Disclaimer: I do not own Medaka Box or Naruto. Those rights belong to Nisio Isin & Akira Akatsuki and Masashi Kishimoto respectively. I also don't own any other anime or its characters that might appear in this story. This story is a Three-Shot, meaning there will only be three chapters, and there will be some differences from the original materials of both Anime/Manga. So without any delay. Sit back, relax and enjoy the story.

People Speaking: "You don't become Hokage to be acknowledged by everyone."

People Thinking: 'It's the people acknowledged by everyone that become Hokage.'

Monster/Demon Speaking: "People don't exist to follow rules."

Monster/Demon Thinking: 'Rules exist to protect the people.'

Techniques or Abnormality Names: "Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"

Chapter 1

Whiskered Jinchūriki Meets an Abnormal Girl and a Normal Boy

"So, this is the infamous Hakoniwa General Hospital that had been addressed in our report… It certainly looks more like a normal hospital than what I expected." A man in his late fifties said to himself as he stood at the gated entrance of the large building in front of him. The man had tan-skin and dark brown hair that was spiked back slightly with a small, marching goatee on his slightly gaunt face, with a hint of wrinkles starting to form that seemed to promote his old age. Along with the small wart that was present on his left nostril, the man had two lines running vertically under the outer corners of each eye. He was currently wearing a haori with a red, full-length yukata that is tied using a white sash and a white robe over it, and hanging on his back thanks to chord over his neck was a matching customary hat with the kanji for fire on it.

"Is this another bad hospital?" Hearing a younger voice speak up next to him, the man looked down at the spiky, blonde haired toddler holding his hand with a fearful look present on the child's face.

He had spiky sun-kiss blonde hair, a tanned complexion and three whisker-like marks on each cheek of his face. The boy was wearing long sleeve green shirt and a white t-shirt over it, with a red spiral emblem over the chest, black shorts that reached just below his knees and black shinobi sandals.

A small frown formed on the man's face as he felt the tiny hand tremble in his larger one, before bending down to the child's lever and flashing him a reassuring smile. "Don't you worry yourself, Naruto-kun. No one here is going to hurt you."

"… You promise?" The three-year old Naruto questioned as he stared up at the man who was a grandfather to him, despite not being his real grandparent.

"I promise," The man said while closing his eyes to complete the warm smile on his face. "And after we finish up here, how about we go for some ice cream?"

"Really~?!" All the fear on Naruto's face instantly vanished at the mention at the tasty desert. "Can I have extra sprinkles and cherries?"

"Why not… But remember, you have to be a good boy while we are here."

"Hokage-sama." A second voice interrupted the two, making them turn to see a masked man with spiky silver hair standing a few feet behind them, the porcelain canine mask with red and black markings around the eyes, sides, and mouth symbolizing his position as an Anbu, code-named Dog, and a bodyguard for the two he was with. He was wearing a simple blue suit with a grey flak jacket over it, strapped-up sandals and arm guards that went up to his elbows, and a tattoo resembling a red flame on his left deltoid. "You meeting should be starting soon."

"… Yes, I suppose it is time." The Hokage replied as a serious expression replaced the smile on his face, returning to his feet as he turned back to face the hospital building. "All of the other Kages and Mifune-sama are meeting leaders of the other five habitable continents, and I must do the same with the people of this one."

"I have to ask though, why would they suggest meeting on this island next to it? And why a hospital of all things?" The Anbu questioned as the three made their way to the front doors of the building, where a small group of people could be seen approaching it from the inside.

"Apparently, three of the men we are meeting have business here and felt it would be better to discuss matters here." Seeing the glass doors open, the older man narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the opposing group come up to the three before whispering one last thing to the Anbu, low enough that the people greeting them couldn't hear it. "Apparently this Kurokami Group has a strong pull, along with two men named Shiranui and Tsurubami, the latter being the director to this very facility. All of the continents have hundreds of leaders running the different regions and areas, yet it seems like these men are like Danzō and have a large impact on the world from the sidelines. Which means that they will be playing part in this peace treaty as well. Keep a sharp eye on the situation, Dog."

"Yes sir."

Neither men noticed Naruto glance up at them with confusion at hearing their whispers.

"Hello, you must be one of the Five Kages from the Elemental Nations, Hiruzen Sarutobi-sama." A female voice spoke up from within the small group greeting them, surprising Naruto upon seeing an older girl in her teens with strawberry-blond hair wearing a doctor's coat over a yellow dress. "I am Hitomi Hitoyoshi, one of the doctors who work here. Let me be one of the first to welcome you and your group to Japan. I hope the trip wasn't too troubling for you."

"Not at all. I've still got plenty of years left in me to travel, especially if it's on a mission to promote peace." Sarutobi replied with a good hearted smile on his face, "I am surprised to see someone so young to be one of leading doctors of this hospital."

"Haha, don't let my appearance fool you! I'm actually close to turning 30 soon!" Hitomi laughed as she brushed off her own comment, before taking notice to the toddler at his side. Naruto quickly took noticed to this before pulling his hand out of Sarutobi's grip before hiding behind the Hokage. "And who is this? I wasn't expecting us to be hosting your grandson as well."

"Oh, no, he isn't my grandson. Naruto is someone from my village that I keep an eye on from time to time. Unfortunately, he is an orphan, so I thought a trip like this would do him good." Sarutobi explained with a small amount of truth in his words, though there was more to the situation as he feared for Naruto's safety if he were to leave the village for a long period of time.

With his old rival, Danzō, attempting to have the two year old join his ANBU Root Subdivision, and the boy's former caregiver's secret attempt on his life as he slept, Sarutobi didn't want to take the chance. The truth was that Naruto Uzumaki wasn't just any orphan, he was actually a Jinchūriki, a human container of a powerful nine-tailed fox creature known as the Kyuubi, a creature that nearly destroyed their village, Konohagakure, on the day of his birth. It was thanks to the sacrifice of his deceased successor, the Yondaime, Minato Namikaze and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's parents, that the beast was stopped and sealed away. It had been Minato and Kushina's wishes that Naruto be seen as a hero… but the destruction and deaths caused by the Kyuubi was still fresh in the minds of the survivors, some of them even calling for the death of the newborn. It was only thanks to those that knew the truth of Naruto's origins and Sarutobi retaking the title of Hokage that kept the boy safe, physically at least. A large percentage of the village ostracized the boy and wanted nothing to do with him, there were many times when parents did everything they could to keep their child away from Naruto, isolating the boy even more. It honestly broke the old man's heart to see the two year old's crying face when he was left by himself in the middle of a playground.

"He's an orphan, huh? Such a terrible shame…" Naruto wasn't sure how to process the look the apparently older woman was sending his way as he stared back at her from behind the Hokage's coat, only to blink in surprise as he felt himself being picked up with two arms wrapping around his small form followed by a cheek rubbing affectionately against his. "He's so adorable~! He reminds me of my little Zen-chan~! Only with whiskers like a cat, no wait… more like a fox!"

"U-Um, I, Wai-!" Whatever the blonde was about to say was instantly halted as he felt one of Hitomi's hands reached up to his exposed cheek and brushed against it gently, causing his body to freeze up for a few seconds before it instantly relaxed. And what he did next made Hitomi pause her actions.

"… He just purred… That's even cuter!" Hitomi stated as she continued to rub Naruto's birthmarks, much to the boy confused pleasure.

The outside viewers such as Dog and Hitomi's associates couldn't help but sweatdrop at the scene, with Dog's body relaxing as he saw that nothing bad was happening to the blonde toddler. Sarutobi himself could help but chuckle at how the woman was acting with Naruto, a feeling of relief and contentment at seeing the boy finally being treated with such affection.

"Um… Hitoyoshi-san…" The youthful looking woman paused in her actions at the sound of one of her colleagues, who had an uneasy look on his face as he took a step closer to her and Naruto. "Don't you think we should direct the Hokage to where the Director and the other leaders are located? If we delay things any longer…"

"I suppose you're right." Hitomi replied with a disappointed tone, the toddler in her arms snapping out of his daze upon realizing that his cheeks were no longer being rubbed, something that he had never experienced before, as well as the comforting hold that the woman had on him. "My apologies for holding you up. If you follow these men, they'll lead you to Building 4 where the Chairman usually sets up his meetings. Most of the Leaders, Presidents and Prime Ministers have already gathered there."

"So many different kinds of leaders, all of them from various parts of Asia." Dog started with a guarded voice. "It's hard to believe that they all managed to fit in this one hospital, especially with the security needed for such an important meeting."

Hitomi smiled as she released Naruto from her embrace, saddening the boy as the loss of the warm feeling going through him, "This isn't the first time that we have had numerous leaders come here for secure meetings. I can guarantee that nothing will happen to any of you during your stay here."

"Thank you very much… I don't suppose you have somewhere Naruto can stay while I am attending the meeting?" Sarutobi asked with his focus on the small woman in front of him, keeping a straight look on his face as he noticed the look of alarm on Naruto's face at the question.

"Of course, we actually have a nursery where the staff can leave their children while they work their shifts." Hitomi replied with a smile on her face, "I can actually take him there myself if you want."

"But Jii-chan!" Naruto went up to the old man's side, grabbing a bunch of the Hokage robe in his tiny hands. "What if you leave and something bad happens again?!"

"Huh?" The loli-looking doctor blinked in confusion at that and quickly took notice to the terrified look on the boy's face. As a trained, doctor and a Psychosomatic Surgeon specializing in children and young teens, Hitomi instantly began mentally studying the boy's appearance and noted that there were various parts of Naruto's tiny figure that looked to have been remodeled or skin that was still tender from recovered bruises. '… That's more than just a scared two year old who's afraid of a hospital… He actually thinks that this place will hurt him for no reason. Is it possible that he's been abused both physically and mentally? Is that why the Hokage brought such a young boy with him? To keep him safe?'

"Nothing will happen to you Naruto, I promised you, didn't I?" The Hokage replied as he patted the boy's head, before glancing over at his Anbu escort, who nodded his head as he lifted his hands and crossed his fingers over his chest. To Hitomi's surprise and the shock of the other staff members, a puff of smoke appeared alongside the silver-haired masked man, before dispersing quickly to reveal a second Dog standing next to the original. "Dog's clone will watch over you, and you know he won't let anything bad happen to you."

Naruto turned his head to over at the Anbu, one of the few that was actually very nice to him and helped him out with a lot of things like shopping for food or watching over the boy so no one would try anything. The strange thing was that when Naruto had asked him why he was so nice, Dog went silent before replying that it was because a promise he had made with a scary tomato to keep an eye him. For a toddler the age of 3, the answer only raised more questions, but Naruto quickly learned that Dog was someone who he could trust.

"That is amazing!"

"So this is one of those Jutsus that can only be used by people from the Elemental Nations!?"

'… Incredible…' Hitomi thought to herself as she stared up at the clone, her eyes widened at the sight. With her position at the hospital and her cooperation with the special 'project' that involved a unique type of humans known as Abnormals, she had come across all sorts of abilities that were believed to be impossible. But here, in front of her, was a new type of Human that come from an originally unreachable continent with an unconceivable energy source known as Chakra… It was scary to think what some groups out there would be capable of if they somehow acquired this power for themselves. The tiny woman quickly dismissed these thoughts with a shake of her head, before taking a few steps closer to Naruto. "You don't have to be scared Naruto-kun~! The nursery has all sorts of toys and fun activities that you can play with! My son is there right now!"

