Hey everyone. This is Yin Protector back at writing after five, five! years. Such a long time, huh? I apologize for my super prolonged absence. I've continued to log in to this account every now and then, reading some of the messages some of you guys send me during these years while trying to come up with the motivation to do what I like the most: writing.

I know it's been way too long, but yeah, good news is I'm back baby! This is the story I decided to start working on again in the first place. Why? Because it has always been one of my personal favorites. Too many times I have re-read it out of nostalgy, and it is that very same feeling which brought me not only to continue it until the end, but also rewrite the first three chapters. Believe me when I say my english is way better than it was back in the day, something you will definitely see reflected on the changes I've made on the story.

For those of you who read the original, the plot remains the same. I have added many more scenes than in the original while also trying to correct every mistake present in the older version, so I hope this is a more enjoyable reading for all of you. For those who are new to the fic, welcome! Not much to say about this, only that I hope you stay tuned for upcoming updates.

Disclaimer: This will be the first and only time I'll say this, as I believe it won't be necessary for me to write a disclaimer on every single chapter, right? Don't sue me Masashi Kishimoto/Kafikly please! You wouldn't get any money out of me anyway : I don't own either Naruto nor K-ON! Both belong to their respective authors, creators and to the people who produced their respective animes.

Chapter One : Betrayal

A pair of eyelids slowly parted, revealing a pair of vibrant azure globes that soon found themselves staring at the celurean ceiling of a dimly illuminated room. The sound of birds chirping excitedly as they greeted the new day could be heard from a nearby window, where a small amount of sunlight filtered in.

It surely was a gorgeous day outside, but the young man those eyes belonged to could not care less about that.

At least not after he checked the clock on his nightstand and realized he had overslept.

"Not again...", one Naruto Namikaze grumbled, immediately sliding out of bed and allowing his feet to touch the carpet of his bedroom.

As he got up and stretched his limbs, Naruto let out a silent yawn before heading to the adjacent bathroom, finding it hard to keep his tired eyes open. The previous night he had stayed up until 3 o'clock practicing a new song he'd been working on for days — only pulling to a stop when he noticed how late it was. Naruto wanted nothing more than to have his composition ready as soon as possible, but he also knew it wouldn't be a good idea to rush it.

After all, that was meant to be Team Konoha's main song for the battle of bands that was to be held at the Budokan, the largest stadium of Japan, next summer. If he wanted his band to have any chance of winning and getting a recording contract with one of the music companies that sponsored the event, then his song had to be utterly perfect. Or at the very least close to it.

The Namikaze let out an audible sigh as he disrobed from his pajamas and turned on the shower, immediately stepping in. His lips curled into a small smile as hot water ran down his form, only allowing himself to bask in the rejuvenating feeling of the water on his body for a minute before proceeding to clean himself with a bar of soap. As he did so, Naruto finally acknowledged the overwhelming silence within his mind and couldn't help but feel slightly worried; usually, the gigantic fox that lived inside him was never this quiet, as the beast thoroughly enjoyed annoying its host to no end.

Under other circumnstances, the young man would have paid no mind to this, knowing that his tenant would sooner or later awake from its slumber and ruin his momentary peace. But this time, and after the unusual conversation that had taken place the night before between them, Naruto couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

'Oi, kit. I need to talk to you.'

Naruto Namikaze let out a loud groan, lowering the guitar in his hands before he scrambled his music sheets and quickly replaced a C chord with a Fmaj7 on the chorus, so as not to forget to note down the change he'd made to that part of the song. Naruto then leaned against the wall next to his bed and snapped his eyes shut, greatly annoyed at the interruption. 'What is it furball? I thought I told you not to bother me while I practiced.'

Contrary to what the young man was expecting as a reaction, the fox dutifully ignored his host's complaint, not threatening to slit his throat or eat him alive like he would normally do whenever Naruto mocked him or called him 'furball'. Instead, and much to his surprise, the beast silently said, 'I suddenly remembered something about my past.'

That had Naruto inwardly widening his eyes. Kurama, the Nine Tailed fox that had been living inside his body for as long as he could remember, rarely spoke about himself. On the few ocassions he had done so, however, the Kyuubi had claimed not having a clue about his origins or how and why was he inside the Namikaze. 'What is it, Kurama?', the teen asked as he grew more curious by the minute.

'I had a dream', Kurama started. 'In it, I... No, we, using our energies combined, were fighting against a woman with long silver hair and weird eyes. A pair of eyes that looked so familiar yet so full of power that the mere thought of them sends shivers down my spine. You better than anyone know I'm not easily scared by anything gaki, but that fight was simply out of this world', Naruto couldn't help but gasp in shock at what he heard. Even though it sounded like a mere dream, Naruto felt like there was more to it, especially considering the fact that both he and the fox had looked for answers regarding their predicament ever since the boy had first met him as a child.

That led Naruto to not discard any theory the Kyuubi may formulate about his past, at least not immediately. 'You... and me?', he asked incredously. 'What was I doing in your dream? I'm not following', Naruto knew the fox was not merely playing with him, but it was kind of hard to believe. After all, he didn't have memories of ever fighting someone with that description, less a woman. Hell, the only people he'd ever fought against were Sasuke Uchiha, his greatest rival, and some bullies that used to abuse him when he was little.

Though Kurama was just as confused as his host was. 'I don't know kit, and that's what bothers me', the mighty beast let out a frustrated sigh. 'I'll have to meditate about this. Maybe in time my dreams will get clearer.'

'What—?', before Naruto could even voice his thoughts about the matter, Kurama abruptly cut their link, getting back to sleep — something that a certain Namikaze didn't like at all. "You know what, I don't care", he suddenly snapped, opening his eyes and frowning. "You can continue to be a criptic furball for all I care. I have better things to do than listen to you talk about some stupid dreams."

