Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Maken-Ki. This story is simply a work of fanfiction that's being written and published without any intention of making a profit.

Author's Notes

This is another short chapter with no significant plot progression due to the following: Work is consuming a significant portion of the free time I once had, my interest in writing has waned a bit, I'm trash at writing filler between major plot points I have in mind and I'm a lazy piece of shit. Sob story over - let's do this.

Tenbi's Shinobi

Roomies

It was late into the evening by the time Naruto made his way to the dorm he was going to be dwelling within. It was larger than he expected; the building was composed of four different floors with a multitude of doors lining each of them. All things considered, it looked far more akin to an apartment complex than a dorm for teenage students.

There was no garage or nearby parking lot, so he was forced to park the car in his possession along a curb well outside the property; given his assignment though, he knew he wasn't very likely to be using it on any sort or regular basis. The only belongings he had brought along with him all fit into one bag, so it wasn't too arduous a task to carry his things a bit further than he normally would have.

Climbing up to the third floor with his bag slung lazily over his shoulder, Naruto chuckled as he felt his phone vibrate from within his pocket. He had exchanged numbers with Minori before they separated so they could get in touch with one another when necessary, but they had been texting back and forth about various unrelated topics ever since; he didn't mind that fact at all. In fact, he found himself enjoying the virtual conversation almost as much as he had enjoyed the face-to-face one. Minori seemed fun and was easy to talk to – a combination he rarely encountered when it came to the people he would be working on an assignment with.

Taking out his phone, he flicked it on and read the new message. The sentence he read seemed so absurd given her demeanor that he couldn't help but chuckle. 'Octopi, huh? Never would have guessed.' Pausing mid-stride, he sent the thought back as a text of his own and slipped his phone away again. Turning and idly observing the symbols on the doors he was passing, he resumed walking until he stood in front of the door simply labeled '7'

'Ooyama Takeru,' he read the name listed beneath his own on a plaque attached to the wall alongside the door. 'Well, here's hoping he's as easy to get along with as Minori was.' The moment the thought crossed his mind, he felt his pocket vibrate again. Choosing to ignore the message until he got inside, he reached out and twisted the doorknob in front of him.

Pulling the door open, Naruto quickly jumped back out of sheer reflex as a pile of white packing boxes tumbled unceremoniously out of the room and onto the balcony. 'What the Hell?'

"Oh crap! Sorry!"

Turning his gaze up from the boxes, the blond's eyes landed upon young man with unkempt brown hair and green eyes that lurked behind a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. Clad in a black t-shirt and a pair of green boxers, he quickly moved down the hallway of the room towards the door.

"I'm so sorry! I meant to get those moved before you got here, but I had so many that I kinda slacked off." Reaching a hand up, he rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously. "I didn't mean for it to still be such a mess."

"It's fine." Naruto felt slightly annoyed in truth, but the younger teen looked so nervous that he couldn't bring himself to say anything. "I'm used to worse. Ooyama Takeru, right?"

"Yep, that's me!" The teen smiled, but he was clearly still quite nervous. "I should probably…" he trailed off and made a show of looking around at all the boxes still lining the hallway and the ones that had fallen out to balcony.

"Probably," Naruto replied. Offering the teen a small smile, he reached down and picked up a box. "I guess I can help you out, just let me go and put my stuff put down first."

"Ah, you don't need to do that. I should be the one t—"

"If I don't help, I think you'd be spending the whole night getting your things put away with how many of these things I can see." Stepping into the room as Takeru pivoted to the side to allow him entry, he spotted more piles of the boxes tucked into what looked to be the lounging area. "Did you bring everything you own with you or something?"

"Well…I mean…not everything."

"You must have an awful lot of things then." Naruto walked along the hallway and placed the box he held atop a relatively small stack. Moving into the small lounge room, his eyes went wide upon seeing even more boxes tacked no less than five high. Shaking his head and sighing in exasperation, he quickly spotted two doors – one on the left and one on the right – that were clearly meant to be their respective bedrooms. Turning around, he met Takeru's gaze and jerked his head towards the one on the right. "That one still free or did you already move some of your things in?"

"I haven't picked one yet, actually."

"I'll go ahead and take this one then. Be right back." Turning away from the teen, he wasted no time in moving towards his new bedroom. Opening the door, he quickly stepped inside and flicked on the light.

The bedroom had three full-sized beds that were spread a fair distance apart with a small nightstand in between them; aside from the furniture, it was rather Spartan with only a curtain-concealed window on the far wall and a small walk-in closet on the left. Still, he had slept in far worse places before well enough.

'I should get back to Minori before I help the kid get settled in.' Setting his bag down atop the nearest bed, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone once again. Flicking it on, he read a message that, while knowing it was inevitable, made him sigh. Turnabout was fair play, but it didn't make it suck any less to be on the receiving end. Making up his mind on what he wanted to see, he set himself to sending a message back.