"Y-Your son?" Naruto repeated as he turned his head to look at the smiling doctor, keeping his hands clenched on Sarutobi's robes.

Hitomi nodded her head as she held out a hand to the toddler, "That's right! His name is Zenkichi and he's going to be three in a few months. The other staff members that have children didn't bring them in today, so he's got the whole place to himself. I'm sure he'd enjoy having you with him!"

"… R-Really?" This time, the blonde toddler turned around fully to look at Hitomi, disbelief and hesitation present on his face. "I… I can play with him? And you won't get mad?"

"Mad? Of course not! I'd love it if you both could become friends and have fun together!" Taking one of Naruto's free hands into hers with a soft grip, the warm smile on Hitomi's face only grew as she gently pulled him away from Sarutobi. "So what do you say? Wanna meet him?"

"U... Uh-huh…" Nodding his head at the question, Naruto was in a daze as Hitomi began leading him down a hallway.

"… She certainly knows how to deal with children, doesn't she?" Dog commented as he nodded his head at his clone, to which his copy mirrored before vanishing from sight.

One of the other staff members chuckled at that, "There is no one at this hospital better than her when it comes to children, especially with such a sincere and comforting heart like hers. You can trust that boy with Dr. Hitoyoshi." Beckoning towards the opposite hallway with his arm, the man and the security motioned for the two Shinobi to follow them towards the meeting room. "Now if you would follow us, everyone is waiting for you."

"Yes, thank you." Sarutobi's face was blank as he watched the two walk away, but mentally the man was glad that Naruto was going to have a pleasant experience while they were there and a chance to make a new friend. Just another reason why he had to make sure that the peace summit with the other six continents went smoothly.

(Hakoniwa General Hospital Nursery)

"Here we are!" Hitomi cheerfully said as she and Naruto walked into the nursery.

Naruto was silent as he scanned the colorful room, taking notice to all the designs and drawings taped to the walls, the cupboards filled with all sorts of toys, coloring tools and papers, and blankets. His attention soon focused on a small form wearing an orange hoodie in the center of the room, surrounded with all sorts of toys and currently putting together a picture puzzle. A strange feeling built up in the young Uzumaki as he remained rooted in his spot, even as he watched Hitomi make her way towards the small figure.

"Zenkichi-kun!" The woman greeted with a large smile on her face, causing the hoodie wearing boy to spin around at the familiar voice.

With the hood only showing his mouth, a smile could be seen forming on the boy's face as he got up to his feet and ran up to Hitomi, "Okaa-san!"

Reaching up a hand and pushing the hoodie off her son's head, Naruto could see that the two year old looked like Hitomi with strawberry-blond hair and blue eyes. "Have you been good?"

"Uh-huh! I've been working on puzzles!" Zenkichi answered, before blinking as he glanced over his mother's shoulder and saw a silent Naruto staring back at him. "Who's that?"

"This is Naruto-kun," Hitomi introduced as she brought her son closer to the sun-kissed blonde toddler, "He's going to be waiting here for his grown-ups to finish doing stuff."

Removing himself from his mother's hold, Zenkichi walked up to Naruto with a smile before holding his hand out. "Hi there! I'm Zenkichi Hitoyoshi!"

"I… I'm Naruto Uzumaki…" Feeling a little awkward at what to do next, Naruto's gaze drifted down to Zenkichi's orange hoodie. "… I like your hoodie."

"Thanks! I think orange is a cool color, don't you?"

A large smile formed on Naruto's face as he felt the queasy feeling in his stomach begin to disappear, "Yeah! Other kids say I'm weird for liking it, but I think its awesome!"

"Hehehe," Zenkichi started to laugh at Naruto's words, and soon Naruto was joining him in the laughter. Hitomi remained silent as she watched the two chat from a short distance. The laughing soon came to an end as Zenkichi picked up a nearby blue ball and held it up to Naruto. "Wanna play? It'd be nice having someone else here!"

Glancing briefly at Hitomi, Naruto saw the woman nod her head with a smile on her face before turning back at Zenkichi. "Yeah! Let's do it!"

With that said, the two boys rushed passed the smiling Hitomi towards the other toys. Nodding her head with a satisfied expression, the woman walked herself out as she heard the cheerful shouts of the boys playing behind her. While she didn't know Naruto's history back in the Elemental Nations, it was clear how much happier the boy was after meeting Zenkichi and that was enough for her at the moment. Stretching her arms over her shoulders to get the kink out of her shoulders, Hitomi giggled to herself as she headed towards her office. Time to get back to work!

(A Few Hours Later)

"…"

"…"

"… Naruto?"

"Hmmm!?" Naruto let out an annoyed hum as he stared down at the infuriating contraption in his hand, pulling at it with both hands. "I'm gonna get this!"

Zenkichi had a concerned look on his face as he watched his new friend attempt to solve one of the wire puzzles that were in one of the older kid boxes. He had tried to solve it a little bit ago before giving Naruto a turn, though it was more of Naruto trying to use brute force than actually solving it. "You don't have to push yourself."

"I can do it, ya know!" Naruto exclaimed as he continued to pull at the two wires pieces, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth as he tried to summon up even more strength in his attempt.

Because his eyes were closed, Naruto didn't notice as a very small wisp of red mist circle around his hands as he continued to pull. Zenkichi's eyes widened as he watched the wires in the two year old's red-glowing hands begin to warp… before breaking apart in his hands. Naruto's eyes snapped open as he felt the resistance vanish completely and saw the broken wires between his fingers.

"I did it!" Naruto cheered with a large grin and pumping his hands into the air.

"Woooooow~! How did you do that glowing hand thingy?" Zenkichi asked with wide eyes and an excited look on his face.

Naruto blinked at the strawberry blonde's question before looking down at his hands as he dropped the destroyed wires, "Glowing hand?"

"Yeah! They were covered in a red mist!"

"… Was it catra?" Naruto wondered as he clenched and unclenched his hands.

"Catra?" Zenkichi repeated with a confused look.

Nodding his head at that, Naruto looked up at his friend. "Yeah, it's this energy that ninjas back home can use to do a lot of things."

"Really? I want to be a ninja too! Can you show me how to use catra?" An excited look formed on Zenkichi's face, an image of him wearing a cape and flying through the sky going through his mind. He didn't really know what a ninja was… What? He was two years old and a half. In a kid's mind, ninjas was just another word for superheroes.

"I don't really know how to use it yet… Sorry." A guilty expression grew on Naruto's face as he denied his friend's request, only to feel Zenkichi pat his shoulder.

"Don't worry. We can try when we're bigger!" The two year old smiled before motioning to the other puzzles, "Let's try something else! This time, I'm gonna beat it!"

As the two moved onto the next puzzle, Dog's clone was watching the two from his hiding spot and cloaked presence, an uneasy feeling going through him as he thought back to Naruto's actions. 'There's no doubt about it… That was the Kyuubi's chakra just now… But it doesn't seem like the seal broke or anything, most likely a small slip with his emotions.' The more he continued to think about it, the more at ease Dog's mind went as he continued to watch the boys play. The sounds of the nursery's door opening made him turn his head to see a two year old girl in a pink dress sneak into the room before silently closing it behind her while placing her ear against it. Dog could hear the sounds of multiple footsteps rush passed the closed door. 'Interesting, her mind must be very advanced to know how to avoid pursuers. She doesn't seem dangerous, but I should keep up my guard to be safe.'

Pulling her head away from the door, the girl turned around and noticed two boys around her age surrounded by toys and puzzles. One of them with spiky blonde hair and whisker marks on his face, and she could see that he was rooting for the other boy, this one with less spiky strawberry blonde hair, as he attempted to solve a wire puzzle in his hands. Watching the two for a few seconds as the second boy seemed to have a lot of difficulty with the puzzle, the girl let out a sigh before walking up to them. Naruto halted his words of encouragement as he noticed there was someone new in the room and looked up, blinking a few times as he saw a blue haired girl with red eyes walking up to them while a single, long lock of hair sticking out swayed side to side with each step. Zenkichi looked up as he realized Naruto wasn't talking anymore and turned around as well, a look of curiosity forming on his face at the new person.

"Why are you having trouble with that easy puzzle?" The girl asked as she stretched out a hand towards Zenkichi, "Give it to me, I'll solve it." A little confused at the girl's request, Zenkichi was about to hand the puzzle to her, only for Naruto to push his hand down. Looking over at his new friend, Zenkichi saw the frown on Naruto's face before turning back to see that the girl had a raised eyebrow now. "What are you doing? I can solve that."

"So what if you can? If you want the puzzle, you can at least say please, ya know!" Naruto retorted as he was a little annoyed at the way she was talking to Zenkichi. "Jii-chan says that you have to be nice to someone if you want something!"

Tilting her head at that, the girl was honestly confused at the response. Normally people would just let her take care of things and be done with it instead of argue. Instead of saying anything, she simply walked over to Zenkichi and held out her hand once again. "You want the puzzle solved, right? Hand it over… Please."

"Okay," Handing over the puzzle to the girl, Zenkichi and Naruto were shocked to see that she unhooked the wire in seconds. "Wow, that amazing!"

"You really solved it! Even I had trouble with it," Naruto added in amazement as he watched Zenkichi took the two pieces from the girl, who looked at the floor and saw the remains of the wire puzzle that Naruto had broken.

"… That looks more destroyed than solved." The girl stated with a blank expression as she turned her head away.

"If you're such a smarty-pants, then solve this!" Grabbing nearby Rubik's Cube as he said this, Naruto held it close to the girl's face. She turned her head back to look at Naruto before taking the toy from him, solving it within seconds much to his surprise. "Whoa… Well, I'm not done!"

One after the other, every puzzle that Naruto and Zenkichi pushed at the girl was solved almost instantly. Soon they moved onto building objects from blocks and other toys, and each time the girl shocked them on how outclassed she made them. But while Naruto looked defeated at this fact, Zenkichi was smiling and running around with a cheer.

"You're really amazing! You solved them all and so quickly too!" Zenkichi exclaimed as he came to a stop and patted Naruto on the back, "Come on, Naruto! That was amazing, right?"

Letting out a sigh, Naruto couldn't help but nod his head in agreement. "Yeah, it was… But we can do that too! Maybe not now, but you and I can do it if we try!"

"Maybe, but right now I'm just as happy that they were solved!"

"Why would you even care about something like this?" Both boys turned to look at the girl staring at them while sitting on her knees, "There's no real meaning to doing these puzzles. There's no meaning to our lives from the moment when we are born until the day we die. It is all meaningless."

Naruto's eyes widened at her words before shaking his head as he recognized the look on her face, not noticing that Zenkichi shook his head with a smile. Then at the same time, both of them spoke up.

"I think everything has a meaning!"

"Nothing is meaningless!"

The girl didn't even blink as she looked at both of them with some annoyance, "Then why am I here? If nothing is meaningless, then tell me why I am here?"

