Naru hurmed sleepily, opening her eyes to see her sensei. "Oh hey Iruka-sensei."

Iruka smiled, nodding to Stitch as the curled up dog gave him a once-over and plopped his head back down. "How're you feeling?"

"Mm. Sore." Naru slowly and stiffly rubbed her forehead, paused, and then looked around. "Hey, Iruka-sensei, d'you know where my 'head protect'r is?"

"Ah, um…" Iruka shifted uncomfortably. "I'm afraid, that during your little…ah, escapade, that your forehead protector was warped beyond recognition by the Kyuubi's chakra."

Naru deflated, then froze suddenly. She looked at Iruka warily. Iruka gave her a sad smile, already guessing what the girl was thinking. "I'll be honest with you, Naru. When I first saw you, before I became your teacher, I blamed you for the deaths of my parents on that night. But then, I began to see some of myself in you. I saw a little orphan pulling pranks as a cry for attention, much like I did during my years in the academy. And suddenly, I could no longer see you as the Kyuubi, only a little girl entrusted with a terrible burden. I just wish I could have done more for you than teach you."

Naru smiled. "But, you did. You got me ramen."

Iruka chuckled. "That I did. That I did."

An explosive sigh rushed from Naru's lips. "I need to requi-reci-re…"

"Requisition?"

"Yeah, requisition a new forehead protector. I just hope whoever takes care of that doesn't hate me too. Oh, what am I saying, of course he'll hate me."

Iruka bit his lip and took a deep breath. "Naru, why don't you let me take care of that?"

"Sensei?"

"Just lean forward and close your eyes." Hesitatingly, Naru complied and leaned forward with her eyes closed. After a moment of waiting, she felt something placed on her forehead. "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Naru opened her eyes to see that Iruka's forehead was bare. Her hand shot up to her forehead to feel a worn and well-traveled forehead protector. "Sensei…?"

Iruka smirked. "Take care of that for me, 'kay? I want to be able to say someday that the Hokage is wearing my old 'head protector."

Naru's smile could outshine the sun at that moment. "You got it sensei!"

A week after graduation found the graduating class of genin gathered in their classroom for the last time. The classroom was filled with the dull roar of the many conversations being held. The door was slid open by the blue dog…koala…thing (honestly, the class of genin still did not know what to make of Stitch) that always accompanied the last of the Uzumaki.

Suddenly, all conversation stopped as Naruko Uzumaki, the Prank Queen from Hell, came hobbling into the classroom on a pair of crutches, a cast on her leg and what skin not swaddled in white bandages colored the blotchy pink of healing burns. For as long as they had known of the blonde, she was indestructible. They'd seen the whiskered girl take injuries during training that would leave most others bedridden for days, only to come in the next day perfectly fine. The class was silent as they watched Naru go and sit at her desk with muted horror and morbid fascination.

For the longest time, everyone just stared at Naru, who had always seemed to be unbreakable during taijutsu and physical fitness classes. Finally, Kiba Inuzuka broke the silence. "Dude…Naru…What the heck happened?"

Naru rubbed the back of her neck in a nervous manner. "Ah, well, somebody tried to use their summons to kidnap Stitch. I got so angry that I used a family technique before I was ready and it backfired."

One of the genin graduates, a bully by the name of Hibachi, snorted. "You're an orphan, you don't have a family."

Naru stared at Hibachi coolly. "I suppose that I popped up out of a hole in the ground fully grown then." The class snickered at Hibachi's boiled lobster impression as his put-down was rebuffed. "Anyways, the summons was dispelled and the perpetrator dealt with. Don't really know much of any details though, I passed out once the summons was dispelled and my technique dropped."

Before anyone could question Naru further, Iruka entered the room and used his big head technique. "EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!"

The class sat down, only for one student to raise his hand after noticing something. "Hey, sensei, where's Mizuki-sensei?"

Iruka gave a pained look. "I'm afraid that during a security breach last week, Mizuki was trod on by a summons." Iruka shrugged. "So, he'll be in the hospital until he recovers." 'And then he'll be a guest of Anko and Ibiki over at T&I for the foreseeable future.'

"Now then, I am honored to have taught prospective genin such as yourselves, and I hope that your future teachers feel the same. Team one, Hibachi…"

Naru stopped paying full attention to Iruka, only keeping an ear out for her name. Instead, she began to discuss potential techniques with Stitch.

"…Naruko Uzumaki. Team Eight shall be Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuuga. Team Nine is still in circulation. Team Ten shall consist of Chouji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka. Your senseis will come collect you shortly."

"Hey Stitch, who're our teammates?"

Stitch grimaced at Naru's question. "Emo and Banshee." Naru face-desked with a groan; Stitch merely patting her on the back before he went back to his doodles.

