It's that time of year again, it's Naruto's birthday so I'm gonna torture the fuck out of our favorite blonde yet again.

Happy Birthday knucklehead,

Kamui

Naruto didn't have a thing in the world. No family, no friends, no dreams, and no hope.

In another world, Naruto would tell herself that these things were fine, because they wouldn't always be so. That she'd work herself to the bone, prove herself the best, and earn the right for her existence to be acknowledged as more than a bane or a passing annoyance.

But this was not that world.

Naruto was a twelve year old orphaned sunshine blonde girl with sky blue eyes and a face full of freckles. She couldn't tell you who her parents had been, if they "had been" or if they'd simply tossed her to the wayside. But she could tell you that she'd been alone since she was old enough to understand what it meant and even before that. She lived in an orphanage with other kids, but she was always the butt end of everyone's jokes. Kids were mean, and kids with no parents were even meaner.

You see, Naruto wasn't the brightest bulb in the shed, but she wasn't a complete idiot either. Things just didn't happen naturally or easily for her. She had to try much harder than other kids to keep up in academics because her brain scrambled letters and numbers on pages and made them backwards or upside down. She also had the habit of saying whatever was on her mind, so she often found herself taking a fist to the mouth or face after offending someone. And said someone's did not just have to be fellow orphans. No, the young blonde was quite good at grating on the nerves of everyone she came across by existing alone. And "normal" kids that she met outside of the orphanage were mean in a different way, since they knew they had things that she did not. Frankly, Naruto and her big mouth and wounded heart fitted in nowhere, so she learned to make her own form of communication through fighting with those that openly despised her. Fighting only made people she hadn't interacted with turn their nose up at her as well.

So again, Naruto didn't have a thing in the world. Well, perhaps she did. She could always count on loneliness to stick with her, and strife, and a lack of purpose that she searched for through bloodying noses or getting her own bloodied. Mostly getting her own bloodied. (Having a big mouth and a crippling lack of self preservation didn't necessarily make a good fighter you see). Anyways, when punching the differences between themselves proved insufficient as it always did, Naruto's adversaries turned to other methods to "teach her a lesson".

And that's why the newly minted 6th grader of Konoha Junior High found herself shoved face first into a toilet bowl inside the second floor girl's restroom. She'd been roughed up after a short altercation with the school's main female bully in her year, whom Naruto had informed quite blandly she found underwhelming and downright pathetic for picking on people obviously physically inferior to her and always with the company of several other bullies. Said main female bully and company did not take too kindly to the blonde shooting her mouth off and yet again Naruto found herself in a situation directly linked to her lack of tact, care, and fear. So they'd knocked her down after a short skirmish, kicked her about until she was sporting a black eye, split lip, and bloodied nose, and then dragged her off for "the cherry on top".

Apparently the cake topper was shoving her head into the ice cold water of a porcelain throne and nearly drowning her.

The blonde's ears were currently submerged, so everything sounded distant and distorted. Her lungs screamed for oxygen and were squeezed taut in her chest while her hands were held behind her back by a girl sporting an afro named Kasumi. Fuki, a girl with spiky hair was the one who was forcing the blonde's face into the toilet water with the aid of a filthy, mildew smelling mop. She crushed the ratty, graying fibers at the end of said mop against the back of Naruto's head, forcing it down.

Ami stood outside of the garish pink bathroom stall her two most trusted lackeys occupied with the blonde, smiling serenely at Naruto's plight.

"Okay, let her up." Ami commanded.

Fuki released the pressure she was applying to the mop, pulling it away with a sneer. Kasumi didn't release her hands, but even still as soon as Naruto felt the bitch let up with the mop her head sprang up, dripping nearly arctic water, cheeks beet red and sputtering wetly as liquid gushed out of her nose and trickled out of her ears. The blonde's chest heaved up and down as she choked on the remaining water thick in her throat, but she was breathing again, thank god.

The long bangs of her hair was soaked through and stuck to the sides of her face, and while she processed her situation Naruto's sky blue eyes fluttered open, blearily staring at the far tiled wall behind the toilet she had just been closely acquainted with. Even as she absently noted how her limbs felt as if they'd detach, the heads of wilting flowers that fell off and floated away; and her head swam in circles, Naruto couldn't help but notice the sharpie previous students had used to write profanities against the wall of the bathroom.

'What a shithole.' She thought.

"Bring her here." Ami barked.

Not giving Naruto any chance to center herself, She felt Kasumi shift where she had an iron grip on her wrists from behind, and then suddenly the girl was taking hold of Naruto's left shoulder instead. It smarted something fierce, throbbing in vengeful reminder that she'd fallen with most of her weight onto it earlier after being shoved to the floor.

'Definitely bruised.' She thought, jarred from her thoughts when she felt Fuki's angry hands take fistfulls of her thick golden hair and help Kasumi drag her out of the stall.

Naruto was not going to lie, even though she didn't often have any qualms about doing that depending on the situation. She didn't bother to put up a fight. She was sore, her throat feeling raw as it often did after one swallowed some sort of liquid down the wrong pipe and then further choked. Her lungs felt like someone had taken a jagged knife to the inside of them and carved out a full layer of flesh from within. The result was Naruto's panting breaths rattling through her lungs like a sickly old person. So no, she didn't put up a fight. Not even when Kasumi released her and Fuki tossed her hatefully at Ami's feet. The blonde simply gasped as the breath she'd recently been reacquainted with was knocked out of her and she landed thunderously on her sore shoulder. The twelve year old sluggishly curled up on her side, grimacing.

