Author's Note/Warning (June 11, 2019): This story starts off with Kiba Inuzuka being a little shit. The reason as to why he is this annoying and belligerent is slowly explored throughout the story, but has not been flat out stated, even by Chapter 22, which is the latest chapter I have posted prior to writing this warning. He is loud, abrasive, and outright irritating in these first chapters. It was all on purpose. And believe me, by Chapter 10, he gets better.

I'm writing this warning to let any new readers know about this. If you're not interested in seeing Kiba Inuzuka being a loud mouthed piece of shit that doesn't know any better than getting himself into trouble, turn back. He's only like this in the first few chapters and mellows out once the friendship between him and Sakura and Chouji gets really fleshed out. But if you're not the kind of person that wants to stick around for 10 chapters of his shit- trust me, I understand. I am warning you though, so you know what you're in for if you choose to stick around. Sakura and Chouji both have their own problems, but aren't nearly as attention stealing as Kiba.

So, with that said, please do enjoy my story if you wish to check it out, even with knowing Kiba is annoying.

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"Just what do you think you were doing, Kiba?" Iruka asked with his eyes narrowed just slightly, focused on the young Inuzuka in front of him. "You're not going to be making any friends if you keep scaring all the students away."

Kiba Inuzuka was not pouting. He never pouted. An Inuzuka never sulked. His bottom lip merely jutted out as a sign of disdain at being scolded yet again by the scarred chunin. He was merely kind of put off by not being able to complete the prank he had begun to set up.

Damn that loud mouthed Naruto.

"He's a jerk, Iruka Sensei! I don't want him to be my friend!" The boy growled, then spit out, "He ruined my prank!" before he could really stop and think about what he was saying.

As soon as the words had left his mouth, the Inuzuka had paled. He had not expected himself to be dumb enough to give away such valuable information without even a threat from his teacher.

The shout had Iruka quirking an eyebrow, scar crinkling slightly with the movement, "And what prank might that be, Kiba?"

With a nervous chuckle, the boy slightly shirked away from the man, "Uh... No prank?" But the lie rang clear enough and left the chunin shaking his head.

"You know better than this, Kiba." The man sighed in disappointment. "Planning pranks, starting fights, interrupting class, skipping class. This is nothing like you."

"I'm not the only one that skips! And you know that, Iruka Sensei!" Kiba shouted impulsively, once more forgoing thought for action.

"I am well aware of that, young man." Iruka frowned at the boy, slightly worried by how easily he had shouted, "And I will deal with your three accomplices after I've finished with you." He crossed his arms over his chest as he said this, making himself seem even more serious in the boy's eyes.

But Kiba, instead of backing down like a normal student would at the threat in the man's voice, merely continued glaring at the scarred chunin. "They're not my accomplices." He answered as he too crossed his arms over his chest, the fire in his eyes clear to his teacher.

Iruka could go two ways about this: Either he could show his dominance by threats, or he could back down and not risk an Inuzuka tantrum.

The choice was rather easy to make.

"Whatever you say." The man waved easily, then smirked at the boy. "Detention for three hours. You know where to go and what your menial task will be."

"Damn!"

"Oh, Sakura... you really shouldn't let those girls pick on you."

Iruka sighed softly as he spoke to the sniffling pink haired girl, feeling rather bad for having to have her sit down in front of him as if she were about to get scolded.

"I... I know, Iruka Sensei..." The young girl sniffled, sounding as if she were just a wrong move away from bawling. "But how am I supposed to stand up for myself? I don't know how!"

The tears brimming in her eyes were literally a millimeter away from spilling and Iruka found himself really hating his job for the fourth time in the day.

First he had to deal with the unruly Inuzuka brat that had gotten in a fight with Naruto. Then he had been forced to deal with Naruto himself because he couldn't let the blonde get away with what he had done to Kiba in retaliation. Getting him to accept his detention time had not been any easier than getting Kiba to shut up. After that, he'd found himself having to scold and punish Shikamaru for skipping on class, even though the Nara didn't care at all. And now he was supposed to be scolding Sakura for a trick she couldn't have possibly come up with, much less planned and executed.