"If you want a reason than think about how much fun and happy you made this for us." Zenkichi replied as he motioned to all of the toys surrounding them. "I think you were born to make everyone happy!"

"You also make me want to improve myself! Being someone that wants to help people become better so they can try to surpass you as a goal is something meaningful as well, ya know!" Naruto added with a small grin as he got soaked up in the conversation. "You just wait, I'll beat you at something and have you acknowledge me!"

The girl's eyes widened in shock as she registered what the two had said to her. Again, she was surprised at the fact that these two boys were different from the rest of the adults and other people she had met, most of them intimidated or frightened after seeing what she could do. She could feel another sensation wash over her as she stared at the two, her heart beating fast and her cheeks flushed.

"W-What are your names?" The girl asked as she rose to her feet, resting her hands on her hips. "I'm Medaka. Medaka Kurokami."

Hearing the girl introducing herself, Zenkichi was first to do the same with a small smile. "It's Zenkichi Hitoyoshi."

"And I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The blonde did a thumbs up as he said this, remembering a strange green outfitted man doing the same to other Shinobis.

The blush on Medaka's face grew as she stared at the two boys in front of her, "W… Well then… Naruto… Zenkichi! Please... Please marry me!"

"Ehhh," Zenkichi shook his head at that, "No way."

"That's not happening."

The clone of Dog couldn't help but sweatdrop at the crushed look on Medaka's face after hearing a double rejection from the boys, something that would be expected from two toddlers just meeting her. 'I know girls like to think about falling in love and getting married early in their lives, but this is ridiculous.'

"How about we play another game instead?" Naruto offered with a smile, clenching his tiny hands into fists in front of his face, "This time, I'm gonna win!"

"Can't we just have fun?" Zenkichi asked as he looked at his fellow blonde with a confused smile.

The crushed Medaka snapped out of her shocked daze as she watched the two boys' converse, both of them completely different from all of the people she had encountered in her short, but experienced life. This was something new… and she wanted this to last forever!

NUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZH

"All right, you three! Are you ready to go?" Hitomi called out as she stood ready at the door, wearing a red yukata that had white lines curling designs on it and a pink obi with her doctor's coat over it and a small backpack.

Six years had passed since that fateful meeting and the beginning of Naruto's friendship with Medaka and Zenkichi, one that the young Uzumaki cherished more than anything else in the world. Thankfully the meetings between the Elemental Nations and the six other continents were more than successful as a World Peace Treaty was formed which allowed trading and traveling between the Shinobi nations and the rest of the world, opening up so many ways for both parties to benefit and advance in multiple fields. Unfortunately that peace did not mirror the chaos happening between Hidden Villages as Kirigakure was currently experiencing a civil war as a rebellion was fighting against the Fourth Mizukage's bloody reign. Konohagakure was also having its own problems as their conflict with Kumogakure and Iwagakure, especially after the former's attempt at kidnapping the oldest daughter of the Hyuuga Clan, Hinata.

But through all of this, Naruto continued to keep in contact with his two best friends, as he was allowed to visit them in Japan as long as he had bodyguards watching over him. The same could be said for Medaka and Zenkichi, as they were some of the first outsiders to ever visit the Elemental Nations with Hitomi watching over them. This was one of those times as Naruto, with some help from Sarutobi, had invited the three to experience a summer festival happening in a nearby village known as Tanzaku Town. It was actually the first time that Naruto actually going to enjoy it himself since no one in Konohagakure allowed him to buy anything or go to any of the booths when he tried to attend any of the village's festivals for the three years. Hitomi, upon hearing this, had invited Naruto to join her and Zenkichi for a different Winter Holiday known as Christmas the following year after not being able to attend the village's Rinne Festival. She wasn't the only one to want Naruto to have a wonderful time as Medaka somehow got a Christmas tree that was three times as big as her and decorated it with so many ornaments that it practically lit up the room by itself, and dragged her best friends along to enjoy all of the holiday activities that could be done by the three six year olds.

It was the best week of Naruto's life… until he had to return home to an empty apartment.

With some help from the Hokage, the four managed to find a village not that far away from Konohagakure where he was certain that Naruto could fully enjoy the festival with his friends. Of course, they had to have some Anbu watch over them from the shadows, but other than that there was no issues for the group as they found an Inn that had a room big enough for all of them. Though Hitomi did have some problems with the staff due to her youthful appearance. It was funny to watch as Medaka interrupted the arguing adults and somehow managed to not only get one of their best rooms, but also got it at a price so low that it left the manager in tears after being outwitted by a five year old.

"I'm ready to go, Okaa-san!" An eight year old Zenkichi stated as he was the first to be ready, wearing a green yukata with blue obi, small lightning bolt designs on the arms and larger ones on his back.

"Me too!" Naruto was the next to walk up to the woman, his blue yukata having red spirals all over it and a black obi wrapped around it. After meeting Zenkichi all those years ago in the nursery, the blonde started to wear more orange clothes, despite numerous adults not to go overboard with it. Hitomi, however, didn't see the problem with Naruto's love of the color… probably because of the odd fashion sense that she and her son have.

Hitomi giggled at the boys' excited faces, "Don't you two look handsome and ready for fun. Medaka-chan, are you finished?"

"Of course!" Medaka's voice replied back as the girl stared at herself in the mirror to make sure she was hadn't missed anything, not that she ever did. The last seven year old was wearing a pink and white yukata that had large blue flowers on it, a yellow obi around her waist, and her now shoulder-length hair had a decorative ornament tying it up into a short, spiked high-ponytail. "This is my first time going to a festival, for some reason I'm feeling really excited."

"Why wouldn't you be? We're gonna have so much fun, ya know!" Naruto cheered with a fist pump into the air. To say that Naruto was excited to finally enjoy a Summer Festival, and with his best friends, and not worry about being chased out, was an understatement. "I hope your ready Medaka-chan! Cause I'm gonna win all of the festival games!"

"Hooo~? I look forward to the challenge like always, Naruto." Medaka replied with an amused smirk on her face. "Just don't overeat and throw up like last time."

Zenkichi sweatdropped at the two, the competition between Medaka and Naruto had become a common occurrence since they had met all those years ago in the nursery. The whiskered blonde constantly tried to beat Medaka multiple times, only for the girl to defeat him every time. Nevertheless, that only seemed to motivate Naruto even more as he continued to train and improve himself after every loss. The young Hitoyoshi could understand why Naruto was so determined to beat their female friend, because it was the same reason Zenkichi wanted to improve himself as well… So they could catch up to the girl and stand by her side, like they promised her back then.

… But still…

"Come on guys, this is supposed to be a fun event." Zenkichi looked back and forth between the two, "Let's just enjoy ourselves without all the contests."

"What are you talkin' about Zenkichi?"

"Yes. We were just conversing about fun games and tasty food."

The sweatdrop falling down the back of the strawberry blonde's head grew at that. It was like he was the only normal one out of the three of them. Before he could say anything, however, the sounds of his mother clearing her throat caught their attention and made them turn towards her to see the amused look on her face.

"If you keep talking, you'll miss the entire festival."

An alarmed look formed on Medaka's face as she grabbed Naruto and Zenkichi's arms, "AH!? We don't want that! Come on!"

"W-Wait, Medaka-chan! She was just ki-GAAAH!?" Naruto didn't get to finish his sentence as Medaka started running passed Hitomi, causing the two boys to be left dangling in the air from how fast the bluenette was going.

"Slow down! The festivals not going anywhere!" Zenkichi shouted with his eyes turning completely white with anime tears pouring out.

Hitomi blinked as she watched the trailed of dust pick up behind the eight year old girl and the screaming boys that were being dragged through the air by their arms. A small sweatdrop forming as they disappeared around a corner, "… I sometimes forget that when it comes to practical knowledge and jokes, Medaka-chan can be so smart that she becomes stupid."

It didn't take long for the doctor to catch up to the children, who had come to a stop just outside the Inn to see that there were already crowds of people walking along the festival booths… Well, Medaka was staring in amazement and starry eyes. With her strong grips on their arms, a groaning Naruto and Zenkichi were on the ground with swirly eyes and lumps on their heads. It was a hilarious sight even if you didn't know the trio.

Both boys quickly regained their bearings after a few minutes, and excitedly followed Medaka down one of the paths. Their eyes reflecting all of the lights coming off of the booths and colorful streetlights stabbed into the ground to light up the paths, and their gazes looking at all of the games that came with a variety of different prizes, food vendors and festival goodies that were on sale. Medaka came to a halt as she saw a man sitting behind a large tank filled with water, moving closer to see that it was filled with goldfish.

"Hoooo~!"

"Ah, I see you've taken an interest. Want to give it a shot?" The man said with a smile as he held up multiple paper scoops.

"Huh? Give it a shot?" Medaka repeated while tilting her head, with Naruto and Zenkichi looking over her shoulders in curiosity.

"You've never played before? This is Kingyo Sukui." Holding out one of the scoops to Medaka, the man motioned to the tank in front of him and a pile of bowls next to it. "It's simple really. You just use this net to catch as many fish as you can before it breaks. Any fish that you catch is yours to keep."

"Really?!" The excited look on Medaka's face was practically glowing as she looked from the offered net to the fish swimming in the tank.

An uneasy look appeared on Zenkichi's face, "Um, Medaka-chan, I don't think that such a good idea."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, "Something like this should be easy for her, right?"

"It's not that I don't think she can do it… It's just-"

The strawberry blonde was interrupted by Medaka's tearful shout, "Why won't they stay still?!"

Looking back at the booth, Naruto blinked in confusion as he saw that Medaka was hovering over the tank with her scooper ready to move, only for every single fish move to the opposite side of the tank just as she was about to make her move. This continued a few times as everyone watched the girl move her hand back and forth to follow the fish, only for them to increase their speed and move away from the incoming hand. Soon, Medaka's hand was a blur following the blur inside the tank.

"… I'm guessing Medaka-chan's not good with animals, huh?" Naruto deduced with a sweatdrop.

"It's not that she isn't good with them, they're just completely terrified of her." Zenkichi explained as he recalled earlier that year when Medaka had been assigned to look after the class pet, which was a rabbit, but the poor thing wouldn't even attempt to get near her. "Even the scary animals at the zoo were so terrified of her that they hid away until she left their cages."

"So there is something she's not good at." Crossing his arms over his chest, Naruto watched as the girl's hand came to a halt after the fishes finally stopped moving… and stopped moving.

"D-Did she just kill those fish?!"

"Holy shit!"

"They must've overworked themselves to death!"

The man running the booth couldn't find the right words to say as he stared at all of the dead goldfish floating at the surface, he couldn't understand what the hell he had just witnessed. Suddenly a hand could be seen holding out unused scooper, making him look up to see an awkward smiling Zenkichi handing him the small paper object while Naruto was guiding the catatonic Medaka away from the booth.

"Um… Sorry about that… We'll just leave now." Bowing his head apologetically, the boy turned around and followed his friends and Hitomi to get as far away from the booth as possible.

…

…

…

"What the hell?" The man muttered to himself, not noticing as a weasel-masked individual stop in front of the tank and placed a closed sign in front of it before vanishing.