Ami's foot slammed down on the side of Naruto's head, grinding into her temple vindictively.

"Not so tough now are you, Uzumaki?" Ami jeered from above, no doubt wearing an ugly, sneering grin. "You just never learn to keep your mouth shut, maybe if you did we wouldn't have to do this kind of thing so often."

Naruto's breaths had slowed, and she could feel herself slowly centering after being allowed to breathe regularly.

"S-suck my dick." The blonde rapsed, voice tapering off weakly.

"Oh? So you still have a little mouth left on you after that?" Kasumi asked, walking closer so that she too could loom over the blonde. It was the only way she could delude herself into thinking she was important, by belittling and mistreating others.

"She's always got too much to say." Fuki grunted, stomping over to glare down at Naruto as well. "Give her back to me, let's see how long she can hold her breath in the shitter and if she wants to shoot her mouth off again after that."

"Both of you shut up." Ami huffed, and wow did her bratty tone while she had her damn foot on Naruto's head make the blonde hate her even more. "And you. What's your problem, huh Uzumaki? Think you're a real bad bitch, don't cha? Well guess what? You're not. If you were, you wouldn't always be getting your ass kicked by me."

"I wouldn't say attacking me with your main ass kissers is you kicking my ass." Naruto chuckled, coughing as she squinted up at the purple haired leader, bearing her teeth in a mean, overconfident grin. "I'd say that's you being a punk ass bitch because you know you can't beat me without help."

"Eat shit!" Fuki roared.

"Screw off Naruto!" Kasumi screeched.

But Naruto didn't care about them. They weren't the dangerous ones, they just did what they were told, didn't have one original idea in their body. No. It was all her. So Naruto watched... And she was not disappointed. Ami's delicate features twisted hideously in a display of indignation and pure rage, reflecting her true colors perfectly as she removed her foot from the blonde's temple and gestured violently at Kasumi and Fuki.

"Get her up!" She snarled. "I'll teach you to keep your mouth shut, Uzumaki."

No questions asked Kasumi dropped into a squat, shoving Naruto onto her back and proceeding to grab her left arm, the one that was sore. Fuki grabbed her right in a vice grip, then the both of them hauled her up. Naruo's knees still felt a little weak and rubbery, like her legs would slide off and drift away, so she didn't do much of anything but lift her split lips into a normally pretty, cheerful smile.

Ami reached into the pocket of the black seifuku all Konoha students wore. Naruto felt her heart stutter in her chest when the vengeful purple haired bully pulled out a sleek pink box cutter. Her shining grin dulled at its edges.

'Wait. She's not actually going to… is she…?'

Ami slid the blade out to about an inch and a half with her thumb, stepping forward as she met eyes with Naruto.

"What's the matter Uzumaki, don't you have anymore to say?" She taunted, smiling happily once again.

And Naruto felt it then. She felt a familiar mixture of indignation and helplessness swell within her, smothering her already wounded and beaten heart. So when Ami stepped closer with her stupidly little box cutter brandished, Naruto didn't think twice about hawking up all the saliva she could muster and spitting it directly across the other girl's face. The short blonde literally felt the atmosphere freeze in absolute shock.

But why should they be surprised? They constantly spit on her existence by treating her the way that they did. Should it really be such a stretch that she bothered to spit back? They told her fuck you without saying it.

Well, it just so happened that Naruto could say it without verbalizing it just as well.

So with a fiendish smirk the blonde watched her thick, glistening spit as it latched onto the left side of Ami's nose, sliding down over her lips to dangle off of her chin. Naruto waited for the other girl to react, because she seemed utterly floored at the moment. But as usual, her lackeys were always there to keep her going because she'd be nothing without them.

"A-Ami…" Kasumi stuttered, voice shrill with horror.

Fuki just gaped silently.

But it was enough, because suddenly Ami's face was contorting again, revealing how ugly she really was, and she lunged at Naruto, again knocking the breath out of the smaller girl, taking the blonde clean off of her feet and out of the hold of her two lackeys.

The girls landed on the bathroom floor in a tangle of limbs, Naruto's back, left shoulder, and the back of her head screaming in protest at the rough treatment. But she was soon forced to think about how bruised she was going to be later when Ami straddled her waist and took hold of her chin, squeezing until the blonde's face ached something fierce and her lips were forced to pucker and gape open, her cheeks bunching up around the other girl's fingers.

Ami shoved the tip of her box cutter into Naruto's mouth, and the blonde froze at the violent threat, blue eyes blowing wide as Ami screamed into her face, incensed.

"I should slice your fucking tongue off for that you filthy bitch!" She roared. "How fucking dare you do something so disgusting to me!?"

Naruto could taste the cold metal of Ami's blade on her tongue; and as the taller girl screamed down at her, shoving the pink plastic into Naruto's mouth even more, she tasted tacky, liquid copper as well.

'She's crazy.' Naruto thought, absolutely shaken by what was transpiring above her. But she wouldn't show it. She wouldn't give Ami the satisfaction of seeing her afraid.

'I'm NOT afraid.' Naruto told herself, reprimanding.

"Ami!" Fuki spat, at some point having rushed over to place a hand on her leader's shoulder. "Calm down, this is too far!"