Shaking his head, Naruto huffed at the lack of response he got and went back to working on his song. As he began practicing once more, he couldn't ignore the thought at the back of his mind that told him Kurama was far from just imagining things.

Naruto was broken out of his reverie by the sound of a knock on the bathroom's door, followed by the voice of his father, Minato Namikaze, telling him that breakfast was getting cold. After he was gone, the young man shook his head out of his thoughts and decided to let the fox be.

If Kurama had something to say, he'd eventually reach out to him and share whatever discovery he may make about his past.

It wasn't long before Naruto was sitting at the table, absently munching on a toast as he stared blankly at nowhere in particular. His mind was elsewhere, busying itself with formulating multiple theories regarding Kurama's dream. Even if he didn't want to admit it, what the fox had told him was certainly something he'd have never expected to hear, but at the same time it filled him with the strangest of feelings.

Like he had actually fought side by side with the Kyuubi at some point in the past.

"Naruto?"

But that could not be possible now, could it? He had lived all his life as a normal person, getting into trouble more than once, yes, but that was it. Naruto knew better than to trust the fox, as he liked to fool his host, so why was he giving so much thought to a mere dream?

It didn't make any sense.

"Naruto!"

The aforementioned was violently broken out of his daze by the voice of his father, who was looking at him with clear worry written on his visage. It was then that Naruto realized he'd been spacing out and shook his head, before blinking at Minato. "Sorry touchan, did you say something?"

"You look worried", Minato immediately said as he sat in front of Naruto. His dark blue eyes seemed to bore into the boy's orbs for a moment before turning to look at his steaming cup of coffee. "Is something bothering you?"

Naruto inwardly cursed, his father could practically read him like an open book. But even so, he wasn't going to tell him about that — Minato would not believe him anyway. Both his father and his deceased mother, Kushina, had never believed the fact that a gigantic fox somehow lived inside his body despite all the times he'd tried convincing them of this. Not that he could blame them though; such a thing sounded practically impossible to anyone in their sane minds.

And with that thought in mind, the young man decided to fake a grin. "Heh, not at all touchan! I was just looking forward to our band's meeting today! We'll finally begin practicing the song I've been working on for a while now."

That actually wasn't a total lie. Team Konoha's meetings were one of the fewer things that he enjoyed about going to Konoha High. His band was actually part of the Light Music club, having been originally formed by him and Kiba Inuzuka, the vice president. As such, they were authorized by the headmistress and the school faculty to hold meetings after classes in a designated classroom like any other club did, which was kind of convenient as the band could freely practice for their upcoming concert at the Budokan without having to meet somewhere else.

Naruto was proud to say that Team Konoha was pretty popular around the whole campus. Even if they hadn't played live yet, many students had attended their meetings with the mere intention of listening their songs, and all of them agreed the band had a bright future ahead.

The teen's grin faltered a bit as he looked at his father and noticed he was eyeing him suspiciously. Yet he refused to back down, trying to show as much convincement as he could to avoid a possible interrogation. While both stared at each other, Minato narrowed his eyes.

His son reminded the man so much of himself when he was an adolescent. Naruto was a tall young man with slightly tanned skin and golden, spiky hair that was similar to his own mop of blond hair minus the bangs on his face. A pair of sparkling cerulean eyes that were a shade lighter than his' seemed to glow everytime he looked into them, being attatched to a sharp face that sported three whisker-like marks on each cheek.

Minato had been compared with Naruto more than once due to the fact that both of them bore a striking resemblance. Yet, what only a bunch of people realized, was that there was a minor difference between them regarding their personalities; while his father had always been a calm, smart man who was loved by everyone during his time at school, Naruto was a natural troublemaker, full of energy and determination to prove he could be someone to look up to.

He was also a great guitarist and singer, if he had to say so himself.

"Hmm...", the man hummed disdaintfully, knowing full well that there was something else besides that apparent enthusiasm of Naruto. With a shake of his head, Minato took a sip of his coffee and felt his lips curling into a small smile when the hot liquid entered his throat. "Be honest sochi. Is this about your song not being good enough for the Battle of Bands?"

Naruto actually felt like a heavy weight was lifted off his shoulders upon hearing that and sighed in hidden relief. "Something like that", the blond lied. "Today's actually the first time I'll be sharing my song with the band, and I really hope they like it. After all, we are in this together, and whatever we play at the Budokan must be something we believe will make us win the competition."

Minato let out a chuckle as he proceeded to bite down a piece of toast, almost coughing when a mouthful stuck on his throat for a second. "I see. Well, from what I know about your friends they will no doubt love your composition Naruto. Especially if you play it on my old guitar", the blond man winked an eye at him before gesturing towards a black case leaning against a nearby wall. It stood directly next to his son so that he would not forget to take it with him when he left for school.

"Thanks touchan. I hope the others like it as much as I do", Naruto had actually no doubt his band would love his song, but the fact that they'd have to rely on it at the Battle of Bands made him a bit apprehensive. However, and considering how much time they had left to practice and decide, he wasn't as preocuppied as he let his father think he was.

"They will, I'm sure of it", his son nodded and turned his attention back to his breakfast, intending to finish as soon as possible so as to try to arrive before his first class of the day ended.

Naruto knew there was no way he would avoid being sent to detention with Tsunade, but maybe if he came up with an excuse Iruka-sensei would show some mercy on him. It had to be really good, otherwise the blond knew he was going to spent the last minutes of the class being lectured on the importance of punctuality and responsability by a disappointed Iruka.

"Hey sochi...", Minato began, calling the attention of his only son once again. "I thought I'd let you know Tsunade called home last night when you were practising. She wanted us to come to her office after your classes to discuss some... important matters."

Naruto couldn't help but gulp at that. He was used to being in the headmistress' office, having been punished for pranking teachers and students alike more than he would have liked to and for being unnecessarily late to class; but the fact that she had actually phoned his father to set a meeting with the both of them was certainly unusual. And unnerving. "A-Alright..."

