Konoha : Naruto's playground

It had been approximately half a year since Naruto had had his ill-fated meeting with one brown haired, panda-styled aspiring Kunoichi. The day that he had invited her back to his house to talk, she had ended up snoring on his couch and Naruto was loath to move someone who was so comfortable, especially someone who had experienced the harshness of the same orphanage he had been forced to endure. Somehow, TenTen had taken a liking to his apartment and began to live there, without any sort of permission from Naruto. He vividly remembered returning late in the evening from training one day, to find that the troublesome girl had barricaded herself in his bedroom after throwing most of his stuff into the hallway.

Since then, Naruto had been forced to give her his bedroom whilst his sleeping equipment became the couch and a spare blanket he had dug up from one of the storage cupboards. Retrospectively, Naruto was glad to have any sort of company, although he tried not to show it. It irked him whenever he saw how friends treated each other, playing and joking outside on the streets, and it was something that the blond Jinchuuriki had never really been able to experience.

And so, the bun-haired academy student became one of life's constants for Naruto. Apart from her dangerous love of all things pointy, she was generally a bouncy and interesting personality to interact with, which was portrayed in full on one trip to 'Ichiraku Ramen' earlier that year. TenTen had been happily mooching off a bowl of vegetable Ramen when a boy from her academy class had walked by. Evident by his pale, pupil-less eyes, the Hyuuga in question had taken a swift sneering glance in the girl's direction, before swishing his head and mumbling something that Naruto didn't quite pick up under his breath.

Quicker than a cat after a mouse, TenTen had flicked a kunai she had stowed in her black T-Shirt, at the arrogant youth, barely missing the top of his head.

"Try saying that to my face, emo-boy." And with that threat, the obviously shaken boy, although he tried very hard to retain his stoic demeanor, scowled and hurried off in whatever direction his destination lay.

Naruto had also been forced to watch out for stray kunai. The bun-haired girl loved to throw the things around, and it was fast becoming her favourite pastime to use Naruto as her target. When the Sandaime had found out about Naruto's new apartment companion, he was pleasantly surprised that the boy had finally made a friend around his own age. The Hokage had been quick to notify the orphanage that TenTen would not be returning there as she had found a new home, and could only hope that Naruto's psyche would take a huge boost from this positive development.

Naruto, himself, had progressed quickly. After the Uchiha Shisui incident, Sarutobi had enquired as to how he had managed such a feat, and upon learning Naruto's astounding level of mastery of the water-walking control exercise, had bestowed the Namikaze legacy with a few new scrolls. Naruto had almost salivated when he had seen the titles; there was one technique for each of the main elemental affinities. The sixth and final scroll, was the last of the basic Chakra control techniques, and the Sandaime was sure that even if he hadn't given the 'Air pads' scroll to the boy, he would have figured it out himself, especially after he had heard that Naruto could do the same thing on water.

It was possible to concentrate a large, dense amount of chakra to the feet, and cause the body to hover slightly off the ground. This did not mean that a Shinobi could fly, as no-one had ever had the Chakra capacity to push such a large amount of chakra out of the soles of their feet for a constant amount of time. There were a few instances in history, where a budding Jounin had tried just such an idea, and had ended up dead from Chakra exhaustion, or from blood loss due to blowing their feet clear off their bodies. Not a nice way to die that was for sure.

In any case, it made tree jumping a whole lot easier, as a ninja would be able to propel themselves forward as they jumped, in short bursts. Air was far harder to control than water was, as it was far more volatile, and so this made for an excellent Chakra control exercise, before moving onto elemental control.

Naruto had spent 4 months learning two of the offensive Jutsus and the 'Air Pads'. He had managed the Goukakyu and the Daitoppa, but was nowhere near close to mastering them. Of the other Jutsu, the Suiryudan, Shinju Zanshu and Hibana were all out of the 7 year old's reach, but he was determined to master them as well.

Naruto, had, in the last 6 months, observed TenTen going to and from school each day. He was curious to know how much stronger the academy students were than he, and upon asking his flatmate, she had replied that they hadn't really learnt anything.

"Really? I mean you haven't even learnt the Henge or the Bunshin?" Naruto exclaimed in shock.

TenTen looked visibly startled.

"How do you know about those techniques? We've only just started learning them and we've been at the academy for 2 years!" Obviously there was something very wrong with the academy.

"Umm, TenTen, do you listen in class?" Said girl sweat-dropped at the question.

"Of course I do! What's that supposed to mean anyway?" Seeing that she had taken his innocent question slightly offensively, he quickly explained himself.

"Well, I'm not goin' to the Academy, but I learnt the Kawarimi and Henge techniques ages ago!" Naruto scratched the back of his head in confusion. That couldn't be right, could it?

"Wait, WHAT? You can do Ninjutsu? Since when? I mean why the hell would you want to when you don't even wanna be a Shinobi?"

Naruto was taken aback by the question. He knew it would eventually come up, but when TenTen hadn't asked him the night she had come round, he thought she didn't really care.