Kasumi stood back, wringing her hands nervously in front of her chest as she trembled in place, unsure of what she should be doing. Ami aggressively shrugged Fuki's hand off, shifting the box cutter inside of Naruto's mouth and slicing dangerously into the right side of her cheek. The taste of copper increased as liquid spilled into Naruto's mouth. This caused the blonde's thinly veiled terror to skyrocket, and just before Naruto could react to the very unwelcome feeling, it turned into something else.

Something familiar. Something that was always there beneath every front she halfheartedly threw up to face a world that had no need or want for her.

Anger.

No… absolute rage.

Ami still had a wicked hold on the blonde's face and her boxcutter shoved into the shorter girl's mouth. But the purple haired bully was screaming something at Fuki, who was arguing back, probably trying to get her leader to back off again. But Naruto couldn't hear anything anymore. Her brain had shut them out, her blood was roaring through her ears as her pulse thundered and white hot malignance unfurled within her chest.

Suddenly Naruto wanted everyone in the room to feel just as useless and despondent as she did every time she looked in the mirror. She wanted them to cry, she wanted them to hurt.

And why shouldn't she?

They wanted the same things for her. That's why they did the things they did. They wanted to hurt her, and they liked it. So was it wrong if she did the same?

When that thought finished ringing throughout her consciousness, it was like after it went it took the last shred of Naruto's resilience with her. Naruto promised herself that she would never use the dormant power within her to hurt someone. She was told what her Quirk was capable of by the matriarch of the orphanage she lived at.

Naruto's quirk had been present on the day she was born. When sunlight first touched her skin, she'd wiped the hospital off the face of the Earth. Or so they said.

Still, there was some truth in the tale of her destructive capabilities, because she had struggled, and still struggled to keep her true power at bay. Well, perhaps "had" really was a key word in this scenario.

One moment Ami was sitting on top of Naruto with a blade halfway shoved down the shorter girl's throat and the next, bright, blinding golden light blared through the room. The roar of winds that had no business in an enclosed space muted the startled cries of the three bullies in the room. Said twelve year olds were sent flying as the far wall leading to the entrance of the bathroom was obliterated and blown apart by some unseen force, sending rubble flying in all directions as it tore apart the foundations of the building.

Naruto didn't think, she stood up, her injuries numb after the summoning of her power and crouched low. A thick, fluorescing gold appendage sprang from her back and shot up. Broad, clawed fingers blasted a hole through the ceiling and then through the next four floors to the open afternoon blue sky above.

Naruto didn't spare her bullies a glance as she shot into the sky through her impromptu escape route. Had she done so, she would have seen that the entire wall across from her was a gaping hole, as well as the window lined hallway that overlooked Konoha Junior High's courtyard. Glass and debris was scattered about the hallway, and dust clouds obscured the atmosphere. Ami lied in a battered heap with her limbs twisted at grotesque angles near the edge of what had been the hallway. Fuki was also unconscious, splayed out with a large shard of white tile in her left arm, her head smashed in at the back and quickly forming a pool of blood around it. Kasumi was the only one conscious, having been the furthest away from the blast of Naruto's immense, and raw power. But the afro headed girl was just as injured, multiple shards of bathroom tile were lodged into her skin, tricking blood and quickly dying her clothing red. Shakily, she sat up, her pupils dilated into tiny terrified pinpricks as she looked across the hall, into the massive hole that had once been the second floor girl's bathroom.

All she saw was a wink of gold before Naruto was gone.

It was a full two days later that Naruto was found, curled up in the outskirts of the forest leading out of the hick town she'd lived in her whole life.

Naturally she was taken into authority custody and an investigation went underway. Naruto had destroyed a huge chunk of the school in a fit of illegal quirk usage. It was found that the "assault" of the three girls was aggravated and that Naruto had simply snapped, so she wasn't sent to prison, but she was going to be sent to a correctional program for troubled teens that was made to help them better assimilate themselves into modern day society. It was a plus that they also aided in the quirk mastering and suppression of their members. For the first time ever Naruto was leaving the hellhole that she'd never felt was home but always called so nevertheless. Too bad it was because she had irreversibly scarred fellow human beings and the adults of the town simply did not want to be bothered with her any longer.

Naruto wasn't sure she resented the adults for casting her away.

Ami had broken every bone in her body and her arms had been shattered, so she was looking at a long road to recovery while in a full body cast, and would undoubtedly never be the same. Fuki had a large starburst scar on her left bicep and a permanent dent in the back of her head, she'd fallen into a coma for two weeks after her head injury but had fortunately recovered. Kasumi was covered in micro scars after having to have surgery to remove the porcelain shards embedded in her skin. And all three of them shared a newfound true hatred of Naruto stemming from fear.

Luckily the blonde would probably never see them again.

More presently, Naruto had just arrived at Hinokami's Correctional Home in Yokohama city, the second largest city in Japan by population. She'd been on a silver charter bus with all of the other youths the authorities had scooped up and shipped off to the facility for one reason or another. The young blonde hadn't talked to anyone, there only appeared to be a few kids around her age, and she wasn't really looking to make friends. She was in a whole new place, much larger than she'd ever known her sad little world to be and she was frankly on edge.