Iruka knew it had been the group of girls that were always picking on the small girl. But he never had the evidence to give them the scolding they deserved. Unfortunately, he could say they were rather adept at hiding their tracks and pointing the evidence on a scapegoat. And that scapegoat was always the meek and much too kind Sakura Haruno.

"How can you ever be a proper kunoichi if you aren't able to stand up for yourself, Sakura?" Iruka shook his head softly as her big green eyes somehow widened further at his words, "Listen, you can't allow Ami and her friends to bully you. You are stronger than that, Sakura. I know you are."

"... I am?"

The whisper was barely loud enough for the scarred chunin to hear, but he was still able to catch it.

"Yes, Sakura. You are." He smiled earnestly as he said this, secretly hoping she would take his words to heart. "Now, I won't punish you because we both know the truth of what happened. But how about, if anyone asks, I had you dust the erasers? Does that seem like an appropriate punishment?"

The broad smile the girl gave him made up rather well for the fact that he still had one more troublemaker to deal with before the lunch break was over.

"Chouji, do you know why you are here rather than outside with the rest of your classmates?"

Five kids. Kiba, Naruto, Shikamaru, Sakura, and now Chouji. Why couldn't he ever have a quiet lunch? Seriously, sometimes it felt as if he didn't get paid enough to deal with most of the things he was put through on a regular basis.

"Because Shikamaru and I skipped class?"

Iruka couldn't help the soft smile that found its way onto his face. He had, at least, been lucky enough to deal with the calmest and most bashful of the kids to get in trouble last. The two most fiery ones had begun this whole scolding session, and then things had been rather simple once Shikamaru had strolled in. Although nothing was every truly simple when it came to children.

"Yes, Chouji. Because you skipped class."

Iruka knew that the child was a follower, not a leader. But he had to learn that his actions were his own and had their consequences. He couldn't continue referring to himself as 'Shikamaru and I'. That just wasn't healthy. He needed to create his own identity, one separated from his best friend.

"I'm sorry, Iruka Sensei. But Shikamaru and I were bored and-"

Iruka raised his hand calmly and the boy immediately ceased talking. "You can never truly excuse cutting class."

"I'm sorry, Iruka Sensei." The boy repeated quickly, shutting up immediately after having said this.

The boy was honest about his apology. That had been more than either Shikamaru or Naruto had felt about having gotten caught skipping class for the third time this month.

"I know you are, Chouji. But this is your third infraction of this kind." The scarred chunin told him softly but sternly, "I am going to have to tell your parents about this."

The way the Akimichi's face paled let Iruka know that he really didn't want his parents to know about this. And he felt slightly bad for this, because he hadn't even threatened Shikamaru with his parents yet. But Chouji was a good kid. He understood right from wrong. And he should have known better than to listen to his friend's bad influences.

The next time the Nara skipped, Iruka would tell his parents. But he would need to tell Chouji's parents as soon as possible to try and help the boy before it was too late.

"Now go back to your lunch. You have five minutes left."

The boy couldn't have ran out of the room any faster.

As soon as the door had closed after the boy, Iruka breathed out and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Kiba had once been a good student. But something had happened that had made him the exact opposite. Sakura was much too kind and shy for her own good. And Chouji would need to step out of Shikamaru's shadow to show the world that he was his own person.

Naruto and Shikamaru were a whole different matter to deal with and they would take much longer. But... Maybe he could help push these three kids in the right direction before it was too late.

The following day brought on new kinds of difficulties for the young school teacher. It had begun in a rather calmed fashion, for his most troublesome students had seemingly decided to give him a small break for once in their lives. Even Kiba had paid attention in the first class. But come snack time, the Inuzuka was back to his aggressive ways and if Sakura hadn't fallen in front of Naruto when she had, another fight would have broken out in the classroom.

Chouji somehow managed to talk Shikamaru out of cutting class today. But the Nara snored rather loudly and distracted the children around him, which meant that Iruka had to give up on scolding the boy to instead scold the other kids.