"Muuuuu~… None of the fishies wanted to come home with me." An aura of depression was coming off of Medaka as she walked along the path with Zenkichi and Hitomi on either side of her, the former doing the best he could to cheer her up. Naruto had disappeared off somewhere saying that he had an idea on how to cheer her up.

"It's okay, Medaka-chan. Being bad with animals isn't the worst thing in the world." Hitomi patted the girl on the shoulder as she said this, though this didn't seem to make the girl feel any better as she let out another disheartened moan.

"But they'd rather die than have anything to do with me… What kind of human am I that animals want nothing to do with me?"

"You just haven't found the right kind of animal yet." Zenkichi said as he tried to reassure the girl, "There are so many out in the world, so there's got to be at least one that can handle being around you."

"Hey guy!" The three turned around to see Naruto rushed over to them with his hands behind his back.

"Naruto-kun, where did you go?" Hitomi questioned with a frown at how the boy just disappeared without telling them why, the only relief was that there was an Anbu watching over them so nothing bad could happen to him.

"Sorry, but I saw one of those accuracy games with a bunch of prizes. It used darts so I was able to put all that Shurikenjutsu training to good use!" Naruto explained while mentally thanking the Anbu, Weasel, for helping him greatly improve his shuriken and kunai throwing. Lightly shaking his head to dismiss the thoughts with a smile, Naruto moved his right arm from behind his back. "Here, Medaka-chan!"

Raising an eyebrow as she watched Naruto hold out his right hand out to her with one of his prizes, the bluenette reached out and took it from him, blinking a few times in surprise as she saw that it was the hand fan that she had looked at earlier on in the festival. "You're giving it to me?"

Tilting his head to the side, Naruto watched as Medaka look down at the closed hand fan for a few seconds before opening it up. "Well, yeah. I mean, you wanted it, right?"

"… I love it." Medaka said as she held up the open fan to show that it had a beautiful cherry blossom tree branch with a red background, moving it around gracefully with her fingers as if she was dancing. "You certainly picked out one that is graceful and easy to use."

"I'm glad that you like it so much," Turning his head towards his other best friend, Naruto held out his clenched left hand to him. Zenkichi watched as Naruto placed the second prize in his fellow blonde's open hand, revealing it was a small leather bracelet with a metal plate on it that had the kanji for friendship on it. The strawberry blonde looked up and saw Naruto wearing an identical bracelet on his wrist.

"The prize I got was actually a pair of friendship bracelets, and their adjustable too!" Naruto said with a large grin, one that Zenkichi mirrored as the boy slide the bracelet onto his wrist.

Medaka smiled as she held her new open fan in front of her face, "It's just like you to share your prizes with us. Though should I be jealous that you're only sharing a bracelet with Zenkichi?"

"Well, there were only two bracelets with one prize. So I thought that getting you something you'd like would be enough." Naruto replied before moving his arm around Zenkichi's neck to bring him in closer, "Besides! With everything Zenkichi and I have gone through thanks to you, we aren't just friends, we're brothers in arms!"

"… Why do I feel like I should be insulted by those words?" Medaka wondered to herself before shrugging her shoulders, "Oh well. You "brothers" can keep your friendship bracelets, I can understand the desire to connect with siblings."

"Even Maguro?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

Medaka seemed to freeze up at the mention of her brother, who had become somewhat of a perverted siscon lately. "Okay… Maybe not all of them."

"But still… It sounds nice having people to greet you when you get home, even if they are pervy…" Naruto stated with a sad look in his eyes as he unhooked his arm from Zenkichi's neck, turning away from the two so they couldn't see his face. "I've got an apartment all to myself, so I don't know what that's like…"

"Naruto…" Zenkichi started as he reached up to place a hand on the Uzumaki's shoulder, only for the whiskered face blonde to rub his eyes with the sleeve of his yukata before turning to face his friends with a large grin.

"What're we just standing around for? There's still a lot of things for us to do here, ya know!"

Grabbing Medaka and Zenkichi by their wrists, Naruto pulled them along the path where more game booths were located. Hitomi was a few steps behind them, staring sadly at Naruto's back after hearing what the boy had said. She had never told him or Zenkichi, but the loli woman had tried to put in a request to adopt Naruto back when the boy was four years old after finding out that he was living in his current apartment by himself. The adoption request was denied, however, since she was from the Six Continents and everything involving the World Peace Treaty was still in a fragile stage, not to mention that the case surrounding Naruto was a difficult situation. It didn't stop the woman from doing as much as she could to keep Medaka, Zenkichi and herself a part of Naruto's life so the boy wouldn't be alone, but even so… that didn't mean that the boy wasn't lonely when they were not there.

(Later on During the Festival)

"It's easy, Zenkichi. Here, let me show you how it's done!"

"… Hey… Hitomi-obachan…" The loli doctor looked at the whiskered blonde, who was watching as Medaka showing Zenkichi the best way to win the Yo-Yo Tsuri game, "Can I ask you a question… one just between you and me?"

"Sure. Is something wrong?" Hitomi asked with a little concern as Naruto looked down at the ground.

It took a few seconds for Naruto to figure out his words as he looked back up at Medaka and Zenkichi, who was kneeling over the floating yo-yo balls. "… Do friends… have to stop being friends… when they like the same person?"

"Eh?" Hitomi blinked at the unusually mature question.

"I mean… Ever since I started going to the Ninja Academy there are a bunch of girls that like this boy in my class, his name is Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto started to explain. Hitomi once again blinked, this time in recognition as she recalled the name after hearing the news about the Uchiha Clan Massacre at the hands of Itachi Uchiha and how his younger brother was the sole survivor. "He's got this cool attitude and all this attention from people, and it is really annoying."

Patting the boy on the shoulder, Hitomi flashed him a smile, "Why don't we focus on your question?"

"Oh, yeah… Well, I've seen all of this girls in our class gush over him and follow him around… And I know a lot of them used to be close friends before they started chasing after the guy…" Naruto's voice lowered as he thought about two of the girls, a pink haired one and a blonde, being friends for months before arguing with each other about winning the Uchiha's affections.

"Now they are fighting and acting like banshee rivals, right?" The doctor deduced with a shake of her head. It sounded like this Sasuke was attracting a lot of fangirls, she honestly pitied the poor boy. "So, are you worried about losing Zenkichi-kun as a friend because you both like Medaka-chan?"

"How'd you know?!" An alarmed Naruto questioned with wide eyes.

Hitomi giggled as she stared at the boy who was almost as tall as her, "You forget who you're talking too. I could tell you both have become smitten with Medaka-chan."

This time Naruto was confused as he tilted his head a little, "What's smitten mean?"

"It means you both like her a lot." Hitomi explained with a smile on your face, but her words only made Naruto frown as he looked back towards the floor. "I had a feeling that was the case after giving you both the 'talk'!"

"…"

"I still remember the looks on your adorable faces. Hahaha~!"

"… So I wasn't wrong…" Naruto muttered sadly as he felt a cold shiver go through his body, feeling a pressure build up in his chest, the boy's words causing the older woman to stop laughing. "B… But I don't w-want that… Zenkichi is my best friend, the first one I ever made. H-He even accepted me after learning about… you know… I-I don't want to fight with him, ya know! I want us to stay friends forever!"

Letting out a sigh before placing a hand on the boy's head, Hitomi gave him a gently rub. "Naruto-kun… I won't lie to you and say that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of cases where having feelings for the same person can cause friendships to end. But as the same time, it was mostly because those friendships weren't strong in the first place."

Naruto flinched at that, "Does that mean I shouldn't like Medaka-chan in that way? Should I try to ignore it so Zenkichi and I can still be friends?"

"No, you should never bottle things in like that… Sure, there will be times when you and Zenkichi-kun will fight because you disagree on something or get mad at each other, but that goes for your friendship with Medaka-chan as well, or any other friend you make later on. Everyone goes through that." Hitomi stated as she turned back to see Zenkichi comically stare at Medaka in shock at the dozens of yo-yo balls she had retrieved while his broken string barely managed to get one. "You and Zenkichi-kun should be honest with one another, or do you really think your friendship can't handle that kind of pressure?"

"… Of course we can, ya know!" Naruto replied with determination in his eyes, slapping his cheeks a few times before running over to Medaka and Zenkichi, who were being kicked out of the booth due to the former somehow grabbing almost half of the floating yo-yo balls with a single paper string.

'I'm glad you think so, too…' Hitomi thought to herself as she watched Medaka, Naruto and Zenkichi start to hand out all of the extra yo-yo balls to nearby children that weren't able to get any, much to the irritation of the man running the Yo-Yo Tsuri game. She hadn't mentioned it to Naruto, but her son had also gone to her for advice about keeping his friendship with Naruto despite them both liking Medaka. They had almost the exact same conversation, though Zenkichi was also worried about being able to catch up to his friends since he wasn't, in his words 'as amazing', as them.

While Hitomi wanted to say that her son was just as amazing as them, which he was in her opinion as a loving mother, the scientific part of her knew that her son would have to go above and beyond to reach their levels since he was considered a Normal person. She didn't mean he was nobody important or anything like that, it was one of the three categories that had been used on groups of people. The first category, Normal, was for people that lacked any special abilities, which was what most of the Six Continent's populations fell under. Then there were the ones called Specials, the ones who have an ability to excel in a specific area, and while these weren't as big, they still held a large number. Finally, there was the Abnormal category, the rarest one as it focused on people who possesses such overwhelming capabilities that the individual is unable to control that aspect of themselves and inherently seek to master their Abnormality. Back when she had worked at Hakoniwa General Hospital as a psychosomatic surgeon, it had been her job to find out what children fell under the last category. Both she and Medaka were considered to be Abnormals, though Medaka's abilities far outclassed her own despite her young age and only continued to grow.

But after the World Peace Treaty was finalized, a new category was created for the people from the Elemental Natons, as they were considered to be mixtures of both Specials and Abnormals. This was due to the unique bodies they were born with that were physically superior to anyone from the Six Continents, as well as the ability to harness an energy source called Chakra that allowed them to enhance their bodies even more and perform techniques known as Jutsu that had an almost unlimited range of possibilities. There are a few that fell under a more special group of humans that exhibit extraordinary powers due to powerful creatures known as Bijū being sealed inside them, they are known as Jinchūriki… like Naruto. While the knowledge of Jinchūrikis were revealed during the World Peace Treaty meetings and how each Hidden Village possessed at least one, Hitomi herself had learned of Naruto's status during one of her visits to Konohagakure with Zenkichi and Medaka, after arguing with several villagers on how they were treating the boy when he was showing them around the village and later finding out from the Hokage.

Almost immediately, Hitomi wanted to tell Naruto the truth, as it would've been better to find out sooner from people that he trusted instead of later when a hateful villager or worse revealed the truth in some way that could harm him mentally and emotionally. Sarutobi had tried to push it off by saying it was safer for the boy not to know and how he forbid anyone from talking about it, but he couldn't win against the loli-mother. After finally managing to convince the Hokage to let Naruto know, the two told the young Uzumaki the truth… only to find out that the boy had already figured it out with help from Medaka and Zenkichi, the former deducing the truth after seeing how the villagers reacted to Naruto and about the Kyuubi's defeat at the hands of the Yondaime Hokage.