The short blonde was wearing her usual garish orange track jacket with a white collar and blue accents around the shoulders, a pair of baggy black sweats that stopped mid-calf, and a pair of transparent, closed toe orange jelly sandals. She had a beat up popsicle orange suitcase at her side with all of her worldly possessions within it and a dark blue backpack sagging on her shoulders. Her ridiculously long hair was gathered into twin tails on top of her head, and she felt nerves chafing at her peace of mind as two average height men waited for the kids on the bus to finish filling out of the vehicle.

Hinokami was a large gated off building that almost looked like a school, but Naruto was sure there was more to it than that. One of the two men waiting to meet the kids stepped forward, pulling her away from her thoughts. He had deeply tanned skin, brown hair gathered in a fanned out ponytail, and soft brown eyes. He wore a comfortable blue sweatsuit and worn earthy sandals, but his most defining feature was the faded scar stretched across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. The pale man he was with had dark eyes, shaggy, spiked silver-blue hair and a dark blue bandana. He wore worn jeans and a long sleeved black T-shirt with black sneakers.

"Everyone line up in an orderly fashion facing us." The tan dude called, looking down at the clipboard in his hand and then back up. "My name is Umino Iruka. You may call me Iruka-sensei, I will be directing you to your rooms shortly to put away your things. Behind me this is my assistant, you may call him Mizuki-sensei."

Mizuki waved carelessly and proceeded to pick at something that may or may not have been caught in his teeth with his pinky nail. Naruto followed the lead of her new peers and lined up. At the little blonde's left was a girl even shorter than her with dark pink hair trailing down her back, sharp dark eyes with long spiked lashes, a ratty black knitted beanie, a huge white T-shirt, and blue jeans about four sizes too big drowned her legs. She looked angry as all get out and only carried a ratty brown knapsack. Weirdly enough she only wore a pair of dingy gray socks on her feet.

On Naruto's right stood a girl slightly taller than the blonde, carrying a criminally huge cotton candy pink fur purse with iridescent hearts on it, and dragging an equally pink shelled luggage bag behind her. She wore a baby blue sweatsuit with the word "juicy" written in English in glittery curling script across her bust and bottom. Her shoulder length, light colored hair was pulled into a lazy ponytail and her full, glossed lips smacked on an obnoxiously blue piece of gum. When she caught Naruto's eyes she threw a wink at her.

Naruto flinched, tearing her eyes away and looked back up front. At least all of her injuries were healed. She wondered how Juicy Girl would react if Naruto looked like the delinquent she had to be to get shipped here in the first place.

"Welcome to Hinokami's Correctional Home for Troubled Youths." Iruka-sensei greeted, smiling cordially. "I hope we can all get along. Now, I'll begin calling roll, please say 'here' or 'present' when you hear your name."

The tanned man went through names in a business-like tone, and the kids/teens present responded in kind. Naruto zoned out for a minute before she came to again, hearing the responding voices down the lineup getting closer to her own location.

"Yuki Haku?"

"Present."

"Kita Tayuya?"

"What?" Pink Hair grunted from Naruto's left.

"Just reply with here or present Kita-san." Iruka-sensei scolded, looking up from his clipboard. His voice was still its usual soft cadence, but it held a no nonsense edge and everyone immediately knew he was not one to be trifled with.

"Tch." Tayuya tutted, crossing her arms and grumbling, "Here."

"Thank you." Iruka chuckled, looking back down without further fanfare. "Uzumaki Naruto."

The blonde jolted at her name, even knowing that it had been coming, choking out, "Here!"

"Utsushimi Camie?"

"Present~" Juicy Girl sang.

"Taki Fū?"

"Here!"

"Shindo Yo?"

"Present."

"Nakagame Tatami?"

"Here!"

"Well alright." Iruka-sensei looked up, flashing another smile. "That concludes roll call, looks like everyone is here."

Mizuki stepped forward for the first time since being introduced, offering a crooked smile.

"If you line up single file from this point on we'll take you into the building and get you settled in the dorms so that you can put your things away. Then we'll bring you to the auditorium for orientation to give you an idea of how things work around here."

The kids followed the aid's instructions and formed a long line as Iruka took the lead into the open, towering black gates leading to the large lush lawn of Hinokami. Pink Girl, who Naruto now knew as Tayuya shuffled behind her, muttering curses about how shitty it was that she had to live in some uppity, gilded cage. Camie, or Juicy Girl strutted in front of her, throwing a look over her shoulder at the short blonde. The girl's light brown eyes crinkled as she offered a smile.

"Yo, wassup fam? I'm Camie." She greeted.

"Naruto." The blonde offered, shrugging a little. And what even was this girl's speech patterns?

"Like the fishcake? That's lowkey hurt fam, but also kinda cute." Camie snickered, looking back up front shortly to make sure she didn't bump into the green haired girl in front of her. "How old are you? You're hella tiny."

"I'm twelve." Naruto huffed. She was not tiny. "You?"

"I'm thirteen." Camie smirked, sticking her tongue out. "You're just a little baby."

"You're probably only older by a few months." The blonde said dryly.

"Are you getting butthurt?" Camie asked, puckering her lips in question. "Fam, you need to chill. It's smoothies."

'Literally what the hell is she saying?'

"Can both of you shut the fuck up?" Tayuya barked from behind.

Naruto's eyes bulged at the hostile tone, and both Camie, Naruto, and the green haired girl in front of Camie looked at the little ball of pink haired scorn.

"Whoa, salty much?" Camie blinked, unaffected.

"Fuck you." Tayuya spat.

"Dude, you've really got a mouth on you." Camie noted, thoughtfully poking her own bottom lip.