Hey, I only laughed because you don't seem like the type that would be scared by something like that. As for me… Well I'm not really scared of much anymore, but I guess if I had to pick one thing it would be ghosts.

'This thing could really use some more color.' Looking at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Clad in the Tenbi Academy boy's uniform, the blue jacket and pants contrasted sharply with his bright blond locks; it made him strike quite the handsome image, but the formal clothes felt stifling in comparison to his regular wardrobe. Thankfully, small though the blessing was, Minori had alleviated the worst of the stifling by pointing out a few loopholes in the dress code the previous day. Though the jacket was required, there was no requirement that the buttons on it had to be fastened nor that the included green tie had to actually be tied, so he left both undone. On a similar note, there were no rules regarding required footwear, so he was still able to wear his go-to sandals. Still, taking advantage of the loopholes of the dress code and wearing a comfortable black t-shirt beneath the jacket only got him so excited. At the end of the day, he was still attending an academy again no matter how different it was supposed to be.

'Good enough.' Nodding sharply at his reflection as if to validate his own thought, he promptly turned and exited the bathroom only to be nearly bowled over by Takeru as he dashed into the room and slammed the door behind him.

"Sorry, I've really gotta go!" The teen's muffled voice echoed from behind the door. A relieved-sounding sigh and the sound of splashing water followed suit shortly thereafter.

'Heh, he kind of reminds me of what I used to be like in the morning.' Smiling at the memories of how he too used to always get ready at the absolute last minute and practically run late, he returned to his room while reflecting on how far he had come. Stepping up to his bed, he grabbed his bag – now mostly empty after unpacking it – and slung it over his shoulder. From what admittedly little he knew about more typical academies, he figured he would need it to help carry things back to the room before the day was finished.

Moving back into the lounge, Naruto took a moment to marvel at how organized it looked now that all of the packing boxes were gone. It had taken well into the night, but between himself and his new roommate, they had managed to tuck all of the latter's things into his room. Fortunately, most of the boxes had been extremely light and easy to carry.

Knock Knock Knock

The blond's body had tensed at the sudden noise, but he quickly calmed himself upon recognizing what exactly it was. Moving towards the door, he was four or five large steps away when it was slowly pushed open.

"Takeru? Are you here?"

'I seriously forgot to lock the door last night? I really need to stop being so careless.'

"Takeru?" The door creaked open a bit further while Naruto berated himself, the feminine voice growing a bit louder. "It's me, Haruko. I thought I could walk…" The voice trailed off as the owner opened the door enough to see him still standing in the hallway. Her blue eyes went wide in disbelief. "Takeru?"

"Nope." The busty, purple-haired girl blinked in surprise at his blunt response. He offered her a small smile in return. "I'm Naruto. Takeru's still in the bathroom."

"O-oh, that makes sense." A light blush came to her cheeks as she laughed nervously. "Sorry. I haven't seen him for a long time, so I thought…"

"Heh, it's not a problem." Moving forward, Naruto took a moment to slip into the sandals he had left by the door. Glancing at the girl out of the corner of his eye, he immediately recognized the uniform. "I take it you're attending Tenbi Academy as well?"

"Ah, yes!" The girl suddenly smiled and seemed far less nervous than she had before. Shifting the bag she held to the side in such a way that it didn't pull on the long ponytail trailing down from the left side of her head, she extended an arm forward. "My name is Amaya Haruko. It's nice to meet you!"

"Uzumaki Naruto." Turning to face her, he reached forward and accepted the offered handshake. "Likewise, Haruko."

"Your arm…" Haruko's eyes lingered on his bandage-wrapped hand. "Are you hurt? You should probably have the nurse take a look at that later today if it's serious."

"It's serious, but it stopped hurting a long time ago." Looking down at the appendage himself, he slowly twitched each individual finger to make a fist. He frowned briefly, but quickly tore his gaze back up to meet the girl's eyes and forced a smile to his face. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. It's just better to keep it covered so no one freaks out about how gross it looks."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to draw attention to it or anything."

"It's alright, it happens. I'm going to head to the academy, but you can wait inside if you'd like. I'm sure Takeru will be out of the bathroom soon enough."

"Thank you." Haruko offered him an unsure smile as she stepped inside.

"You're welcome." Pivoting, Naruto slipped around her as she walked in and moved out onto the balcony of the dorm. Reaching back, he began pulling the door shut behind him.

"I hope you have a good first day at the academy, Naruto-san."

The statement was so unexpected that it caught him off-guard. Turning his head, he gazed at the purple-haired teen and blinked a few times in surprise. "Thanks," he offered after a few moments of silence. "I hope you have a good day as well." His hand lingered on the door knob for a few extra seconds before he pulled the door shut. Another genuine smile slowly crept up his lips.

'That's the first time anyone but Iruka-sensei has said something like that to me. I think I can see why people like to hear it so much.'

End