"Hey! It's a cute fox mask!"

"Look at the size of the nose on that one!"

"This one is so funny looking!"

Watching the three with a smile, Hitomi made her way over to them as Medaka was starting to lead the group to the next stall that had a wall of masks for sale, the bluenette's focus on the animal masks. Naruto and Zenkichi had grins on their faces as they were looking at other masks, the whisker-face blonde holding up one that was red face with a very long nose while his friend was holding up a cartoonish mask that had a giant eye with a tongue sticking out. It warmed the woman's heart to see her son and his friends act like simple, normal children that were having fun, instead of dealing with all the pressures that life was dealing them. She then saw Naruto grab another porcelain mask and stare at it for a few seconds before nodding to himself. Apparently he found another mask he wanted.

Paying for the masks, Hitomi smiled at the three before speaking as the three put on their masks on the side of their heads, Naruto placing his second mask away in his yukata. "How about we get something to eat? I'm sure you'll want to try all of the tasty foods they made for the festival."

The three kids nodded their heads in excitement before rushing off to the next booth where a man was making fried noodles, with giggling Hitomi a few feet behind them. As the four continued towards the next booth, a tall man with spiky white hair wearing green short shirt kimono, matching pants and a red haori with two yellow circles on each side was seen walking passed them towards a bar. Pausing in his step, the man silently turned around and watched the four order a large fried noodles, focusing his gaze on the laughing Naruto as he was handed the plate of noodles and trying some almost immediately. A small smile formed on the man's face as he saw Naruto let out several huffs from the heat of the noodles while Medaka and Zenkichi ate some as well, the latter copying Naruto's actions and yet Medaka seemed perfectly fine. Turning himself around, a perverted grin formed on his face as he was greeted by the bar's waitresses.

"Hello ladies~!"

(A Few Days Later in Konohagakure)

"I can't believe it's already dark," Naruto said as he and other were walking down the street, having finally arrived after a day of traveling from Tanzaku Town back to Konoha and made it through the gate just before it started to get dark. Each of them was carrying backpacks that were filled with clothes and goodies that they had gotten from the festival. "Today just went by too fast."

All of them were back in their regular clothes. Naruto was wearing a blue shirt with an orange hoodie vest over it, black shorts and his usual ninja sandals, and a green backpack. Zenkichi had an orange shirt and khaki shorts with green sneakers and a red backpack matching his mother's. Medaka was wearing a loose pink blouse and a white skirt along with red ninja sandals. Apparently she had felt that it would be an interesting experience to wear them while she was in the village… this was one of those times when neither boy could understand Medaka's thought process.

"Seemed like a normal day to me," Medaka commented as she looked up at the night sky where the Earth's two moons could be seen. "Tanzaku Town wasn't really that far."

Zenkichi had a small smile on his face as he saw Naruto turn to Medaka with a deadpanned expression, "We did make those stops along the way, but at least we made it back before night time."

"Just in time for dinner!" Hitomi said cheerfully as she trailed behind the three, secretly glaring back at the citizens that were sending Naruto nasty looks. "What should we have for dinner?"

"Ramen!" Naruto cheered, only for Medaka to bop him across the back of his head, "Ouch!"

Medaka gave her friend a stern look as she placed her hands on her hips, her yellow backpack shifting as she moved. "That's not healthy, Naruto!"

"But I like it! It's never bother me before!"

"…"

"… What?"

"Just how many times do you eat ramen when we aren't around?"

Zenkichi couldn't help but feel a shiver go up his spine as he saw the eight year old girl narrow her eyes as she asked that question. He was glad that it wasn't pointed at him at the moment. 'Sorry Naruto, but you knew this would happen sooner or later.'

Shifting his gaze to the side with a stubborn pout, Naruto crossed his arms. "I don't haveta answer that."

That, ladies and gentlemen, was the wrong thing to say to the Abnormal.

"Fine then! You leave me no choice! Once we get back to your apartment, I'm tossing out every single trace of ramen that I find!" Medaka declared while pointing her new fan at the now fearful Naruto's face.

"You're joking, right?"

"Do I look like I'm joking about that?" Tilting her head with a smile on her face, Medaka's glinting red eyes made Naruto swallow hard.

The last time he saw that look on her face, Medaka had found out that he wasn't doing that well at the Ninja Academy and forced him to study and worked with him to improve his physical prowess. Zenkichi was also forced to participate since, in Medaka's words, he needed to have some knowledge about ninja tools and such if he were to help Naruto improve. There were some things that she was not able to do much when it came to the use of Chakra, because while everyone in the world did have small amounts of it in their bodies it was only accessible to those born in the Elemental Nations, but that didn't mean she didn't read up on ways that Naruto could train in improving his control over it. Unknown to the three, Sarutobi had been watching over the children as they worked to improve Naruto's abilities, both happy that the boy was working to improve himself instead of doing pranks… That was, until there was an paint bomb laced with itching powder went off at the Konoha Military Police Department, covering the interior and the Uchiha Clan members that were there, resulting in pink paint covered Uchihas rushing out of the building while scratching themselves frantically scratching themselves at the same time. While many believed that Naruto and his best friends had been responsible for the prank, none of the claims could be proven as there was no evidence pointing back to the trio.

Sarutobi, himself, had brought the three in for questioning to see how they managed to do it without getting caught. Medaka was the first one to speak, saying this. "Reading up on Shinobis, they should be able to be able to leave traps, retrieve secret information or get the job done without being detected, correct? That means any evidence pointing back to the perpetrators would be nonexistent if they knew what they were doing. If what they claim is true, wouldn't it be embarrassing if it turned out that three seven year olds manage to leave such an innocent trap for one of the most powerful clans in Konoha? Especially compared to the more dangerous ones an enemy could leave." The bluenette's words made the old Hokage chuckle as the logic behind the genius child's words, knowing the truth behind her words. While not punishing them since there wasn't any 'proof' that Naruto and his friends had planted the itchy, paint bomb, Sarutobi had warned the group on not pulling any more destructive pranks.

"Come on, Medaka-chan! Have mercy!" Naruto begged with his hands clasped together in a praying manner.

"And prevent you from being the healthiest and height of your potential? No way," Medaka replied with a smile as she opened her fan and held it in front of her mouth. "You always go on about wanting to be better than me. Eating ramen all of the time would make that impossible."

"But it's the best food ever, right, Zenkichi?"

The strawberry blonde swallowed nervously as both Medaka and Naruto turned to look at him, "I…I have to side with Medaka-chan on this one, Naruto. It is good from time to time… but eating too much is bad for you."

'Traitor!" Naruto comically shouted as he pointed a finger at Zenkichi, who shrugged his shoulders with an awkward smile.

"Okaa-san's a doctor, remember." The Normal boy replied as his mother nodded her head in agreement.

Seeing the three of them side against him, Naruto pouted as he turned away while crossing his arms, "Hmph!"

"I thought I recognized that voice." The spiky blonde blinked as he heard a male voice speak up and turned to see a twenty year old brunette man wearing a standard Konoha shinobi outfit with his hair in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose. "Disappearing for a few days and showing up out of nowhere in a commotion… Mind explaining where you've been, Naruto?"

"Iruka-sensei?!" Naruto called out in surprise as he took a step back. The Chūnin walking up to them was his teacher at the Ninja Academy, Iruka Umino. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm heading home. Now answer my question, where did you wander off to? You didn't get into any trouble again, did you?" Iruka questioned as he stared down at the boy with a concerned frown. He had been informed by the Hokage that Naruto wasn't going to be attending the Academy for a few days, although he didn't give a reason why. This had worried the man that something had happened to his student, but that was replaced with relief as he saw no injuries whatsoever on the blonde.

"No way! My friends and I just went to Tanzaku Town for their Summer Festival! I swear, we didn't get into any trouble, ya know!" Naruto stated as he waved his arms in the air in a comic manner.

Turning his gaze to see Hitomi, Medaka and Zenkichi staring back at him, Iruka turned to face Naruto with a stern look, "You left the village with three other children and no adults?! That was completely reckless, you idiot!"

"Three?" A confused Naruto repeated before a look of realization appeared on his face, "Oh~! That's right! You've never met them, have you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Seeing the skeptical expression on Iruka's face, Naruto hurried to his friends' sides. "These are my best friends from the Six Continents! Zenkichi Hitoyoshi and Medaka Kurokami! I've known them since I was two!" Noting the surprised look on Iruka's face at meeting people from outside the Elemental Nations, Naruto moved next to a smiling Hitomi next and gestured to her with waving hands. "And this is Zenkichi's mom, Hitomi Hitoyoshi! Don't let her looks fool you, she's actually thirty-five years old!"

Lightly bopping the top of Naruto's head with a smile, Hitomi let out a giggle, "What have I said about talking about a girl's age, Naruto-kun? You need to be more polite than that."

"S-Sorry."

Iruka didn't know what to say as he studied the three foreigners handing around his student, it was the first time that he had ever met people from the Six Continents. His gaze shifted to the oldest in the group, whose appearance looked more like a twelve year old girl than an adult, and yet now that he was getting a better look at the woman, he could feel that aura of maturity and experience coming off the loli. Realizing that he had just unknowingly insulted the woman, the brunette bowed his head lightly, "My apologies, Hitoyoshi-san."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Iruka-san. I've gotten used to it." Hitomi replied with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Please, call me Hitomi, I'd hate to be on bad terms with Naruto-kun's favorite teacher!"

"Huh?" Iruka lifted his head with a curious raised eyebrow and noticed the embarrassed Naruto trying to silence the woman, only for her to hold him off with a stretched out hand.

"While I may not be his mother, I've grown to care for Naruto-kun dearly over the years." Hitomi explained as she looked up at Iruka as he straightened himself, meanwhile, an embarrassed Naruto took step back and rubbed the back of his head. "He's been telling me that you've been watching out for him and helping him in class. Thank you very much." The doctor finished while politely bowing her head in gratitude, causing the man to rub the back of his head in embarrassment, not to unlike his pupil.

"N-No, it's no problem at all. I mean, he can be a handful at times, but I was like that too when I was around his age." Iruka replied before a large smile formed on his face, "I'm happy that he has people, other than myself, who care for his wellbeing."

"… Iruka-sensei…" Naruto whispered as he stared at his teacher.

"How about we all go over to Ichiraku Ramen, my treat." Iruka offered as he looked up at the night sky, "It's about time for dinner, anyways."

"Alright!" Naruto cheered.

Behind him, Medaka was shaking her head disapprovingly while Zenkichi let out a laugh. "Didn't I just say that you shouldn't eat so much ramen?"

The two adults watched as Naruto spun around to face his friends with an excited look, "Come on, Medaka-chan! You can't turn down Ichiraku! They've got the best ramen in the whole world, ya know!"

"The whole world, you say?" Medaka's ahoge swayed back and forth as she thought about Naruto's words, before tapping her closed fan against her chin.

Zenkichi had an amused look as he and his fellow blonde knew that Medaka would be convinced to do things if they said it the right way. It was something they had figured out when the girl forced them to do things that, while easy for her, was difficult for one or both of them. There were three things that caught the Abnormal's attention, things that could be seen as a challenge, things that could help people, and things that intrigued her.