The man immediately noticed his son's expression growing worried and offered a reasurring smile. "Relax, you haven't done anything wrong", he said, and that soon attracted Naruto's look into him. "Tsunade seemed strangely calm when we spoke, so whatever it is she wants to talk with us, I'm sure it'll be good news... or bad news depending on the point of view. Hmm..."

Naruto raised an incredulous eyebrow at his father, who now had a hand on his chin and a thoughtful look on his face. "Gee, thanks touchan, I feel so much better now."

"Anytime sochi", Minato failed to notice his son's sarcasm and the way he rolled his eyes, smiling as he inwardly patted his own back for another job well done. Then, he glanced at his watch, checking the time before addressing Naruto again. "So... Are you off to school now?"

The blond teen shrugged his shoulders and put his plate away, sighing. "Yeah. It's a bit late, but not that late for me to go on foot."

"Erm, you might want to hurry though, seeing as it's actually 8:20 o'clock. If you don't hurry you won't even be there before Iruka finishes his lesson. And you know how offended he'll be if you show up at Kakashi's class but not his'", Minato said as he sipped the last of his coffee. As he waited for Naruto's reaction, the man did his best to hide an amused smile.

It wasn't much longer before something in the younger blond's brain clicked and he jumped from his seat, a look of panic clearly visible on his visage. "Already!? Kuso!"

"Language, Naruto."

Naruto ignored his father before grabbing his guitar and his bag, running through the front door at dazing speeds. Putting on his shoes, he waved his hand at his father and left the house, cursing as he ran past a couple of elders who yelled at him for being so disrespectful.

Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze shook his head in amusement before his expression suddenly turned grim. "Maybe I should have told him before he left", he muttered, looking at a picture of a young Kushina holding a baby Naruto in her arms and smiling lovely at him. "He's not going to like this one bit. But it's all for the best, right Kushi-chan?"

His lips curled into a soft smile as he had no doubt his deceased wife would've instantly agreed with him. Naruto was going to be more than okay, and besides, this didn't mean he would be forced to abandon his band as they could continue to hold meetings and practice outside school. Naruto would still be able to participate in the Battle of Bands while getting the unique chance of attending to an all-girls school.

Minato could actually imagine the look on his son's face when Tsunade dropped the bomb on him...

"Excuse me!", Naruto shouted as he slided the door of the classroom open. Almost immediately, Iruka Umino looked up from his book and gazed curiously at the panting boy.

"Naruto... this is the third time of the week", the man informed in a serious tone, one that clearly showed how he felt about his favorite student's tardiness.

Almost surprised by it, the blond let out a deep sigh and managed a nervous smile at his favourite sensei and brotherly figure. "I'm sorry Iruka-sensei. I had to help an old lady with her groceries on my way here. I almost stepped on dog poop while I was carrying her bags, but the smile on her face was well worth the effort in the end."

Immediately, and while Naruto's classmates had remained silent up until that moment, the whole class bursted in laughter, making the blond scratch the back of his head with a forced grin. But Iruka was far from being amused as he openly scowled at what was beyond a doubt a made-up story. That was the most pathetic attempt of excuse he'd ever heard, the type of lie Kakashi would throw at his students fully expecting them to believe his crap. Yet, and despite how much he wanted to yell at him from being late and having the nerve of lying in such a cheeky way, the brown haired teacher decided to let it go this time.

After all... Tsunade had already informed him of her decision regarding the Namikaze's departure from the school. "It's okay Naruto, you can take a seat. We've been working on equations, so please open your book on page 42."

The blond's first reaction was to widen his eyes, slightly surprised that Iruka had actually believed him, but he soon found himself nodding and heading to his desk, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth. As he went past some classmates, Naruto failed to notice the different looks he got. The girls in the classroom smiled dreamily at him as some of them traded whispers back and forth, commenting on how cool he was. In contrast, most of their male counterparts just sent him jealous glares, secretly wishing they could get that kind of attention for being in a band. There were others, though, that just looked indifferently at him as they couldn't care less about Naruto.

Sitting down on his desk, the aforementioned carefully dropped his guitar and his bag next to his seat, and allowed a silent breath to escape his lips. He didn't even care to get his math book out his bag or even his notebook as Iruka was already halfway through the class, which meant that it'd make no sense trying to catch up with what they'd covered so far.

'I'll ask Kiba to lend me his notes after class', he nodded to himself, crossing his arms over his chest. But as he casted a glance over his shoulder, he almost facepalmed upon realizing that Kiba was in a worse predicament than he was: Dog-boy, as Naruto called him, had a perverted look on his face as he hungrily eyed what appeared to be his math book, but what upon a closer inspection was actually hiding the page of an adult magazine, where a scantely dressed blonde girl was posing in a provocative way and winking an eye at the camera. Kiba was so mesmerized by what he was ogling at, that he didn't seem to have noticed Naruto ever entering class. 'Tch. Never mind.'

"Yo! Enjoying yourself Kiba?", Naruto said loud enough for his bandmate to hear, who jumped in his seat and immediately put his book down as he looked at his blond friend like a deer caught in the headlights.

"N-Naruto! How l-long have you been there?", Kiba forced a smile on his face while quickly leaning over his 'reading material', making an attempt to pretend that he was casually using the book as a support for his elbows.

An act that caused Naruto to roll his eyes. "A couple of minutes actually", his lips then curled into a sly smirk as he lowered the tone of his voice before adding, "though you were so caught up in your math's book that you didn't even hear me sitting down. I'm surprised Kiba, I thought you hated the subject!"

A visible drop of sweat rolled down the aluded's forehead as he tried to laugh the comment off. "W-Well... I d-don't! F... Functions! is actually really nice and fun."

"You just read the title off the board, didn't you?"

