Hey all two of you who reviewed my story, still love ya! To my few silent lurkers, enjoy the new chapter!

Warning: I have no idea where this story is going. I'm dropping hints everywhere, but they are also for myself, so please comment if there are any pairings or scenes or characters I should include! Thanks J enjoy

"Bye, Kurenai-san!" Naruto yelled happily, waving back at the brown haired ninja from the doors of the library. Outside, the sun was setting, a sign of how long Naruto had spent in the library, and it leant its bright light to Naruto's face and made him veritably glow in the dimming light.

Inside, Kurenai waved back with a cheerful grin that had been tempered into being by Naruto's excitable nature. The boy had been shy at first, unwilling to quite believe that she actually wanted to be near him, but had soon relaxed into his normal, over excited and fairly hyper attitude that she had found endearing, if a little frustrating to try and teach.

The two of them had persevered none the less, and had begun to read through one of the books right in the kids section of the library, which Naruto was initially embarrassed about until Kurenai-sensei confided in him that she still read some of the books there, since she found they had better stories than many of the more mature books. He hadn't learnt much- maybe a few letters- but it was much more than he knew originally so he was happy. She had even said that he would learn the alphabet within the week, so Naruto thought that meant they were making good progress (though he couldn't be certain).

Naruto beamed at his new teacher one last time, and stepped away from the now comforting walls of the library and back out into the streets. He had really lucked out that Kurenai-sensei had been at the desk this time, considering what had happened the first time he had gone to the library (and it was that event that had put him off ever going back there again) but he was truly glad he did.

He hummed happily as he walked away, taking care to avoid the deeper puddles that still remained from the previous day's rain, and even smiling back at the disapproving faces that sent him their customary glares. They couldn't hurt him.

Kurenai had also set him a small task to do before their next lesson- she wanted him to complete some kind of worksheet, which he had initially protested on the basis that he couldn't read the instructions, but she had just laughed in the face of his protests and told him that he could fill in the blanks easily enough.

Naruto was sure that he wasn't learning reading and writing in quite the right order, but he had no real protests. He was sure that this method had to be faster, and he was six! He could handle this, unlike the little children that he saw running around.

He clutched the small paper sheet in his hands, determined not to let it drop and be ruined by something on the streets. He was going to make Kurenai-sensei proud, he could do the sheet tonight and bring it back to show her tomorrow, he was going to learn to read in super quick time-

"What are you doing here, little bakemono?"

The blonde looked up quickly, not noticing the man standing outside a dingy pub in the same little side alley until it was too late.

"Me?" he asked quietly, checking behind him just in case there might have been someone else there with them, but oddly enough it was only the pair of them outside.

"Yes, you. Don't play innocent with me, I can see through your lies," the man sneered down at him, and Naruto blinked, slowly edging backwards and away from the potential pain that he could sense coming his way.

The tall person laughed at his attempt, striding forwards easily, but then stopping and wobbling slightly and it was then that Naruto realised that the other was drunk and not fully in control of his actions.

That made him dangerous.

Normal people steered clear of hurting him, he knew that, if only because of jiji, but there had been a few people in the past who had forgotten the consequences and chased him, punished him for something that he wasn't sure he had done, but they all refused to believe that they had the wrong person.

"I- I think you've got the wrong person," Naruto tried anyway, taking another step back and carefully folding his worksheet into a small square and tucking it into his pocket (what was left of it anyway).

"The wrong person?" the man snorted, and stepped closer to the jinchuriki, who could barely stop himself from trembling as he saw just how much taller the other was, flitting his eyes around to see where the exits actually were, and only relaxing a little as he noted that his back was to the exit and he could easily escape if he needed to.

Naruto was beginning to think that leaving was a very good idea.

"Come here, demon gaki, and I'll show just who's got the wrong person," the man slurred a little bit, but was aware enough to launch himself forwards and Naruto fled.

He took off down towards the exit, ignoring the stumbling man who followed him haphazardly, and darted out of the darkness like a bullet, hurtling down the brighter street and accidently running into a woman with bags on her arms, causing her to drop them and shout at him.

"What was that for!?" she yelled, glaring at him as she painfully bent over to pick up the heavy bags, and Naruto shot her an apologetic look.

"I'm so sorry," he called back, already on his way again as he hoped that the man was far enough away not to catch him, and sprinting into the next side alley, running back to the original place in the friendly grid system he knew was in place in the more modern part of Konoha, around the shops where they were.

He chanced a look behind him and saw no pursuers, so he dared to slow his pace to a hurried walk and doubled back into the original alley. At the top end of the street Naruto saw the original man, shaking his fist at something in the distance, but no longer chasing him.

The blonde breathed out a trembling sigh of relief and slumped back into the alley set behind his original one, ignoring the puddle he had once again managed to fall into in favour of watching the sky, where the sun was just setting in the distance.

The dirty water soaked into his pants and Naruto let it uncaringly, before he shot upright again. His worksheet!

He pulled it frantically out of its broken pocket, hoping that the water hadn't reached it, but his heart sank as he saw that it was dripping wet and looked likely to fall apart the second he tried to open it again. Naruto sighed in misery, knowing that Kurenai-sensei was going to be mad with him, but also knowing that there was nothing he could do.