"I could give a shit about some slut with a permanently cum filled snatch like you."

"Whoa what the hell?" Naruto gaped, shuffling away from Tayuya.

"Yooo, that's highkey hateful fam. You shouldn't slut shame." Camie said, chuckling a little as she looked at the pink haired girl fondly.

'THAT'S what she has to say in response!?'

"Are you stupid? Eat my ass." Tayuya snarled.

"Hey you four, be quiet." Mizuki-sensei warned from upfront as the two Sensei led the kids through a huge white lobby decorated with miscellaneous art from previous and probably current youths in the facility.

"What?!" Green Hair exclaimed, orange eyes bulging. "I literally just looked at them how am I apart of this?"

"Just be quiet and get back in line, all of you." Mizuki-sensei directed drably.

They did so, and Naruto pouted a little, dragging her beat up orange luggage behind her as Tayuya muttered more curses under her breath. Hinokami was a pretty large building, complete with an auditorium, a cafeteria, a girl's and boy's locker room, several classrooms, and large "dorms" that served as a communal bedrooms for boys and girls of certain age groups.

"Everyone who is female from age twelve to fourteen, this will be your dorm room. Find an empty bunk inside and put your things away." Iruka-sensei spoke up.

Naruto, Camie, Tayuya, Green Hair, and a few other girls entered the room on the left side of the hall. It was the first door.

"Boys from the age twelve to fourteen enter the dorm room on the opposite side." Mizuki instructed.

Naruto's large blue eyes took in the place that would be her "home" for the foreseeable future. It was a large rectangular room that stretched longer the further in you walked. From wall to wall were wooden bunk beds. Most of them near the front and middle were obviously taken since comforters that were brought from home were tossed over them or neatly tucked in. Absently the short blonde wondered where the other girls in their age group were. Probably in class or something.

Naruto followed after Tayuya as she stormed toward the back of the room. The short blonde squeaked a little in surprise when he felt a gentle poke at her right side, eyes flitting to Camie, who was offering a small, easygoing smile.

"Bunkmates?" She asked.

Naruto shrugged, she didn't really care either way. As long as Camie didn't try to bully her in some way, but already the fawn haired girl seemed to be pretty chill, even if she had a bizarre way of communicating. Tayuya tossed her ragged knapsack onto the very last bottom bunk bed on the left side of the room.

"Dibs for the top!" Camie chirped, dragging her luggage over to the very last bunk bed on the right.

Naruto didn't mind sleeping on the bottom bunk. She'd be less likely to bust her head open that way anyways. She was a wild sleeper. Blue eyes roved over her new living space. There was a dresser big enough to fit most of Naruto's and Camie's things in it on the left side of the bed. Naruto decided to follow the trend and made to put her few belongings into the drawers towards the bottom of the nightstand.

"Hey you two!" Green Hair greeted from the top bunk of Tayuya's chosen bed. "What're your names? I'm Fū!"

Naruto looked up at the mocha skinned girl with pupiless orange eyes and short mint green hair. She was wearing a white crop top, a white miniskirt, and white vans. She looked like she played sports.

"I'm Camie, and that's Naruto." Came the taller girl's voice from above.

"Cool, let's be friends okay?" Fū chirped, waving cheerfully.

"Shut up!" Tayuya groused, scooting off of the bed she'd chosen to stand up and glare at Naruto and Camie, then up at Fū. "We're not here to make friends you idiots, we're here because we're fuck ups and nobody wants to deal with us!"

"You seem like you have a lot of unresolved insecurity and rage inside of you." Fū mused, blinking down at the angry girl.

"Eat my ass. You don't know shit." Tayuya snarled.

"Is that your poorly hidden kink?" Camie butted in. "You want someone to eat your ass out?"

Naruto grimaced in disgust as her ears burned intensely with second hand embarrassment. Tayuya turned pinker than her deeply pigmented hair.

"W-what the hell? Don't assume I'm some town bicycle like you are!" Tayuya sputtered.

"Dang, hurtful much?" Fū said, shaking her head.

"You know when you stutter like that it seems like you've got something to hide." Camie informed her, sounding somewhat thoughtful.

"Ouch she burned you short stuff." Fū snickered good naturedly. "You know, you guys are a riot. Let's get along like this all the time, 'kay?"

"I'm down with that, it's gonna be so lit!" Camie cheered.

"All of you should just eat shit and die!" Tayuya shrieked, storming away and back towards the door.

'Even me? I didn't even do anything.' Naruto thought dryly.

Shortly after that Iruka poked his head in and called for the girls to come out so they could bring them to the auditorium for orientation.

'Here we go.'

The auditorium was vast with rows upon rows of wooden seats forming a crescent around a theater stage with red curtains draped on either side of it. The lights were dimmed to add to the effect. Naruto couldn't really focus on how loaded Hinokami had to be to afford a set up so grand because orientation was one of the most boring things she had ever had the displeasure of participating in. At one point she truly thought her brain was oozing out of her ears and her soul was trickling out of her mouth.

"Just fucking end me." Tayuya grumbled, once again positioned at the blonde's left.

"Take me with you when it happens." Naruto muttered darkly.

Tayuya snorted humorously but didn't say anything in response. Camie once again at the blonde's right. Fū lounged at Camie's right, and turned slightly to look at them both. Camie grinned as the Dean—the man running Hinokami—concluded his long winded speech. He was an old man in traditional robes called Sarutobi. He seemed like a really genuine hearted dude, but man did his gravelly voice make Naruto want to sleep like the dead, or literally just die.