But Kiba opted to ignore his friend and instead grinned at him, showing his prolonged cannines. "Say Naruto, you look like you didn't sleep much last night. Seems as if you finally decided to check out the awesome collection of Hitomi-chan's videos I gave you for your birthday!"

Upon hearing those words, the Namikaze's face went beet red. "It w-wasn't that you horny dog-boy!", the blond all but shouted, ignoring the growing smirk on the Inuzuka's face. "I stayed up late to finish my new song! ", his defense came up abruptly, with Naruto forgetting to maintain the tone of his voice to that of a whisper.

Something that soon made him realize everyone was now staring at him, the classroom having gone silent a second ago.

"Naruto..."

"I-Iruka-sensei...!", the Namikaze squeezed his eyes shut as he readied himself for the rampage that was to occur next, having experienced firsthand Iruka's wrath at being interrupted too many times already.

However, and after several seconds, Naruto squinted one orb open, surprised that the outburst hadn't taken place yet. What nearly shocked him to the core, was to find a slightly annoyed Iruka eyeing him down in a way that seemed almost... pityful?

"Just... Be silent and try to keep up with the lesson. Now, let's continue in page 45, where we can see a quite illustrative graphic of a derivative function..."

As the teacher trailed off, and a silent class turned to their respective books, Naruto remained there agape, his mind trying to come up with an explanation to what he'd just been a witness to. 'Iruka-sensei... Why didn't he yell at me like he always does when I upset him?', the blond's blue eyes then shifted from Iruka's back to the desk in front of him, staring at no point in particular. 'Something is off...'

"Man, I've never seen Iruka-sensei so calm before. It's almost as if-", the voice of Kiba broke the Namikaze out of his thoughts, making his head turn quickly in his friend's direction. What instantly met his eyes was a... guilty look?

"As if what?"

For the second time in that day, Kiba began sweating as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, trying to hide his evident nerves and the fact that he was definitely hiding something. "E-Err... Ehem! W-Well, you see...", the Inuzuka seemed to squirm under Naruto's stare as the blond waited for a proper answer. "It's a-almost... As if he's tired! Maybe he also has a secret stash of hentai hidden away in his bedroom which he decided to watch last night instead of sleeping!"

Kiba had the decency of looking sheepish as Naruto deadpanned at him, not even making an attempt to pretend he'd believe something so far from reality as Iruka staying up all night to watch porn. 'Then again... I don't really know what Iruka-sensei does in his spare time so...'

A shudder quickly went down the blond's spine as his face went slightly pale in disgust, his train of thoughts being abruptly interrupted before they could dwell further into the idea. "Ugh, whatever Kiba", Naruto then said, having had enough of his perverted friend. Whatever the reason behind the Inuzuka's and Iruka's weirdness was, he could always find out later.

His azure orbs trailed to the front, lazily eyeing some of his dozy classmates (who were more interested in resting their heads on their desks or their arms than follow Iruka's lecture) before taking a glance at the clock hanging over the board.

It'd be hours before lunch break, a long wait for someone who had better things to do than try to be a good student for a change.

'There will be time for that', Naruto inwardly said, before deciding to get —in his opinion— some well deserved sleep.

Whatever intention the Namikaze had of interrogating kiba turned out to be of no avail as the latter had inexplicably vanished as soon as the bell rang, leaving nothing behind but a simple note with the words "See you at the club. Later" written in a clear rush.

To say that Naruto's suspicions had grown tenfold after reading the note would have been an understatement, and it did not help that he had noticed Iruka nodding grimly in his direction after class was over, something that sent a shiver down his spine. Even Kakashi Hatake, the history teacher who came after Umino, had eye-smiled at him for a moment at a point near the end of the lesson. He, the infamous scarecrow that rarely ever paid more attention than it was deemed necessary to his students, had smiled at him.

Something was wrong. Very wrong. Or would be, considering nothing out of the ordinary had really taken place so far...

"Naruto-kun~!"

"It's him! N-Naruto-senpai!"

"Look! He brought his guitar to class today! That's sooo cool."

"Play a song for us Naruto-kuuun~"

The many voices of what the blond quickly realized belonged to many of his fan-girls broke him out of his reverie, with Naruto blinking his azure eyes before turning around, bag in hand and his guitar already hanging on his back. Outnumbered, the Namikaze could not help but visibly roll his orbs in annoyance.

He didn't really mind the attention he'd usually get because of his good looks and the fact he belonged to a rock band. On the contrary, the blond mostly felt flattered at having so many pretty girls liking him, but at that moment Naruto wanted nothing more than some time alone to think carefully about what had transpired up to that point.

With Kiba or any other club member around, escaping his fan-girls would have been a relatively easy task. Being alone, though, made things more complicated for the Namikaze.

"Back off girls", a new voice suddenly made its way amidst the barrage of questions and requests that, until then, had been thrown at Naruto one after the other — Naruto could only catch a glimpse of a golden blur approaching him before he felt a pair of arms encircling his own, securing it in a firm and protective grip. "He's mine for today."

Azure orbs turned in surprise to meet a lighter pair of globes staring back at him. Two eyes that belonged to the attractive face of Ino Yamanaka, a girl around his age with long golden hair tied in a high ponytail which at the same time allowed multiple bangs to fall over the right side of her visage.

"Haaaah? Ino-saaan, that's not fair!"

"Ino-senpai, we also want to spend time with Naruto-senpai~!"

The Yamanaka smiled cutely at a slightly blushing Namikaze before turning to face the clearly jealous group, her smile almost inmediately turning into a smirk. "Sorry girls. Naruto-kun here promised to have lunch with me today, isn't that right Naru~?"

"Huh? But Ino-chan, I don't remember ever say- Ow!", a quick and barely concealed jab to his ribs prevented him from giving away Ino's invented excuse, with Naruto finally realizing the intention behind the obvious lie. "I-I mean, yeah... I did promise that."