"I suppose I can allow it this one time, however!" Medaka pointed her fan at Naruto's face, the tip of it pressing against his nose, "In exchange, you have to promise that you won't eat ramen so copiously and start eating more healthy foods!"

Iruka crossed his arms with a skeptical look, 'Good luck with that. Getting Naruto to stop eating ramen almost every day is-"

"Fine, fine. I promise!"

"Seriously!?" Iruka exclaimed in shock as how quick Naruto's response was. While he enjoyed having ramen with Naruto, he had been trying to get the blonde to not devour so many bowls at a time with no success. Now, he had just promised to not only lower his intake, but eat healthier stuff… was the boy not feeling well? The Academy teacher watched the three eight year olds continue to chat with each other, his eyes widened slightly as he noticed how Naruto interacted with the two, specifically the girl named Medaka, before a soft smile formed on his face. 'So that's it… He really cares about these two, doesn't he? I'm glad.'

"Come on, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto's voice called out, snapping the man out of his thoughts to see that the blonde and the three foreigners were already heading in the direction of the restaurant. "If you stay there too long then Ichiraku will be closed before we get there!"

"Heh, alright, I'm coming." The Chūnin replied as he made his way up to the four and walked with them down the street, "Just remember, I'm only paying for one bowl."

"Seriously?! Come on!"

"That's more than enough."

"I'm sure one bowl is plenty."

"Not you too, Zenkichi!"

(A Few Hours Later)

"Haaaaa~! There's nothing like a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen!" Naruto let out a happy sigh as he and his three guests made their way up the stairs leading up to Naruto's apartment. "I told you that you'd like it!"

"Yup, you were right. It was delicious!" Zenkichi said with a satisfied look as he still had the taste of pork on his tongue, he never thought ramen could taste so good until now.

Hitomi let out a pleasant hum as she thought back to her own ramen bowl and the conversation she had with the restaurant's owner, Teuchi, and his daughter, Ayame. "I'm actually surprised on how healthy a single bowl was. Teuchi-san is definitely a man that knows how to make something so delicious into something with the healthiest ingredients."

"Admit it, Medaka-chan. Their ramen was the best you've ever had, right?" Naruto asked as he turned to the final member of the group.

"I will admit, it tasted better than I thought it was going to be." A closed-eyed Medaka admitted, her new hand fan placed over her mouth. "Which is saying something for such a simple bowl of noodle soup."

'Says the girl that called for seconds and thirds.' Naruto and Zenkichi thought to themselves as they rolled their eyes at how the bluenette was trying to dismiss Naruto's words.

Iruka had been left in tears with his empty wallet in his hands by the time the trio of children had finished eating their fill, unable to say no when the three of them asked for more with wide, innocent eyes. Hitomi and the Ichiraku father-daughter pair were laughing at the sight the whole time.

"Anyways, after traveling and filling our bellies, I think we'll all sleep good tonight." The loli-adult of the group commented as they neared Naruto's apartment, "We've still have two days before the aerial transport comes to pick us up."

The light in Naruto's blue eyes dimmed at hearing that, the whiskered becoming quiet for a few seconds before he grew a fake smile. "Yeah, I guess you guys do have to head back for the Six Continents, huh?"

"…"

"…"

Both Medaka and Zenkichi silently exchanged glances, nodding at the same time as they turned back to watched Naruto pulled out the keys to his apartment and unlocked the door. That was when they made their move. The two quickly pushed Naruto out of the way and made it into the apartment, Medaka snatching his key as they passed him and closed the door behind them. Before he could realize what had just happened, Naruto heard the sounds of the door being locked once again, preventing him and Hitomi from entering.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?!" Naruto shouted as he pounded on the door, while Hitomi was standing behind the young Uzumaki with a small smile on her face, having some idea of what was happening. "This is my place, ya know! You can't just lock me out!"

"Just give us a moment Naruto!" Medaka's voice called out making Naruto's knocking come to a halt.

Zenkichi was the next one to speak as Naruto tilted his head in confusion, "We just need a second, so wait outside with Okaa-san!"

"Wait? Wait for what?" Naruto asked as he turned to look at Hitomi, who only shrugged her shoulders with the smile still on her face.

The two didn't have to wait long as they heard the sound of the lock on the door coming undone, followed by Medaka's voice. "Alright, come inside!"

"Finally!" Naruto said as he turned the doorknob and swung the door open, "Why did you guys lock me ou-"

"Welcome home, Naruto!" He was interrupted by Medaka and Zenkichi as they greeted him at the same time making Naruto freeze as he stared at their smiling faces.

"W… What?" This time, Naruto's voice came out as a low whisper as he stared at the two with wide, trembling eyes.

"It was Medaka-chan's idea." Zenkichi explained as he looked over at the blue-haired girl, who was enjoying her new fan as she opened it in her small hand and pointed it at Naruto.

"After we heard you say that you've never had someone waiting at home for you, I thought it would be great for us to do it!" Medaka nodded her head as she closed her eyes, feeling proud of her awesome idea. The sound of Naruto sniffling made her pause as she snap her eyes open to see tears building up in Naruto's eyes. "W-What's the matter?! Did we not do it right?"

Naruto only shook his head as tears started to fall down his cheeks, instantly using the sleeve of his shirt to try and dry his face. But the tears wouldn't stop coming. Behind him, Hitomi continued to smile as she hugged Naruto from behind, which seemed to make the blonde feel slightly better as he lifted his head up to look at his best friends, who had concerned looks on their faces as they made their way up to him.

"I… I'm home." Naruto finally said as a large smile formed on his face.

His answer made both Medaka and Zenkichi smile, with the former being the first one to speak up. "From now on, every time we come to visit, we'll be here to welcome you home."

"Yeah, it's a promise!" Zenkichi nodded his head excitedly at the thought, something that made Hitomi chuckle at. Despite how mature her son tried to be to catch up to Medaka and sometimes Naruto, who could be either the most mature or most childish of the three, Zenkichi often showed that he was still a young boy with his friends.

"Thank you guys." The two were caught by surprise as Naruto escaped Hitomi's hold and brought them into a tight hug, but it quickly wore off as they mirrored Naruto's action and hugged him back.

For the very first time… Naruto was happy to come home.

NUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZHNUMKZH

"Come on Ero-Sennin!" A thirteen year old Naruto shouted as he looked back towards the much slower paced man, the blonde having a look of annoyance on his face as Jiraiya brushed off his words with a wave of his hand.

"I don't see the reason we need to rush. These friends of yours don't even know that you're here, right?" Jiraiya stated as he looked around at all of the tall buildings positioned on either side of the street, "Got to say, this is all pretty impressive. I've heard about how more scientifically advanced these Six Continents are compared to the Elemental Nations, but seeing it up in person is something else."

"Yeah, yeah. All these flashing lights and moving vehicles are mind blowing," Naruto replied in a dismissive manner, it had become something that he was used to seeing after all of the times that he had come to visit Japan. "I just wish they worked on the transportation between the Elemental Nations and here were faster."

While there were multiple ways for people to reach the Elemental Nations from any of the Six Continents, there was a limitation for the other way around as the Shinobis could only reach them by ship. This was due to the Advanced Technology Research Institute, which was formed by all of the Five Hidden Villages to work alongside companies like the Kurokami Group, were still working on alternative fuel methods instead of using environmentally harmful sources that people from the Six Continents used. Thanks to the recently addition to their group from Yukigakure, a village from the Land of Snow, which was now under the rule of Koyuki Kazahana thanks to Naruto and his team, they had begun working with machines using the Chakra Absorption technology that their village had been developing. It was still going to take a while before things were ready for public use, meaning that Naruto and Jiraiya had to take a six day travel by ship to reach Japan.

Jiraiya had a grin on his face as he watched a small group of attractive women walk by. "It certainly gave us enough time to relax and get some training done."

"What training?! You spent most of the time pushing me off on that flamboyant toad to do Chakra exercises and breaking Genjutsu while you went off to check out the ladies at the pool!" Naruto exclaimed with a clenched right fist in front of him, the blonde still feeling creeped out from meeting the drag queen toad.

"Gamariki is the perfect one to teach you about Genjutsu, especially since you're not trained with it." The Toad Sage replied, not denying Naruto's words as he had no issues with being called out on his perversion as it was, in his own words, one of his best qualities. "It takes a lot of work to be able to have that level of inner control when it comes using Chakra to break Genjutsu."

"Genjutsu isn't something that a person with a large amount of chakra like me can use easily, unless you've got a talent for it, so I never bothered with it besides on how to break it." Naruto shrugged his shoulders as he looked away from Jiraiya. It had been one of those studies that Medaka had encouraged Naruto into learning… well, he said encouraged, but it was more of the bluenette locked him, Zenkichi and herself in the bathroom with in a large tub of boiling hot water… Apparently it had been in a research book she had found at the village's library on how to learn Chakra control… Naruto's skin had been tender for an entire day. "I may not be at an expert level or anything, but even you said that I don't need to be."

"… It's amazing that you somehow managed to become a Chūnin with that kind of attitude, stupid apprentice." Jiraiya commented as his gaze went to the green flak jacket that Naruto was wearing.

While the blonde used to wear an eyesore of an orange and blue outfit, Naruto had come to the decision to alter his attire with his promotion. He had kept the color orange, except he had a larger amount of black mixed in. Now, the Shinobi was wearing a black and orange jacket that had the black sleeves rolled up to his elbows with the sleeves of his chainmail armor reaching his forearms and red spirals on the shoulders of his jacket, black pants that had orange stripes going down the legs where they were tucked into his black ninja boots. Both of Naruto's Chūnin jacket and the one underneath were unzipped, revealing his chainmail shirt/armor, while the Hitai-Ate that he had received from Iruka was now on a long black cloth. The only things that remained the same were his ninja tool packs that were kept in the same places and his hairstyle, which had actually grown a little longer with a few bangs partially falling over the Hitai-Ate.

"Hey, at least I was one of the few that managed to become Chūnin. The only other person to do that in our village was Shikamaru," Naruto crossed his arms with a confused frown as he thought about his lazy friend from the Ninja Academy. "Still don't know how that guy did it when he forfeited his match after capturing Gaara's sister with his shadow."

'After seeing how much that kid takes after his father, I'm not surprised.' Jiraiya thought to himself as he remembered crossing paths with the young Nara, who inherited the lazy genius trait that his father, Shikaku, and even his grandfather possessed. The Sannin had no doubt that the Head of the Nara clan could be one hell of a Hokage if he made a serious attempt at it. "The fact that he was able to outsmart his opponent by thinking several steps ahead of her and how he handled the situation was enough to get him promoted. Just like your match with Hyūga Neji."

"Yeah, no thanks to you or Kakashi-sensei." Naruto muttered to himself.

Memories of Kakashi brushing him off to another Jōnin so he could focus on Sasuke still irritated him greatly, especially when the guy tried to train him in things that he already knew. Meeting Jiraiya was annoying as well since he found the guy spying on the girls at the hot springs… he was just glad that Medaka and Zenkichi didn't show up until mid-July, though the way Jiraiya kept nudging him about having such an attractive childhood friend was aggravating. While his friends couldn't do much in helping him prepare against someone like Neji, since his clan was known for being able to deal fatal blows with just a poke of their fingers, but they did their best to support him with sparring without the use of chakra and thinking of ways to use Naruto's unpredictable fighting style to his advantage. And then Jiraiya pushed him off a cliff so he could harness the Kyuubi's power and perform a new Jutsu that allowed him to summon giant toads… that sounds better when you don't say the last part out loud.