"Now, new members of Hinokami follow your Sensei out of the auditorium and they will give you a tour before lunch time. After lunch you may have free time." Sarutobi said, bidding them farewell.

"Fucking finally." Tayuya rasped.

"Same." Camie chuckled.

"I just wanna take a nap now guys." Fū complained, whining.

Naruto found herself smiling a little. This was… different. Not bad different. Not by any means, actually. No one had glared at her for breathing in their direction, and Tayuya had a foul mouth, (even more so than Naruto), but she just seemed to be generally irritable and mean spirited. It's not like it was directed solely at Naruto. Camie… she was weird as hell, but friendly. Seriously devil may care and the blonde kind of respected that. Fū seemed pretty energetic, possibly a little airheaded, but she was just a cheerful as Camie.

This difference, it was nice.

The cafeteria was a large circular room with a chrome buffet-like set up filled to the brim with food that had Naruto's stomach rumbling and her mouth salivating.

"They had better have ramen." Naruto grumbled grimly.

"Eh? Ramen?" Camie asked at her side, holding an empty tray just like everyone else waiting to get food. "You like it a lot or something?"

"It's the greatest thing in the world." Naruto said reverently. "Food of the gods."

Camie blinked at her for a long few moments, and then she broke out into a sunny smile.

"You're weird fam."

"You're one to talk." Fū snorted behind them. "But that's okay, it's a good weird."

"You're all retards, so just shut the hell up and move your fat asses already." Tayuya gruffed, kicking the back of Naruto's leg.

"Hey, back off." Naruto barked, scowling.

She was not dealing with things like that here. Tayuya wanted to fight? She could get her ass whooped immediately and that would be it.

"Calm your tits Blondie and keep it moving." Tayuya sneered.

"Whatever you say, Pinkie." The blonde jeered back, going about her business.

"Oh, baby girl's got fangs. I like it." Camie laughed.

"C'mon Pinkie they're leaving us behind!" Fū grinned, bouncing after the other two.

"Don't you guys fucking call me that, I will murder you deader than dead!"

Naruto rolled her eyes to the point of pain. And people said she was stupid.

After getting their lunch (thank the lord they actually had miso ramen), the four girls sat at a free table, taking up seating that was already proving to be routine for them.

"Hey, you guys wanna see something lit?" Camie asked, reaching into the pocket of her baby blue hoodie.

"What are you talking about?" Tayuya huffed, munching on a piece of ume onigiri.

"Fam, obviously Hero News." Camie blinked, as if this really was obvious as she pulled out a sleek cell phone.

"Cambam you're into heroes?" Fū asked from the fawn haired girl's side.

"Cambam?" Camie echoed.

"It's cute, right?" Fū beamed, holding up a peace sign.

"Adorbs, you can fosholly call me that." Camie smiled.

"Okay, cool. Whatever." Tayuya dismissed. "What the hell were you talkin' about Bimbo?"

"Oh yeah!" Camie perked up, apparently utterly unaffected by the short girl's rude nickname. "I was watching it on the charter bus before we pulled up here, and it was epic."

"What was?" Naruto found herself asking, ramen already long gone. She wondered if the cafeteria allowed the kids to get seconds?

"A fight between this dude and freaking All Might fam." Camie answered, swiping her phone open and scrolling through her apps.

"I can't believe you have a phone." Fū pouted. "My foster brother won't buy me one until I'm a "real teenager"."

"That's shady." Camie laughed, and then stuck her tongue out playfully. "I got mine for my thirteenth birthday last month."

It was October, so Camie was literally a month older than her. Who the heck was she calling a baby? Naruto scoffed to herself.

"Who gives a crap about this spoiled hoe?" Tayuya snorted. "Start flapping those gums about something I can actually stomach listening to."

"Is that your in no way passive and very very aggressive way of saying you want to see the fight of All Might and the villian I was talking about?" Camie asked curiously.

"Eat shit!" Tayuya sputtered, blushing profusely.

"You have a really dirty mouth." Naruto said, failing to fight off her smile.

"What, you got a problem with that Blondie?" The pinkette huffed, willing her blush away.

"Nah," Naruto waved away. "Just noticed it, is all."

"I think everyone noticed Nacchan." Fū laughed.

"Nacchan?" The blonde blinked, floored.

"Yeah, can I call you something cute like Cambam? We're friends now so it's fine right?" Fū asked.

"Friends…?" Naruto mumbled, something fluttering in her chest.

"It's cute, so I'm stealing it." Camie declared, and then gestured for the other girls to move closer. "Now here's the tea. All Might is a real OG."

"What the heck is that?" Tayuya asked, face screwing up.

"Original gangster." Fū snickered.

"Nah fam. Original gangsta." Camie corrected, smiling as she pushed play on the video.

The short blonde found that her blue eyes immediately became magnetized to the screen, noting the camera feed started off shakily. Of course she knew of All Might. He was the number one hero, the guy people revered as a living legend and the Symbol of Peace. She just hadn't paid much attention to him or any hero really because she didn't care for all the hype. Naruto didn't really care for much of anything that wasn't ramen. She didn't even have any hobbies outside of throwing down with people that stepped to her.