Defeated, Naruto's fan-girls had no other choice but to leave, pouting and groaning aloud in a clear show of disappointment while a significant number of male students that were around send glares in the blond's direction.

Not that their target paid attention any attention to them though, focused as he was in his newfound sense of relief that outwardly manifested itself in a loud sigh. "Thanks Ino-chan", the young man then said, turning to the girl at his side with one of his trademark grins.

"It was nothing Naru-kun~ Glad I could help!", Ino chirped happily, hugging the arm she still held onto more tightly.

Something which made the blond blush significantly. "U-Uhm, you can let go of my arm now Ino-chan. They are gone."

A sly smirk made its way to Ino's pink lips as she inched closer to the boy and shook her head no, making it abundantly clear she had no intention of doing as he said. "Who said I did it because of your fan-girls?", the girl winked an eye at him, thoroughly enjoying the reaction she was getting out of him. "Besides, you don't seem to mind it..."

The truth was that Naruto Namikaze had been Ino's not-so-secret crush for years. Initially, she had only thought of him as a annoying, good for nothing brat who would rather cause problems than be a respectable student among his peers. Over time, Ino had several chances to get to know the real Naruto, one that she started to admire the more she learned about him. Soon, and before she realized it, the Yamanaka had develop a crush on him, though she refused to admit it to anyone.

Especially to Naruto, who was so dense he could have a girl kissing him in the lips and still think she only wanted to be friends. Ino didn't mind it though, as she kind of enjoyed teasing the innocent blond much to his embarrassment. It was a strange way of keeping him close and, at the same time, throwing more than evident hints that she liked him more than as a friend in his direction, but at least she wasn't as annoying as Sakura when it came to Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto's fan-girls being another good example of that.

Besides... It was clear the Namikaze liked being with her, even if only thinking of Ino as a good friend.

"I-I g-guess I don't", Naruto finally conceded, moving his eyes in the opposite direction as his blush darkened.

On the outside, Ino beamed at his response while inwardly a chibi version of herself pumped a fist into the air. 'Take that fan-girls!', chibi Ino shouted excitedly before the real one tugged Naruto's arm. "Shall we go then? I'm hungry!"

The rest of the day had gone by painfully slow, but classes were finally over. Naruto had wasted no time in exiting his classroom, ignoring the many stares he got on his way out, and headed straight to Tsunade's office where he'd been sitting for the past ten minutes, feeling very uneasy. While outwardly he seemed calm and almost bored as he sat there with his arms behind his neck, his mind was elsewhere.

After a rather pleasant lunch with Ino, who he dared say was the only one who didn't act in the same strange way the rest did, Naruto had returned to his classroom, only to find Kiba was nowhere to be found. Even the teacher, Asuma, didn't seem to know —or care for that matter— about his least favorite student's whereabouts. He indeed had let a note telling Naruto that he'd meet him at their club, but the blond didn't actually believe he would skip classes like that.

Kiba could have been a lazy-ass, but he rarely ever did such a thing. His mother would cut him into pieces and feed him to their dogs if she were to find out. Literally.

But that hadn't been the worst part, oh no. The worst part had actually been running into Choji and Shikamaru on his way to the headmistress' office, with them only waving a hand at Naruto and smiling in a rather forced way as they went by, whispering to each other.

That two of his best friends could pretty much ignore him like that and carry on without even stopping to say hi only served to add to his evergrowing worry and anxiety. 'If only the fox hadn't decided to take a nap now of all times!', the blond thought, bitting on a nail with apprehension. He didn't like this one bit, especially Kurama's silence after their little conversation before leaving home. 'What could possibly have him acting so secretive?'

"Naruto-kun?", the sudden voice of Shizune —Tsunade's assistant— broke him out of his daze, forcing his eyes to turn in the direction of the office's door, where the black-haired woman stood at. "Tsunade-sama will see you now."

Naruto couldn't help but notice the sympathetic smile on Shizune's visage, almost as if it were any indication of what was about to transpire at the meeting. A shiver ran down his spine as he nodded, suspicion written all over his own face. Standing up, he collected his things and walked through the open door, past Shizune and into the principal's office.

His azure orbs soon caught sight of a beautiful young-looking woman with blond hair tied into pig tails and chocolate eyes, sitting misteriously behind a desk. Her expression the perfect example of a poker face.

"Thank you Shizune", after the aforementioned had left but not before bowing slightly at her teacher, Tsunade turned to her godson. "Good afternoon Naruto, how are you today?", the tone she used seemed calm and collected, yet there was something else hidden underneath it. Thus, the way in which she spoke to the blond slightly unnerved him; Tsunade was his godmother, someone that'd been an important part of his life for as long as he could remember, especially after his mom passed away, and as such she rarely ever addressed him so coolly.

In fact, it was usually her anger or annoyance that took over her whenever Naruto was sent to her office, generally after pulling pranks on teachers and students alike. And on such ocassions, the poor prankster usually was sent flying out of the room through the door or even an adjacent wall. Kami only knows how much of the school budget had been destined to repairing the holes on the walls.

The blond took a seat in front of the headmistress, carefully dropping his stuff next to him before answering. "I'm good baachan, just a bit tired. I didn't sleep much last night."

Naruto had purposely called the woman "baachan" so as to see whether he could get a reaction out of her. But instead of her usual response, which would consist of a vein bulging on her forehead and, sometimes, a punch on the face if she wasn't in the mood to stand being called that way, Tsunade gave him a smile and hummed. "Kids these days, always lazing around instead of doing something productive. Ah, but I can't say that I blame you. I'd rather stay up all night drinking than working on damn paperwork", the woman then let out a rare chuckle. "Minato told me you were writing a new song when I called last night. That's what kept you late at night, wasn't it? Why don't you tell me about it? I'd like to hear it."