"Well ya see, people used to try and attack me sometimes, and don't ask me why 'cause I don't know either, so Jiji gave me some scrolls to let me defend myself." After 2 weeks, TenTen had slowly accustomed herself to Naruto's familiarity with the venerable Hokage. She recognised that they had a strong, almost familial bond and so she no longer thought it odd when he referred to him with such easy-going terms.

Eyes wide in anticipation, she immediately asked the first question on her mind. "Scrolls? Wait...Naruto can I see them?"

Shrugging, Naruto stood and retrieved 3 scrolls from his battered bookshelf. Re-seating himself, he rolled the techniques over to his friend.

"Those are the Bunshin, Kawarimi and Henge techniques. I've already learnt them so you can go ahead and keep them, although I could never pull off the Bunshin. Maybe you'll be able to do it?"

The girl's eyes shone almost with the same intensity as when she hit a bullseye with her kunai. Scooping them up, she ran to her room and slammed the door.

Naruto probably wouldn't get any sleep that night if the shouts of "Bunshin no Jutsu!" were any indication.

The two had fast become close friends after that. Although Naruto thought TenTen was practically his sister, he refrained from calling her 'onee-chan' for fear of upsetting her. Family was a touchy subject to most orphans, as Naruto could attest to himself.

Once TenTen had caught on to the fact that Naruto was a better ninja than anyone at the academy she had not stopped badgering him to come to the academy to teach some of the idiots there a lesson.

"Seriously!" She had begged, "Just once! You can beat this emo-guy up and then leave. It'll be really funny!"

Naruto had tried to shoot down every one of her attempts, the kids always bullied him before, what difference would there be now? And there was no way in hell he was going to join the academy! After 5 months of constant pestering, TenTen had finally gotten the blond-headed boy to agree to attend one day with her, but only after she had explained how many different opportunities there were for pranks at the school.

And so Naruto awoke at 6 AM on a Monday morning, ready to cause mass mayhem at the one place he swore he would never set foot in.

'At least,' he thought, 'it won't be a waste of breaking a promise'.

'Oh yes, the whole academy will cry today...heh, even TenTen, although her tear's will be from laughing so hard!'

XXXXXXX

Pure chaos had erupted that day at the academy. The Chuunin Senseis had arrived that morning to find their classrooms in a state that suggested the academy had been hit by some extremely localised hurricane. Not a single room was left untouched. Chairs and tables lay overturned, rude words chalked on every blackboard and in one classroom; the tap of a corner sink had been turned on fully and left to flood the room.

For one Hyuuga Neji, all this was but a trifling matter. It would not do for one as prestigious as him to lose his cool over something as petty as a closed-minded prankster. He sat with an intense expression on his face, staring resolutely at his Sensei, Miamura Hokairo. The Chuunin was currently attempting to dry up his desk after having spent half the day teaching out in the courtyard due to his submerged classroom. Miamura looked decidedly agitated that not only had the academy been turned upside down, but also, the culprit had not been found. It was most perplexing that no-one had seen anyone out of the ordinary, and with the level of destruction he had witnessed, it was impossible for any of the students to have managed it.

Neji 'humphed' mentally at the stupidity of it all. 'Calls himself a ninja, and yet even the children of the Hyuuga branch house acted with more maturity and decorum.' He didn't even stop to ponder just how ridiculously hypocritical it was for him to think that. Of course he wouldn't be saying that if he knew what was about to happen to him.

Even the stoic Hyuuga would be running away screaming at the top of his lungs.

XXXXXX

Of course, for one, TenTen, this day had been the most eventful and memorable day in her decidedly short life. She had witnessed the total annihilation of all things orderly in a few short hours, and all it took was some ninja wire, a few traps and a well aimed kunai. Obviously, when Naruto had suggested his plan for the day, she had taken the kunai role for herself. It was a kunai for god's sake!

And so here she sat, trying not to laugh like a lunatic in the midst of the 'war-zone' whilst she contemplated 'emo-boy's' approaching demise. She had thought Naruto was good at Shinobi techniques when she had found out how many techniques he knew.

She had been very, very wrong.

He wasn't just good.

He was a genius.

But not the sort that many people thought of when associated with that word. Naruto was not book-smart. He couldn't understand half of an adult conversation. Neither could he put anything but the most basic statements to use, and seemingly, if the scrolls the Sandaime had given him were any indication, the Hokage had noticed this too.

No, Naruto was amazing in his application of said techniques. He could take something so basic, and twist it into something so different that not only would you wonder if he had created an entirely new technique, but also if his head was screwed on correctly.

For instance, he had just shown an astounding ability to combine the water walking technique with the Henge. By modulating his chakra with the air around him he had caused the Henge to disguise himself as air! He could still be detected from his Chakra signature and if someone got close enough to touch him, but the former problem was resolved when he used the Chakra Beacon technique in order to mask his true location.

Oh, everyone knew there was an imposter on the academy grounds today, but nobody knew where it was, although it was definitely in Miamura-Sensei's classroom. Hence, why Miamura-Sensei was so edgy. Anything with a Chakra signature that large could very well be a problem for him! It was decidedly Chuunin level after all!

