, maybe a lot, but who needs 'em anyways? I was more of a neighborhood oriented business after all, and I was happier for it. I loved my little corner of Konoha with a passion, and I didn't see myself leaving to be some prestigious clan's lapdog any time soon. In my opinion, the older, poorer neighborhoods were actually better for business. Sure, they didn't have a lot to spare, but they always had more problems to deal with.

I also found that the night life in the lower class neighborhoods was always more exciting than the blue collar caliber. Rich people had neighbors. Poor people had family. And as family, we celebrated that. All the time. We had more holidays than the rest of Konoha combined, like a miniature new years eve festival every weekend or so. I always made sure to be there, one, for the cheep as dirt—but more delicious than forbidden fruit—festival food, and two, for the games. Though I always lost, they were addictive.

I smiled at my own thoughts as Naruto, fed up with the arrogant attitude as I was, tried valiantly to take out the easily generated clones, though, losing interest as Naruto failed in landing a punch on the real one, I let my attention drift up to the branches of the tree above me in disappointment, sighing yet again. But something caught my attention and I narrowed my eyes as a devious smirk made its way onto my lips. Grinning, as Naruto was about to take out the last clone, absolutely sure it was the original this time, I yawned, and leisurely leaned on my elbow against the huge tree...sending a violent tremor through its branches as if a barrel rolling Akimichi was just sent flying at it...and knocked its unsuspecting occupant quite unceremoniously from its limbs. It just so happened that he landed right on top of Naruto. A bit of a miscalculation...but it works.

That's when chaos erupted—a chanting of, “Omg, Sasuke! Sasuke! Are you okay!??” Things along those lines, and I rolled my eyes. Was I the only one worried about who he landed on?

“Get off!” They both floundered to get away from each other and Naruto pointed at him furiously, “What the hell is your problem, fatty??

The spiky ponytail kid next to the Akimichi tensed notably and sent a nervous glance at his companion who had gone completely still, and started backing away very slowly. I took that as the first sign to climb a tree and get to safety. The next thing everyone knew, total chaos broke out amongst the students. One event set off a chain of subsequent events that in turn set off another one and escalated until...okay, lets just say it wasn't pretty. I had a pretty good view of all of it from my vantage point, and though I had only been trying to help Naruto in the beginning, it all sort of...well...Even the best laid plans of mice and men, ya know...?

Though as I watched it all take place, looking over the chaos below me like some demented overlord, I couldn't help but start laughing. The whole thing was really completely ridiculous. First, the Akimichi got set off by the word Naruto used to describe Sasuke—they're all pretty sensitive about their weight—and went completely postal on them both. His spiky haired friend, whom I recognized as a Nara, tried to stop him at first, but eventually just crawled under some bushes and tried hide from it all, deeming it too troublesome to deal with. The Inuzuka then joined in as everyone started running around like chickens with their heads chopped off because I honestly think he enjoyed the excitement, but then he ran into the Aburame. I shivered because I didn't even know someone like that was in our class. Ran a job for them once. Didn't like it. Never went back. I think he was actually trying to restore order at first, but the Inuzuka pissed him off, and he just became another part of the problem—the bugs made everyone freak out even more. Ino and her friends were just standing there, screaming at the tops of their lungs, which was worse than when they were screaming about Sasuke, and that poor Hinata girl...She looked terrified and...I think...I think there was something wrong with her eyes—Oh...oh god.

I stopped laughing and the amused grin slid off my face as her hands started moving faster than my eyes could follow and the people dropped like flies. One...two...five...ten...Holy crap. I watched as finally she was the only one left standing, panting heavily at first, the terrified look still plastered upon her face as her eyes went back to normal and she stared around at the battle field nervously. She then held her trembling hands together and bowed several times to no one in specific, apologizing profusely. She even started crying. I kind of just stared at her from my perch with a sort of profound awe as the Nara crawled back out of his hiding spot and Iruka-sensei—who'd been taken out with the initial Akimichi attack—started to come to.

“You, uhh...you did the right thing.” The Nara boy awkwardly patted Hinata's shoulder as she cried into her hands, seeing as Iruka-sensei was too busy checking on the KOed students. The instructor then looked straight up at me from my vantage point in the tree and I flinched as his eyes narrowed.

Oh shit.

Well...so much for all the cliché about the first day of school being “boring”...
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