Sakura Haruno was a green-eyed girl with long, waist-length pink hair. Usually found wearing an impractically long knee-length red battle dress with the Haruno clan white circle on the front and back, the girl could often be found pining after Sasuke Uchiha instead of training, her voice often rising to ear-piercing levels as she argued with fellow fangirls or those she saw as love rivals.

The subject of Sakura's affections was one Sasuke Uchiha. Dark-eyed and broody, Sasuke's short, raven-black hair stuck out in the back, frankly resembling a duck's tail feathers (Something he hated having pointed out to him). A self-ascribed "avenger," the boy was usually seen wearing white shorts, blue arm warmers, blue shinobi sandals, and a blue short-sleeve, tall-collared shirt with the red and white Uchiha fan emblazoned on the back.

Why oh why did she have to get stuck with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno? Naru and Sasuke hated each other, and Sakura was constantly accusing Naru of trying to steal 'her' Sasuke away from her. As the various teams were led away by their senseis, Naru slowly and continuously head-desked.

An hour later, after all the other teams had been collected by their senseis, Naru was drooling on her desk as she slept. Sakura, having decided to divert her attention away from her crush, frowned at Naru. Growling, the pink-haired, green-eyed girl got up from her seat and stomped up to the sleeping blonde. Coming to a stop next to the softly snoring girl, Sakura clenched a fist and held it over her head. "Naru, you baka! Our sensei could be here at any time! Wake up!"

Scowling, Sakura brought her fist down, intending to wallop Naru upon the head, only for the fist to be stopped at the last moment by a blue blur. Blinking, Sakura looked to see that the blue blur was Naru's weird dog. She glowered at Stitch. "Hey, what's the big idea!?"

Stitch glared right back before launching into a tirade in a language she couldn't understand. "Asyrifah. Gaba ika tasoopa? Naga ogata goocha! Ika Patootie toobaga!" Shaking his head, Stitch dropped Sakura's arm and went back to his doodles. "Yu Porma dissy. Choota."

Blinking in confusion, Sakura wandered back to her seat, wondering what had just happened. Had she been cussed out by a dog in a foreign language? She wasn't sure, but the tone was certainly derogative. Unnoticed to her, a small smirk crossed Sasuke's face before returning to its ever-present brooding scowl.

About an hour later, Naru snorted and lifted her head up from the desk as a man popped his head through the open door. "Team 7? Well my first impression of you is—you're boring. Meet me on the roof in five minutes."

With that, the man vanished and Sakura and Sasuke scrambled to get out the door. Blinking, Naru looked at her crutches before staring pointedly at the door. "We're gonna be late, aren't we?"

Stitch grinned. "Naga." Naru yelped in surprise as Stitch picked her chair up—with her still in it—and scurried out the door.

Kakashi Hatake was an interesting person, to say the least. He was a tall, lanky man, easily living up to his namesake. His silver hair sprouted up and slightly to the side in a gravity defying manner. He had dark grey eyes, though the tilted forehead protector covering the left side of his face implied that he had lost the eye at some point in the past. If there was anything else of note to the jounin's face, it was unknown to everyone but Kakashi, as he always wore a black facemask over the lower portion of his face, even supposedly when eating. The only other things that stuck out about the man was the olive green flak jacket he wore and the small book with an orange cover that he could usually be found reading.

As he stood on the roof before a stone bench, Kakashi could be found doing just that. Turning a page of his ever-present book, Kakashi turned his thoughts to the three preteens he had been assigned. Despite his blunt declaration to the three—four, Stitch was there too—the scarecrow of a man was somewhat looking forward to working with this team.

Kakashi looked up from his book as the door to the roof opened. As he saw the bandaged girl being carried in a chair by her faithful blue companion, a pang of guilt and regret shot through the man. He had been on a mission out of the village when the attempted abduction had occurred. If he had his way, he would have been there to watch out for her, just as he had while in the ANBU. Unfortunately, the reality of it was, he had bills to pay, so not going on missions just wasn't an option.

Sighing, Kakashi eyed the girl and her…um…dog. Naru was now sitting there in the chair with her crutches leaning against the chair back, Stitch sitting on the ground by her side. Shaking his head, Kakashi went back to his book. Let's see, Tomo was just about to confess her love to Takeshi, only for Hiro to jump in and—

The door to the roof slammed open as Sasuke came through, Sakura trailing after him like a lovesick puppy. Kakashi eyed the pink haired girl over the top of his book as she sat next to Sasuke on the bench. If that was what he thought it was, then the jounin had his work cut out for him. Sighing, Kakashi reluctantly put his book away. He'd really wanted to know what happened next. Well, in retrospect, maybe he shouldn't have brought the new volume with him. Oh well. Mentally shrugging, Kakashi turned his attention to the three teens and one dog sitting before him.