TenTen, stared at the back of Hyuuga Neji's head, waiting for the fireworks, and sure enough as Miamura-Sensei left the room to report that the Chakra signature hadn't moved but all was well, a small stream of fire seemingly appeared out of thin air and lit the elitist Hyuuga's 'oh so precious!' hair on fire.

TenTen cackled so loud, that everyone including an oblivious Neji, turned to stare at her as if she had sprouted a Ninken's head out of the one she already had. Tears streaming down her face, she managed to raise a trembling finger at the Hyuuga prodigy.

"Emo-face...ahaha...heh...your...ahahaha...AHAHAHAH...y-your hair's on fire..." After that exclamation, she tumbled off the side of her chair, rolling with manic hilarity, before gasping for breath and pounding on the flooring in mirth.

The Hyuuga snorted. Pfft, as if anyone could light his beautiful hair on fire! The hair he spent 30 minutes grooming into the fitting Hyuuga style of perfection. That was, until another classmate turned from watching the currently indisposed kunai-lover and gasped.

"Umm, Hyuuga-san, your hair really is on fire." Neji felt in then; the searing heat that began to permeate his scalp.

It took a moment to register in his rigorously trained mind that he was on fire, as in, actually burning.

As in, him, Hyuuga Neji, prodigy of the Hyuuga branch house, was flaming in the middle of a –

WOODEN CLASSROOM!

Screaming like a little girl, the branch-house prodigy bolted up and ran to the overflowing sink whose tap had been hastily plugged due to someone gluing it in the 'maximum on' state. Dunking his head in the most unsightly manner into the overflowing basin, he put the fire out before sighing and groggily extracting his sopping cranium from the sink.

TenTen had by now, slightly recovered from her bout of hysteria, and upon seeing the state of the half-burnt and soggy Hyuuga's hair which had smoke curling from the burnt and ragged split ends, once again burst into uncontrolled laughter. This time as she fell off her chair, the poor furniture snapped due to the sudden shift in weight, and she tumbled to the floor laughing all the while.

Hyuuga Neji was not amused. His hair was wet and ruined, and there was no-one to Jyuuken into next Monday.

He settled for going home with dignity.

That is, screaming and crying.

XXXXXXX

As Naruto left the Academy grounds that day with a broad grin on his face, he wondered absently if this is what every day would have been like if he had decided to attend the academy. He knew subconsciously that it wouldn't have been anything like what had happened today. For one he wouldn't have learned the stuff he did in order to pull off 99% of what he had done, and so he resigned himself to simply supporting TenTen on her way to becoming a Genin instead.

As he turned off the road that the academy was situated on, he bumped into someone roughly around his own age.

"Hey watch where you're going!" Naruto stepped back in surprise. The guy looked sort of like Shisui-san.

"You're an Uchiha." It was more a statement than a question. The boy looked taken aback for a second before he regained his composure.

"Yeah, I am. So what? That means I'm better than everyone else!" Naruto instantly glared at the boy after his admission. And to think that he thought the guy might be like Shisui!

"Well sor-ry mister Uchiha! I'm sorry I dirtied your spotless clothes!" This was definitely not the ending that Naruto wanted to his fine day.

Noticing the jab the blond Jinchuuriki had made at his dishevelled state, the young Uchiha scowled. It wasn't his fault he had gotten dirty from his training! What would a civilian know about being a ninja anyway? As a ninja, he was an elite of society, and as an Uchiha he was practically royalty to them!

Naruto saw the anger and arrogance flit across the face of the boy in front of him and knew that it would be quickly followed by violence. And so he decided to end the stand-off in a decidedly Naruto-ish fashion.

By burping in the Uchiha's face.

"BUUUURRRRRP!"

The Uchiha's nose immediately scrunched up as it was saturated by the deluge of foul-smelling gas that spewed from the blond's mouth. As his mind attempted to comprehend just what was assailing his senses, all notion of his surrounding temporarily vacated his mind. Naruto, on seeing his opponent's pre-occupation with his chemical warfare, took this as his cue to leave. Pushing a moderate amount of Chakra to his feet, he launched himself into the air, spraying the prideful youth with a smattering of mud, dirt and stones. To add insult to injury, as he landed on the nearest rooftop he shouted;

"SMELL YA LATER!"

And with that he took off running at top speed towards his apartment.

It was a further 5 minutes before the Uchiha realised just what his aggressor had said, and in his rage, he swung his head in every direction, attempting to locate the source of his ire. If he ever saw that blond-headed idiot again, he was going to murder him.

"Sasuke, what are you doing and – OH! What's that smell?" Sasuke's head whipped around and his body jolted as if struck. His academy Sensei, Umino Iruka, had been approaching the corner of the street and now stood with a look of slight surprise and disgust on his face. His eyes wide, like a rabbit caught in headlights, he bolted for the Uchiha District and a change of clothes.

It would only be another few hours before the young Uchiha realised that his blond-haired enemy had used Chakra in his jump, and it would cause him to have a sleepless night angrily pondering how a civilian could do something he could not.

Just who was that blond anyway?

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