The fact that his godmother tried to make small talk didn't go unnoticed by Naruto, who openly frowned at her. Tsunade Senju, one of the few people he truly cared for that couldn't care less about his love for music and his band, showing interest in his music? "Alright baachan, cut the crap. You told touchan you had something important to discuss with me... us", Naruto gestured to the empty chair next to him. "And I guess that, since he isn't even here, it's going to be you and me only. I'm tired of waiting — I've had to stand Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji and even Iruka-sensei acting as if I was going to be expelled or something the whole day, and I'm sick of not knowing what's going on."

Tsunade's friendly smile soon turned into a frown, the headmistress rubbing her temples in an attempt to prevent an incoming headache. "...I was hoping we could talk with Minato present, but he already informed me this morning he would not be able to come today", she heard Naruto sighing at that, almost as if he'd totally expected him not to come, before resting her back on her chair and fixing a serious look onto her godson. "As regards your friends, I don't know how they found out, but I'll make sure to discover who was responsible for leaking this information. Iruka, on the other hand, has known about this since yesterday. In fact, the whole faculty knows, it is my job to inform them after all."

"Know... what, exactly?", Naruto asked, impatience creeping back onto him as he stared at his godmother.

"Naruto, have you ever heard about Sakuragaoka High school?"

Taken aback by the sudden and unexpected question, Naruto blinked. "You mean Sakura High, right? The one that competes with our high school in practically almost every academic field?"

Tsunade nodded, "Exactly, and did you know that the school only admits girls?"

"Yeah...? And your point is?", the blond raised an eyebrow in suspicion, not really seeing where this was going.

"Yesterday evening I had a meeting with Sakura High's principal, Okijama Yoji, to discuss a peculiar situation... involving you, and Okijama-dono's school."

By that point, anyone else would have got the hint Tsunade was trying to convey in a not so subtle way, having decided that if anything, she had to make things simple for him. Yet, Naruto only remained silent for a few seconds in which his headmistress thought he was taking some time to process the info he'd been just given, only for him to eventually frown in confusion at her. "I don't get it baachan. What does that school have to do with me?"

Tsunade couldn't help but facepalm before groaning in annoyance. Naruto could be a good kid with good looks and a hell of a guitar player, but sometimes he just annoyed the hell out of her. 'You are not making this any easier brat!', her expression showed exactly how she felt at the moment, yet the young man didn't seem fazed by that.

"Allow me to explain myself", despite her rising anger, Tsunade managed to keep her tone under control, inwardly reminding herself that it was Naruto's last day at Konoha High. The least he deserved was patience. "The meeting we had was about you becoming the first male student at Sakuragaoka High, due to a personal request by the headmaster that I couldn't say no to. Starting tomorrow morning, you will be a student there."

While the blonde headmistress awaited his initial reaction, which she had already foreseen would be incredulity and, ultimately, anger and a feeling of betrayal and despair, the Namikaze remained motionless, his mind slowly processing what had been thrown upon him.

After a few seconds, Naruto's lips curled in an 'o' shape as he finished comprehending the first implication behind Tsunade's words. "So that's why everybody was acting so strange towards me...!", suddenly, realization clicked in the Namikaze's mind, and the woman watched as his expression went from surprised to scared. "Wait a second baachan, what do you mean you already said yes? Does that means I won't be able to come here anymore? But what about my club? I'm their leader and we have a concert to prepare for!"

It was clear Naruto worried more about his band than having to attend a different school, and it pained Tsunade to say what she was about to say. "No, Naruto, you won't be able to attend your lessons at Konoha High anymore. That also applies for your club meetings; from tomorrow onwards, you'll no longer be part of this institution and thus you won't be able to take part in your band sessions here at school. You can still continue being part of that group of yours and meet your fellow band members outside the school facilities, though."

Upon hearing that, the Namikaze's expression became desperate. "No, that can't be true baachan! There has to be something you can do, right!? Did that guy force you to agree to have me leave? If so, I will find him and I will make sure that-!"

"You will do nothing!", Tsunade exclaimed, effectively silencing a shocked Naruto which had unconsciously stood from his chair and was now towering over her sitting figure. As he shut his mouth in surprise, the blonde beauty let out a silent sigh, trying to temper her rising nerves. She could already feel a massive headache starting to spread all over her head. "Okijama-dono never forced me to agree to anything", after a small pause in which she prepared for the incoming reaction to the following news, Tsunade Senju proceeded. "It was me who suggested the idea after learning he's planning to make his school co-ed. You are the ideal candidate for this project, which of course needs to be carried out slowly, considering the magnitude of the change he seeks to introduce."

Tsunade couldn't hide the pain in her features as she noticed Naruto's expression filling with betrayal before his own hair shadowed his visage, the tone he spoke with next sounding calm yet evidently pained. "Why me?"

Despite her sudden need to stand up and embrace the boy she loved as a son, the beautiful headmistress decided against it for the time being. "Well, as I said earlier, you were my first choice when it came to deciding who to select among the student body due to your natural charisma, kindness and your popularity with the opposite sex. As for the reason behind choosing you alone and nobody else, Sakura High has remained a single-sex school for decades and having a considerable amount of male students suddenly attending the school could be detrimental for the current attendants", Tsunade took a moment to look at Naruto, trying to see how he was taking it so far. Yet his expression remained hidden from sight, which made her feel worse about what she was doing. "But that's not all. Okijama-dono had also stated he'd be pleased if you, of all people, were to become the first male student at his school."

What first met her long explanation was silence, with Naruto standing still, not even giving any sign he was actually paying any attention to her. On the inside, however, he was raging, a sharp and bitter sense of betrayal running through his entire being. 'Pleased my ass', he thought angrily.