The only adults who might be able to sort it out would be jiji or Kurenai, and it was too late for one and the other he simply didn't know where she lived, or what she would be able to do.

Naruto hung his head and kept hold of the paper anyway, thinking that he might be able to dry it when he got home, and sadly stood up, muscles aching after their sudden exertion.

He needed to get home.

The young boy reached his house relatively quickly, surprised himself at how well he had managed the journey.

He looked down at his pocket, where the mangled sheet was, and sighed. The parchment was still sopping where it had been accidently soaked in puddle water, so he gingerly took it out his pocket and placed it on the table, staring at it intently as though it might explode.

Naruto still wasn't sold on the whole learning thing, if he was being honest, it was all quite a spur of the moment thing. Leiko-san had been the second adult in his life to offer him advice, and the blonde thought that the advice seemed to be worth taking.

That didn't mean he was automatically a genius.

"What do I do now though?" he asked himself quietly, turning to the plant in the corner of the room and staring at that too. It didn't move, much to the young boy's surprise, and he resumed his inspection of the wodge of paper with an ever growing expression of woe.

"Ne…Neko-san, can you make this better?" he asked the thin air, poking the lump again and turning away from it, hearing nothing but not daring to look back for a few minutes (which was still a little tight, considering Cat's sharp personality) and sighing in misery as the paper was still lodged in a wet clump on the table.

"Fine, fine," he grumbled under his breath and got up from the sole chair, wandering into the bathroom and using the toilet before he even noticed the open window.

"Huh," the boy thought to himself, staring at the size of it. The open space looked just large enough for a child to crawl through, or big enough to fit an A4 sheet, and the blonde wondered if hanging the worksheet up there would help dry it, or if he was going to be better off just going to bed.

He decided to try anyway, thinking that it wouldn't hurt, but his sole plan was thwarted when the space ended up too high to reach.

Naruto pouted in the other corner of the room and told his plant that he was going to grow one day. He doubted even it believed him.

"I'm sorry Kurenai-sensei…but my sheet kind of got a little bit wet,"

"It's okay Naruto-kun," the kunoichi smiled, but the younger blonde didn't see it.

Naruto kept his head down as he mumbled the next sentence.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't hear you," Kurenai told him apologetically, then frowned as he repeated his statement again.

"Can I have five minutes?" the boy muttered, looking up through his lashes at his former teacher.

"Whatever for?" she asked, surprised.

"To get away," Naruto whispered, and she looked down at him in sadness, wondering what situation he'd been in that made him think she would hurt him for dropping a worksheet.

"No," she said, and he sprang upright again.

"Please!" he begged, leaping away a step and twitching his fingers into his pocket for something, but not taking his hand out of the fabric.

"Naruto! I'm not going to hurt you! I promised, remember?" she yelled, softening her tone only slightly at the end and a half sob broke out from Naruto's lips.

"I always knew it was a lie!" he yelled right back, brandishing the glass at her one last time, then throwing it aside in favour of running back to the door.

Kurenai sighed, wondering if Naruto realised just how similar this situation was to what had taken place only a few days ago, when she had first become his teacher.

She body-flickered over to the boy, grabbing him and forcing him into a chair.

"No, you listen to me," Kurenai hissed, her red eyes flashing in menace and it suitably cowed Naruto.

"I will never hurt you, no matter what you do. The worst I can do Naruto, is be disappointed in you," she said, sort of gently but still in a manner totally wrong for children of Naruto's age, not that either of them were aware of that.

There was silence for a few seconds, in which Kurenai began to worry that she'd gone wrong somewhere, and that suspicion was only confirmed when Naruto did indeed begin to move.

To laugh.

His laughter echoed around the quiet room, disturbing a few people but not that many visited the library in one go anyway, and so it ended up being Kurenai instead who silently freaked out, staring a little out of her depth at the hysterical young blonde.

"Naruto? Do you need a hospital?" she asked pointedly, hiding any turmoil she might be feeling, but Naruto just grinned up at her. She entertained the notion that the other, subdued Naruto was just an act and that maybe the Kyuubi was here in the flesh after all, but knew she needed more proof than that to pass judgements.

"Nope," the boy grinned cheerfully, calming down on the laughter but still smiling eerily and it took Kurenai far too long (in her opinion) to realise that the happiness was still just a mask.

"Do you need a friend?" she asked again, eyes flashing in sympathy when Naruto stiffened and lowered his head again, giving up the façade again.

"…No," he whispered to the floor.

She smiled.

"What about a sensei?" the brown haired woman asked, warm smile back in place, and Naruto felt strangely comforted by the sight of it.

"I don't need one..." he trailed off, but Kurenai understood what he was saying anyway.

"Well, you've got one. Settle down, Naruto-kun, and we can do this worksheet instead," she ruffled his hair.

Naruto's head shot up and his cerulean eyes stared into hers desperately, searching for something although she didn't know what. After a few seconds he seemed to find it because he stopped, bowed his head lightly, and then looked up again at Kurenai.

"Okay," he agreed, but this time there was something steely behind his eyes and tone that Kurenai liked.

They were the makings of a true ninja.