'The only good things to come out of that was finally meeting the Kyuubi and being able to finally summon actual toads instead of tadpoles.' Naruto thought to himself as he thought back to when he met the creature sealed inside of him and used its power for the third time, or rather, the fourth time. He didn't realize he had done it the first time since he was only two at the time, not really much he could remember from back then. The second time was during his fight with Haku on the bridge after he thought Sasuke was dead, and he had some recognition to the feeling as he defeated the masked boy, and then again when he fought that snake-like bastard in the Forest of Death. 'Not really something you forget completely. I just wish it didn't pack so much anger into the chakra whenever I ask for it.'

"Hey! I'll have you know that I am an excellent teacher! I did teach the Fourth Hokage after all." Jiraiya stated as he continued walking passed Naruto and was about to cross the short street, only for the blonde to reach out and grabbed the back of his vest, making the taller man come to a stop just as a car drove by. "What the?! That guy needs to pay attention!"

"More like you do," Naruto said before pointing ahead of them towards a strange pole that had two black boxes facing them with the one on the left having a glowing red person on it. "That crossing light means that we have to wait."

"…You really know a lot about this place, huh?"

Watching as the light change to a green person walking, Naruto adjusted his green backpack and started walking across with Jiraiya a few steps behind him. "Of course I have. This place became sort of like a second home to me, because this is where Medaka-chan, Zenkichi and Hitomi-obachan live, ya know… And because it happened to me a few times." A smile formed on Naruto's face as he recalled times when he leaped onto a car just before it crashed into him and see the looks on the drivers' faces each time.

"Criticizing me on not paying attention when you're not doing it yourself, you are one aggravating apprentice." Jiraiya shook his head a few times with an exasperated look, "So, where exactly are we going, anyway?"

"Well, Hitomi-obachan is currently out of town doing a guest lecture at some university, so she'll be gone for a few days. The best thing we can do now is see Medaka-chan or Zenkichi and see if we can stay with one of them." Naruto explained as he reached into his backpack's side pocket and pulled out a small pocket watch that had Konoha's leaf symbol on it. "Hmmm, it's almost three o'clock. Which means they should be done with classes pretty soon."

"Nice call. It will be a lot cheaper to stay with one of your friends than to pay to stay at a hotel." Nodding his head at his student's thinking, Jiraiya was silently thinking about how he could use that money for some entertainment.

Having an idea on what his teacher was thinking, Naruto shook his head as he put his watch away. "You won't be able to use the currency from the Elemental Nations here, at least, not without exchanging it first."

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I did hear something about that. Apparently our Ryo is similar to an old currency used here and need to be exchanged with the difference currencies of the world." Jiraiya remembered his late teacher, Sarutobi, explaining some of this stuff to him after the World Peace Treaty had been created. "So how much is our money worth here?"

"One Ryo is worth ten yen, here in Japan. If you were to go somewhere else like America, ten Ryo would be one dollar." Placing his arms behind his head, Naruto looked up at the sky with a bored look. It had been one of the lessons that Hitomi had taught him, as well as Medaka and Zenkichi since the three of them were the ones who needed to know this information if they were to continuously travel between the Six Continents and the Elemental Nations. "There are a few places around here that can do the exchanges like that, so you'll be fine if you need really need to use your money."

"And what about you? Maybe I can help you make sure you don't waste your-" Jiraiya wasn't able to finish as Naruto suddenly delivered a drop kick to his face with both feet on each cheek.

"YOU'RE NOT TOUCHING MY MONEY!" Naruto shouted with angry white eyes as Jiraiya crashed into the floor, "You've got a bank account from all those dirty book, don't cha? Use that!"

Lifting his head up to reveal Naruto's boot marks on his face, Jiraiya glared down at Naruto with a similar look in his eyes, "Don't go kicking your master in the face when he's trying to help you! Show some more respect!"

"Respect?! What kind of respect would I have for a Super Pervert like you, Ero-Sennin?" Naruto retorted, "Besides, the only help I would get from you when it comes to money is how to spend it on the Red Light District! I'm too young for that shit!"

"Says the kid who wins every time he gambles!"

"I don't gamble! I buy only one ticket, and even then, it's because I'm being forced to!"

"What about that time that Tsunade took you to that casino on our way back to the village?! You both were practically swimming in Ryo!"

"Grandma Tsunade was swimming! I was tied up and used as a good luck charm! She even duct taped my mouth so I couldn't call for help! I couldn't even breathe when she hugged me every time she won, ya know!"

"… You lucky bastard!"

"Lucky? I almost died!"

"I would love to die that way! Hell! Every man, and some women, that knows her would love to suffocate to death from those magnificent melons!"

"Excuse me," A new voice spoke up.

"WHAT?!" Both Jiraiya and Naruto turned their angry gazes towards the new voice, only to freeze when they saw it was a police officer staring back at them with a frown.

"You both are causing a commotion. If you don't settle down now, I'm going to take you both into custody." The policeman said as he pulled out two pairs of handcuffs.

Leaning down slightly to Naruto with a blank expression, Jiraiya whispered into his pupil's ear. "… Hey, Naruto?"

"… Yeah?" Copying his teacher's actions and leaning a little closer to the taller man.

"Compared to the old Police Department in Konoha, are these guys capable?" Jiraiya asked as he thought back to the department that didn't exist anymore after the destruction of the Uchiha Clan.

It didn't even take Naruto a second to think about it before he answered, "They're not even close to being half as physical."

"I see… Then I suppose you know what needs to be done?"

"Uh-huh. One of the best Jutsus I've learned from you."

The policeman narrowed his eyes, "Hey, what're you whispering about over there-"

"You'll-Never-Catch-Me Jutsu!" Turning away from the officer, the teacher and pupil duo ran in the opposite direction as fast as they could, taking to the rooftops and disappearing from sight before the policeman or any of the spectators realized what had just happened.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… My superiors are never gonna believe this."

(Fifteen Minutes Later)

"Ha… Ha… We finally… made it…" Naruto stated as he and Jiraiya came to a stop in front the metal gate just outside the Hakobune Middle School campus. The two of them had moved non-stop in order to avoid any potential pursuers, even though they doubted any of them could trace the two Shinobis down. "You just had to cause a scene earlier."

"Me?! You're the one who started it by kicking me in the face, you brat!"

Naruto glared up at Jiraiya for a few seconds before turning away in a huff, "Whatever. I'm going find Medaka-chan and Zenkichi."

"Hold it," The Sannin called out as he grabbed the back of Naruto's collar, pulling the blonde back just as he was about to cross the metal barrier. "I might still be learning some stuff about this place, but I am pretty sure that outsiders can't just walk into a place like this whenever they feel like it."

"That's why I've got this!" Escaping from the older man's grip, Naruto spun around while reaching into his rear pouch before pulling out a slip of paper. "This is a permission slip that is given to family members so they can come onto campus without any issue."

"So one of your friends put you on the list of relatives allowed to come on campus?" Jiraiya nodded his head at that, though the look on his face showed how much he believed him. "When did you have the time for the paperwork needed to add yourself to the list?"

Shifting his gaze, Naruto whistled lightly. "… I may have taken an extra from Zenkichi's place the last time I was here."

"I thought so…" Letting out a sigh at that, the Sannin decided not to question it further. "Let's just get this over with before anything bad happens."

"Hey! I'm still on the list!" Naruto exclaimed as he chased after his teacher.

Unknown to the two Shinobis as they passed through the security checkpoint at the gate, a teenage figure with black hair and wearing the school's black uniform was standing by one of the second-floor windows of the school with one hand in his pocket while the other one was holding a complex wire puzzle. The teen had a smile on his face as he watched the two complete inspections before heading towards the main building, though the grin on his face was far from innocent or happy.

"Kumagawa-kun, what're you doing just standing there?" A voice asked causing the teen to turn his head back to the speaker, a pretty girl wearing the school's female uniform with dark brown eyes and long hair of the same color. "By the way, have you seen Akune-kun?"

"[Not to worry. He's currently taking care of something for me.]" Misogi Kumagawa replied with the smile still on his face. "[Akune will be back before you know it, Ajimu-chan.]"

A frown formed on Najimi Ajimu's face before shaking her head with a sigh, "Again? You need to stop using him for such selfish tasks. Especially after all the hard work I put in to raise your approval rate."

"[Aw, but that wouldn't be any fun!]" Kumagawa replied as he turned back to the window where Naruto and Jiraiya were still seen walking towards the school, before the blonde came to a halt and turned his head to the side with narrow eyes. Not even a second later, the shorter ninja rushed off with Jiraiya following after him with a raised eyebrow. "[How interesting…]"

"Huh?" Walking up to the window Ajimu was greeted by the sight of an empty field below. The only thing left behind were trails of dust picking up into the air. "…I miss something just missed something, didn't I?"

(Meanwhile)

"I have absolutely nothing…" A male teen around fourteen years old with shoulder-length blonde hair said as tears began to build up in his yellow eyes, falling to his knees before continuing. "So I wish you would please become my something!"

Standing in front of him was a seriously bandaged Medaka, who was the only thing literally standing between him and the Anti-Akune group behind her. It was a collection of students that had been brought together by Zenkichi, who now had the attitude of a delinquent and the appearance to match, as revenge for all of the beatings that Akune, who was known as the Destroyer because of the heavy injuries he would leave the person he went after, with Medaka being his latest target. They had dragged the teen to the back of the school and proceeded to attack him excessively until he was beaten, bruised and slumped up against the wall. Zenkichi was about to deliver the next blow himself before Medaka appeared out of nowhere and reverse-roundhouse kicked her brown hair-dyed friend in the face, getting in between the group and Akune while taking about how she would continue taking the older teen's beating until he became a good person again. The Abnormal liked to see the good in a lot of people, believing that they all didn't start off bad and could be reformed as long as someone actually cared enough to help them.

"Ugh…" Zenkichi couldn't believe his eyes at the scene before him, as his childhood friend defended the very same person who sent her to the hospital at least ten times in the past month. After knowing her for so long, he wasn't really surprised at her non-violent approach at helping someone better themselves. But that didn't mean that he would be forgiving Akune for his actions anytime soon, and he was sure their other childhood friend would say the same thing.

"What the heck is going on here?"

… Speak of the devil.

Every student in the area turned to see a spiky-haired blonde around their age walking up to them from around the corner with a raised eyebrow, the first thing they noticed being that he wasn't wearing the school uniform which meant he wasn't a student. Trailing behind the teen was a tall, well-built man with spiky long hair and clothes that were somewhat similar to the younger man heading towards them.

"All of you guys ganging up on someone isn't exactly fair." Coming to a stop as he looked at all of the delinquents standing together in a large crowd while a beaten teen was on his knees and nearly backed into a literal wall.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Medaka asked, surprised at the sudden appearance of the Shinobi.