Why him? Why not Sasuke Uchiha, that stupid brooder who felt superior than everyone in Konoha High? He was surely a much better choice. Nobody would miss him, with the exception of those annoying fan girls who spent their days chasing him around and trying to impress him.

No, it had to be him. Only because Tsunade said he'd be adequate. Only because a headmaster he didn't even know had agreed to it, stating he'd be 'pleased' to have him of all people at his school.

It just wasn't fair.

"...You may be wondering why Okijama-dono felt that way about you becoming the first male student at Sakura High when he doesn't even know you", Tsunade suddenly said, noticing Naruto flinch visibly. "That's because he's a good friend of Jiraiya... and your mother's godfather."

This time, Naruto couldn't stop himself from gasping at the news, his eyes widening in momentary shock. "I... see", he eventually mumbled, his tone almost monotonous. "I know now why you two decided to use me as your guinea pig. We can't risk Sakura High's integrity by letting more than one male student attend, right Tsunade-sama?"

The cold way in which he addressed her and summed up everything made Tsunade divert her eyes in pain and guilt. "Y-Yes, it sounds cruel when you say it like that but—"

Whatever Tsunade was about to say next never found its way past her lips as the young man suddenly stood up, grabbing his things in the process. After bowing respectfully, Naruto turned around and went for the door, only stopping when his hand grabbed the door knob. "If you excuse me, I'm going to what will be my last meeting with my club ", the young man paused for a moment in which he thought about his next words, knowing he had Tsunade's attention. "I'll make sure to share the news with my friends if they don't already know about it that is. Otherwise, I will let them know... that it was you and some old man the ones who decided to throw me out of here like a street dog."

And with those words, Naruto left the office but not before slamming the door shut. Tsunade couldn't take it anymore and allowed fresh tears to fall down her face, having felt her godson's anger and hatred towards her for her decision. He had every right to be angry, especially since she hadn't told him the actual reason why she was letting him go. It wasn't only because his soon to be headmaster had been Kushina's godfather, but also and more importantly because of her school being in danger of closing down.

It had all been her fault. And Tsunade knew it. Her addiction to gambling had led her to using school funds to bet at the casino, risking the entirety of the institution because of her irrationality. That had led her to practically beg for Okijama's help, despite how embarrasing such act had been.

The old man was more than happy to be able to repay her for all the years she had taken care of Naruto at school, thinking of him as a grandson even if he'd never met the boy in person. But that generous help... had come with a small request.

Something that Tsunade was sure would ultimately benefit Minato's son in different ways.

She was taking Naruto away from his friends, his band, Iruka, and exposing him to a female only school with the highest level of exigence.

"Tsunade-sama? I saw Naruto-kun leaving in a storm and I couldn't help but feel worried about you", the voice of Shizune broke her out of her thoughts as she stepped into the office, cutting her own sentence midway as she noticed the tears on her master's visage. "Tsunade-sama!"

The headmistress allowed herself to be enveloped in a warm embrace, not even caring to hide her sadness. "I-It hurt me Shizune... To see him like that and know I was the reason behind his anger made me feel so... so-!"

"Shh", the short haired assistant murmured, running a hand through Tsunade's golden locks in a soothing manner. "It's okay Tsunade-sama. We all make mistakes, and I'm sure Naruto-kun will forgive you in no time. We just need to give him some space until he's ready to do so", even if Shizune did her best to sound confident and calm, she could barely conceal the sadness in her tone.

Naruto was like a little brother to her, and the idea of not having him around pained her more than she initially thought it would.

Naruto walked down the hall in a painfully slow way, trying to prolong the moment for as long as he could. He didn't want to leave, and less to face his friends and tell them what he already suspected they knew.

He just hoped they could still meet after classes at Choji's or his own home, since those were the only places they could practice at without being interrupted or yelled at by angry parents wanting peace and quietness. 'At least there's that', he thought, stopping right in front of his club door, where the name of his band —Team Konoha— was displayed in big orange letters made out of cardboard. 'Not being able to meet here will give us less time to practice, but hey, I guess that's better than nothing, eh?'

Naruto felt a bit better after that train of thought, growing less worried about his sudden and unfair departure from school. This could work, couldn't it? After all, he was their leader, Team Konoha's founder. Not even Lee could replace him as the sole guitarist, as he excelled at being a rythmic guitar player.

With a somewhat confident smile on his face, the Namikaze reached for the door and opened it, almost sure they could work something out. "Hey guys, sorry I'm...!"

Suddenly, his previous, calmer expression vanished from his face. Instead, confusion and soon enough betrayal took its place.

"What the hell is going on here!?", Naruto couldn't help but exclaim, making everyone present turn to look at him.

There, in front of him, stood the remaining members of 'Team Konoha', getting their respective instruments ready to begin practice. Yet, what actually evoked such a reaction out of Naruto was not seeing his fellow friends and bandmates there, but noticing that the old guitar that Shikamaru had given him when they formed the band some time ago was in the hands of Sasuke Uchiha.

The guy he hated the most was holding his old guitar and taking his place as the lead guitarist in his band.

"Oh, it's you Namikaze. We were just about to begin our practice. Would you like to stay to listen how a real guitarist plays?", Sasuke Uchiha sneered at the blond while holding Naruto's old guitar like it was garbage.

The Namikaze had to restrain himself from beating the hell out of the emo brooder, though he couldn't help but grit his teeth and clench his fists in anger. Meanwhile, Kiba and Choji were openly frowning at the Uchiha, their faces edging with disgust.

"Hey Naruto, we were wondering when you'd show up", Shikamaru suddenly spoke, shooting an annoyed look in Sasuke's direction. "Kakashi-sensei told us this morning about Tsunade-sama's decision. Sorry we didn't tell you, but he made us promise we wouldn't say a thing. What a troublesome teacher..."