But more presently, on screen she noticed that some section of some city she had no hope of recognizing was set ablaze with ominous purple flames. Some guy was standing in the midst of the smoke and ashes, wearing long flowing black clothes and glaring up at the news helicopter circling him and the carnage he'd dealt from above.

'What a scumbag.' Naruto thought. 'Why do people do things like that?'

Before she could dive even deeper into her thoughts, a delighted, booming laugh sounded from the tiny speaker of Camie's phone. Naruto's brows furrowed when she saw the villain become petrified at the sound. You'd think with a guy wreaking havoc like he'd been he'd be a little more confident and would have something to show for such a destructive statement. But, well… people were dumb.

"Never fear!" The gallant voice continued.

Naruto's mouth fell open when the shaky phone camera of the person recording tilted up, showing a rapidly enlarging speck appearing from the sky above. The blonde watched, enthralled as All Might landed thunderously before the villain wearing khaki cargo pants and a straining black T-shirt, leaving a huge crater in his wake. The sunflower blonde hero sent a mighty uppercut skyward, violent winds extinguishing the purple flames in a matter of seconds.

"I am here!"

The villain gasped as All Might crossed the distance between them in a fraction of a second, clotheslining the dude viciously and choking him out, only to gently lower the human filth to the ground for the sidelined authorities to take him away.

"It's All Might!" A citizen cried from the sidelines.

"All Might look over here!"

"We love you All Might!"

"Thank you All Might!"

As Naruto listened to strangers who didn't know the mountain of a man from the one on the moon praise him, she felt something in her chest twist as something in her brain clicked.

'They love him.' She realized. 'Probably none of those people know him and still… they love him. They respect him. They want to see him succeed.'

Wow.

The blonde sat back, letting those realizations wash over her, causing her to really think about how she'd lived her life up until the point where she'd ended up at Hinokami. Yeah, she was only twelve. And yeah, it was just some low quality video on HeroTube that made her think. But the video was real. All Might was real. His power, his will, and the love people carried for him was real.

Naruto's breath hitched.

'I wa—'

"What the hell?" Tayuya complained, startling the blonde from her thoughts. "That wasn't epic he didn't even have to try! He literally just swooped in and completely shitted on that guy!"

"That's what made it so fire sus." Camie said, as if educating the shorter girl.

"I thought it was really cool." Fū offered happily.

"Yeah." Naruto nodded, blinking slowly. "Really cool."

Tayuya just looked at the three of them like they were crazy, but soon decided that was a waste of energy and scoffed, going back to her onigiri lunch.

"Oh! Hey guys, let's do something fun." Fū suggested when the silence threatened to swell, grinning. "We know that Cambam likes heroes, so let's tell each other more things so we know stuff about each other."

"How 'bout no?" Tayuya retorted grumpily.

"Oh, okay. Sure." Naruto said, not minding talking with them more. She liked them well enough, and they weren't anything like the people she'd known all her life.

"I'm down." Camie raised a hand.

"All of you can go die." Tayuya grumbled. She was of course, ignored.

"I'll go first!" Fū offered, nearly vibrating in her seat. "As you know, I'm Fū. I'm twelve, but I'll be thirteen real soon! I like catching butterflies, but I let them go after. And uh, my quirk is called Insectivoice."

"Really? Wow, I care so much." Tayuya drawled.

"What's your quirk do?" Camie asked, not missing a beat.

"Well, basically I just compel insects and bugs to do my bidding by speaking to them." Fū shrugged, smiling.

"That's creepy." Naruto blurted.

'Nice going big mouth way to ruin the mood.' She berated herself. Why couldn't she just have a brain to mouth filter like every other person on the planet? But to her utter surprise, Fū did not want to punch her teeth in, she simply threw her head back and laughed good naturedly.

"Haha, yeah man I get that a lot." She beamed. "S'okay though, I think it's cool."

"No, it's definitely freaking gross as shit." Tayuya said.

Fū just laughed some more, sticking her tongue out a them and pulling her left eyelid down.

"Tch." Tayuya tutted.

"That is lowkey creepy fam. But it sounds really useful." Camie said. "I bet you could do a lot of good with a quirk like that."

"Aw, thanks Cambam!"

"No problem boo." Camie waved off, poking her bottom lip with her finger in thought. "Guess I'll go next?"

"Ugh." Tayuya groaned.

"You're really a butthole, you know that right?" Naruto asked.

"You wanna fight?" Tayuya asked threateningly.

"I'm not scared of a fight." Naruto declared, frowning as she felt her temper chafe against her oddly light mood.

"Whoa, slow your roll there baby girl, Pinkie. We're all chill right?" Camie asked, looking between them questioningly.

"I'll be chill if she's chill." Naruto huffed, not caring about being petty.

"I'll be chill when you all go fuck yourselves on a cactus." Tayuya snarled.

"Anyways," Camie continued smoothly. "You know me, it's ya girl Camie. I'm already thirteen—"

Naruto downright pouted at the taller girl's teasing smirk before she went on.

"—And I guess I really like heroes. I think they're awesome." She said. "Hm, oh. Yeah, my quirk is called Glamour. Basically I can temporarily create both visual and auditory illusions from a gas I breathe."

"So your breath is so stank that it causes people to hallucinate?" Tayuya asked, so seriously it had to be a criminal offense.

And Naruto… Naruto just couldn't help it, she felt it bubble up inside of her and before she knew it laughter burst out of her uncontrollably.

Wow.