At least Sakura and Hinata were still the quiet and kind girls that never caused him any trouble... Maybe he should move them so they could sit together... No! He already had a game plan set out and it was perfect.

When the the last class, History, rolled around, Iruka was just about ready to throw the fiery Inuzuka and high spirited Uzumaki out of the window. They were always at each other's throats. And Iruka knew that it was only because they were both too hard headed to ever truly listen to each other and find out they were almost clones of one another!

"Now, for your assignment."

Huh, look at that... Kiba and Naruto could stop their incessant glaring to groan along with the rest of the class. Iruka was slightly amused by this.

"It'll be a group project to be turned in at the end of the week. You will have two days to complete it." Iruka continued to speak even through the groans, moving to the front of his desk to lean against it and cross his arms over his chest, "And I will be assigning the groups."

He had a list, even. He'd prepared it last night over coffee and a headache, the papers of the past test underneath the list he was creating, just waiting to be graded. He had mulled over the whole classroom with a critical eye, hellbent on getting the kids into the best groups for this kind of assignment.

So he began to call out the names of the groups he had formed, earning mixed reactions from each kid as they found out who they were to work with. Then he got to the group of nine kids that worried him the most.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shikamaru Nara." He called out, then looked at the way the three kids reacted.

The dark haired Sasuke looked at both his group members with slightly widened eyes, while Shikamaru continued sleeping- he'd really have to find a way to wake the Nara up... This was just becoming ridiculous- and Hinata had her eyes closed, her cheeks tinted with red. These reactions made Iruka smile almost nervously. He really hoped the cool demeanor of both boys rubbed off on Hinata. And that she would be able to open Shikamaru's eyes to his schoolwork and somehow open Sasuke's eyes to the fact there were more people in this world than just his clan.

"Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame, and Naruto Uzumaki." He called after, an extremely loud groan immediately ringing out.

"Why can't I be with Sakura?"

Iruka merely ignored the shout from Naruto and looked at Shino, who didn't seem even the least bit fazed by his group mates. And Ino's eyes had widened, looking from one boy to the other only to throw her head onto the desk and curse her life. Iruka hoped that the two blondes' sunny disposition would help bring Shino out of his shell. And maybe Shino's own calm demeanor would rub off on the blondes and help them become just a tad bit more calmed down and thoughtful.

"And, finally," The scarred man smiled up at the group of kids in his care, proud with what the groups he had managed to create, "Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, and Chouji Akimichi."

Kiba glared at Iruka almost venomously. A reaction that both irritated and didn't surprise his teacher. All the while Sakura's cheeks colored lightly and she looked at both boys with wide eyes. And, finally, Chouji glanced at Shikamaru with worried eyes, apparently looking for him for what he was supposed to do.

This group was the one that he really wanted to work out the most. The other six could be mixed up in a different manner to get them to work out if this formation didn't work. But these three were the ones Iruka desperately needed to influence each other.

"The assignment is that of an oral presentation about any of the Great Shinobi Wars." Iruka began to explain the assignment once all the teams had been told, "I want you to- as a team- investigate and find a story about any of the wars. It can be from a great-grandparent, neighbor, distant cousin, anyone that isn't related to you too closely. So no parents, grandparents, or first generation cousins. I want you kids to go out and searchfor these stories."

The class was divided. Half was intrigued and other was not interested. He wasn't surprised to see that Chouji and Sakura were part of the intrigued half. But he was kind of surprised when he saw Kiba actually paying attention to him rather than sending spitballs at Naruto.

"Then I want you to turn these stories into a presentation for the rest of the class. Call it a play of sorts. Be creative and bring your imagination to the project. And remember that it must be historically accurate. You can't add any dragons or elves just for flair."

After he had said all of this, he finished with, "Now you have what's left of the class to get together in your groups and begin to plan."

With these words he walked to the back of his desk and sat down, taking out the tests that he hadn't graded the past night to continue correcting them.

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