As Shikamaru lazily leaned on his bass, and everyone except the Uchiha looked at Naruto in a guilty way, the aforementioned narrowed his eyes. That the scarecrow had been the one responsible for leaking the information about his unexpected transfer to a different school didn't manage to surprise the Namikaze in the slightlest. Kakashi might have been their club advisor, but Naruto inwardly promised to prank the hell out of him as payback.

"Yeah, I guessed he had something to do with you guys acting strange around me. And honestly? I don't care about that anymore. What I do care about though", Naruto pointed a finger at Sasuke who had a smug look on his face, "is why is that teme here, holding my old guitar no less?"

Upon asking that question, everyone diverted his eyes from Naruto's, looking at anywhere but him. They almost seemed embarrased by the reason behind Sasuke's presence at the club.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun", it was Lee who spoke up, and the Namikaze noticed he didn't seem as youthful as always. If anything, he looked regretful. "Uchiha-san applied for the club by filling the required form, making his request an official one. Therefore, it is mandatory we accept new members as decreed by the school laws."

"Bullshit!", the blond all but shouted. "This is just an excuse to replace me. I'm going away, yes, but we could have still made it work! This... is betrayal", there was nothing but disappointment in his voice, and even pain, as he'd have never expected his bandmates, his friends of all people to stab him in the back like that.

And it hurt.

"Naruto, we don't agree with Sasuke-san here taking over your position, but Kakashi-sensei and even Tsunade-sama said we were to accept him", Choji said, clenching the sides of his keyboard in clear distaste. He didn't like the idea, in fact he hated it, but what else were they supposed to do? Disband the club? "We can still meet up after classes and hang at my place, if you want to..."

Once again, the cruel, cold truth hit Naruto like a truck. Not only had Tsunade agreed to transfer him to a different school where only girls could go, but she had also made Sasuke Uchiha part of the club. His club, his band. His friends could have been against the idea, but it wasn't enough for him, seeing how he had replaced him already.

He'd never share anything with the teme. Not in a million years. They wanted him out of the band? Then he was out. "You know what Choji? That's okay, we don't have to meet after school."

"Naruto..."

"No, really, you want him taking up my role? Fantastic then, I'll form another band if I have to and we'll be way better than this one!"

Sasuke snorted sonorously, his black eyes looking defiantly into Naruto's azure ones. "Is that so? Then, how about a bet?", the Uchiha said, ignoring the incredulous looks on his fellow band members. "The group who wins the 'battle of bands' at the Budokan will get to be declared the better band by the others. Also, the losers will have to wear girl uniforms for a week and act like such. Do we have a deal?"

"Heh, didn't know you were into that stuff, teme", Naruto almost failed to ignore his friends' chuckles at the comment, but he did notice Sasuke's eyebrow twitching in annoyance for a moment. "Deal", both rivals approached each other and shook hands, never taking their eyes off the other while they applied as much strength as they could into the handshake. "Just you wait teme, I'll wipe the floor with you."

"In your dreams, dobe", Sasuke answered as the Namikaze let go of his hand.

With a single look of contempt from Naruto, he turned around before leaving the club and everyone behind.

Just after he'd left, Shikamaru let out a yawn and glanced at Sasuke. "Man, this is so troublesome. As much as I don't like to say this, and seeing that Naruto has left us, you are now part of our band. And as such, all our decisions have to be made together", seeing the Uchiha just staring back at him, he continued. "Maybe Naruto was an idiot, but he is our friend, and a good person."

"Yeah! What do you think you are, our new leader? This teme doesn't deserve to be in our band, especially since he laughed at us last year! He called us a bunch of pathetic loosers!", Kiba was really pissed off at having Naruto leaving them and Sasuke of all people replacing him. But there was nothing they could do. That didn't mean he would let the Uchiha do as he pleased though.

Sasuke deadpanned at Kiba for a moment before snorting. "Hn. You should focus on playing your drums dog-breath and stay out of my way if you know what's good for you", he almost smirked when he heard the Inuzuka growling like an angry dog before Choji went over and prevented him from beating the crap out of the Uchiha. "Alright. Enough talk, let's practice!"

Despite disagreeing with the Uchiha's methods, Lee got his guitar ready while trying to appease everybody before things got out of hand. "Yosh! Let the power of youth flow through our instruments everyone!"

As everyone got ready to begin, Kiba scowled at Sasuke before hitting his sticks together in a repeating motion. "One, Two, Three, Four...!"

Thus, the band began to practice, playing an improvised melody in order to practice rythm and getting used to Sasuke's way of playing. They eventually got so caught up in their practice, that no one noticed Naruto standing outside the room, his back against the wall as he listened them carry out their session.

'Playing like that, they are doomed', he thought bitterly, disliking the lack of harmony between his so called friends and their new member. Without him, the music they made sounded artificial, forced even, there was no flow, no passion.

It made him want to get as far as possible from it.

l

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The old version of this chapter was significantly shorter than this one, but I myself prefer longer installments, so yeah. By the way, this is as far as we will go for this one, I hope you all liked it.

Regarding the update that never came (my original readers will know this story only had three chapters) I'm sad to say that I was halfway done with it five years ago, but when I tried to get back to it one day I couldn't find it anywhere, no matter where I looked. A pity, really, considering I had some pretty good ideas written for that one. But eh, sh** happens I guess. I will do my best to come up with something as good as what I'd originally planned. Stay tuned for it.

Finally, we'll be following K-ON's cannon for this one. Something I did before and that I intend to keep on doing, but I'll only cover season 1. I won't go any further than that... Probably. I want to give all my readers who have been asking me to continue all these years some closure on this. I too want to see this completed, which doesn't mean I will rush things. Don't worry.

Before I go... review, will you? I will continue to ignore flamers as I did five years ago, but I will accept any constructive criticism that can help me improve as a writer whose first language is clearly not english and yet is still trying to write something decent just for the sake of reading a story that hasn't been written by any other authors on the site.

Yin Protector out!