"Well, now that we're all here, why don't you tell me something about yourselves?"

Naru cocked her head to the side as she scratched between Stitch's ears. "Like what?"

"Oh," mused Kakashi. "Your name, things you like, things you hate, your dreams, your hobbies, things like that."

Sakura clasped her hands together in nervous anticipation. "Why don't you go first, Sensei? Show us how it's done?"

"Alright." Kakashi leaned back against the railing. Sneaky girl, trying to get the goods on her teacher. "My name's Kakashi Hatake. I like a lot of things, things I hate, well, I don't hate much. My dreams…I had a very nice one last night. My hobbies…I have lots of hobbies."

Sakura and Sasuke could only stare at the tall scarecrow in disbelief as the same thing went through their minds. 'All we learned was his name.' Naru however, recognizing a good prank when she saw it, giggled behind her hands as Stitch snorted in amusement.

Kakashi eyed the amused pair and smiled under his mask. "Well, since you two enjoyed my example so much, why don't you two start, hm?"

Naru grinned. "Alright! My name is Naru Uzumaki. I like Stitch, the Ichirakus, Anko, Iruka-sensei, the Old Man, Dog and ramen. I hate traitors and stupid people. I dream to one day be treated like anybody else, and maybe become Hokage someday. My hobby is…" Naru's introduction came to a stop as the bandaged blonde devolved into sinister chuckles.

Stitch stood up. "My name Stitch. Stitch like Naru and Old Man. Stitch not like Stupidheads. Stitch's dream is to help Naru see Naru's dreams. Stitch has a hobby." At this point, Stitch too fell into a low, dark laughter, which, when paired with Naru's incessant evil giggles, just about terrified their teammates beyond all belief

In an attempt to move things along and distract from the maniacal laughter, Kakashi turned to Sakura, his voice cracking slightly as he remembered past horrors wrought by the cackling duo. "N-now you, Pinky."

Sakura didn't even notice her new teacher's nickname for her, too disturbed by the disturbing laughter. She opened her mouth, only for a squeak to come out. Swallowing and taking a deep breath, she tried again. "My name is Sakura Haruno. There is a boy I like. My dream is to…*eh-hm* and, I really hate how Naru is laughing right now."

Kakashi turned to look at the still cackling Naru and Stitch. "Yes, it is a bit disturbing." He clapped his hands. "Alright you two, that's enough." It took a few minutes, but Naru and Stitch finally managed to stop, though they let out a giggle now and then. The man with gravity-defying hair shook his head. "Okay, Ducky, your turn."

Sasuke scowled at the jab at his hairstyle before speaking in a near monotone. "My name…is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like much. There is much I hate. I don't have a dream. My ambition is to kill a certain man."

The other members of Team 7 waited for a moment. When it was clear that Sasuke was not going to elaborate, Kakashi had a sweat drop go down the back of his head. "Okay. Well then. Now that we all know each other, you have one last test to take before you are true ninja."

The young graduates were all surprised, but Sakura was the first to vocalize her outrage. "But we already did this stuff at the academy! Why do we have to do it again?"

Kakashi glanced at Sakura lazily, before chuckling creepily. "Because, out of the twenty-seven of you that graduated, only nine of you will become genin. So, if you'd rather not do this…"

Naru spoke up quickly. "Um, no, no sensei, we'll do it. Right guys?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Hn."

"Good. I'll be the judge of whether or not you become ninja, so bring your ninja gear to the training ground 7 at five a.m. tomorrow." Kakashi shunshined away in a swirl of leaves. "Oh, and you'd better skip breakfast if you don't want to throw up. See ya." And with that, Kakashi left the three graduates and one experiment to their thoughts.

The next day found Team 7 waiting for their team leader and teacher. Sakura was pacing around the clearing that made up the heart of the forested training ground, complaining very loudly as she did so. "Gah! Where is he? He's almost five hours late! If I'd known he'd be this late, I would have eaten breakfast!"

Sasuke barely spared the irate rosette a glance as he sat on one of three wooden posts standing in the center of the clearing. "Hn."

Meanwhile under a large tree at the edge of the forest, Naru, with her leg fresh out of the cast, was deep in discussion with Stitch. "So, how do we want to punish him? Plan Chicken?"

Stitch tapped his chin in thought, then shook his head. "Naga. Plan Meatloaf?"

Naru frowned. "Hm. It's a good one, but where will we get a porcupine, seven tea doilies, three pizzas and a pirate hat on such short notice?"

The two sat in thought for a moment before Naru perked up. "I know! Plan Rabbit Season!" Stitch and Naru stared at each other for a moment, before shaking their heads in unison. "Nah." "Eh-eh."