Blinking a few times as he got a better look at the bluenette, a frown formed on Naruto's face upon seeing all of the bandages wrapped around most of her body and the cast on her arm. "How did you get those injuries?"

"Oh, these? This is nothi-"

"It's because of that guy over there, Naruto." Zenkichi interrupted Medaka while pointing over at Akune, who slowly rose to his feet. "He's an older classmate of ours, Akune, though people call him the Destroyer, and he has been attacking Medaka-chan for months now."

Frowning as she turned to Zenkichi, Medaka placed her exposed hand over her heart. "Kouki Akune has already displayed his intent to better himself and no longer continue his destructive path! I see no reason to view him as an enemy or someone who needs to be assaulted by bullies."

"… So that's what's going on…" Naruto replied as he turned towards the sneering Zenkichi and stared at him with a blank expression.

"…"

"…"

"What?"

"Okay, I'll bite. Who are you and how do you know my name?"

Naruto's words formed an imaginary anvil that slammed down on Zenkichi's head. A twitch mark formed on the back of the dyed-haired teen's face as he held up a fist in front of his face. "It's me, you idiot! Zenkichi!"

"Wha- Zenkichi?! What the hell happened to you? And why do you look like that?" A shocked look formed on Naruto's face as he wildly pointed his shaking finger at his first best friend. "You didn't look like that when you and Medaka-chan visited me by a few months ago!"

"I dyed my hair and combed it! Don't make such a big deal about it!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Zenkichi before shaking his head, turning his head towards Akune with a heated glare. "So, is it true that you're this Destroyer guy responsible for Medaka-chan looking like that?"

"Yeah, I am." Akune answered while closing his eyes, "She's just the latest target of all the rules, people and properties that I've destroyed in the past."

"… I don't really care about that. How you choose to live your life is up to you really." Naruto stated as he slowly walked up to the longer-haired blonde, who had an arm resting against his injured abdomen, "But I've always had a good read on people ever since I was a kid, something that I learned when dealing with negative emotions, violence and the like. Just by getting a good look at their eyes."

"Hmph, so what?"

The next thing everybody knew, Naruto decked Akune in the face and sent the slightly taller blonde crashing into the wall with cracks forming behind his body. Watching as Naruto once again walk up to Akune, who had slid down to the ground, Medaka was about to intervene, only for Jiraiya to appear next to her and rest a gently, yet firm, hand on her shoulder to keep her in place.

"I've come across lots of people who've enjoyed hurting others or worse, and you aren't anything like them. You don't seem like the kind of guy who enjoys destroying things, but at the same time, I can see that you don't hate it either. That kind of chaos and reckless choices hurt a lot of people, even more than the ones you physically harm." Naruto stated as he came to a stop in front of Akune and hovered over his slouched form, "If you really are going to try and redeem yourself like Medaka-chan says, that's good enough for me." Lifting Akune up by his collar before slamming the slightly taller blonde against the wall, Naruto lowered the teen down until he was eye level with him. Letting out a grunt at the impact, Akune opened his eyes slightly, before they widened at the sight of Naruto staring back at him with a fanged grin and slit pupils in his blue eyes. "Just remember the pain from that punch, because if you decide to go back to that Destroyer crap and hurt Medaka-chan, I'll deck you even harder next time. That's a promise."

Nodding his head with a stunned look, Akune felt the grip on his collar disappear as the grinning Shinobi spun around and headed over to where the injured Medaka and the older ninja were standing with a sullen Zenkichi. "… Hold on!"

"Huh?" Naruto blinked as he turned his head to look back at the injured teen, who now had a frown on his face.

"Who are you? Just what is your relationship with Kurokami?"

The area went silent at that as Akune and the Anti-Akune group stared at the unknown Shinobi who appeared out of nowhere and involved himself in the interrupted battle. Akune watched as the pupils in Naruto's eyes changed back to normal, "The name's Naruto Uzumaki, Chūnin from Konohagakure of the Elemental Nations… As for my relationship with Medaka-chan… She's one of my most precious people in the entire world." The large smile that formed on Naruto's face as he said that threw a lot of people for a loop, though he ignored this as he continued walking up to the injured bluenette, "Man, you really took a beating."

"I'm fine." Medaka replied with a shake of her head, before giving her second childhood friend a stern look. "Did you really have to strike him?"

"Hey! That's all I did to him! Unlike what all this gangster wannabes were planning, speaking of which…" Snapping his head to look at the mean looking students that were sending him dirty looks, Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Shouldn't you guys be leaving? There no way that we're gonna let you gang-up on an injured person."

"Says the brat that helped in injuring him." Jiraiya muttered as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Naruto's words seemed to have a negative effect on the group as their glared intensified, "What the hell's wrong with you?!"

"Yeah! How could you say that after all he did to Kurokami? You just said she was precious to you, right?"

"She's not his only victim too! There's some that are still in the hospital!"

"You already heard me when I was talking to Akune Kouki, didn't you?" Medaka spoke up while placing her only visible hand over her heart, "He is willing to work on bettering himself. One of the best ways to make that happen is to work hard in making amends and turn his future into a productive one. The physical work and mental strength he will need for that is enough of a burden for him!"

Akune was silent as he stared at Medaka's form in awe.

"Like that's gonna be enough to appease us!"

"… Haaaaa~… Fine then, maybe this will change your minds." Naruto stated with an annoyed expression as he brought his hands together in a cross hand-sign. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" With a large cloud of smoke suddenly covering the area, it disappeared just as quickly to reveal over a hundred different Naruto's circling around the Anti-Akun group and the others. The main Naruto standing next to Medaka lowered his hands and placed them on his hips, "As you can see, I am practically a one-man army! So why don't you all just get out of here while you can still walk… Unless you'd like to take all of us on… Your choice."

"Come on!"

"You guys were going to use numbers against that Akune guy, right?"

"So you shouldn't complain if we do the same to you!"

The freaked out students looked around with panicked expressions as the different Naruto's shouted at them, not even waiting to think about it before rushing out of the area as fast as they could.

Jiraiya started to laugh as he watched them disappear in the distance, "Just goes to show how having the loudest bark doesn't mean they've got the bite to match!"

"It's just like back in the Land of Waves. That bastard, Gatō, had hired all those mercenaries and thugs, but they all ran when they saw they weren't gonna win." Dismissing his clones as he said that, Naruto turned his attention to one of the remaining people in the area… and immediately looked creeped out. "Seriously, what the hell did you do to your hair, Zenkichi?"

"I know, right!" Medaka nodded her head in agreement, "It looks awful all slicked back and dyed brown!"

"Shut it! There's nothing wrong with trying out a new look!"

Slamming his forehead against his male childhood friend, Naruto gained a twitch mark on the side of his head and angry anime eyes, "It does if it makes you look like an arrogant douchebag! I had enough of that crap when I was on Team 7 with Sasuke-teme, ya know!"

"You're comparing my looks to that duckass-haired emo?!" Pressing back against Naruto, Zenkichi gained similar eyes as he glared back at his friend.

"I can go on if you like! How about I point out it looks like crap, literally!"

"Oh? This coming from the guy who let his hair grow out so he could have a ponytail like Iruka-san!"

"Yeah! And you and Medaka-chan forced me down and cut it off the moment you saw me!"

"It wasn't a look that suited you at all, Naruto." Medaka commented as she recalled the spiked ponytail coming off the Uzumaki's head when they had visited him for his tenth birthday. "Besides, your haircut wasn't that bad."

Turning towards Medaka with a pumped fist in front of his face, Naruto gritted his teeth a little, "Not that bad?! You kept cutting until it was almost buzz-cut short! It took me months to get my normal hair back, ya know!"

"I couldn't help it, your hair was short and fuzzy like an animal's." Stars formed in Medaka's eyes as she remembered how much she enjoyed petting Naruto's short hair, which only increased when she started rubbing his whisker marks as well. It was the closest she had ever been to actually holding an animal. Well, except for when Naruto learned the Transformation Jutsu and Medaka forced him to transform into every animal she could think of… the whiskered blonde didn't get any sleep that night with how many requests the girl made.

"Anyways, why are you and the perverted sage here?" Zenkichi asked as he glanced at Jiraiya, who crossed his arms at the disrespect. Not that it bothered the Normal teen in the slightest, especially with how the guy tried to force him and Naruto to join him in peeping on girls at the Konoha Hot Springs. "You don't usually show up outta nowhere like this."

"Long story short, Ero-Sennin and I are on a three year training trip." Naruto explained as he recalled on how he had nearly died trying to bring Sasuke back after the Uchiha defected from the village in order to go to Orochimaru for power, not being able to match Sasuke's willingness to kill his friend. "We were on the road so much that I wasn't able to find any villages that had contacts with the Six Continents. The two of us just arrived on a ship an hour ago."

A disappointed Medaka let out a sigh at that, "I see… I wish we would've had more time to prepare."

"No need to trouble yourselves too much." Jiraiya spoke up with a smile, "We're not going to be staying too long, though, and we do need a place to stay for the time being."

"Ugh-!"

The three childhood friends and Sannin halted their conversation at the sound of Akune letting out a painful groan, and turned to see that the older teen was holding his injuries. Naruto was the first one to move as he walked over to Akune, and to the delinquent's surprise, hefted him over his shoulder. "Right, almost forgot about you."

"W-What're you-?"

"We need to get you checked out at a hospital, all those injuries can't be good for you." Naruto replied as he looked over at his friends, "Think one of you could show me where to go?"

Medaka nodded her head as she took a step forward, "I'll do it."

"Tch, I'm going too." Seeing the raised eyebrows he was getting from his childhood friends, Zenkichi scowled back at them. "What? I don't trust the guy! Just because you both decide to brush his past off doesn't mean that I will!"

"Whatever you say." Naruto shook his head with squinted eyes before turning to the bluenette next to him, "Lead the way, Medaka-chan."

"Of course, I know the quickest way." Medaka said before pointing off in a direction, taking the lead as they group headed towards the entrance gates to the campus. "By the way, I couldn't help but notice the new vest and attire."

"Yeah, I managed to pass the Chūnin Exams and got promoted. It happened after we left the village to find Ero-Sennin's old teammate so she could be the new Hokage…"

As he remained silent as the blonde Shinobi carried him to the hospital, Akune continued to listen to the three converse like everything that had just happened was a common occurrence. There was a strange feeling building up inside of him as he heard how casual this Naruto guy and Zenkichi were with someone amazing like Medaka Kurokami. Hopefully, by changing himself like Medaka and Naruto had said, he could have that kind of connection as well.

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As promised, the first of three parts to my Medaka Box/Naruto Crossover! I have been working on all three parts and will be submitting the rest within the next two weeks. As you can see most the chapters have time skips and focus on specific points in time rather than stretching through all of their childhood and lives. This is how the next two chapters are going to be. You'll just have to find out what will happen to Naruto and his childhood friend live their lives the next chapter and how this all comes to an end in the third chapter.So, like always be sure to leave some nice reviews, but remember that all flames and insults will be IGNORED, so don't bother writing them. I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter and I hope to see you again.

A/N: I am currently working on are the 2nd and 3rd part of this story and then I will work on Dhampir of Yokai Academy

See you next time!