Just wow. Tayuya had to be the biggest asshole Naruto had ever met. And that was really saying something.

"Wow, throwing shade much?" Fū cackled, humorous tears welling up at the corners of her eyes.

"Dang, that's hella shady." Camie snickered, delighted for some reason. "You are cancelled."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Tayuya growled.

"It means you are shut down for guzzling too much hater-ade." Fū stated, slapping Camie five loudly.

"What the fu—"

"But you get a gold star for getting baby girl over here to laugh like that." Camie offered easily.

Naruto blinked, her stomach aching a little bit from how hard she had laughed after calming down. Huh. Yeah. Maybe the blonde really had been a little tense since arriving, so she hadn't been acting much like her normal self.

"I really can't stand any of you." Tayuya muttered darkly.

"Then why are you sitting here?" Camie asked bluntly, looking at the pink haired girl with honest curiosity.

Tayuya's mouth fell open. Naruto felt the corners of her mouth twitching upwards, and Fū outright smirked and waggled her eyebrows at the resident angry girl.

"S-shut up!" Tayuya stuttered.

"What about you Nacchan?" Fū asked after they had more fun at Tayuya's expense. "What do you wanna tell us?"

"Huh?" The blonde blinked, and then caught on after a long pause. "Oh! Oh."

"Fucking talk already Blondie." Tayuya grumbled.

"Awww, that's cute boo, you really do wanna know more about us." Camie cooed, making kissy faces at the shorter girl.

"No I don't!" The pinkette snarled, ears nearly glowing.

"C'mon guys for real though." Naruto spoke up, feeling lighter than she had in a very long time.

She knew what the feeling was, it just felt so surreal she was almost getting high off of it.

"Okay okay, for serious now, tell us Naruto." Fū butted in, getting things back on track.

"Uh, well…" The blonde began, losing a bit of steam at feeling all of their eyes on her. She'd never had people so honestly curious about her. Never had them care enough to want to hear anything she had to say. Like she mattered.

It was really… nice.

"Well, I'm Naruto." She finally offered, rubbing sheepishly at the back of her head. "I'm twelve, but I'll be thirteen tomorrow."

Camie smirked.

"I really like ramen. It's my favorite thing, and I like red bean soup too, but not as much." The blonde went on, gaining confidence as she spoke. "My quirk is called Kyuubi. Basically I absorb sunlight through my skin and it builds up until I want to use it. It takes the form of nine "tails". And uh, yeah. That's it."

"Your quirk sounds dope." Camie complimented.

"Thanks." The blonde shrugged, not really agreeing.

"Wait." Fū blurted, pointing at Naruto excitedly. "You're gonna be thirteen tomorrow!? Happy freaking birthday Nacchan!"

"Ah, um… yeah. Thanks." Naruto blushed, unused to such well meaning wishes.

On the day she was born she'd apparently murdered a mass amount of people so it wasn't really something that was ever celebrated back home.

"Yeah, happy birthday baby girl. They grow up so fast don't they?" Camie asked, wiping away a fake tear.

Naruto rolled her eyes, unable to stop her smile. Not that she particularly wanted to anyway.

"Yeah yeah. She's gonna be spending her birthday in a shithole like this so how happy is it really gonna be?" Tayuya griped. "More importantly, I'm Tayuya. What I like is none of your fucking business but I can't say I wouldn't love kicking your asses. My quirk is Music. I can create high frequency soundwaves that messes with certain parts of your brain. Sometimes people trip out 'cause they're seeing stuff, sometimes I can get them to move how I want. It depends."

"You really wanted to tell us about you huh Pinkie?" Camie wondered.

"No! What the fuck? I did not!" Tayuya screeched, baring her teeth like a feral cat.

"Uh huh." Camie smirked.

Fū sniggered behind her hand. Naruto chuckled. These guys were something else. She found that she really liked them, and if she wasn't reading too much into things, they seemed to like her too. It was…

Yeah.

Naruto didn't have a single thing in the world.

Well, she hadn't. Now? She found she had a want. After seeing All Might on Camie's phone, after feeling something ignite in her chest at his heartfelt booming laugh… she found that she wanted to be able to carry herself like that someday. Maybe she wouldn't be number one. Maybe she wouldn't be the greatest in the world, or even a Symbol of Peace.

But Naruto knew she wanted to be a symbol for others nonetheless. Because All Might wasn't just a Symbol of Peace. He represented the dawn of something new in Naruto's existence. He was a symbol of inspiration, and Naruto wanted to surpass him someday. She decided right then and there, that she'd be legendary.

Naruto Uzumaki, the Symbol of Inspiration.

It had a nice ring to it.

"Hey Nacchan?" Camie called from above. A staff member had poked their head into the dorma few minutes prior and informed the girls it was time to get up. Fū was across the way still lounging in her bed spread eagle while whining about wanting to be lazy some more. Tayuya was already up and changing into a fresh set of clothes, snapping at the mint haired insect lover to 'shut the hell up'.

The first day of classes was starting. But the blonde found she didn't really mind.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked, tucking some hair behind her ears before moving to continue making her new bed.

"Happy birthday!" Camie cheered.

Naruto paused for a long moment.

She smiled.

"Thank you."

Ha! You thought it would all be dark and sad didn't you? Well joke's on you because I'm not always a piece of shit.

Not sure if this is gonna be a full blown story, for sure if people are feeling it, otherwise it's prolly cool as is.