Before Naru and Stitch could decide on a plan to utilize, a large plume of smoke appeared in the middle of the clearing accompanied by a loud bang. When the smoke cleared, Kakashi was standing there, his nose deep in an orange book. "Yo."

Sakura's shriek sent everyone's ears ringing. "YOU'RE LATE!"

Kakashi nonchalantly looked up as he ignored his shattered eardrums. "Hm? Oh, sorry. I had to help a little old lady with her groceries. You know how it is."

Sasuke 'hn'ed' apathetically as Sakura stood with twitching eye and slack jaw. Naru and Stitch shared a look, an evil gleam in their eyes. "Plan Teddy Bear?"

Stitch grinned. "Ih!"

Kakashi pulled out an alarm clock and two bells. "Now. You have an hour to get a bell if you want to pass my test. Anybody who hasn't gotten a bell when the alarm goes off will be headed back to the academy. Any questions?" Kakashi missed the evil gleams in Naru's and Stitch's eyes. "No? Alright then. Begin."

Sasuke and Sakura jumped up and ran into the woods, leaving Naru and Stitch standing alone in the clearing with Kakashi. The silver-haired jounin quirked an eyebrow…somehow. "Well. Aren't you two going to hide?"

The gleam in Naru's and Stitch's eyes would give Kakashi nightmares for weeks.

That evening, the various jounin assigned a team of rookie genin were all gathered to report the results of their individual teams' tests to the Hokage in his office.

"Team 1: fail."

"Team 2 was just terrible. Fail."

"Team 3 forgot the objective and ended up beating each other up over whose butt was hairiest."

"Team 4 spent the entire test arguing over who like the Uchiha the best. Remind me why I got an entire team of fangirls?"

"Team 5 failed."

"I don't even know how mine graduated. Fail."

There was a pause. The Hokage sighed. "And Kakashi is late, as usual. I swear, he'd be late to his own funeral if it was possible. Continue. Kakashi should be here before too long."

Kurenai Yuuhi, a fresh jounin with wavy raven hair, wine red eyes, and a white dress with a red thorn motif and a single red sleeve spoke up. "Team 8 passed with flying colors. Kiba, Shino, and Hinata have great potential to be a master tracking team in the future."

Hiruzen nodded and turned to a bearded, brown haired man with a white sash decorated with the symbol for fire around his waist. "Well, Asuma, how about your team?"

Asuma Sarutobi tore his gaze away from his not-so-secret girlfriend, Kurenai. "Huh? Oh." He took the cigarette from his mouth for a moment. "Team 10 passes."

Before Hiruzen could give any orders, the door to the office opened, admitting a rather haggard looking Kakashi to the room. His visible eye was twitching violently. "Team 7, pass."

One of the other jounin, one whose team had failed their test, snorted. "Really? A team actually passed your bell test? How in the name of the Sage did they do that?"

The twitch in Kakashi's eye got worse. "I…don't want to talk about it."

AN: First off, before I say anything else, Naru and Stitch are not related! There is no human DNA in Stitch whatsoever! The two bodies Jumba is talking about in chapter 3 was a pair of Inuzuka hounds that died in the Kyuubi attack! That's it!

It's also why Stitch is so cute, but that's another story entirely.

Anyways, apologies for taking so long with an update, but there was a death in the family, followed by college finals, finding a job, and getting Grandpa's house ready for sale. I'm back for now though.

I leave what happened during the bell test up to your imaginations.

As for the other experiments, I have plans. That is all.

Translations:

Asyrifah. Gaba ika tasoopa? Naga ogata goocha! Ika Patootie toobaga!: Excuse me. What's the big deal? No Hitting! Dummy stupidhead!

Yu Porma dissy. Choota.: A rude remark insulting the recipient's mother. Crud (derogatory).

Q&A time:

Kitkat2847: Yeah, sorry, no four-way free-for-all. A three-way free-for-all, maybe, but not likely to happen in a tournament setting. But thank you for your enthusiasm, it's people like you that make me want to continue writing. As for the prank, well, we'll see who isn't pranked by the end of this, eh?

Akuma-Heika: no. Also, Kushina couldn't do low-level ninjutsu. I'm pretty sure she gave out A- & B-rank ninjutsu like candy during the third war. As for Mizuki, that's not even close to Sasori's level, or even puppeteering. Chakra strings are a wide-spread chakra technique that anybody can use, Tenten for example. Suna just knows how to use chakra strings as a conduit to manipulate puppets, is all.

Falcon800: Umm…(Watches kunai bounce off Stitch) I…don't…know. Kind of redundant though, I mean, he is bulletproof…I blame ANBU.

Daemon-Prince-7: Oh, lord. Jiraiya. Just...oh my.

Ddragon21: No. Stitch will have to use the shadow clone technique himself if he wants clones.